Group: Preliminary Task

The Brief

The preliminary filming task must include:

1. Continuity Editing
2. 180' Rule
3. Two Lines of Dialogue
4. Opening of a Door

The Ideas

• After deciding that we all liked the idea of a thriller type genre, we began to develop story ideas.
• These mainly revolved around the idea of a kidnapping of sort.
• Initially we wanted to create a reason for the kidnapping; for example, a document had been stolen or something of value had gone missing.
• However, we decided it would be more effective if, in the clip, what the kidnapper was actually looking for wasn't revealed to the audience - thus adding an element of mystery.
• To convey the typical conventions of a thriller, we discussed low lighting, varying shot types, lots of POV/handicam, but most importantly minimalistic diagetic sound.
• The latter was the base of our first shot, emphasised footsteps shot at a POV angle.

Initial Storyboard

Final Cut 

This is our final cut of the preliminary task, 'Kidnapped'

Evaluation

• For a first attempt, with a generally minimalistic knowledge about editing in particular, we feel that this was rather good.
• We complied to the brief by editing in continuity, applying the 180' rule, using multiple lines of dialogue and opening of doors. 
• We experimented somewhat with Premiere to see what we could work out and therefore apply to our piece. This mainly involved the altering of light levels so that they all matched (especially the ECU of the hand turning on the light switch) and also the fading up and down blur effect at the start of the piece. The fact that we could apply these effects already makes us more confident about editing our final piece.
• Editing with music was also a rather new experience; anchoring cuts to the soundtrack to make motivated cuts was useful in considering how we want to do our title sequence, in that we want to make sure the non-diegetic soundtrack is in unison with the visuals. 
• Overall, we feel that this was a successful exercise and has proved we can turn an idea into a reality which, has boosted our confidence in achieving some of the shot ideas we have at present. 
• However we realise now, having finished the editing, we could have created the same piece but with far less shots; this is noticed especially when the victim is walking through the corridors - too many shots for minimal action. 
• To create a successful title sequence, we now know how important it is to, whilst always applying continuity, use less shots to convey more action so that the audience have less time to think about what is going on, thus vicariously becoming involved with the piece. Also, framing is something to be considered carefully which, hopefully, will be made easier by properly storyboarding our piece.