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

I worked with George Henry, Michael Greene and Claire Buswell. We all worked hard to make sure that all of our suggestions and ideas were considered when we were coming up with the idea for our short clip. We talked about the brief and what we had to include before going ahead to decide on roles, locations, scripts and other technicalities. In the process of making a film, there are usually several roles; director, the sound technician, camera operator, actor, lighting technician, and director's assistant, so with the small amount in a group we did our best to fill all of these roles. It was decided that Claire and I as the two girls would be gossiping over George's new Facebook photos. Michael would film most of it, but so as the roles were distributed a little more evenly George would film the parts of it that he was not in. George and Michael also shared the role of sound techinichian, and between us we shared the duty of holding up the clapperboard and stating the shot and take number. There was not much we could really do to alter lighting as we were filming in a room with large windows anyway.


When it came to editing, George and I shared most of the editing job, trying to make the clip smooth, and continuous and appear to the audience as a seamless flow, and that all of the narrative followed on. I really enjoyed working with my group - although obviously we came across issues, such as a disaster involving filming, I think we shared responsibility effectively and dealt with it reasonably well. Everyone in the group also proved to be reliable and good at time-keeping.


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

We started with an initial planning meeting to work out what we wanted to film, and start to write out shot lists, brainstorms, scripts, shooting schegules and storyboards. This was useful because it allowed us to share all of our ideas and make sure we all agreed upon everything. The brief stated that we had to include: a character walking in and sitting opposite another character, and a brief dialogue, and observe important continuity rules including the 180-degree rule, the 30-degree rule, shot-reverse-shot and match-on-action, so when planning we made sure to take all of this into account.

When we decided on a location, we all went over to check it out, making sure we knew where we were going to place our camera and how we wanted to position everything. We had to take into account that we would have no control over the lighting in the room due to the two large windows, and we had a check to see how sound-proof the room would be. We then settled on a date and time for a second meeting in which we finalised the small details of our shot schedule and storyboard.

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

Our school techinchian and media teacher gave us a session before filming in which they included a run through of how to use and handle the camera and sound equipment we were given. This meant that when it came down to shooting we all new exactly what to do with minimal questions asked. They talked us through how to use the Cannon HDV Camera, using a mini DV tape format, with the choice of either a detachable camera mic or a large boom mic. For the task at hand, we decided to use the small detachable mic as we were filming indoors and at close-range, and the major advantage of the boom mic would be the ability to get in closer to the sound. We also decided to use a tripod so that we didn't get the 'home-video', shaky effect of a hand-held shot and to allow us the ability to pan and rotate smoothly. Headphones that connected to the HDV Camera meant we could listen for any background noise before we started shooting, and allowed for a cleare play-back. We also used a whiteboard in place of a clapper board to keep track of our shot and take numbers.

On the editing side of things, we used a PC-based digital editing suite, and the editing programme Adobe Premier Pro, to cut up and put together our final piece. The main tools we needed were the razor tool, to cut up each clip into the sections we did and didn't need and to cut away mistakes and shots of the clapper board, the drag icon to transport clips between the timeline and the over-view windoe etc, and the drag icon so that we could move the clips up and down on the timeline and fit them together. As we stuck with a 'cut' transition between each shot, we were not reliant on any other effects to join the shots together. We did however use the title tool to add text to the beginning and end of our clip, and the source and output moniters, which stored and allowed us to watch footage, picking and choosing sections we wanted to keep and scrap.

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

There were several factors that needed to be taken into consideration when carrying out all of the above three taks. During planning, we needed to make sure that all of the roles amongst the group were distributed evenly. We had to decide on reasonably confident actors - obviously taking into account that none of us are ever going to win Oscars! - and make sure that everyone was comfortable with the position they were being asked to play. We had to make sure that the storyboard matched up the shot schedule and script, and that the location fitted in with all of this.

With shooting, there were yet more things to consider - most significantly sound and lighting. We were lucky on the day of the shoot, as due to the two windows in the room we were shooting in, the weather could have really caused our lighting to fail, but the day was not too bright or too dull. Also sound was important - there were lots of other groups filming at the same time of us so it was important that we made sure they didn't interrupt our shoot too much. Luckily, we chose a location which was mostly sound-proofed. Also it was important to make sure the actors, myself and Claire, were speaking loudly enough at all times. Obviously, with continuity as the main focus, we had to make sure that we didn't break any of the 180 and 30 degree rules, to ensure that everything flowed seamlessly. Our shot logs and schedules made sure this all went according to plan.

We decided to stick to the transition of simple cuts between each shot to not take away from the main focus on continuity. Also, time management was important with editing as it was easy to get carried away with playing about with the order of shots etc., and we had to bear in mind that we only had a certain amount of time to get finished.

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

I think that although the proccess of filming the sequence was definitly something I learnt a lot from, there was definite room for improvement, despite some areas that I was quite pleased with. We observed all of the continuity rules and included both match-on-action and shot reverse shot. We also tried our hardest to make sure that it flowed as seamlessly as possible. I think we did complicate things for ourselves by including three characters instead of just the reccomended two, so in hindsight I would probably consider using just the two characters. The first shot of Claire walking in, despite a small amount of unintended background noise, and opening the door with the match-on-action from the other side of the door I feel was particularly effective as it was very smooth and without any mistakes. I think some of the shots of myself and Claire having the conversation about George were well-framed and I was pleased with them overall. However 0.11, the framing is really poor at the establishing shot of the two girls. There is far too much space above the girls heads. Given the chance to redo this sequence, i would definitly chose a different location, as it was this that limited our ability to frame the shots nicely. Also the conversation is too fast-paced and there aren't enough pauses. It just cuts to each girl without any chance for the audience to absorb what has happened.

