Preliminary Exercise

To practice using the camera's we were set the task of filming a short sequence including one character opening a door,walking into the room, sitting down with another character with whom they have a short conversation.
The main task was to make sure there was continuity throughout the sequence, so this meant using the 180 degree line rule, match on action and a couple of shot/reverse shots, when filming we also had to make sure everything was in the same position if we changed where the camera was (for example in a shot/reverse shot, making sure a folder was in the same place in the second shot as it was in the first, and the rest of the sequence).
If a production does not have continuity, it becomes obvious to the audience watching where it has been edited, it looks unrealistic, cheap and shabby.

Our storyline is a teenage boy calling his friend to see which room he's in, he walks into the classroom, sits down opposite his friend and offers him a mint.
The audience feedback went well, our narrative and dialogue was simple, therefore easy to interpret what was happening on screen.
We used the the KISS rule (Keep It Simple Stupid) using basic camera shots, such as mid shots, closeups and panning and this helped not to complicate the production. However, i learnt that we need to add handles, a little bit of extra filming before and after a shot which makes editing easier, sometimes we forgot, for example in the close up of the boy turning the doorknob, and it made it harder to edit the clips together as it cut off the end of a shot. So we must remember to add ten-second handles at the end and beginning of every shot.
We also had to film some of the shots again as we got to close to the microphone and it picked up sounds such as a slight knock, sometimes it was other college students walking past or in near classrooms, but that couldn't be helped by us!