skills Audit: filming and editing preliminary match cut exercise

For this exercise we filmed in one of our Mac rooms which is our editing room and Juliana and Melissa were the actresses for this clip. When filming, we didn't just want to put the core elements in which was the match cut, 180 degree rule and dialogue - we also wanted to experiment with other camera shots so when we come to filming the main title sequence, we have some sort of idea how to do it. A few examples of this is the over the shoulder shot where the camera focuses on Juliana and the tilt both high and low during the dialogue. Melissa is shown to be the one with the power in this clip so the high tilt gives the idea of authority to her as well as the low tilt for Juliana, showing that she is the vulnerable one in this situation. Following this, we incorporated a variety of different shots such as long shots, wide shots and medium close ups. In the clip, the 180 degree rule was used on the focus of Melissa and our match cut was right at the start of the clip where Juliana is opening the door and entering the room. The filming process was quite fiddly, especially because the tripod needed adjusting for nearly every shot. Apart from this, I think that the filming process of this was very enlightening and useful.

We then edited the raw clips on Final Cut Pro and I used my knowledge from the previous skills audit to help me contribute well towards the editing. We used most of the tools we had learned, especially the in and out points. Overall, I think the extra practice with final cut pro and editing in general has further improved my skills and hopefully will contribute in making the main piece a complete success.

Overall, the whole exercise was completely worthwhile because not only did it give everyone a chance to try something else, but it also enabled the group as a whole to try and get on the same wavelength with ideas so things will go more smoothly when working together to create the main final title sequence.

Here are some examples of what filming techniques we used. Match cut:

Over the shoulder shot: Medium close up of Melissa's hands: