Preniminalary video evaluation- Alex

Our task was to create a short film that, in some way, represents 'British youth culture'. To do this we decided to work in a group of three. We all agreed working in a group would widen the range of skills etc. available to us and so would-potentially-make the best video for us to work with.

In terms of the representation of British youth culture we wanted to do it in a abstract way, meaning it wouldn't be obvious at first glance. This would force the viewers into interpreting the meaning in their own way and would get them thinking about the video rather than just watching it. Taking this into consideration invented a story of a film crew filming a story but comes across something scary. The backdrop is an abandoned factory full of graffiti and debris. The graffiti is a symbol of youth and is stereotypically associated with youth which is why we thought it was effective and included it in many of our shots.

The location itself is full of vandalism which portrays British youth in a negative way which we used to juxtapose the positive way. The positive way being that the film crew (in the film) are out exploring on a bright day with expensive equipment and with friends. They are out doing something productive and not sat at home on games consoles which many would say youth does frequently. The graffiti and litter is shown brightened by the sun shine which makes it look more like a piece of art then an illegal act, making youth look more positive and creative than negative.

In terms of filming, the main problem was getting everybody available on the same day, a downside to working a group. However we managed to get everybody to the location and filming began. Once there we just went with the flow and created the story as we went along. This may seem very unorganized and silly, but in fact it was incredibly advantageous. Not having a set storyboard allowed us to be more creative and could experiment more with shots. We couldn't stray from our original idea as such because we didn't have one. The only thing we had to consider was time and representation British youth culture.

As we were experimenting with shots and angles, we got to practice many techniques that were previously alien to us. The main technique being using a steady cam. The majority of our shots were smooth and was filmed using the steady cam. Learning how to use the steady cam is a skill that can be transferred when filming our actual task and now we can plan shots that use steady cam knowing it can be pulled off.  The whole piece was put together using final cut express. I have already had experience using the software due to previous projects, however I learnt new skills. Namely, changing the saturation, changing volume levels on separate pieces of film and layering. Holly was new to final cut express so she had more to learn. See final cut express evaluation for her experience.

                                                             Picture of the location