Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our preliminary task film, we used a range of different shots and camera angles to gain various effects within our clip. For example, for our opening shot we used a point of view shot (POV) as if from the perspective of the main character, walking through the doors. This gave the effect as if the audience themselves were in the film. Another shot we used whilst the character was walking, which gave a similar effect, was the over-shoulder shot (OSS), which is about the time 0:23 when you watch the video. An example of when we abide by the 180 degree rule is shown when the two characters are talking at about the time 1:10, when we used over-shoulder shots again to show the interaction between the characters. The utilisation of this rule prevents the viewing audience from being confused when the shot cuts to the other person talking, as if you do not put this rule into practice, it appears as though the characters have changed positions and it can be confusing when you watch it back.

New technologies were vital in the construction, planning and evaluation of our film. For example, on the construction side of the project, one of the most obvious examples would be the fact that we used new technology in the form of a digital video camera for the actual filming of the video, which is classed as new technology itself. Having completed all the filming on the camera, another new technology we used to put the clips together into our final film was the editing suite software, which was a hugely vital part of the construction, as without it it would not have been possible to complete the making of the video so smoothly, and since upload it onto youtube... Which brings me onto the next new technology of youtube! This is a brilliant tool, which made it possible for us to upload our completed video onto our blogs for viewing by other people, possibly around the world! The final new technology used in the evaluation sector of the process is 'blogspot' itself. It was this site on which we uploaded and then evaluated the video on when creating a new post. I feel that my skills at using these technologies are at a fairly high level, and i can use them at a satisfactory standard. For example, i was able to upload the finished video to youtube, and then comment on it using this blog without any troubles whatsoever. When it comes to the construction side of the video, i feel i can also manage with the equipment and software fairly well. After a little bit of practice with the camera functions, we were able to shoot the entire video in one session with not too much trouble, including some quite competent use of shots including zooming and use of the tripod, which is evident from the lack of shaking from the camera with the majority of shots. The editing software at first appeared to be a challenge, but once again after some practice i feel that we managed to use it fairly well, with an example of this being the smooth transition between scenes (also including sound fading) in the video where our character enters through the second door.

Original Brief: “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.”

Overall, i believe that our final product meets the original brief quite accurately. I feel this way because we completed the task using both filming and editing to an adequate standard, involving a character opening a door, walking for a brief period, sitting down in a chair opposite another character, and then exchanging some lines of dialogue. Our final product was in the end not 100% accurate to the original task, as when it came to editing we found that background interference with the sound meant that you could not clearly hear the characters speaking, so instead we improvised by using subtitles to imply their speech (this was first agreed to be fine with our teacher). For the final few shots, we managed to followed the 180 degree rule, a key characteristic of the brief, which is more evidence of why our final film, overall, met the original brief accurately.