Preliminary Task

For the preliminary task we had to make a short video featuring the 180 degree rule, match on action shots, shot reverse shots and continuity editing.

Our initial ideas were to make a short video depicting a conversation between two people. The first person would enter the room, sit down and the conversation would start. The two would then get up and leave. For the 180 degree rule we aimed to show different shots of the conversation, all in compliance with the 180 degree rule. The match on action shots were to be used when the first person enters the room, where as the shot reverse shots were used during the conversation.

Here is the first preliminary video:



The first shot that can be seen is the entrance of the first character, we see her walk into the frame whilst the clip fades in from black. As she reaches and pulls the handle down a little it immediately cuts to inside the room, where the handle is continued to be pulled down as she enters: this was our match on action shot.

Then as she sits down we cut to a close-up of her face, this illustrates the shot reverse shot however we felt we could have improved it as there was only cuts between three shots and none of which were a close up of the second character.

Throughout the whole video there are examples of the 180 degree rule as we never cross the 'line' between the two characters. This makes the piece seem more realistic as the opposing shots make sense together in the frame.

The only problem we had with the first preliminary video would be that the shot reverse shot lacked a close up of the second character. So to correct this we went out and filmed for a second time, including a close up of the second character. We then added the clip on the top of the first video, making a second preliminary video.

Here is the second preliminary video:


This was our final preliminary video, consisting of the original with an extra shot reverse shot. This improved the overall feel of the piece because the conversation seems some what more realistic and believable. As well as this the fades were added to give the finishing and the start a more cinematic feel, it also made the piece an extra few seconds longer.

Overall I am pleased with the preliminary piece as it uses all the techniques it needed to use as well as it being a fun task to produce. Now that the preliminary task is finished our focus shifts to the main task and ideas need to be furthered and improved before we even start to think about filming. However before all this we must research what sort of genre we want to do and the conventions of that genre.