Draft of 'The Encounter'

Below is the draft of the work I have been producing; 'The Encounter', I have not yet fully edited it yet and my match on action is not yet fully edited to perfection. This is just my rough edit so I can see if all the shots work together and if there is any re-filming to be done. I think my first editing session went well and I enjoyed editing my work, there were not many problems that I faced and I found that over-filming and filming extra shots which were not on my storyboard were very helpful. These extra pieces helped me to make reaction shots after one person spoke.

I am hoping for my final piece to be a lot sharper than this as I will use the precision editor instead of the usual one, this will allow me to look at two shots at one time to make sure they match perfectly-this is very important when I will be perfecting my match on action shot when Sam flicks the paper. 

My rough draft also doesn't include any music that I will be adding, I will include this when doing my final piece, my main concern was when Bailey enters the room as I was unsure about whether it would work and if we had filmed the correct footage and it was fine.

My Storyboard

I created a storyboard before filming so that me and my partner (Paman Uppal) could plan out our idea clearly so when the filming process began it would be quick and easy. We also made it so we could plan where we wanted music and any sound affects, it also made it easier for the actors who were not in our class-so before filming they read it to get an idea of what we were aiming for.

We split the storyboard into two-Paman made the first three pages and I made the last three. We tried to include as much detail as we could. We also included what each shot type each shot would be-this was so we could visualize it all and it helped us make sure we didn't have loads of the same shot in a row which can become boring for the audience.

Planning our storyboard also helped us make sure we stuck to the time frame given in the brief-30 seconds to 1 minute-we planned how long we wanted each shot to last for and figured out our entire piece should run for about 47 seconds. It may be over this as we decided after making our storyboard that we would like to include some cutaways and extra closeups which show Bailey's (interviewee's) clothing and appearance.   

This first storyboard page includes an establishing shot and the first time we see Sam-it begins with a close up of his hands as he is wearing many rings which will intrigue the audience. The establishing shot is important to show the audience that it is set in an office environment. It helps to set the scene.

This second page includes the first time we see Bailey, the first main shot of her is a long shot which allows the audience to look at her ridiculous outfit. We used an over the shoulder shot to show Bailey knocking on the door and Sam responding to this at the same time.

 This page shows a close up of Sam rolling his eyes which is the first indication that the interview is going to go badly. It also shows Bailey barely being able to walk in her heels which has a comedic affect, these tiny elements all add to the humorous aim me and my partner had in mind.

 This page shows mainly Sam being sassy and showing Bailey that he is perfection, he has posters of himself on his wall which is very vain and funny, Bailey's geeky elements are also shown throughout these shots in her appearance and costume.

 These shots show Bailey trying to explain her outfit and Sam telling her that her outfit is trash, it also shows Sam giving her a huge pile of books to learn which has a comedic affect.

The last page shows Bailey who has fallen over because of the weight of the books, her glasses have also fallen off and she is a mess, her facial reaction is meant to make the audience laugh. As we wanted to show it all and there is a lot of body language in this shot we decided to use a long shot.

Week One - Edit Workshop

This week in class we began filming our work, we also had to choose any music we wanted in our final piece and make any props for filming. This week was very practical whereas last week had more planning and written work.

Whilst filming we used many techniques and different shot types such as close ups, mid-shots, establishing shots, long shots and more. We also used all three angle types; high angle, low angle and straight on. 

Example of an establishing shot

Some of the criteria was to include shot-reverse-shot, the 180 degree rule and match on action so whilst filming I had to make sure that we included these correctly.  We also used a dolly and tripod whilst filming and it was the first time I had ever used a dolly but it was straight forward. We used the dolly for a long shot tilt where we looked at Bailey from tip to toe, we chose this sort of shot so we could slowly show the audience what ridiculous clothing she is wearing. We also used the pan technique in the first establishing shot so we could show the location easily. 

I also made sure that I was keeping to the rule of thirds in all of my shots, if my shot was focusing on a person I made sure there eyes were on the top third line, this was kept the same in all my shots so that each person looked the same height and all looked like adults, if one person was lower they would look like a child.

Eyes are on the top line

In this week we also chose music which we were going to use, we chose the instrumental of 'Geek in the Pink-Jason Mraz' for the introduction of the character Bailey as it is a geeky, preppy tune which I think suits her character well, the music connotes a very jolly and slightly weird character is going to appear and that character is Bailey. We also chose some background noise for our establishing shot, this was just some background city traffic noise from YouTube to set the scene and let the audience know that the scene was in a city. 

We also made props this week in class, I made a name card for Sam's desk and we also made a sign for his office door, these are just basic things which make the situation look more realistic and I think they also make it easier for the audience to understand who the characters are and their names. This week I also took the responsibility of organizing props we would be needing such as:

• Jewelry for Sam, this would connote that he is slightly feminine and also show that he is into fashion as he is a male wearing jewelry.
• A binder for Bailey which would connote that she is coming for an interview and has brought her portfolio.
• High heels these were useful as Bailey wore them to attempt to look fashionable but as she could not even walk in them it looked very funny and contributed to the comedy element of our work. 

