Preliminary Evaluation

As part of our  foundation portfolio, we were put in to groups to create the preliminary task. This was to help us force on continuity ( seamless transition in film) and to learn about filming and editing ready for are main task. The brief for this task was filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and exchanging a couple of lines of dialogue. The task had to include match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.


The first thing we did before filming was to drew up a very simple a story board this was to help us choose what would be in the mise-en-scéne and more importantly the camera shots and angles.Costumes are also a important part to are clip we choose the chacater to were smart clothes as it added to the genre to also hint that many be the character are spy's on a mission.Therefore we followed this the whole way through are filming there were a few small changes but not a lot, furthermore most of the changes were to do with timing as we wrote down the first shot of character one walking down the hall way would take 10 seconds were in fact it took only 4 seconds this showed us that our clip would be shorter then you originally  thought.Also the sound of the door unlocking is heard twice once when the door handle is being pushed down and secondly when the character is walking through the door.


The first camera shot used was a long shot this is to establish the setting and character, around 4-5 second we show are first cut this is to show that the character has turned towards the door and this about to open it, therefore this takes us to a close up with a pan down to the handle of the door as it is being push down so the character can open the door, this therefore shows match on action.Meanwhile as the character walks through the door there is continuity error because the door handle is pushed down slowly but yet when filming from the other side the door open quite quickly and dramaticly this error  continues as the camera is force on the whole character but then to camera changes to behind the character furthermore making is possible for the audience to see the cut and edit.


The conversation includes a mixer of close up and over shoulder shots. The close up are to show the reactions from the character as the receive the dialogue. Similarly a pan down at 25 seconds follows the eye line from character one to show the parcel being placed on the table, we stayed forced on the object for a few seconds then paned back to character one. Furthermore this gives the audience a scene of wonder because they are not a wear of what is in the parcel.


Use of match on action when it comes to character one walking out of the door and back down the hall way flows well and shows good continuity, is also shows how the character is interested about what is in the parcel there for making her stop and take a closed look at it. Meanwhile keeping to the 180- degree rule we shot from over her right shoulder looking down to show the message on the parcel. This connotes enigma to the audience, furthermore the continuity goes from smooth to messy, as camera angles show the parcel lower in the character hands then it was when looking over her shoulder. Similarly the cookie being pulled out of the bag slowly but then the next shot being of the character already of taken a bite.


The editing and sound linked together in a clip, we didn't add additional lighting or sound to our piece just diegetic noise of the surroundings and ambient lighting from the ceilings and window (behind character 2), this was to make it seem more natural.Furthermore editing it took long them we thought it would as we hadn't done it before so we were learning at the same time as putting all are clips together to make one. We made a few mistakes when editing like cutting to much or putting the clips in the wrong place, but on the other hand this help us to see our errors, for example the beginning we filmed the character walking passed the same object twice, this links with continuity as well.Furthermore the thing we found hardest to edit was sound from just one clip as we didn't want no sound at all in the clip because when it came to the dialogue it sounded odd because it had surrounding sound as well but I thing in the end with the final piece it worked out well and we insured that it flowed well, also to made sure of this we added a fade out at the end of the clip so it didn't just stop with character one at the doors but actually walking through them. 


In conclusion I think our Preliminary task went well because it shows all aspects of the brief and showed some good continuity even if it did have some error this is also useful because we can learn from our mistakes and take them on to our main task. Furthermore the Editing prose has showed us that we should start recording before the action takes place so gives us more leeway for editing and cutting the clips together. 

Preliminary Task finished clip

After about 3 weeks of planning, filming and editing the finished piece for are Preliminary, it links with the story board and shows all the clips.

This one minute  clip also includes the brief of a person walking through a door and exchanging dialogue with another character, we played on this to make it more interesting by adding in the parcel, this shows continuity, but also has some mistakes but this will help with the main task to improve on them and not make them again.

BFI London Film Festival

Thursday 20th October. I went to the BFI film festival. this involve viewing a series of 5 new British shorts and a new film.The shorts included: The ride, I'll tell you, Friend request pending,Ernesto and Pitch black heist. All this shorts showed how you don't need a 2 hour or so film to make the audience think. These film were all about 10 mins, but all showed the meaning to the story they were trying to show.

The ride- ( Director: Marian Pilowsky) A hitch-hiker and a welcome lift turns into a bit of a nightmare all round, this left me hanging on my set wanting the clip to continue. 

Ill tell you-( Director: Rachel Tillotson)young identity,love,relationships and friendships which last a life time. this shows a young girl who idealise her older friend because of her relationship with boyfriend but doesn't all end happy.

Friends request pending-( Director: Chris Foggin)online dating and the perils therein, starring Judie Dench, this film looks at how technology is growing and the older generation is trying to stay up with it, contain a lot of humourer and made the audience have fits of laughter.

Ernesto-(Director- Corinne Ladeinde)7 year old Ernesto is feeling left out at school because he still has his milk teeth, so he plans to remove them his self, equalling in some wired consequences. This was the only animation of the 5 shorts, showing you are never to old for cartoons. 

Pitch black heist-( Director: John Maclean)two strangers meet to take on a bank job in the dark, this stories unfolds to show how they are in fact involved in one another's lives. 

The film that I watched showed at this years BFI Film festival was Mr Tree ( Director- Jie Han) a satirical tale about a village idiot who might just be a prophet, this film was a double prize winner in shanghai, the town loser who botcher his own marriage but becomes a savants to his mining village in north- east china. Through the film it has clips of Mr Shu( Mr Tree) sitting in a tree this gives the audience the imposition that he is dreaming or imaging everything that is happening furthermore in the film they believe that maybe Mr Shu could be a prophet sent to save there town.