Evaluation question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Our main focus when doing our preliminar task was to fit in certain camera angles. With this being a success we produced the film pening sequence. I have learnt alot in this time that will help me in future media projects. Over the course of the project m knowledge of camera angles and shots has improved vastly. I began with a basic understanding of such shots as close up and mid shots, however know i have learnt establishing shots, low angle shots and piont of view shots through the production of our product.

I have also learnt more than just a basic understanding of how the film production world works. I now realise the time it takes to get different scenes and shots right and the time that must be taken to get it right. The filming proccess took around 5 days of filming. The scene came to around 2 minutes 50 seconds and that shows the extent of time it would take to film a whole feature film.

The software we used to edit the footage was something i had never used before and as a result i had to learn many new skills involving that. I learnt how to cut and move around different parts of the fottage, edit and import music into the scene and use different colour filters whilst editing. I have realised the skill needed to create a media product, however if you practise that skill whilst producing a product it can become very familiar and easy.

Overall i have learnt alot since the preliminary task part of producing our final product. I have learnt new skills whilst editing and filming, whilst at the same time increasing my knowledge of the film industry itself.

Evaluation question 6

What have you learnt about technology from the process of producing this product?

Through the process of producing this product i have learnt many things about technology. Firstly i learnt how to operate a camera. During the preliminary task we filmed using a handheld camera, which was fairly simply to film with, however when filming the opening scene we used a much more technologically superior camera. The technology was hard to use at first however with practise it became easier. The end product shows that using this camera was a good idea, due to the better picture and sound quality.

I also learnt how to use computer software to create and edit the opening scene. First i learnt how to transfer the footage from the camera to the computer, which is done by connecting the two with a USB cable and letting the software record the already recorded footage from the camera. We used the editing softwae called Sony Las vegas movie studios 9.0 to edit the opening sequence. Whilst doing this i learnt many aspects of the process including how to cut and move around different parts of the footage. I also learnt how to use different colour and lighting filters in the software, that i used to make the film appear through a grey filter. The grey filter made the film apppear to be more moody and atmospheric.

After editing the footage i learnt how to use different technology to edit the sound in our product. I used the software called Audacity that was free to download from the internet to edit the sound. I learnt how to import music into it and as a result mix it to how i wanted it to sound. In the editing software i also learnt how to mute sound that was recorded by the camera, while leaving in noises that i wanted to be heard, e.g the sound of Dan jumping the gate. I then imported the sound into the software and played it over the footage.

Through the process of producing this product if i had not learnt new skills with technology i simply would not have been able to complete it. Technology will always keep changing and improving, i have learnt that i must keep learning new skills through first hand experiance using these technologies.

Evaluation question 5

How did you attract or address your audience?

Through the production and editing processes of our media product we thought about snergy. This meant that if our product was real we would have had to come up with a marketing and advirtisment campaign. Existing products that we looked at in the research stage of production showed us that films use posters, trailers and other merchendise to attract their audience. I created an advirtisment poster that includes the films name, an image relating to the film and its release date. The fact the film is released on hallaween would address all horror fans that this is indeed a film that fits into the horror genre and as a result more people would pay to watch it. We got the inspiration for this from existing horror film promotional posters.

We also would create a film trailer to address our audience and make them aware of the release of our product. Film trailers often show a variety of short clips from different parts of the film, alerting people as to what the film is about. In many of the horror film trailers we watched whilst researching the genre we found that they use shots that would attract horror fans including suspenseful shots and jump scenes. Unfortunately we only created a film opening and thus didnt have enough footage to create a real trailer, however we gained enough knowledge that when creating a real product we would do to attract and address the audience.

We also made the public aware of our product on social websites such as facebook, where we posted the scene we created and let people watch it for free. By letting the public see a short clip from an up and coming film, producers can gain alot more profit as it attracts more people to want to watch the whole product. The best way to attract and address your audiance is to make the film known to the public through posters, trailers and sneek peaks, after this word of mouth will spread and many will pay to watch your product.

Evaluation question 4

Who would be the audience for your media?

For a real media product to be released for public viewing it would first have to be given a age certificate by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). There are 7 possible age certificates that can be given to a film featuring U (suitable for all viewing), PG (Parental guidence), 12A (Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult), 12 (suitable for ages 12 and up), 15 (suitable for age 15 and up), 18 (suitable for age 18 and upwards) and finally R18 (The same as an 18 however used for films of a sexual nature).

