Q7 Evaluation

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Within our AS coursework we had to complete preliminary task. In this task someone had to enter a room showing a camera shot of them opening the door from one side and a shot of them entering the room from the other side. Two people had to sit in front of one another, having a short conversation with them. It was our choice what we wanted to base the whole scenario on. My group decided that we would have a scenario where a student has to enter a classroom where the teacher will be waiting. The conversation is about the student listening to the iPod in class, so she goes to get it back. There were different types of camera shot we had to take from different angles to get the over the shoulder shot correct.

Camera shots:

Close-up:The close-up shot is used to reveal detail and focuses on the head and shoulders. It is

mainly used to show a reaction of a subject.

   Extreme close-up:

This shot is used to reveal very small details in the scene.

            Over the shoulder shot:

This shot reveals one subject seen from the shoulder of another subject. it stimulates a view of the subject as seen from the second persons eyes. This shot is often used in a scene where

there is conversation between two or more people.

            Two shot:

Two shots are composed when two people are in the same scene and it shows the interaction between them which is important. It is a good way of introducing a conversation.

         Long Shot:

This shot is mainly used to show someone walking or moving.

      Medium shot:

A medium shot is from the waist to the head. This shot can be used to show upper body or hand movement.

Camera movement:

Tilt: Camera tilts in sync with a moving object Pan: goes from one object or subject of interest to another Zoom: pulls in or out to reveal information Dolly: is a long continuous shot which requires the camera and operator to move

physically on a cart to complete the full range of motion

Camera angles:

High angle:The camera is placed above the subject and tilted to look down on the subject. This type of

shot is sometimes called a birds eye view. You can use it to create a sense of smallness in the subject or to show that the audience has a sense of looking over the subjects from a.

Low angle:This shot shows the audience a view looking up at the subject. The camera is placed on the ground or floor and tilted to look up. A low angle shot, or worm’s eye view, can be used to

make a subject look bigger than it is.

Continuity: it is the process of cutting shots to keep the flow of the shot together as fluidly as possible, n0t showing the whole footage. The continuity of a film refers to the sequential

development and consistency of the story line and images. For example when a scene requires shots on different days the continuity of the story must be maintained. 

To film our ancillary product we used one HD video camera and a tripod. The scene starts of where I be walking through the corridor, to film this scene continuously without any blunders we had to make sure that the camera was positioned at an angle so when I turned to open the door the camera could do a smooth pan.

The print screen above shows the beginning when I walk through the corridor and am turning a corner to go to the classroom. To get a wide shot of the scene and record all my body we positioned the camera to be diagonal, so when I was turning we could easily pan me walking towards the door.

Once I got to the door, we needed to take a close-up of my hand opening the door from a high angle. We wanted to use a high angle because it makes the moment in action look more dramatic.

This is the high angle shot of my hand being recorded. To capture the high able shot we had to record hand held, the good thing about this camera was not it did not shake as much.

HD Video Camera - Panasonic SD700

This is the camera we used to record the ancillary task.

The next part that we recorded was me entering the classroom which showed the continuity of me entering the room. To make it look continuous I had to make sure I was opening the door with the same hand. When I walked into the classroom a long shot of me was recorded so that when I walked towards the camera I was not too close.

This is the wide long shot of me entering the classroom. We positioned the camera directly in front of the door so we could capture me walking in as well as getting a side shot of Megi (teacher) to show that she was waiting for me.

The next part of this task was to show me and Megi having a brief conversation about the iPod. We had to record this part twice so we could get recordings of me and recordings of Megi. To get a shot reverse shot, while getting an over the shoulder shot we had to position the cameras at an angle so the person being recorded from the front could be seen as well as showing the head and the shoulder of the other person.

In process of recording the ancillary task I learnt that the angle of where the camera is positioned is really important. So when the camera does need to be panned from a corner it is best to put it at angel in the first place which means you can get a quick, smooth pan of the object being recorded. To get over the shoulder shots it is important not to put the camera directly in front on the person as this will mean that the other persons head will not be recorded. Using a tripod to film something turning or walking towards the camera is the best idea as it executes it well.

Once we recorded all the scenes we edited the sequences individually to how we wanted. I was already familiar with how to use Adobe Premiere as we had used it to edit our music videos for our A2 coursework. The most important part of the editing was making sure that the continuity through the door and shit reverse shot looked continuous. Because when I was looking ancillary tasks from other schools there were some clear blunders which did not look very good. One of the most common was recording the ceiling which wasted a lot of space did not look good.

Creating the opening film sequence

Creating the ancillary task was mainly to give us practise on how to record our actual product. Our main project was to create an opening sequence of a film that lasted maximum two minutes. Once we thought about our treatment, locations, props etc we were ready to

This is a shot of Megi being recorded from in front. You can see my head from the back. Looking at this shot you can see that the camera is recording from an angle so it could get both of us in the same shot.

This the same shot type where the audience can see my face and you can see Megi’s shoulder and head. We positioned the camera higher so I look smaller compared to Megi so she looked dominating over me.

record. This meant that we able to use and develop ideas about camera shits and angles whilst filming this sequence.

The first visual that you can see is a side close-up of Megis face, we used a close-up so viewers can see that she is unconscious and has been abused by looking at the bruises on her face and tape on her mouth.

This shot instantly draws the attention of the audience as they want to see where she is, how she ended up there. To add emphasis to this shot we used a lamp to shine light on Megis face as that shows her as vulnerable, the lighting also allows the audience to see a bit of her face.

This is a medium close-up of Megis face. This shot has been used to show her body movements and posture.

This is an extreme close-up of Megis face as she is looking around because she does not now where she is. We also did a close-up shot in the preliminary task where I was opening the classroom door. This shows we have developed our skills from experimenting with close-ups in the preliminary task to doing extreme close-ups.

This is a wide long shot of Megi walking to school while she is on the phone. To film the scene we were standing on the other side of the road tracking her walking along. To get a smooth shot of the tracking we had to make sure the camera was the correct position so it did not get distorted while moving it.

This shot shows a high angle of Megi looking around in shock because she doesn’t know how she got there in the first place. This high angle also makes the audience believe that someone is spying on her. We also used a high angle in the preliminary task when I was opening the classroom door and for that we recorded hand held, similarly we hand held the camera and recorded Megi by standing on a chair.

This wide shot panning around Megi as she is unconscious. We did use a pan shot in the preliminary task as well when I was walking towards to the classroom door, this was filmed by putting the camera on a tripod and positioning it at an angle. However for this pan shot we went onto another level because we used a trolley to get a smooth pan shot. This was challenging the first few times as we had to get use to, to how to move the trolley and at what speed.

This is the final footage of the opening film sequence where the abuser walks towards Megi.. We have also used a high angle here because we wanted the abuser to appear as big and dominating over Megi.