Originality and Creativity

Collecting Evidence for O&C

Here is our final documentary:

Please look at the previous blog post for the analysis of my creative decisions in the B-roll footage. Read on for the analysis on the A-roll!

All the A-roll in the video that I have taken (interview) is from 1:48 - 2:57. 

Throughout this whole shot, I have utilised the rule of thirds well because the interviewee (Yuki) is placed exactly where the line is. I shot it in a mid-shot- meaning that most of her upper body can be seen so that she isn't cut off and it is more comfortable for the viewer. The angle I shot it in is just at eye-level, which is a netural angle because I don't want to make her seem more or less powerful using a high or low angle. I gave it all enough headroom so the subject doesn't feel squished and the viewer will find it comfortable to watch. However, I feel as if I could have given it more leadroom by moving the camera slightly to the right. This is because I advised her not to look directly at the camera (something we have learnt) so instead her eyes are looking to the right. Therefore, if the camera was moved a bit right, the shot would have been even better. 

The only big problem I have about this is the quality of the footage. For some reason, the quality has dropped immensely as compared to the raw version which you can find in this folder. Therefore, it has made the whole clip look slightly blurry. 

Full Analysis

Is your footage steady?

I think my A-roll footage is extremely steady. This is because I used a tripod in the whole interview and didn't move it once after I set it up correctly. However, if you watched the full raw version, you would see that I had to shift the camera slightly at one part which made that part of the footage a bit unsteady. 

Is it well composed with adequate headroom and lead room?

As mentioned in my paragraph above- I think there is enough headroom but a bit more leadroom is needed. To improve the leadroom, I should move the camera slightly towards the right in order to where her eyes are leading to. 

Is there a variety of shots?

In the A-roll, I cannot say that there is a variety of shots because it is just one full shot with no movement etc. The lack of movement and angles is compromised in the B-roll. In terms of content, I think there was "too much" variety because the background was pretty messy which could have distracted the audience. Although I did notice this whilst filming, I didn't raise this issue up because I didn't want to be impolite or picky. Therefore, the next time I film, I need to make sure that I have a quiet background in terms of mess and noise. 

Did you manually set the exposure, white balance and focus to get a good shot?

Yes, before filming, I touched the settings in order to get the exposure right- there was natural sunlight coming in from the window opposite which aided the exposure. I think the shot was at a correct exposure because it wasn't under or overexposed at any time. I did not change the white balance on my camera because it was already on the correct setting- this is why the shot does not look tinted yellow. I switched my focus to auto-focus because as mentioned during my b-roll analysis, I think changing the focus is risky and might lead to a bad shot in general. 

Did you remember to use the rule of thirds sometimes to help you frame the shot?

I used the rule of thirds during the whole shot. I find this rule to be almost natural by now since it is very simple and easy to get right. I think I could have improved the composition a bit by making her eyes at the rule of thirds gridline instead of hter body at a whole. 

Can you hear what is being said?

Yes I can definitely hear what is being said clearly although I feel like it is a bit muffled at some places. I used a shotgun-like microphone which I attached onto my camera- it was a close proximity, dynamic microphone. I think this was very effective because I didn't catch any background noise and the audio was clear. 

Did you use any interesting camera angles or camera movement? Was the camera movement smooth?

As this was just one whole still shot, I did not have any angles or movement.