Preliminary Task
Monday 3rd of October 2016-Planning
Before planning the preliminary task we learnt about the rules and techniques of using all shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule.
shot reverse shot:
This is used to cut from one person to another ,mainly used in a conversion it keeps the continuity of the scene and to not make the audience confused with the different types of characters positions.
match on action:
This is when the editing takes place from one shot to another shot that matches the action sequence.
For example when someone is filmed in a scene walking up to a door the match on action would take place when the camera cuts to him reaching for the actual door. This instantly creates realism and makes the scene flow smoothly.
180 degree rule:
There is an imaginary line that ensures characters have the same left to right relationship while having that 180 degree angle.This makes the audience aware of the location and heightens the realistic tone in films.
At the start of the planning process we were put into groups of 4 peers: Eleanor, myself, Joe and Emily. Firstly, we required a storyline that our short film would be based on, therefore after discussing multiple of ideas we came up with a simple story of a typical, domestic school boy being expelled after his bad behaviour in school. This certain storyline was chosen as it was simple yet interesting and we could use a lot of camera shots and match on action to portray his attitude towards the female teacher(Eleanor). Furthermore we assigned different roles of who is going to do what in the planning stages as well as the filming to structure the groups confidence even more. Emily was given the role to do the storyboards and the character profiles, Joe was set to do the treatment and the script, Eleanor done the location and props as well as the script too and I helped Eleanor and Emily with their tasks including the techniques and different strategies of using the camera in different but yet sophisticated way. We then decided that Joe would be the school boy and Eleanor to be the head teacher due to their acting abilities and their hobby being in fact drama. Myself and Emily then decided that we would split the role into being the camera people.
Wednesday 5th of October
Filming
Today, we started to film our preliminary task in the first hour of our double lesson then the second hour to edit. During filming, we changed some of our shots as they did not show the 3 techniques that we had to use clearly and our setting changed unexpectedly due to our spacing and the speed process of our filming. Due to our time limit and change of plans, we sadly ran into the second hour so we did not have time to finish our entire editing session, although we have time to do it in our next lesson on Friday were sir explained to us that we still had time to edit. The reasons why we ran out of time was down to the fact that when we started to film it in our location, the whole scene had to be changed as we had to change the office as teachers were busy and needed them for interviews therefore we spent 10 minutes just looking for a classroom or office and then we had to re-evaluate the movement of the boy, which then took even more time to structure the scene correctly at the best of our advantage. When we began to start filming, we had a concern about the steadiness of the camera and how to make it look as realistic as possible, therefore we had to do think of different ways and positions to balance the camera before perfecting it. The way we worked around this problem was to have Tommy walk, bent over, and steadily travel while Eleanor was securing the camera as well, this solved the problem straight away, as the camera established the scene to make it naturalise the scene. I think that why it did not work out the first time around was because our sections (script, storyboards) did not flow as well as we thought, therefore next time we could possibly act it out beforehand to secure the scene and be able to film it in a shorter amount of time.
Treatment :Joe and Eleanor
Therefore, when we were writing the treatment we thought it would be the easiest to relate our preliminary video to a school as that's the environment we are based in and can get the most realistic atmosphere from. This was vital in our planning as it gave us an overall idea instantly of what was going to happen when we had to film and the climax that it would build.
Location, props and music: Myself and Eleanor
Location:
English Office- because it is very spacious and the two different levels between the desk, chair and the sofa shows and supports the different levels in power.
Props:
Earphones to show a diegetic sound and an adidas jumper to represent his style and personality.
Report card to support his behaviour and build climax.
Music:
Start of the scene a diegetic (earphones) fades when interacting with the teacher, the stops when she asks for him to take them out.
