The criteria for the the task contained the following;
- two character must walk through a door
- sit down on a chair
- have a conversation
Also, there is an 180 degree rule in which only one side of the character must be filmed. This would mean that careful shot planning would have to be carried out.
Our initial idea was to have two assassins or secret agents that have a confrentation in a room. The idea was to have one innocent agent with the other accusing them of something that they haven't done. We then thought that another character could be involved, for example, the agent accusing the other could say that they killed that new character when in actual fact, they didn't.
We had now got our base for the storyline and could then develop this idea into further detail.
For the setting, we discussed about where we may film the scene. The school wouldn't be very adventurous propect for filming a scene like this so we then thought about doing at Ferry Meadows which is a small nature reserve that has routes for dog walking, children play area and small cafés. Our first thought was to film it at one of the cafés on the waterfront. This would mean we would have to ask for permission to film there and fill out a large risk assessment form.
For our actors, Alexander is part of a drama group and had contacted two of the girls in the group to act for us. They had agreed to do so which only left one more actor to find. Beatrice also knows a drama student that would be suitable for the part and she also agreed to act in our task. We then decided who would be who so that they had an idea of what they should have to do when filming started. The actors had been found and a short draft of the script was sent to them so that they could start learning the dialogue.
Further discussion led to the thought of being filmed in a library since the café seemed an unlikely to have permission due to the amount of people that would be there and for our actors to be able to get there to film. The library gave the additional aspect of the actors having to whisper their lines to give the film a tense feel to it. We thought this idea was brilliant so we went about incorporating this element into the pre-production.
What we have been asked to do?
For our prelimary task, we have been first asked to make a short one or two minute long clip which involves the following; two characters that walk through a door, sit down on a chair then have a conversation. These are the only guidlines for the scene, the rest of the other attributes are decided by the group. Things such as the theme, costumes, dialogue and setting are all decided for the scene to give it origniality and to develop ideas and skills. The conversation in the scene can be about anything, therefore, we have decided to make it interesting which keeps the audience drawn into scene.
The next part for the task is making an A3 movie poster for necessary advertisement. The program we will most likely use is Adobe Photoshop due to the unique features the application has for the necessary standards of an A3 movie poster.
The final part of the preliminary task is to make a podcast and evaluate how the whole procedure went; pre production, filming, post preduction etc. Evaluative skills such as talking about the audience's feelings and reactions to the clip.
Deadlines:
Pre Production - 8th November - November 18th
Production Window - 19th November - 26th November
Post Production - 27th November - 12th December
Presentation Day - 15th December
What I wish to develop?
When doing the preliminary task, I hope to improve and develop my camera skills. Being able to use the camera to maximum effectiveness so it intices the audience to continue watching. I'd like to also develop my editing skills during the following lessons to assit our editor if he needs the necessary help. Also, when improving my camera skills, I wish to learn how to use a tripod but an in depth explanation to get the higher level shots as I have already been taught the tripod and camera basics. By doing this task I wish to improve all of the skills above and also, to develop my evaluative skills when it comes to the podcast.
The Production team
Alexander Mulley - Editor
Beatrice Brown - Director
Ryan Denney - Camera
Our roles were decided and based around our skills that we already have. Alexander has very good editing skills as shown on the last task, Beatrice, who worked along side Alexander used her directing skills to make their production and since I've had some camera experience and wanted to learn more, then we decided that I should operate the camera.
