Preliminary Task (Mr. S)

Preliminary Task

A preliminary task is a quick shooting and edit of a short film, typically under one minute. It allows you to demonstrate film skills such as acting and camera operating, then see it reflected in the final result. It's also a chance for the cast & crew to work together practically for the first time. Preliminary Tasks are intended to be of a low quality so you are able to identify how you have improved once your final movie is created. The disadvantages of a preliminary task may be that the deliberate low quality could be discouraging to edit. Also, typically more footage that allowed will be filmed, so it's tricky to pick with parts to get rid of, whilst keeping all of the informative sections. These decisions could lead to disagreements within the group.

Roles
Camera Operator & Director: Fatma, because she is steady with the camera, a good improviser and confident in decision-making.
Producer: Lara, because I am good at group-work so can co-operator with the director fluently.
Actor: Mohidin, because he is a student at Oasis and fits the role of a young person asking another young person out.
Actress: Suweda because she is a student at Oasis and fits the role of a young person asking another young person out.

Our preliminary task is approximately thirty seconds. To achieve this, we had to cut out some of the footage using Final Cut Pro.

The plot is based on two school friends arranging a date on the isolated stairs of Oasis Hadley. We've included shots such as over-the-shoulder, movements such as panning and angles such as low angle mixed with a tilt.

Scenario

• The scene begins with Mohidin asking Suweda what she's doing later
• Suweda says that she's doing not much, so Mohidin takes the chance to ask her to the cinema
• After the date is confirmed, they head downstairs as Mohidin offers to escort her to lesson
• Before Suweda exists through the door, Mohidin says he will pick her up at 7
• They say goodbye and the scene closes as Mohidin is shown going all the way downstairs and out of sight.

Difficulties we encountered whilst filming:

• Unfortunately, the place we decided to film is popular of passers-by, so one shot vaguely included a man standing in the background. The other attempt at the shot included laughter which we thought was a bigger issue because it wouldn't make sense to edit out the sound as the sound included important dialogue.

• Camera operating was vaguely difficult as we had limited space, so choosing which frames to use proved to be tricky. We decided to extend the setting down the stairs to overcome the little options we had.
• The actors found it hard to act professionally and laughed at times, causing us to re-take some shots.
• Background noise and people passing by forced us to wait until it was quiet/coast was clear, before filming, which wasted precious time.
• Sometimes the director and producer had different ideas on what the actors should do, so discussion would delay action.

Difficulties we encountered whilst editing:

• We had trouble with the lighting in the shot of Mohidin standing against the window. We noticed this after it was put into Final Cut. It makes the edits before and after seem very choppy and unprofessional. Luckily, it only happened once, as the rest of the shots were clearly filmed. 

• Near the end, a very choppy edit that we couldn't smooth out - or simply didn't know how - slowed the flow of the scene.

• We ended up with too much footage that we had to cut down in order to reach precisely 30 seconds.
• Some mistakes were made while editing, so we had to undo the action and do it again differently.
• We started playing around with sound for a while before we realized we didn't have to.

What have I learned? I've learned that setting is very important as our location seemed unattractive in contrast to the mood of the plot. Acting should be believable, especially in our scenario which required a lot of facial expressions to show the emotion of being asked out. The space of our location should be thought about as well as the actual place - we could hear their voices clearly, but rather loud and echo-like as it was in a compacted space that extended further down like a tunnel. Above all, group work is compulsory as this is not a one-man show and there are multiple roles that need to be fulfilled efficiently without hassle.

Conclusion: I am writing this after starting my real AS production, so I can confidently say that the preliminary task was a good and practical preparation for a much more serious task. Looking at the flaws in this video also gives us strong ideas as to what not to do now - such as film a character in an obviously bad angle that results in the poorest lighting. It's warmed us up to our roles which has to be kept throughout the hardships of the practical coursework. During the preliminary, we did not focus majorly on the idea of the audience - just how we thought it looked and no further than that. However, now, I see the importance of doing everything for the audience and not just personal fulfilment.