Nick Lowe analyzed screenshots from his preliminary film task. He discussed how he used techniques like shot reverse shot, match on action, and the 180-degree rule to establish continuity and help the audience understand what was happening. He also discussed his use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to set mood and atmosphere without being heard by the characters. Through completing this preliminary task, he learned skills in camera shots, editing, and how different techniques can be used to achieve his intended purpose and effect.

1. Preliminary Task Evaluation
Nick Lowe

2. In this preliminary task evaluation, I will be taking screenshots
from my preliminary task and analysing them including
information such as why I have chosen to use this specific shot
and what effect it has. Also I will be analysing the diegetic and
non diegetic sound and the effect it has.

3. Shot 1
In this shot, I used the shot reverse shot
technique to establish the two characters,
the person speaking and the person being
spoken to. The continuous cutting back
and forth between over the shoulder
shots shows the two school girls acting
and reacting during a conversation. The
continuity also shows the flow of the
conversation. It shows what the girls are
talking to or what they are looking at.

4. Shot 2
In these shots, we used a technique called
match on action. This also establishes the
continuity of the shot is very important in
helping the audience continually
understand exactly what is happening. This
draws the viewers attention away from
slight cutting or issues. It portrays a
continuous sense of the same action rather
than matching two separate things. So I got
a shot from the new girl approaching,
opening and entering the door, all from
different angles. This made it seem like all
one movement, when it was actually various
shots. In the last screenshot, I added sound
to the clip to add effect. I added a
“suspense” sort of sound as this made it
more entertaining to witness and portrayed
what the shot was meant to represent to
the other characters in that particular clip.

5. Shot 3
Again here, I used the match on action
technique to provide a sense of continuity
in the movement that was taking place.
All this says to the audience is that when
one shot ends another will pick up where
the other left off making the reality of the
film fluid and continuous. Also like in the
previous clip, I added a suspense sort of
sound to create an atmosphere where the
audience would want to know what
happens next, or how the other
characters react to the new girl that is
entering the room.

6. Shot 4
In this shot, I used the 180 degree
rule. This shows that the the new
girl and the bully in the scene will
have the same left-right relationship
to each other. This allows the
audience to have a greater sense of
location in the scene. I used this
type of shot because it shows also
stability in the film so the audience
do not get confused with where
characters are placed.

7. Diegetic and non-diegetic sound
Diagetic sound: “Any sound, voice or piece of music that comes from within the
world of the narrative.”
Non-diegetic sound: “Sounds, such as music or a narrator’s voices that come from
outside the space of the narrative.”
There is a lot of sound effects that I added to my film opening to add different
kinds of tones and atmospheres. This is non-diegetic sound because the characters
in the film cannot hear it. For example, when the new girl was entering the class I
added a sort of suspense effect to the clip as it would suggest there would be a
reaction to her. Adding these type of sounds makes it more entertaining to watch
as non-diegetic sound can establish the genre, mood and atmosphere so without
it, the audience may find it hard to understand what you are trying to put across.

8. Conclusion
From completing my preliminary task, I have learnt many different skills and
techniques such as camera shots and editing. I have then been able to apply
these to my work in the correct ways to make my film opening. I have also learnt
the importance of camera shots and how these effect your film and the purpose
of using them. As I knew I had to spend extra time out of school editing my film
opening, one night I decided to edit my work on iMovie at home to see what I
could work with and this piece, to me, felt like enough to use as my actual task.
Therefore, I did not use Adobe Premier so I could’ve possibly missed out on some
skills which Adobe offers whereas iMovie doesn’t but I don’t think that is a
problem. While completing this task, there have been times where things did not
go as planned, but this enabled me to figure things out for my own, and to
actually not give up straight away, but to do some research and to apply this to
my work so I can fix whatever went wrong. In return this gave me some sort of
confidence so that later on in the course when I need to complete tasks such as
this, I will be able to apply what I learnt and hopefully do it even better.