Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task: Fired
 


Fired from Demetris Kalogirou on Vimeo.

Monday 3^RD October 

In this lesson, we were starting our preliminary task which was to create a 1 minute clip. We got put into groups and as a group we were coming up with ideas for the task that could help show the 3 key things that we needed to include which were shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule. After coming up with a couple of ideas, we decided on the idea of a young man getting fired from his job as he never did his job properly, then we started planning the story on what was going to happen. We decided on this idea as we were able to film it at the location of an office which was better for us as we could film it in our lessons and also, the two actors had the correct costume for filming as they were wearing smart business wear, therefore the costume was used as symbolism for our characters as it represented who they are. Furthermore, as a group we took different roles but some we did together as we had to create a synopsis, treatment, character profiles, location&props, script and a storyboard. I took the role of writing up the synopsis and treatment which is a story and explanation of what is going to happen throughout the clip, however I thought of the narrative throughout but I kept confirming with my group members to make sure it was how they wanted it as well. As a group we created the script and the story board as we decided on the lines that the two characters were going to say throughout the clip we were creating and the different shot we were using, we did this together as we thought of some lines but also, we kept thinking of ways to change and improve them to create more of an impact. I found this lesson very successful as we all worked together to finish all 6 parts that we had to do before we could start filming, and we all contributed to the our final idea, therefore I felt we all worked together as a team. 

This is my groups synopsis and treatment, we created this by planning it as a group and we  began by coming up with the ideas for our clip. Once we had decided the idea we came up with the things we wanted to include in our clip and thought about the dialogue, we did this vocally. Furthermore, I took the role of writing up the synopsis and treatment but we all worked together with coming up with it and I kept confirming with my group that I was writing the correct thing. We decided on this synopsis as we thought it would keep the audience engaged and we had the right location and props for this synopsis, therefore we wouldn't have to film outside of school. Also, we had thought how we could show our 3 aims in this synopsis and we knew how we could should them, therefore this helped us stick with that narrative. 

Synopsis: 

The manager of a law firm called Amy, fires a young man named Richard for not taking his job seriously and always turning up late as he didn't care for anyone else but himself.

Treatment:

One afternoon, Richard comes into work late and gets called straight to Amy’s office who is the manager of the law firm. He comes in the door in no hurry, and sits straight down all slouched on the chair with his arms crossed as if he doesn't even care about his job and the fact that he turned up late, also, he turns up looking scruffy with his shirt untucked, tie not done up properly and an old bag, Amy isn't impressed with his attire and she says to him that it isn't acceptable that he turns up looking like this to work as your supposed to be making a good impression on the people around you and she says to him you are always so late but when he gets questioned by Amy, he just makes excuses that there is traffic but Amy doesn't believe him as he repeats the same excuse all the time.  Amy comes to the decision that he doesn't deserve to work here anymore and she says to Richard that his behaviour is unacceptable and that she has had enough, she then tells him to leave. Then, Richard apologises for the way he has acted and he says I will never behave like it again. However, Amy then says, this is exactly what you said last time; Richard then stands up in aggression and raises his voice saying fine I don’t want to work here anymore anyway. At the end, Richard storms off and slams the door behind him. 


Moreover, this is our script, in the lesson Lily wrote it up but we all imputed with ideas as a group and helped each other think of the correct dialogue for the clip. Some lines that we came up with we changed throughout writing the script as we thought of better lines that would create an impact. We decided on these lines as we felt they would keep the audience interested right till the end to find out what happens. Furthermore, a part within the script that I like is the line where the manager Amy says "You're always late and is that what you are meant to be wearing?" and Richard replies "There was traffic." I like these lines as it is showing the bluntness from Richard and he only answers the first part of what Amy says to him and we did the dialogue like this as we wanted to show that he couldn't even be bothered to answer and this helps represent his attitude on a normal day at work. Furthermore, I also like the line "Fine. I didn't want to work here anyway", as it shows that Richard is trying to act like he doesn't care but really he wanted to stay working there, also, Richard is represented as someone who is quite rebellious, therefore when he says that line it is almost showing that he has a not bothered attitude and that he can't be seen to care about the job as that isn't his character.

