Match cut tutorial and planning for the Preliminary task

After sharing our videos with the class we then settled down in our groups for a tutorial in match cutting. Match cutting is the term used when the same action is filmed from more than one angle. For instance, you could film a man walking on a long road from different angles and then when put together, the clip will smoothly run with nothing out of place.

To get us use to the idea of match cutting we were given a synopsis which was: East London. 3pm. A man chain smokes as he sits in his home on his PC. He copies confidential computer files and plans to a CD. He packages them and is seen posting them. What we basically had to do was break down the situation into twenty shots incorporating the theme of match cutting. At first glance I thought that twenty shots was too much however, as I got into it I found myself going over the twenty shot limit. When all groups were done attempting to match cut the synopsis we were then given the chance to watch Mickey’s version of the synopsis which included all relevant match cuts. Whilst watching his version on screen I noticed that I had also got some of the same shots which made me feel good because I then new what match cut was and how it worked.

When watching Mickey’s version I noticed he used text to state the time and location to which instantly sets the scene and eliminates the need for an establishing shot of the location.

Finally, we were given our preliminary filming task. The brief was to film the action of a character opening a door, walking into a room, sitting opposite another character and sharing a few lines of dialogue. We had to include at least one match cut and one shot /reverse shot and showing our understanding of the 180 degree rule which is only filming on one side of the characters so that when transferred onto a screen the characters will constantly appear on the same sides. As soon as the brief was set, my group and I sat down and put our ideas together, once again. We decided to film the journey of one of the actors going up the stairs, walking along the corridor and then into an office where the actor would meet another actor and exchange dialogue. We based the story around the handover of important files and decided to do the filming on the college staircase, second floor corridor and the media staff room.

After we had sorted out the location and completed a story board, we was then ready to film next lesson.