Preliminary Task - What,When, Who, How and Where?

Brain Storm

What – The preliminary task is to create a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.

Idea – An interview between a boss and an applicant.

How – A well lit room with a desk and a door, a window in the background where the light will come from. Will first shoot a low angle shot of the Employer, to show his power, then a high angle shot of the applicant to show his vulnerability in the situation, then the employers secretary opens a door and says “it’s time” the applicant stands up and walks towards the door, opens the door, then from the other side of the door, see him walking in the room (Match on Action). Then we see the employer sitting at his desk with some files. The applicant sits down, and the two people start the interview. The shots will differ from the applicant to the employer depending on who is speaking (Shot reverse Shot) then I will have a low angle of the applicant, because the interview is going well, to show how he is now comfortable with the situation and the camera will move round ‘til we can see both the employer and the applicant (180 degree rule).

Where – In a well-lit room with a window at the back where the light will come from, a desk decorated with files, and a door where the applicant will enter.

When – ASAP.

Who – I will be filming and editing the task. The actors I will use will be whoever is readily available.

Dialogue

Assistant: hears phone ringing and picks up phone. The shot then cuts to a high angle shot of the office with the boss with the phone to his ear.

Employer: Send him in.

The shot the cuts to a waiting room where we see a high angle shot of a nervous applicant waiting, the audience knows he is waiting as he is showing signs such as tapping his foot, sighing and looking at the ceiling.

The assistant opens a door and pops her head round the corner and says

Assistant: Mr.Stevenson will see you now.

The assistant then leaves the room.

The applicant takes a heavy breathe to show nervousness, he then stands up and walks towards the door, he starts to open the door, the shot then cuts to the other side of the door inside the office, we see the applicant walk into the office from the other side (Match on Action). The Employer then says.

Employer: Please, take a seat.

The assistant sits down in the chair. The interview starts.

Employer: So Mr … Daniels, Why do want this job?

Mr.Daniels: Well, I enjoy working in this field. I have a lot of experience and my degree was in this subject. I feel I could really do well here.

Mr.Stevenson: Okay, now the job comes with a lot of responsibilities, and quite frankly the companies quite worried about offloading so many duties to someone so young. Please could you just name for me some of the characteristics that feel make you worthy to handle so many responsibilities?

Mr.Daniels: Well, all throughout my time in Education, I have strived to take a leadership role. During my time at university, I was a part of the student union, and was in charge of a lot of responsibilities there. I have also taken part in many work experience opportunities working with executives in high important positions. I feel that I am very mature and see my youth as a positive as I get to learn how to handle these responsibilities at an early age so I know how to handle many duties. This isn’t just a job to me; it’s a learning experience as well.

Mr.Stevenson: Very good. As well as many responsibilities, there are also many other people who work in the department, some whom will be older than you. How will you manage to be an important role whilst being respectful to older employees who have been here longer than you’ve been alive?

Mr.Daniels: During my time uni, and throughout all my time through work experience, I have worked with many older people and in many cases been in a position of which has more authority than those who were older than me. I am a very friendly and respectful man, and I feel that with these trades, I will get on with everyone, older or younger.

Shooting Schedule

The whole task will take place on a Tuesday, after my lessons have finished at 10:40 AM. Once I have finished filming which will, I hope, be approximately around the time of 12:00 PM, I will proceed to edit the task on a Macintosh computer using Final Cut Pro.

Location Scouting

The task will take place in the school and, with permission, outside and inside, Mr.Warner’s office. The hallway outside will provide the perfect setting for the applicant to sit, The office will be the perfect setting for the interview to take place, and the multiple exists mean it will be easy for the secretary to exist easily.

Where I am now, What we've done, Where we're going.

So far in our media lessons we have covered a lot. Over the course of a term I learnt all about the editing process. Involving of the difference between shots and sequences, for example a shot is particular piece of action taken from a camera shot, whereas a sequence is lots of shots put together, camera angles, which are the angles at which a camera is recording from (for example, a high angle, over the shoulder, POV, etc), shots, which is each individual shot from a camera, and movement, which is when a camera moves whithin a shot (for example, the 180 degree rule). We have looked at the narrative theory, looking at the role of characters and the structure of a story. We have also looked at the power of genre and the different genres that there are and what components make up a genre, for example an action genre consists of car chases, explosions and fights. An example of the narrative theory can be found below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Sn95fqF_xw
This video will display a set of characters such as a damsel in distress, the hero/goodie, the evil guy/baddie, etc, etc.

Eqquipment

Whilst filming my project, I have a lot of equipment that I will be using. Instead of using all of the schools equipment, I will most probably be using my own equipment from home. This equipment will include:

Filming

• Canon 60d
• Glidecam hd 2000
• Glidetrack hd 05m
• Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens

Sound

• Rode Video Mic Pro
• Zoom H1

Lighting

• Will use natural lighting as piece will be shot during the day.

Editing

• Final cut pro
• Motion
• Compressor
• Livetype

The Two Ideas

I have one of two ideas that I would like to conduct. I am working by myself and would prefer to carry out the first idea however I have the second idea to fall back on just in case everything goes to pot with the first idea.

The first idea I have, and the one I would most like to carry out, is an opening of a free running documentary. The documentary would be called philosophy and would look into the insights into certain participants ideas and beliefs of the sport. The opening would begin with some landscape shots of famous places where participants train in, the next shot would be of some basic tricks and moves carried out by the participants who will later be interviewed. The next shot would include one famous participant describing what free running is, The title would then show and there would then be a montage of various places and people who take part in free running.  The opening credits would then show ad the sequence would come to an end.

The second idea I have, and the one i have as a back up incase anything goes wrong with the first idea which means I cannot carry it out, is the opening of a film about a boy who lives with his step-dad, after his mother died, who he or his sister do not lie. The boy is of age to leave the house and go and live by himself, however he is not of age to be the legal career of his younger sister. The boys step dad is very abusive, an alcoholic, and has no job. The boy and step dad constantly have arguments about his inability to care for both him and his sister. The boy constantly claims that the step dad never loved his late mother and was only with her for the money. Because the step dad uses all the money that the mother left her son, he has inproper equipment for school, for this reason, the boy is bullied. So, all in all, the boys life is not going well. The opening will consist of the first shot being a long shot of the boy standing at his mothers grave with a bouquet of flowers. The shot then goes into a close up of the grave and then of the boys face. The audience then hear a car horn and we see the boy look at where the noise is coming from. The shot then skips to the boy looking at the car where his step dad is sitting in a van waiting for his step son. The son lets out a sigh, places the flowers on his mother gave then walks over to the car. There is then a fade to black and the title is shown, there is another fade to black and we see the son entering the car, with his step-father angrily shouting at him, the son finally loses his temper and shouts back, the step father, outraged, slaps his step son. The sons sister lets out a cry of horror and screams. The son at this point tells his sister to get out the car and start walking to school as he himself opens the door. His sister obeys to his brothers commands and exists the car. As the son steps out of car, he looks at his step father and tells him that he hates him and that he never loved his mother, and his mother would be ashamed of the trust she put in him. The father responds by saying that his mother isn't here to be ashamed. The son is then livid and hits his step father. The step father quickly exists the car and the last scene is of the boy running down the cemetery away from his step father. The opening credits then show and the title is shown again.

These are two ideas and I am very keen to get started on my project. I hope you all enjoy reading this and find my ideas intriguing and exciting.