Prelim Task! (FILMING)

This was our official prelim task; it was to create a short sequence showing someone entering a room, exchanging a line of dialogue , and then exiting. This could be done in any style/ scenario, aslong as it followed this order and included 'shot reverse shot' during the dialogue, and followed the 180 degree rule and 'action match shot' throughout.

• The 180 degree rule is a basic principle in filming which means that the camera should always stay on one side of the imaginary axis (shown in the image below).If the camera passes the axis, this breaks the 180 degree rule and a new shot is created called the 'reverse angle'. This would cause the left-right relationship between two characters in the scene, to change- so referring to the picture above, the person in orange who originally appeared to be on the right, would then change to be on the left. In class, Allison used the example of a football match to help us understand- when a match is being filmed the camera must stay on one side of the pitch, in order to stick to the 180 degree rule. If the camera doesn't, and passes the imaginary axis by switching sides, then the team that appeared to be shooting to the left, would then look like they were shooting to the right, and this would confuse the audience. In a film, it would also be confusing and would mean a lack of continuity, and proffessionalism.

• Action match shot is also needed in order to maintain continuity. It basically means that every following shot should continue from the previous shot. For, example if someone was holding something in one shot, and then in the next shot of them they don't have it anymore (without us seeing them put it away), then the shots aren't continuous and therefore won't make sense to the audience.
  

FILMING

The concept of our sequence was a mum visiting her son in prison, they have a disagreement and the son storms out. Before we started filming we planned out what the order of the scenes and shots were, so we could be well prepared for filming. We decided to film this in the canteen because it had the best setting for showing a prison visiting room. All we needed to do was organise some of the tables and chairs, and add extras in the backround- Some of our friends were in the canteen at the time so we asked them to act as other prisoners being visited, and this really helped to establish the setting and make it more realistic. However, the disadvantage of working in the canteen was that it was hard to control the level of backround noise, and make sure we could be heard above it. This was quite stressfull because we didn't know how the sound would come out on film. Overall though, I really enjoyed this task and bringing our concept to life. At the same time, I'm learning more about using the camera and the different shots etc we can use for different effects.