Completed Preliminary Task

The preliminary shooting task

As already stated for part of our media course-work we had to plan and conduct a preliminary shoot in which a character will walk into a room and exchange a short conversation with the other character. As a group we had already decided on the plot in which was about a Detective (performed by Luke Rowley) and a criminal (acted out by Ellis King); aswell as the setting; dialogue etc.

My individual involvement to the group is one I believe to be paramount. As i had already had previous experience in controlling a camera and how to effectively use different shots; this was nothing new to me and I felt at an advantage. I dealt with the camera in motion, decided on which camera angles would be suitable for the shot etc. I had Ben Burwood accompany me on this in relation to needing extra help in controlling the camera for difficult shots.

A few difficulties in sense of obstacles were intact for example; when shooting in the corridor/stairs people walking through and making noise, and naturally of course- our group getting distracted which we overcame and perfected our sequence.

My upmost priority was -as I am sure the rest of the group's was that continutiy was followed. In which the audience could easily understand the plot so that the rest of the story could unfold. Continuity is extremely important when shooting in that the whole sequence has to flow smoothly without any disorientating shots; for example, if Ellis and Luke suddenly switched positions without the audience seeing them do so. The Mise-en-Scene was also important in this as the setting, props, costume, lighting etc (everything shown on the screen) can't be vaguely diorientating for exmaple; Luke's suit suddenly changing colour. We also had to follow the 180 rule, match on action and shot reverse shot in which helped us ensure the film flowed and did not disorientate the audience.

The 180 rule ensured the camera was unable to cross and invisible like in which in our case was the centre of the table. We were able to move the camera from left to right to be able to perform things like shot reverse shot etc. Match on action ensured that when a camera changed position the action being filmed continued and fit in with the previous shot after the camera had been moved and the action had been continued after. This was evident in the shots where Luke walks from the hallway and into the 'interrigation' room.

When it came to editing we all done an equal amount of putting in ideas and dealing with the software. We had to make some decisions in what shots to use as we took a few of the same so that we had that choice available to get the best we could have done.We worked well together and our preliminary task I believe was a success.

Media Preliminary Task

Last lesson we began shooting our preliminary task. The task required us to show our knowledge of different shots, most specifically, shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. Although, we were most tested on our grasp of continuity.

For the duration of our task, I made sure that continuity was with held throughout the task. This made me make sure everything was the same in each shot. For example, I would keep doors closed and also keep an eye on the actors movements and also more in depth things such as shirts being tucked in placement of the actors around the table. Moreover my task was to assist Vicky with the directing by helping with shots and also operation of the camera. Finally I assisted with the editing, although we all brought our skills to the table on our editing.

To conclude, on this preliminary task I felt the whole group worked well in unison and we came together and completed the task on hand competently.

Ben Burwood

Preliminary shooting task

Today and yester day our group had a go at filming and editing footage for our preliminary shooting task. After reading through everybody in our groups ideas for the dialogue we decided what was to be said and by who. As a group we decided that Luke was going to be the Cop and I was going to be the suspect, as acting is completely new to both of us it was a slight struggle doing things seriously as well as looking natural when acting. We also decided that Vicki was to be the one filming the short movie. Although she has filmed before it is still something she has not perfected, so this was not an easy task for her either. This meant that Ben was left to do maybe the hardest job of directing. He had to make sure the scene was perfect, the camera angles were right, what us actors did was good enough and just keep everything in order.

When filming, we also had to make sure that we applied the 180 rule throughout the film, if we did not do this then the film may of been harder for audience to follow and it would of also just made it alot harder to film and edit afterwards. we also had to make sure that the whole film had continuity, this meant that we had to make sure that things like the way we were dressed completely the same with the same scenery the whole way through otherwise it would not of made sense to the audience as well as making the film look very amature.

I think that our group was very successfull with this task because we managed to get everything done quite well and pretty much all in the given time. We are all very new to working together especially in a fillming task so it was a hard job to do, but we managed to keep it all very light hearted and add humour to our film. The one thing i think we need to work on is to keep things maybe a little more serious without fooling around so much so that we can finish things quicker .

After successfully filming all the footage that we needed as well as many extra shots just in case, we returned to the media suite to upload the shots to the computer and edit them into a very short film. This was a very simple task and just consisted of picking the right clips and putting them together. The only problem we encountered was that the camera fades in and out of every clip, so that took a bit of work to perfect the transitions.

Over all i think we was very successfull and we expect that people will enjoy watching watching our film.

