Firstly, as a group we mapped out ideas of what our preliminary would involve and decided on a concept we all agreed on. Once we had chosen our concept each member of the group contributed in the writing of both a script and the drawing of our storyboard. Afterwards, as a group, we scouted locations which would be best to film- we took photographs on our phones to get a rough idea on how these locations would look on camera. Once seeing the quality of the locations on a type of camera we decided which we should use. In our location of choice, we each discussed a sort of schedule based on the one our teacher set in class (i.e. when we would get permission to film in our chosen location, and when we could do the actual filming) before actually filming.
2. Explain the creative decisions you made during the process.
Before scouting locations we already had a choice in mind: the Sixth Form Common Room and the Science lab (which was the only place that had windows which opened). However when it came to filming we decided that this location did not back up continuity (the colour of the walls were not the same). Due to the fact the windows in the Common Room did not open we decided to choose the Science lab where we could change and set out everything to our storyboard( e.g. add props such as books). We also decided that in the situation of our preliminary there was a clear status difference between the son in trouble and his mother as characters. We denoted this status by using camera angles: the mother was filmed from a low angle and this forced the viewer to look upwards, instantly giving her status. Her son was filmed from a high angle so that the audience would look down at him, which would make him look small and denote a lower status. We attempted to use a tripod but found that steady cam was better because it allowed more free-movement which enabled us more room for experimenting. The editing we used helped us in our creativity, our script and titled inspired us to add certain sounds (The title 'Grounded' encouraged us to use the sound of bars slamming).
In our preliminary there were a few errors, at the point where one actor climbed through the window and went to close it to finish the match-on-action, there is a jump cut. This makes the film look quite messy and is annoying to watch. The same thing occurred during a conversation between one character and the other. This made the footage look slightly jumpy and the filming disorientated, these things could be prevented with better editing. Whilst editing we made another mistake by accidentally cutting one characters speed, we needed to be more precise with our editing so as not to make these sort of mistakes again.
The things that are good about our preliminary were the portrayal of status using camera-angles and shot movement. We made the status difference clear and discovered which of the two gave better free-movement. We showed match-on-action, the 180 degree rule movement in conversation and the shot/reverse shot really well, making sure that each could be separately recognised by the viewer. Personally, I also think the fact that these three things were portrayed and fitted with ease into our preliminary was a good thing.
4. Think about things you would do differently next time? What will change when your final piece is done? And why?
If each group got the opportunity to re-film the preliminaries again, I would change the location- whether that involved rearranging the furniture to the suit the genre chosen or a complete change of location. When filming, a complete change in location would have been better as if we would have been able to film outside the school premises we could have changed things in our location to make everything seem more realistic. In our use of prop's and costumes we could have made everything relate better to the genre we had chosen. During editing we could have been much more precise, our lack of precision caused errors in our preliminary: cutting off speed and the jump-cuts, these errors made the quality of our film lower. When doing our final piece we will plan our shooting and scout locations according to the genre have chosen as well as being more careful with the editing so that our over all our film has better quality and is more realistic to its genre.
5. What new skills have you developed during the process of planning your preliminaries?
During the process of filming our preliminary, I learnt a few things. One of which was how to operate a camera, before filming I didn't know how to record footage or operate one properly where I usually use mobile phones. I learnt that some places did not look as good as others on camera and this made me realise how important the quality of a place looks on camera is because if the quality is low then the filming would look shabby and that wouldn't make for a good film. I also learnt that filming isn't as simple as it seems, whilst filming I quickly realised that the planning I had down previously helped me to order and produce my thoughts. Without this planning I would have been stuck as to what I had to do during filming, it basically helped develop my understanding of what I was doing.