When we were in the process of researching and planning our media product we had to take into account who would be the audience for our final product. Due to it being a post apocalyptic horror film our product would generally fit into the higher age bracket. The frightening theme of zombies and death would be unsuitable for certainly children and even maybe young teenagers. Despite there not being much dialogue in the scene, there is an occasion when bad language is used and as a result again shows that it fits into a higher age bracket. The film would not fit into the 18 age certificate based on the contents of the opening scene, due to the lack of gore and adult themes. For these reasons we decided our film would fit into the 15 age certificate.


I feel that a 15 certificate would be benificial to us as media producers. The certificate doesnt restrict most teenagers from buying and seeing our product meaning it would perhaps generate more profit than if it was given an 18 certificate. Our media product would also have a big audience due to the popularity of the genre. The zombie post apocalyptic genre has a huge fan base which has grown bigger through the years due to films such as Dawn of the dead, Shaun of the dead and 28 days later. This will ultimatelly lead fans of the genre to want to view our film and thus this would increase profits.

Evaluation question 3

What kind of media institution might distribute your product and why?

Institutions are established, profit based organisations that create and distribute media products including advirtisment and entertainment. The are institutions in all areas of the media world from computer gaming (Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo) to the film industry (Dreamworks, Film4 and 20th century fox). An institution can dominate a market in media, for example microsoft and Sony in the games market. In the film part of the media world, studios such as Warner Bros and 20th century fox are the main film producing and distributing institutions. For our media product to be recognised and seen in the world we would need to choose an institution to distribute our final product.

We have chosen to distribute our product through Film4 productions. It is a well known and popular film distributor that is capable of distributing high and low budget films. Due to our film being low budget this would be perfect. Film4 productions has created and distributed many high quality films that include This is England, Borat: Cultural learning of America for make benefits of glorious nation of Kazakhstan and slumdog millionaire. Film4 also has its own television channel, this would allow our product to get air time without having to pay extra money to another channel such as ITV, BBC or sky movies.


We included the text "In association with Film4" into the credits of our film to make the audience aware of this. Another reason we chose Film4 to distribute our product is due to another feature of the Film4 channel. They regularly show theme nights or seasons, for example fright fest, which was a season which included such horror films as Wolf Creek and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Since our film fits into the horror genre it could be shown in one of Film4's theme seasons or nihgts and thus get more airtime.

Evaluation question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Media products can represent different social groups such as teenagers, the elderly, rich and poor etc. In our product it is mainly teenagers that are focused on. The clothes that our main character is wearing would suggest that he is from a fairly modern, middle to upper class background. He is 17 years old and appears to have medium length hair. We did this as we felt that too many existing media products place extraordinary characters into unreal situations, we wanted to challenge this and so placed a very typical ordinary character into an unreal situation.

We also touched on the issue of a lack of social groups within the opening scene. The pub that Dan tries to enter is run down and locked, representing the breakdown of society due to the lack of social groups. Without adults to go to work, the country would shut down. We tried to create this world through imagery such as the run down pub and complete lack of traffic and people. The zombies featured in our final piece seem to be reasonably young adults. We did not do this for coincidence or because it was easier but because teenagers are often seen as rebellious and chaotic figures in society. We wanted to use that image to make the zombies appear more sinister and chaotic.

Whilst researching existing films that fit into the zombie genre we noticed that there were few times when children or teenage zombies were shown. We wanted to challenge this by using teenagers. In a different interpretation to teenagers being chaotic and rebellious they could in some cases show the purity of youth. By making the zombies appear to belong to this age bracket i feel that it makes them all the more disturbing; something meant to be pure and innocent turned murderous and animalistic. By choosing to show the zombies in this light it also makes the film controversial, making it spark a lot more interest in the media world among the viewing public.

Evaluation question 1

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge the forms and conventionss of real media products?

We followed many conventions of real media products, in that we followed the same processes when creating the product. All film makers test different camera angles and shots to see which they prefer, similar to how we created a short preliminary task to try out shots and angles. We created a story board for each part of the film opening which is exactly what must be done for real media products. We also researched into existing media products to draw inspiration for our own, and spent a long time choosing appropriate locations and music to fit with the film opening.

In a real media product the opening scene must do a number of things, including introducing characters, establish the setting of the film and make it clear of the products genre. We established the main character, mainly due to the fact that despite the infected zombies, he is the only character remaining, and is thus the focal point of the film. The zombies can be identified by their messy domineer, ripped clothes and animalistic behaviour and movement. This is a key convention of the zombie sub genre. We did however challenge some conventions as in many zombie films, the zombies themselves are slow and sluggish and we decided that to have a more intense chase scene the zombies needed to be quick and agile. I feel that this worked very well and made our product stand out to others all ready in existence.

