Preliminary task.

The brief we were given for our preliminary task was to create:
           A continuity task involving filming and edited a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task must demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and 180 degree rule.


           We decided to link our preliminary task theme to our main task theme in some way. the storyline we looked to create for our preliminary task is as follows:

• A religious extremist (charlie) kidnaps a young girl (Ellie) who is 'not pure' and attempts to make her pure by torture and murder.
• He recites a passage from the bible regarding sin:

Charlie: Isaiah 64:6 We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.


Ellie: (distressed) Where am i?!


Charlie: (calm) You're in a good place.

Ellie: What are you doing to me?!

Charlie: I'm going to make you pure.


(The religious man stabs the girl and the scene ends with a black screen and a high pitched scream)

           Our next decision was to make the film appear in black and white in order to give a darker theme and create a more eerie atmosphere. We used one of the schools' 'flip cam's' to film our preliminary task as it is small and compact and simple but effective to use. Here is a plan of the shots used:

• We pan in (using a tripod) to Ellie tied to a chair struggling in a white dress (White because it is seen as a pure colour). A flash of light (created by the movement of a curtain) is used to make her visible in the dark room where we filmed.
• We then use shot/reverse shot to show her hands (tied up) behind the chair. the shot switches back to a close up of her face for more dramatic effect.
• The next shot pans up to a low angle shot of charlie entering the room through a door slowly.
• The next is a mid shot of charlie reciting the passage from the bible, The dialogue exchanged here is where we use the 180 degree rule through alternate over the shoulder shots of each character. 

• Between the lines "What are you doing to me?!" and "I'm going to make you pure." is where the match on action shot is used in charlie slamming down the bible on a table next to Ellie which are both mid shots.

• The next shot is an over the shoulder shot of Ellie with the line "I'm going to make you pure".
• The final shot is a mid, over the shoulder shot of Charlie pulling the knife out of his pocket and leaning forward. The screen now fades to black.
• On the black screen, a scream is heard.

            Throughout the whole 1:01 minute sequence a slow drone is hear which we added during editing and the sound of the door opening was also added during editing. We edited out shots using imovie on the mac computers in school. We found the sound effects in imovie and the precision editor extremely useful. We filmed our preliminary task in the drama studio and the drama studio annex, turned all the lights off and closed the blinds to create the eerie atmosphere of an old abandoned warehouse.