The Exchange: What was this exercise about?

After completing the preliminary exercise, this task was to further explore our understanding of the camera and use all of the techniques we’ve learned through that. Aside furthering our understanding and proficiency, this was a chance execute and really put the noir characteristics and styles into play. We were encouraged to give this short production a definite noir feel through dutch tilts, low-key lighting, irregular angles etc.

The brief of The Exchange was to shoot and edit a short sequence in the style of a modernised film noir thriller. The title of the piece comes from the exchange in the video; we were instructed to devise an exchange of important information, a package etc. from one character to another. Unlike our previous exercise, dialogue was unimportant therefor unused as the theory was to let our shots speak for themselves to sell the story.

The length of the piece was unspecified, though 12 shots was suggested to be the maximum so we could really concentrate on shooting them all to our highest ability. By learning from previous mistakes and strengthening our skillfulness, we were able to identify where to place the camera, what to include in each shot, which shot types and sizes to use, produce stable continuity and explore focuses, lighting and framing.

Pre-production was slightly more strenuous on this occasion but it helped understanding and definitely ensured we all knew what we were doing and our roles in creating this piece. In our group, we elaborated on the title and brainstormed the possibilities for our sequence. When the the idea was finalised, we produced individual annotated storyboards with notes on shot sizes and brief descriptions before extracting the best points of each into a final idea. Costumes, props, make-up, a synopsis, treatment and storyboard also needed to be completed. A shooting location as well as health and safety paperwork and call sheets were also to be completed so we had every organisational aspect of our production covered in terms of safety and productivity.

Much like the pre-production, the post production of the exchange was to be completed with greater detail. Log sheets had to be completed which helped us choose which shots to use (especially when we had multiple shots of the same scene), EDLs (edit decision lists) needed to be done and finally, we had to decide on a piece of music to accompany our piece. The music preferably needed to be lyric-less and not only have a really noir feel, but match up with the styles and tone of our piece in the right places.

Once the post-production was addressed, editing was the only thing left. This time, the purpose of editing was to produce a final piece with good continuity, clear shots and a storyline that flows. This time though, music had to be added in. To make it fit, editing the music was required either by carefully cutting pieces out and merging them beat-by-beat or adding cross-fades between them.