Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our groups preliminary task we were asked to film and edit a short clip in order to
demonstrate the use of continuity editing. Continuity editing is an editing technique that is
the predominant style of film editing and video editing in the post-production process of
film making of narrative films and television programs. The purpose of continuity editing is
to smooth over the inherent discontinuity of the editing process and to establish a logical
coherence between shots, enhancing the verisimilitude. To begin with we were given an
extremely short amount of time to make some important decisions, which were decided
quickly between our group. The first step was to decide who would be the main
characters in the clip, after a quick discussion Pio and Ben put them selves forward,
whilst myself and Morgan did the filming.

After deciding that Ben and Pio were to be the two characters in the clip, we then discussed
the genre we were going to base our clip around. after a quick discussion we all agreed on
comedy. as we were limited as to were we were able to film out task, we were only able to
use the schools interior and exterior, nowhere else. whilst discussing the plot and story line
we made sure that we were sticking to the task and including everything that was needed to
make our preliminary successful, these were a conversation consisting of two or more lines
of dialogue, a character opening and passing through a door and finally a shot of a
character walking. If we would have had more time to plan our preliminary task, my group
and I would have liked to have created a storyboard to make sure the filming was correctly
laid out and organised correctly, it would have also allowed us to have not
missed any crucial shots which could cost us marks. thankfully we didn't! A storyboard in
relation to a short video, is creating boxes with linear narrative which can be created through
sketches and writing the significant changes of action in the film/scenario.

After completing the pre-production phase of our preliminary we then moved on to the
production phase in which we moved around the school to our chosen locations used our
camera to record the footage we would need later to edit . our group decided to only stick
with the camera angles we were told to use, we did not have enough time to experiment
and test out new shots, nonetheless we were pleased with our final video and believe we
met the criteria. Unfortunately, a majority of our task was filmed outside therefore sounds
such as wind and voices of people talking passing through affected the dialogue between
the two actors. A second flaw to filming outside was the constant light change
from light to shade. thankfully, due to the editing process we were able to apply
background music to cut out any voices of people talking in the background. Also when
we cut different section of different takes into one film, the natural lighting change was not
that oblivious, thanks to editing.
Whilst filming our preliminary task we had to take into account three extremely important
rules, these were: Shot-reverse-Shot, Match on Action and 180 Degree Rule.
We incorporated these aspects in order to enhance the verisimilitude of the clip in order
for the audience to feel as though they were watching real time events, and not feel
staged or put on.

Shot- reverse-shot: This is a film technique where one character is shown looking at another
character, and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. An example of
this in out work is when Ben and Pio are talking on the bench, although the camera is obeying the
180 degree rule, it continuously goes back and fourth to show each characters perceptive and facial
expressions. I think this worked well as it created further verisimilitude and realism of the
conversation.
Match on action: Cutting on action or matching on action refers to film editing and video editing
techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shot's action.
An example of this is our work is when Pio opens the door, he is seen from a behind side angle, and
is met with a different view in front of the door, the action matched the original clip.

180 Degree Rule: In film making, the 180-degree rule is a basic guideline regarding the on-screen
spatial relationship between a character and another character or object within a scene. An example
of this is during Pio and Ben's conversation scene (see figure 1).

Figure 1

After completing the filming we imported all our takes into the editing program Final Cut
Pro and we then split into two separate groups for the editing process, Morgan and
myself worked as one group and Ben and Pio as the other. Through the editing process
we were able to create a linear narrative by cutting the footage and using only the parts
that we thought were necessary for the story we were trying to put together.
Post-production is when a product is completely changed through music, colour
saturation and other visual and auditory elements and this was embodied by our final
products, with both of our groups producing two differing products. Through the editing
software we were also able to add text such as the title and the credits and this made the
short video seem more professional and gave a real sense of verisimilitude to the roles
played.
In addition to this we were able to slow down and speed up certain scenes, an example
of this is when Ben exits the scene in slow motion and points at the camera, making the
scene more intense and aesthetically pleasing and comical. The use of the soundtracks
changed the mood completely for each groups short clip, Morgan and I went for comical
voice overs and a grime instrumental to evoke comedy, whereas Ben and Pio did not use
any voice overs and only used a song towards the end, looking back this made their
clip look more professional.