When we shot and edited our Preliminary Task I was very fresh into the world of media terminology and production. The task itself introduced me to the basic skills and techniques needed to shoot an effective piece of media, these included the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot.
Throughout the process of creating what would become my Preliminary Task I was able to implement the basic skills previously mentioned in order to create continuity. The shots used for the task were shot on a standard definition camera, while not the best available, the quality was sufficient for the size and content of the piece as the majority of the shots were brief and motionless which meant that the quality wasn't too badly compromised by the equipment used.
Match on action was utilised in the piece when David is approaching the door which he then proceeds to open and is again used when he walks through the door, this was used to create chronological continuity as well as adding an aspect of dynamism to the sequence.
 |
| Match on action being displayed in our Preliminary Task |
We successfully used the shot reverse shot during the onscreen conversation between myself and David, by doing this we were able to introduce a Hollywood style of editing into our piece and make our transitions between shots smoother.
The 180 degree rule was used during the conversation between myself and David, it was important that we did this so as to not disorientate the audience viewing the piece.
 |
| The 180 degree rule and Shot Reverse Shot being demonstrated in the Preliminary Task |
What was highlighted during playback of the completed task was that during future filming sessions, more time would need to be allowed for both the shooting and planning phases. This is in order to avoid framing issues and choppiness in between shots, if this was done the final product would have been of a much higher quality overall.
Final Horror Film
Taking what I had learnt from the preliminary task, I then carried this knowledge forward into the planning, shooting and editing of the Horror Film. Having previously acquired the skills in the previous task I was able to hone them for the film and the final result was far more impressive because of this.
Plenty of time was given to the planning process this time as we created a solid script, character design and storyboards to work with. Having these on hand allowed the filming process to go smoothly, decreasing the time taken to procure the desired shots and increasing the quality of them at the same time.
We developed what we had used previously with the shot reverse shot in the preliminary task to this time implement it during a phone call between the primary protagonist and his best friend, by doing this we were able to keep the basic film technique in play, while at the same time enhancing it in a modern day situation. The shots were made to be close ups and extreme close ups as these were typical of the horror genre and served to enhance the feel of the shot reverse shot sequence.
 |
| The developed shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule we used in our final film |
The phone call and ensuing sequence in the living room utilised the 180 degree rule to effectively reduce the disorientation in the audience, creating a period of calmness after a deeply disorientating and hectic title sequence. We chose to do this as we wanted the audience to have a moment of relative inactivity to mull over what they had witnessed in the title sequence.
When using match on action in our film we experimented with various sections of footage and implemented it on two occasions, once in the title sequence where the killer is holding a birthday card ominously, before discarding the item aggressively, this was done to highlight the erratic nature of the killer while creating a sense of terror associated with the genre. The second instance occurs in the closing phases of the opening scene, wherein the young male approaches the window, this then cuts to a shot looking out of the window, this was done to keep the action moving and preventing stagnation in the sequence.
 |
| One of the examples in our films title sequence that used match on action |
No comments:
Post a Comment