Preliminary Task Evaluation

Preliminary Task Evaluation In October 2016 me and my group were set a task to make a preliminary film. The idea was to film a conversation between two characters. After we had got this information we set about planning our film and after deciding our idea we filmed, edited and posted our final piece. In the film we see a young man being suspected of a serious crime. The detective then grills the man in hopes of finding out information about a girl’s death. The image that this presents of younger people is a dark one and also presents men as killers. The low-key lighting in our film also created a sense of sketchiness and highlights our main character sinful attitude to the murder of this young girl. The camera angle that focused upon the suspect shows the development of the suspected character throughout the film. At the beginning Marcus Greene (Suspect) was very dismissive of the detective as question after question he simply responded with the words “no comment”. The camera angle stays the same as we see Greene come out of his shell to defend himself. The mid shot highlights his body language as again it develops thought out the film. When the idea of him being accused of murder starts to sink in we see Greene hastily trying to protect himself. As we see our main actor begin to defend his actions it attracts the audience as Greene becomes slightly angrier. This sense of tension starts to build as the detective is desperate to find out if the man was responsible for the girl’s death. As the suspense develops the audience is becomes excited to find out if he was going to confess or not. The pressure starts to build up and then Greene admits he killed her. This sudden confession is a shock to the audience as even though the character has committed the crime, we sympathize with him as he declares his love for her and that he never meant to hurt her. Whilst making this film, me and the team learned some processes that could benefit us when making our graded thriller piece. We felt that our piece was good but could be a lot better. In terms of lighting we would have to plan each and every one of our shots and how we were going to light the scenes correctly as it turned into a struggle when creating this film. However once we had figured out our lighting the main shot of the prime suspect turned into a success as the lighting casted a perfect shadow on the wall opposite. This had a mysterious effect and also made the piece seem more eerie. If we had a chance to remake this film we would find a different set. The set that we had chosen to film on was very small and featured a lot of clutter in the background which proved a problem when making our shots. The lighting again was very hard to achieve successfully as sunlight packed through the curtains at the back of the set which made the room to bright. We did manage to deal with this problem but it wasted time.

Thriller Sub-Genres

Preliminary Task - Final Cut

Planning Process

Planning Process

Initial Ideas, Script and Actors

We started by all discussing and writing down initial thoughts on what we could film. Once we had finished we had thought of three different ideas. But we decided in the end to opt for a police interview. Once we had come to the conclusion of what scene we were going to film, Connor started to write the script. He did some research by watching some TV inspector shows and noted some conventions of what the dialogue was like. Once he had finished the script was went about casting some actors. Our first actor Connor, who is a part of our group, we cast to play the suspect being interviewed. Our second actor Goddard who is not in our group was cast to play the inspector.

Shot Planning and Finding a Set

Once we had finalised our ideas we started to make our story board. We wanted both our actors to be sitting opposite each other and essentially forced into making eye contact, which overall would make our scene tenser. We designed out shots so we would not break the 180 degree rule and drew them out so we knew what we were doing when filming. As soon as we had finished making our story board we moved onto finding the right set in which we could film the scene. We thought about using one of the members of the group houses but we decided in the end to film in one of the offices in our school. The room was fairly small but had a table in the middle which was perfect for filming a police interrogation. Once we settled for the office as our set we moved onto planning the day of the shoot.

The Shoot

After we had gathered the correct equipment, we started to create our set. I was in charge of cinematography so I made sure that each shot was lit and framed to the best of my ability. Connor and Thor was also included in making sure that the scene was lit correctly. I was in charge of Mise En scene and making sure there was no clutter in the frames or any other type of flaws. Once everything was in place we began to shoot our shots and filming them more than once so we could have a backup. We ticked off which shot we had filmed one by one to makes sure that nothing was missed out. After we had finished filming of the interrogation. We set a date in which we were going to film the opening scene and establishing shot. But unfortunately our lead actor Connor had to have an operation which ruled him out altogether. He was key to this shot as we see how he makes his way into the interrogation room. We had to leave this shot in the end as our deadline was drawing closer.

Editing

I was mainly in charge of editing, but made sure than the other members of my group had their fair share of the edit so in future they would have the experience when making their coursework pieces. It was a fairly straight forward edit and we did not encompass many problems. It took a few days to get the edit right to make sure everyone was happy. Then we rendered out final piece and uploaded it to YouTube.

What Actors we Chose and Why we Chose them

What Actors we Chose and Why we Chose them

Connor Southwell (Marcus Greene): We chose Connor Southwell to be our male leading actors as he takes drama for A-level and had taken drama for GCSE as well meaning he could help us make our piece feel more and look more believable and also give it the professional look we wanted to achieve.