Script:

     1. INT. A corridor

RICHARD walks down the corridor.

  2. INT. An office

AMY glances at her watch. RICHARD walks in and sits down in the chair opposite her.

AMY

You’re always late and is that what you are meant to be wearing?

RICHARD

There was traffic.

AMY

Everyone else got here on time so why couldn't you? Your behaviour is
unacceptable and I have had enough. I think it’s best if you just leave.

RICHARD

I'm sorry. I can assure you that this won’t happen again.

AMY

This is exactly what you said last time. I'm not going to accept any more excuses.

RICHARD

Fine. I didn't want to work here anyway.

   3. INT. RICHARD gets up and leaves the room.

This is our location for our clip and the props that are going to be included. We decided to locate our clip mostly in one of our Sixth Form classrooms as we wanted to use a desk to show the importance of the manager of the firm as that was her office. Also, we filmed  the male character walking down the corridor as we portrayed him to turn up late for work as that is what he does everyday and that is one of the reasons he was getting fired from his job. Furthermore, the list of props we wanted to include were mainly for Amy the manager of the film at her desk as the props were symbolising her job and the control she has over the firm. Richard the young man only had the prop of his bag as he never carries anything else with him as he never bothers bringing in any equipment for work.

Location and Props:

Location:

A classroom in the Sixth Form building (HG2). The scene will mostly be recorded at the desk in the room, showing the conversation between the manager of the firm and the young man getting fired and the corridor outside of the room, showing the young man turning up late to work.

Props:

- A desk
- Computer 
- Files
- Bag
- Stationery on desk

Additionally, these are our character profiles for our two characters, we decided to use a female character as the manager of the firm to show the power within women, and a young man as the one who gets fired as they are normally shown to be more lazy and unreliable than women, therefore we made it relatable for the audience. Furthermore, we used their appearance to symbolise the sort of characters they are as the manager was wearing a dress as smart wear and the young man had his shirt untucked and his tie wasn't done up properly, therefore he looked scruffy. From their appearance you were able to get an idea of how they are at work and their attitudes towards work as their clothing is used as symbolism and also, the character profiles were used to give a clearer understanding on the type of people they actually are and their backgrounds.

Character Profiles:

Name: Amy

Age: 28

Appearance: Smart, business wear

Hair colour: Brown

Character: Manager of Law firm

She is an independent woman with no kids and has set goals for herself. Also, she is determined and she takes control of the business.

Name: Richard

Age: 22

Appearance: Scruffy as he wears no tie, shirt untucked

Hair Colour: Black

Character: Young man who gets fired from his job

He is a young man who has the typical attitude of not wanting to do anything as it is his first job so he’s a bit reluctant to do anything. Also, he is lazy and never does his job properly.

Furthermore, a storyboard is used as a graphic representation of how your video will unfold, shot by shot. These are my group’s storyboards which we completed as part of our planning for our clip, each box represents a different shot and it shows the order of the shots within our clip. The lines underneath are notes about what’s going on in the scene and what’s being said in the script during that shot. Furthermore, a storyboard is important for planning a film or clip as it makes it easier for when you film as you know exactly what you are filming in each shot, therefore as we did this, we could go straight into filming, therefore this helped us massively.

Storyboard:

Moreover, in Monday's lesson we also looked over shot reverse shot, 180 degree rule and match on action to make sure we knew them fully before we started planning our ideas as we needed to include them in our clip. For each of these I did my own research by finding a separate example for each one and then I wrote about what each technique actually is  and why they were used in that example and what they portrayed. Also, I wrote about the effect that each of them create as they are used to show different things.

