Friday Class: Prelim Task

Last Friday we had our prelim task, this was our first time properly using the camera in a way where we had more freedom of how we wanted to direct the shots. There was a structure that we had to follow of the shots; we had certain scenes and a very simple script.

The thing I most enjoyed about this task was that we were able to do some filming out of the classroom and for the majority of the period. The reason I really liked it is because this was the first time I got the chance to properly use the camera and I didn’t know that I would enjoy it as much as I did.  Although this is not to say that the task was easy. One of the things I learnt about the process of filmmaking was how detailed everything has to be. How you have to make the shot of the full scene, then a medium shot and then after that a close up and they all have to look the same, this was something new which I learnt but also which surprised me. I wouldn’t say there was anything about the task that I didn’t like because I found it all so interesting to learn and be apart of that it is even hard for me to find something which I liked the least.  I think that another one of the reasons why it’s hard for me to find anything I didn’t like about the task is because our group worked so well together. Everyone gave their ideas and contributed well to the group, swapping with the directing, filming and tracking the continuity. I feel that everyone contributed equally well to the group and this is why we didn’t have many problems. But if we were able to do this task again I think that we would aim to be a bit more organized and have a stronger idea of what we wanted by being better planned before we shot the prelim.

We decided to shoot our small sequence outside of Hurtwood House, where the main offices and girls boarding houses were in the school. We used a car just outside of the office to film a short scene of two boys trying to break into a car with the simple script “Do it!” “I cant’”. The only problem with our location was that sometimes it got really loud and we would have to stop and wait for either people to pass or cars coming into the drive way. Our prop was just a car that was outside of the office and luckily for us, unlocked. But there was a problem with this. We had a problem staying to the 180 degree rule because since one of our actors were trying to break into the car, that didn’t give us much space from behind him to film the close-up of the other actor but luckily were were able to just get there although we could not see the screen showing what we were filming extremely well and it was a tight squeeze between the car and the camera. Even though we had these problems we were able to finish all of our mandatory shots before the end of the lesson so we got to do some additional shots as well. We shot a medium shot of one of our actors getting into the ‘stolen’ car to put at the end of our small sequence as sort of a laugh. But we also did an extreme close up of one of our actors trying to break into the car so that we are able to show the audience clearly that it is his intention. I mostly worked on filming the long and medium shots so I am really excited to see how they will turn out.