Foundation Portfolio - Main Task Brief

We are now beginning to think about our main task.

This is the brief we have been given:

Film the opening sequence of a new fiction film, including titles and soundtrack to last approximately two minutes.

From this brief, it is clear we need to choose a genre and create a story to fit with the opening sequence of a film. I and my classmate Daisy will be doing research of opening sequences to gain an idea of how much we include in a two minute opening and how much of the story we give away. Furthermore, we need to extend our knowledge and research a variety of different genres in order to decide what genre would be the best to incorporate into our task.

In addition, we need to think about the sound production of our task. Due to the fact we didn’t focus that much on sound in our preliminary task, for our main task, we need to ensure we use a variety of sounds and find a reliable source to get music without copyright.

I understand we are not creating a whole film; we are creating a short opening sequence. However, we still need to brainstorm an overall idea of what the film is about to ensure the opening sequence makes sense. We need to decide the props, location, characters and when we are going t film it.

Conversely, in order to create an opening sequence of great quality, before we begin brainstorming we need to carry out research. Our research will be based on:

•          Genres
•          Sound
•          Existing Opening Sequences

By researching these three main topics, we will be extending our knowledge on opening sequences and how to use sound at appropriate times to ensure the task is effective. We will also gain a perspective on what genre we think is the most effective when creating an opening sequence, as well as learning how we can leave the audience wanting to continue to watch the film.

Our first research task will be focusing on different opening sequences and how they are being portrayed to the audience.

Final Product of Preliminary Task

Here is our Preliminary Task:

This is our final product of our preliminary task. We have edited down the clips and ensured the story flows as well as we wanted it to. While we are pleased with how the editing went, we know that we can improve on the sound editing. For example, in the first few clips, we could have continued the background sound of classes throughout the whole time she was walking through the corridor to make the editing more smooth running. We wanted to also put a sound effect over the audio when there is a close up on the female character, from the male character's perspective to create a comical effect, however sound production is the are we will focus more on in future tasks.

Storyboard for Preliminary Task

In our most recent lessons, we have been planning and filming our preliminary task.  Our preliminary task was to film a character walking to a room, into the room and then walking across the room to sit down and exchange dialogue with another character. On this setting we then got into groups and brainstormed a story to link with the task.

I worked with Daisy Stone, Natalie Carter and Jak Bower. Myself and Daisy brainstormed an idea of a romantic/comedy story where the male character fancies the female character and they exchange an awkward dialogue whilst they wait for their classmates to turn up. 

Following our decided plot, we made a story board of how the scenes were going to be positioned and what camera shots we would use to create the task in the most effective way possible. 

Our shots were:

• Walking down the corridor (Medium Long shot)
• Walking past the window (Medium shot)
• Walking through the door (Reverse shot)
• Coming through the door (Reverse shot)
• Walking across the room (Medium shot)
• Shot of the character's face (Close-up)
• Slow motion shot of Female character (Medium shot)
• Shot of the Male character's face (Close up)
• Two characters sat down (Medium shot)
• Two characters exchanging dialogue (Reverse shot)
• Shot of male character tapping the pen (Close up)
• Focusing on the pen (Extreme close up)
• Female character gazing around the room (Close up)
• Both characters in silence (Medium shot)
• View of the characters in the room (Long shot)
• Wider view of the whole setting (Establishing shot)

Furthermore, we organised the camera angles, here are some of the angles we used:

• Medium Long shot - Eye Level angle
• Medium shot - Eye Level angle 
• Close up- Low angle
• Medium shot- Low angle
• Close up- Eye level 
• Close up- High angle
• Extreme close up- high angle
• Close up- low angle
• Long shot - High angle
• Establishing shot - Birds eye angle

To go along with the decided angles and shots, we produced a story board to represent our visions. 

Our Storyboard:

Here is our script for the preliminary task:

Nat: Hello…Hello…?!

Jak: Sorry, what?

Nat: So, where is everyone?

Jak: Oh, I-I dunno.

Nat: *sighs