Comparing My Preliminary and Coursework Productions

EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
I was able to apply what I have learnt in lessons and the the feeback recieved from my preliminary production to my final coursework production.  We implemented techniques such as match on action shots and shot reverse shots, in addition to using a variety of shots of different lengthsand sizes inorder to reduce to the likelihood of boring the audience.

In my preliminary production, match on action shots were only used when doors were opened and when characters were travelling from one location to another.

 We used such shots during the opening of doors in our coursework production. However, we also used them when Max retrieves his gun from the bathroom cabinet-a use which wouldn't have immediately come to mind at the start of the school year.

We also observed the 180 degree rule in our production, in which we didn't cross over an imagined line into the second 180 degrees of our shots until the other character was speaking. Doing this during shot reverse shots created variety which helps reduce the chances of boring the audience. They were used both to show the speaker and the reaction of who their speech was directed towards.

The same was done in my preliminary task, as shown by these two screenshots. However, the same variety of shots was't used.

Diagram showing the 180 degree rule

One of the many things I did in my AS coursework which was lacking in my preliminary production was more shots and more variety. Close ups and extreme close ups, an establishing long shot, and a point of view shot are just some of the shots we used in our opening that improved the variety and made it more interesting to watch overall.

In addition, we paid attention to much finer details, the lighting and sound particularly, evident mostly in the ‘interrogation scene’ where we used chiaroscuro lighting to get across the dark mood in the scene. Appropriate music was also used to build tension, and to punctuate the feeling of the scene. Editing was also done much more in depth, with J and L cuts, and fade ins and outs on the soundtrack and scenes themselves. The pace of the editing changed throughout, whereas it was quite constant in my preliminary production.


Preliminary Task from Adam Nixon on Vimeo.

The Tester (Evaluation Edit) from Adam Nixon on Vimeo.