Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our preliminary task, the location we filmed in was the studio. This worked really well because we had professional lighting, a blue screen behind the window and the set was well suited to the script. I took and active role directing the location and angles of the camera. Tom Cunningham was behind the camera shooting the sequence. For our preliminary task, we used a mix between light and dark and used mainly hard light. This was effective and important to our scene because the light bought out the set and the hard light enhances the characters stance and position. The dark lighting was use to portray a derelict room and built tension to fit with the script. For the filming, we had to make sure that the camera was set up properly. We ran a colour bar and when needed, ensured that the tripod was at the right level for each shot. We moved the camera into different positions to make sure that we were filming the correct angle of the actors. We also made sure that the lighting equipment was not in the shot as this was not part of the script and when bright light hit the camera the rays blocked the actor’s faces. We choose appropriate shots and angles of shots. First we filmed the wide shots, and then we filmed over the shoulder shots. We added in mid shots to see whether these worked better than close ups but we also shot close ups. We did this purely for the purpose of when come to edit, what would look better. For both the mid shots and the close ups we film Dan in high angle and Laura in low angle. We also filmed a hero shot of Dan. This is because it gave Dan a role of importance and dominance and Laura a role of innocence and vulnerability. We filmed some ‘experimental shots’. These consisted of a close up of a door handle opening, a close up on Dan’s feet and extreme close up on a light switch and a bulb turning on. Also we added in a pan from right to left of Laura running from the light switch to the window. We filmed a Bird’s eye view of the whole scene. This was particularly effective of Laura looking very worried and nervous. Another effective extra shot we added in was a tilt of Laura’s feet upwards to her face. We also conformed to the 180 degree rule and never crossed the line. Finally we used the appropriate terminology, such as ‘stand by’, action’ and ‘cut’ which were very helpful to make sure everyone onset knew what was happening. In the editing of our preliminary task we had to cut down a lot of shots to fund ones that fitted with our plot. We eventually did that and then it was just a matter of putting them together. We were introduced to Final Cut pro, which was what we did most of the editing, but before all of that we had to use a ‘checking in, checking out’ process using Final Cut Server, this was were all our filming was stored and also where it was saved when we had finished editing after each lesson. During the editing process we came to a flaw where we had to insert a background image of a city in the window, because we were shooting in the studio we had a clue screen behind the window so that when it came to doing it, it was an easier process to insert. The process was very interesting to take part in as it showed us that it usually takes more time to edit than it does to shoot. We had to get the timing right when the actors were speaking, between different shots, so this meant we had to cut some parts out in order to insert others.