Continuity Evaluation - 2011

Media Continuity Evaluation

The task was to film and edit a sequence of a character opening a door, crossing a room, sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanged a couple of lines of dialogue. The task involved using different shots – Match-on-action and Shot/Reverse Shot. The task also needed an understanding of the 180 degree rule. Match-on-action is when a shot is shot at one angle then again at another, then edited together to provide a 'match' on 'action'. Shot/Reverse shot, is where two people are talking and to show each persons point of view, this shot is usually an 'over the shoulder shot', this usually draws in the 180 degree rule, stating that the camera can not cross a certain line.

In the task, using the camera angles was important, as it was necessary to show different angles to make it more realistic. In the task, the camera was shot over the main antagonists shoulder, giving us a view of the victim in a mid shot, which is a shot in which the character on screen is only shown  from the waist up.  This helps to show the body language and the expression, but is not as good at showing the expression as a close up is. In the task, because of the lack of budget, the camera shakes a lot, this could add to the horror of the scene which is unravelling.

Diegetic sound is used when the victim hair is pulled harshly in the form of a scream, and when she is being strangled in the form of deep harsh breathing, this adds to the sequence because it was the only other sound to be recorded. In the task, adding music and sound effects really helped because it added to the sequence and made it seem a lot scarier. Sound effects were added to give the scene a scarier feel.

In the task, planning costume couldn't really happen because it was a spur of the moment shooting, but when added clips were needed, it was easy to plan to wear the same clothings. The task involved mise-en-scene, this is the props used. In the task, a rope was not available, so the lanyard was used as a murder weapon, this adds to the spookiness as the lanyard is an innocent object which wouldn't normally be thought of as a weapon. Lighting couldn't really be controlled, but being in a light room added to the feel of the shoot by making it seem less ominous. A phone was also used to give the scene some realism, the victim was shown to be on her phone, before her 'friend' sat down, this gives realism as most teens would be on their phones.

Editing prove to be a bit of a challenge, but was completed quite well, trying to match the clips seemed to be harder than previously thought. Final Cut Pro helped to eliminate some of the worries as it was quite easy to use and easy to understand. Final Cut Pro had a good amount of features to use, and it was fun to play around with them.

The task went successfully, and the group worked quite well, as the 'victim' in the sequence I felt my input to the task was needed, also I was able to work quickly and quietly with the software, being good with computer technology it wasn't too hard to work out, as part of a team I feel I worked well, and the team as a whole worked well together. the team was able to get on with the task well and completed it in sufficient time, albeit a little slower than other groups.

All in all, the task went well, if more time had been available, more edits would have been used, and some of the shots would have been re-filmed. The advantages of doing this task were that it was a good preparation for the actual task, and gave a good insight into the camera angles. Some disadvantages were that it was shot very quickly and hadn't really gotten to grips with the cameras.