Preliminary Task Self Evaluation: Theo Benjamin

·Does your film use continuity editing so that the sequence of events are clear and easily understood by the viewer?

Yes, our film is in order. I showed the video to my class mates and they all gave positive feedback and said that the clip made sense to them.

· Have you followed the directions in the brief? (A character opens a door, crosses a room and sits down in a chair opposite another character. An exchange of dialogue occurs.)
The group and I were flexible with what we had to do in the brief, we had Beth open the door and exchange dialogue with our other actors Molly and Jess. We had to leave out the character sitting down at a table and sitting in a chair, this is because it did not fit in with our story line and how we wanted the clip to be portrayed.

· Have you used match-on-action?
Match-on-action was used in our clip when the three girls walked towards the door and then opened it, this was effective as we wanted to give off a horror/scary mood to the audience.

· Can you explain what a match-on action involves?
A match-on-action shot is and editing technique involving two different video clips being put together to show an action happening. For example someone throwing a ball, the first clip could be of the ball being thrown from their hand and the seeing clip edited in would be seeing the ball in the air.

· Have you used shot/reverse shot?
We used shot reverse shot when Molly and Beth were talking about going to look at what the noise was that came from behind the door. I first put the camera on Beth, then to Molly and back to Beth

· Can you explain what shot/reverse shot involves?
Shot reverse shot involves two people having a conversation, as the camera man you have to film one person talking; then when they are done cut to the other person talking and then cut back to the original person talking. Shot reverse shot is used regularly in conversations in all types of films and programmes.

· Did you observe the 180-degree rule?
As the cameraman I had to observe the 180 degree rule. I done this by staying on one side of the actors throughout the majority of the clip, this meant that when we put the clip onto the computer and the shots were reversed/flipped over all the actors were still in the same position and there was no confusion seen by the audience.

· Can you explain the 180-degree rule?
The 180 degree rule is a guideline that the actors have to abide by. It means that they have to stay in the same positions that they were in in the previous shot. For example, Molly stood on the left, Jess in the middle and Beth on the right, this stayed the same throughout the clip because if they’d have changed positions without the audience seeing them move they would have been confused and not understood the clip.

· What role did you play in the making of the preliminary task? (e.g. filming, acting, editing, equipment organisation etc.)
During the making of the preliminary task I had the role of being the cameraman and director. This involved me contributing ideas, telling the actors where to stand and how to present themselves. As the camera man I had to record all the video clips and make sure that none of the actors broke the 180 degree rule, I also had to think about what shots I would use. The shots I used were long shots, medium long shots, close ups, shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shots and a point of view shot. The point of view shot was done from Beth’s view and was done with a hand held camera.

· How would you assess your contribution to the group?
I would assess my contribution to the group as a good one, this is because I gave a lot of ideas to the piece and believe that my camera skills were done well with good accuracy and movements such as tilts and pans were smooth.

· What have you learned from the process of making your preliminary film?
From making my preliminary film I have learned that it is quite hard being a cameraman/director because you have to film each clip separately and make sure everything is going well. For example, I had to film the clips and make sure it was well filmed and that I could hear the actors as the cameraman but then I had to make sure everything was in the same place as the scene before as I was also the director.