The setting was created in our opening scene to appear lifeless and desolate. We did this by only having Dan in the shot, and no traffic or members of the public. The music also helps the audience to feel the settings isolated and dead environment. Many other film openings use either fast or slow music to help set the scene and create an atmosphere. We used the atmosphere of the scene to make the genre obvious to the reader. The slow music at the start creates an atmosphere of isolation and desolation, typical of the post-apocalyptic genre, which is a sub genre of horror. The zombie scream and zombie characters themselves, who are covered in blood are typical of the horror genre, again making it clear to the audience. We developed this by using fast music during the chase to create a build of tension and amplify speed. This makes the scene more intense, again typical of the horror genre.

Overall i would say that our Film opening certainly follows conventions that existing film opening follow, however we have challenged some of these conventions by trying things differently and experimenting during pre-production and production. We also developed conventions of existing zombie films, for example making the zombies faster, in my opinion making the product better and therefore will become more successful.

Product Feedback

I posted our Film opening on the popular internet community website Facebook.com. The feedback that was recieved was extremely positive. The more popular are media product, the more people will be willing to spend money on watching it at the cinema or on DVD. If the film is successful then television companies will pay to broadcast it. The popularity and feedback is crucial as it gives you an idea of how much profit the media product would make.

Death Breath - Film opening

Editing the footage

Once we had finished filming we had to edit on a computer to get our end product. For this we used a programme called Las Vegas movie studio 9.0. Overall we had around ten minutes of footage when our opening sequences had to be around two and a half minutes. This obviously meant that we had to cut alot of the footage and in some cases even elements of the story's plot to keep withing the time limit. First of all we decided that the very beginning scene, with the black screen and the girls voice, could be cut as it simply took up valuale time space and simply didnt add much to the zombie apocalypse theme that we were striving for. Many of the shots that we had were of high quality however felt that they whent on far to long and so we simply cut them down, keeping crucial actions in but leaving out the unecessary. This made the film run smoother.


When it came to the zombie chase part of the sequence we had to think how to make it seem fast and pacey. To do this we cut long parts of the zombies or dan running into shorter clips, which played one after the other gives the impression of speed. We had to completely cut the first appearance of the zombies, when they are huddled and about to run, as we felt that the shot looked to corny and also the downside of seeing traffic in the background. I feel that the shot offered little to the overall scene. At the very end of the chase scene we see Dan fall to the ground and clutch at the grass, we put this shot in slow motion and faded it out to the movie title. I feel that by doing this it adds alot more dread into the scene, with the message of inescapable death.

We als edited the music and sound in the scene. We muted most of the sound from the actual footage as it featured far too much sound of passing traffic. We did however leave some sounds in such as the noise of the chain on the fence and dan jumping over the gate. I think that hearing these sounds highlights how empty the streets are and how isolated he is. We added the music and were very pleased with how well it fit, however there was a problem as we thought the second song started too suddenly and we needed something to set it off. We incorperated a zombie scream as dan looks up and starts to run to make it clear what dan was running from and also as an introduction to the song. The fast paced music fits very well with the chase and it also fades out simultaniously to the last shot.


I personally felt that the scene we had was a good one however something was missing. It needed to be darker and more mysterious. I had watched a number of films for inspiration and desided to use a method used in many films such as The Dark knight and The Legend of sleepy hollow. The colour balance of the scene can be changed to make it brighter or darker. We lowered the brightness to make the film seem very grey and therefore more dismal and hopeless. Overall im very happy with how we edited our film opening sequence and feel that it has been a great success.

Characterisation and props

Our main character was a teenage boy played by Dan. We purposly didnt give away his name in the opening sequence as it made him more isolated from the audiance, just like he is isolated from humanity in this zombie post apocalptic world. We made him wear warm clothes as he is sleeping outside and a bag, full of food and other essentials. We made him look nervous and on edge throughout the scene.

We needed to get a largish group of people to be zombies in our scene. We recruited 7 friends and fellow media students to play these roles. They wore ripped and old clothes and messed their hair up. We also made fake blood from water, flour, coffee and red food colouring which we put on their clothes and faces. Since we were working to a very tight budget (there pretty much wasnt one) we had to make do with what we already had and what we could make. We told them to move fast, yet awkwardly to portray the rage-infested zombies. I personally feel that they did a great job at performing as zombies and have contributed to our media peice greatly.

