Edit workshop evaluation

We used the 180 degree rule by making sure that all shots during filming were kept on the right side making sure not to  cross the line of action as not to disorientate the audience. 

Using the rule of thirds was fairly simple because we understood that characters and objects we better placed on the vertical lines which represented the thirds these. The technique that aligning an object with these points creates more tension and interest in the composition than simply putting the person or object in the centre of the screen.

We did the match on action by using a shot of me walking and opening a door to the canteen then continuing the shot from the other side showing me inside the canteen. This creates the impression of a sense of continuity – the action carrying through creates a “visual bridge” which draws the viewer’s attention away from the cut or and un-tidy editing.

We faced many problems throughout filming, one of which was keeping the 180 degree rule which was kept throughout but from a different view point which made it look odd, so we had to re-film those parts, also lighting was a big factor while filming as most of our original shots were dark and also had to re-filmed. If I were to change anything while filming I would change the initial location where we chose to film because the problems of filming there was that it didn't have a consistency of how many people were there on different days it was either packed or empty making it difficult to get consistent shots throughout.

(00.54 - 01.10) there is a shot in Bad boys 2 which shows how not to break the 180 degree rule while going round in 360 degrees. As long as you show you the audience that there has been a cross past the 180 degree line then the shot is still a consistent shot and should flow perfectly.

(Re-filming a previous shot which failed)

I didn't face many challenges during post-production other than the fact that during editing a few shots that had to be re-filmed due to poor camera work, which in the end wasn't a massive issue. Also I think editing in the amount of time we had to edit the short film was a challenge as I think if i had more time I would have been able to produce a better quality piece of work but in the end it wasn't that bad.

(Me lining up an establishing shot.)

I think that one our strengths were the planning in the beginning and we knew exactly what we had to do during filming. We created a narrative which we thought would be simple but matched what we had to do for the brief, also the fact that it came from a true story made it a little bit easier for us.  Another strength that I thought we portrayed in the clip was the camera language and the variety of the different types of shots used.

(An extreme close up of Niraj's mouth)

A weakness of my work I found some parts of the filming because a lot of shots in the end had to be re-filmed more than once but was not a huge dilemma, another weakness I found was the lack of atmosphere created in my particular piece of work which most likely came down to no music being used and not very disciplined editing between shots.

I think that the improvements I would make to my work would be to make sure that every scene was filmed in the same scenario, for example some scene were filmed in the canteen where sometimes it would be very quite and other times where there were people talking, this in editing made it quite hard  because it sounded odd when scenes would change and there was a different background sound every time. 

Continuity Editing Excercise

We were asked to create a short film sequence around 45 seconds long in around groups of 2 or 3, this is to the tile: 'The Encounter'. We had around 4 days to finish filming, this meant that we had a time limit including time to re-film things during class, otherwise we would have to film in our own time

We were trying to demonstrate a knowledge and understanding of match on action, short/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule and an understanding of the rule of thirds. We used the match on action because this gave two different perspectives of the same shot and also allows for a more fluid and logical cut to the next shot as it may be changing location or to give a clearer view of what was currently happening. For example in the picture below it shows a person pulling out a knife then the shot following it shows who they are threatening with the knife.

We used the shot/reverse shot during a conversation, this allowed the audience to see facial expressions of the characters speaking or being spoken to and how they are reacting during the conversation. This gives the audience an insight of how the characters are feeling in that moment in time. 

The 180-degree rule was the most important during the filming process, because if done correctly it made sure that characters were always on the same side of the screen throughout the short film, this is especially important to use as not to dis-orientate the audience while watching the film and not to confuse them. We made a few mistakes while filming which broke the 180 degree rule a few times and lighting was a big factor also when filming, we noticed this while watching back the footage and we had to re-film a fair amount of out shots. In the image below it shows that the camera can be anywhere on the side it started on for 180 degrees but if it were to cross the line without it clearly being shown to the audience then any angle past the line of action is not going to match any previous shots and baffle the audience.

The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom. The main reason for observing the rule of thirds is to discourage placement of the subject at the center, or prevent a horizon from appearing to divide the picture in half. When filming, it is common to line the body up to a vertical line and the person's eyes to a horizontal line. If filming a moving subject, the same pattern is usually followed, with the majority of the extra room being in front of the person or object. For example the goat in the image below being the object as seen the forefront of the goats body is being lined up with the first vertical line and its head it being aligned with the top horizontal line making sure that it is not in the centre of the shot.

I worked with Niraj Jadav and Jay Pabari, I think we worked well together as we made sure we got things done quickly and effieciently, while also making sure our shots matched the story board to a good degree of accuracy and that they were filmed to a good enough standard. It also helped that they were both also commited to getting the filming done, we all knew what were doing throughout the filming process; Jay was the camera man while Niraj and I were the characters in the film sequence. This meant that everything we did was easier to do and everyone in the group was cooperative.

While brainstorming ideas in class we ended up deciding that we should make the short film funny but doing so by using suspense, e.g. A stare off between the two characters then followed by a stupid comment or facial expression which wouldn't usually go with that scenario and I think that we applied this technique quite well in the short film. Our initial idea was derived from a true story which we exaggerated to create the humour we were looking for. During filming we found that using different types of angles on shots allows the audience to know how the character is feeling or what they actually are for example using a low angle shot makes the person in the shot seem more superior.

We did keep mainly to the storyboard but changed the initial establishing shot from nandos to the canteen in school due to the time limit we had to film which made filming nandos impractical. The change really worked to our advantage because when we decided to film our final shots in the canteen it was empty which made filming easier and less mistakes were made whereas when we filmed when the canteen was packed it was very difficult to get the right shots done properly.