Next Gen 27/01/16 VFX Shots Evaluation

The VFX shots we are using took were all done in the same location at the college. We originally used me as the person in the shot to have an idea of how far the camera should be and how high it should be of the ground to fully capture the shot. Afterwards we let Jacob take my spot in the shot. Before each shot was done however, we measured  the distance away from the scene that the camera was at as well as the angle that the camera was at from the standard 90' degree angle of the camera tripod. We also took two of each shot, first to test the second to solidify the shot. We also put down markers at each point we took the shots.

During the shots (or known as rushes) however there were multiple issues (probably because this was the first proper VFX shots we did). The main issue that could summarize all problems was that the team was not fully organised for the task. This was a snowball effect for the rest of the shots:
Firstly, the environment we were using was not ideal because there were multiple other people in the room besides us so the room was never quiet and that also means we had a few people interfere with what we were doing.
Secondly, no one was completely assigned the task of keeping the data sheets for each shot up to date. That means that the measurements for each shot were not recorded (but were then assigned after the shots based on the teams knowledge) and we were not to sure of the extra information on each data sheet.
Thirdly, for the whole process of the shots we were down a teammate, granted we did all of the work with one person down, however once he returns we will have to catch him up on all other work we did.
Finally, the last problem was that we did not have a idea of what shots we wanted to do in what way. While we did have a storyboard on what events would occur at the beginning, middle and ending of the shots, we did have to improvise in a few shots (for example we thought that we could not just have the blocks fall from the air into frame (we originally thought to have a tracking shot from the screen to above the screen to view the screen and back again, however that would not look good because of the camera and of the inexperience with filming) so I had the idea to back out from the shot and view the full scene to give some form of an explanation for the blocks falling down from the air).
The main good points however were that: all shots were done at a fast pace, markers for all of the camera positions, everyone was doing something during the shots and we had a storyboard for all of the camera shots.
We captured exactly what we thought we would capture and with the extra wide angle shots we figured how to get more from what shots we used.
As for our teamwork we all did our parts for the shots, we also did it well since the shots were done within 20 mins from the start of the finished preparation.

As well as working out all of the problems listed above, the main points I would do to improve the shots would be to: get more noticeable placement markers so that no one picks them back up, have everyone have designated job without trading them so no job gets finished and writing down all of the un-necessary information of the camera and scene on the data sheets before the shooting begins.

Overall, the shots we captured were what we wanted; it will be a good basis to infuse into Maya. The only thing that I wished was in the shots,