Preliminary Task

What have I learnt from the preliminary task?

For our preliminary task my group decided to have our short sequence based on a humours situation. To convey this we focused especially on the confusion of my character and the anger of the other character. To do this we used several close ups and over the shoulder shots to show the other characters reactions to what was being said. Our whole practical production lasted for 57 seconds; to improve we could have made the sequence longer.

For our practical production we had to include 3 principles: Match on action, the 180o rule and shot reverse shot. We had to make sure we incorporated each of these principles and that they were noticeable to the audience. We did make sure we included each of the 3 principle, but some were more obvious than others.

Match on action: This is when unnecessary parts of the action are cut out in order to shorten a sequence. However, the clip still keeps its flow. We used this technique a few times in the sequence. We used it first at the very beginning of the production, when our main character is walking. We then cut to a clip of her opening the door. Here we cut out the action of her walking up to the door and reaching out for the handle. We also used match on action when she is walking to the table my character was sitting on. We saw her walking and then it skips several paces and she is grabbing the chair to sit down. Here we cut out the unnecessary parts of her walking.

180o rule: This is a rule in which the camera cannot cross an imaginary line. If used in a conversation type situation the camera must look over the shoulders on one side of the line, and not interchange unless this is to create purpose. This rule ensures that the audience is following what it happening, they can clearly see who is talking and who they are looking at. If this rule is broken it causes confusion as the audience may think a new person has joined in on the conversation. We used this rule when the two characters are having the conversation at the table. We used this to ensure the audience knew who was talking and to show the reaction of the other character.

Shot reverse shot: This principle is usually applied to conversation situations as it involves showing a character talking and another characters response or reaction. Quite often shot reverse shot is done over the shoulder, so it is used in interviews a lot as it shows the reaction to questions or answers. Shot reverse shot works along site the 180o rule. When filming over the shoulder the 180o rule cannot be broken as it causes confusion as to who is talking and who is responding to what. We used this principle with our 180o rule, the conversation at the table between the two characters.

We created a storyboard before we started shooting and this saved us a lot of time on set. This is because we knew what was going to happen in the scene, what was being said and how the camera should be set-up. It also gave us a good idea of what we wanted the shot to look like. The storyboard were also handy as we had quite a few ideas, instead of trying to remember these things whilst on set we wrote all of them down, this meant all of our ideas could be tested and if they did not work we would not use them.

We edited the production on a Mac, we added several transitions and effects to create meaning. First of all we uploaded all of our clips and chose the ones we were definitely going to use. We then used our storyboard to put them in order. Some of the clips needed cropping and moving about just to make the whole production flow better. We then decided to add some visual effects to the clips. We made all of our clips slightly darker as we felt it reflected the mood of the production, as the main character is angry and the other is confused both of these emotions have quite dark connotations. We also added transitions to make the production flow better. We added in two transitions. The first was between the main character reaching for a door and appearing on the other side, we used the fade out transition. We felt it would make it seem more like the end of one scene and the beginning of another. We also used a transition on the last of the clips, we simply made the last clip to fade out, this indicates to the audience that it is the end of the production.

Our idea came from a situation that happened during planning, we had no clear cut ideas and we were finding it difficult to decide unanimously on what we were going to do. Then out of the blue one of group members said something and we all were really confused, we then all agreed that would be a good situation for our practical production. We then began storyboarding and we all came up with things to contribute like: locations, dialogue and actors. Then our production just came together. We decided to fit each of the 3 principles in at different parts of the production based on what we had come up with.

Overall I am pleased with the outcome of our preliminary production as we successfully embodied each of the 3 principles in our production as well as sticking to our original storyline. If we were to improve it we should have made the production slightly longer as it seemed a bit rushed when we watched it back through.