The Prelim Shooting Task

Today we shot and recorded our preliminary shooting task that we had created as a group. In the short time that we had we created a script out of our individual ideas that we had previously put forward in our separate blogs, after that we put the ideas into motion and started to record clips that we would later edit and could use in order to create our short, and simple, film clip.

My individual involvement in the group was generally to act as the detective in our film, where I was to question, the criminal and fellow actor Ellis. During filming we, as a group, put possible ideas together and suggestions on how we could record a specific shot, or what could be changed, whether it be the dialogue, the shot, or even the actions that we performed. From then on we carried on our roles.

For me, acting was quite new, as you had to stay focused and make sure you didn’t get too much of “the giggles” which is safe to say, to some extent, we succeeded, though in all honestly there were times where lines were forgotten or you made a mistake or, technical errors, or you made a mistake in the sentence you said that generally made you laugh.

While filming we had to ensure that continuity was followed, which meant the audience, or viewers, could understand what was being shown to them so that the information or story could unfold. Continuity also ensures that viewers can understand what is going on in each shot and that they slide in with each other to flow without confusing or disorientating the audience with confusing shots where the camera seems to be in random positions. The 180 rule, match on action, and shot reverse shot, helped us in ensuring the film flowed as not to confuse our viewers.

Match on action ensured that when a camera changed position the action being portrayed continued or fit in with the previous shot after the camera had been moved and the action had been continued after. The 180 rule ensured that the camera was only able to be positioned on one side of the line of action which in our case, ran down the centre of the table as not to baffle viewers, where as shot reverse shot simply involved the camera changing who it was facing depending on what actor was speaking or what they where physically acting.

Foundation Portfolio Assignment: Prelim Task: Planning Your Shoot

Brief and Aim

As part of our AS level media coursework, we were asked to do a prelim tash in which involves us to conduct a short film which fulfils our brief.

Our brief was to compose a scene in which shows continuity editing and filming techniques to show a basic story of our choice.

 

LocationWe have decided to do our sequence within the school grounds in a way to suit the storyline. As our basic storyline is interegation in a room with a policeman and a criminal. As we want to make the whole sequence quite sordid and to have a tense atmosphere; a possibility is to use the school attic. I feel this is a good idea as it is probably our best chance to control the lighting to make the plot easier to understand/follow in creating suspense. However another idea what to use a plain room in which would look like a more stereotypical questioning room.

ShotsThe shots we have chosen to use are going to used ina w ay of such in which the audience can easily depict the status of the Criminal and Detective's lives in being able to automatically assume who is more superior through angle shots and facia expressions in which will help the audience understand that the Criminal is in the wrong; even though he refuses to admit it. We will use the following camera shots to produce our film and represent the continuity of it well. The types of shots we are thinking of using are as follows;

• Extreme Close ups
• Close ups
• Medium Shot
• Long shot
• Extreme Long shot
• Two shot
• High Angle
• Low Angle
• Behind the back shot
• Shot reverse Shot
   
  
  Characters
  
  • Police/Cop/Detective
  • Criminal
  
  Dialogue
  
  Extreme Close-up of Detective's hand turning the door knob.
  (Enter Detective -slams door)
  
  Long shot of Criminal sitting in chair.
  
  Medium-Low angle shot of Detective walking into the room with camera reeling backwards.
  
  Long shot of detective slamming file on table
  (Slams folder onto the desk and slams fists onto the desk leaning towards the criminal)
  
  Detective: you're a hard man to find.
  
  (Quick pause) two shot *SHOT REVERSE SHOT*
  Long shot of Detective
  
  Detective: I know you did it punk! This was your job, DON’T DENY IT!
   
  Close up-High angle of criminal
  
  Criminal: You ain't got nothing on me.
  
  
  Medium two shot-slightly low looking up at the Detective as Detective gets angered and closes in on the Criminal and the fearless Criminal equally gets closer
  
  
  Detective: look buddy, you better start talking, you could be facing a lot of time; And trust me, where you’re going wont be no walk in the park.
  
  
  Close up of Criminal *purse lips, gulps, keeps his front up*
  
  
  -End scene-
  
  
  
  
  
  Victoria McGillicuddy

Preliminary Media Task

Location

When we film our preliminary task we hope to film it in interrogation type room which is available to us on the school premesis. So we wanted somewhere like a loft. This is because our preliminary task will be a detective questioning a criminal. We hope to keep the dialogue short and snappy as this is a short task.

Roles

We still need to confirm who is playing what character and who is controlling the camera. Two of us already have experience with working with shots and camera angles so it will be probably be us two operating the camera and directing the actors.

