Preliminary task & Evaluation (Keiley)

4 & 5. Preliminary task & Evaluation

In this task, we where put into groups and given a set of principles that we had to for fill in a short film. There where three key aspects we needed to include, these were:

• shot reverse shot - one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character.
• match on action - the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action. The example we used is a me walking up to a door and reaching for the knob.
• 180 degree rule - guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene.

Our Preliminary task contained all four sets of actions which were :

1) Exchanging two sentences of conversation.

2) Walking across a room. 

3) Opening a door. 

4) Sitting down

Plan- 

We as a group came up with a lot of different ideas however the final idea we came up with was that there was a girl in school who was being stalked by someone else however her friends would not believe her. She tries to tell them about it and they ignore her telling her to shut up. Eventually at the end they see him and he asks her out, sadly she says no as she is to creaped out that she was being followed by him. 

Evaluation: 

Shot reverse shot - 

We used this in out short film when i as the girl being stalked was talking to my friends about my stalkers. we felt this was a good time to put it in as it makes it more realistic  as it feels like the audience is really talking to the other character. As well as this, the conversation wouldn't be as boring due to the different perspective in alternative to just looking at the characters. 

Match on action -

We used this in our short film when i walked through the door (on of the key components that we had to include) As a group we felt this was effective as it created verisimilitude to the film as it looks as if the event is happening in real time and it would feel like the audience is part of the film.

180 degree rule - 

We used this in our short film when i was walking through the school to the toilets. We used this here specifically  however this was relevant though out the whole short film as if we ever went over the 180 degre line then it would change the whole perspective making it very unrealistic and might even confuse the audinece watching. 

Audience Response to preliminary:

• Soundtrack: the editing of the song into the audio line 'she's so lovely' this gives the film narrative as it works with the story line of the boy wanting to ask the girl out.
• The audio of the characters speaking is loud enough and the music fades out on certain parts of the film where the dialogue starts.
• The camera angle and tracking shots are clean giving the effect of match on action as it doesn't have jump cuts. Camera was in focus which gave the effect of a modern film and allows the camera to capture facial expressions.
• Some shots with the camera are shaky which could have been resolved with a tripod to create a smooth shot.
• If we had more time we should have done more shots at different angles so that when we got to editing we would have more shots to chose from to match the previous scenes.
• Our editing of the clips together could have been more smoother as we had some dialogue problems where the dialogue cuts half of the sentence and goes straight to the response of the other character which reduces the continuity editing.

Preliminary task and Evaluation (Vince Santillan)

We were given a preliminary task as a small group of 3-4. The task was to create a short clip, the clip had to show our filming and continuity editing skills that we have. In the preliminary, we had to display three key aspects of continuity editing - Shot reverse shot, match on action and lastly, the 180 degree rule. These features allow editing to be smooth and successful. Continuity editing is created in a chronological way to create a sense of realism, if done successfully, it is hardly noticeable as it is very commonly used and feels very natural. The main purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the discontinuity of the editing process and to create a natural feel between shots. 

                                     
Match on action
Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique that is used in continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This technique distracts the audience of the rather evident cut, by masking the cut and instead makes look continuous (hence continuity editing). This technique adds a sense verisimilitude due to its continuity and seamlessness.

Shot-Reverse-Shot
Shot reverse shot is a continuity editing technique. It is used in conversations or when characters are looking at each other or objects. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other. This style of editing consists of cuts to each person’s face while the face of the person who is being confronted is no seen through the use of the ‘over the shoulder shot’.

180 - degree rule
The 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. The rule states that the camera or cameras should remain the same side of an imaginary line. The rule is introduced during an establishing shot of the characters. If the camera crosses the line at any point, it will create a confusing and uncomforted feeling for the audience because it makes it look like the people are switching positions in the screen, which is unrealistic.

Preliminary task & Evaluation (Anderson)

We were given a Preliminary task as a small group, the task was to create a short clip. The clip had to display our filming and continuity editing skills we have. In this we had to display three key aspects of continuity editing . Shot-reverse-shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. These key features allow you to make continuity editing successful and smooth. Continuity editing is created in a chronological way to create a sense of realism. The main purpose of continuity editing is to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to create a logical coherence between shots. To compliment, within our short video we had to also include a consisting of two or more lines, a character passing through a door, finally a shot of a character walking.


Our Preliminary task contained all four sets of actions which were :
1) Exchanging two sentences of conversation.
2) Walking across a room.
3) Opening a door. 
4) Sitting down.

