Preliminary Task

Preliminary Film

The Dismissal from Demetris Kalogirou on Vimeo.

Preliminary Task

The preliminary task is a task that involves us filming and editing a character walking to a room, opening the door, sitting down with the other character and exchanging a few lines of dialogue between one another. The main point of this task is to display match on action, shot-reverse-shot and the 180 degree rule.

Match on action

Match on action is an editing technique for continuity editing, in which one shot cuts to another shot portraying the action of the subject in the first shot. This creates the impression of a sense of continuity, as the action is carried through different creates a “visual bridge”.

This is an example of match on action

Match on action is used within the first shot, where we can see the character swinging on a web, over the course of the sequence the camera swaps to different angles, going from a long shot from the side, to a medium shot from above, that’s then followed by long shot from behind and returns to medium shot from above.

The effect of using match on action within this sequence is to show the action from many different perspectives in a quick and continuative manner. By using match on action it helps show the audience the action what is occurring and the emotions/reaction of the character what is carrying out the action.

Shot reverse shot

Shot reverse shot is a continuity editing technique used in conversation or simply characters looking at each other or objects. A shot showing what the character is supposedly looking at, which is then followed by a reverse angle shot of the character themselves looking at it or of the other character looking back at them.

This is an example of shot reverse shot

The shot reverse shot is used in the first shot, where we see an over the shoulder shot perspective of one character while the other character is in view. Over the course of the conversation the camera angles swap positions of the character back and forth, normally changing from an over the shoulder to a close up, this structure is used throughout the conversation.

The effect of using shot reverse shot for this scene is to empathises the importance of what each character is saying to one another, allowing the audience to concentrate on the conversation. Also the audience are able to define what type of conversation they are having by looking at their facial expressions and body language,and therefore the atmosphere for the audience will also be created.

180 degree rule

The 180 degree rule is a basic but important rule of cinematography, that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another,and that when the camera passes the line the shot becomes reverse causing it to confuse/disorientate the audience.

This is an example of the 180 degree rule

You can see the 180 degree rule being used within the first shot, where both of the characters are shown in the shot, that shows what side the characters are on. It then cuts to show one of the characters in the second shot clearly showing that he is on the right side looking left, when it cuts again we are shown the other character in the last shot what is on the left side looking right. This allows the audience to watch this scene with ease, and to never be confused as to when an action is taken place or exactly where actors were in relationship to each other.

The roles we had in our group while filming:

Waseem – Actor and editor

Anna – camera woman

Me (Leo) – Actor and editor

5^th October 2016

(First Lesson – two hour session)

I was put into a group with Waseem & Anna (Dream Team). As a group we came up with a brief narrative that we were going to use for the preliminary task. Once we had a base idea of the narrative we split our group up into sections, where we then assigned tasks to each other to make the production process more efficient. Waseem (Synopsis and Treatment), Anna (Storyboard, Props and Locations) and Me (Character Profile and Script). After finalising all the other elements of the pre production, we decided we would go look round our school to find a place what was most practical for our scene, this was quite a challenge due to their being a scare amount of available rooms. For our piece we decided to use the entrance to our school (outside the doors and the reception,) the corridor and one of the teachers office and took pictures of them. This whole process took up an hour of our two hour session.

In the second hour of our preliminary production, we filmed and semi edited our piece. Firstly, we gathered our filming equipment & props and went to our first location we were shooting (outside main entrance) and started filming our first shot. We then went inside to reception to film our next few shots, there was a few problems we had to face while filming in the reception and had to reshoot some of the shots several times, this included sound and lighting, the problem we faced with sound was the other students in the hall, this was a problem as they create a lot of noise what could be heard clearly on our recordings. We resolved this problem by adding music over our shots. And the problem we faced with lighting was that in some of the shots it was too dark and in the other shots it was too bright.
We resolved this by using many different angles till the lighting was perfect. Lastly, we went to one of the offices to shot our last scene, while filming here we faced no problems at all due to the surroundings being perfect, we decided that we would film it shot a few times and choose which one was the best for the piece.

