Preliminary Task

Over the last 2 weeks my partners and I have been working on our preliminary task, in which we had to show examples of a few different camera shots including:

• Establishing shot
• Close-up
• Over the shoulder
• Panning, and
• Long-shot

Moreover, we had to apply certain filming rules to the project, such as keeping the 180 degree rule and maintaining continuity by shooting match on action shots and using the editing software to make ensure the shots flowed correctly.

Below is a picture show how the 180 degree rule is applied.

As it is possible to see in the picture, if the camera starts on one side of a conversation (such as in the green area) it looks as thought the person in orange is on the left and the person in blue is on the right. The 180 degree rule dictates that; if the previous shot was within one side of the line dotted in the photo, you cannot make a straight cut to a shot from the other side, i.e. one should not cut from a shot straight from the green zone into the red, or vice-versa. The reason for this rule is that, if one did cut through the line, it would deceive the viewer and look as if the people conversing switched positions. The only way to get around this issue i.e. if a shot from the opposite side is wanted, then you must pan over the line instead of cutting over it. Once this pan has taken place, you have then crossed the line, and the 180 degree rule is then reapplied to the new side. (If you were on the green side, then panned into the red, you must then stay in the red zone whilst cutting.)

A match on action, is a type of continuity editing which joins together 2 different views of the same action at the same moment, a cut is used between the two shots to make it seem as if the shot is one continuous movement, and ensures there is no jarring between the shots. The action begins in the first shot, and ends in the second. Such as when opening a door, we see the person opening the door from behind and starting to walk into the room in the first shot, and coming into the room from the front in the second shot. An example of this is in our preliminary task.

Although the video was not of the highest quality, it did help all three of us learn how to use the film camera, such as learning how to white balance, Zoom, focus and control the aperture. In Addition to this, I learnt how to set up and dismantle a tripod on both a dolly and on a spreader. Finally, after filming we used the editing software (Adobe Premiere) to ensure there was continuity between the shots and the skills we have learnt in both filming and editing will help us to film our coursework; a title sequence to a thriller film

Below is the actual preliminary video.



In the filming of this task, I only actually filmed the section where Johnny, the boy in the blue jumper, looks up at me entering the room. This shot was a high angle shot which was also a medium close-up. To compensate for this low amount of filming, I edited the whole of the dialogue and Johnny's reaction to my entrance.


From the filming section, I learned how to operate and change parameters on the camera, which I was previously unable to do. I also learnt that although filming looks very simple, it isn't and I had to reshoot many shots multiple times, as it was often the case that the focus, aperture or zoom was not exactly as we had planned.

From the editing section, I became aware of a new piece of editing software that I had not used before, and began to get used to it. By the end of editing my section of the sequence, whilst experimenting with some special features throughout, I feel that I have gained a large amount of experience in using the strong, but dated software (Adobe Premiere Pro 2.0 is now 4 years old, which is a long time in terms of technology, as there have been 4 more recent versions of the software released, the most recent being Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 v4.2.1) Some of the video effects I tried to use were: lighting effects, pixelations, and video transitions (like dip to black and Dissolve)

NB: the small stalled bit before the conversation starts is not in the original video, but there was an error when uploading, which causes the stall.

During the filming of this task, as a group we came up with 2 main ideas for the thriller intro-sequence that we will have to film.

1. A murder mystery based on an individual sport, such as boxing, in which the contenders are seen psyching themselves up, and after the 1st contender has come out, and the 2nd hasn't someone goes backstage to find the 2nd contender dead in their changing room. this would be a 'Who-Done-It?' style murder mystery
2. A murder mystery/psychological horror starting at a teenage house-party in which someone is killed under strange circumstances, such as by his/her hallucination.