Evaluation

Pre-Production:

• We did not have a lot of time to plan; only 30 minutes.
• We only had time to write a script and not enough time to draw up a storyboard

Production:

• Our production process involved finding a setting.
• We decided to film our task in many locations such as a hallway, outside and where we had a lot of space to set up the camera and use many different angles.
• We found props such as a table, chairs and a box of pin pong balls.
• We used shot reverse shot to add a sense of continuity.
• As a group, we made sure that we included the features that the task required. Post-Production:
• We imported all the different scenes into Final Cut Pro.
• We then started to piece together all the different scenes using match on action, which added to our continuity editing.
• It was during the post-production stage when we noticed that the speech in our scenes echoed around the room and because of this, we had to detach the audio line from the visual line and raise the volume of the speech.
• we added visual and sound effects such as the police lights and police sirens to add some suspense

Post-Production:

• We imported all the different scenes into Final Cut Pro.
• We then started to piece together all the different scenes using match on action, which added to our continuity editing.
• It was during the post-production stage when we noticed that the speech in our scenes echoed around the room and because of this, we had to detach the audio line from the visual line and raise the volume of the speech.
• we added visual and sound effects such as the police lights and police sirens to add some suspense

Shot reverse shot:

This technique was used to capture both reactions of the people which makes the narrative more clear as we can witness their emotions and reactions based on what the previous person had said. it allows us to see both sides of the conversation and makes the audience feel like they are part of the conversation. These shots were filmed twice and merged into one with editing.

Match on action:

Match on action (or cutting on action) is an editing technique that is used in continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This technique distracts the audience of the rather evident cut, by masking the cut and instead makes look continuous (hence continuity editing). This technique adds a sense verisimilitude due to its continuity and seamlessness. At four seconds the main actor Vince is entering the door and appears on the other side finishing of the action of opening the door. This allows the video to flow, while not being intruded by the “un-continuity” of the unedited footage from prior to the end of post-production. This technique allows us to connect two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement. This is done by editing the footage carefully together.

180 degree rule: 

The 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. The rule states that the camera or cameras should remain the same side of an imaginary line. The rule is introduced during an establishing shot of the characters. If the camera crosses the line at any point, it will create a confusing and uncomforted feeling for the audience because it makes it look like the people are switching positions in the screen, which is unrealistic.

Improvements after evaluating our Preliminary task:
- Perhaps have a longer time in each stage of the production process.              
- Have the ability to go out of school to other locations.              
- Shoot more shots so that when editing we have more choice in order to pick the shot we want.

Preliminary task & Evaluation (Anna)

Preliminary task:

With the production of the film we had to  follow guidelines and include:

• Continuity editing,
• Match on action,
• 180 degree rule,
• Shot reverse shot,
• Include a conversation,
• Opening door and going through it. 

Idea and plan:

With this task we haven't had enough time to plan a storyboard but we did brainstorm an idea on what it would be based on. our one minute film was based on a girl being followed and stalked by a boy who is in love with her, we chose to add more humour rather than seriousness as we wanted to experiment with a different genre additionally it would have improved the narrative of the story as the boy was stalking her because he wanted to aske her out and was too scared to talk to her.

Match on action:

We used two shots and edited them together to create the effect of continuity editing this allowed us to increase the effect of match on action.

Person walking through the door included the technique of Match on Action. This technique would have added verisimilitude to the film as it looks as if the event is happening in real time and it would feel like the audience is part of the film.

Shot reverse shot:

This technique was used to capture both reactions of the people which makes the narrative more clear as we can witness their emotions and reactions  based on what the previous person had said. it allows us to see both sides of the conversation and makes the audience feel like they are part of the conversation. These shots were filmed twice and merged into one with editing.

180 degree rule:

The 180° rule is when the camera cannot pass a invisible line which is from the left to the right of the character (180°) if the cinematographer passes through it, it changes the perspective of the film and makes the film change angle. If it crosses the line it reverses the angle.

Audience Response to preliminary:

• Soundtrack: the editing of the song into the audio line 'she's so lovely' this gives the film narrative as it works with the story line of the boy wanting to ask the girl out.
• The audio of the characters speaking is loud enough and the music fades out on certain parts of the film where the dialogue starts.
• The camera angle and tracking shots are clean giving the effect of match on action as it doesn't have jump cuts. Camera was in focus which gave the effect of a modern film and allows the camera to capture facial expressions.
• Some shots with the camera are shaky which could have been resolved with a tripod to create a smooth shot.
• If we had more time we should have done more shots at different angles so that when we got to editing we would have more shots to chose from to match the previous scenes.
• Our editing of the clips together could have been more smoother as we had some dialogue problems where the dialogue cuts half of the sentence and goes straight to the response of the other character which reduces the continuity editing.

TECHNICAL:Short Film:Three principles of continuity editing (Anna) (Keiley)

Three principles of continuity editing

In this short clip we had covered the three principles of continuity editing such as 

• Shot reverse shot, 
• 180 degrees shot 
• Match on action

TECHNICAL:Practical Production:1 Minute Film (Anna)

Short film- Spy Mission

This is our tryout of using the cameras and the editing software, we have called this short clip 'Spy mission'

You can guess the genre from the title which which is about spies meaning thriller and more action based film similar to James bond.

