Editing

Here is my finished video:

What went well?

I think the start of the video is considerably better than the end, specifically the section where the first character (Jack) walks through the door. I was extremely pleased with the continuity across 3 shots of the door opening and closing.

What challenges did you face?

Despite my best efforts I did not manage to secure all of the shots I needed. I filmed them all at least twice but some of the dialogue was not easy to hear and not coherent. I did not realise this whilst filming an when I did realise it was too late. To cover up the lack of shots I had to add in a fade transition to give the impression time had passed rather that the character had just approached the chair.

Evidence of the continuity techniques

180˚ Rule

This Is demonstrated through out the video by the camera staying on one side of the characters. At this point in the sequence I change the side the camera is on by showing the camera switch sides.

Eyeline match

This is shown at the start of the video when the Jack first looks around the room, the next shot is from his point of view, showing what he is seeing.

Match on action

Jack opens and walks through the door at the start, this lasts for 3 shots but the same energy and pace is kept up through out.

Shot reverse shot

I now realise that this technique was not completely present. All the character interaction was carried out with them looking directly into the camera. One shot showed Jack and Toby sitting opposite each other and where they are in relation to their surroundings so I hope that this was not too confusing for the audience.

What did I learn?

• It is always better to film too much than not enough - I learnt that it is vital to film extra shots just in case some aren't good enough. When filming I made sure to film everything at least twice but it seems that was not enough. I will make sure to get loads of quality footage for my opening sequence.
• Do not rush the editing - From watching the other videos I learnt that it is definitely worth taking time editing the footage because sloppy editing can make a sequence look terrible even if the cinematography is perfect. I will make sure to take my time whilst editing my opening sequence. 
• Music is everything - I learnt that music can dramatically change the mood of the video. My sequence doesn't have a constant backing track but I still feel it works well. I will make sure to use quality music in my opening sequence.

Filming

Location: The Foundation room
Actors: Jack and Toby
Main Props: A pen

Filming was quite hard to do, these are some of the problems I was faced with:

• The background changing -  because I was in a room with lots of other people that were not aware of what I was doing they had a tendency to move which would made the shots in coherent.
• The noise - I planned to use the audio off the clips because back round noise was required for my video, the problem this presented was one of continuity, in some shots the noise was quieter thatn others. This may pose a problem during editing.
• The tripod I was given was faulty so some angles were awkward to film.
• People kept walking into my shots! - I was trying hard to make sure that the composition of my shots was all intended and nothing was just chance. This also resulted in me re-filming some other wise good takes.

People walking on to my shot

What went well?

• My actors were really patient with me throughout allowing me to achieve the desired effects.
• At one point I was breaking the 180 - rule by filming on the wrong side of one of my character breaking the continuity and possibly making it disorientating for the view (If I had included those shots). But luckily I realised my mistake and was able to rectify it by re-filming from the right position.

The shot from the correct side

Did I change my story board?

No, not at all. I followed it completely and filmed all of the required shots. I may have to change a few when it comes to editing depending on their quality.

Planning

I found story boarding quite a straight forward task. The hardest part is actually coming up with what needs to be shown. First I wrote a list of what would be included in each shot and how to show it, then I started drawing shot by shot.

With each picture certain information is written to help me when is comes to editing:

• A brief description of the shot
• The shot type and angle
• Any camera movement
• Music and sound affects present
• Any dialogue and whether it is diegetic (sound the characters can here) or non-diegetic (the characters cant hear it, such as a voice over)
• The duration of the shot
• The edit transition

My animatic is a guide to what my film will look like. 

Here is my finished animatic: 

I look forward to filming and seeing the finished product. I have decided on the location: the foundation room, and the actors: my friends Jack and Toby.

My Interpretation of the Brief

We were given a brief which says exactly this:

'Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule'

I made sure to include all that is outlined in the brief:

What happens?

The story told in my scene:

• A character wanders into a room and she see's someone she knows
• She goes over to him and sits down
• They partake in some chitchat about what they are doing
• She accuses him of stealing her pen asking "Is that... my pen?", he denies this by saying "No..."
• She takes it anyway exclaiming "it is now!"
• She proceeds to run of in a menacing fashion.

How is it told?
My character is walking down a corridor and enters a room. This is where I use match on action. Three consecutive shots show her opening a door, walking through it and the door closing.

The door opening and being entered.

The door being walked through.

The door closing behind the person who has just walked through.

Next the character looks around and sees someone the know, here is where the eyeline match is featured.

The character looking around.

What she sees (following her eyeline).

When the character spots someone they know a decide to walk over, here is where I demonstrate the 180-degree rule. I show my character walking right to left, in the next shot the camera is shown moving round the character to their other side where it remains for the rest of the scene.

Character walking right to left.

The camera moves round the character, the shot shown is its ending position.

Finally she sits down (on a chair, as outlined in the brief) and exchanges some dialogue with another person before the final action (or crime, if you will) takes place.

Continuity editing - Eyeline match

The eyeline match is similar to the shot/reverse shot technique in that the audience is shown what the character is looking at.  It starts with a character looking off-screen, the next shot is of what the character was looking at. For example:

Here the character is looking off screen, the next shot is of the toaster. This makes the audience assume he is looking at the toaster. The shot shows what is in his eyeline.

Continuity editing - Shot/Reverse shot

To make sure the audience assumes two characters are looking at each other the shot/reverse shot technique is used.

In this scene it is demonstrated by Batman looking at the homeless fellow.

He looks off screen then the viewer is shown who he is looking at, and then shown what the homeless man is seeing. Also notice that the two characters are facing opposite directions, giving the impression they are looking at each other.

Continuity editing - Match-on-action

Match-on-action is when an action is started in one shot and continues in the next with the same energy. It can act as a distraction from accidental errors in the continuity such as items moving by them selves.

I filmed an example but it turns out my camera is broken but this video shows the concept well.

In one shot a page is being turned and in the next the action is still happening. To the audience it appears the action is happening continually rather than in two separate pieces.

Continuity editing - 180˚ Rule

When two characters are talking to each other you can join them by a line. When filming these characters they should always have the same right left relationship, the camera should only stay on one side of the black line and on either the red or blue line to ensure this.

For example, if the first shot shown was from camera 1 the show would look like this: 

If the next shot was from camera 4 it would be disorientating for the viewer because the characters would be the opposite way round,:

But if we follow the 180 rule and take a shot from the same side of the line as camera 1 is on (such as from camera 3) the characters keep the same left right relationship:

But just because you start on one side this does not mean you have to stay that side for the whole scene. The line may be crossed as long as the transition is shown on camera.

My previous filming experience

I took Media studies at GCSE so I do have a little bit of experience of filming and editing. I made a music video to the song Mathematics by Little Boots for my coursework.  This is pretty much my only experience I have on the subject.