Secondary Research:

Thursday 6^TH October

In this lesson, we went straight into filming. We had already planned out the shots on the storyboard that we were going to film; therefore the filming was quite simple. As we had decided the two actors, I took the role of filming all the different shots and I had to make sure that we had included the 3 key terms of shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule into the clip as that was our aim. Furthermore, as an example for shot reverse shot, we filmed a conversation between the manager and young man and flicked between both characters just showing them speaking with the other character to either left or right side of the shot. Most of the shots were right first time of filming it, however a couple of times we had to re-film some shots as we came up with better ideas as we felt it would work better from a different angle. As for the young boy walking towards the door, we firstly filmed it from behind but then we decided to film it from the side so that we could show the 180 degree rule which is what we had to include in our clip, once we had re-filmed this we watched it back and decided it looked better from that angle. Furthermore, we also re-filmed when the young man stormed out the door as firstly we filmed him just normally opening the door but when we watched it back, I came up with the idea of him swinging the door open showing aggression, therefore we re-filmed this and when we watched it back we were glad we changed it as it made it look a lot better as it showed his frustration from being fired from the job. Furthermore, as a group we worked together as we all put ideas forward on how to film some of the shots and suggested on different angles and ways to film. Also, it was a successful lesson as we managed to complete the filming in the lesson, therefore the next lesson we could go straight into editing. 

Friday 7^TH October

For this double lesson, we were editing our clip as a group on the mac. Firstly, we had to import our different shots onto the mac and then we went through and sorted the ones that we needed and deleted the shots that we didn't. Then we watched the first shot and cropped out what didn't need to be there and dragged it down as the start of our clip. After, we did this for every other shot and dragged the all down to make the clip. When we had been through all the shots, as a group we watched the whole lot right through to make sure that it flowed and the story made sense. We also had to check that the match on action, shot reverse shot and 180 degree rule were used correctly. Furthermore, we then decided to add some music at the end scene, therefore as a group we went through the list and chose one, we added it onto our clip to make sure that it sounded good and that it fitted with what we were showing. The last thing we had to do was add credits and a title to our clip, however when we had done this we watched it over a couple of times and then we decided to add a close up shot of the young man going out the door just as a different shot as we thought it would improve our clip, therefore as I was doing the filming I went and filmed the close up shot. Lastly, we added the close up in and watched the clip through a couple of times to make sure it flowed and we hadn't missed anything else out but we couldn't see a problem with it therefore, we completed our editing. Moreover, strength to this lesson is that we all worked together and participated in the editing by putting ideas forward; therefore no-one did more work than the other as we worked as a group.  Furthermore, in the last part of the lesson we started our evaluation, however we completed it at home as we didn't have enough time to finish it.

This is my evaluation, and it is where we spoke about what we did for our preliminary task and the research we did before creating the clip. We evaluated the successes and problems that we encountered throughout creating our clip. Also, we spoke about our own contribution in the group and what we took part in.

Evaluation:

For our preliminary task we had to create a 1 minute clip, which had to include shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule. Our clip is called ‘Fired’ and it is about a young man called Richard who gets fired from his job by the manager Amy as never does his job properly and he always turns up to work late, therefore Amy has had enough of his behaviour so she fires him.

Furthermore, before our preliminary task we had learnt and done our research on what shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule were as they were our main focuses to include in our clip. Shot reverse shot is when a shot views the action from the opposite side of the previous shot, as during a conversation between two actors, giving the effect of looking from one to the other. Moreover, match on action refers to film editing and video editing techniques where the editor cuts from one shot to another view that matches the first shots action. Lastly, 180 degree rule is a cinematography guideline that states the two characters in the scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another. For these 3 key terms we watched a couple of clips as examples to see how they are shown in TV shows and films and so that we can see where they are shown and it helped us with being able to pick them out in the clips.

