Preliminary Task Evaluation

We learnt how to use a tripod and camera effectively, for example how to attach the camera to the tripod and how to adjust the tripod legs. We also learnt how to toggle the sound and how to play back the images we recorded. We learnt how to use ‘Final Cut Pro’ to achieve continuity. We learnt how to cut the images together and to make sure there were no frame gaps. In addition, we learnt how to add credits along with effects for the text to enter and exit with. We learnt how to add a non-diegetic score, although we decided our preliminary task did not need this.

In the filming and editing of our project, I think the majority of things went well; we only needed to film everything in one session. We understood how to edit straight away and planned everything thoroughly before we even picked up the camera. I think the mise-en-scene could have been improved, but we didn’t have much time to prepare costumes and the room we recorded in did not look much like a real interrogation room. I think it would have worked better if we were in an empty room with just the desk and chairs, and had the interrogator in a blazer and tie instead of a ‘blur’ t-shirt. More props would have also been an improvement. We originally intended to have pictures of a dead body, which would be thrown onto the table, but we did not have enough time to stage the body and take pictures whilst in school. I also wished we could have had more use of lighting effects because it would have given the interrogation scene more atmosphere if the interrogator was in a brightly lit area while the suspect was in a dimly lit area. I also think that the editing could have been improved, because some of the editing cuts did not exactly match the sounds, however I think that was because we could not hear the videos properly. Next time we shall bring headphones and use them instead of relying on speakers. One thing that went really well was the insertion of credits. This was something we had just learnt to do and it matched perfectly with the setting of the clip. The conversation came across well, helped by the fact that we used the 180º rule with the over the shoulder shots.

We used a match cut in our preliminary task to save time. This is used as the interrogator walks towards the desk, and rather than show the interrogator's whole walk we used the match cut to cut from the interrogator walking through the door to her feet walking across the screen, and then to the interrogator sitting down. This was achieved by cutting the middle of the interrogator's walk away and editing in the feet walking across the screen. We made sure that all editing was smooth and that there were no continuity mistakes by watching each piece of footage carefully before editing them together.

We made sure that we used the 180-degree rule in order to do our shot reverse shot. When it was the scene where the two characters were having a conversation in the innterigation room, we filmed one of the characters first over the opposite characters shoulder while they were speaking and stopped where the other character was due to say her line. We then filmed the other character saying her line from behind the opposites shoulder. We then had a few different shots and then just cut and edited them together so that it flowed into a shot reverse shot

We achieved continuity during this task by making sure the cuts had no gaps. We had some trouble with this at one point because we couldn’t see the gaps. However, we learnt how to fix it by zooming in and moving the clips closer together, and by making sure the sequence of videos matched the storyboard and shot list we had prepared. Thus, we realised that when the shot list said to go from a close-up on feet to a close-up of walking, it didn’t make sense and confused the viewer. Therefore, we switched them around and the story seemed to flow again (giving continuity). We learnt how to effectively use a tripod and camera, like attaching the camera to the tripod and how to adjust the tripod legs. We also learnt how to toggle the sound and how to play back the images we recorded. We also learnt how to use final cut pro to achieve continuity. We learnt how to cut the images together and to make sure there were no frame gaps. We also learnt how to add credits along with effects for the text to enter and exit with. We learnt how to add non-diagetic score although we decided our preliminary task did not need this.