Preliminary Exercise: Continuity Sequences

Who Did You Work With and How Did You Manage the Task Between You?
I worked in a Group with Shaun, Mia and Loren. During the planning stage of the piece we split the work up equally so that we could all be busy doing things rather than waiting for one thing to be down, and then another. I worked closely on the 'shooting script', on the Script and Shaun did the drawing for the storyboard, whilst Mia helped and over looked both me and Loren. Obviously we all double checked with each other before going ahead with anything, so that the whole group was in agreement. This was very effective as we were able to get the job in hand done quickly, so that we could get started on the shooting and editing as quickly as possible. When shooting, as Loren and I were in most of the shots we did less camera work than Mia and Shaun, although we made sure we had done at least one shot. It worked well this way as there was no added fuss of switching the cameraman and sound technician each time which would have caused excess time and hassle. With the editing we would each do 15 minutes and a time and then change round. This worked very well.

Overall our group worked really well together, there were no arguments, no disagreements and we all really enjoyed our time. Everyone was really willing and happy to do whatever job they were given, and this meant that none of us were unhappy with decisions made.

How Did You Plan Your Sequence? What Processes Did You Use?
During the planning stage of our sequence we as a group decided which things we would be 'in charge of' as such and did them individually with group feedback. I worked on the shooting script and so had to reply on all the other members of my group as without a Storyboard or a script i couldn't have completed the shooting script.

The Script- Loren and Mia put together a quick script of our sequence ( which was going to be about 2 girls gossiping). We made sure the lines were short and snappy, to get a feel of a fast paced girly conversation.

Storyboard- We elected Shaun to draw up a rough storyboard so that we could get a feel for how our piece would run, and see it visually.

After doing both these things i was able to get on with the Shooting Script. The shooting script allowed us to come up with an appropriate shooting order for filming, not just filming in order of the sequence. We decided to shoot them (as we had discussed in class) by grouping them by locations and actors- i.e. all ones in the lobby at the start, then all the ones with me in them, then all the ones with Loren in. This made the best use of our time.

We did a run through of our sequence to check that everything was working right and then we were off.

What Technology Did You Use To Complete The Task, and How Did You Use It?
We used various technology and equipment throughout the task. The most vital part of our equipment would've been our Mini DV Canon Camera. We used the same one camera throughout which worked well.

Another vital part of our recording equipment was our microphone/headset sound gear. We used a mic plugged into the camera, which could be detachable to make it closer to the action. This made the conversation much clearer and therefore more understandable. Other equipment that we used during the shooting process was our tripod to keep the camera level and steady, and increase continuity of our shots. We used a clipboard to separate up different shots and takes between, to make it easier when it comes to the editing process.

As for the editing process we used an editing software called Premiere Pro. This allowed us to chop and edit our sequences quickly and easily, which made sure that we stuck to our schedule. The editing style we used is called non-linear editing which allows you to move clips around in different orders allowing you to be more flexible and versatile. We used 2 video tracks which made things a lot easier and clearer, especially when editing the conversation and all parts with girl one where one the first video track, and all parts with girl 2 were on the second. As the only sound we were using was dialogue we only needed one audio track.

I enjoyed using all the equipment. I found it particularly easy to use which surprised me, and it will be good as all the equipment we used we will be using for our real thing.

What Factors Did You Have To Take Into Account When Planning, Shooting and Editing?
Planning- When planning our shoot we had to take many factors into account. For example location. We had to shoot within the school premises as the brief had to include opening a door and walking across a room, and because it was during lesson times it made sense to film in the media block. This created a problem as all the other groups had the same idea. Luckily when filming it wasn't too much of a problem. Another thing to take into account when shooting was budget. Obviously our budget is ZERO and we we had to improvise with what we could make do with. Mia brought in an 'ugly' jumper which worked with our storyline, and since the scene was based around teenagers, me and Loren didn't need to do anything. Also when planning we had to consider whether our piece would be logical and make sense, for example if we had done a conversation about working on a farm but shot it in an office. Luckily ours was about gossiping teen girl, and we filmed it in a school so it all worked.