All that we had learnt and research that we had done helped us with creating our preliminary task as now we know what we need to include in our clip. When we got put into our groups, we thought of a couple of ideas that we could do but then we agreed on the better one and we thought on how we can show our aims in it. Once we had decided on the idea, as a group we listed our props, and wrote down the location of where we were going to film. Then we created the script, character profiles, treatment and storyboard so that we knew everything about our narrative. Before we could film, we had to make sure we had it all completed, we managed to finish it all so next lesson we could go straight into filming.

Moreover, filming our clip was successful as we knew what we were filming so we could just go straight into it, we just had to make sure that we were clearly showing 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action. One thing that went well through our preliminary task is that we planned our idea very well and had planned out the shots that we were going to film therefore this helped us a lot as we didn't waste time on deciding how to film the shots so we completed our clip in the hour that we had, therefore we didn't have to worry about filming anything in next lesson, so we had more time to edit. As a group we decided to plan all our filming on a storyboard with all the shots, dialogue and action so that we had a clear idea of what was happening in each shot, this was a success as it helped with our filming as we had it all in front of us.

As we finished the filming last lesson, we started editing our clip by putting all the filming onto the mac and then moving all the different shots into the correct order and deleting the ones we don’t need. We were cutting down the shots so that it wasn't as long and some parts of the shots were not needed. Then, after we had gone through each shot and made sure they were only showing the parts needed, we watched it through to make sure it flowed and that the narrative made sense. As a group, we then decided that we wanted to add music at the end, therefore we went through the list and found one that fitted with the end shot and that would carry on throughout the credits. The music that we had chosen was quite slow as it was played when Richard walked out of her office, we decided on this music as we thought that it went with the shot, so we added the music to the shot and after watching it a couple of times we decided it did fit so we kept in in the shot and played it through the credits. This was a success as the music went well with shot and it helped to create an impact for the audience. The last thing that we needed to add onto the clip was the title at the beginning and credits at the end and we watched it right though a couple of times to make sure it we didn't miss anything out.

Additionally, the successes of our preliminary task is that we all worked together to create the clip and everyone had a part in the task as I was doing the filming, Joe was the director and Lily and Cameron were actors, therefore this was a success as together we created the clip. Another success was that we clearly showed our aims through the clip and we kept watching it over again to make sure that we did, therefore we had successful achieved our task and we were able to prove that we knew what they all are.

A problem that we had encountered was that when we went to film the close up that we had decided to add, the classroom that we had used previously for filming had been taken, however we overcome this problem as there was another classroom with the door the same way, therefore we were still able to film the shot. Furthermore, another problem we encountered was that when we filmed the close up and we went back to the classroom to watch it on the mac, we realised that he had used a different hand to the one he used in the other shots; therefore this it didn't fit with the other shots or look right so we had to film it again. However, this time it was successful as the clip we created flowed well with the close up that we filmed, therefore it had actually improved it. Moreover, for next time the only thing I would maybe change is the narrative to something more different. I felt everything else was successful as we didn't have many problems with filming or editing any of it. Even though I liked the narrative and it fitted well with the 3 terms we had to include, I just thought next time we could make it better.

My contribution to the group is that firstly I put possible ideas forward for our narrative for the clip and then when we had decided, I helped with our narrative and I wrote up the treatment on what was going to happen throughout. However, my main task for the preliminary task was filming all the shots; I felt I did this well as the majority of the shots I filmed went right first time and also, I kept making sure the camera was straight when I was filming especially when filming the shot reverse shot. Also, for the shot reverse shot I had to make sure I was filming it correctly but I did this successfully. I felt that a weakness was that at the beginning of me filming, one of the shots I filmed first time was a bit shaky but then I learnt how to film with a steadier hand, therefore the second time I filmed the shot a lot better. Lastly, I contributed to the editing as we all did that together. Overall, as a group we all worked together as we all imputed ideas to create this clip for our preliminary task and overall the clip was a success as the narrative flowed throughout and shot reverse shot, match on action and 180 degree rule were shown clearly.