Q.07. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

I’ve learned a great deal regarding camerawork and editing while doing our coursework.  Some of what we used in our preliminary tasks, we also used in our opening scene. An example is match-on-action. In our preliminary task, we used it when shooting the scene of me opening the door.  In our opening scene, we use match-on-action to show continuity of the character travelling in the woods.

We also used shot-reverse-shot in both. In our preliminary task, we used this in a conversation. This shows two people talking to each other. On our opening scene, we used it when the character was walking in the forest and someone was following him.  We used shot-reverse-shot to show that someone was following. If we had used a normal view, the audience wouldn’t have noticed that someone was following the character.

In our preliminary task, we also used the 180 degree rule. This is to avoid confusing the audience regarding the position of the characters.

           We did a lot more editing, in comparison to our preliminary task. One is the flashback scene. This is just a normal scene that we shot. However, by editing it and making it black-and-white, we made it obvious that it’s a flashback.

                Another scene where we used our editing skills is the scene with the character waking up. We made the screen a bit blurry, and made two shots overlap each other. This helped make the effect that we were looking for, and made it clear that the character is groggy and just waking up.

               

                We also used a number of shot types. Some are long shots to establish the scene, medium shots and close-up to make the audience focus on an object or the character. We also used different shot angles like low, high, or tilted. One instance is the scene with the mugging. When the shopping bag fell on the floor, the camera closed-up on the bag and the camera angle is low and tilted. This made the audience focus on the shopping bag. Furthermore, the tilted long angle shot connotes that the victim has fallen down on the floor.

                Another scene which shows a different shot type and angle is the establishing shot of the scene in the woods. When entering the forest, it was a long shot in a high angle. This allows the audience to have a good look in the location of the scene.