I have now finished filming and editing my piece, and it has been uploaded to my blog. I believe that my piece clearly demonstrates a piece of continuous film. I think this because there are no huge leaps in time during the cuts between frames.
I have successfully included a match on action shot in my piece which shows my female protagonist opening a door and walking through it. I think this helped the piece retain its continuity as it showed someone going through a door from two different angles, yet the first frame shown leads into the next clearly.
An example of my match on action:
I have also successfully included a shot reverse shot in my piece, which enables my audience to see a character exchanging dialogue with another character and the other character’s reaction. I think that the short reverse shot helped to keep the continuity aspect in the piece as it helped conversation flow clearly yet it showed the conversation from two character’s point of views. Also, I think that during the conversations, they flow quite well, meaning the conversation continues well between one scene to the next.
An example of my shot reverse shot:
If I was going to re-film this piece, I would shorten down the introduction and credits, as they were way too long. Also, I would try to keep the camera as steady as possible while filming to avoid shots being jolty. To help this, I will use a tripod to hold the camera in place while filming. Also, I would try to add a variety of shots (e.g. establishing, low angle, high angle etc) so that the character’s status is clear to the audience. Also, I would try to improve on the mise for my piece, as it was not quite clear to the audience what it was about. I could do this by giving my characters appropriate costumes and changing the setting so that it reflects the mood that should be felt by the audience (e.g. if I was going for a horror movie, then the set would contain a lot of dark colours or a lot of red) Also, another thing I would try to do is add more transitions between the frames, as there was only a ‘fade to black’ transition in my piece. I would add subtle transitions that would help to add to the mise of my piece, making the overall meaning of my piece clear to my audience. For example, another group’s piece contained blur during one of their scenes which indicated it was a flashback sequence where the protagonist was reflecting a past events. This helped to show what the character had been through which helped the audience feel a certain sadness to the character. Also, with sound I used a lot of voice over effects and Foley effects, but I think that I used a bit too much. So if I was going to film again, I would try to use less Foley effects so that when it is used it had more of an impact on the audience (e.g. at a key moment in a scene) For sound, I used Foley effects, music, natural sounds and dialogue in my piece, however when I film again I will vary the amount of each I would use. I would also try to add non-diegetic sound that would help to build suspense in the scene. I think that the music used for the introduction and credits was a bit overly dramatic and therefore if I was going to re-film I would try to use more subtle music that could keep the audience guessing as o what the piece could be about (for example, if I was making a horror movie and used a nursery rhyme for my opening music, it would help to catch the audience off guard with a sudden scare that could follow, which would help to build up the horror factor in the piece). Finally, I would defiantly change the titles, as the opening credits were too long and were not completely relevant to the piece that was shown. Initially, I was going for something based around the idea of love, however the scene shown did not reflect this and therefore the title was irrelevant.
For this task, I worked on my own. I found this difficult at times, as there was a lot more for me to do and I had to film each of the shots by myself, edit by myself and so on, however, I found it easier in deciding on ideas, as there was no other contrasting ideas. I managed to film using several cameras at once by using a tripod and securing it so that it was focused on the characters.
I think that I had planned the initial idea for my preliminary task well, however as I changed my idea, it became rushed and was not planned out as well as it should have been. For my first idea, I had completely decided on the set, characters and props however as I drastically changed my idea quite a way down the line, I did not have enough time to plan out my piece and therefore it did not come out as well as I had intended.
In the preliminary task, I have learned a lot about how to edit films. I have learned how to replace sound from a certain frame with sound that had been created that is better suited for that frame. Also, I have learned how to add text to any frames I desire, meaning that if I wanted to, I could add subtitles to any future pieces I make. Also, I have learned the basics of editing (e.g. placing frames together into one film, trimming frames down etc)
