Evaluation of our Preliminary task.

Evaluation of our Preliminary task.

Our Preliminary was a simple story about a man being given a task by his boss. We were going to make it a comedy and add a surprise twist at the end, however making a comedy can be diffcult, and maybe what we find funny on the day, could in fact, be abismal when watching it back. We therefore played it safe and decided that a simple story would allow us to focus more on the media side rather than creating something to make people laugh as it could distract us from the point of the task.

We therefore decided that the genre of the film is crime/thriller. We took examples from classic gangster films like the Godfather or Goodfellas.

We decided to aim for a young adult to middle aged audience, like the Godfather.

We had three members of our group. I was the camera man, Daniel was director and actor and Brolin was editor and actor. As we had no lighting available I had to look for a location with the perfect lighting.

We wanted to create a simple but effective piece of drama that would enable us to focus on what was needed from the media side of the task rather than the acting. However Daniel and Brolin both do drama as well as myself so we weren't too worried about it.

We wanted to include, match on action, over the shoulder shots and not break the 180 degree rule. We also wanted to use a variety of other shots and explore the most effective of the ones used. This is very much like the Godfather, especially the scenes with Don Corleone.

When making the film we discussed how to use different techniques. When using the camera we used different levels, close ups, etc.. to highlight the status of the two characters in the scene and the intimidation. We also used diegetic sound to create more of an atmosphere and to highlight the threat and tone of the scene. We decided not to use props and keep it plain. I think cutting away to a prop would break the tension of the scene, we therefore decided to have long takes and only cut to the two characters. At the start of the scene, I chose to follow Daniel to the door using a handheld camera which makes the scene look realistic. We then had match on action of Daniel opening the door and then entering the door. This was difficult and we had to time it perfectly so that it looked realistic. Credit to Brolin - the editor as he was able to time this perfectly.