Preliminary Task

Preliminary exercise

In our preliminary task, we filmed a conversation taking place between two people. (With many thanks to Tommy Terry and Rachel Hill for contributing with their amazing acting talent) After sketching up a storyboard and creating some dialogue scripts, both Luke and I decided we were ready to film. So we set a date, and got ready for the shoot. A minority of the dialogue was improvised on the date, but in my opinion, worked better than the original script. The shoot went down efficiently and successfully, and the final stages of editing were completed soon afterwards. Whilst filming, we had to consider many things, which I’ve covered below…

Before we begin the main task, let’s look at the basic rules of filming shall we? firstly, the one hundred and eighty degree rule: a basic film editing guideline that states that two characters (or elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other, meaning they are always on the same side of the screen (at least until the scene is complete or a clear change is shown for example a pan around the characters) if the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two objects, then the subjects will suddenly change place without actually moving (visually to the audience).

Rule number two: not so much a rule as a convention, the shot/reverse shot, A technique in which one character is shown looking off screen and simultaneously another character looking towards the previous character, or “Looking back” at the audience. This creates the illusion in our minds that the characters are looking at each other, Simple enough. This is a classic style of Hollywood continuity editing which de emphasises transitions between shots so that the audience perceives one continuous action that develops linearly, chronologically and logically. (Bare this in mind: does it come to mind, when watching a film how many times the camera changes position, and yet you’re still captivated in the story? Too little transitions can potentially make a film dull and boring, however too many can overexcite the audience’s attention, taking the narrative away from the film and making it seem cheesy and moronic).

And finally, match on action, a cut from one shot to another view that matches the action and pace of the first shot. Basically, an action starts in one shot and finishes in another, imagine a character opening a door; the camera is behind him looking at the handle, then it is inside watching the door slowly sneak open. By carefully matching the two shots, the continuity of the film is not affected negatively, creating a sense of a continuous motion.

With all that in mind, we must also bear in mind camerawork and editing. Keep the camera steady (unless for effect) and make sure continuity is up to scratch, nothing takes your audience out of the captivation of the story more than a change of costume, hair style or even in some cases, change of position.

We achieved all of this, so I believe it was a job well done. Now on with the main task!