Analysis of Sophie Barrett's band 2 (27 mark) final preliminary task

In today's lesson, we watched Sophie Barrets's 27 mark (level 2) final preliminary task. After watching this final preliminary task we was asked to describe the mistakes that Sophie has made in her film. We was asked to do this to further our understanding of mistakes made in this film and to make sure not to include any of these mistakes in our final preliminary task. We were also asked to identify the skills that she uses in her film that are needed of the practical element of our coursework.

Sophie Barrett's Level 2 (27 Mark) Final Preliminary Task


Mistakes that have been made in Sophie Barrett's film include;


Continuity issues - such as cutting scenes without making it flow.  For example -

    
From this we can see that one scene cuts to the next without making it flow. By doing this, we can identify that it confuses the audiences and distorts their mindset of the film - meaning that they start to lose interest in the film their viewing and start to get bored.



General mistakes - such as filming a screen with a reflection, and you can see the camera you are recording the film from with within the screen.  For example -

 








From this we can gather that the film loses its sense of being a story as the audience can actually view that the film is being filmed and from this we can gather that the audience don't feel as they are part of the film and the story, and the audience then start to lose interest in the film as it does not engage them as much now, knowing that it has been filmed.



Bad Acting - such as laughing in scenes that are very emotional and distressing. For example -

 










 
From this we can gather that the film loses an essence of reality, as the audience can assume that usually a person would not start laughing if they are mourning the loss of a friend. From this we can gather that the film becomes less engaging as it seems that the actors are not taking the film seriously and are not staying in their characters, from this we can see that the audience will start to lose interest in the film. On the other hand, one could argue that laughing is the friends way of coping with the loss of their friend.


Going over the time limit. For example -

From this we can gather that the film has gone over the time limit allowed by the exam board. By doing this, the audience start to lose interest in the film and start to get bored of it - as too much of the story has been portrayed.


Structuring of titles.

Throughout the film, we can see that the students that made the film did not follow the order as to here to put the titles within the film. Because of this, the titles are all over the place within the film. The audience is also never shown who made the film e.g. director/producers name(s). Meaning that the audience have no idea as to who made or directed the film.


Sound issues.

Throughout the film, the audience cannot always hear the dialogue between the characters. Such as, when the two girls are in the cemetery the audience can hardly hear what they are saying - meaning that the audience will not be able to know what is going on from within the story.


Filming issues.

Throughout the film, the audience is made aware of the bad filming. Such as; the camera shacking mostly throughout the film. By doing this, the audience find it hard to concentrate on the film and start to lose interest.



Positive elements of Sophie Barrett's film include;


Mise-en-scene - wearing appropriate clothes for certain situations. For example -














From this we can gather that the film uses mise-en-scene well as we can see that the friends of the girl who died are wearing black and very dark clothes as they are mourning- portraying a symbolic way of paying their respects to their that has died.




They have used a range of camera shots - such as long shot, mid shot and extreme close up.                 For example -


                                                    
The effect of the long shot is that it captures the whole subject in question, and it also helps to make the subjects seem vulnerable - in this scene - this is a very good shot to use as the friends of the girl who died are obviously in a very vulnerable and emotional state - so this shot helps to capture the emotions of the characters.


The effect of a mid shot is that it gives more detail of the subject in question, whilst still showing enough detail in the subject for the audience to still feel as if they are looking at the whole subject.




The effect of a close up is that it captures the finer details from the subject in question - this enables the audience to become more aware of how the subject is feeling and what he/she is doing. In this case the audience is shown the subject clasping the front door of her house with a jumper covering her hand - possibly implying that the subject feels very vulnerable and emotional.



A soundtrack has been used throughout the film. For example - 

The song 'someone like you' by Adele is the perfect for this film as it fits into the genre perfectly. But, alas a cover of this song has been used so it doesn't give the same effect on the audience as the original song would do, but by using the original song - then you would have been subject to copyright issues. Going on a no copyright free music website would be the best option for this film.



Good transitions used.

Throughout the film, there have been some good transitions used in some scene - which has helped to make the film flow a little but not greatly.