Our Preliminary Task

Prelim Task

For our prelim task we had to film a conversation with a focus on continuity, for our piece we decided to build up to this conversation by means of a journey which meant we could incorporate some of the ideas and camera angles we had learnt in the previous task.

The films plot is based around a young lad going on a mission to find his friend a pen. Our aim was to create a film that was engaging for the viewer and used a plethora of camera angles and showed off the skills we had acquired whilst filming the last piece.

We started the film on the field where one character asks another if he has a pen, the other character checks and he realises he doesn't and begins his quest for the pen. The scene was shot in the medium shot.

The character then gets up and begins to walk away from his friend (long shot), when the character reached the stairs to the school we moved the camera underneath the stairs for an interesting angle opportunity. This angle was taken from below the character and showed his feet scampering down a flight of stairs in front of the viewer. We really didn't know how this angle would work but the end result was very pleasing indeed.

We then moved into the foyer to do a birds eye shot of our character walking in and underneath the walkway from which we were filming. Then we decided to experiment with P.O.V (Point Of View) shots for a the scene where our character walks through the canteen and into the lift. This presented a few problems with continuity as some other students blighted filming by waving and jeering at the camera. For the shots in the lift we moved the camera down onto the floor for a worms eye view of the character in the lift. We eventually cut this scene as the angle and shot method grew tiresome. Once upstairs we filmed a long shot of our main character walking towards a door. Then when he got to the door we moved t0 another P.O.V shot to show him trying to open the door, then panning to the right hand side to show me coming up and announcing in no uncertain terms that he was pushing the door the incorrect way.

Once inside the room we really went to town with our camera work, for our conversation we filmed it thrice so we could show the conversation from three different shots a Over The Shoulder from behind the main characters head, an Over The Shoulder from behind the other characters head and a medium shot from the side of the conversation. We concluded the film with our main character failing to locate a pen and leaving the room.

First Filming

Today (23^rd September 09) we learned how to use the schools Sony HD video cameras. I now know how to construct the camera tripod, record a short film, and how to load a tape into the camera.

After this we set off to record a very short film revolving around the idea ‘A Journey.’ For our piece we first positioned the camera on the balcony over looking the foyer. We filmed a point of view and pan shot of Nicola walking down the stairs and around the foyer where I would bump into her. Shanice filmed this scene

We then rigged the camera at the top of a flight of stairs, here Nicola walked down whilst I appeared at the bottom of the steps ready to walk up, when Nicola got to the top of the stairs she would run down some steps on the opposite side of the school ready to meet me at the bottom of the stairs we were filming and visa versa. Shanice also filmed this scene.

We then relocated to outside the stairway door, here we filmed a worms eye shot of Nicolas feet walking from the door into the workshop I filmed this scene.

Once inside the workshop I filmed Shanice walking into the workshop and getting scared by Nicola.

Then to experiment low camera angles we relocated to the lift to film Shanice from below.

Codes & Conventions Of Thriller Films

Codes & Conventions Of Thrillers:

Plot Twists

Tense Atmosphere

Suspense

Dim Light

Jumpy Music

Villain

Different/Unusual Angles

Point Of View Shots

Flashbacks

Chase Camera

Mystery/ Slow Revealing Plot

Puzzling Storyline

Ambiguous Ending/Cliff-hanger’s

Naturalistic

Sometimes Based On A True Story

Realistic Situations

Hybrids – Subgenres: Action Thriller, Spy Thrillers

Climax