Ciara's Preliminary Task Evaluation

The Confession 

The brief 

The Brief of the task was to practice our continuity editing whilst including a character opening a door, walking across a room, sitting down on a chair opposite another character and exchanging two sentences of conversation.

Pre-Production:

The pre-production stage typically consists of story-boards, script writing, location planning, casting etc. However due to out limited time we had to skip the majority of this part and go strait into production where we quickly thought of an idea involving a police interview set in a dark location. Although we wanted to use a drama classroom that had lighting equipment, this was in use so we decided to go behind the school stage in the main hall. 

Production:

During production we found that behind the stage was cramped when we placed a table and two chairs in. As well as this, we found that although the lighting behind the stage created a tense and sinister atmosphere at some points it was too dark so we had to compromise and use our torch phones when Lauren (the camerawoman) was filming Hannah and I (the actresses). This also proved difficult in the editing stage.


Post Production:

For editing we used final cut pro. We found that due to lighting, we were unable to use some of our better clips, ultimately limiting our footage. However the lighting also meant that the clips that were available did allow us to achieve the intense atmosphere we were looking for. 

In addition we added a sinister sounding music and imported it from YouTube to final cut pro. However due to Hannah and my dialogue we had to edit and cut the music around this so the audience could hear our conversation.

As well as this, we added credits to our opening, as a group we decided to have them softly appearing on the scene, contrasting with the tone that the music sets creating a suspicious and sinister atmosphere to our piece.

To finish off we tried to incorporate as many of the continuity editing principles as possible that included 'Match On Action' and 'Shot reverse Shot' however dues to tight space and limited time we were unable to incorporate the 180 degree rule.

Match On Action 

This is cutting from one shot to another view that matches the action and pace of the first shot. We added this in when Hannah opened the door and was then filmed on the other side.

Shot Reverse Shot
This is when the two characters are in conversation, one of the characters is filmed looking off screen to where the other character is, and vice versa. This technique was added when Hannah and I were in conversation.

Evaluation:
Once we had finished our post-production stage we up loaded it to YouTube and received feedback from out class.

W W W:

• tense music creates a dark atmosphere and works well with the dimmed lighting.
• intercepted credits creates suspense.
• close up shots of the actresses creates an intense atmosphere.

E B I:

• Dialogue was uneven and could be clearer if we used proper microphones;
• could show Hannah on the other side of the door.
• If we had clearer but still dimmed lighting.