Main Task Pitch

We have made a power point to show our understandings of what we want our main task to be about. We wanted it to be a horror so that the audience would be on edge and looking out for something all the time. Our idea is mainly for it to be based around a girl, her dogs and a forest. This is our power point.

Main Task

The BFI

Yesterday we went to the BFI (British Film Institute). This trip widened our knowledge about our final task and also film techniques. The director of The Hallow also came to do a Q & A which meant that we got to listen to how he makes his films and he also gave us some tips on how to make ours. He also showed his story boards of his first ideas of what he wanted his film to be about. There was a presenter who also took us through the stages of making our opening sequence. He also showed us some examples of opening sequences that gave us an idea of what ours should be like and also how it should be composed. This was interesting to see how others had been influenced to make theirs, for example the ones that we watched were all from movies that they had improvised on. E.g there was a opening sequence that we looked at from the film Se7en. Where they had watched and understood the film they had then composed a opening sequence for what they thought should give the audience a brief description of what is to come later in the film. I am going to take a lot of information back to my lessons from this trip to the BFI because it will ensure me that I can interpret my opening sequence perfectly.

Foundation Portfolio - Main Task Brief

For our main task we have been told that we need to film the opening sequence of a new fiction film, we will need to include the titles and the soundtrack and it should last around 2 minutes.

We will need to make sure that we have looked at:

- The film genre

- The opening sequences 

- Titles
- Soundtrack
- Production Plan

All of the above are important because they all deliver something different to the scenes that we are going to be filming. It will be hard to make sure that we tell a short story, and that what we film meets the guidelines of the briefing. We know that it has to be around 2 minutes, this should hopefully be enough time for what we want to include in it. However making it as an opening, we want just enough clips to make sure that the audience have an idea of what is going to happen later on in the film. Although we don't want to give anything away. 

Batman car chase

For Mrs Banks lesson we needed to find a scene from a film, advert, music video etc. and present it to the class. This presentation needed to include what kind of editing was in the scenes, how it was edited and what it suggested to us. I chose a clip from Batman Begins, I chose a car chase scene where Batman is trying to get away from the police. I chose this because I thought that it would be interesting to look at all the kinds of editing and what they look like when they are in a film. This also improved my knowledge on editing as a whole because it made me look at all the kinds and I also looked at what they suggested to the audience.
I found that at the beginning of the clip there was an action match between the characters and the cars to show that they are building up to something and the fast cuts within the scene when the car chase is happening makes it more intense. The camera also pans with the car when its moving to show that it is going faster than it actually is in real life. When we see the close up faces of Batman and Rachel, it shows that they are both concentrating on the driving and thinking about what is going to happen. The short cuts of the car crashing into objects implies that the car is powerful and that it can defeat anything. The cross cutting when the camera is on the police man and then when its directed on the car which a=is about to crash into the wall suggests to us that there is a sense of panic from all the characters which adds to the dramatic affect. Finally whenever the car is in the air they have used slow motion which also adds to the  dramatic affect.

Final Preliminary Task

After completion of our filming for our preliminary task, in our lesson we were told that we needed to start editing our scenes that we filmed. This was interesting and hard to edit as we had a lot of clips that we were slightly confused about where to put them; and how to make them flow nicely. After we had edited it we put it onto YouTube so that we would be able to watch it again to make sure that it was as perfect as it could be. We knew that we had not done everything in the correct way, however we are going to improve on it in our final task where we will plan it better. Here is our preliminary task below.

Foley's sound

When a film is being recorded, it is really hard to get the sounds that the actors are making. It is hard to do this because when the actor is speaking the microphone cant pick up the small sounds that the actors are making. To stop this from happening they will add the majority of the sounds later when they are in the editing process or the post production part of the film. The editors can get the sounds from areas called sound library's where there is hundreds of different sounds that can be bought and added to the film; or the editing company will bring in people from the public to make the sounds, for example in the Hobbit. In the Hobbit they acquired a group of people to run across a field pretending to be scared and screaming and running. Simple actions like this will give the effect of terrified people running away from something In a film. This is called Foley, its when a specific sound is filmed for a visual in a film. Normally the sounds that are made for Foley are sounds like footsteps, the sound as characters move about and props.


