Preliminary Exercise

Preliminary exercise: 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.

1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

I worked with Adam Romo and Matt Smith.

We split up the roles equally between each other, trying our best to ensure that we each did about a third of the overall work. We decided that Adam and Matt would be the main actors (Adam was the bully and Matt was the nerd) and I would direct and be cameraman to most of the shots, however when either team mate wasn't in the shot they did the camera work. Since I did most of the technical work whilst filming, we decided that Adam and Matt would do the majority of the editing and I would finalise the edit by ensuring that each continuity technique was checked. Overall, I feel we delegated the work load fairly to each of us.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?

We first began brainstorming together and we agreed on the idea of a bully dominating a nerd by forcing him to leave the study room so that he could be in there himself. After agreeing on the idea, we sketched up a storyboard of the sequence of events, ensuring that the continuity and the specifications in the exercise brief were the top priorities. Since very did the storyboard near our set, we each got up and stood in the position of the camera for each shot, to best visualise the framing.

The above image is our storyboard. The storyboard was very helpful for us to organise our shooting schedule with the minimum camera set-ups required. We followed the storyboard very closely during the production stage, however in post-production the shots weren't necessarily edited in the same order and with the same number of shots. For instance, there is an added shot at 00:18 to give another perspective of the argument. Also, by following the storyboard we were able to incorporate the principles of continuity (such as the 30 degree rule and 180 degree rule) to ensure that the film showed a clear focus on continuity.

Although our sequence was very short (about 20 seconds) we were able to include many theories. Firstly, for Todorov - the theory of equilibrium - disruption - disequilibrium - equilibrium, the stages of his theory are clear. The initial equilibrium is where Matt is quietly getting on with his work. The disruption and disequilibrium happens when Adam comes in and argues and scares Matt, with a sort of equilibrium being reached where Matt leaves the room in a tantrum and the situation has calmed down.

Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites can be applied with the most obvious being bully verses the nerd, shown very clearly as the overlying idea of the film through the narrative and characters involved. There are other binary opposites such as good and bad, innocent & violent and hooded & unhooded.

Barthes five codes theory can be applied as well.

• Enigma - Who is this person? What is his motive? Why does he want this room specifically? Why does the nerd react in this way? What history is there in the relationship between these characters?
• Action - The protagonist (the bully) is shown in the opening shot walking to this room specifically with a facial expression revealing a motive and the intent to upset the antagonist (the nerd).
• Semiotic - The bully is wearing a hoody, which usually gives the connotations of adolescent anti-social behaviour. The shot / reverse shots at high and low angles to represent the perspective of the person speaking, with the high angle signifying superiority and the low angle signifying inferiority.
• Cultural - The first title shows the group number and the members of the group, allowing the viewer to understand that the film is a project and the next title is the title of the film, "NERD," giving the audience the expectation that they are about to see a film about a student who is picked on and studies a lot.
• Symbolic - There isn't anything signifying the symbolic code since the film sequence is very short.

We cannot apply Propp's theory directly to our film sequence because it too short and hasn't been given the opportunity to develop more characters, but an extended version of our film would be able to include his theory.

3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

In the production stage, we used a HD quality video camera, a tripod, headphones and a shotgun microphone. Since the majority of our shots had a stationary camera and there was only one shot in which a pan was included, we used a tripod to ensure the shot kept level, kept steady and looked professional. The shotgun mic was used in the first setting, shotgun, to reduce the interfering background noise when dialogue needed to be heard. In all other shots, however the mic was on the second setting, which allowed a more stereo sound to be heard.

In post production, we used Adobe Premier Pro to capture and edit the footage in a tidy fashion. This software allowed us to cut up the footage and put each shot on different levels so that we can edit frame by frame with ease.

4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

We had account for time during all production stages since we were given a time limit: 1 hour to plan, 1 hour to film and 1 hour to edit. In the filming time we had to ensure we had time for retakes in order to make sure we got the best quality shots, which I feel we did. Also, in the editing stage we were set back early on by a technical problem when capturing, however we soon resolved this by capturing all the footage in one go.

It was important for the person operating the sound, me, to let the director know whether background interference noise was a factor, in order to reduce poor sound quality. I feel we controlled this very well, since sound quality was not a problem in the final edit.

Before we could storyboard our film we had to secure the location to make sure our shots suited the setting. We decided to use the media block to ensure the sound and interruptions of other people could be kept at a minimum.

The most important factor to control was the continuity since this was the focus of the task. We ensured the 30 degree rule and 180 degree rule wasn't broken in the storyboarding and shooting to avoid confusion of the audience. To allow the shot / reverse shot to be edited successfully we filmed the whole set of dialogue from two angles. We did this also for the match on action technique. We filmed the entire film from several angles, one being the master shot, to allow for smooth editing.

5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve / do differently?

After analysing our film and listening to the feedback of peers I am able to withdraw the pros and cons.

The positives are that we were able to maintain continuity successfully, without breaking the 180 degree rule and making good use of the match on action and shot / reverse shot techniques. Also, the acting was believable which allowed our very simple sequence to be finished to a very high standard.

The negatives are that it was perhaps to simple which meant that the narrative lacked originality, meaning many viewers found it quite dull, although the sound it was technically well finished.

In hindsight, I would make the sequence longer to allow more time for a narrative to develop and i would try to be more creative with shots to add flare and originality to the film. I feel our group worked brilliantly together and we enjoyed working together so this would stay the same.

6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

From this task I have learnt and developed many skills including the ability to work with others and manage time, how to maintain successful continuity and the techniques involved, problem solving under time constraints and how to work short range audio.

This learning will be significant since the rest of the foundation coursework relies on my knowledge, understanding and ability to utilise these continuity techniques and people skills; without which I cannot hope to do well.