Preliminary Task - Planning Evaluation

Preliminary Task - Planning Evaluation

Our Brief: 

Continuity task involving filming and editing a character:

- opening a door
- crossing a room
- sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue 

This task should demonstrate:

- match on action
- shot/reverse shot
- 180 degree rule
- over-the-shoulder shot

After receiving our brief, as a group we brainstormed our initial ideas for the brief. These included:

• James Bond Style Mission
• Drug Deal
• Chase Sequence
• Kidnapping

From these, we then narrowed it down to not only our favourite idea, but also the most practical. By analysing the logistics of each, we were able to see which idea's were possible to complete accurately and fulfil our brief. This therefore narrowed it down to:

• Drug Deal
• James Bond Style Mission

After much debate between the individuals in our group, we decided that we could incorporate both ideas together, which lead to our final idea: Mission Style Drug Deal.

We then began with the creation of the storyboard.

For each box, we decided the music that we would match with it, so we could prepare this before filming in order to accurately synchronise the audio with the visual. We also decided the camera angles that we would aim to use, so that we were as prepared as possible for the short amount of time that we had to film in.

Each box on the storyboard contained as much detail as possible, including the diagram, as this means that each shot would be easily recognised and will match the final preliminary task.

Every part of the storyboard also had multiple parts and a range of shots. We tried to incorporate this into the diagram so that every shot we were planning to film was on the storyboard. We used a jagged line through the middle of the diagram to show the transition between a variety of shots.

We also added as much detail as possible into the shot description, as we thought that this would help with the productivity of filming - if we knew exactly what we were doing step by step, we would be able to work efficiently and get all the filming done in the limited time we were given. 

We included all the details we needed on the storyboard, although during the initial planning phase, we hadn't fully decided on what music we wanted to use - but we roughly knew the beat that it needed to be, in order to fit the visuals, so we decided to illustrate this by writing the beat in the description. 

Within each section of the storyboard, we wanted to fully plan all of the mise-en-scene that we would need. This included all props, costumes and locations for every shot. We tried to incorporate this all into the diagram, so before each shot we would efficiently be able to set up ready for filming.

Evaluation

• Overall, evaluating the planning section of the preliminary task, the things that went well for our group would include the detail that we put into our storyboard. If this detail wasn't as in depth as it is, our productivity would have been reduced and we may not have been able to film all of the required shots within the time limit. 
• Another thing that went well, was the teamwork in creating the storyboard. Every person in our group contributed, and ideas were collaborated in order to get the best and strongest idea we had. 
• Also, the organisation of the storyboard was one of the things that assisted with producing the preliminary material, and our group was very organised with our ideas and were able to think of a strategic order for our shots. We also managed to incorporate all of the compulsory shots and and scenes into our storyboard so we didn't need to worry about this during filming.

• Although as a team we worked very effectively, we did encounter a small number of problems during this stage of the task. 
• One of the issues we faced was the struggle to illustrate our ideas accurately. We knew exactly what we wanted to draw, and had a vision but the time taken to get this vision down was longer than we expected. Luckily, we came up with a solution of doing a rough drawing and explaining what was going on, and then going back and improving the drawing after. 
• Another problem was that during the filming stages, we reevaluated some of our ideas, for example box 5 on our storyboard, as we didn't think that the 'rugby tackle' scene would be as effective as we initially thought - but we were able to rapidly think of a new, and more effective idea.

• If we were to complete our preliminary task again, we would use the same tactics of deciding our idea, as working closely as a group and ensuring everybody's ideas were contributed worked best for us. 
• We would also make sure that all of our ideas are practical and we were able to film them with the constraints that come with the task (timings and location). 
• Also, we would use a wider variety of shots which would add to the range of skills we were able to show in our final product. 
• Lastly, we could consider using more boxes for our storyboard, so that each one could show in depth what we were planning to do.