Preliminary Exercise

We filmed a sequence of Helen opening a door, sitting down on a chair, and diversing a dialouge between her and Kirsty. Dan was the camera man filming it and editing was done by the whole group. Kirsty and Helen acted for the production of the preliminary exercise. Everybody contributed to writing and storyboarding the piece and choosing the various camera angles used.

This exercise helped Helen to learn the basics of creating media and the various preparations required. Dan and Kirsty did media at GCSE level so they already knew this, but the exercise taught them the use of the 3rd line and the 360 degree rule. During the editing everyone increased their knowledge to a more diverse range of skills within the software.

We began our short sequence with an extreme close up of Helen's hand pressing down the door handle. This means the viewer knows nothing of the setting or action, creating tension. The camera cuts to a close up of the other side of the door, you see the handle press down, the door open and Helen begin to walk through the door. The close up continues the tension as the audience is still unaware of the situation. The next shot is a medium shot of Helen continueing through the door and starting to walk down the stairs. She is on the third line to show she is the most significant object in the shot, it also makes the shot more interesting to view. The camera then cuts to a tracking shot of Helen walking down the stairs, as she reaches the bottom Kirsty comes into view sat behind a desk. They are both on the third line to show their significance. Helen is higher in the scene to make her look more vulnerable, and give Kirsty the control. This shot shows the viewer much more of the room and so eliminates the tension. The camera cuts to a point of viwer shot from Helen to Kirsty. This puts the audience in the position of Helen, and makes them think the same as her, even though they know little about the scene. The camera then cuts back to the tracking shot to show where she has walked to. As Helen sits down the camera cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Kirsty behind the desk as she delivers her speach. The camera then cuts to an eyeline match of the previous shot, in an over the shoulder shot of Helen as she speaks. The eyeline match makes the scene easy to watch and allows the viewer to keep up with the action without much effort. The final shot is an over the shoulder shot of Kirsty, this is a continuation of the eyeline match. Throughout the entire sequence the 180 degree rule is utilised, this creates continuity, and was also part of the brief.