Soundtrack

For our soundtrack we thought about what music would fit with the mood of each shot. For the duration of the first half of the scene we will be using the beginning of a Bring me the Horizon song 'The sadness will never end" as it shows how isolated the boy character is, and how deserted the surrounding setting is. Lastly when the zombies attack, the music switches to another song by Bring me the Horizon 'Death Breath' which has a high tempo and highlights the intensity of the chase.

Film opening synopsis

1. The scene begins with a black screen, we hear a girls voice saying 'I dont want to die' gradually getting louder untill it reaches a scream and the camera switches to an extreme close up of an eye opening suddenly to the sound of an alarm on a watch..
2. We see a close up of the watch on a wrist, which is then turned off by a shaking hand.
3. Long shot of a teenage boy curled up in the corner of what appears to be an old bus stop. He slowly and cautiously gets up.
4. Medium side shot of him exiting the bus stop, slow music begins (showing isolation)
5. The Boy walks down the road and we see a shot of him walking past an old long abandoned pub. This shot shows how he is alone in the world. Music continues.
6. Low shot of boy walking past, we dont see the upper part of his body.
7. Walks past another bus stop, we see a newspaper page on the glass, with the headline 'The dead continue to rise'. This shot makes it clear to the audience of the films genre; Zombie horror.
8. Long shot of boy climbing over a gate and walking down a public footpath into fields.
9. Three seperate shots of the boy walking through a field, each shot shows him further away from the camera.
10. Camera positioned behind a dead body, we see the boy approach from a distance and stop.
11. Over the shoulder shot, over boys shoulder looking at body.The slow music stops and he whispers "shit". He then hears a loud screech from behind him and quickly turns around.
12. We see a head on long shot of a number of zombies running towards the camera.
13. Mid shot of boy, he shouts "Oh Shit!", turns and runs. At this point fast paced music begins.
14. The following shots are fast paced and switch quickly between the boy and zombies running, highlighting the intensity of the chase.
15. We then have a low shot with the boy tripping and thus bringing him into the shot on the ground. He clutches at the ground as we see zombies getting closer behind him.
16. The scene fades to black, where we hear 'i dont want to die', as at the start, and a scream as the film title 'Death Breath' is shown.

Story Board for film opening

This week we worked on a story board showing our final idea for the film opening. The basic plot outline of the scene is that we see a teenage boy surviving in a deserted village. We learn through a newspaper headline that 'The Dead Continue To Rise', making us draw the conclusion that this is a zombie film. The teenage boy walks through a field when he comes to a wall with a dead body on it. He is then chased through the field by the 'undead' who have tracked him down. The scene ends with the boy tripping and falling to the ground, upon which the scene ends.


Here is a picture of the final story board

Film location

Today me and my partner Dan went to try and find a location to shoot our film opening. Unfortunately we could'nt look for as long as we wanted due to weather conditions however we did find somewhere that is suitable. The location had to be romote, away from busy roads and have open spaces for alot of movement. We first went to Glinton park but decided that this location would not be best as it is right next to a road and potentially have people there when we are trying to film.

Secondly we went a little way out of glinton down a public footpath with fields on either side. The location also has a small concreted area with a defaced wall on it, this could easily be worked into the scene. The public footpath is also very long, making it perfect for our 'chase'. Unfotunately the photos that we took of the location are not great quality as it was snowing/raining when we took them.

Existing zombie apocalypse film research - 28 days later and Shaun of the dead

To gain a better idea of how the zombie apocalypse genre works i bought the film 28 days later from http://www.amazon.com/. The film was directed by Danny Boyle and released in 2002. The plot depicts the breakdown of society following the accidental outbreak of the highly contagious 'rage' virus and focuses on four individuals who struggle to survive against those infected with the 'rage' virus in a desolate and isolated Britain. The film focuses more on the troubles of those who are not infected with 'rage' rather than those who are; something i will keep in mind when creating the film opening. Another source of inspiration i took from the film is how the zombies or infected are shown. In classic zombie movies the creatures are sluggish and dim witted, wheras those in 28 days later appear to rely more on speed and overall anamalystic anger. The infected's appearance is similar to that of the humans except for alot of excess blood around the face and their eyes glow a bright red, making them appear menacing. Overall i enjoyed the film and feel enlightened alot more on the zombie apocalypse genre.