Mattie Goddard (Inspector Robertson: Mattie also took GCSE drama last year and studies A-Level drama as well so we cast her as the Inspector who questions Connor. Casting Mattie took our piece up to another level as two students who have studied Drama combining created a realistic and convincing piece. 

The two actors conversation showed the tension and seriousness of the crime Marcus Greene (Connor Southwell) was being suspected of. The slightly heated exchange of words becomes more and more developed as by the end of the conversation the prime suspect admits that he did kill his girlfriend but did not mean to. The use of these two actors portrays the scene in a fierce and tense light and emphasizes the severity of the crime.

Shooting schedule

Shooting Schedule

Date: Wednesday 12^th October 2016

Crew:

·         Connor Southwell – Acting, lighting and planning

·         Thor Forster – Lighting, planning and set design

·         Robert Groom – Cinematography, editing lighting and planning

·         Mattie Goddard – Acting

Equipment:

·         Camera – IPhone 7 4K filming

·         Tripod

·         Lighting  (Lamps)

Actors:

·         Connor Southwell – The suspect Marcus Greene

·         Mattie Goddard – Police Inspector Robertson

Story:

The story includes two characters having a conversation, one interviewer and one interviewee. The interviewee being Marcus Greene is being questioned about the death of his girlfriend. Some shots that were taken were not used due to the break in continuity.

Location:

We decided to use an office located in our school which was compact and featured the desk in the centre of the room which allowed us to have the two characters have the conversation across the table. The room was hard to keep lit at a good level so took us a while to establish the right lighting which gave our scene a little bit more darkness. Due to our main actor needing an operation we were unable to film on our second location as the scene focused upon the characters arrival to the police station.­­­

Sets, costumes and props (Mise En Scene):

We didn’t focus on the costumes though we felt Marcus Greene’s casual clothing made the scene seem more realistic as he had just been arrested.

Story Board

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Preliminary Task Script

Preliminary Task- Script

The Interrogation

Inspector Robertson: Mattie Goddard
Marcus Greene: Connor Southwell

MARCUS GREENE is sitting at a table, faced with a empty chair and tape recorder. INSPECTOR ROBERTSON enters the room, sits, drinks for a mug and stares for a while.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

Greene, not the first time I’ve sat opposite you at this table.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON starts recording on the tape recorder and leans forward to question MARCUS GREENE.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

Record time beginning at 5:01PM. The defendant was arrested on the 18^th October 2011, the defendant was bought to his local police station, where he was arrested after a lengthy police chase. If the defendant would like to state his name and date of birth for the benefit of the tape.

MARCUS GREENE

Marcus Christopher Adam Greene. Date of Birth 12^th July 1987

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

Mr Greene, as a previous offender and a man who only 2 months previous got released from prison, why were you involved in a police chase after the death of a young woman?

MARCUS GREENE

No comment.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

Bit suspicious don’t you think Mr Greene?
MARCUS GREENE

No comment

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

Where were you on the night of the 14^th October 2011?

MARCUS GREENE

I was with friends, out and about. You know how it is.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

How exactly ‘is it?’ that a young women gets murdered then, Mr Greene?

MARCUS GREENE

It’s discrimination, just cos’ I have been in prison before, youse are adding 2 and 2 and making 5. It’s easy pinning this on me.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON goes into a file and gets out a piece of paper, he reads from this.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

2002, burglary. 2005, car theft. 2007, assaulting a police officer. 2010, assaulting a police officer. 2010, assaulting your girlfriend. Not a great track record, Mr Greene.

MARCUS GREENE

Those are irrelevant to this crime, Inspector, and my past ain’t great, I accept that. But I ain’t no murderer. Especially to a girl I loved...

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

So you accept you had involvement with Miss Russell, agreed?

MARCUS GREENE

Yes.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON
Then, for a relationship, or ‘agreement’. How did a 23 year old women end up dead, sir?

MARCUS GREENE is visually distressed at this point, and stands up, and aggressively shouts at INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

MARCUS GREENE

I loved her, and this, all of this, was an accident, I didn’t plan it and you, sitting there in a cushy job, nice suit, money rolling in. You don’t understand, you never will. I didn’t mean to hurt her.

MARCUS GREENE is visually distressed and slumps over the table, sobbing, his anger has turned to guilt.

INSPECTOR ROBERTSON

That will be all, Mr Greene. Recording finished at 17:07.

Ends.

Initial Ideas

I Live Here

Introduction

Hello, my name is Robert Groom and this is my A-Level media blog.