Intentions and Plan for Short Film

I intend to make a fast paced action thriller for my film.  The film is about a boy whose parents were killed by a secret organisation and after being kidnapped by the same organisation he escapes and begins training so that he can fight them.

The opening section of the film is the boy escaping from the organisation who have captured him and have begun interrogating him. He is inside a small dark room. The initial shot is a wide shot of the room with the boy sat on a chair in the middle next to a dim light. He has his hands tied behind his back. An interrogator then comes into view and begins to beat the boy during which the boy has flashbacks of his parents being killed and him being kidnapped. As the interrogator goes to get a weapon the boy is able to break free from the ropes around his hands, he attacks the interrogator and then escapes.

In the sequence the boy would be established as the main character and we would learn about his past through the use of the flashbacks. The opening sequence would be slow during the present scenes but the flashbacks would be fast paced and quickly edited to give the impression that it is a flashback.

Tense music would be used during the present time scenes to create a sense of danger and props like hammers and other tools would be used as the interrogator’s equipment and it would be shot in a small dark room to create a sense of isolation. Close-ups of the boy will be used quite often in the opening sequence so that he can be easily established as the main characters, also POV shots from his perspective will be used for the same effect.


The film Stormbreaker influenced our plot so we researched it and took many ideas from it. We liked the fast paced editing and action of the film which is what made us look into it.

In this video you can see some examples of the fast paced editing and action themes of Stormbreaker that we hope to implement in our own short film, Backlash.

Pre-Task Editing

This week in media we edited the pre-recorded footage from last week using iMovie. We learnt about how to edit, import and export videos using iMovie. 

We imported the footage from the camera to the mac with the use of a firewire. We used the editing software on the macs to edit, cut and trim our footage and make it into a fluid and clean video that follows the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on match.

For our task we had to work in a group of three and record a scene of one character walking to a chair, sitting down and then engaging in dialogue with another character, before getting up and walking out. I recorded the footage using a video recorded. I had to take the 180 degree rule into account whilst recording as the other two in my group did the acting. We used the shot reverse shot technique for the dialogue. We used the macs do edit our footage together using iMovie.

Match on match, Shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule

So far in Media I have learnt about new camera techniques and uses. One of which is the 180-degree rule that helps to prevent the spectator from being confused by what is on screen. We have watched videos explaining this and have even took it into account whilst shooting camera stills of a short sequence.

We have also learnt about an editing technique known as Match on match action. It is different camera shots and segments that when put together make sense and appear fluid. We have practiced this technique by taking pictures of a camera to recreate a storyboard.

Another technique that we learnt about is shot reverse shot, which is used to show dialogue between two characters. We have seen examples of this and have used it ourselves through use of camera stills.

We learnt how to set up a camera on a tripod and record a sequence using match on match action and taking into account the 180 degree rule. I have done this before in Film so I found it quite easy. We also used the Shot reverse shot technique in our sequence. Prior to all of this we drew a six-panel storyboard of our sequence, annotating it as we drew it. We are going to continue to practice editing.