Dialogue

(Detective walks in the room and there is a criminal at the table and slaps his hands down on the table)
Detective: "your one tricky customer, but we've got our hands on you now, and you'll be behind bars for a long time.."
Criminal: "it wasn't me ive been framed"
Detective: "we found your fingerprints and DNA all over the crime scene"
Criminal: "it was a setup i swear"
Detective: "stop lying, we have numerous witnesses, your coming with me"
(Detective drags the criminal out of the room and the scene ends)

Shot List
-Shot reverse shot
-close up
-medium shot
-long shot
-low/high camera angle

Media Prelim task plan

Prelim Task Plan

Theme: The film will be featuring a detective who is interrogating a suspect inside a police station, it will be unclear what the crime is that he is being questioned about because that is not an important part of the video.

Characters

-Detective

-Suspect

Place: Our video will be filmed within school premises and we will try to find a room that can resemble an interrogation room. This is likely to be a classroom, office or maybe the common room. The content in the room will probably be changed slightly, and things such as lighting will also be altered in both filming and even video editing to fit theme of the film.

 Dialogue

(suspect sitting at a table)

(Detective enters the room and speaks in an angry/firm tone)

detective: i knew it wouldnt be long until you let yourself slip up again, you just cant help yourself can you!? Always causing havoc for innocent people who live an honest life.

suspect: sorry mate, but i think you got the wrong bloke, i've got no idea what you are talking about.

(detective throws photos onto the table)

detective: well thats funny, because these cctv images from the crime scene which were taken just after the inncedent clearly show a man who looks a lot like yourself in a bit of a hurry.

(detective leans over table as the suspect leans backwards)

detective: we know it was you son

suspect: i dont think you heard the first time mate... you got the wrong guy yeah?!

Shots used

a variety of shots will be used in the making of our video, such as... 

over the shoulder shot - to show the expression of a characters face whilst reassuring that the other character is still in  the scene.

long shot - this shot will be able to show both the characters in the scene as well as the setting around them

close ups - close ups will be used to either show the person speaking or the reaction on the face of the person being spoken too.

extreme close ups - same as close ups but closer and therefore shows more detail to the characters face.

high angle shot - just as effective as a long shot but gives a different view on the scene

medium shot - this will show a characters facial expression as well as the body posture.

storyboard plan

180 rule

The 180◦ rule may be the only technique we use in the film clip, though as the film is in the making, more ideas may flow and changes may be made. The 180◦ rule ensures that the camera angles are not too confusing for the audience as to cause disorientation. The cameras on the diagram show the possible shots that may be seen during the short film clip. The shots will range from long shots, to regular and extreme close ups, to behind the back shots. In doing this it becomes clear that the characters are facing each other as well as conversing, however due to the theme of the film, the detective will be questioning the criminal in a serious agitated way, determined to put the criminal behind bars.

first shoot plan

Foundation Portfolio Assignment: Prelim Task: Planning Your Shoot

Location: has to be within the school or close by, the set however will be chosen to fit the story line. The story line will represent a questioning room, found in a police headquarters. The short Film will have to be edited to make the scenery fit in with a stereotypical questioning room, possibly with use of props and background features while filming

Characters:

• Police/Cop/Detective
• Criminal

Dialogue:

(Closes door and approaches table)

Detective: you’re a hard man to find

(Slams folder onto the desk and slams fists onto the desk leaning towards the criminal)

Detective: I know you did it punk! It has your work written all over it. This was your job, DON’T DENY IT!

Criminal: No, you ain’t got nothing on me. Zilch. Nada. I wanna lawyer, get him on the phone (with attitude, calm)

Detective: (regaining his posture and pulls away from the table) Yeah yeah, we’ll do that but we should have a little chat first. Where were you last night between 10.00 and 12.00?

Criminal: (with attitude) I don’t have to tell you anything until my lawyer gets here, now be a sport n get me a coffee, your wasting your time here

Detective: (slightly angered) look buddy how about doing yourself a favour and fess up now, you could be facing a lot of time if you don’t fess up now or give me some information! And trust me, where you’re going wont be no walk in the park.

Shots: the shots that we are going to use are going to be used in a way in which you can see our actors facial expressions and emotions that they are trying to represent and act out. The sequence we are filming will hopefully build to the story and to overall entertain the audience. The different camera shots we will be using may include:

• Close Ups 
• Extreme Close Ups 
• Long shots 
• Medium shots 
• Low angle 
• Behind the back shots
• Long shots