Looking back at your
preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it
to the full product?
Before production of the beginning of our film, we carried out a preliminary exercise to gain valuable skills in continuity that could be transferred to our project. The brief was a short scene in which a character opens a door, enters a room and then crosses the room to sit opposite a character. They then exchange a few lines of dialogue; the whole scene should last 30 seconds. It should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. The task was designed to help us stick to the basic rules of film making and not confuse the audience by breaking the basic laws of continuity.
We employed shot/reverse shot twice within the first scene to establish the characters and begin conversation between them. We have gotten better at keeping this consistent and using it effectively without hinging the whole scene on this technique. For example, despite there being two over the shoulder shots (pictured above and to the right) to begin the shot/reverse shot sequences within the first scene, one shot of Gemma is shown without the shoulder of Tom, as it still makes sense within the context of the 
We used the 180 degree rule to good effect within the second scene. Within the preliminary task, we practiced working with an establishing two shot of the characters, and a shot/reverse shot that does not break the 180 degree rule (does not switch sides between the characters). We have improved at varying the shots within this and using it to effectively pull off a walking sequence. In a scene where all three characters are walking up a hill, it begins with a wide shot and then varies in angles and closeness, while not breaking the rule. In contrast, our preliminary task used only a singular wide shot to establish and then the same shot/reverse shot angles. Staying on one side of the line also allowed us to illustrate the direction in which they were walking.
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