February 11, 2009

We started with something new today and we learnt about the importance of “Continuity Editing” in order to create a better film. I thought it was very interesting and it got me thinking more about angles and shots. After watching some examples of the shots, I had a clearer understanding of how to edit films. I thought the information was very useful as it will help us with our tasks later in this course.

After the introduction to editing, we had a new task. We had to pick one script from four given to us. Going back to our old groups, Medora, Louise, Ashley and I decided to use Script 4. We retrieved our equipment – camera, headphones, microphone and tripod. Then we decided to film on the edge of sixth floor new building near the railings where there is natural lighting and space. Louise was A and Medora was B. But before we filmed them with dialogue, we filmed Medora walking towards the edge of sixth floor. It was an over-the-shoulder shot. Afterwards, we filmed Louise walking towards Medora, however this is a close-up of her, so we had to make sure the tripod was leveled and the shots were smooth. Due to the stiffness of the tripod, we had a little difficulty making a pan shot as it was not smooth. But Ashley and I decided to hold on to the tripod so that the shot can be created. Afterwards, we did a match on action cut when Louise was walking towards Medora. When she approaches Medora, we filmed 180 degree rule of her hand on Medora’s shoulder, making sure we caught Medora’s shocked expression. Then we had another close-up of her hand on Medora’s shoulder. We decided to have varieties of shots to allow us to edit our film from a selection of angles and shots.

For the dialogue, we made Louise sound concerned when she said “What are you looking at?” But Medora seemed shocked to see her and her sudden change of facial expression made her look as if she was angry. Then Louise puzzled, asked, “Who was that?” and Medora said coldly, “My sister”. After this short dialogue, Medora walked away. When Medora said her 1st line, we used “full front”, so Medora was facing the camera when she said her line, showing Louise’s point of view. Then Louise said her 22nd line, we filmed Medora looking at the window and out of it, as if to let the audience know what she was looking at. When she left, we filmed Louise from the back and out of the window and down to the road, showing that she looked at what Medora was looking at beforehand. As we have to finish editing by next class, we will have to work on our own to create the film. We will have to learn to have good time management in order to finish the work efficiently.

During the task, we discussed the shots together and we strived to be Communicators and Risk-takers as we collaborated well and took the chance to try new ideas with each other.