7. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Our preliminary task was to film and edit a short sequence of two people having a conversation, keeping in mind the continuity principles and 180 Degree Rule. In the progression from it to the full product, we learnt how to improve our continuity and create seamless movement of characters and objects, while also considering framing and shot types.



The preliminary task helped us to develop our understanding of continuity and put it into practice before starting to work on our opening sequence. We also improved on our understanding of framing and different shot types. Overall the clip was successful and we managed to make use of several techniques.

The 'Match On Action' was particularly important in our opening sequence, and in the preliminary task we tried using it to create a smooth continuous motion. For example when Olivia opens the door at 0:11 there is a cut-away to her hand, the door opens slightly and it is followed by a Long Shot from inside the room as the door continues to open. We managed to successfully apply the Match On Action in our opening sequence several times, such as when Violet is walking down the stairs and the voyeuristic window shot from outside shows her walking from the same position. If it wasn't for our preliminary task it may not have been done as effectively.

Match on Action in our preliminary exercise

Match on Action in the opening sequence

Another continuity technique we looked at was the 180 degree rule. When the two characters sat down to have a conversation, the camera kept cutting between them (Shot, Reverse Shot) but never switched to the other side of the table. This makes the conversation less confusing for the audience as they could get disorientated if the 180 degree rule isn't followed.

The 30 degree rule is another film editing guideline that states "the camera should move at least 30 degrees between shots of the same subject occurring in succession". In our preliminary exercise we achieved this by using Over The Shoulder shots, cutting to each character while they were speaking their line. This ensures that there is always a change in the camera angle between each shot. In the opening sequence we tried to apply the rule after Violet hears the knock on her front door. When she gets scared and begins to run back upstairs there are a few fast cuts of her from different angles, building suspense but still making it easy for the audience to interpret.

30 Degree Rule - preliminary exercise

30 Degree Rule - opening sequence

With regards to framing, we had to be careful about the cut off points for some of the shots in the preliminary task. In the OTS shot above we tried to keep as little space between Olivia's head and the top of the frame as possible. We also tried to have a variety of shot types, for example when entering the room we used a Long Shot to show the setting and then cut to a Medium Close Up of the two characters together. We tried to apply the same concepts to our opening sequence and overall it was successful.

We didn't run into any significant problems when shooting or editing the preliminary task, but we learnt a lot from the process and managed to apply the principles of continuity and framing in our opening sequence successfully.