To conclude, we didn’t follow our storyboard, as we felt that we had added to many camera shots what would of taken up most of our pieces time as we only had one minute to show the three elements. Also some of the camera shots were repetitive and boring so we decided to change them by using less shots but better angles. To continue, we didn’t follow our script as well as there was too much dialogue and it was repetitive, we decided to improvise the dialogue what resulted in better conversation.

Once we had finished our filming, we went back to class and started to edit our film; we imported all of our shots from the camera to the Mac and started to look through each shot to see if it was good enough for our piece. After putting all the shots in there chronological
order, we tighten the transitions from each other making the film smoother. After watching our piece a few times over we noticed that the conversation between our two characters didn’t consist of shot reverse shot and lost its continuity, as the lesson was ending we decided that next lesson we would reshoot some of the shots and finish the editing (adding transitions, music, credits, etc.)

7^th October 2016

(Second Lesson – one hour session)

In this lesson, we had to go reshoot a conversation scene between our two characters as there was not shot reverse shot, this proved to be a challenge as it was quite difficult to get the room we need to film our scene as it was a teachers office and we needed teachers permission to use it. We had to sacrifice a lot of time to find the teacher, what put us on a very tight schedule. Once we had permission to film we re-filmed our shots but this time making shot reverse shot very clear by using different camera angles.

When we finished filming (once again), we went back to our class room and imported our new shots from the camera to the Mac and started to edit the shots. Once we had finished tighten the shots together, we searched the internet for royal free music that proved great difficulty as we couldn’t find any music what was royal free and that could fit our piece, after researching for a long time we found royal free music that was perfect for our film, after downloading and importing to the editing software. We played around with the music until it fitted our piece, with sheer luck and a lot of patience we managed to make the music fit the piece perfectly.

Lastly, we spent some time looking at other students preliminary testes from other schools over the country. As a group we had to observe and analysis the other pieces, to see if they had used match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. We then had criticise the piece and say if the three elements were clear enough, and if there was anything that could be improve.

After presenting our piece to our teacher, they commented that our piece was to long and needed to be cut down by 10 seconds to get it to a reasonable time. This proved to be quite a challenge as we couldn't take any of the shots out as it wouldn't make sense as it would of jumped from one place to another, making it lose it continuity. After a long time discussing how we would shorten the piece, I came up with the idea to make the running sequence faster and changing the music round to make it fit the piece again. I changed the speed of the running sequence from 100% to 125%, by doing this it cut our piece down by 8 seconds and even though the speed had been increased it still looked realistic, also by speeding the piece up it complemented to music as it made it look like Charlie Chaplin comedy, what made a nice contrast between the comedy run and the serious dialogue.


10^th October 2016:
The Dismissal

Location Planning:

This is the entrance that Waseem runs up to within the first shot of the film. This shot leads on to a match on action.

This is the reception where Waseem runs into and signs some paper and then carries on running. This shot is part of a match on action.

This is the corridor Waseem runs down, after he has signed the paper.

This is the room what is used within the last part of the film (dialogue scene), where Waseem sits down and tries to persuade the boss not to fire him. This last scene shows shot reverser shot and the 180 degree rule.

These are the locations we decided to use in our film. We decided to use the main entrance as one of our locations as we wanted to film to start we a shot what displays the main location of where this event takes place, also this entrance to the building is the best location we could of used as compared to other entrance this was the most practical as the other locations had objects surrounding them what would make it harder to film the opening shot e.g. benches, pillars, trees & bushes. Secondly, we decided to use the main reception as one of our locations as it follows on from the main entrance, meaning that if we used any other area after the first location it wouldn't match and wouldn't make sense or look professional. Thirdly, we used the corridor leading off of the main reception as once again it follows on from the main reception and if we used another corridor it would of looked jumpy as it would jump from one place to another, also we decided to use this corridor as it was quiet at the time, meaning it would indicate that everyone is working highlighting that the main character it late to work, helping the audience understand the plot of the story before any dialogue has begun. Lastly, we used this office as a majority of the offices in the building are used by multiple teachers meaning that there is more than one desk inside, and that we wanted an office that had one desk or enough space to make it look like it has one desk, as we felt that the bosses office should only be used by him, meaning that there should be one desk just for him.

