We were asked to evaluate past students work in order to gain an understand of what we should and should not be including in our openings. We also learnt how the work was judged and how certain aspects of camera, editing and sound gave the opening different levels and meant that overall the group achieved a good grade or not. By evaluating past students work you also gain an understanding of how something such as camera can effect the overall outcome of your opening; for example if the camera is shaky during a tilt when the camera should be still and simply scanning up and down.
We watched six different openings to get a different idea of what level we would give them. To do so we were given the mark scheme telling us the levels and what would need to be achieved in order to gain the highest level. At first the majority of the past openings that we watched seemed good and the errors went unnoticed. One we watched it once we were made to re-watch it but this time we were told to focus on a certain area of the filming; camera, editing, sounds and mise-en-scene. After about the third time of watching it the opinion which was made on the first viewing was usually changed quite drastically after noticing the mistakes that were made. Many of the openings consisted of many of the things which were needed however it was obvious that certain things like the smoothness of the camera or the pace of the editing was letting them down.
Root cause was an example we watched that achieved a high grade unlike many of the other openings we saw and this was down to the use to skills they implied in their work and the evidence there was to suggest that the group had thought for a very long time how to position the camera, add a story line to the opening already and the ways in which they chose to edit there footage to a high level. This particular opening was a film noir and was set in the 1920's with the gangster genre evidently influencing their work
. They ensured that the music and mise-en-scene represented this time period and it was clear to see in their piece that it was well thought out.
The common fault amongst many of the openings was the attempts of trying to look like a real thriller and however this is good to stick to the code and conventions some groups were trying to achieve things which weren't possible for an as-level piece of work and they shouldn't of tried anything to hard but still of come up with an original idea. All of the ideas were good however some of them has flaws due to the lack of experience that they had and the way they tried to do things.
From analysing the work of past students it has helped me to understand the limitations which needs to be set on ideas so that my group can make the best opening with originality that it can rather than trying to be to complex and not being able to get good marks because the ideas were to hard to follow through. I have also learnt from the good things that certain groups did as well as the bad and have learnt how to perhaps co-operate different types of ideas into our brainstorms and hopefully come up with something better by working with the guide that past students have set from their work.
From analysing the work of past students it has helped me to understand the limitations which needs to be set on ideas so that my group can make the best opening with originality that it can rather than trying to be to complex and not being able to get good marks because the ideas were to hard to follow through. I have also learnt from the good things that certain groups did as well as the bad and have learnt how to perhaps co-operate different types of ideas into our brainstorms and hopefully come up with something better by working with the guide that past students have set from their work.
