Evaluation

Evaluation

Our brief was to film a short conversation between two people using: the 180 degree line, which is an invisible line at one side of the action that is being shot that the camera can’t cross as the background would be different as the characters would have swapped places; shot reverse shot, which is when a shot is taken from the opposite side of the previous shot. In a conversation, it makes the viewer think that the two people are looking at each other; and a match on action, which is when one shot leads into another to give the impression that it is one smooth action and portrays a continuous sense of action.

I created a script using Celtx and started by having one of the characters walking down a corridor and entering a room through a door so I could use a match on action on the door handle and walking through the door. I then added a few back-and-forth lines so that I could do a shot reverse shot the characters faces as they were talking. I then finished by having the same character exiting the room. To make my script look professional I used the bar in the top left hand corner to state whether I was writing a direction for the actor, dialogue or the location of the scene. This also made it easier when filming because the actors knew when they were moving and where they were moving to. I put the emotion of the dialogue in brackets and the name of the character speaking or being directed in capitals as this is how a professional script would be set out.

I then planned out each individual shot on a storyboard so I could get an idea of how each shot would look. I used quick sketches to get a picture of how I could incorporate the three techniques into the film without them looking odd or out of place. I already knew that I was going to start off with a shot of someone walking in a corridor to another room so I decided to make this a long shot to I could establish the location of the scene and establish what the character looks like from head to toe. I then decided that a close up shot should be done on the door handle so that I could add a match on action of the door opening. To finish the match on action shot I chose to draw a sketch of a medium long shot of the inside of the room and the character standing there to show that they had gone through the door and that the two shots were separate. I then showed the character sitting across from another person in a medium shot so that the new location could be established but the main focus of the shot was the two characters. Then I used over the shoulder shots to look at the face of the person who was talking to add a shot reverse shot to the film. Then I went back to a medium shot to see the character leave.

My script wasn’t chosen so we needed to find a room that was suitable for the selected script. We need a room that had a corridor leading to it and could seat two people opposite each other with enough room to move the camera around and the tripod. We found a music room that was large enough to fit everyone in and the walls were black so they characters stood out. We did a risk assessment and the room was safe to operate as we moved any wires that could have been tripped over; all other chairs were moved to the sides of the room so that they weren’t in the way and the room was almost empty so there weren’t any other obstacles.

When shooting, we decided that we were going to shoot all of the shots from inside the room first. We did a long shot to use as a master shot and ran the script all the way through. We did this so that we could cut back to it in the editing phase and it was also be a safety net if there were any issues with other shots. By running it all the way through we eliminated the chance of missing shots or breaking up the acting and making it look robotic. We then moved the camera to behind Sophie’s shoulder and ran the whole script so that we could pick and choose where we wanted to do the shot reverse shots. We then repeated this behind Caitlin’s head. Once we had checked all of the shots we moved out into the corridor to film the walking through the door section. However, when filming the corridor shot I realised that I couldn’t fit all of the action in frame so I decided to pan from Sophie walking through the first door in to the corridor to the door leading into the room. I then filmed the close up of the door handle.

We only used chairs, a bag, a purse and some money when filming. We filmed all shots from the beginning to the end of the script so that we could ensure that the way that the props were handled in exactly the same way. This meant that there wouldn’t be any continuity issues when it came to editing.

When editing on Final Cut, we chose to start off with the corridor shots. We cut the beginning of the pan shot because there was some camera shaking and we wanted the action to start straight away. When Sophie's hand went to turn the door handle we cut and then added the close up of the door handle for the match on action. We cut the close up to the point where she actually turned the handle so that it would fit smoothly and hide the editing. We then cut back to the long shot of Sophie walking through the door. We then used the master shot as a base so we could insert other shots to get the shot reverse shots required.