1. 1) What planning did you do for your filming task, and how did this planning aid the filming?
When planning for our preliminary task we were given a sheet with all of the different camera shots
on, this helped a lot when planning as it allowed me to see what shots would be suitable at which
points of our film and as someone who has never done media studies before this really helped. Once
we got this sheet we took a stills camera – mobile phone – and practiced all of the different shots so
that we were comfortable with them when we started filming for the prelim task. The shots sheet
helped when designing my storyboard as it gave me an idea of why shots are used and in what
situation they are suitable but before creating my storyboard as a group we needed to decide on a
concept for our piece.
When debating what themes and concepts we wanted in our piece we decided that we wanted our
concept to be simple an everyday situation that everyone can relate to, and so our concept and the
topic of our conversation is that a teacher has put two students in a group together but they do not
get on and so don’t want to work together and when they try they are both fighting for the power.
The dramatic moment in our piece was at the climate of the conversation/argument where Phoebe
had had enough of Matt and decided she didn’t care what the teacher wanted, she would not work
with Matt she would do the work by herself and so when leaving knocks over a chair and slams the
door behind her. Planning this before filming helped a lot of it gave us a direction to where the
filming was going what the shots needed to show.
I then made my storyboard which is on my blog, this helped when filming as it showed us the main
shots we wanted/needed for our piece to be successful. When filming we would refer to the
storyboard to make sure we were following the right path to the final product and to make sure that
we had a range of different camera shots in our piece, although I think that our piece could have
been improved – during the conversation – with some different camera shots for example more
close ups or a tilt, I still think we have a good range of shots and angles.
In our group we wrote a shot list from the shots off the storyboard, this helped us keep track of what
shot came next and what the location for the shot was I have included this on another post. We used
filming techniques such as match on action during our piece, one example of this is when Phoebe is
coming through a door and we have her opening the door in one shot and coming through in
another. We also used shot reverse shot during the conversation, we shot the shot reverse shot
from a high angle and we also made sure that there was perfect continuity in things such as costume
and made sure that we filmed in a classroom so that we did not get anyone else in the shots other
than the actors so that if we had to reshoot something there would be continuity.
2) What is the 1800 rule, and how is this rule important to the filming task?
The 1800 rule is a rule stating that a camera should be placed somewhere inside 1800 on a
particular side of the invisible line of a shot containing two or more people. The best example of
this is sports for example a football match during a football match the cameras that are filming it
do not go pasts the 1800 mark as it would confuse the viewers This rule is important when
filming as it stops the audience from getting confused as to where they are and who is in the
scene. During our filming rehearsals we did break the 1800 rule but when we realised this we
changed where we were filming to ensure we didn’t break it when filming the real thing.

2. 3) What shot types and camera angles did you use in your filming task, and to what effect?
We used many different shot types and camera angels throughout the filming of our
preliminary task, the first of which was a close up tracking shot of Phoebe’s feet while
walking from the front gates into the 6th form common room. I think that this was an
effective shot as it inadvertently tells you the time of day the gender of the character and
shows that the character has a purpose.
The second shot we used was a pan from Phoebe’s feet up to her hand opening a door, this
was an effective shot as the camera focused on Phoebe’s hands and her rings which looks
really good and was one of the set shots we needed.
Our third shot was an over the shoulder tracking shot of Phoebe walking through the
common room, this shot was effective because you get a better sense of where the Phoebe
is going and you place the audience in the position of the character.
Our forth shot was a close up tracking shot of the back of Phoebe’s head this was effective
as you could see what Phoebe was aiming for as Matt was now in shot.

3. The fifth shot was a close up pan of Phoebe coming through a door and walking towards
Matt as the camera pans, this shot was effective because you get a sense of the relationship
between the characters before they even speak.
The sixth shot was shot reverse shot during the conversation between Phoebe and Matt, this
shot made the conversation seem faster and more heated.
4) What editing skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the editing
programme?
I have developed all of my editing skills as this was the first time I had ever edited anything
and so it was all completely new to me. The main skill I think I have learnt is how to make
good cuts, for example in one of our shots we have Phoebe on one side of a door pushing it
to go though and then we cut to the other side of the door when she is coming in. I am
confident with the editing programme as I think that it has been logically laid out and made.
I have also developed my skills in putting effects into my piece we have put in a piece of slow
motion near the beginning of the piece which I think is very effective when emphasising the
action of opening the door, we also put in some black and white on a piece of tracking in the
middle of the film, we did this because it adds a sense of mystery to the piece, it makes the
audience ask the questions why it is black and white only in that moment and then why it
returns to colour almost immediately afterwards. Another editing effect we put in was
dissolves we did this because it made the transitions from one cut to another smoother and
we put in a fade to black at the end of the piece so that the film does not just cut off but
there is a wind down so that the audience knows that it is going to end. It took a while to
figure out how to use all of the effects and where they were but once we had figured that
out they were easy enough to use.