Another zombie film that i have recently watched is shaun of the dead. The film follows the basic principles of a zombie survival situation however incorparates the comedy genre into it. The two main characters Ed and Shaun find themselves in many comical situations involving zombies, however there is still a certain amount of menace to the scenes.

The zombies in the film act alot differently to thos in 28 weeks later. They are slower, dumber and only killed by removing the head or destroying the brain. Personally i prefer the faster, more lethal type of zombies that were used in 28 days later. Despite the film being a success and me fully enjoying it i dont think we will incorparate the comedy genre into our film opening. I feel that doing a traditional zombie apocalypse is the best way to go.

Zombie apocalypse

The Zombie apocalypse is a certain scenario of the Apocalypse fiction that usually fits into the horror/science fiction genre of film. In this scenario the world is usually taken over and ravaged by a race of infected beings, better known as zombies, who are undead and feed on the living. There are a number of ways that victims become zombies, ranging from being bitten by an existing zombie to breathing in an air born virus. In any scenario this generally leads to a 'zombie plague' that swamps civilisation and all society. In films like this there are usually a group of survivors who are immune or have avoided the zombie virus, who take it upon themselves to either rid the world of the zombie race or simply survive as long as possible.

Horror Genre

Me and my partner Dan have decided to base our movie opening around the horror genre. I will research different horror movie opening scenes for inspiration and ideas. Horror is mainly meant to scare or impose fear into the viewer. Horror films generally involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Horror films can be divided into different sub genres such as creature features (vampires, zombies etc), Paranormal, comedy, survival or slasher. Horror films can also incoporate other genres into them such as science/fiction, black comedy, mockumentary and thriller.

Some Horror films that i particularly like include:

Alien


Alien is a sci-fi/horror that is so affective due to how the monster is not revealed to the audience untill the end of the film. It moves the typical haunted house slasher into an even scarier setting; outer space. The alien creature spends the film picking off each member of the crew who have no weapons and are seemingly defenceless. The main character Ellen Ripley survives untill the end and remains a hugely popular heroin in the modern world of film.

Wolf Creek

Wolf creek is a slasher horror film however it differs from the traditional rules of a slasher. It tells th story of 3 british backpackers travelling in the outback of australia. I particularly like this film because of the location used, the outback is extremely remote and if you become lost then it is highly unlikely you will be found. This adds alot of tension to the film and adds a very creepy atmosphere to each scene. The film tends to focus on the fight for survival of the two girl characters against the sinister bad guy Mick Taylor. However it is the man character who survives the ordeal. The film doesnt show alot of gore, however when it does it is extremely realistic and gruesome. I think the film works well at being a horror film and includes many moments tat stick in your mind long after the film is over.

The Thing

The Thing is a classic horror movie that is set in an American Antarctic and depicts a group of men trying to fight an extra terrestrial organism that inhabits hosts bodies. The fact that the creature could be inside any of the survivors, meaning each character becomes more paraniod and less trustworthy as the film goes on. The clastraphobic feel of the antarctic location keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, and wondering where the creature is. The films strongest factor is the use of mechanics instead of CGI, making certain scenes scarier and more realistic.

Paranormal activity

Paranormal activity is a much more recently released horror film, that was made on a very small budget. The film follows the story of a couple who are being haunted by a demon. As the film progresses we see the haunting get worse. It was filmed mainly with a hand held camera, however does feature alot of footage using a stationary camera when filming the night time scenes. The film is scary due to its realistic appearance and use of sound, for example at night the couple are woken by loud noises caused by the demon.

I would also like to research into the particular horror sub-genre of zombies/post apocalyptic to get ideas for my film opening. To do this i will watch openings from films such as I am legend
and 28 days later. This will give me inspiration for the film opening.

'Edward Scissorhands' opening scene analysis

An Opening scene should outline key characters and narrative in the Film. It should also use mise en scene, sound and lighting to set the genre of the film.

At the start of my A-level media course we took a long time
looking and analyising different film openings. I wrote two seperate peices of work on the opening of Dirty Harry and Edward scissorhands. The point of doing this was to get a better understand how film makers use sound, lighting, mise-en-scene, genre and camera angles/shots. Here is the opening extract from my essay on Edward Scissorhands, the question was How does Tim Burton Convey romance, fairytale, gothic and horror in the opening scene of 'Edward Scissorhands'?

