1. Explain in detail, the process you went through to create your preliminary.
Firstly, as a group we discussed ideas of what our prelim would be about and decided on a concept we all agreed on. Once we had chosen our concept each member of the group helped with creating both the script and the storyboard. Afterwards, we scouted locations which would be best to film- we took a few photos on our phones to get a rough idea about how these locations would look on camera. On seeing the quality of the locations on camera we decided which we ones we should use. In our chosen location, we discussed a filming schedule based on the one our teacher set in class, before actually filming.
2. Explain the creative decisions you made during the process.
Before scouting locations we already had some chosen places in mind: the Sixth Form Common Room and the Science lab. We chose the science lab because it was the only room where the windows opened which was necessary for out piece. However when it came to filming our prelim we decided that the Sixth Form Common Room did not back up continuity (the colour of the walls were not the same as the science lab). Also since the windows in the Common Room did not open we decided to choose the Science lab where we could change and set outeverything so it matched our storyboard. We also decided that during our preli mwe should show the difference in status between the mother and her son. We denoted this by using camera angles. The son was filmed from a high angle so that the audience would look down at him, which would make him look small and denote a lower status; mother was filmed from a low angle and this forced the viewer to look upwards, instantly giving her status. The editing we used helped us in our creativity, our script and titled inspired us to add certain sounds (The title 'Grounded' encouraged us to use the sound of bars slamming).
3. Evaluate your preliminary. What could be changed? Improved? What is already good about it?
During our prelim we did notice that we could have improved our piece. We noticed that we had a few jump cuts which we hadn’t noticed at first, but became more noticable as we went through our prelim. We realised that we couldmistake by cutting out so not rectify this problem as it had already appeared. Also, we made one other mistake due to cutting out some speech. During Jake’s speech he says “I was walking the... cat”, we made the mistake by cutting out the word ‘cat’. Again, this could not be recitfied as it was already done.
Some things that were good about our piece was that how we showed the different status’ of each character by using high and low angle camera shots. Furthermore, we stuck to the 180° rule during the conversations between mother and son, making sure that we were both still visible. Finally, it was agreed that we did the match-on-action quite well as it was barely noticable. We did this when Jake (the son) ju mped down from the window and landed on the floor. The jumping part was match-on-action. This could be called covert editing because the audience would not be aware of it as it is ti med and cut very well.
4. Think about things you would do differently next time? What will change when your final piece is done? And why?
If we got the chance to re-film the prelim i would change the location in order for it to look more homely and convincing, whether that would involved rearranging the furniture to the suit the genre chosen or a complete change of location.I think we could have used a wider range of props so that they were suitable and corresponded to the genre as well as the concept. During editing we could have been much more precise, our lack of precision caused errors in our preliminary: cutting off speech and the jump-cuts. When planning our final piece we will plan our shooting and scout locationsso they suit the genre chosen, as well as being more careful with the editing so that our overall our film is better quality and is more realistic to its genre and concept.
5. What new skills have you developed during the process of planning your preliminaries?
During the filming of our prelim i learnt how to operate a camera, before filming I didn't know how to operate one properlyas i hadn’t had much practice. I also learnt that some places did not look as good as others on camera and this made me realise how important the quality of a place looks on camera because if the quality is low then the filming would look ametuerish and that wouldn't make for a good film. I also realised that filming isn't as easy as it seems, whilst filming I quickly realised that the planning we had done previously helped us to order and produce our thoughts more efficiently . Without the plan our prelim would not have gone as well as it did, as we would have many complications to resolve.
