Preliminary Task & 180° Rule

Preliminary Task

This week we began to discuss each groups preliminary task, this is a 30 second video filmed by each group and must include a person walking in through a door and then sitting down opposite another person with a conversation taking place. This clip must include 3 different camera shots and show understanding of the 180° rule.

In Wednesdays lesson, as a class, we looked at previous years' finished preliminary tasks and we then discussed in groups what we would base ours on and who would be in the video and who would film and direct. We decided to do lyrics as we believe it would help the video run smoother rather than dialogue which would not necessarily be remembered well and perfectly enough to be said many times through. We had a few ideas for which songs which were all amusing however we did finally decide on Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" as each line could be spoken by one of the group and it would sound similar to a conversation. After deciding this we began to decide camera angles and started to draw out our storyboard.

In Fridays lesson, being in Group 1 my group filmed first. Sarah and Me were filmed while Molly and Aimie were filming and directing. We filmed me walking into the room angrily, sitting down and then beginning to recite the Michael Jackson song like normal conversation. We filmed around 4 different shots; over shoulder of myself and Sarah, a two shot over the table while we were sat down and one of me walking in. It took 17 takes but I believe the end result will be very effective and amusing aswell as showing clear understanding of the 180° rule.
After my group had finished filming Group 2 began filming with the time left in the lesson, however there were a few faults in which Sophie attempted to use her mobile phone to seem as though someone was calling her but her phone played music when she was not ready and would not play when she was, which shows us that using some technology in filming may not always work.




180° Rule
The 180° rule states that in film making if two characters are in a scene together, they must have the same left/right relationship together.
In a set-up scene, the film makers will imagine an invisible straight line, the camera may only change shots 180° around this line. The only time this may change is if the camera is moved over the line and is show to the audience. If this rule is broken the audience will be left confused and disorientated. The example above shows how the 180° rule should be set out in a scene. The green area shows how the camera may move and how it will look on screen. The red area shows where the camera cannot go and how the characters will look on screen and how this will confuse the audience as the characters change sides of the screen.