Preliminary Task

1. Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

I worked in a group of four, with Robbie, Jessica Rich and Eva. We managed the tasks between us evenly, with Robbie and Eva predominantly acting, and Jess and I predominantly filming. Jess and I filmed all the two shots and the master shot, and Robbie and Eva filmed the parts that they could: the scenes which they weren't in screen. While Jess filmed, I checked the sound, and vice versa, and Robbie and Eva had a go with the sound too.

When editting, we each took it in turns to capture and cut too, and as a group, decided when to cut to the next scenes, to make sure our film flowed seamlessly.

2. How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try and take into account?

We planned our sequence by having a meeting during a private study. We discussed a few ideas, and once we had our main idea of what we were doing, we storyboarded. As we were drawing the storyboard, we discussed all the different shot types, and made sure that they followed the continuity rules, e.g. the 180 degree rule and short order.

 

After we drew out our whole storyboard, we then wrote out our script, and then wrote out all the shots that we would need to be filmed. Then, we discussed how we should shoot the scenes, and in which order, to make it the most time efficient and easy. We started with the master shot, and then shot all the different scenes inside the room, and finally, all the scenes outside in the corridoor.

We took in quite a few theories into account, the main being continuity, especially the 180 degree rule,  shot/reverse shot, and match on action.

We also took in a few film theories, for example Levi Strauss's theory of binary opposites, with our opposites such as boy/girl, dealer/buyer...etc, and Barthe's theory of the enigma code, with the audience thinking 'What is he buying? Drugs?' before the banana is shown.

Media Script and Schedule Prelim

3. What technology did you use to complete this task, and how did you use it?

We used a lot of technology in this task, as we had to film our scene, and then edit it.

During filming, we used:
- A video camera
- A microphone
 - Headphones
- Tripod


We used the video camera to video all the footage, and had it on the tripod for the whole time, to ensure that our shots were straight and stable. When using the video camera, we would press the 'record' button and then the director would call out 'camera rolling'. The assistant with the clapper board would then say the scene, the scene would then roll on for a bit, and the director would then say 'action!' After the scene is finished, we would let the scene roll on for a few seconds again, and then the director would shout 'cut!'. We left seconds to roll before and after the scene to ensure that in editing, we wouldn't cut anything off by mistake.

As our scenes also had dialogue, we attached a microphone to the top of the video camera, and plugged in a set of headphones too. So while the director was filming the scene, the assistant would wear the headphones, and make sure that they could hear all the dialogue. To make it easier for the dialogue to be heard and the background noise to be minimalised, we set the microphone to shotgun, and faced it towards the actors.

Finally, after shooting, we then had to edit our footage. We used the computers in the edit suite, and plugged our video cameras straight into the computer via the firewire. This meant that our video could be viewed - and therefore editted - on the computer. So to do so, we used the programme Adobe Premiere. There we could easily capture all the scenes, and this was easy to do as we used the clapperboard before each shot, so we knew what each shot was. After capturing all our different shots, we then cut them down to size, and then put them in order onto are timeline, using the two tracks diagonally and alternatively.

4. What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

The first factor we had to take into account was time. We were only allowed an hour to shoot and an hour to edit, meaning that we shouldn't be too creative, and just keep it simple. We also had to take in account the room we were filming in, and make sure that it had everything we needed: in our case, just a door, a table and two chairs.

So when planning and storyboarding, we had to make sure what we were drawing was possible and practical, with the props we needed in the scene, as well as the actors being able to act.

While storyboarding we also took all the continuity rules into account; after all, our scene had to flow seamlessly and illustrate continuity. So we made sure we followed the rules such as the 180 degree rule and shot order, so our scene would look normal, and our viewers wouldn't get confused.

When shooting, we took the room and the props into account, and had to keep making sure that it looked right. For example, in one scene there was a computer in the background, but we thought it looked quite distracting and weird with just one computer there, so we ended up moving it out of the shot. And again, we also took the continuity rules in mind, for example, we made sure that the actors looked up at the right time, used the same hand for the exchange of the money and banana, and turned the same page of the book with the same hand.

Finally, during editting, we again kept the continuity rules in mind, and made sure our scene flowed seamlessly. When cutting two shots and putting them together, we made sure that they followed the rule 'match on action', with the last second in the first shot being exactly the same as the first second in the second shot. We also tried to make the colour and lighting in all the shots the same, so one or two shots in the scene didn't suddenly look out of place. This was demonstrated with the second BCU, of Eva looking up. Somehow when we filmed it, the shot was really bright and slightly tainted yellow, so when editting, we altered the brightness and contrast, to make it look similar to all the other shots.

5. How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve/do differently?

In my opinion, I think our sequence worked really well, as almost all of shots flow easily and seamlessly to the next, 'suspending the audience's disbelief'. All the shots are filmed with a high quality, with none of the shots showing a jolt in the camera or anything, making it easy on the viewers' eye. The sound works well in the scene too, with all the dialogue easily being able to be heard, in contrast to the solemn silence which is in most of the scene.

The predominant silence gives the scene a sombre, serious mood, which ties in with the 'drug dealing' theme, and adds to the humour when instead of drugs, a banana is shown in screen. The addition of the line 'Full of potassium' also makes the scene funnier, as that is not what you would expect from a usual drug deal, and is in actual fact, true!

In hindsight, if I were to reshoot to improve our scene, I would reshoot the CU of Robbie, but shoot it further out. This is because the previous OTS shot is quite far out, so the jump from this shot to the closeup is a bit too much of a jump, and looks slightly odd. I think our scene would be better if there's a closeup of Robbie first, then a big close up of Eva, so the camera slowly moves in.

These two closeup shots are also different in colour - due to the natural lighting and positioning of the windows - so if we were to shhot again, we would make sure we had similar lighting in both. We tried to alter the colour when editting, but I still don't think that it is exactly right.


6. What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
From this task, I have definately learnt the rules of continuity, and the significance and importance of continuity in film. The rules of continuity such as match on action, shot order, 180 degree rule and shot/reverse shot are very important, and are needed to be taken into account when filming, as you need to know where and how to position the camera and the rest of the equipment. I have learnt that the best way of filming is to film the whole scene various times; this way you can make sure that scenes will definately flow onto eachother when editting, as you can cut as much as you like off.
I have also learnt that a shooting schedule and shot order is also very important, especially when time is a limiting factor. For example, the best way for us to shoot was shooting the inside of the classroom first, and the corridoor afterwards.
I also learnt how to use different pieces of technology, especially the microphone, and all the settings. This task was also the first time we connected a headphone to the video camera, so I have also learnt how to use the headphones.
So I think that this information I have learnt will be really helpful with the rest of my foundation coursework, especially when filming our own opening sequence. So when I film my opening sequence, I will know exactly how to use all the equipment, and I will take everything I have learnt into account, especially continuity rules and the various film theories.