Whilst filming we realized that was a problem-the match on action was very hard to complete with a two-shot, so we changed it to a mid shot, the problem was easily conquered and this was the only problem we had. There was nothing else that needed changing in our filming.

We also decided to film some cutaways that were not on the storyboard just to make it more interesting, these were mostly of Bailey as we felt there were many aspects of her which we felt needed to be highlighted as they connoted the stereotypical geeky co-worker which we could use for a comedic effect. 

Continuity Editing Intro

This week in Media we began to look at creating our own piece of work called 'The Encounter'. We were given a brief which told us what our final outcome had to include. Some of the aspects were:

• a character has to open a door, cross a room and sit down on a chair opposite another character.
• Dialogue must be exchanged.
• The task must demonstrate knowledge and understanding of match on action, shot/reverse/shot and the 180-degree rule.
• Must be between 30 seconds and 1 minute long.

Once I was given the task me and my partner (Paman Uppal) had to think of a concept which could fit the given bullet points. We wanted a humorous idea so in the end decided on having a camp male manager of a fashion magazine interviewing a stereotypical farm girl. Within the interview he obliterates her and mocks her continuously. Our idea meets the brief as the brief wanted a character opening a door and exchanging dialogue with another character and an interview is a perfect example of this happening. The brief also said it should include the 180-degree rule which is easy to achieve in an interview environment-just stay on one side of the two actors. The brief also mentioned to film extra cutaways which we did do-mainly of the female actress to exaggerate her terrible outfit and makeup choice.

Explanation of 180-degree rule

I thought of the idea from Ugly Betty-I find this programme very funny and the actors in it are very comedic, I thought the idea of a sassy interviewer would be easy to achieve as I had the perfect actor in mind, my partner then helped me expand on the idea and create our second character Bailey (acted by Simran Mahil). The image of the male manager is inspired by Michael Urie who was in Ugly Betty. The female character is inspired partially from Ugly Betty and partially from a stereotypical farm girl.

Michael Urie

Farm girl inspiration for Bailey

Ugly Betty inspiration for Bailey

During this week at school we were also taught about match on action, shot/reverse/shot and the 180-degree rule so we were aware of what we had to do ourselves.

In one lesson we began to plan what each shot would include roughly on paper, we also focused on what type of shot we would want as different shots can connote different things. We carefully chose our shots, lighting (high key/lowkey and artificial/natural), angles (high angle/low angle), sound (SFX/music/dialogue) and timing. These are all very important as the choices we made will emphasise the comedic aura of the piece. 

We also had to pick people to be part of our work as actors and we chose Naveed Rahman and Simran Mahil who are friends of ours outside of class. We also discussed between us what costume and props we will be needed and have decided that the farm girl should wear a button up shirt, glasses and have pigtails. The fashion manager is going to be wearing many rings and maybe a bandanna in his hair to portray the look of a camp over the top 'fashionable' man. 

The last task we conducted was to create the storyboard, me and Paman split this job in half, she done shots 1-10 and I did 11-19, this was to spread the work evenly and so we both got practice with storyboarding. I think it was very simple and fun to do and is so useful when filming so we know exactly what to be doing all of the time. Below is the entire storyboard; the first three pages are Paman's and the following three are mine.

In the last shot of this page you can see that the eyes of Sam are a little above halfway-here we have kept to the 1/3 rule-this rule says that in all shots the eyes need to be one third from the top, this is to avoid confusion of age/height etc. So when we show Bailey we make sure her eyes are in the same place, this is done so people know that she is not a child-she is the same height which shows she is an adult too.

The transition used from the establishing shot to the close up of Sam is a fade, this makes it much smoother and also shows that there is a location change, it suggests that the next shot is now in the building which was previously shown. Putting the shot of the building and then going straight to an office suggests there is a connection between the two. The establishing shot also is a continuity technique, it establishes the place in which the action will take place.

A long shot has been used to show Bailey when she arrives into the room, this is useful as it shows her entire outfit and shows the audience why Sam has decided to mock her.

The effect of having a close up of Sam's rolling eyes focuses the audience on this one element, it is a sign that he is not impressed and adds a comedic affect as he is very sassy. 

Here the 180-degree rule has been shown, in all of the shots Sam is on the right, this is done to avoid confusion for the audience, if I moved to the other side then the audience would have got confused because it would have looked like they had moved when in reality they are stationary. 

The duration of the last shot is only 1 second as we feel that the quicker it is the funnier it will be, the audience are not expecting her to fall over so if we quickly flash this moment it will shock them and make them laugh.

I also made sure each character had the same approx amount of screen time, although we filmed many extra cutaways for Bailey as we wanted to focus on her appearance as it is the main reason she is mocked.

We also cut to Sam the most during the conversation-his perspective is privileged as he is the manager and we want to see his reaction to Bailey's outfit and actions, We aimed to have continuity in our work by having the 180-degree rule and match on action, this makes the piece flow a lot more and makes it easier on the eye for the audience, it makes it less rehearsed and allows it to make more sense. Continuity editing also creates realism, the edit in the match on action is invisible and not seen as much so actions feel real rather than constructed.

Example of match on action