Introduction
This was a continuity task which involved filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room, and exchanging a few lines of dialogue with another character.
Planning
Firstly I looked for a location to film, to enable me to have an idea of the kind of shots I wanted to use, and where they would be most suitable. This also allowed me to develop my ideas for the film and how I wanted the location to fit in with the story. I then drew a floor plan and story board, so I knew where the cameras would be, and where the characters needed to position themselves. This helped with continuity as I could apply the 180 degree rule easily. The script was basic and which, let me focus on the camera work and continuity instead of creating a good narrative.
Techniques
In this film I used a wide range of camera shots and angles. Firstly, allowing the character headroom while walking around the corner, and when using over the shoulder in the hall, the camera was handheld to make it shaky, which fits with the story of a drug deal. During the conversation, I tried to keep to the 180 degree while using shot and reverse shot, it was over the shoulder which is the opposite of what the Coen brothers do, but I feel it displayed distance between the characters more effectively. In editing I used some fades to black, and lots of jump cuts between shots with some slow motion for tension. I also chose to use a extreme close up for the exchange of hands as it accentuates the importance of the events taking place, for the final scene, a wide angle is used as it expresses the individuality of the characters.
Main learning Points
Making this taught me a lot about camera work and how to film more professional, for example how the way you hold a camera can affect the stability of the shot. Following the shoes at the beginning allowed the character to be introduced at a slower speed, working up before the reveal of the face, which allows tension to build. This task also developed my team skills as it required lots of co ordination between us to create an end product we were happy with. There is a continuity error with the door not fully closing before the next shot, it was left in as the character would have been in the wrong place on the wrong foot in the next shot, this could be eliminated by filming it multiple times and using the best result. There is also an error in the final shot, a frame jumps, which is a rendering error or down to Youtube compression, this could be fixed by cutting the part before the frame skip.
