Preliminary Task

In this task we were required to create our own short scene that demonstrated at least one example of the following shots:

• Match on action
• Shot-reverse-shot
• 180-degree rule

Storyboard:

During the drawing of the storyboard, we decided against the use of any pan shots due to the limitations of equipment as all we had was a tripod and a phone. This meant that these kind of shots were likely to be shaky and inconsistent. Throughout the scene we used various examples of mid-shots and close-ups as these were essential in showing the emotion of our two characters within the film. 

Each shot on the storyboard displayed the rough duration of the shot; where it would be shot (interior/exterior); the shot type; the action happening within the shot; the sound within the shot and the type of transition/edit. 

Filming:

Some changes were made during the filming that differed to what was displayed on the storyboard. One major decision was the removal of dialogue within the scene. We came to this decision as we felt that our lack of acting experience could lead to the talking sections feel tacky. Another limitation which lead to this decision was the fact we were only able to use the in-built mic of the phone, and we felt that the audio wouldn't have been up to scratch. This decision also meant that we could demonstrate the emotions of the characters through visuals in the use of close-ups and facial expressions. If pulled off well, this could make it quite effective and I feel that we did this well. It also meant that the film could potentially be more humorous as the expressions on the characters' faces portrayed their emotions in a funny way.

During the filming we had to be conscious of continuity throughout, especially with the positioning of the two characters. An example of this is when Cassidy begins to walk across the room. Before this shot she is shown with her mouth open in a close up. When it cuts to the long shot of her walking along the room we had to make sure that she began the movement with her mouth open and looking in the same direction. For each shot we made sure to over-shoot, this made sure that the flow of the movements in the scene was consistent, and it also meant that reshooting would not be necessary as there was no lack of footage in each shot. 

One thing we didn't worry about too much during the filming process was the sound (particularly the ambient sound), as we knew that this could be tampered with in editing, and the fact we chose to have no dialogue made this process much smoother. 

There are some slight differences between the storyboard and the finished product. One example is when Cassidy walks towards the main door of the media room in the mid shot. On the storyboard it shows her coming towards the door from the left, however in the filming we chose to change this to the right as it wouldn't match with the first establishing shot of her walking along the corridor. If we kept it as it was in the storyboard the movement wouldn't have felt smooth and would've been disorientating, as well as a continuity error. Another example are the shots where Cassidy walks in and out of the Mac suite. On the storyboard it shows her walking in as the camera is looking over Molly's shoulder, but we chose to change this so that the camera angles were more interesting and varied. 

Editing:

Overall the editing was a smooth process, with our choice of having no dialogue helping in this. First we focused on cutting the clips before we thought about tampering with the sound (e.g. adding music, altering the ambient sound), as well as the visual effects (crop-lines & colour correction). As we had several takes on some of the shots from the filming, we had to go through the footage and selecting the best take per shot before we put them on the timeline. This meant that when it came to actually putting the clips together it would be a lot easier. 

We then made a rough cut of all the shots we wanted in the correct order together, and then focused on matching the action per shot. This was simple and just required going through the last few and the first few frames of the shots we selected on the rough cut. After we were happy with the cutting of the film, we then focused on the sound.

The sound was mostly simple to edit as we had no dialogue, but we did not want to skip over it. For example, in the shot where it is a close-up of Cassidy as she has just opened and walked through the door, there was no actual sound of the door closing in the background. This was fixed by looking through some of the takes that we had not included in the edit and finding a clip where the door closed. In this case we took the audio from one of the takes where she is walking through the door from the corridor. We simply overlaid the audio that we took from the other take on the clip and timed it where we thought the door would close. One problem with this was that the sound was too loud and quite distracting from the actual shot, and we wanted it to be more subtle. This was easily fixed by just altering the audio gain of the audio clip. This same process was also used for the clip where Cassidy walks into the Mac suite. 

Another example of fixing the sound was right at the start of the film. In the original shot, as Cassidy is walking down the stairs there is talking in the background from the other group that was working in the same corridor. We couldn't simply take out the clip as it was part of the establishing shot in the film, so to overcome this we simply unlinked the audio from the video on the clip, cut out the audio where the talking is heard, and then replaced it with a clip of ambient sound that was copied from the same clip.

Once we finished fixing the ambient sound of the film, we put the music into the shots where Cassidy 'confronts' Molly. After finding the right music for the mood of the scene, we decided where we wanted the music to start and end. The music effectively built the tension of the scene, however it finished at a different point to where we wanted it to stop in the actual video. After tampering with some of the clips lengths, as well as the music, the issue was solved. 

As the sound and the clips were finished, we decided to add something to make the scene more dramatic. This was done by animating in cinematic crop-lines into the scene when Cassidy sees Molly in the window of the Mac suite. This quickly emphasised the drama. However, to do this even further we colour corrected each shot by making the colour cooler, with more emphasis on the blacks and blues, and then added a vignette to bring the focus onto the two characters as well as make the scene darker. Accompanied with the dramatic music, this quite clearly made the scene more dramatic, but also made it more entertaining as the change in mood was more visual. We decided to end the cinematic part just as Cassidy is leaving the room. This happens as the music is just about to climax, creating an anticlimax as the music stops and the cinematic crop-lines, as well as the colour correction, are animated out. This adds a sense of humour into the film as the scene is over-dramatised  and then ends in a way that the audience may not expect.