Preliminary Exercise - Storyboard and Analysis

We were asked to do a preliminary exercise that included a match on action shot, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. When briefed about what the short film had to include we were told an actor had to walk through a door, sit down opposite another actor and exchange a few lines of dialogue.

Storyboard (Click to enlarge)


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Analysis


When drawing my storyboard I had imagined that I would be filming my preliminary exercise in my house, therefore drawing it in the style of that location. However when it became time to film the preliminary I was informed that we would be filming them in school, making me have to switch locations so the film does not look exactly like the storyboard. I eventually found a room to film in at school that was set up similarly to my original location (it had an adjoining room that I could use for the walking shots at the beginning through the door, a table the actors could converse over, etc.)

I believe filming was successful, although I had some issues with continuity. In a couple of scenes there is a person sitting in the background which I hadn't noticed whilst filming. This taught me to be extra careful when setting up scenes, making sure that everything is in place and to always check before filming. The setting up of shots went well; I think the shot reverse shot was successful and effective in the delivery of the conversation. I also added a close up of the gun which wasn't originally in my storyboard as I thought it would be more effective than just seeing the gun being passed over in a long shot. I successfully included the match on action shot with one of my actors walking through a door, the shot reverse shot was shown when both my actors were sitting opposite each other exchanging some dialogue and I showed my understanding of the 180 degree rule by keeping all of my shots within the 180 degree angle at all times.

Editing was a new experience as I had not previously used iMovie. After editing, my film was short but I did manage to include all the shots we were asked to and followed the brief we were given. I only used the 'fade to black' transition as I felt it didn't really need anything else and the less transitions used the more realistic it would look.

The over-all experience of doing the preliminary exercise was very helpful as it taught me how to organise shots, edit them together and also helped me learn different angles. It gave me more confidence when planning my main task and made me eager to try out different kinds of shots and learn more editing techniques.