Wednesdays lesson

Today, Alice isnt here, so i thought this would be a good chance to updatemy blog as Alice has the story boards so we are not able to complete our story board. I think we still need to talk about our main task as a group as i dont think everybody is quite sure on what, when and where we will be shooting our main task. We were plannning on filming later on today but alice isnt here this is impossible. Which leaves us to meet up over the christmas holidays which may be a problem as we are all busy on certain days.

Mondays lesson

On monday we began storyboarding our idea, we thought off the type pff shots we could use and what sort of setting we want to create. We didnt get much work done whihc was dissapionting, but we now need to copy up our storyboard in neat so we have something to work with when shooting our main task.

Main task final idea

We have now deffinatly decided on what idea we will be using. We will be creating a slasher film based on teenagers going on a camping trip in the forest. The teenagers will be drinking smoking, doing drugs which is all the type of things we may expect from a teenage slasher film.

We needed to think off the tyopes of shots we want to film we thought off some ideas:
- Making a picnic or packing a bag for the camping trip.
- Meeting up with each other.
- Loading the car with the camping gear.
- The Killer's normal daily life, like shopping, or their boring job.

We dont want to make our slasher too obvious in the first two minutes so we thought we could represent him by heavy breathing or a siloette.

Idea for main task

On Wednesdays lesson we were all present so we thought it would be a good time to discuss what idea we could use for our main task. We decided on a completly different idea from what we had originally thought of. As our task was to produce a 2 minute clip for the beggininging of a horror or thriller film, we thought we could base our task on teenagers going on a camping trip, and there happens to be a slasher in the forest as well. This way we could all act in the film which would be much more convinient as we would not have to really on other people. We liked the idea of the film 'shrooms' so we will use this film to help produce the same effect for ours.

Lainey Tim and alice thought of the idea of a film based on child abuse/ pedophilia. We discused this idea and i gave some input into what i thought about the idea. At first i thought it was really good as there are some great ideas that were being discused. I then realised that this idea may be more difficult than we first thought as we would have to film young children. At first alice said we could use her sisters as they are 8 and 10, but i think because of the nature of our film it weould have been inappropreate so we decides to think of another idea that could be just as affective.

On mondays lesson we were introduced to the main task.
This is our brief;
The titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source.

As me and tim were not in lesson alice and lainey thought of some ideas that we could use for our main task;
-An old house being haunted by a ghost.
- A child being abused by her step-dad.
- A school bus fatally crashing, the driver is haunted by the ghosts of the children.

End of preliminary task.

We have now finished our preliminary task, our deadline was friday so any unfinished work must be finished in out own time. We will now be focusing on our main task.

Me and alice were not in lesson on friday, so this meant the reat of the footage was left for lainey and tim. I think this may have been better as there is usually more focus and more work can be done if there is only two people working on the computer rather than four.

filming our preliminary task.

We now have finished our preliminary task idea. We firstly shot our preliminary task, Alice wasnt here on the day so i stepped in and took her place as being the student in our film, we the showed reno the footage and he thought it was a good idea to re shoot because some of the shots were not up to standerd. We tyhen acted on this and re shot all the footage, this time alice was in so shre was able to help lainey with the shots and filming. Once we had got our footage, Lainey, tim and alice logged the shots as i was not here to help. They then captured the shots onto the computer which according to them didnt take long at all as they really focused so we could finish our task.

Communication

Today Alice isnt in again, we have contacted her and she said she is in pain because of her operation. This is a problem as Alice was supposed to be one of the actors for our preliminary task. This means either me or lainey has to take her place. Both me and lainey didnt want to act in our preliminary task and alice and tim were happy to act so this has caused a problem within our group. Today we are completing our script for our preliminary task and if we have time we also would like to film our clip to show to Reno on Friday.

Planning the Preliminary task.

Today all of my group is in lesson as tim and alice are back in collage feeling better after their illnesses. As this is the first lesson our hole group has been here we have been concentrating on our story board and script. We are going to shoot our preliminary task in the collage as we found it was the most practical idea. We will be using the idea of students at collage.