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?

I definitly think that this task will be beneficial to me when completing the rest of my foundation coursework as I have learnt a lot of valuable lessons. It was good to learn some of the continuinty rules first hand, for example at one point in one of our takes we broke the 30 degree rule and I know that I will now never break the rule again. Furthermore, after we had a disaster in which our camerman Michael pressed 'record' instead of 'stop' and we ended up filming a lot of stuff we didn't need and not filming any of our sequence, I learnt that it is best to deal with situation like this without panicking. Our group's first reaction was one of shock and we were all talking over each other and not giving each other any attention which did not get us anywhere - we realised when we slowed down and took things one step at a time, agreeing to stay behind for extra time to re-film that things went more smoothly. Ive learnt a valuable lesson from this, and know that none of our group will make the same mistakes again.

I also learnt what all of the roles in a filming enivornment are, such as the director and director's assistant, camerman, lighting and sound techinichans etc., and the things they all say to signify that they are starting such as 'Camera rolling!'. Also, I learnt that storyboarding and shot schedules and lists are all very valuable - at first I was sceptical about how important all of this planning would be but it turned out to be very useful to have a solid plan of what to film when.

Group 3C - Preliminary Exercise Paperwork (Storyboard, Shot list, Script)

BLK Continuity homework part 1

1. I think the point to the activity was to demonstrate to us that creating continuity is not as easy as it seems and to teach us that it is very difficult to film a continuous sequence without the ability to cut up and edit the shots. It may also have been so that we could learn from experience what some of the fundamental continuity concepts are, so that we will remember them in the future more easily and be less inclined to break them again.

2. Not much really worked well about our sequence. I think some of the shots were quite good like the establishing shot of George walking away, and the low-angle shot of him walking past, but all of the shots went on for too long and did not follow on well at all.

3. Given the chance to do it again, I would shorten the length of the first establishing walking shot. I would make sure that we did not break the 180 and 30 degree rules again, both of which we broke in this sequence. I would probably not include the low-angle shot of George walking as it looks very menacing and is unnecessary as their is nothing particularly scary about the shot. I would also try and make sure all the shots followed on more from each other.

4. I learnt from this activity what all of the main continuity concepts are and will probably never break them again - I also learnt that there is a lot more to creating a continuous sequence than it first seems.

DYM HOMEWORK FEEDBACK

This is a confident comparison, Despina. You demonstrate very good technical and thematic analyses. It's a shame the work was late.

BLK hwk feedback

An excellent evaluation Despina, in all respects. Well written using a high standard of terminology, including technical terms. Very thorough and reflective.

A great start!

shot denototation & reflections.

1. The shot is a MS of a young, white male wearing a grey zip-up hoody with the hood over his head. The hood casts a shadow across his face which coveres his right eye so that just his left, blue eye looks up at the camera. He is sitting slumped up against a brick wall and is in semi-darkness, a 'torch-light' shining onto him, creating an interrogation-style effect. His right eye looking up almost menacingly at the camera is horror signifier, as well as the dead-pan expression on his face and the fact that the shot is very dark and shady, connoting mystery. His shadow is also cast onto the brick wall which his also looks quite 'horror-like'.

2. The shot was acheived using a Lexus camera? and although a lot of the other shots we took at the time were taken using a tripod this particular shot was hand-held so that I could get in closer to the character. The torch-light affect was acheived using a hand-held pag light, without any filters used over the light.

3. I think one of the strongest points of the shot is the way the one exposed eye is shining in the light and the rest of his face is masked by shadow, this creating a very shady and horrifying effect. I like how the shot is angled so that it looks like he is looking up, almost victim-like, into the lens.

4. In hindsight however, there are quite a few things I would change. The setting with the brick wall was not ideal, as despite the fact that it provided an effective backdrop, the floor was not fitting with the whole 'image' so it had to be shot from a certain angle so as not to include it in the photo. Given the chance to take the shot again I would consider the location more carefully beforehand. Also, I would try and create a more defined outline on the 'torch-light', by going in closer with the pag-light, so it looks more edgy and is more obvious what it is intended to be.

Continuity Sequence Analysis

Mean Girls

Watch from the beginning of the clip - 1:59.




In the two short conversations in this clip, one between Jason and Cady, and one between Cady and Regina, a lot of the important continuity sequence rules are observed. The most obvious is the 180 degree rule. In both conversations, the camera never crosses over one side of the 180 degree line formed between the two characters in question. Although this is not as significant in the clip in question, as there aren't many instances were there was the opportunity for this concept to be broken, the cameraman never breaks the '30 degree' rule either.

Although both conversations are constructed mostly through over-the-shoulder shots of each character, they both follow the convention of cutting frequently back to a main shot of the conversation which shows both characters. The director would probably have filmed three versions of each conversation - one from each character's point of view, and one more displaying both characters in the shot. Also, both conversations occasionally cut back to a master shot of the whole canteen table, to create a feel of context. These master shots would have all been filmed at the same time, and then cut up and positioned through out, as opposed to everything being filmed in the order of occurrence. There is also one instance where the camera cuts right back to show not only the whole canteen table, but several of the surrounding tables in the rest of the canteen - a version of the whole scene was probably shot from this perspective too.

The cut-up shots of Regina interrupting and speaking to Jason during his conversation with Cady were probably filmed at the same time as her conversation with Cady was filmed, as it would have been time-consuming to film these as two separate scenes.

Also, as this clips does not show the whole conversation between Jason and Cady, ( It starts halfway through, I had trouble finding the whole clip on Youtube), we cannot see an example of this, but the director does also include an establishing shot of the whole canteen at the start of the scene. The only other rule we do not see displayed here as far as I can point out is a match-on-action shot.