Preliminary Production Journal

Production Journal for our preliminary task


Day 1: On the first day we planned our storyboard. We decided to go for a western stand off theme after seeing the use of shot-reverse-shots in spaghetti westerns such as Sergio Leone's "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly". We decided to set our scene in our Sixth Form as this was the most easily accessible area for us and suited the plot we planned; two naughty children in detention. In addition, we wrote the script for our preliminary task. This included a conflict between two rivalling students to build context and tension for the upcoming standoff. We wanted the characters to speak in an informal and grammatically incorrect way to enhance the characters' lack of decorum and their carelessness for education.

Day 2: On this day we began filming our preliminary task. We were able to complete the first section of the sequence which involved the two misbehaving students meeting in detention. Our scene choice was based on the absence of natural light so that the artificial lighting would be consistent throughout our time of filming (even if we filmed on different days and times); otherwise it would affect the continuity and the verisimilitude of the sequence. In addition, the shots we completed included long shots, match on actions (such as character two walking through the detention room and character one opening her folder), high angle, pan, point of view, over the shoulder and close up shots. We began to film the shot reverse shot sequence of the characters' conversation, but had to finish the sequence another day due to lack of available time.  

Day 3: On day three, we began editing with the film that we had already shot. To edit, we used the Apple programme 'iMovie', a programme chosen on account of its accessibility and its range of features that were applicable to our AS Preliminary Task (the software was also familiar to us). Upon editing the shot reverse shot sequence we discovered that the sound, originally recorded with the camera's microphone, echoed due to poor acoustics of the room. To solve this predicament, we used a boom mic during filming later that day in order to enhance the quality of specific dialogue. Furthermore, we included a point of view shot from the child who walks in and linked this to a point of view from the child in detention; we included this extra shot to enhance the feeling of rivalry and gave a chance to view the different perspectives.

Day 4: This day we researched appropriate music for our media piece. We decided to search for music that reflected a spaghetti western, such as the well known "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" theme. The piece we chose fitted our plot well as it was a tense, western track which was not overpowering to the plot. After editing some more, we discovered that the child who enters the room has not enough prevalence time and it was unclear that she also had a detention. So, we added a side plot at the beginning of our preliminary task which confirmed she was a child who is prone to having detentions; linking to the rivalry later on with the other child. We included an over the shoulder shot to show the audience she has a detention, a long shot to convey the child has been kept behind on her own and a point of view looking at the teacher walking out. Moreover, we attempted to create a sound bridge from the door closing from one scene to the other, linking the two children's plots which would later link to the stand off.