Preliminary Task Evaluation

Evaluation

For our Preliminary task we has to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom they then exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. We demonstrating match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. We prepared ourselves for this task by making a storyboard, this helped us when it came to filming it we knew what we were exactly doing.

Filming

We filmed our match on action by firstly we shot 3 different angles of the same action so when it came to editing we put them together it gave the real effect of someone walking through the door. My role was making sure the camera was in the right position and ensure that we followed the storyboard. We filmed our shot reverse shot by  make sure that the camera was in the right position and was an over the shoulder shot of the other person speaking, so every time the other person spoke the camera would change sides and shot the other person speaking. and we maintained not breaking the 180 degree rule by making sure that we shot on the same shoulder every time and didn't cross the line.

The first shot was a long shot, this showed the audience the setting. Our frame included a school corridor with a girl walking down the middle. There are also boards on the walls with school work which gives the audience a clear idea that it is in a school environment. The position of the actor starts in the top right of the frame and she walks down the centre snd exits the frame on the right.

Then we used a close up on the door handle, this shows the action she is making as well as a small part of the new location she is entering. As it is a close up we tried to limit what was in the frame, so you can only see the door handle and the actors hand entering from the left and as the scene goes on she opens the door and enters the room. The positioning of the actor was that she entered from the left and carried on walking in the middle of the shot into the room,

Next we used another medium to long shot of her crossing the room, we used this because we wanted the audience to see another view of the location and show the audience why she is walking into the room. The framing shows the setting, classroom,  so it shows desks and also boards/ posters on the wall looking like students work which gives the audience a clear understanding of what the location is. the position of our actor is that she enters form the right and exits on the left.

After that we had a medium shot of two girls sitting at a table. We used this type of shot to make the audience aware of the purpose of the girl entering the room. The framing includes a desk and chairs with another actor doing work on it, this also gives evidence that it is in a school environment, the frame also shows a small bit of the background which shows the audience that they are still in the same place. The positioning of the actors  is that one enters from the right and they both end up in central.

Then during the dialogue we had over-the-shoulder shots, this shows the audience who the character is directly talking to. the framing shows the location which also ensures the audience that the actors are in the same setting, the frame also shows the shoulder and the back of one actor and the face of the other, this shows that they are having a conversation with each other. The position of the actors in this frame is you can see the shoulder and the back of one and the front and face of the other to show that they are having a conversation.

Editing

I am happy with the final result, I think the editing was good and all the different shots flowed together nicely. I think our match on action was edited and filmed very well as the audience can clearly see where she is and what she is doing, also the editing is fluid and it matched up perfectly. Our actors were in the right position of the frame in all the shots we took.I think the shots we used were very appropriate for the shot reverse shot during the dialogue of the two actors. I know this because we edited it so the dialogue made sense and the editing flowed nicely.

If I could film this again I would make sure that when the actor sits down and gets her book out, i need to make sure in both the shots the book is either open or closed because we made the mistake of not noticing that the book was closed one shot and the next it was open.

I feel that i have gained more confidence with the camera and with Final Cut Express because this taught me how to film different angles and it also taught me how to cut a clip exactly how i want it to. so I've learnt a lot from this preliminary task.