Our Preliminary Task

Joshua - Review of Preliminary Task:

 

In my preliminary task I learned a lot about the aspects of creating a piece of film. When we started I thought it would be a simple, with a single take of each scene and that I'd just have to put these together after in some form of editing software and we would be done. However in reality this process took much longer. I first learned that planning was a vital process because in order to adhere to some form of continuity and appropriate mise én scene, because in order for the film to flow it needed to make sense. Continuity was important because if anything between two scenes did not match it would instantly stand out as contradicting to the flow of the scene and present itself to the viewer as incoherent. We made this mistake in our preliminary task with object movement and the clocks change in time. Additionally we found that often in scenes we would not have appropriate mise én scene, and this would make the scene not look right. One major learning curve was understanding how many multiple takes we would have to take of a scene to get it right, at the beginning of this process I thought I would not have to take more than two takes of each scene,if that. However, after the process I now understand that you have to usually take at least 4 takes to get something right.

 

In our preliminary task we had to show understanding of three basic rules: the 180° degree rule, match on action, and shot reverse shot. Most of these were easy to incorporate due to our previous research however adhering to the 180° rule was a difficulty. In our post production process however we noticed that in several scenes we forgot to adhere to it ,and the result was us having to cut out those scenes entirely.. causing us to lose some valuable parts of our film.

 

In conclusion our preliminary task has taught me a lot about filming and the aspects incorporated with it. It will help with our production as it develops our basic filming skills and teaches us what mistakes not to make during filming our production that we made in our preliminary. It also taught us how to plan scenes better and how we could incorporate different aspects of filming into our final production.

 

Juriz (Piolo) - Review of Preliminary Task:

 

After doing the Prelim task, I have learned many things. Firstly, I’ve realised how to setup/use the tripod in a proper manner and what not to do with it. Secondly, if you are doing a short scene, it takes a lot of planning to get it right. In addition, if you are doing ‘Shot Reverse Shot’, you’ll have to say the full conversation on one side and do the same again to the other side and then edit the video to make it seem continuous.  Another thing I’ve learnt is to NEVER cross the ‘180 Degree Rule’. If you do end up crossing the line, it makes it seem that you’re in a different place. Nevertheless, I’ve experienced that for every scene we do, it’ll take more than one take (preferably four takes), as when you are watching back on the scene you did, you’ll always have something to improve on or something that’s unnecessary. An example of this would be ‘Matching/Cutting On Action’ as, it may take a lot of shots to make it seem that the action (opening the door from one side and getting to see it on the other etc.) is in one fluent motion (continuity). 

 

Furthermore, I’ve learnt that every small things matter when shooting a scene. ‘Mise-En-Scene’ is very important. This is because, if you recorded a scene in a place and you shoot another scene in the same place, you have to look at what was on the camera at that time and to make sure there’s no things that’s vanished or been added onto the scene (unless the scene before leads to adding a prop). If we didn’t consider this, it’ll give people the impression that we didn’t take our time and it’ll make the scene look unprofessional. Likewise, sounds has to also be considered as you may might saying your dialogue but then when you play it back, you couldn’t hear anything, which will take up more of the time and less time for editing. Scripts are very important to, as the script is the key thing that’ll keep a scene going… Always double check for stage directions and the dialogues, as it may not make sense and it could then lead to bigger problems. 

 

Lastly, I’ve learnt that editing will take up a lot of the time but this is what makes your work so much more precise and professional, as it denotes professionality and time management. However, you’ll need to have patience throughout this process. Similarly, framing is key because if you don’t frame the scene in a professional way, parts of people’s body might get cropped out and certain unwanted objects might be seen and could then spoil the whole scene.

 

Maxwell - Review of Preliminary Task:

 

What have you learnt about the filming process and the three rules - what do you need to consider in the future when filming?

 

From my preliminary media task I have learnt a lot about what is required during filming. It is not as simple as I first expected. Having to adhere to many rules and meet conventions alongside your use of camerawork, sound, mise-en-scene and editing really tolls up and helps explain to me now why it takes so long to produce films that are sometimes over 2 hours long. Having spent nearly 2 hours of editing on a simple 60 second clip with only focus on the 4 rules we learnt and camerawork, it is no surprise the film industry is so big and editors and directors are as important as they are.

 

Having to focus on the 3 rules we had learnt added a real challenge to filming as, while trying to remember lines and the order/ total of scenes. We also had to think about our match on action and a smooth shot-reverse-shot, while keeping all scenes within the 180 degree rule. It did at some stages become challenging to meet all these and even amongst a few slip ups and mishaps we were able to produce our full prelim. However, in future it would be very beneficial for our filming to have a stringent plan in place with some room for changes or backup should everything not go symmetrically with the plan. A plan would be helpful in working out what to film, in what order, how many times and when/where to film.

 

Overall however, I have learned the difficulties of filming especially under timed conditions and the importances of keeping track of what goes on in a scene so that the viewer understands and enjoys your work.

 

Andrew- Review of Preliminary Task:

 

From the prelim task I learnt many things I didn’t know before. I learnt that you should take the scenes couple of times to ensure that you have a perfect scene and all the codes of a typical film is followed and not broken. This would also help because if you have a scene where one person ‘messed up’ the role, you have the others for back-up. Also you should follow the strict rules of a film. These are as follows: shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action. If you don’t stick to these rules you could be on the verge of messing up your task/coursework. Also make sure to check whether you have applied all these rules in the correct format during the editing bit. If the rule is broken it is hard to take the scene again because you might have some problems such as: one person not being in, no camera etc. These issues could arise if even one rule is broken in the slightest angle. Also make sure to keep in role you’re playing, and to apply the rules in the perfect ‘format’. My group and I agree that we need to take our time when filming and we need to make sure to include all the rules in the perfect way. Next time that is our aim when filming for our coursework.

Also make sure the camera is tightly fit into the tripod otherwise the camera might fall and break and you won't have a replacement. Also make sure the bubble is in the red ring to insure that the camera is adjusted right. If the bubble is not inside the red ring this would mean that the camera could be out of focus and your on the verge of risking your coursework, meaning that it could be out of focus and not capturing what you want. I also learnt that the editing is the most time consuming thing, no matter how long the film is, whether it’s 1 minute or even 10 seconds.The ending will take up most of the time, so you need to finish filming as soon as possible. By this I don’t mean just rushing the coursework I also mean take your time, making sure you have time to edit the work. When editing you should also take care in the way you edit so when doing the match on action, make sure it flows. My group found it hard to pick the exact spot when doing the match on action scene. This is because when Joshua opened the door it was quite hard to change from one angle to the other and still making sure it flowed well. Most of the rules were easy to show in our prelim task, however it was the 180 degree rule that we found a bit challenging to overcome. However during the editing stage we found a way to overcome this and it flowed well with the rest of the work.