‘A continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule’
Responses:
- Had a clear picture of what was expected from us
- Had to ensure that specific criteria were in the sequence
- We knew that it didn’t have to be perfect and weren’t too worried about the result, we were more concerned with including the criteria
- Didn’t have to worry about plot
- Spent a lot less time planning
Final brief:
‘A two minute opening sequence for a fiction film, including titles and a soundtrack’
Responses:
- Had to decide on a plot
- Weren’t told exactly what to include, so had to decide that ourselves
- Aiming for perfection
- Needed to spend a lot of production
Pre-Production:
Preliminary Exercise:
- No chance for research
- Quick location recce – the location had to be within the school grounds so we didn’t have much of a choice.
- We wrote a quick script
- We came up with a quick, rough storyboard
- A quick shooting script
We learnt how useful preproduction is, including the paperwork as it comes in very useful during shooting.
Final Sequence:
- Carried out research
- Spent a lot longer on planning
- Well thought out scripts
- Well thought out shooting scripts
- Well thought out storyboards - we changed these over and over again until we got it right
Production:
Preliminary Task:
- No test shoot – although we had a quick walk through and no reshoot
- Time limit of one hour to film – this meant we had to ensure we focused on a small number of shots
- Both these factors meant we had to ensure that we got every shot right, which inevitably did not happen, and we couldn’t experiment with shots.
From the preliminary task we learnt:
- The test shoot and opportunity for reshoot are very important - in case there are any mistakes with the shots that are hard to notice while filming
- You need to ensure that you take many more angles of shots than you think you need - they will more than likely come in useful
- You need to make sure that the shot goes on for longer than you want it to so you have plenty of overlap
- We also learnt that there is a specific process to follow when shooting (Camera ready?... Sound ready? ...)
- We learnt about the roles that people should play (director/camera operator, P.A, sound)
- We learnt that teamwork is essential when putting together a sequence although occasionally someone needs to take charge so that decisions get made
Final Sequence:
- The chance to test shoot and reshoot
- Had to think about sound, especially if filming dialogue or outside
- Had a lot more choice of location and had to find the perfect location for the sequence
- Had to think about the atmosphere and the lighting of the shots
Post Production:
Preliminary task:
- Had to ensure we edited together a real time, continuous sequence that made sense
- Had to ensure that we included a match on action, a shot reverse shot and made sure we followed the 180 and 30 degree rules
- We only had one hour to edit the sequence together - so had to ensure we kept it simple.
- Acted as a reminder of how to use the timeline and diagonal editing as well as the razor tool
Final sequence:
- Had a lot more time to edit
- Were able to learn how to do more things on Premiere Pro
- Were able to use many more techniques, e.g. capturing, unlinking etc.
- Could add effects onto the sequence e.g. changing the speed/duration
- Could also add non diegetic sound
- Could experiment with the order of our shots etc. as we had more time
Feedback:
Preliminary Task:
- Only from media students – meant we were evaluating it as a learning experience rather than an actual sequence
- Focused on whether it was well made from a media studies perspective
- Looking back at the preliminary task meant that we learnt what we had to bear in mind when completing our real sequence
Final sequence:
- Had more than one opportunity to get feedback from media teachers and students – this ensured that the sequence was as good as it could be
- Had the opportunity to get feedback from our target audience
- Meant that we got feedback from a media studies perspective and from the perspective of a viewer
Overall I've learnt:
- The importance of planning
- A lot more about the shooting process
- A lot about editing and using hardware
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