Evaluation Activity 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learn in the progression from it to full product?

The quality: 

By looking at the preliminary task, which Scarlet and I did together, in comparison to the film opening we did, along with Mollie, there is a clear difference in the quality of the videos. This is due to us filming with a different camera for the two different clips, making the quality of our preliminary task  nowhere near the quality that our film opening is in. 

What improvements have we made?

Looking back at my preliminary task and film opening I feel that the lighting, costume and location is a lot more professional in the film opening. I think having done it in our preliminary, we knew what to expect the second time round and knew what to do in order to keep organized. I feel we also learned from our mistakes in the preliminary task, for example the background is one of the school mobiles and it doesn't fit with the film, whereas Chrissy's reflection in the bathroom mirrors fits with the film opening.

Over shoulder shot:

In both of our film clips we use the over shoulder shot. In our preliminary task, the over shoulder shot is used to portray a conversation between the two people. The technique eyeline match is also used to make the conversation more engaging and believable.  

To achieve this we used a tripod as we wanted the shot to be still and kept at the same angle, whereas in our film opening we didn't use a tripod and filmed the footage hand held as we felt that if the camera was more shaky it might make the footage more raw and fit the conventions of a social realist genre, while our preliminary task was more of a crime/thriller genre. 

Unlike our preliminary task, where we used over shoulder shot to show a conversation, in our film opening we used it to show Chrissy looking at herself in the mirror.

Match-On Action:

Match on action is an editing technique where one shot cuts to another shot continuing the action of the subject in the first shot.

This shot uses match on action, as they show a close up shot of our character, played by George, opening the door. Then the next shot cuts to the door opening from inside, using a wide angle shot focusing on George walking through the door.

 

 These frames demonstrate match on action as George is walking around the table from one angle, which is then cut to a high angle shot of George continuing his walk round.

The frames from the film opening, shows the dancers moving toward their position on stage. The action of the dancers continues fluidly through the change in shots, which shows the match on action.

Shot Reverse Shot:

These frames are all filmed using the technique shot reverse shot.
This technique engages the audience in the conversation that is taking place between the two characters.

As our film opening was mainly only focused on our protagonist it was hard to use the shot reverse shot technique, however we did use a cut away shot instead. The frames of a close up of Chrissy and the medium shot of the extras rehearsing, shows the cutaway shot. This shot was used to show what two different things happening at the same time in two different places, and it was also used to show the audience how Chrissy perceived things.

180 Degree Rule:

The 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. There is an imaginary line, that connects the characters. By keeping the camera on one side of this line (called an axis) for every shot in the scene, the first character is always frame right of the second character, who is then always frame left of the first. If we were to break this rule it could become very confusing and unrealistic to the audience.

In these  screenshots you can see where we have used the 180- degree rule. Throughout the conversation between these characters the camera has stayed on the same side of both characters, which made them look as if they were facing each other. If we had broken the rule the audience may have been left disorientated and confused which may have put them off.

Final thoughts:

For my preliminary task I worked along side Scarlet (whom I also worked with on the film opening, along with Mollie) . We worked hard to find a location as we had to write a series of emails to ask permission to use one of the school mobiles. This was very helpful in terms of preparing us for getting a location sorted for our film opening as like our preliminary, we filmed in school, meaning we knew who to talk to.