Preliminary Coursework Task

For our preliminary coursework task we had to film a character:

- Opening a door
- Crossing a room
- Exchanging a few lines of dialogue

STORY & THE MESSAGES COMMUNICATED
Our storyline involved two characters, a teacher and a student. The student had been late for a detention and the teacher shows his disapproval of this. He then sets the student a task to complete much to the student's disliking.

The first shot we used in the piece was a Point-of-view (POV) Shot which involved shooting from the student's point-of-view. This gave the audience the impression that they were in his shoes, we hoped this shot would create tension, nervousness and anxiety. Especially because of the hand held camera effects, this gave the shot a jagged feel, adding to the realism of the sequence. We then used a close up (CU) on the teacher's watch, this captures his impatience and so adds to the anxiety of the audience as they start to worry for the student's well being. Whilst we see the teacher's watch, we cross cut back to the footsteps in the corridor, slowly building up the tension.

After this, we used a long shot (LS) over the shoulder (OTS) of the teacher, focusing on the students body language and his reaction to the situation he has found himself in. We then use several cross cuts between both teacher and student as dialogue was shared, this gave the audience both points of view and both sides of the argument. This was followed by a close up showing the facial expression of the student as he is being told what to do. Towards the end of the clip, a high angle is used to give the audience some idea of the situation both characters are in and the surroundings (or context) in which they are shown. The video finishes with an over the shoulder shot of the student showing the work he has to complete. This leaves the viewer wondering whether the student will do as he is told and finish the work or revert back to old habits and refuse.

SKILLS I LEARNED AND DEVELOPED
Throughout the making of this preliminary task I learnt several skills that could be developed and then used in the real coursework.
- One of them was the basic functions of the software Final Cut Express as well as learning how to cut and rearrange sequences of the clip.
- I also learnt a new camera technique (unique to me) called the 'wheelchair shot' whereby the camera is placed on my lap and a member of my team pushes me from behind. This echoes the POV shot but using different variations such as height, angle and speed of camera shot.

TEAMWORK EXPERIENCES
During the whole preliminary task I believed our team worked very well together. Our views were shared and I believed we took the best of those ideas and executed them well. There were little (if any) disagreements between us, this task really showed that we can work together as a team and achieve a good piece of work. I enjoyed making this clip for the prelim task and it sets us up nicely for the real thing.