Film Indution Task- Change of Hands.

The Mystery- Change of Hands evaluation

As part of our induction task, we were asked to shoot a short film in groups. The plot was our own decision, although it had to consist of one thing: ‘a change of hands’. ‘The Mystery’ is about a hired hit woman (played by myself) who stabs a student (played by Leah). The film also features two other characters; a teacher, who discovers the hit woman furiously knocking on a toilet door, and the girl who hired the hit woman. Both characters are played by Alannah.

Although the plot seems promising, there were many coeternity errors which should have been addressed during filming. One example of this is the change of costume I had due to the fact that my group filmed various scenes over two different lessons, which makes our film look unprofessional and a bit silly in places!

Following on from this, during the scene in which the teacher discovers the hit woman, we see the teacher trip over and come to her death because she is shot by the hit woman... But in the next scene we see the same actor as a different character- looking the exact same as she did 5 seconds ago. This creates a sense of confusion amongst the audience because there is no dialogue to aid the storyline. Additionally, we see the hit woman holding a knife as she knocks on the door but in the next scene she is holding a gun and then goes back to holding a knife.

During the ‘shot reverse shot’ sequence the camera was positioned in the wrong place which gives the impression of the characters not maintaining the same position throughout the scene. The ‘eye line match’ shot was jerky and out of focus which spoils an otherwise good shot.

Apart from these errors I have highlighted, there are selected shots which create a good atmosphere. An example of this is the over the shoulder shot which follows the hit woman walking into a room. This, along with the incidental music, suggests a sense of uncertainty and danger which was intended.