Preliminary task

This is our preliminary task which is a continuity exercise that was set to test our knowledge upon three techniques-match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule. I wasn't on location when they filmed this, but we have discussed how we will incorporate them within our final production to help it to become more successful. I think that this task was positive and rewarding because it has enabled us to understand how we could include these in our opening. We have decided that we will now include match on action at the start of our production, (after the title sequence) to connote that he has just escaped from cannibals and to represent the protagonists age because it will improve the connotations of his strength and bravery as the match on action will include him forcing the door shut. Additionally, we were already aware that the camera should always stay on one side of the 'imaginary line,' unless you are moving it to the other side through a hand held flowing shot, therefore we were able to put this too the test and find out whether we were able to do this successfully. Finally, the editing technique of shot reverse shot was influential towards our piece because even though it will only include one character, we can still use this between the character and props to connote his relationship with certain objects and also that he is going to use it soon. Whilst making this, Will forgot that the DSRL would not auto-focus, leading for some of the shots to turn out blurry. However, this task was obviously designed as a 'warm up' and so that we can experiment with different things and learn from our mistakes. The chosen non-diegetic sound was: "Romantic" - Bensound.com (Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Licence)

Dialogue Script

Location shots

We chose this location because we wanted to use a grimy setting to represent the lack of nature and the lawless society as the main character has to hide in this location. The mirror was perfect to connote a typical toilet and it also led to us being able to film him boxing, to connote his past life, as he fought in the army. The use of the boxing would could represent his authority and age because he is still physical strong. Furthermore, the location provided us with cramp space which was again positive because it helped to connote the tough life the character is living in, possibly representing that his mind is trapped in the past. Next, this toilet had a door which was great because we knew that we wanted to include banging on the door to connote that people had found him and this would also allow us to use match on action in a simple manner. Lastly, this location has an air vent meaning that we would be able to connote the escape route, emphasising that he has been found and is one of the human cannibals main target, representing his importance within the moving image. However, to improve this location it would have been better if it was not in as good condition to create the grimy and demolishing connotations more, but unfortunately we were not able to use the less modernised toilet which we found due to a understandable reason.

Risk Assessment (Will Guy)

Guardians of the Galaxy as an influential moving image.

This opening scene from Guardians of the Galaxy is one of the influences towards our production because we love the use of juxtaposing sound to represent his laid back and cool character. Whilst he is in a dark and remote location, which is ambiguous and quite intriguing, providing aesthetic pleasures. We think that we would do something like this because it provides humour and effectively juxtaposes the tension.
During the filming we experimented with this by replacing the headphones with the radio and by including a short dance by the character. Nevertheless, when we got onto the editing stage we decided that this was not effective because the practical spacing within the room did not allow us to use a suitable shot type and this simply was not as pleasurable as this influence.

Online tutorials and responses

This research has been beneficial because it allowed me to understand what all of the rules were: 360 degree rule, shot reverse shot and match on action, which impacted our final opening because it developed our ability to produce alternate techniques or shot types. In relation to our end product, we followed the 360 degree rule, which is essential anyway, to provide a smooth and to prevent confusion, whilst we experimented with shot reverse shot using eyeline match and match on action at the beginning. However, we decided not to use these shots in the end because did not 'fit in.'

The Christmas break

Over Christmas i have completed the Genre Theory task of Divergent: Insurgent which contains the Dystopia sub-genre and was influential towards our overall plot as we aim to use conventions like strict divisions within class and the use of the different fractions helped us to build up our protagonist as we think that he should share similarities to Tris Prior in the way that he is partly an anti-hero and contains different characteristics like intelligence, bravery and honesty. Also, we know have enough newspapers to cover the mirrors in the toilet and we are continuing to collect tin cans. So, at the moment all is going well, but the only difficulty will be the time we have left to complete all of the work so we will continue to do tasks at home.