question 7 evaluation

1. Preliminary task and how it
benefitted my final product
Charlotte Crewe

2. From my preliminary task it allowed me to understand
many concepts of film making such as simple editing
structures like match on action and the 180-degree rule. It
also allowed my confidence to grow when using equipment
such as a camera and a tripod and let me see exactly how
they worked. In our opening sequence myself and my team
all took skills we learnt from the preliminary task onwards
to filming for our opening sequence.

3. Any failures?
In our preliminary task we failed first time around as we didn’t plan it enough
and we jumped into it too quickly, without even realising how many mistakes we
were making until it came to editing it on Final Cut Pro X, so we had to re film
this section, however in a way I am glad we made this mistake as it allowed us to
really focus on getting it correct and we recognised exactly what it was we had to
do when using the reverse shot in our opening sequence.

4. Also …
The preliminary task also allowed us to realise the
importance of continuity when filming as after our first
filming session and we realised we had to re film for the
reverse shot, we were wearing different clothes so this
affected our progress in getting our preliminary task
completed efficiently, instead, we had to wait a few days
and this caused us as a team to waste time.

5. How we dealt with our problems…
This mistake allowed us to realise the need to plan ahead and make sure that
for our opening sequence we needed to ensure we had everything we needed on
the day of filming such as the costumes and the props. Also, we realised that we
were going to have to improvise when it came to filming because of our lack of
genuine funds and location. So, our idea in our head before filming of what it
was it was going to be like was obviously much different to what it ended up
being a lot different to how we imagined it, so we had to improvise and accept
we would have to use different locations and props and find a way to work with
them. The preliminary task allowed us to learn how to think on our feet and
improvise.

6. Editing our preliminary task…
When it came to editing our preliminary task, we discovered that it was
going to be a lot more difficult than we thought it would be, and as we
began to add each shot into Final Cut Pro X we realised we had to find out
how to crop videos in order to correctly make a match on action and 180-
degree rule correctly. Even though this sounds extremely simple, for 3
people with no experience in film editing, it was a challenge to do this
effectively.

7. 180 degree rule and reverse shot…
These screenshots of
our footage show how
we have gone about
utilising the 180
degree rule by filming
from one persons left
shoulder to the other
persons right
shoulder, to ensure
the camera is kept
along the imaginary
180 degree line.

8. It took us multiple attempts, using the blade tool, to accurately crop each shot so that the
preliminary task flowed properly and the match on action fit perfectly with the following
shot, as well as following the dialogue in order to know when to switch shots for the
preliminary task. When it came to our opening sequence we used match on action
multiple times as our opening sequence did feature many short shots which had to flow
perfectly, so the practise we got from the preliminary task really helped us in knowing
exactly how we could do this professionally in our opening sequence. Despite this, we
didn’t feel it was necessary to use reverse shot or the 180-degree rule as our opening
sequence barely features dialogue nor two people in a shot at one time so it wouldn’t
have really worked. However, looking back I feel like we could’ve effectively used a reverse
shot and it would’ve improved our opening sequence.

9. Our preliminary task…
• Match on action transition @ 5 seconds
• 180 degree rule transition @ 15 seconds

10. Overall…
Overall, the preliminary task allowed me to use a camera
correctly and provided me with the basics of camera work,
as well as letting me notice the importance of continuity and
improvisation. Team work was also improved as we all
realised who excelled in which areas of the entire filming
process and we carried this through to when it came to
filming our preliminary task.