Shooting- With shooting factors we needed to take into account were similar to that of planning such as weather conditions if we were shooting outside. However most complications which could have arisen were because of continuity. Because we we're trying to make a sequence with continuity we had to be careful of various things. For example the framing in each shot had to be perfect. If you were filming a conversation (180 degree) then the shot of one person talking could not differ to the shot of the next time they talked. We did this by filming all the lines for one person, and then for the other. We also had to make sure our reactions were accurate to how you should react and so ran through the whole conversation. We often had to shoot many takes because of there not having the correct reactions, or because my head (in the shot) kept moving out of frame. Other stuff we had to be aware of was lighting, to keep it continuous throughout the piece. This was simple as we had no additional lighting apart from the room light. Another large problem which arose was everybody wanting to use the lobby at the same time, luckily we shot all our shots in the lobby first, whilst everyone else had left them until last. Also outside noise from the other classrooms meant we would have to wait between takes before filming so that we did have sound issues when editing.

Editing- The main factor to consider when editing was the continuity. Cutting the shots just right so that the sequence flowed smoothly and looked seamless.

How Successful Was Your Sequence? Please Identify What Worked Well and With Hindsight, What Would You Improve/Do Differently?
Brief:-Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

I think our sequence works well and is very successful, and we use all that is asked of us. We used a girl, opening a door, crossing a room and then having conversation and so fulfilled the brief entirely whilst adding our own little twist to int at the end by added the 3rd person. The conversation scene works well as we stick to the 180 degree rule, and it runs really smoothly without any skips or jumps. However next time when filming we would need to take larger pauses between sentences, because some this were hard to cut as we spoke almost on top of one another because we knew what each other was going to say. This made it extremely hard when editing and you had to be extremely careful when using the razor tool. We showed match-on-action when the girl goes to open the door and then there is a shot of her hand one the door, however there is a slight glitch with continuity as the hands are higher in the close shot, then they are in the long shot, but after getting feedback this wasn't too noticeable. The establishing shot at the beginning was only thought up once we were in the edit suite because we realised the shot we wanted to have wouldn't have worked as it would've meant that the girl went through the room twice. Instead we cut the shot down, so that it only showed Loren at the computer to establish that she was there, and the other girl was coming to see her and almost int erupting what she was doing, therefor our mistake was not all bad. The shot where girl 1 says "Oh my god Loren" works well because it create suspense by her dragging the chair across the room. However although it does create suspense, on the other and it takes slightly too long and changed the pace of the piece in that one bit. The bit at the end in which the girl comes through the door, and the other two girls are interrupted was quite spontaneous and we were not entirely sure if we were going to put this in, but we had time so we did. It was very awkward though because we needed to have the sound of the door for use to react to however we did not. So we had to cut the sound of a door from another shot and move it. It caused lots of excess problem but i think in the end worked really effectively.
Overall our piece looks seamless and professional. You do not notice the editing, which is the point after all.

What Have You Learnt From From Completing This Task? Looking Ahead, How Will This Learning Be Significant When Completing The Rest Of Your Foundation Coursework, Do You Think?

I have learnt that I am a lot more competent with all the technical stuff than I thought i was. I thought I would have forgotten everything about editing and Premiere Pro but it all came back to me and I really enjoyed it. I also learnt how HARD it is to get continuity editing right, and make it look plausible. It is really difficult and it is one of the things we're going to have to look very closely at when filming our group piece. It allowed us to make mistakes that we will now be able to correct in our real thing. It taught me to not rely on things such as locations and sound etc, as thing might always go wrong. I think in that respect it has taught me to be more wary about everything in a shoot, lighting sound and continuity.
I feel it also stregthened my ability to work in a group and has taught me not to be so bossy. This waas achieved by sharing work out easily
It also showed the importance of planning and a storyboard, because a few times shots that we wanted didn't work (such as the establishing shot).
I would make sure that in converstaion in a our piece we took longer pauses between each thing to make sure that we could get cutr off points right as this proved a problem for us.

I really onjoyed working on this project and cannot wait to get started on the real thing :)

Here is the Sequence
"Ugliest Jumper Ever"-By Loren, Shaun, Mia, Amelia