What the task was
Preliminary exercise: continuity task involving involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character with whom he/she exchanges a couple lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot, and the 180 degree rule.
VALERIYA:
For the preliminary task, I was being filmed. I had found the location for filming, and discussed with my group the script which we would act out. On the day of filming, me and Josh discussed the different shots in which we would film the first scene. We decided to shoot from the behind, then the same exact shots from the front. We then edited them together to create a mixture of different angles. We did the same thing for the next scene, where we added more angles, such as showing Ellie from the bottom, and side angles of myself. We made sure the camera was always at a 180degree angle throughout the conversation. We used cut away to make the best of the other clips we used.
IDENTIFY 3 SPECIFIC THINGS I LEARNT THROUGH FILMING AND EDITING
One thing we learnt is how many different angles can have both a positive and negative effect, and how they can create moods.
Editing is important as it helps set a tone for the film, for example, fast cuts can show awkwardness between the people.
There are many different ways to edit, we used cut away to show another possible angle which we didn't contemplate before.
EVALUATE THE SUCCESS OF THE FINISHED PRODUCT.
Overall we think the finished product was a success because we managed to show a range of angles without going off the topic, and they where all relevant to the piece. As this was our first try, we have now realised there were many other possible shots which could have been more effective however we will take this criticism and use it to develop it in our final piece.
Role in preliminary task - Josh
In the preliminary exercise my main role within the task was the cameraman. The main reason I chose the role of cameraman is because I was particularly interested in using the camera equipment as I haven't had the opportunity to use such equipment before, whereas I had briefly experimented using editing software in the summer. For this reason I felt I would not learn as much from the exercise as I potentially could using the camera equipment, moreover I found editing tedious and enjoyed a more active role within the actual production. As the cameraman my first job was to find a fitting location to film the scenes we had previously planned, I carried out this task out with Valeriya, the director. When looking for a location we had to ensure there was enough space as lack of it would potentially be a safety hazard, in addition the more space we had gave us a wider variety of shots and angles available to us. Another important factor when finding a location was to make certain we could carry out the scenes in the location, for instance we used corridors to follow the actor into the room and then the second actor out of the room when she stormed out, the corridors were important to carry out what we planned. We had to find such a location within the school which proved to be difficult but we ended up using the clc as it fulfilled all necessary requirements to carry out the film. When filming it was important to capture each shot effectively this meant capturing the characters using different angles and shots such as long shots, close-up's, point-of-view and more which we previously learnt about, moreover it was important to use the rule of thirds as it's a convention of cinematic film making which is essentially what we were aiming to do. Looking back I may not of used all the techniques as effectively or efficiently as possible although I defiantly learnt from it and became slightly more efficient using the camera.
Role in preliminary task - Ellie
For the preliminary exercise, i was being filmed along with one other of my group members.
For the production we all located an area and room to film in. I also put in my ideas for the script and what was meant to be said when.
Whilst filming Josh and valeriya discussed the camera shots. We tried many different camera shots; as a group we decided on the best ones.
During the editing of the video, we worked as a group to pick out the best scenes, camera shots and acting parts.
Three things i learnt during the filming and editing was the effects that all the different camera angles had on the video. Also how to edit the footage in imovie and the different things that imovie allows you to do.
Difficulties we encountered - Josh
In the preliminary task we spent a considerable amount of time deciding on our storyline and plot as even though we had several ideas we struggled to come up with one that we could actually produce in the short time we had. After we eventually had an idea to work on we found it hard to reflect the storyline within the shots and had to rely rather heavily on dialogue to ensure it was clear and the audience could understand the story. As it was our first time using the equipment I personally took some time to become accustomed to the camera which meant taking some time to complete all the shots, an example of this is shown at the end of the actual video when the camera suddenly tilted upwards and again when Ellie stood up leaving her head out of the frame. Again as it was our first time, editing was a slow process and looking back it wasn't quite as smooth as we could of perhaps made them.
What we learned about filming - Josh
I personally became a lot more comfortable operating the camera, I learnt how sensitive it was necessary to be with the zoom and how to pan effectively. During the task I got the chance to experiment with several different shots, and how you can make a scene much more interesting by shooting from different angles. Moreover it became apparent that it was important to film as much as possible from different shots as when editing if a problem appeared with one of the shots then it is extremely time consuming to re-film. Finally during the filming process we realised how important planning and in particular the storyboard is, as a good storyboard allows the filming process to run much more smoothly as you know exactly what you want and how your going to do it.
VALERIYA
Setting & Lighting
We chose to locate it in a large room in the CLC library because it was a big room with a table in the middle. The lighting in the room could be changed, due to curtains. We chose to leave them open to have a bright interior.
What we learnt about editing
Difficulties we encountered - Josh
In the preliminary task we spent a considerable amount of time deciding on our storyline and plot as even though we had several ideas we struggled to come up with one that we could actually produce in the short time we had. After we eventually had an idea to work on we found it hard to reflect the storyline within the shots and had to rely rather heavily on dialogue to ensure it was clear and the audience could understand the story. As it was our first time using the equipment I personally took some time to become accustomed to the camera which meant taking some time to complete all the shots, an example of this is shown at the end of the actual video when the camera suddenly tilted upwards and again when Ellie stood up leaving her head out of the frame. Again as it was our first time, editing was a slow process and looking back it wasn't quite as smooth as we could of perhaps made them.
What we learned about filming - Josh
I personally became a lot more comfortable operating the camera, I learnt how sensitive it was necessary to be with the zoom and how to pan effectively. During the task I got the chance to experiment with several different shots, and how you can make a scene much more interesting by shooting from different angles. Moreover it became apparent that it was important to film as much as possible from different shots as when editing if a problem appeared with one of the shots then it is extremely time consuming to re-film. Finally during the filming process we realised how important planning and in particular the storyboard is, as a good storyboard allows the filming process to run much more smoothly as you know exactly what you want and how your going to do it.
VALERIYA
Setting & Lighting
We chose to locate it in a large room in the CLC library because it was a big room with a table in the middle. The lighting in the room could be changed, due to curtains. We chose to leave them open to have a bright interior.
What we learnt about editing
We learnt that in order to do good edits, you have to make sure you have a range of shots to chose from. We learnt how to create meaning by cutting and pasting clips together. It was like a puzzle which you had to put together to create a picture, i had complete control over what i wanted to do and where to put each clip. Throughout the process, this helped me understand what type of shots would create a specific meaning, and prepared me for my film opening.
What we would do differently
If we could do anything differently, i would make sure that we used as many camera angles and shots as possible, in order to make our film the most varied in these. Moreover we would try make the transitions smoother as its a bit jumpy in certain places.
What we would do differently
If we could do anything differently, i would make sure that we used as many camera angles and shots as possible, in order to make our film the most varied in these. Moreover we would try make the transitions smoother as its a bit jumpy in certain places.
Sound, Props, 180 degree rule
In filmmaking, the 180° rule is a basic guideline that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. In the task it was important that we abided to this rule.
We did not focus on the sound as such. We recorded a scripted dialogue. We edited the sound of rain into the video to create a more dramatic effect to add to our task.
As for props, we only used a table, two chairs and a piece of paper with a name written on it. We did not have many props as we only decided that day what we were going to film so we focused more on the shots and angles as opposed to the props.
