DIALOGUE SEQUENCE

 Dialogue Sequence.

On the 11th of February, we were put into groups of 5 in order to film a short, dialogue sequence; this was to practice and test our use of cameras and the filmmaking rules that we had learned thus far (specifically the 180 degree rule, where characters should maintain a left-right relationship by drawing an imaginary line between them). We started off by creating a small set and preparing dialogue. Ollie and I were the actors, but we had turns on the camera if one of us wasn't needed and directed as well.

We set up the camera equipment, following the protocols and process that we had learned from previous camera worksh, such as working your way from bottom to top of the tripod, keeping one hand on top of the camera, and saying 'yours' or 'mine' depending on who is giving or receiving the device. We did this rather quickly which was a good sign as it meant that we remembered and retained the information that we had been taught from before. 

We were also introduced to microphones, attached to the camera by an XLR (external line return) cable. We attached it to a holder/stand which is designed to encourage the boom operator to not touch the microphone as it is extremely sensitive to sound. 

When plugging the cable into the camera, we had to make sure to only use the microphone plug 1 as the second one was for backup audio.

Daisy, Matthew and Lila were the main camera operators as they were not acting, and they ensured to follow the set protocols that we had forgotten to do during our opening sequence test shoot which were "stand by", "standing", "roll camera", "camera rolling", "action", and "cut". When filming, they kept behind the 180 degree line that we had created with their backs towards the light so that the scene was lit well too.

The dialogue that Ollie and I exchanged was:

Ollie: *comes on sweeping* "I hate my job."

Meadow: *uncrosses legs* "Why would you even say that?!"

Ollie: "I don't get paid enough."

Meadow: *stands up and points at the door* "Well then you can get out!"

Ollie: *talking to his broom* "Did you hear her?"

This kept things nice and simple but still allowed for us to play around with different angles as we were changing proxemics and levels between Ollie and I in our sequence.

We still had time leftover at the end, so we decided to film a different scene with just Ollie talking to himself in the corner after leaving the previous set, saying "She's so annoying."

This was because it would give us more footage to edit with, and was good practice.

Overall, I found the exercise useful as we were getting hands-on experience, and putting theories into practice. Though we didn't run into too many issues and the process was smooth, I personally feel that we did however not film enough over the shoulder shots - we instead focused on interesting angles rather than anything practical. This was because the setup of our scene was slightly more complicated as Ollie was coming in from behind me, and was moving around on the set rather than staying in one clear position. This, however, I believe will serve as good practice to edit during our workshop as it will be more complicated to work out.