Preliminary Task 3

For this preliminary task we had to show continuity throughout our editing skill using four basic different shots that we recorded earlier on. This task not only wants to show us how much we have learnt so far but it wants to challenge us to think what we want to transmit to the audience as well as extra shot to show more details.

We wanted to show anger and mystery as we are working toward a thriller project.

This effect is shown is different ways thought out the scene, for examples to show the feeling of intension the actresses Hanna and Jess did a very passionate performance. Hanna showed the anger through her voice and face expression, the same with Jess as she showed frightened feeling with worried face expression and a low voice and insecure voice.

The mise-en scene for this task was not too complicated as our first filming task we wanted to keep it as simple as possible but interesting for the the audience eye.

The location was a class room and we moved all the tables and students' stuff to give us enough room the film all the sequence without any problems. We than used as props a hockey stick a the door, those objects helped the sequence to gain intensity specially between the two characters having and mysterious argument. The hockey was used as a potential harmful object for the next action. In the sequence we showed a close up of Hanna taking the hockey stick from Jess scared of and not only protecting her self from her but stopping her from doing something wrong. We didn't want the audience to be distracted from it during the dialogue between the two actresses but we decided to incorporated it as it shows a more detailed view of the sequence and differentiation of shots.
Even though this we incorporate this shot in the sequence i personally believe that is probably one of thawed elements if not the weakest of the all scene. This is because the shot has been filmed while Hanna is taking the stick horizontally and the next shot she is holding it vertically, this came across with the continuity and it became a distraction. The distraction effect wasn't minded too much as we already distract the audience from the surrounding with the close ups and this just gave a bit of time for the audience to focus on something different, showing all the props and saving us from a prediction from the viewers of the next shot.
The door was used as a sound effect as well as an entrance and exist for the sequence.
We add a close up of Jess' face expression with the door opening sound effect and straight after we have a close up of the door shutting mainly inly the handle is showed instead of the all door.

The four main shots where wide angle,  two over the shoulder and close ups.

The wide angle is most important shots as it sets the scene and if you have any problems later on editing the scene you can always use it as it won’t destroy the continuity. With over the shoulder shot we had to apply the 180 degrees rule and we had to draw the audience attention to the two characters. The over the shoulder shots of Jess worked really well as it show the general status of the character in comparison with the close up of Hanna that shows her opposite feelings and her face expression is completely different. We wanted to transmit the feeling of anger mainly from the acting and showing the details of the face expression so the close ups where our strongest point.

The use the close up for extras as well, we have a close up of the hockey stick taken from Jess’s hands and a close up of the door shutting.

This two scene added intensity and they draw the audience attention to something different than the characters as we didn’t want it the get bored or distracted from the surroundings.

The hockey stick close up didn’t work as well as we thought. It interrupts the continuity as we made a mistake and the hockey stick position. This is one mistake we won’t repeat for the thriller and we will look more careful when we film the shots to be clear, detailed and exactly the same to each of them.

The editing was the most difficult part, as we had to show the actual sequence.

We had few problems to show the continuity effect during the cutting as the we wanted to show diversity using the different shots but we wanted a clear sound effect as the conversation is the most important element of the all clip. I found editing challenging as it interrupts the flow of the sound but we learnt few tricks with adobe to edit the scene differently with the actual sound effect.

we used clear cut to do not draw the attention of the audience towards the editing put in the sequence generally.