Preliminary Task Ideas

The main idea for the Preliminary Task was to make a clip in the Western vein. For this to be possible, we plan to film it in the school canteen, as with its tills and seats its the closest that we can get to a Western saloon for  We chose to make the video in this genre because it is such a wide genre which can incorporate elements of many other genres, so we would not be restricting ourselves in what we could do in terms of meeting the three necesssary critera in order for the piece to include what is required: Shot-Reverse-Shot, Match on Action and ensuring that we stick to the 180 degree rule. All three of these are commonly used features in continuity editing, as they are subtle devices which make the video flow much more realistically.

Shot Reverse Shot

On our storyboard, we have planned out to use shot-reverse-shot in the part of the clip where the gunman is threatening the bartender. This was the best place to use it in the clip as it is the longest conversation which we have planned out in our script, which means that we can fully demonstrate our understanding of how a shot-reverse-shot works and how one is used effectively to capture a conversation whilst showing the facial expressions of each character. We have also planned to use shot-reverse-shot during the gunmans conversation with a person who is in the "saloon", although we also plan to use a side angle between the two characters for the action scene between the two of them.

Match on Action

We plan to use Match on Action for the part of the video where the gunman walks into the saloon through the door. In order to do this we will have to film him outside, then film his approach and his opening of the door into it, and then cut to a video filmed from inside the saloon of him opening the door. This is the most effective way to film a door being opened, as it allows the viewer to see the facial expressions of the character as they walk into the room, but also shows the character approaching the door, which puts into perspective where it is that they are going too. It may take quite a lot of attempts to get the shot in a way which will flow properly, but once we have a shot we are happy with this will be a very effective way of showing the door opening.

180 Degree Rule


A diagram showing how the 180 degree rule works

The final criteria which has to be met whilst filming our preliminary task was to stick to the 180 degree rule. This rule states that there is an invisible line when filming a moving image media text, which cannot be crossed by the camera as this will make it difficult for the audience to work out where each character is within the shot compared to the last shot. For our piece, the invisible line will be where the bartender is standing, as providing the camera does not pass this line the audience can still tell where each character is within the shot as it is distinctive where each character is in relation to the camera, although if the camera was to pass this line then it would be difficult to tell which character is in front of and which is behind the bar.

To finish, I believe that in our preliminary task we will meet all three of these criteria as we have thought carefully to plan how all of them will be incorporated into the piece, and thus it will be a successful task.