Preliminary Film Task

For our preliminary task, we had to create a short sequence in which a character:

• opens a door
• crosses a room
• sits down on a chair opposite another character 
• exchanges conversation with the other person

Filming and editing techniques we had to display in this task included match on action, shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and over the shoulder shot.

We first created a story board to plan the exact shots and sounds we would use

                 

Our finished preliminary film task is below.

Evaluation

What we did well:

• We included all the requested  features from the brief
• We used two shots during the characters conversation whilst using shot reverse shot editing and the 180 degree rule to show the connection between them during conversation.
• We used tense, violin music with an increasing pitch to build up to the moment when Ellie sees the lion,this creates an enigma for the audience as the wonder what the music is building up to
• We used a tracking shot to show action when Ellie runs from the lion which creates a fast pace and adds camera movement rather than keeping it still
• We used  point of view shot along with tense music which built tension as the characters were unaware that the lion was watching them
• We improvised well with props considering the short amount of planning time
• The storyline worked and flowed and there was a clear narrative structure

What could we improve on:

• Dialogue quiet and grainy and music overpowered speech
• Over the shoulder shot however it was quite unstable as the character walked up stairs so it was hard for the person holding the camera to keep the camera above their shoulder
• The actors struggled not to laugh during filming so we had to crop some of the shots we filmed to make the sequence more serious however this meant a few shots did not flow as they finished abruptly
• The props used were not persuasive or realistic as we only had a short amount of time to plan this task