Evaluation of Preliminary Task -Annabelle

Preliminary task explained

In this task I was asked to film and edit a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. The task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180 degree rule. To prepare for this we drew out a storyboard. This included a drawing of each shot, the type of shot/angle, the location and the dialogue.

The first shot was a very long shot of a school girl who is played by me walking down the middle of a corridor towards the camera. This shot was used so you could the surroundings could be seen setting the scene for the audience. The second shot is a medium long shot of the girl walking down the corridor towards a door on her right away from the camera. She then knocks on the door. The third shot is filmed in a class room. It is a medium close up of the teacher from the front who is marking books and tells the student to come in. The teacher is slightly to the right of the frame. This shot is used so you concentrate mostly on the teacher but some setting is seen so the audience can see where the next scene will take place. The fourth shot displays match on action. The student opens the door and steps through. The shot then switches to the student coming through the door into the classroom. The fifth shot is an over the shoulder shot of the student taking a seat opposite the teacher. Shots 6 to 11 are over the shoulder shots of the teacher and student exchanging dialogue as the student is being told off. When the student is in view the characters are to the left of the frame, and when the teacher is seen the characters are to the right of the screen. This is because is it keeping to the 180 degree rule and also using shot/reverse shot.

Yes I was happy with the end result as the task went to plan. The group did exactly what we wanted as we stuck to the storyboard for all shots resulting in a successful outcome. We did the correct number of shots containing what was needed and completed it on time. I think the shot types were appropriate for each clip as we filmed what was necessary. The match on action worked effectively creating the ‘imaginary bridge’. I think we worked well as group as we all listened to each other and put forward our own ideas so we could all agree on the end product. However next to improve if we did it again we would need to manage our time by filming in a specific order so we would not need to rush at the end.

I feel more confident with the camera now as I have used it quite a few times. I have worked things out for myself enabling me to remember it. But I do not feel that confident using final cut express as I have not used this programme before. Once I have used it multiple times for different tasks I will become more confident as I will know what the different functions are and what they do.