Preliminary Task

Research part of the task 

When we first started the AS Level in September we was given a preliminary task which allowed us to pick up the basics and fresh skills which was necessary to create a 60-90 second opening scene to a film. 

This opening scene had to involve a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down on a chair opposite another character whom he/she then has to exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. It had to also demonstrate certain things on top of basic filming and editing skills: 

1. Match on action - We had to use the match on action skill as the character walks through the door. 
2. Shot Reverse Shot - We had to show this certain shot by the switching between the characters exchanging dialogue in a over the shoulder manner. dialogue
3. 180 degree rule -We had to use the rule that basically means that the camera cannot cross the line while you are filming. It's not normally used, but sometimes it is in aim to confuse the audience

This diagram shows the 180 degree rule. 

Before we even started to think about our task, as a class we got taught all about the different camera shots and angles. This was helpful to me because even though I done Media Studies previously as a subject (GCSE) It refreshed my memory whilst still learning the extra shots etc. 

The different angles we discussed were: 

• Long Shot-LS 
• Mid Shot-MS 
• Medium Long Shot-MLS
• Medium Close Up-MCU
• Close Up-CU
• High Angle-HA
• Low Angle-LA
• Point of View-POV
• Crane Shot-CS
• Over the shoulder-OTS
• Reverse Shot-RS
• Two Shot-TS

After looking at camera shots we then went onto looking at different camera movements. 

• Track 
• Pan 
• Tilt

With our new knowledge of camera angles, movements and shots. We watched a variety of film openings, so that we can pick out when they are used but at the same time get our own ideas for our opening scene. The films we looked at was Slumdog Millionaire, Training Day, American Beauty and Fight Club. In each of these films we had to take notes of everything that the director has used in the opening scene which includes shots, angles, movement, lighting, sounds etc. 

Here is one of mine, on Training Day: 

The opening sequence is the shot where a man is getting out of bed,then turning his alarm clock off. This is a medium shot going into a close up which shows the first location. The lighting is also quite dark which empathizes the fact that it is still early, shows that he is up early maybe because he has plans for the day; a career. The sound and images are linked together on the scene. I noticed certain things in the scene which give us clues about the character himself: The man is nervous about something, wedding photos show commitment, religious candles in his room obviously show he is religious, cuddly toy show he is a domestic family man, tidy and organized and polished police badge which shows he is proud.  

Now we had a idea of everything used in opening scenes, we was set homework to watch anything we wanted, favorite TV show or favorite film. Taking note of what the director used in the opening scene. As I'm a fan of CSI (Crime Scene Investigation) I chose to do mine on that. I didn't save this work on my home computer otherwise I would of copied it into here, however It got marked as a A- Accurate in depth analysis.

My Opening Scene 

Now because we was ready to start looking into our own production, we split into groups. I went with Danielle Fagg and Ollie Barnes. Together we had to come up with our paper trail which included:

1. Story Board 
2. Call Sheet 
3. Location Reece
4. Risk Assessment 
5. Shooting Script 
6. Script 

Our simple idea was based on a young teenage girl telling her mother that she is pregnant while the mother is at work. This did incorporate all of the needed aspects in the task.

The scene starts with the daughter walking down the corridor looking nervous, she then knocks on door. She walks in and we filmed behind her and then filmed her when she was walking into the room this included the match on action. She sits down then exchanges dialogue to her mother which includes the shot reverse shot.

We then edited the film and put in some un-copyrighted music which we had found online, this was when the girl was walking down the corridor to create suspense and nervousness.

I personally feel that the preliminary task was successful and enabled me to continue progressing my skills, however there was certain issues and problems I would change if we had the chance to re-do the task. 

1. As we set it in the College the location didn't have the office and sophisticated feel to it, it just simply looked like the classroom. So instead, thinking about it now we could of used a house environment to create the domestic relationship feeling.
2. To add onto our issue with the location, you could see Rick's writing on the whiteboard in one of our shots, you could easily tell from this that it was recorded in a classroom. Thinking about it now, it wouldn't of took much time and effort to clean the board, we just didn't think about it so from now on I'm going to try and make sure that the location is suitable.
3. As we had to move furniture around the room, we got the objects in the shot by accident, once again this is going back to the fact that we should of spent more time perfecting the shot.