This is a story about a girl who found a $10 note on the floor and was happy about it but it turned out to be a specimen note, adding a plot twist at the end. Above is my critique submission. For the establishing shot, I used a wide shot and I took the photo from a low angle to show both the $10 note in the foreground and the girl in the background walking. The second and third shots are also wide shot to show the girl spotting the money on the floor and picking up the money. In the fourth and fifth shot, I used medium close up shot so that both the girl’s expression and her upper body, mainly because I want to capture her hand holding the note. The sixth shot is a close up shot of the note to show and emphasise that that is a specimen note which explains her expression change. The last shot is a close up shot of her expression which is the key focus here as she is annoyed after finding out that that was a specimen note. I chose to use a close up shot rather than a medium close up shot because there is no need to show her holding the money again and also, I thought it would have a funnier effect to close up on her rolling her eyes.
During the critique session, I was told that my layout is not clear as people usually read from left to right. I chose to arrange the photos like that because I have 7 photos which is an odd number and I could not arrange them in 3×3 and 4×4 manner. I also wanted to emphasise on the last photo so I placed it individually on the right side and made it a little bigger than the rest of the photos.
Another feedback was that the girl is not obvious in my establishing shot as she has blended in with the buildings at the back.
I was also told that the shot of the “specimen” note was not convincing as the word “specimen” was handwritten. A suggestion was to print a real specimen note.
After the critique session, I made some changes to my work. Firstly, I changed two of the shots. I retook the establishing shot. Initially, I took the shot from the same angle which is from the front but I felt that the girl was still not very obvious. Hence, I tried to take the shot from the side instead and it was a better shot as the girl could be seen much clearer. I also printed out a real specimen note and took a tighter shot of it from the top as I felt that the shot in my critique submission was not tight enough as a lot of the background including the chairs can still be seen. The shot also looked very flat and unnatural so I took it from a higher angle to have more of the “in your face” feel.
Finally, I changed the layout of the photos. The order is now left to right but I placed the last photo in the center. I originally placed it at the most left side but it felt very empty on the right and looked like there was supposed to be more to the story.
I thought a lot about the layout and was thinking if I should make it 8 or 9 photos instead so it could make it 3×3 but I thought I decided that those 7 photos are enough as I did not want to drag the story by putting in extra shots just so the layout could be nicer.
One of the photos that I wanted to add was a photo of a medium close up shot of her expression when she discover the note on the floor but I did not include it in the end as I felt that it did not make such a big different to the story and to the layout.
I also took portrait shots of her picking up the note as I felt that a landscape shot would be too wide as the background is not important in this photo. However, I still decided to use the landscape shot as it fits in better with my layout and the orientation is more consistent with that of my other photos.
Through this assignment, I learnt how planning could be useful. I took the photos according to my storyboard and that saved me a lot of time as I knew exactly what shot I want. However, I also explored with other shots that were not planned when I was taking the photos and learnt the importance of the different shots. For example, a medium close up shot and a close up shot of the same thing could evoke different feelings and convey different idea. My last photo would be less funnier if I used a medium close up shot instead of a close up shot as there would be less emphasis on her face as the shot is wider.
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