Titus Andronicus Evaluation Presentation

  

  

This is my presentation based upon our Titus Andronicus brief.

Titus Andronicus Evaluation

This is our production of Titus Andronicus

    
 Over the last few weeks we have been working on the production of Titus Andronicus, I was very pleased with the outcome as it worked out as we had planned and we all worked together to develop the final piece. The main thing that i felt went particularly well was the overall composition and flow of the piece as the shots were filmed in different orders on separate locations on different days but all the clips came together to make one fluid piece.

One main thing that I would improve is some of the shots, as we were short of time we could not film enough shots from alternative angles so to improve this I would include better framed shots and maybe more angles to help emphasize the differences in power between the characters. For example, in one shot an actresses head did not fully fit into the frame, to fix this we could just tilt the camera upwards or to film from further away to produce a wider shot which would include the actresses head.

Another aspect we could of worked on was our positioning, from the image below you can see that the light source was behind us and cast a shadow of the boom mic on one of the actors. This is simple enough to fix as we would only have to move the boom to somewhere it is not seen and does not cast shadows.

My roles were the second unit and also an editor, as the second unit my job was to film the additional shots from other angles to act as cutaways from the main shots. This helps keep a nice pace to the film so the shots are not long and boring. What i liked about this role was that I could stray from the storyboard slightly and experiment more with the different shot types which we integrated into the main shots. As an editor my job was to put all of the shots into the correct order to fit the storyline as well as keeping a fast enough pace to stop the shots from dragging on and becoming boring. Another key part of the editing role was to make the soundtrack fit to create the right tone at the different parts of the film. 

Critical Comparison

 

In comparison to other pieces of worked I have copleted in BTEC Media I have found that this project made me considerate of the actions we took when actually producing the film as well as having a larger responsibility within the project. We had to put a lot more thought into the piece which meant that we spent a long time planning out the work, this was important as we were working within a relatively large group so we had to fully know everything we were going to do so that we could all work together efficiently.

Due to the scale of the project we had to take a much more mature approach as we had to work a alongside a large group of drama students as well as a media group, this meant we had to be very professional within our set roles and communicate our thoughts and ideas and fully discuss any decisions we were making so that we could work efficiently on the day of filming with little confusion to ultimately produce a better final piece. Working as a group allowed us to share the workload meaning that as individuals we could pay more attention to the fine details of our roles and then compose each element rather than working alone and having to consider each aspect of the film by yourself. 

Another significant difference to previous work was the level of editing required, because we were working to an actual brief we felt that the overall edit needed to look a lot more professional that our previous pieces of work so we spent a lot longer working on the finer details. Also, the duration of the final piece was considerably longer than anything we had ever edited before so the actual amount of editing required was a lot larger.

Titus Presentation

Titus Presentation

As part of our evaluation we produced presentations based upon our roles and what we were
asked to do, we then evaluated our individual contributions to the group and presented it to the rest of the class.

Evaluation based on the feedback from others

Evaluation based on the feedback from others

We used questionnaires to recieve some feedback on our rendition of Titus Andronicus, some consistent themes from the feedback was that the editing worked very well, with specific examples such as the clean transitions to the cutaways so that you did not miss much action and the shots did not last for too long. Another key aspect was that a lot of people enjoyed the very last shot where there is an overlay of Tamora speaking with her voice slightly echoed. Some commented that there was also an overall smooth flow of the edit.

 Shot of Tamoras face overlayed

Another aspect was the clean camera work consisting of steady shots and a wide range of angles. This is evident more within the first half of the film with the shots of the feet walking past the camera as well as the tracking shot during Tamoras speech. These work well as the different levels and also dynamic camera movements help bring more energy into the film.

 

Shot of feet walking across the frame 

  

Shot with top of head missing

Some also commented on how the soundtrack worked well to create the powerful mood and also distinguished between the two halves of the film because two different songs were used, the second song was much darker which related to the scene as it was purely based upon Tamoras revenge. Within the first soundtrack the footage was edited to the beat which gave the edit very clear cuts and also worked well with creating a powerful tone during the death scene when it cuts to black.

Some criticisms we received were about the costumes, and how they could of been improved to show a clearer contrast between the goths and romans, this would of made the film visually clearer. However this was partially a budget problem, ideally we would of had the cast dressed in traditional costume from the time period however we could not afford this so we decided to make it a modern rendition to compensate for this.

 

Shot showing costumes 

Alongside this the setting of the park was not clear enough to produce the modern interpretation, as the environment was very plain and green. We could of used a much more urban setting such as a car park however this would of been very difficult due to the public needing this space. Because of the costumes and the setting some audience members did find it difficult to understand alongside the original Shakespeare language.

