Preliminary Task - Match on Action

Preliminary Task

Scripted by Yan, Filmed by Zhavane and Edited by myself.



This was our first attempt in demonstrating the match on action technique; illustrated through a comic sketch. While the characters were walking through the door we edited it in such a way that the transition between the two scenes are seamless.  In the future we will consider using this technique to create a sense of continuity. The match on action technique also helps to captivate the audience as the varied shots will dilute the potential monotonous tone.

Comments on Preliminary Task






Preliminary Task Development

We set ourselves specific roles in this short production and I was responsible for editing the titles and colour correcting the mise-en-scene to create the desired effect. The film follows the life of an immortal, 118 year old boy who is on a quest to make amends with his family. As time progresses he is continually deteriorating mentally and faces many conflicts with himself. I wanted to illustrate this by lowering the saturation of the scene since the lack of colour creates a duller atmosphere.

The lowered saturation, although subtle, seemed to evoke mood effectively, more so than with higher saturation. Therefore we will exaggerate this effect and experiment with black and white films to judge its effectiveness.

Moreover, we experimented with different lighting techniques for instance using the sunlight to convey different atmospheres. I feel that the dark shadows in the beginning of the sequence helped to reflect the immortals dark emotions whereas the bright sunlight helped to illustrate a sense of hope. Lastly the use of varied lighting techniques created more of a sense of verisimilitude in the film. 

 Camera operating practice for a short film.

Imago is a short psychological thriller, inspired by Steve McQueen, focusing on a girl with an overwhelming obsession over a man she barely knows and how her mental conflict and insanity eventually leads to her death. The purpose of this production was to develop our skills in camera operating, directing, editing, cinematography and to use this experience as a learning tool to develop our understanding on how we will create our horror films.

We decided to shoot the film in black and white as the lack of colour symbolises the absesense of warmth and empasises the girls insecurity.  The use of a shadow in the first shot illustrates to the audience that the events that are about to unfold could happen to any teenager. It also evokes her loss of identity and that she doesn’t really know who she is.

We used a Bible to create a religious allusion.  I think that the juxtaposition of the bible and the females frantic hands help to amplify the sense of unease as the audience begin to question if she is having moral dilemmas.

This use of symbolism should be considered in our future films as it builds more layers to the film which in turn prevents it from becoming less captivating. Moving on from this project, we will create another short film; experiment with more camera shots and editing techniques to evoke specific moods.

These productions have allowed me to discover who to work with in later productions. I have been able to work collaboratively in the preliminary task with Yan and Zhavane, who are fellow class mates and I believe working with them will allow us to create a successful horror opening sequence.