Analysing Past Coursework
Inspired by a independent study of a friend's, I decided to look at past Coursework projects by students at our school. While they weren't the same brief as us, they do attempt to make an opening for a crime drama, which is what I'm planning on doing.
http://online.clickview.co.uk/libraries/categories/f6b652a2-0389-0ead-4cf4-07fa4c61bd14/2011?sort=productionyear
I won't be analysing each individually, as there are quite a few, and most of them exhibit the same problems that I aim to avoid. It's worth mentioning that these videos are over 7 years old, and were probably filmed and edited with much less powerful equipment than we have today. That's not to say the standards for crime drama in that time period was bad, though, because there are plenty of great programmes in that time, such as Dexter for example.
One of the first issues was the camera work, and the camera quality itself. In many shots, dark settings were used without thought of lighting, which led to very grainy and low quality images. Even if this was possible to overlook, the camerawork does not allow the viewer to imagine that they are watching a real crime drama. It very overdone, with the camera person just trying out as many different angles as they can to show that they have the knowledge of those techniques, which is just counterproductive as it shows that they don't actually understand these techniques well enough to to use them in moderation.
Another was the editing. There were too many instances where it was unfortunately choppy, and not well thought out. There were sequences where they were simply just too many cuts, which while I understand is sometimes a feature of crime drama, where they are used well, they have to have a meaning. I didn't feel like any of the sequences where these students had used it had any particularly meaning other than to simply add the generic convention in their film. That's not to say they're all bad. There were some opening sequences to some of the videos that were really quite good, and if only had they been done more professionally they would fit right into an ordinary crime drama shows. One thing that did irritate me in even some of the best though, was the reuse of shots within the same sequence. It really detracts from the immersion, and almost ruins what is sometimes a really good concept.
Fonts are important! I can't really blame the students from 2011 for not having access to the correct fonts as installing fonts onto school computers is often too much trouble. But I can definitely note that fonts are so very important to create a coherent single project. The fonts need to match the feel of the video, and when they don't it sticks out like a sore thumb, especially when the font is just the default font. Here are three different videos which use the same font:
It's also worth touching on the mise-en-scene for the videos. A lot of them were quite good in using a variety of different locations that seemed like they would fit into a crime drama. However, there were instances where they were obviously filming within the college building. More often than not, there was an attempt made to disguise the setting, but I guess it can't have been much of a good effort if I was able to tell that it was still the school. However, it does raise the question of whether outsiders can tell if it's still the school, because I know I'm only able to tell that the setting is the school as I'm very familiar with it. I haven't reached a conclusive answer to that. Anyhow, I think regardless of what the answer to that question is, I think it's best to keep filming within the school to a bare minimum.
Actors! All of the productions in the 2011 selection star what seems like just their friends: people their age. However, the characters they play in almost all the productions are much older than the cast actually is. I'm sure this wasn't a official concern for the people creating the 2011 videos, but I wouldn't like inappropriate casting to detract from the viewer being engaged in the video. The way to tackle this would be to have the cast I have playing characters approximately their own age. Intricate details would never need to be explicitly revealed either; I just think it's unrealistic to have someone who obviously looks about 17 playing a Police Detective, just as an example.
Lastly, the music. I think all the productions made the best use they could have of music, but I think they all went a bit overboard with the tone of the music; a lot of them just felt incredibly dramatic and tense even when such a mood wasn't evident on screen. Music should be used in moderation, with a lot of thought put into whether it actually fits into the scene. It's hard though, especially when having to work with royalty-free music. I will personally have to try my best to search extensively for appropriate music, or try to create/mix music that fit into the video.
http://online.clickview.co.uk/libraries/categories/f6b652a2-0389-0ead-4cf4-07fa4c61bd14/2011?sort=productionyear
I won't be analysing each individually, as there are quite a few, and most of them exhibit the same problems that I aim to avoid. It's worth mentioning that these videos are over 7 years old, and were probably filmed and edited with much less powerful equipment than we have today. That's not to say the standards for crime drama in that time period was bad, though, because there are plenty of great programmes in that time, such as Dexter for example.
One of the first issues was the camera work, and the camera quality itself. In many shots, dark settings were used without thought of lighting, which led to very grainy and low quality images. Even if this was possible to overlook, the camerawork does not allow the viewer to imagine that they are watching a real crime drama. It very overdone, with the camera person just trying out as many different angles as they can to show that they have the knowledge of those techniques, which is just counterproductive as it shows that they don't actually understand these techniques well enough to to use them in moderation.
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| I'm not sure why this shot was on screen for more than 1 second; while it was it was intended to show the character jumping a fence, it felt like a really amateur execution |
Fonts are important! I can't really blame the students from 2011 for not having access to the correct fonts as installing fonts onto school computers is often too much trouble. But I can definitely note that fonts are so very important to create a coherent single project. The fonts need to match the feel of the video, and when they don't it sticks out like a sore thumb, especially when the font is just the default font. Here are three different videos which use the same font:
It's also worth touching on the mise-en-scene for the videos. A lot of them were quite good in using a variety of different locations that seemed like they would fit into a crime drama. However, there were instances where they were obviously filming within the college building. More often than not, there was an attempt made to disguise the setting, but I guess it can't have been much of a good effort if I was able to tell that it was still the school. However, it does raise the question of whether outsiders can tell if it's still the school, because I know I'm only able to tell that the setting is the school as I'm very familiar with it. I haven't reached a conclusive answer to that. Anyhow, I think regardless of what the answer to that question is, I think it's best to keep filming within the school to a bare minimum.
Actors! All of the productions in the 2011 selection star what seems like just their friends: people their age. However, the characters they play in almost all the productions are much older than the cast actually is. I'm sure this wasn't a official concern for the people creating the 2011 videos, but I wouldn't like inappropriate casting to detract from the viewer being engaged in the video. The way to tackle this would be to have the cast I have playing characters approximately their own age. Intricate details would never need to be explicitly revealed either; I just think it's unrealistic to have someone who obviously looks about 17 playing a Police Detective, just as an example.
Lastly, the music. I think all the productions made the best use they could have of music, but I think they all went a bit overboard with the tone of the music; a lot of them just felt incredibly dramatic and tense even when such a mood wasn't evident on screen. Music should be used in moderation, with a lot of thought put into whether it actually fits into the scene. It's hard though, especially when having to work with royalty-free music. I will personally have to try my best to search extensively for appropriate music, or try to create/mix music that fit into the video.
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