Preliminary Task Evaluation

We decided to shoot our piece in the studio because it is a good open space which was ideal for filming our particular extract. The studio also contains a set which suited the context of our drama. The set was a plastic construction, made to look like a wall of bricks and a window, so it looked like we were filming in a house. There was also a door which was useful for dramatic purposes so character A could storm out, slamming the door behind her. During our filming process, I checked the continuity, making sure that our actresses were doing the same thing each take. I also came up with some ideas on how the extract could be shot, such as suggesting that character B should be sitting against the wall as supposed to the other character who was standing up, in order to perhaps signify lower status. I also came up with the idea to shoot the scene in a different style by changing the motivation. My idea was that character A could be trying to persuade B to do something she shouldn't be doing, so acting in a more devious bullying way rather than angry or irritated. However, we did not have much time so in the end we did not use this idea.We shot the scene in a naturalistic manner, as if character A was persuading B to do something, rather than bullying them into it.

We did not use particularly bright lighting, which was emphasised by the fact that the studio space was very dark due to the black painted walls. This gave the piece a rather eerie, ominous atmosphere, setting the tone for the scene. Although we did not use bright camera light, we did use one artificial bulb light, which hung in the centre of the mise-en-scene. This was so that the actresses could be clearly seen and it also added to the atmosphere of austerity, everything being dark with only one light. However, we did have a large apature, in order to let in more light, seeing as we were in a dark room, otherwise the audience would not be able to see anything at all. We also made sure that there was no gain (dBs) on our screen so there was not too much exposure.

We filmed the shoot well, making sure that the camera was set up correctly and that the mise-en-scene was straight.The tripod was always level although we did change the height of the camera for various different shots. For example, for the over the shoulder shots we used, the tripod was positioned slightly higher. We used over the shoulder shots in order to show the point of view of each character.(the person whose shoulder we were looking over)to try and place ourselves in both their shoes.
We started by filming the whole scene in wide shot, in order to get a simple base for the piece that we could edit later. I think this technique was quite effective as everything in the mise-en-scene could be seen. As I explained earlier, we then moved on to over the shoulder shots in order to capture the scene from different perspectives. We then decided to take more of a risk, taking the camera off the tripod and filming the entire sequence on the ground so that all you could see was the actresses' feet and hear their voices. This provided the scene with an air of mystery.

We conformed to the 180 degree rule in all shots. In the over the shoulder shots we made sure that we only filmed one side of the person's shoulders in order not to break the rule. We were also careful to use the correct terminology on set,saying 'standby', 'rolling' and 'action'when going into the shot.