180 degree rule:
The 180 degree rule is often used when showing a conversation. The way to show the 180 degree rule is to keep the camera on one side the actors speaking so that it is obvious that they are talking to each other. A good way to remember the rule is to imagine a line going through the actors as shown in the diagram. The camera can only move in a semi-circle on one side of the actors unless a pan is used behind one actor to show the camera has crossed the 180 degree line. The reason we have this rule is show a conversation without the audience being confused on the positions of the actors.We tried to incorporate this into our own work but it wasn't successful. The part where the two people are on the phone was meant to keep to the 180 degree but the camera was positioned in the wrong place. Next time, we will carefully plan out when the camera should be on either actor so that the 180 degree rule is met.
Match On Action:
Match on action is when a medium long shot is taken of the action, then a close up is filmed of the same action, and then another medium long shot can be taken of the action again. This brings the audience’s attention to the specific action rather than the person doing the action. It is important for the shots to be exactly the same as if they’re not; it can jump when it comes to the editing.
Our first shot of our preliminary task was a match on action shot. I think we did this successfully as there isn't a jump between the medium shot to the close up and back to medium shot. The smoothness of the cuts makes the shot effective and makes the audience wonder what is on the piece of paper. *
Other improvements to the task:
As this was the first time of filming, it took us a while to get used to the camera. We found when it came to editing that some of the footage wasn’t filmed as the record button hadn’t been pressed at the right time. Next time, we will know when to press record and also to wait before the action is shot as we found some shots started too quickly which made the editing more difficult.
Some of the footage we did shoot was also quite shaky. We found that when we were filming that the tripod was loose. Next time, we will make sure everything is secure and stable before we start filming.
Sound was also a problem as you couldn't hear some of the dialogue over the wind. This is something we couldn't help so next time, if it is windy outside, we will film inside or place the camera closer to the person speaking. If we had more time, we would also put in some music to create tension as this time we ran out of time.
Editing:
I learnt a lot in the editing process. Before starting, I thought that it would be quite difficult as the editing software we were using looked quite complex. As it turned out, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought as we only used a few tools. We used the cutting tool to cut shots for the match on action. We had to be very precise with this and it took a lot of trial and error before we got a smooth transition between the different shots.
We also added in a green screen effect. To do this, we imported the effect and added it over the top of the last shot and resized it to fit correctly in the shot. Then we made the green become the shot by going to effects and dragging ‘Ultra Key’ onto the editing sequence. We then went into the effect controls and selecting the green with ‘Key Colour’. We then placed the effect over the shot we wanted and adjusted it as needed.
*When it came to uploading the task to youtube, the match on action shot had changed to what it originally was.