The English office was relatively chose as previously we wanted a more spacious and plain looking room as it would have been better for the camera to navigate the scene and show the best shots that we could. However, the hallway Chris(Joe) walks down was very suitable as it gave the exact effect we wanted and it was easy to film down there. The reason we chose an office was because it fit perfectly with our storyline and it made the short film seem realistic.
script: Eleanor and Joe
Joe and Eleanor had previously done Media at GCSE(as well as myself), so we all had an advantage on the script as we knew how to lay it out and what dialogue would fit well in each scene to make it clear to the reader. Instead of working on the script all together, we decided they would be the best for this and to get our planning done quicker so we could start filming and have more time to get the camerawork more sufficient, however we all had an input that made our preliminary task successful . I believe that Eleanor and Joe successfully completed this task as they met the brief and made the whole of the scripts dialogue interesting.
character profile: Emily and myself
Emily had the responsibility of making the character profiles and research the images of both the characters to represent them to show to the viewer what personalities we were trying to symbolise. In these character profiles i got a further insight of the personality traits and physical traits of both the characters to inform you on how they will act,walk,talk,their personality etc.
Storyboards: Emily
Emily also had the role of drawing the storyboards and writing the information of the order of the scene, what shot will be used and when the dialogue or music starts. As well as that we all individually came up with the shots and when to use each one.However Emily's job was to represent our ideas through the storyboard itself.
Evaluation
What have i learnt during the making of the peremilary task?
During creating my own perimilary task i learnt many things that were implement to the context of what we had to show.Furthermore after being taught all of the best ways and techniques of the 180 degree rule,match on action and shot reverse shot ,me and my group finally got to make our ideas successful and pleasing to the audiences eye.As i have filmed and edited a film before in media studies in GCSE i knew the way in which we had to work and all work equally as hard to make the short scene as interesting and realistic as possible.I also learnt that working with the right people you can achieve a lot more than working with people that limit your shine into trying to show your own perspective of how you want the scene to be portrayed.
What were my areas of success?
Overall i feel that my highest area of success that i brung to the group was my high level of camerawork and how individually attracting it was.The techniques that i used for example a panning shot at the very start ,this was to show more detail of the characters personality.The reason it went so well was because me and Emily whilst planning the pelimaliry task actually thought of ways to show the opposite personalities of the teacher and the student and by using camera-shots and angles showing the suspense sand tension between the two characters.Furthermore I also brung the idea of having a diejetic sound of the student wearing headphones.I thought of this as I instantly realised that by doing this the audience can instantly have a first impression on the character and by our choosing of the song it technically stereotypes him into the teenage category in the media world.
What would your areas for development be?
Overall i feel our whole group lacked on this behalf , as I do not think we planned the scene enough therefore even delaying us even more and actually creating even more barriers that we had to overcome.For example after having to change our location last minute we instantly had a barrier that we didn't know the best way to show the 180 degree rule as the space we had was looking like we was going to break the rule not intentionally.So maturely we came up with an idea to place the camera in a certain area were we could get the best out of what we had ,and luckily it worked spectacularly,however,it was very time consuming and we spent too much time on talking about the actual problems than in fact how we could overcome it.
How well did you meet your brief?
Overall, in the brief it stated you had to use shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180-degree rule, which our group did effectively follow. When using the shot reverse shot in a scene we had to make sure that the characters were in the same position so we filmed all of Eleanor’s (Madame Russell) lines first then filmed Joe’s (Chris) lines after. Linking with shot reverse shot, we made certain that the 180° rule was not broken as it would distort the flow of the scene and not meet the brief. The match on action part was successfully put together when Joe was walking through the door and it was filmed on one side of him reaching for the door handle and another shot of him from the other side walking through the door. Despite it being very complicated and technical, at the end our film met the brief well and looked very pleasing to the eye when watching it.
Evaluate your contribution to the group work.
I believed I contributed equally into the groups work, as I did the camerawork,props and location in the planning side as well as other things. Even though, I was not involved as one of the characters in the film.I had experience in both acting ,filming and directing a thriller short film as i took media in GCSE. In addition, I was majorly involved within the filming side as myself and Emily choose the shots we were going to use to achieve the best flowing scene for the audience to watch and make it more interesting and powerful to watch. Personally, I believe my overall contribution was in the planning and camerawork side as there I did the most and was the most effective to the overall preliminary task to fully show my abilities of media.
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