AS Prelim

This short film (Ex's) is about two teachers who meet in a classroom after both having had long days teaching disruptive school children. One of the teachers reveals that the new head of department is in fact her ex-boyfriend, and leaves the sequence on a cliff-hanger.

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

I worked in a group of three, consisting of Flo Donald, Alexander Nicolaides and myself. In our first session allocated for planning our task we discussed the storyline that we wanted to use and came up with the idea that two teachers would have a conversation (in a classroom of some kind) and make small talk about how their days have been and the new teacher that joined the school who turns out to be one of their ex-boyfriends. We then needed to focus on individual roles within the group and decided that Alex would be the camera man and Flo and I would be the actors. As well as this, Alex drew the storyboard and Flo and I worked on the script and shot list. In terms of group dynamics, I feel we were all able to work well together to get things done and set little tasks which each took the same amount of time as each other to make it equal. Personally, I took the lead in writing the script because I'm better at the writing aspect of things rather than organisation (the shot list) which is something I will get better at as the course goes on.

Evidence for No. 1 - Group Photo

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

We first planned our sequence through a group discussion where we all put forth our ideas and then we tried to blend them together to get our final idea based on the brief we were given. We then developed a storyboard so that we could see clearly how our sequence would work and what we may need to change in order to gain continuity and fluidity in our story. We worked out some of the shot types we needed (eg. LS and MS) and in what order we would shoot them so that we could be organised and know exactly what we were doing when it came to actually shooting the sequence. Next, we made the script and tried to make it slightly humorous so that there would be an element of comedy and it wouldn't be boring to watch. A main thing that we had to think about was blocking the sequence and focusing on the arrangements of furniture as well as character masking and how we would avoid characters from being in the way of each other. After all this, we did a walk through of the sequence and figured where the camera would be positioned for all the shots, and how we would adhere to the 180-degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse/shot (as outlined in our brief). The most important theory we took into account was the aspect of continuity as this was what the whole sequence was trying to achieve and was the main component of the brief. We also considered other theories we've learnt about such as characters (how they interact), narrative (how the piece flows and what happens), genre (we wanted to achieve a comedy) and setting (ours was just a classroom).

  

Evidence for No. 2 - Storyboard, Shot List (Shoot Schedule) and Script

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

The main components of the task were shooting the sequence and then editing it. For shooting, we used a camera (Cannon HFG30), tripod and microphone. We use the camera in order to shoot the short film and we used this specific one because it is light and portable yet did all the things we needed it to do. It was positioned on a portable tripod as to prevent any shaking which might have occurred had the camera been hand-held. The microphone (shotgun mic) was necessary in order for the actors (Flo and I) to be heard, and Alex (cameraman) wore a set of headphones to detect what could could be heard, including any background noises like doors slamming, so we could retake the shot if needed. For editing, we used a PC based edit station with running Adobe Premier Pro. This was needed in order to cut our shots and link them together in the right order to actually put our sequence together and create continuity. The main tools we used were the 'in and out points' and the 'trim tool' as these were vital in aiding us to make perfect cuts.

Evidence for No. 3 - Cannon HFG30, Shotgun Mic and Adobe Premier Pro

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

The underlying factor we had to take into account whilst planning, shooting and editing was whether or not we were sticking to the brief and if not, how could we change it so that we were. For example, the brief states that two people need to be sat opposite each other and at one point we had them sitting next to each other so it's minor things like this that we had to change. The other factors we had to consider were time arrangements and how we were going to fit everything into the time allocated, so we had to be reasonably precise with our shots and make sure we got everything done. We also had to account for the things like the bell going off and whether this would affect out shots, other groups that were shooting and how to work around them (hence the shot list - we filmed things in a different order than to how they would appear in the final sequence) and availability of space (we had move furniture around).

Evidence for No. 4 - Brief

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

I think our shoot was quite successful as we stuck to the brief and therefore completed the task at hand. We aimed to show good continuity throughout the sequence and managed to do this to a good extent, except for a few minor errors such as the folders being a different position in the pan shot and the master shot and our body positions changing. These however aren't that noticeable and don't necessarily subtract from the continuity of it to the audience. What worked particularly well was the fact that we were able to stick to the 30 degree rule when there was a close up of the door handle, and also our acting was quite believable. In hindsight, I would probably like to incorporate a few more shots to add length to the sequence and allow the audience to gain a better understanding of the storyline. As well as this I would have liked to try and do close-ups of the characters faces to add variety to the shots. Overall, though, I feel like we made a good continuity sequence that we can be proud of.

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 doing this task I have learnt that it is very important to always plan so that you can be efficient with your time when it comes to actually shooting and so that you're not unsure of what you are supposed to be doing. Also I have learnt to make sure you are keeping with the brief, otherwise the task hasn't been carried out properly and to consider every aspect involved in making a sequence, such as theories you want to focus on, the planning process and shooting schedules. Looking ahead, this will help me because it taught me how to use different technology and this is important in our main task where we will need to use the same technology but probably in more depth. It also helped me understand how to make a sequence continuous and the importance of it in the sense that the audience needs to feel a sense of reality and be involved in the story.