Evaluation of Preliminary Exercise

The preliminary task required us to produce a piece of film. In which a character is to open a door, cross a room, sit down and exchange a few lines of dialogue with another character.

There were three continuity principles to observe:
- Match - on - action
Match-on-action is when a cut is made between two shots that matches action and pace.
- Shot - reverse - shot
Shot-reverse-shot is cutting between two over-the-shoulder camera angles, usually during an exchange in dialogue.
- 180-degree rule (line of action)
The 180-degree ensures that the audience view the exchange from the same side of the action.

During the first take of our preliminary task, we noticed various flaws within our production; we noticed the 180 degree rule was incorrect and that both characters eye-lines did not match. We resolved this problem by re-filming our characters dialogue sequence.