Our brief was to make a short media artefact that demonstrated we understood continuity techniques. The continuity techniques that we had to demonstrate were match on action, shot/reverse shot and eyeline match. Using these shots to film our video we had to include them to show: the 180 degree rule; a character opening the door; crossing a room; sitting down in a chair opposite another character and exchanging dialogue. We used the Macroom as our mise-en-scene, where the first character (a student) is reading her GCSE results and is interrupted as a teacher walks in.  

 

During the pre-production we faced some challenges. The planning was good as we completed the storyboard, which was successful. Due to the detail we included: shot types, shot angles and dialogue. However when choosing the setting we were doubtful, as there weren’t many classrooms available for us to use. Moreover, I think we also needed to add more attention to the props such as appropriate costume as this would’ve made it more realistic and professional.

 

In the production we had issues with the acting space; there was not enough space to move the camera, to place it to get a good specific shot or for the actual acting. Because of this in one of our scenes, the camera shakes and the shot is not clear. Furthermore, the base plate of the tripod was a bit loose which also affected the still recording by its shaking. Acting also showed a bit of an issue, as it didn’t seem very realistic and there were quite a few bloopers.

 

The Mac Room is situated next to a classroom this caused noise problems as during our filming the teacher’s voice and a video playing can be heard. In addition, the lighting was quite low and this damaged the video quality. Nevertheless, I think that we did manage to get the type of shots we wanted to achieve our task.

 

The post-production was smoother, although we had an issue with the import. Some of our clips got lost during the import and that took some time as the editing couldn’t be finished without them. After finding the clips, we edited using iMovie HD. Since I am not as accustomed to it, the editing was somewhat amateur-ish. I added transitions to fade in and fade out; as well as in between clips to smooth the cuts.  Lastly, I think that we did manage our time well, even though we had some issues that shortened our editing time.  

 

Looking back at the edited video, we did realise some more videos would’ve added more tension and made the story clearer and easier to understand.

 

Personally, my editing skills improved as iMovie HD is not my forte but I was able to do all the editing in a short amount of time. I used continous cuts to split the long take clips. To move from clip to clip I used fade in and dissolve transitions.

 I also improved my skills in camera placement and how to position the tripod correctly to get a certain shot.  Overall, it wasn’t the first time using any of the equipment provided although my skills did improve as I get more used to using them.

 

I learnt about the 180 degree rule (a guideline regarding the on-screen positioning relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene tos show they are having a dialogue), which until now was something i did not know. This increased my knowledge on cinematography and continuity skills (match on action...). However what I found most interesting was the shot/reverse shot. Setting up the camera for this type of shot was difficult because of the lack of space. Nonetheless our framing was good as we got the shoulder and back of his/her head.

 

In regard to management skills I was in charge of most of the filming and editing, although all of the group had an input I took charge of making sure the filming and framing was correct. This developed my cinmatographic skills as well as team management. I also developed time management as we had to meet after class to complete our storyboard and to continue editing in order to have it all ready in time for the deadline.

 

From this preliminary task, I've learnt new technical language; techniques that have to be used when filming; the importance of the 4 micro areas and also what to expect from media studies. For future productions I'd improve some of the planning by pre-arranging an actual setting and having it ready before the filming. I'd also like higher quality cameras to film some more clips and to have some more editing time. I've also noticed that the mise-en-scene and sound should be looked at more carefully to achieve an outcome that looks proffessional. In the future production I'd like to work on a non-diegetic sound as well as sound effects.