Evaluation

The brief of our preliminary exercise was to film a conversation that included the use of the following techniques: Shot reverse shot, 180 degree line and match on match action.

The 180 degree line of action is used when filming a conversation as it keeps the camera on the side of action therefore it keeps the characters in a scene on a specific side of the frame. So this allows the characters to keep looking at each other even when one character is off screen as the audience will be aware of the position of the character that is off screen. If the 180 degree line is broken then the characters will appear to have moved. Match on match action is used to show an action being made as it shows the same action from different angles, this gives the audience a full view of the action being made. E.g. one shot may be a medium shot showing an arm reaching for a door handle and the next shot shown may be a close up of the persons hand touching the door handle. Shot reverse shot is also a technique that is often used in conversations as it can be used to show one character talking and then the other characters reaction. This involves cutting from one person to another, this creates a smoother scene as it helps show a conversation from both angles effectively.

In preparation for this task a risk assessment was completed, this helped any faults or problems to be identified so that we could make sure that there were no problems or accidents whilst filming so that none of the group members were in danger of injury and the equipment was safe and wouldn’t be damaged. The program Celtx was used to write the script the script this also added extra detail such as how the characters where positioned, this helped us know where exactly each character was at a certain time we then drew out onto a storyboard so the shots we needed to film were planned out this was also done using the shot list that was prepared beforehand also by adding the extra detail to the script we were able to create a better storyboard as we knew exactly what had to be drawn. We then planned where the filming would take place and what props we need to film the scene e.g. a purse was used in the scene.

Sadly on the day of filming I was absent due to illness however I was able to do some of the editing I also ran through the shots that were filmed to make sure that none of them went over the 180 degree line. The program that we used to edit the clips was called final cut. We uploaded the footage by plugging the camera into the Mac computer we used via A USB cable.

When editing we decided that we wanted to start off the film with the corridor shots so we started of the film with part of a pan shot as this shot had to be cut down as there was some shaking of the camera and we wanted the film to look smoother. The next shot we included was a shot of Sophie’s hand turning a door handle, for this we used the technique match on match action as we cut a long shot of Sophie running towards the door and then a medium close up of her grabbing the handle and opening it. We then used a long shot to show Sophie walking at a pace into the room and sitting down, we used a medium close up to show that Sophie had sat down. We then used the technique shot reverse shot to show the conversation between Caitlain and Sophie as we cut medium close ups of them talking to each other and we also showed a long shot of both of them talking so that the audience is fully aware of where both characters are. Whilst editing the shots to show the technique shot reverse shot we used a sound bridge so that we were able to show Caitlain’s reaction to what Sophie was saying whilst she was still saying it. We then showed match on match action again as we showed a long shot of Caitlain reaching into her purse which we then cut to a medium shot to show Caitlain passing some money over to Sophie, we then cut to a long shot to show Sophie accepting the money and walking towards the door and out of it.