Preliminary task

For our preliminary task we were asked to film "A 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"

Story boarding the task first helped us to remember the focus of each shot when filming so we were able to film a coherent sequence without being side tracked or forgetting what we wanted to feature. Although the sequence was not an exact match of the story board because of location and  changes in dialogue (both speech and ambient sound) it still shows a very similar sequence to the final product.

A problem we noticed during filming was that the camera used for filming picks up all sound in the environment which meant that somethings could not be avoided and we had to include. This will be easier to deal with when it comes to filming the thriller opening sequence because there will be mostly people involved with the film and so they will not disturb the filming but we will probably have to make some exceptions if we film outdoors and in public.

We included the three requirements for the task and of the three match on action was the hardest to film. It took multiple takes and multiple shots to film get a relatively good sequence featuring match on action. By filming for long periods of time both before and after we had seen what we required we made the editing much easier for ourselves rather than if we had stopped and started with exact timings.

Some parts of the film appear to overlap each other because when we move the camera to film the same scene from a different angle (when Taro walks through the corridor) we have to film the sequence again and it can be hard to get everything to move at the same speed for example doors opening and closing.

Everyone in the group made a contribution to all the areas of filming so although they may not have necessarily been filming they may have suggested what camera angle to use for example. This meant that everyone was included in every element of the process which should be helpful when it comes to filming the thriller sequence because everyone will have some level of experience in the film making process.

Joseph Power