Storyboard planning:

This is the storyboard that contains all the shots we intended to use in our piece. However, we changed most of the shots as there was certain shots what were over used in the storyboard, for instance, there were to many close ups and medium shots. By using all of these shots it would have made the piece boring as it was so repetitive, even though we could of slightly changed some of the shots e.g. use a over the shoulder or a pov shot to show the character running instead of using medium shots and long shots, it would have taken a up all of our time for our film as we only had one minute to show the three elements and at that rate we would of only had 2 as we wouldn't of been able to have any of the dialogue meaning we wouldn't be able to use shot reverse shot. Also by using these storyboard we wouldn't have been able to achieve the quick tempo we wanted as all those excessive shots would of made the piece look very compacted and unorganised stopping us from fulfilling our initial idea,

Script Planning:

ALEX falls through the door into the office where THE BOSS is waiting for him.

Alex “Sir, I’m so sorry I’m late, the bus…” (Boss cuts Alex off)

Boss “Stop”

Intense long silence

Boss “you’re an hour late to work… once again”

Alex “Sir, I know but it was…” (Boss cuts Alex off again)

Boss “I don’t want to hear it Alex, you look abysmal… I’m afraid to inform you that you are dismissed of your duties and will receive your final paycheque at the end of the week”

This is the script we intended to use for our piece. However, we didn't use this script as we felt that the dialogue between the two characters was to short and didn't create the feeling of panic and fear. Also when reading our dialogue we felt that it didn't feel like it was natural, and that there was to much of a structure to the dialogue what made it less realistic, as when someone is panicking they tend to jumble up their words and repeat themselves a lot. Furthermore, the main character (the worker) had less dialogue compared to the boss, this took away that feeling that the piece resolves around the worker as the boss would take up a lot of the screen time with his dialogue.

New Script:

ALEX falls through the door into the office where THE BOSS is waiting for him.

Alex: "Sir I'm so sorry I'm late, I'm so sorry, the bus it got delayed and then I got caught got in traffic.." (Boss cuts off Alex)

Boss: "Stop"

Pause

Boss: "Sit"

Alex: "Yes sir of course" 

Boss: "You're late once again"

Alex: "Sir I'm so sorry it wasn't my fault I promise you. The bus was late it wasn't me, it was stuck in traffic, I swear to god it wasn't me, and I know the quotas have been going down but its not my fault, ill put in over time..." (Boss cuts off Alex)

Boss: "Enough! The quotas have fallen because of you, I know you wont be late again, because you're fired"

Alex: "Sir no! There must be something I could do, anything sir!"

Boss: "Leave" 

After rewatching our piece with the new set of dialogue, I realised that there is a substantial amount of dialogue in the piece that wasn't needed, this is due to the fact that we improvised our dialogue scene as we thought by doing this, it would help create the feeling of panic and help support the fact that the worker is unorganised and scared of the boss because of the lack of structure in the dialogue between the two characters, also we thought that it would have been better to give the worker more dialogue to help show he's emotions instead of showing a lot of the boss.

Character Planning:

Name: Alex Hunter

Age: 27

Gender: Male

Height: 5’10

Characteristics: Unorganised, clumsy, weak, shy

Name: Steve Nicolson (The Boss)

Age: 37

Gender: Male

Height: 5’11

Characteristics: Bad tempered, assertive, controlling


We used these two characters as they are two very common characters found in a working environment and they both fit the job roles they play. As it would of not made sense if the characteristics of the two characters were different due to the hierarchy system found in working environments (The boss being intimidating and powerful & the worker being nervous and weak). Furthermore, we used these two characters as they fitted stereotypical
appearance of the two actors we had e.g. (Me) Bosses are normally fatter and older looking & (Waseem) the workers are normally skinner and younger.

Synopsis:

The year is 2016, Alex Hunter works in an estate agency in London, he is currently enduring a stressful time in his life. This is having an effect on his life at work. His boss has expressed his dissatisfaction at his work ethic and is contemplating dismissing Hunter of his duties. Alex then endures the worst day of his life, his dismissal.

