Final preparations for my preliminary task

In today's lesson, me and Opal have been making final preparations for our film; because we have been informed by our teacher the date we will be filming so we decided that Opal would organize our props and let our actors know when we will be filming and it has been decided for the 13-15 of November 2009. I am going to make alterations to our storyboards so that we both have a copy of it, giving us clear instructions to ensure smooth filming I will also be uploading my shot list after this post. This will be done by me by this Friday coming.

Shot list of preliminary task

Shot no. 1:
Low-angle mid-shot of an opening door.
Date and time: 11th November,4.00 pm
(The location for all the shots would be the Art room in my sixth form.)
Special information: Shot must show binary opposition.

Shot no.2: Door opens medium long shot of character walking past the camera.
Date and time: 11th November, 4.10 pm
Special information: Must take 5 different takes.

Shot no. 3: Low angle tracking of character walking past the camera
Date and time: 4.30 pm
Special information: Must be a low angle.

Shot no. 4: Tilt to midshot.
Date and time: 11th November 4.50 pm
Special information: Tilt must take place after she has sat down.

Shot no.5: Over the shoulder shot of character (from child to adult)
Date and time: 11th November 5.00 pm
Special information: Actor must appear frustrated.

Shot no.6: 180 degree rule to shot reverse of the two characters
Date and time: 12th November 4.10 pm
Special information: None

Shot no.7: High angle from the Childs point of view
Date and time: 12th November 4.45 pm
Special information: None

Shot no. 8: Low angle of child character
Date and time: 12 th November 5.00 pm

Shot no.9: Over the shoulder, mother dropping paint brush
Date and time: 12 th November 5.15pm

Shot no. 10: Midshot of the vanished child
Date and time:12th November 5.45 pm

The Auteur Theory

Alfred Hitchock one of the greatest Auteurs of all time.
The Auteur Theory came about in the 1950’s it suggests that a film director’s films reflects their vision, just as an author of a book has a vision that is the same of a director. In this case the director conveys their message through camera angles and framing, such techniques reflect an emotion the audience is supposed to feel.
Structuralism in films emphasizes how films convey meaning through the use of codes and conventions.

Planing for the film

Since Tuesday's lesson, I have completed our storyboards and Opal found the soundtrack that we will be using for the preliminary task, Most of this week I have been looking for a location suitable for our film. Since we have to ensure that the setting contributes effectively to the plot.

So when we come back after half-term we will be ready. Since the shot list,props & sets will be ready.

Tuesday's Lesson

In Tuesdays lesson, our task was to storyboard each shot, my partner was absent so I had to do this by myself although I discussed with my teacher which types of lighting, and camera angles would be best. When Opal is back on Friday, we will be able to complete the storyboards and make any adjustments, In the meantime we will have to speak to a contact about a possible location perfect for the kind of artistic vibe we are going for. By Friday we should have come up with a definite location and a plan B location; one that we can fall back on.

Friday 16th October 2009

In today's lesson me and my work partner came up with a fixed plan for our preliminary production; we came up wth ideas and started stroryboarding. We then discussed with our teacher how to make our ideas to fit in with the prescribed task that was set for us. By the end we managed to adapt the brief and make it intrigueing at the same time. In order to conform to the genre. Since the main task is going to be a thriller I thought it would be good practice to experiment with the genre in my preliminary task in order to learn from it for my main task .We have kept the initial storyline the same but changed the location in order to fit in with the description. Over the weekend I am going to write up our story line and script in detail and think of possible locations and characters.

Tuesday 13th October 2009

In last lesson, we started to think more in depth about ideas for our preliminary prescribed task. To help us think of better ideas and locations our teacher showed us examples of short films that made use of similar codes and conventions it gave us ideas to expand on this within our own individual storylines; since the lesson on Tuesday I have been thinking about which locations would be appropriate for our preliminary task. First of all I have thought about the genre and I've decided to follow the horror thriller genre. The concept of the narrative is one of a woman who is talking to her dead child whilst playing chess or a card game in the park. The arguement gets heated and ends with a shot of the space that the child was meant to be sitting in. The audience then realise that the child is in fact dead. It is still undecided whether there will be any make-up will be used to signify death or to let the audience come to their own conclusions, beacause if it isn't used the genre would become more psychological rather than thriller. In order to become clear about this, I am going to research more into the horror thriller sub-genre and think more about our narrative so that we know exactly what it consists of and can then begin planning concisely.