Preliminary Task: Evaluation

At a micro, technical level, how well did you film the tasks required – match on action, continuity filming, shot/reaction/shot and exchanging dialogue?
During the filming of our preliminary task we effectively filmed all of the shots required to create match on action, shot/reaction shot, exchanging dialogue and to demonstrate continuity filming. The filming used to create match on action required us to film many different shots of character one approaching the class room block from outside, going through the door and walking along the corridors towards the classroom. We used both cameras to take various close up shots, mid shots, and tracking shots so that we could edit them together to effectively show character one approaching the classroom using match on action.

To create shot/reaction shot during our film we had to film both actors at separate times saying the dialogue so that it could be edited to appear as a conversation between the two characters. We used both cameras to film shots from different angles and then used various pieces of film to create the conversation.

The short film we created runs quite smoothly and all of the mise en scene is the same throughout the film to demonstrate good continuity. Although, because some of the camerawork is filmed from different angles, the lighting in some shots appears different to others which unfortunately makes the audience aware of the editing in these parts. It is hard to avoid this happening without proper lighting of the scene and editing.

How many mistakes did you make, and what have you learnt about filming?
We made many mistakes while we were doing our filming mainly because of organisation. We were later than other groups to start filming as Simon was away on STV during the planning and James was late to join our group. As we had to be quick with our filming to get all of the shots required in one lesson, we would just begin filming without thinking of the position of the characters and of other members of the group. This meant that we ended up with a lot of footage which was from a bad angle or where other members of the group accidently appeared in the shot.

One scene where we kept making mistakes is the scene where character one gets up to leave. We wanted this acted a certain way so that he put his glasses on first before getting up to leave. We filmed this shot many times and repeatedly did it incorrectly although eventually we got it right and the final shot which we used was done correctly.

I have learnt a lot about filming through this task especially about where the cameras need to be positioned to create the scene how we want it to be. I also learnt that a tripod should be used as often as possible to film as it keeps the camera steady creating a smoother shot.

If you had to do this task again, what would you do differently?
If given this task again, I would definitely make sure that all members of the group were present for the lessons and the organisation was completed earlier. This would mean that our group would have more time to organise filming and to complete the editing of our film and the posts required on this blog.

I also think that over the lesson, our group filmed far more shots than we require which made editing quite tedious as we had to go through every shot that had been filmed to find the ones which we were able to use. If doing this task again, I would make sure that each shot was filmed correctly so that we weren’t left with an excessive amount of film that we couldn’t use.

Describe how you edited the footage, and any problems you encountered.
We edited the footage together to show each of the things that were required to include in our preliminary task: match on action, shot reaction shot, exchanging dialogue and continuity. Creating match on action required us to edit together the many different shots that we had filmed so that character one was shown walking all the way to the classroom. Shot reaction shot and the exchanging of dialogue required us to edit together each piece of the conversation that happens between character one and character two so that it flowed smoothly.

Continuity was the hardest thing for us to show as many of the shots had character one either sitting down or standing up at the wrong time or wearing his glasses when he hadn’t been in the previous shot. This was the main problem we had during editing – trying to keep the continuity going throughout the film. This required us to not use many of the shots as they were different in some way to the previous shot which would be noticeable for an audience watching our film.

(Gabi)