Treatment:

Alex is running late to work, his alarm failed to go off and he has just missed the bus. Alex is full of panic and fear upon his late arrival to work. Alex then sprints hastily until his nervous stuttering causes him to fall comically on his face. He then rushes up the flight of stairs and through the office door where he has a meeting with his boss. The boss then glances at and analysis Alex’s abysmal state and discusses his poor punctuality. The boss then continues to criticise Alex and mentally crushes him and ultimately declares Alex is dismissed from his job and is no longer required to fulfil his duties.

We used this idea as it was a very common event and it was very simple for the audience to understand and enjoy, also we wanted to create a piece what focussed more on the camera shots used to the build up to the dialogue. Furthermore, we wanted to create a piece what
was exciting and that built to a climax very quickly, and the idea we used fit this perfectly as we had an excuse for the character to be running to the room, as when we watched different preliminary films the character was always just walking to the room, what was very boring to watch.

11^th October 2016:
Preliminary Evaluation:

What have you learned during the making of your preliminary task?

In the making of our preliminary task, I have acquired an in depth understanding of 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot & match on action, even though I knew these were the basics of creating a movie, it was a good experience to use physically film them and edited them into our film, as it made me really think about the film and where I could use each of the techniques and how they would benefit the film. Furthermore, I have learnt how to film shots and edit them to make them run smoothly from shot to shot, even though I haven't mastered it yet (clearly shown in our film). In addition, I have learnt to use the script you make rather than improvise the lines, as when improvising you tend to repeat a lot of unnecessary words/phrases that makes the dialogue become boring.

What were you areas of success?

I feel that one of the areas of success was our camera shots, as we spent a huge amount of time ensuring that the camera shots we wanted to use would create the effect we wanted to display. Furthermore, I felt that our editing skills were very successful this is because we made the shots flow very smoothly making it look more professional and we made it so the music fitted in the piece perfectly (when Waseem falls through the door). In addition, I feel that our teamwork was very successful as we were very efficient in the pre production as we assigned certain tasks to certain members (used our strongest skills to our advantage e.g. writing, drawing etc.).

What would be areas for development be?

The main area I would improve would be the continuity throughout the different shots, there is a clear example in our film where Waseem is standing to talking to the boss and when it goes to the next shot, Waseem's composure and folders are different. After watching our film and noticing this mistake it makes the piece loss its realism and professionalism, and it has made me realise that the smallest of mistakes stand out once noticed. Furthermore, we could improve our script as in the film we improvised the dialogue as we thought it would help Waseem become that nervous character we wanted him to be, even though he did succeeded, the amount of dialogue we used was to much. We will stop this from happening again by spending more time planning and writing a script, what has the perfect balance of dialogue and goes into enough depth for the viewer to understand the storyline.

How well did you meet the brief?

The brief for the preliminary task was as follows- " 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. The task should demonstrate match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180-degree rule"

In my opinion, I feel that we fulfilled the preliminary brief at a good standard, as throughout the planning and filming process of the task, we made sure to consonantly referred to the brief and made sure that we were hitting each of the criteria. Furthermore, we clearly demonstrated match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule in our film, in some cases we used them more than once to help show that we understood the brief and what it wanted us to do. However, from a personal view there were some areas of our film what didn't follow the brief, for example, it states that "whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue." In our film we used more than a couple of lines of dialogue as we decided to improvise it, what I my opinion was unsuccessful as it was quite repetitive and took up a lot of the screen time what made the piece boring, even though it successfully create the effect we wanted it to.

Evaluate your contribution to the groups work?
In our group I contributed the largest amount out of the three of us, as I played as multiple roles in the pre production, the filming and the editing. In some areas of the production of it was more of a team effort rather than an individual effort, this mainly occurred in the creating of the narrative. When it came to actually filming the piece I done the majority of the work with a small bit of guidance from the others, I filmed the piece, acted within it, set up the locations for our piece & help guide the other actors in the piece. Lastly, when I came to editing I done all of the work as I was the only one in the group what had experience within editing, practically forcing me to do the editing for the film (what I enjoyed the most).

Overall, as a group we worker very well with each other as we were all on the same page throughout the whole production of the film, and we all had the same mind-set of what we wanted to create, also we worked in harmony as we knew each others strengths and weaknesses and took advantage of them.