PRELIM: sweded film

Task: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.


Match on action: A technique used in film editing, is a cut that connects two different views of the same action at the same moment in the movement.


180 degree rule- Within a scene, two subjects should always have the same left/ right relationship, e.g. person A on the left and person B on the right. However if the camera passes over the imaginary axis, it is called crossing the line.


Shot/ reverse shot- a film technique where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other.


The coursework is worth 50% of the AS (same at A2) and the marking (detailed later) is divided into 3 sections:

RESEARCH AND PLANNING: 20%

PRODUCTION: 60%

EVALUATION: 20%

Pitch -  promotion by means of a persuasive argument and demonstration.


'Sweding'- the term for recreating (typically in a humorous way) movies in a low-tech, zero-budget fashion

My Pitch- my "swede" idea was the film "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Mike Newell, 2005)" as I thought since we could film in the lessons that we could use the school environment, which would be appropriate to the film, also the actual film uses (as it is set in a school) tennage actors, which is appropriate if we are acting in the "swede". For the low budget/ comedy factor of the film I thought props such as sticks for wands and exaggerated costume and make-up (such as Harry's scar) could be used to help portray the genre of the film.

Mise-en-scene task

The mise-en scene task involved making sure exposition had to be primarily provided through mise-en-scene + shot selection; only 17 words of dialogue were permitted. A challenging task with tight deadlines.

After creating my idea for the task, I presented a 30 second pitch to the rest of the class, and my film idea was chosen as one of the few to be shot. I decided to film at an abandoned house near where I live, as I thought it would fit the brief of using primarily mise-en-scene to convey the story well.

Lesson from my Micro-Drama

While filming with my group for the Micro-Drama I have learned through the experience a few things that I should bear in mind for future filming.

 Such as lots of shot coverage to ensure that when editing there is plenty of footage, so different shots can be played around with and edited to find the best fit for the film. I also realised the huge importance of a good and detailed call sheet, as it helps the filming to go swiftly without the need for working out what shot is needed, angle etc...

MicroDrama Task

Our first use of cameras and editing software. The task incorporates application of various narrative theories, but is just as importantly all about experimenting with the cameras and iMovie. A time-limited task, with no access to separate sound-recording equipment at this stage.