Match on action

This is an example of a match on action shot. A match on action shot is shot at different times but it still must show continuity throughout the scene. This short clip shows how continuity can be used to make the clip flow as it should. The 180 degree rule must be used when doing a match on action shot so the audience doesnt get confused. The rythem and timing must match between the two shots, for exaple if the actor walks from the right and exits on the left in a hurry, then shot two must be of the actor walking from left again. This is how continuity works in this clip.

Communication

In the last lesson only me and lainey were in class as alice was having an operation and tim was off sick with a stomach virus. We managed to find out this information as lainey text both alice and tim to see if they were coming to lesson and they both replied with why they were not in. I caught up on previous tasks which i had missed last lesson so now i am at the same stage as lainey. We are now concentrating on the story board and script for our preliminary task.

Reverse Shot

The clip below starts out with a shot of the office building, it then cuts to a shot of Both Chandler and his boss in the same frame, this is a Long Shot as it allows you to know where both the characters are. Just as Chandler stops talking, it cuts to a close shot of his boss.The clip then cuts to each of the characters for a very small amount of time before they start talking, and then to a Reaction Shot on Chandler. More Diologue is exchanged and then the clip moves to an Over-The-Shoulder shot of Chandler, showing his reaction. I think this is a good example of a revese shot as it has continuity throughtout the clip even when the other shots are taking place throughout the clip.

180 Degree Rule

The 180 Degree Rule
This rule is used so the veiwer does not get confused about who and where the charecters are stood etc. This is an example of the 180 degree rule;



This example shows how the camera stays on one side of the characters, keeping the same characters on the same side of the screen, even though the camera cuts to a different angle.


Here is an exaple of the what happens when the 180 degree rule is not used:



As you can see it becomes very confusing for the veiwer. This is why it is important to use this rule.

Potential Preliminary task idea

As me and Alice have been away Lainey and Tim have thought of some ideas which we could do for our preliminary task.They thought a good idea may be, 2 people meeting on a street corner, but this idea cannot be done because the scenery lacks an essential part of the task; a character opening a door.

Instead they thought of an idea that may be more practical, which would be to shoot the task withtin collage, they had the idea of a student-teacher conference taking place in an unused classroom at the college. This idea of using the classroom (with permission) gives us the scenery needed to shoot the piece. I think this could be effective but i dont think it is to the best of our ability, i think we could create a much more exciting peice if we shoot outside the collage. I think this idea of using the collage for our preliminary task is very practical. For our main task we will deffinatly filming outside the collage.


Lainey Posted :
We believe that it is good, achievable idea that needs to be decided on as a group. We are hoping to see Dulcie and Alice soon so that we can negotiate times that we are free during college to shoot the footage as members of the group live too far away to be expected to stay locally and complete the Task; as transport there and back is not feasible, nor is the time. It is unfair to put any members of the group out and make the task unnecessarily difficult for them, so Tim and I think college time is the most suitable for all 4 members of the group.
Posted by Lainey White at 12:22

Groups and ideas for preliminary task

We have recently benn put into groups so we can do our preliminary task. I received an email from aliney white telling me what group i was in. I have been put into a group woth 3 other people; Lainey White, Tim Biles and Alice Manning. I think we will all work well together as we all have our own strengths and weeknesses.
I have some ideas of my own for the preliminary task;
-Horror- I think a horror or thriller will work effectivly as it will draw in the veiwer, make them want to watch more. Could be set in haunted house or unusuall place to make it interesting.

As i was ill for two weeks i also missed a second lesson on 6/11/09, i received an email from Lainey White explaining what we had to do.


Hi Alice and Dulcie.

Why aren't you in Media today?
We were sorting out groups and our group is, you two, me, and tim.

We have been updating our blogs too, and we have done quite a bit, so you
will have to catch up with that, possibly in your own time. Me and Tim
have also got quite a few good ideas for the coursework. check out our
blogs.

My URL is: http://laineywhite.blogspot.com/
Tim's is: http://mrtimbiles.blogspot.com/

Look at the posts we have done and do the same basically. Just add your
own idea's.

BE IN THE NEXT MEDIA LESSON!!

This email really helped me as i managed to catch up in my own time by looking at Tim and Laineys blogs.

Introduction to preliminary task

Preliminary excercise.


Continuity task involving filming and editing opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another charecter, exchange dialogue.


Continuity- Trick veiwer into not noticing the edititng.





Here is a good example of continuity editing that is from a film called heat which we studied today: