Preliminary task

Preliminary task

My group and I decided that we would try and set a realistic atmosphere by filming two girls having a conversation at their school.

The first technique we used was 'match on action'. 'Match on action' is an editing technique for continuity editing in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This creates the impression of a sense of continuity- the action carrying through creates a 'visual bridge' which draws the viewers attention away from slight cutting or continuity issues. It is ultimately used to portray a continuous sense of the same action, rather than two separate ones.

This was shown by the shot behind Balinder which captures her walking through the door, followed by the camera cutting to the front of the door, in which Balinder then walks through it. This technique  creates continuity between Balinders actions and shows the audience that the actress is going somewhere by portraying a continuous sense of the same action.

To improve this we should have cut the shot earlier so the door was in the same place as when Balinder walked through it as the door is in a different position when the shot changes. A smoother transition would aid in creating a 'visual bridge' for the audience which would make the scene look more realistic.

The next technique we used was 'shot reverse shot'. This is a continuity editing technique used in conversations or simply characters looking at each other or objects. This shot is also used to show what the character is supposedly looking at (either a point of view or over shoulder shot). This is followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at it. It can often be confused with 'The 180-degree rule' shot, to retain continuity by not distorting the audience's sense of the location of the characters in the shot. 

We employed this technique by showing the two actresses standing in a hallway together. This showed the audience the location of the characters. We also used this by using some of the techniques from 'The 180-degree rule', by showing each person's point of view. However, we could have improved this by showing a part of either Balinder's or Amie's shoulder or head in order to clearly capture that the alternative shot is what the character is actually looking at, rather than it just being a perspective shot of what's happening in the scene.

The last technique we used was 'The 180 degree rule'. This rule is a filming guideline that participants in a scene should have the same left-right relationship to each other, with filming only taking place within the 180 degree angle in which this is maintained in a conversation, for example. This allows the audience to have a greater sense of location in the scene in terms of what may be off-screen in some shots, for example shot reverse shots.

We adopted this technique by keeping our shots within the same 180 degree angle from each persons perspective and also in front of them to give the audience some perspective. This was maintained over the course of the girls conversation in order to avoid confusion and loss of focus from the audience.

To improve this we could of moved the position of the camera closer towards the individuals shoulder or head, in order for it to look more like an intimate conversation with each other. The shots are taken from a diagonal position, therefore creating the sense of a third person in the conversation, avoiding this by filming at an eye-line perspective would cause less confusion for the audience.