Oxford: Evaluation

During our time in Oxford we managed to obtain a rather large quantity of footage from a vast array of locations within the area and I believe that the trip was overall a success. Although during our time there we experienced a lot of problems that wasted time and effort to correct and at times we needed to improvise on the spot, although it was our first time filming in a location unfamiliar to us so problems were expected. The amount of footage we obtained was also quite a surprise as we managed to film a variety of different shots during our visit, we initially planned to use a set shot list so during the time we were there we planned exactly what shots to perform and chose appropriate locations for each one which helped speed up our progress.

One of the things that had the most likely possibility of going wrong was using the external boom mic as it was a piece of equipment none of us had previous experience with, save for a quick tutorial the day prior to the trip, although the person chosen to operate it performed rather well, since we used it during a Vox pop interview with a shop employee the use of the external mic was needed, however when reviewing the footage we found there was a large amount of background noise that distorted the sound, so the first use of the external mic did not go to plan however the footage is still usable.

These images show us operating the external boom mic for the first time whilst filming. This was during our time in our second location within a small record shop.

Another new experience for the group was filming within location such as shops where we would need the owner/mangers permission to film anything on the premises, and we needed a release form signed, dated an with the address of the location clearly visible as evidence that we were given permission to film in that location. This was something we had never done before so it was nerve racking at first, but in all the locations we politely explained the situation and what our task was and they seems very cooperative and friendly and gave us permission, we did this in three different locations and each time the employees were very accepting in allowing us to film on the premises. During the time we were using the external boom mic we were in our second location and one of the employees was kind enough to allow us to interview him, which would prove useful, so the process of using release forms and obtaining permission to film in locations seemed to be fairly easy and would help improve our people skills and communicating, which proved very useful during our time in Oxford.

These are some shots of our group performing various shots during the time we were moving to and from our set locations, as during the commute between areas we were often distracted by certain places of interest that we thought would provide some useful footage and also we needed to perform specific shots that we needed and some of the locations we found seemed to be appropriate.

Among all the problems we encountered the trip was in essence a very productive day for us as we obtained a vast amount of different shots and locations which will provide decent footage for use in editing later. Not only was the trip productive but it was also entertaining and provided us with many new experiences and most likely helped to improve our work in the future as we gained some knowledge of using an external mic and developed our communication skills to some level.