This is our final product for the G321 Media Preliminary Task, '
Bag Combat'. The short film was created to prove our competence with the use of various continuity techniques, and follows the unnamed protagonist (Solay Elibol) as he returns from the toilet to find an interloper (played by myself) fishing through his belongings.
In order not to cause confusion or even sickness in the audience, we kept strictly to the 180 degree rule. The film is observed almost entirely from behind the 180 degree line, the only exception being opening shot which follows Solay out of the toilets. As the main aim of the task was to tutor us about the importance of continuity editing, we did our best to incorporate all of the techniques. The shot in which a close-up of Solay shifts to one of me rummaging through the bag uses reverse shots to imply the shot of the antagonist is through Solay's point of view. Because the film is from Solay's perspective, the audience is able to identify him as the main character. The confrontation scene uses over the shoulder shots to piece together the reactions of both characters, promote continuity and position the audience as a bystander to this battle of sorts. The characters also maintain eye contact.
In the group, my responsibilities were drawing up a storyboard, writing a brief script, supervising some shots and, in the latter part of the shoot, acting out the role of the antagonist. I watched tentatively from behind the camera to monitor how the shoot was going up to the time where I was needed in shot, at which point I sat in the required area and was filmed. We seemed to work well as a team, finishing the task within the allocated time and inputting all of our own ideas without any arguments or spitefulness. I tend to get along well with the members of my class, so we worked efficiently enough in a group.
For the shoot we used a small handheld video camera to film the footage. For stability we were given access to a tripod/dolly setup, which allowed us to shoot a smooth segment of Solay's walking through the public toilet door. Adobe Premier Elements was used to cut and edit the footage.
The first minor problem we encountered was stability, which was quickly solved by the dolly. With his permission we used a nearby student's bag for the titular prop. The shoot was done to a unsatisfactory level in the first day because we failed to utilise the 180 degree rule, thus making the end result very disorientating and inconsistent. We went back to shooting the next lesson and filmed the below-par shots again. Luckily for continuity purposes I was wearing the same shirt as the previous shoot. When it came to editing, some shots made a jittering transition, with a flash of a different shot. We cut a few frames from each side of the transition to eliminate this and make for a much smoother short film.
I would rate the shots we filmed as on par with the expectations of the task. They are by no means perfect, but cater to what we were asked to create. The conversation is comprised of mostly close-ups and the approach of Solay is covered at a comfortable distance. The angles of the shots are level with the ground, but sometimes from slightly to the left or right of the action. The movement is smooth enough not to cause irritation, and is steady enough to pick up facial expressions. The sound is at times difficult to follow, especially with background noise in the common room, plus the expression of fright from Solay in the last few seconds of the edit is compiled from two different pieces of audio from the shots. Using the 6th Form common room at the City of Norwich School for shooting made capturing sound more difficult, but had the desired effect of the film taking place in a crowded public area. The narrative is simple but believable in the first segment, but the confrontation is slightly over the top and ends in a quite silly climax.
Upon being watched by a different class from Year 12 for Media Studies, the film was reviewed as fairly good. Continuity editing was adequate and presented the narrative to the audience, and the climatic confrontation stirred some laughter from our peers.
