Preliminary Task
OCR, the examining board states that we should create a small preliminary, continuity task which involves "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. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule."(OCR specification)
Initially, we decided to brainstorm a series of ideas which we could base the piece upon and establish which different types of shots we would intend to use within the piece. Once we had agreed on the final idea which fitted the specification, we created a storyboard to show the creation of the short sequences through a plan of still pencil drawings.
Storyboarding
The storyboard illustrates the different shots and sounds we intended to use whilst filming the footage for the preliminary task. It shows 8 simple camera shots which we would aim to achieve and base our short sequence upon. From the storyboard, the general plot of the piece is established. The sequence begins with a girl sitting outside a room, nervously awaiting an interview; a range of camera shots and angles demonstrate the characters nervousness. Then the girl opens the door, walking across the room, seating herself in a chair opposite another character who is presented as the interviewer. Throughout the rest of the sequence, the nervous persona of the first character continues to be portrayed as she struggles to relax and concentrate in the atmosphere .
The first two frames of the story board establish the first character and the way she is feeling. The first image shows a long shot of a girl, showing a door in the background, representing that she is waiting for something or someone to which the audience are initially unknown to. The next shot is a close up of the characters face which extenuates her emotions revealing her nervousness and worry for what is about to happen. During the first two shots, we will add a sound effect of a heartbeat which extends the focal idea of worry within the piece. The heartbeat continues throughout the piece to reveal the constant worry. We varied away from our original storyboard slightly whilst experimenting with the camera as we discovered an interesting high angle, long shot which presented the character in a vulnerable manner, which created a level of sympathy to be experienced by the audience.
The next two frames of the storyboard use the same combination of a close up and a long shot to show the character entering the room. The third image of the story board shows a close up of the characters hand opening the door. We decided not to film the next long shot of the girl walking through the door for this reason; when we began filming outside the office, it looked very shabby so we changed the location to a more modern area so the door was smarter and therefore looked more authentic for the setting of outside an interview office. Therefore we couldn't film the shot because the door which the character sat outside of in the beginning of the piece, and the door of the office where we filmed the rest of the sequence look completely different which would be that the sequence would be inconsistent. By eliminating this shot from the sequence, the consistency was able to be retained throughout the duration, making the sequence realistic.
The next frames of the storyboard establish the characters in the setting of the interview room. The first two-shot shows the two characters sitting at the table and establishes the location. The over-the-shoulder-shot from behind the interviewee enables the audience to experience the interview from her point of view. During this shot and throughout the majority of the rest of the clip we hear dialogue from the interviewer explaining the role of the application she applied for. When the dialogue starts, the heartbeat quietens which enables the audiences focus to be on the dialogue but lets them understand that the interviewee is still extremely nervous.
The final two stages of the story board continue to portray the nervous representation of the first character. The seventh stage is a close up of the interviewee’s hands which she cannot keep still as she fidgets and remains nervous. The final shot is and over the shoulder shot from behind the interviewer which allows the audience to see the situation from his point of view. Initially we were going to add a sound effect of heavy breathing but we decided that with the dialogue and the constant heartbeat, the sound of the piece was already sufficient.
Shot reverse shot
We used shot-reverse-shot in our piece to show different perspectives. We produced an over-the-shoulder shot from behind the interviewee to show her point of view and then afterwards we used an over-the-shoulder shot but from the reverse view; from behind the interviewer. The use of this shot is successful in creating a picture for the audience who can therefore recognise and associate with the two different character's point of view, which helps them to understand the way the character's perceive the situation and to understand their emotions; showing how the interviewer is calm and laidback in a natural environment which makes a huge contrast to the interviewer who's emotions reveals ultimate stress and show unfamiliarity with the surroundings and the interview atmosphere.
Final Preliminary Piece
Evaluation
I think that the piece follows the specification of OCR, with a range of camera shots, angles and we encorperated a lot of media skills and techniques including shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.
We filmed enough so that we could chose the best and then cut and edit the piece accordingly. We used effective editing in the preminary piece to keep the tension throughout. To add to the suspense, we added an appropriate soundtrack and made sure it was the right volume and right lenth of time which keeps the mood of the piece of worry.
We also chose the characters to be in the piece carefully. By using Mr Zaidi and Hannah, we achieved characters who are realistic which in turn create a high level of authenticity within our piece.
Our preliminary piece has many strengths, as it has helped us to progress our skills in planning, filming and editing to help us to produce our final media piece. The piece has a wide range of shots and angles. The piece also shows a high level of consistency and realism which is extremely important in media products. However, in some parts of the piece the shot is a little shaky which was unintentional. In our final piece, we will over come this problem by using a tri-pod when neccessary to enable shots to be steady, unless they are unstaedy for a specific reason.
