Preliminary task story board

Preliminary Task video

Preliminary Task Script

Lauren stops dead and looks at Michael.

Lauren: Meant to be a threat?

Facing each other. (Michael arms crossed, Lauren hands on hips)

Michael: Now there’s more than one player in the game.

Facing each other.

Lauren: You think you can beat us with the players on your team?

Hands on hips- looks up and away in disbelieve.

Michael: Statistics don’t lie darling!

Michael throws paper with statistics towards Lauren.

Scene ends with them both facing each other.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Georgia & Lewis' Preliminary task evaluation

The preliminary task was to create a short film opening using three camera angles, the 180 degree shot, shot reverse shot and match on action.  Additionally, the short film must contain a character opening a door, walking across a room, sitting on a chair, and indulging in dramatic conversation. Before recording we made a storyboard and script so we knew shot by shot what was needed, and so our characters new the lines, and were familiar with their roles. We wanted to give our short a genre to make it different and original, whilst still adhering to the pass criteria. The genre we chose was sport/drama, which is why we chose to shoot the film in a gym, and base the script around what athletes would say to each other before a match of some sort. Each shot was carefully thought out, to create the climax/anti-climax of the dramatic scene. We did this by not show the protagonist’s face for the first six shots, leaving her a mysterious character. We also had little diagetic sound to emphasise the tense footsteps of the third scene. After this scene, more diagetic sound was included. The use of the wide one shot (180 rule) was used to highlight the tension between the two characters in the seventh scene. The basketballs were added to the gym scenes to mainly to show which sport the characters are talking about, and also to add to the over all gym scenery, as they were next to the male character one would assume that he has practiced, or at least was preparing to. The balls were specifically placed next to the male to refer to the difference in power between the two characters, the male character looked organised, well prepared, and as I just said, ready to practice, whereas the female character came in wearing high heels and speaking aggressively to the male character. This is all part of the mis-en-scene, as the female character is clearly unprepared for any sporting event, mainly because she is wearing high heels, but also the audience may feel she is inferior when it comes to basketball because she is female. Fades were also used between most scenes, as the tension began to build, more fades were used to create a smoother film, opposed to having it jumpy and all over the place. Along with the fades we used shot-reverse-shot, to again build up the tension of the climax at the end of the scene. The over the shoulder shot was used to allow the audience to feel empathy towards the characters – they are seeing more or less the same thing as the character, putting them in their shoes. This allows the audience to choose who they feel is the good and bad guy of the situation. The medium close up as he begins to throw the paper, followed by the wide long shot after he releases the paper shows that the scene is at its climax, whilst giving a view of both the character’s expression, body language, and finally the movements of the paper. We edited the film using Camtasia Studios 7, mainly linking the clips together, but one scene, scene three had to have the diagetic sound removed, to replace it with more dramatic steps to make a louder diagetic end product.

I, Lewis, learnt that .MOV files couldn’t be edited via Camtasia Studios 7, so I had to first put the clips into Windows Live Movie Maker and turn them into MP4s before editing. This will be considered next time I am to record, as I will either use a different software, or find out a way to record the videos in a different format. Additionally, I now have began to appreciate subtle editing in films such as Lord of the Rings, which was also incredibly well edited in my opinion; I also have come to understand the importance of making shots as smooth as possible to make the editor's job easier, and thus giving the audience a much more pleasant experience of said film. By smooth, I mean how cleanly one scene cuts to another without using a transition, in most TV shows one would hardly notice it, however it's heavily evident and conspicuous in most student films or low budget films/shows, probably from the lack of equipment or just unskilled staff.

I, Georgia, learnt that the volume of non-diagetic sounds and diagetic sounds must be considered when recording a scene before recording so we know whether or not we have to overlay the sound to enhance it, much like we did in scene three.