Pre-Production:

• We had written down all the possible genres we could do in our school area, we excluded romance or horror as we don't have appropriate location for it we also agreed on not including comedy as we would have to come up with a funny script which would be hard with the time we had given.
• We thought of the Genre: thriller/action
• We focused on who is going to act and who is the cinematographer
• The location was discussed which made us choose if the genre works with the setting
• The character names were discussed and then we selected who plays what role
• We created a story board so that we knew after filming how to order our film scenes.
• We had included all the camera angles and discussed what angles should we use for what scene such as close ups, zooming out, shoulder point of view and first person point of view.
• We searched for props such as tissue paper and a computer which were needed for our scenes
• We gathered equipment such as cameras, tripod and SD card
• Finley had gotten permission to film and use the music room

Production:

• We have chosen to use various scenes to film, we filmed all the scenes we needed in one location and then moved on to other to save time
•  We had made double takes of the scenes in case the first one wasn't good enough
• We had chosen and used a variety of camera angles so each scene is different such as when running up the stairs we had used the cinematographer to run behind her to make the scene more dramatic and realistic, we had close ups such as the one on the villains face to emphasise that hes not a joke and to show that he's serious unlike if it was a full body shot.
• We used props such as a cloth to show the realism and make it more believable
•  The camera was mostly hand held due to all the action, we had the camera follow the main character to show the drama and thrill to make the audience feel like they are there in the film, it engages them into the film.

Post-Production:

• We used final cut pro to edit our scenes, we added sound effects of punching, heart beat at the start of our film which created realism and added suspense.
• We removed scenes which didn't portray what we wanted.
• We edited out some scenes due to the sound on them such as footsteps or laughter which was picked up by the camera in the scenes which we had to crop out.
• We posted it on Youtube so that we could have others to see it and have reviews.

WWW:

As a group we worked well, we had agreed on a genre, we had all participated in ideas. We created our own characters which we agreed on and changed it our self for it to match the movie. 

EBI:

we had worked as a team however it felt quite one sided we had ideas but some were not approved due to laziness of redoing scenes and having to go to the locations.

our editing skills were quite lazy, we had added a funny comment at the end of the film to make the audience laugh even though our film was a action film and not comedy.

could have had more scenes which were more properly edited however it was our first time doing the editing and filming so we did have fun with it.

Outcome:

we have learnt many new techniques such as how to use camera and the settings it has such as, the tripod being used for stationary scenes, the zoom ins and outs, the hand held camera uses and the first person view for the camera.

we also have learnt how to use the editing software such as adding in sound effects, visual effects and cropping and moving the scenes in addition removing the audio from the scene and adding a dialogue voice over or narration.

TECHNICAL:Practical Production:1 Minute Film (Anderson)

Short film analysis 

Pre-production
Script making- Everyone helped to think of our script
Storyboard-we used this to help plan out what our film should look like
Location planning
Casting
research
Script read-through with cast- we practiced the lines so we know what is happening during the real recording
Special effects preparation - during the shooting scene, our actor pretended to get shot knowing we will add effects after
Prop preparation- Bag/money

Production
Shooting
Camera man

Post- production
Editing: we added black bars to give our film a more cinematic look
Sound effects- we added gun shots
Colour grading- we darkened the shadows slightly and increased the contrast very slightly
Cutaways- we cut off parts of certain clips to
Soundtrack- we added songs that helped suit an atmosphere when needed eg music that builds suspense and action music

EBI? What have you learnt?

More time is needed to make everything more perfect and to redo certain scenes if needed
It is important to know how to use the camera for the film to look better eg certain parts not in focus properly
The sound was very windy at the start and characters audio wasn't clear so to help with this a microphone which is quite windproof would be needed. However if this is something that cant be used changing the location to somewhere such as indoors could also be another option.

TECHNICAL:Practical Production:1 Minute Film (Vince)

T H E  H E I S T

Pre-Production:

• We thought about what genre we should do
• We brainstormed different concepts we could do for the one minute film
• Thought about different characters and the roles of those characters
• Assigned people to play the roles of the characters
• We wrote a short script 
• We thought of location and settings
• Planned out which angle to film at on each scene
• We made a storyboard

Production:

• We used different techniques of filming e.g. handheld camera shots, track shots, shots focusing on a stunt
• We had one actor do a stunt 
• Improvisation 
• Adapting planned story line to scenery

Post-Production:

• Editing sound effects
• Managing scene transitions
• Fitting scenes together
• Trimming scenes
• Creating credits

WWW- 

Our group created a very good concept at the beginning for a film so we just worked from that, gave it a few tweaks and added a few bits so we could do it in school. Additionally, during pre-production, we were assigning roles to each other (actors, filming etc.), we managed to do this very easily due to everyone being very co operative. Filming went smoothly and as planned and the stunts were done correctly with no injuries.

EBI-

I think if we spent a little more time planning out lines and scenery, some parts of the the production would be much more refined and overall would turn out better. Also, during filming we misplaced our tripod in vision of the camera and when we noticed it, it was too late. If we cleared the area of filming before, it would've been better.

Welcome Post (Group Work)

Welcome to Group 8's Media Production Blog.

Group 8 consists of: 
Keiley Dutton  ( candidate number - 7053) 🌸🙈
Anna Gajda (candidate number - 7067) 🔥💫
Vince Santillan... AKA Josh (candidate number - 7150)🙂💥
Anderson Speck Randam (candidate number - 7157) 🏀💪