 In the 1930's sound effects became more popular as film makers would use them to create different sounds and then add them into a silent film. This is where 'talking pictures' came about. When silent films were being played they would also sometimes bring in an orchestra and make the sound tracks live in front of an audience so that the performance of the movie would be better as a whole. Jack Foley came up with the idea or recording live sound affects that went with the picture in the movie.


The video that I watched for me to understand all of this information is below.

Pliminary Task

As part of our coursework we are expected to put together a few scenes of a couple of people speaking to each other. We needed to make sure that the way we filmed was right so that when it came to editing the clips that we filmed; There was enough room in the middle of the shots to make it all come together. In our group we started to plan what our scenes were going to be based on, we had an idea of what kind of thing we were going to film. Our idea was to film two people helping each other with some homework that was overdue. We decided that we were going to draw a story board that would make filming and the organisation the shots a bit easier.

In the lessons we were told about the equipment that we were going to be using to film this preliminary task, we were given a tutorial on how to use the camera, tripod and the memory card. This was useful so that when we went to film our scenes we would know exactly how to use the equipment and make sure that it safe when we are not using it. The lessons were really helpful because it gave us an idea for what our content should be like and what standards it should be at. It was also useful to us because the chance to film on our own will give us experience that is going to advantage us in the future of this media course.

Stages of production

Last lesson we were looking at the different stages of production. We need to know what the stages are as they are important information for our preliminary exercise. The first stage is pre-production which means that you need to find actors, a set, props and costumes, writing the script and creating a story board. These are the main components that are needed to start the exercise. The next step is production; which includes filming, directing and assigning people to what role they are playing. The third step is post-production which is the editing and the adding of the sound after it has been filmed. The final part is about when you are on location you need to be making sure that the equipment works and that you have everything you need, you need to be in control of your location so  you need to make sure that no one else is in the room/area that you are filming in. You need to be clear that everything stays in the same place through out each shot as it will be noticeable if something moves when it cuts to another scene, you need to know how to buffer your shots to give effect. If something goes wrong you need to retake the shot so that it is perfect and so it fits into place with the following or before scene. These are all really important for the preliminary task that we have been set because it ensures us that we are fully understanding what is going to happen and how to do it.

Technical editing

We also looked at technical editing,  for example we looked at the film Shaun of the dead. In a specific scene he is shown getting ready, but instead of them showing everything he does, they only show some fast short scenes of what he is doing. This makes a very good effect and adds a sense of rush into the film. It is also good because it shows everything he does but just in short quick clips. This same sequence of fast scenes happens every morning that is shown in the film to show urgency and his routine. Using this technique is also known as compressing time so everything is being shown just speeded up and in fast shots.

The history of editing

In the last lesson we had we looked at the history of editing. The history of editing was really interesting because it shows us how far the media and filmmaking has come in the last 50 years. It was also interesting to see how they used to film scenes . For example it was mostly from one angle and the people on the stage in the view of the camera were the only people moving not the camera itself, this was until a man changed the angles of the camera. This made his films slightly more eye catching than watching a scene from one angle the whole way through. We also learnt about the rule of thirds which is when the camera is at any angle but the characters or the main object is in the frame is in a certain part of the screne. For example they are normally in the middle 4 points of the screen. If you were to draw a square grid with six sections on the scene in a film etc. then the four points in the middle should be where the main focus of the shot is placed. I found a useful website ( http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds/ ) to help me understand the theory a bit more about the theory and how it works. It also shows useful pictures.

Camera Shots


This is my Camera shots powerpoint. I decided to compose one as I thaight that it would be easier for me to refer back to them when I am doing my later work.

Camera angles

In my lesson we talked about different camera angles. This was interesting to learn about because it will enable me to understand more about how to film my opening scene to a film. I learnt about extreme close ups and Dutch angles and many more. We watched a clip which had many of the different camera angles in. Learning about these influenced me to find my own clip where there is numerous amounts of different camera angles. I have chosen a scene from a batman film because I felt that it conveyed some good camera shots.

My first blog post

On this blog I will be showing what I am learning throughout my media A level.  This is where I will be sharing my understanding of what we learn in the lessons. Recently I have been looking at the different kinds of media and looking at film. We also looked at some websites like You tube which gives me a wider understanding of what the internet can inform us with. Having regular updates on this blog will help me to look back at the information I have learnt.