Preliminary Exercise Brief

Preliminary Exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Mac 4 First Vlog

My First Vlog - Storyboarding

Here's my first vlog about storyboarding a short clip from the T.V series 'Luther':

Luther Storyboard

 

 

The 180-Degree Rule

The 180-degree rule is a filming guideline in which an imaginary line, known as the axis, connects two characters or objects, filming only takes place within this 180-degree arc. This maintains the spatial relationship between the characters, character one, for example, will always be to the left of character two. Placing the camera on the opposite side of the line, known as crossing the line, could disorientate the audience as the characters would appear to have swapped positions.

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is an editing technique usually used in conversations. A shot of one character shows them looking at the other character, this then cuts to a shot of the other character looking back at the first.

Match on Action

Match on action, also known as cutting on action, is an editing technique in which the same action is carried through one shot to another whilst retaining the flow of the scene, this provides a sense of continuity and makes the transition less distracting to the audience. Here is an example from the 1940 film 'His Girl Friday':

Filmmaking Techniques

For my first post, I give you an interesting and informative video on filmmaking techniques from 2014/15 AS Media Studies@ECS.