The preliminary film exercise

During this second task I felt as a group we did exceptional because we planned every type of camera shots, match cuts, and the Mise-en-scene. To help us do this we used a synopsis and a storyboard and planned every stage.

The main purpose of this exercise was to make us get used to using match cuts which we might need to use on our upcoming thrillers. A match cut is basically a cut in film editing from on scene to another, in which both camera shots match which show a continuity of action.

The first match cut we have is of character ‘B’ reading a book at this point we also used a point of view shot showing that she is reading. we then have a side view of character ‘B’ turning to the next page. We then cut to character ‘A’ the camera is behind character ‘A’ as he is walking down the corridor we then have another shot in front of character ‘A’ so there is continuous movement from both angles. In this next scene alone it has about 5 different types of match cuts. We then cut to a medium shot of character ‘A’ just about to enter the room, there is also a medium shot of ‘A’ entering the room. After that we have a low angle shot of character ‘A’ sitting down on a chair. Then an over the shoulder shot of character ‘A’ then finally we also have an over the shoulder shot of character ‘B’.

From doing the first and second practice filming exercises I have learnt to do match cuts, make successful shots from awkward angles, use different types of camera shots, But most of all learning how to edit our clips using final cut pro.

Personally I think we did follow the forms and conventions of real films because in our clips we used match cuts, different types of camera shots and angles just as real films. I know that real films use artificial lighting to create moods and enhance images but our clip mostly used natural lighting. As all films they must have a location and ours was set in the college. Actors in real films tend to were makeup so they look more photogenic which I think our clipped lacked. In all films editing must be involved to make adjustments and corrections in this case electronic rearrangement of pictures and sounds which our clip uses and professional clips.

Planning The Preliminary film

As a group we decided on how we were going to film and edit the synopsis using a shot list. we then gave ourselves four shots that we would have to storyboard and bring back to the next lesson this included us drawing an image for the shot ,describing the Mise en scene ,location, duration and dialogue that would be used in shot.

match cut week w/b 5/1/09

the first lesson on monday we were given a math cut exercise. We were taught how to use screen shot writing- an alternative to storyboarding. We were given a simple scenario- a man is chain smoking as he sits at a desk copying plans to a cd- and we had to describe exactly how we would personally film this scene. We had to include the shot lengths and the shot angles and choose specifically the ones that would most effectively provide an exciting portait of this scene.

Finally at the end of the lesson we were given another simple scenario- a man walks into a room, sits down, talks to a second person, gets up and leaves. We had to create a screen shot writing for this upon a storyboard that depicts what we had written.

In the next lesson, from what we had planned we were tasked with filming our practivce thriller. Our thriller proved to be more than standard, including unusual camera angles- the camera was at the lowest angle filming directly upwards as the subject walked pass and over the camera through the door. From this experience i had evaluated my own work and understood what i could've done to improve my work.

when an over the shoulder shot consist of two people, the person in the forewground takes one third of the screen.

whenever filming anything, review over what you have filmed constantly

when you are filming continous actions, repeat the actions whilst you film in different angles.

a door on the right of the screen should stay on the right of the screen.

Planning for our match cut tutorial

In this particular lesson we were given a film story board in which we had to complete. We had to draw images and describe the Mise-en-scene, dialogue, effects and music that would be in this story board. This was an important stage because the plans we put on paper will come to real life when actually filming this. So to enhance our understanding of match cuts we also did a synopsis which is basically like a story board but with much more description. This piece of work was crucial because we had to put down the type of camera shot, the duration, and if the camera shot was either external or internal. This planning exercise was very useful because when coming to do our thrillers we will have to plan and do storyboards and synopsis so this was a great chance to experience this.

In our first lesson back we recapped over the meaning of match cutting(to film the same subject matter at different angles then edit and match so that it looks like continuous movement.)
For the next part of the lesson we had shot list(alternative method to storyboarding) the synopsis of :a man in east London at 3pm chain-smoking as he sits at home on his pc and copies confidential computer files then and posts them using no more than 20 shots. We had to include the shot type, camera action and a shot description. For example, the first shot on my shot list was an external extreme wide crane shot which had the description of buildings in the docklands area canary Whalf being the key building to establish where it is set. After completing our shot lists
We watched the same synopsis filmed and edited by the media department and as a class we were able to identify the different match cuts used this also gave us the oppertunity to compare our shot lists and see the differences to the way it was filmed by the media departmenr.
After this, we were told that we would have to storyboard and shot list a synopsis that we would edit and film in the following lesson.

Synopsis
Character A opens a door enters a room and sits in a chair opposite character B. Character A and B have a short conversation.