For our preliminary task we were asked to shoot a short 30 second sequence involving two characters exchanging dialogue across the table. Along with this we were asked to show the character entering and exiting the room as well as using a variety of shot types, such as shot-reverse-shot, match on action, and the 180 degrees rule. As with any film we were expected to edit the piece to the best of our ability whilst adding opening and closing titles.
To prepare for this task we designed a story board. I was given the role to draw the story board although both Fergal and Jack contributed with ideas on the setting and the plot. As we did this we decided on where our task would be shot, we decided to shoot on the sixth form balcony as we felt it tied in with the plot and we could guarantee that it would be free to use when filming commenced.
When filming comenced we assigned eachother various roles in the production. As we needed two people acting in our sequence Fergal and myself volunteered to do this, whilst Jack took on the role of filming. We all contributed to the directing of the piece however Jack was able to see what looked good through the camera and so we listened to many of his sugestions. I believe this was a good choice as when it eventually came to editing we had a vast amount of good shots to play around with. Although we had not planned when to use our different shot types on our story board ( something I would probably do, if we were asked to do this task again) we ensured all were used and added to effectiveness of our piece. Our match on action was especially effective due to the fact we were working with a glass door which allowed you to view the person entering the balcony (Fergal) from both perspectives. Whilst Jack was on the camera he ensured our piece followed the 180 degree rule although was still able to film at various angles and positions within the 180 degrees to give our sequence a slight edge. When it came to the conversation between Fergal and myself Jack used over the shoulder shots in acordance to the 180 degree rule, this also gave him the oportunity to place shot reverse shot to our growing list of shots used. A variety of close ups were used throughouth the piece specifically focussing on Fergals hand when opening the door and of my mouth when conversation was initiated. The positioning of the 2 characters was central when focussing on the speech apart from when over the shoulder angles were used. Something we did effectively is that when filming not all locations were imediately available. Instead of waiting a long period to film in the right order we filmed difeerent scenes depending on what was available and by using a paper clacker board to help when edditing. One problem we had when doing this is that on one of the takes of Fergal opening the door their was a foot on the other side, however in the next take it has disapeared. We were not happy with putting this mistake in our piece and so made the decision to film this particular scene again.
Once filming was done we then moved on to editing our piece on Imovie. Jack has extensive knowledge of Imovie and film editing due to previous experience outside of the media class. It is because of this that we decided to put Jack in charge of the computer when editing, but this by no means Fergal and myself left him to do it. Together we gave numerous contributions and suggestions for improvements. Edditing was a quick process as when a suggestion was made Jack was able to implement this imediately, where as if Fergal or myself were in charge this may have taken a fair bit longer. I found editing was when we worked best as a group as we were all able to contribute ideas to the piece and all ideas were listened to and discussed. I am very excited to be working in this group and look forward to starting our next filming task. It has been a great learning experience and has prepared me for future pieces we will perform together.
