Preliminary Filming Exercise
The preliminary exercise is a task dedicated to groups of four to produce a short video showing what they have learnt so far throughout the media course. This exercise takes a look into the filming and editing aspects to making a quality piece of film footage. The preliminary exercise is for the foundation portfolio which is worth around 60% of marks, so if tests cause problems this exercise is a great way to pick up marks.
The important aspects to this piece is the use of camera work, holding a camera steady and using the correct shots at the appropriate time. Quality is also a must and it is vital that aspects such as getting sound sounding natural and crisp and lighting as natural as possible without making the footage look dark.
There are four different stages of production that are going to be used when creating the short footage.
1. Groups – Groups of four are used for this piece of coursework.
2. Ideas – The group of four will brainstorm how each shot out of the twelve be used and if any story is going to be inputted into their short film.
3. Storyboard – Once the idea has been shown, the different shots will be drawn in showing dialogue and movement in specific shots. Two pages of storyboarding will be used. Each page shows six shots equaling a maximum of twelve different shots to be used.
4. Dialogue – Once the object is handed over the characters acting in the short film must interact and communicate with each other.
The preliminary task involves and must include a character opening and walking through a door. Once this has occured the character must then cross the room and sit down in a chair facing opposite the other character. Once sat down the character will hand over or exchange the object and dialogue must be used at this point.
There are two types of camera actions that are to be used and also a single rule. The two types of the camera actions are match on action and shot reverse shot, these will be explained momentarily. The rule is used and will be emphasised when dialogue is spoken using a shot reverse shot and is called the 180 degree rule.
Match On Action – Match on action is repeating the same type of action in two shots. The type of action can be anything from placing an object down to running.
Shot Reverse Shot – Shot reverse shot is used commonly in sitcoms due to the comedy coming from dialogue. A shot reverse shot envolves the camera swapping back and forth on two people having a conversation to see what each person is saying and to also show the reactions to what is being said.
180 Degree Rule – This rule keeps the user from ruining their footage and confusing the audience. The rule means that the camera should not move out of 180 degrees of the character. This means that it will be clear that the characters are facing each other even if the other character isn’t in that specific shot. Going out of the 180 degree rule will cause both characters to face the same way when talking confusing the audience.