"The opening scene of Tim Burton's 'Edward Scissorhands' conveys many conventions of the horror genre, however these are mixed with elements of fairytale and romance. The first image puts across the aspect of horror straight away as we associate an old, creepy statue covered in cobwebs as a scary image. The images of machinery appears cold and heartless untill we notice the machines resemble childlike toys, thus changing the mood of the scene. This miseen-scene begins to combine the genres of horror, fairytale and romance as we see elements of each genre in these images. Aspects of fairytale are continued throughout the scene as we see shapes of hearts, stars etc falling, creating a magical and childlike atmosphere which contrasts with the images of horror seen earlier. The image of the house sitting solitary at the top of the hill reminds the audiance of a haunted and spooky house. The fact that it appears surrounded by nothing reflects the character of Edward and how isolated he is form the outside world."

As you can see i have analysed the mise-en scene of the opening few seconds of the film to cleary show how different genres are combined in the scene.

New York Media Trip

Last week on the 3rd February i went to New York with my media class as part of a school trip. Whilst on the trip we attended a four hour masterclass on how to produce film. We not only learnt alot about how to film and edit shots but also had a brief lesson on how to act. I feel like this will benifit us greatly when filming our film openings. On the trip we also took a three hour coach tour around Manhatton, in which we saw and learnt about many famous locations where scenes from movies and television programmes have been shot in the past. Such movies and programmes include Cloverfield, Friends, Spiderman and I am Legend. Not only that but we also saw just how magical New York City is and have certainly taken inspiration from the trip.

Preliminary task evaluation

The Preliminary task was a pilot scene to test and experiment with different camera angles and shots. The end result has helped us to get a better idea of how to produce a movie opening scene. Me and my project partner Dan asked our friend Samuel Pepper to take part as one of the actors in the scene, due to the limitations of working in a group of two. We need one of us to act and the other to shoot the scene using a video camera, thus it makes sense to recruit a friend or fellow student to act for us.

The scene starts with still shot of an old abondoned looking hallway, with a character (Dan) entering from behind the camera and walking down the hallway. The shot cuts to a high angle shot from the ceiling looking down on Dan walking round the corner and past the camera. The next camera shot comes a little further down the hallway, seeing Dan walk past from a low angle and walking towards a classroom about to open the door. Next we see a close up shot of the door handle opening from the inside. It then cuts to a long shot behind Dan entering the room and closing the door behind him, the shot carrys on untill the door fully closes for dramatic effect. Next we see a Perspective shot of inside the room through the eyes Dan, we see another character (sam) sitting down on a chair at a table, who then exchanges brief dialogue, "alright?". A Medium two shot follows as we see Dan sitting down at the table opposite Sam and dialogue continues. This cuts to an over the shoulder shot of Sam talking to Dan, we have stuck to the 180 degree rule for this. Another over the shoulder shot now shows Dan, who appears to show frustration and anger as he gets up suddenly in a threatoning way.

My Personal favourite shot from the scene is the low angle shot of behind dan as he approaches the classroom door, as i feel it is stylish and interesting. I would definately like to use a low angle shot in our Movie opening. I think one thing that i have learnt not to use in the main movie opening is a perspective shot, as it is difficult to move the camera in a realistic way so it appears the audiance is seeing the shot through the eyes of the character. It can easily become to shaky and thus appear rushed and unrealistic. Another aspect of the scene that i would change is when we see Sam over the shoulder of Dan. Sam looks briefly at the camera and so the shot seems unrealistic and breaks the line between film and reality.

Overall i am happy with the outcome of the preliminary task video as it shows a wide wide range of camera shots, angles and rules of film.

Preliminary Task Video

180 Degree Rule

One aspect of our preliminary task that we had to focus on was the 180 degree rule.

It is a basic guideline when making a film that says that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. The camera however can cross over the imaginary line connecting the characters, which is known as crossing the line. The new shot would be a reverse angle.

Here is a link to a video that cleary shows the 180 degree rule within a scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdyyuqmCW14

Preliminary task location

For our prelimnary we want a small room, preferably an office. We went to look for a location around the school and found a great place to film. It is a small office in our school's old science block, that is no longer being used.

Preliminary task storyboard

Before I could begin filming or even researching a film opening i had to do a preliminary task. This involved filming a short scene involving a character entering a room, sitting down with another character and the two interacting with a few lines of dialogue. This task had to include the 180 degree rule, match on action and a shot/reverse shot.

Me and my project partner Dan drew up a rough story board before filming to make it easier to see what was happening in the scene and in what order, this will be very important when filming my film opening.