Although comments on the soundtrack were generally positive some did say that the sound quality during certain parts of speeches was low and distorted, this was mainly due to the boom mic being further away during this speech so we had to increase the audio levels so people could hear it but in that process it became distorted.

In some of the shots the framing and headroom was not always fully considered due to a lack of time meaning we could not always properly frame the shots or film enough cutaways to alternatively use during the edit. A clear example of this is when the actress in thrown down onto the floor and the top of her head is not in the frame. Although this is true I do feel that the majority of framing for the shots worked well and was very consistent.




 

Audience Questionnaires

Audience Questionnaires 

We created a questionnaire to receive feedback from a more general audience rather than our client, we then asked a selection of individuals to fill out the questionnaires, this was their response.


1) 18
2)  it was decent (considering i have just watched pulp fiction which minimises anything)
3) 6/7 just because of the quality of what it was recorded on and the sound was faulty (im picky :/) and the acting felt like they were just reciting lines instead of actually feeling it, other than that being picky part the cutaways were aesthetic and the editing did flow quite well (if i remember it correctly).
4) again the cutaways worked well as well as the editing.there were minor things i thought could be improved, such as headroom (even if your trying to minimalise it give a little space, if you want to cut something out zoom in closer or change your angle. and in my own personal preference probably colour grade up a bit as some parts were really dark
5)  for a modern rendition of shakespeare i thought that it worked really well however again in my own opinion even modernised shakespeare is outdated.


1)17
2) Yes
3) 9/10. Good angles and steady camera while moving. Music was very fitting. But in some parts the audio was not very clear, however it was only in one minor instance.
4) ...
5) Yes, but maybe urbanise it a bit more to make it a bit more modern, as although the clothing was modern; I'm pretty sure parks have been around quite a while.


1)17
2) yes
3) 7
4) the beginning scene was really eerie with everyone walking, and also when at the end the queeny lady was talking and it had hear head over the top as like an echo, the scene in the forest when people were talking but not to the camera?
5) yee (although i had no idea what was going on or what the story is or anything but yes i presume so with the hoodies and stuff)


1) 18
2) dont know titus sorry
3) 8 seemed like good acting
4) speeches worked well
5) probably yeah


1) 18
2) I enjoyed it
3) 7 I thought the music was goooooooood
4) I liked the fade between the two shots at the end
5) This is what I would expect but maybe in more urban environments


1) 18
2) Yep!
3) 8/10, because it was well portrayed and all of the characters knew their lines, as well as being captivating - the only problem I found was that some parts seemed a bit forced and the reactions a bit over elaborative.
4) I thought the soundtrack was the best thing actually, as it set the general mood that wouldn't have been created normally. In terms of the acting, I enjoyed the speeches near the beginning because they were passionate and emotion can be seen vividly.
5) It depends on how modern it's meant to be. Some modern adaptations take the old language and change it to make it more understandable, which this did not. Without this it is a bit hard to follow, but in terms of scenery and such it can be considered modern.



1) 17
2)i did indeed
3)7, because i wasnt that sure of the costumes
4) I think the parts where the editing was clean cut (3:25-3:48) worked well because you didnt miss a bit of action but at the same time it wasnt on the screen for too long
5)yes indeedy, you can the shakespeare vibe from the language which is used but the way in which is acted and shot helps bring a more modern twist


1) Age: 18
2) Did you enjoy this extract of titus andronicus? Yes
3) What would you rate it out of 10, and why? 7/10 Good camera angles & editing, good choice of scenary and soundtrack. The acting was quite good.
4) What parts do you think worked well? ....
5) Is this what would expect from a modern rendition of a shakespeare play?
Yes it is.


1)20
2) yes was good
3) 7 it was good story idea but was hard to pick up ay start it was about modren age
4) most of it tbh evryhing rolled well with each other
5) yes


1) 18
2) Yes. It was over all an enjoyable extract to watch.
3) 7/8. The acting and editing was overall impressive. Although the camera work could have been a little better.
4) The ending worked really well with the 50/50 Fade transition.
5) Something along these lines. Could compare it to a movie 'Romeo and Juliet. Which used the same script Shakespeare wrote. Although their was a modern theme.


1) 18
2) Yeeee, was okay
3) 6 / Some shots were good (walking ones at the start), acting is meh, and some of the audio quality isn't very clear (like the overlay bit at the end of Jon's part)
4) The walking shots at the start
5) Yeah