Preliminary Task Evaluation

Setting
The walkway to the office was quiet therefore there were no distractions and interferences which made the setting perfect for filming. The setting also had adequate lighting which was suitable for the filming around the corridors which helped the viewers acknowledge the features of the unknown character.As the tables and chairs were stacked in the room, Josh and I organised them into a formal position which would be perfect for a confrontation to occur. It also helped us emphasise the 180 degree rule perfectly, as a majority of filming will be shot around the table, when the unknown character enters the office. I was pleased that there was enough space as it allowed Josh to move around efficiently without any problems.



shots of the confrontation and the approach to the office door

Filming
For the preliminary task, Josh was filming and I was acting alongside our fellow colleague Sam Pepper. Due to the limitations of working as just partners we needed Sam to act the part of 'Steve', who is the main focus of the confrontation with the unknown character in the office. For the filming, Josh used a tripod to make sure the recording was steady and precise which was preferred to the use of a hand held camera. This means that more interesting and focused shots could be created without losing the quality of filming due to a shaky hand. Josh was very happy with the variety of shots he constructed showing a creative flair at the times which created unique shots with minute detail, such as the extreme close up shot of the door handle for example. This will be beneficial for our opening sequence as we both need to remain open minded on intriguing shots which will engage the viewer, and how we could possibly develop them to improve the range shots for our opening.



extreme close up of the door handle

Editing
After Josh had finished the filming, we had to edit the shots to piece our preliminary task together. To do this we had to connect the the digital camera onto a computer via a USB cable and upload the shots onto a program called 'Sony Vegas Movie Studio 9.0'. After uploading, we cropped (split) these shots and edited them together so that the sequence would flow. Finally all we had to do was to upload the video onto blogger, this is where our problems occurred. We tried rendering the opening sequence into various formats, but through this we lost some quality as the video was compressed too small (apology's for the blurriness) after trying these formats. Josh and I then discovered that there was an error in the schools system, preventing us from uploading the video at school, therefore we tried uploading the video at home, which was successful using the 'Windows Media Audio/Video Format'. We have learnt that uploading our opening sequence at home will be better as there will be less technical difficulties.


print screen of the windows media player file

Evaluation
I personally believe that our preliminary task was quite a success, despite a couple of technical difficulties that Josh and I have learnt from, which will most certainly help us when we take the opening sequence into consideration. In my opinion there was a range of fantastic shots that we could use for our opening scene. The over the shoulder shot which is firstly shown creates mystery and suspision i think this will be effective in the opening sequence as it keeps the audience intrigued in the unknown character. Afterwards there is a high angled tilted shot which shows the characters features and makes the character feel intimidated. The minute details and close up shots (door handle for example) create a new insight into looking at things from a new perspective, which should definately be included in our opening sequence, as it grips the viewer. During the filming of the preliminary task, mine and sams voice appears to be slighty muffled as the filming was from a distance, and the microphone on the camera lacks in quality, but this could have been due to the compressing of the file. This means that we have to either film closely during the opening sequence to avoid interuptions which could becaused by the wind or the surrounding environment around us or record a voiceover. Also during the sequence Sam appears to look at the camera, so when we are taking the opening sequence into consideration we need to think about how self confident our actors/actresses are within the filming environment. Apart from these issues, there are many positive things we can take from this preliminary task as it gives us more of a clue about filming and editing and what it entails.