The preliminary shooting task

As already stated for part of our media course-work we had to plan and conduct a preliminary shoot in which a character will walk into a room and exchange a short conversation with the other character. As a group we had already decided on the plot in which was about a Detective (performed by Luke Rowley) and a criminal (acted out by Ellis King); aswell as the setting; dialogue etc.

My individual involvement to the group is one I believe to be paramount. As i had already had previous experience in controlling a camera and how to effectively use different shots; this was nothing new to me and I felt at an advantage. I dealt with the camera in motion, decided on which camera angles would be suitable for the shot etc. I had Ben Burwood accompany me on this in relation to needing extra help in controlling the camera for difficult shots.

A few difficulties in sense of obstacles were intact for example; when shooting in the corridor/stairs people walking through and making noise, and naturally of course- our group getting distracted which we overcame and perfected our sequence.

My upmost priority was -as I am sure the rest of the group's was that continutiy was followed. In which the audience could easily understand the plot so that the rest of the story could unfold. Continuity is extremely important when shooting in that the whole sequence has to flow smoothly without any disorientating shots; for example, if Ellis and Luke suddenly switched positions without the audience seeing them do so. The Mise-en-Scene was also important in this as the setting, props, costume, lighting etc (everything shown on the screen) can't be vaguely diorientating for exmaple; Luke's suit suddenly changing colour. We also had to follow the 180 rule, match on action and shot reverse shot in which helped us ensure the film flowed and did not disorientate the audience.

The 180 rule ensured the camera was unable to cross and invisible like in which in our case was the centre of the table. We were able to move the camera from left to right to be able to perform things like shot reverse shot etc. Match on action ensured that when a camera changed position the action being filmed continued and fit in with the previous shot after the camera had been moved and the action had been continued after. This was evident in the shots where Luke walks from the hallway and into the 'interrigation' room.

When it came to editing we all done an equal amount of putting in ideas and dealing with the software. We had to make some decisions in what shots to use as we took a few of the same so that we had that choice available to get the best we could have done.We worked well together and our preliminary task I believe was a success.