Preliminary Report

Preliminary Task Title:
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 with.
The task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

Originally, on choosing our groups in which to work with during the preliminary task, we wanted to approach the assignment using a sinister genre of film which we aimed to create using a dark, derelict environment. This would enable us to use candles and fill and key lights to create a chiaroscuro lighting effect. This would follow the theme we had previously decided on and would add an aspect of mystery to the scene due to only specific objects being lit when necessary. However, despite an interest and understanding of how we could create this, the building in which we planned to film at, and the reserve building, could not be used as they were either inhabited or difficult to arrange transportation to within the time period we were given.

Our second idea, a plan in which we actually used and now makes up our preliminary task, would keep within the mysterious theme but would deter from the horror genre. Our storyboard included a wife coming home to finding her husband's mistress in the shower at their shared home. The wife would thus discover the mistress upon entering the bathroom which allowed us to incorporate the opening of a door and the crossing of a room. Due to the scene being set within a bathroom, it seemed unnecessary and sure to lower the level of verisimilitude if we were to add a chair into the room where it looked unnatural. To enable us to still succeed the task's criteria we used proxemics to ensure the wife was in a suitable position to engage in conversation and then fall back on the bath ledge which would express the shock she felt as well as keeping within the task's guidelines.

The two characters we used in our short film were Dottie Holland, who acted as the Mistress, and Jeanne Maccourt who played the Wife. Dottie is member of our group who is taking Drama A-level and has also been involved in many theater productions. This ensured that the acting would we fluent. Furthermore, due to this being a role not featuring within the film as much as the Wife, it allowed Dottie to still use the camera and learn directing skills. Jeanne is also an A-level Drama student and by not being on our media course enabled us to focus on filming as opposed to acting.
As both their genders were suitable for the role and we had already previously watched both of them in production we knew that they fit the part well and would help us to create a successful film.

We chose to film at my house because of its layout which means the stairs are straight ahead of the door which then leads to the bathroom. In addition, the position of the stairs meant we could film Jeanne's feet walking up them and also create shadows due to the lighting in the hall. It was also a convenient place to film because the actresses and our group could easily attend as it is not too far from our College.

To ensure that we acquired all the footage we needed we created a storyboard which consisted of a rough sketch, detail explaining action, the sound, dialogue and the duration of the frame. Despite not going into depth within the scenes on the storyboard it did give us a plan to work to which we used whilst we filmed but not as much as we could have as we saw opportunities for extra shots whilst filming. Similarly, it worked by enabling us to improve upon each other's ideas whilst we were in the planning process due to helping us visualize the situation and how it would best be performed.

Our script was very vague which we actually thought would be more effective as it would merely prompt the actress and therefore allow their own words to come more freely. We believed this would higher the level of verisimilitude. However, a difficulty in which we faced with this attempt to make the dialogue flow more naturally meant that when we had to re-film from behind the other subject's shoulder the other, previous speaking actress found it difficult to remember their lines.

Another difficulty we faced when filming was ensuring we didn't get the shadow of the camera in the frame when we were doing hand-held shots. To do this we had to do many takes and position ourselves so that we wouldn't cover the spotlight. The shot was very effective in the end and was definitely worth the many takes.

I think that the main success of our preliminary task is the number of different positions of filming we used as it allowed us to explore how different shots affect the audience's interpretation of a scene. I also thought that the use of lighting in the first few scenes was very successful as we managed to incorporate turning the light on when the Wife entered the room and also the shadows created when walking up the stairs due to the banister.

In the future, if ever we want to use a voice or sound continuously, we will record a soundtrack that we'll overlay on the video track because the cutting of the humming throughout the film is constantly changing and therefore deters the audience from focusing on the action.

Through completing the task I understand the necessity of planning and how much it can aid filming by deciding what shots to do first so during over-the-shoulder shots the camera is always in the same position and that the whole conversation is filmed over each shoulder once to prevent confusing the audience by constantly changing the position of the camera.