The wakeup call
The purpose of this task was to begin to apply the micro elements into a practical hands on project. we worked into small groups of three and were given the prompt of “You haven’t left the house in months. if you don’t leave today, you never will”. With this prompt we had to create a 30 second scene of a film of our choosing. This assignment taught me how crucial it is to make sure each scene relates to the prompt in a clear and concise manner while enhancing storytelling with micro elements like lighting, camera angles, and sound. Although the audience’s comments was constructive, it did include suggestions for strengthening the connections between scenes and the task, increasing tension, and enhancing pacing. Better character development, smooth transitions, and making sure every scene clearly emphasizes the main idea are my goals for the future. In order to produce a more sophisticated final result, I want to polish my ideas to ensure that the audience understands what I am trying to portray over in the shots, I also want to strengthen scene connections, and improve editing of the PowerPoint for the upcoming preliminary task.
Preliminary Task 2 pre- production
For this assignment, we were tasked with working in groups of four to create a one-minute film. The prompt required us to include the line “He’s gone,” a significant prop, and an unanswered investigation. My group brainstormed various ideas and decided to make a psychological thriller about the mysterious disappearance of a character named Nathaniel. In our story, Nathaniel vanishes without a trace, leaving behind only his ring, an object that suggests his grim fate.
After developing the idea, we agreed that the plot would center around Nathaniel’s wife, Carmen, who kidnaps and kills him in order to inherit his wealth. This dark twist adds layers of suspense and intrigue, leaving the audience questioning the true motives behind her actions. With the premise in place, we began planning our next steps. We divided the pre-production tasks and I worked closely with my group members—Evie, Zach, and Alina—on creating both a storyboard and a mood board for our film.
The storyboard helped us visualize the sequence of shots, while the mood board set the tone for the atmosphere we wanted to convey. Together, we carefully chose elements to capture the psychological tension and mystery at the heart of our story. The combination of these creative tools ensured we were all aligned on the visual direction of the film, paving the way for a smooth production process.
This is pictures of our storyboard, plan and timeline.
Storyboard
Plan of scenes
Filming
For our short scenes, we decided to film in the small room off the common room (representing the house), the music room hallway (representing the outside of a warehouse), and the music room (representing the warehouse itself). These locations worked well for our storyline because we could change the rooms to make them fit the locations of the scenes that we needed for events while maintaining the eerie and suspenseful tone of our murder mystery thriller. The small room off the common room was used as Nathaniel’s (Zach) home, where he was kidnapped, creating an unsettling atmosphere. The music room hallway served as the exterior of the warehouse which creates an uneasy atmosphere, where Carmen (Evie) made her entrance, her heels echoing dramatically as she approached which creates an uneasy feeling that she is approaching something eagerly. Finally, the music room became the warehouse where Nathaniel was executed, with its dim lighting and isolated feel adding to the tension of the scene. These locations also worked well within our limitations as there was limited time and limited places to record at the time, as they were accessible and allowed us to control lighting and sound to overall make the scenes more diverse and eerie.
My responsibilities during this part of the process included acting as one of the bodyguards and assisting with camera work and lighting when I wasn’t on screen. Filming was an exciting experience, especially when experimenting with different shots and angles to enhance the suspense of the film as we wanted to create an eerie atmosphere with extremely limited resources and settings. I particularly enjoyed working on the warehouse entrance scene, where we used a tracking shot of Carmen walking in heels to build anticipation which i record however I did find it difficult as i the camera hadn’t connected the sound over from the recording, which ,meant i had to find an audio that matched up perfectly to the movement of her heels which was extremely hard to do. The dramatic lighting and careful framing helped emphasize her power and cold demeanor which was helpful to the point of our film, as she needs to be portrayed as a cold hearted woman that is so unhappy in her relationship that it leads her to kill her husband. Seeing our storyboard come to life and adjusting shots on set to improve the visuals made the process both fun and rewarding as despite how time consuming it was, it was ultimately rewarding as it created the atmosphere I had envisioned when coming up with the idea.
However, we faced several challenges along the way. One issue was adjusting to last-minute cast changes, as Alina, who was supposed to play the second bodyguard, was unavailable. We quickly adapted by having Sean step in, making slight modifications to blocking and interactions to keep the scene smooth as Sean didn’t even know what the story line was and still performed to a high standard. Another challenge was filming in the small room off the common room, as it was a tight space, it was hard to try to capture the ultimate feel of a house setting, it also made it difficult to position the camera while still capturing the intensity of Nathaniel’s kidnapping. We overcame this by using close-up shots and strategic framing, also to ensure that the audience couldn’t see the bean bags on the floor to stop his fall, this helped us to maintain suspense without making the space feel too cramped. Additionally, background noise in the hallway sometimes interfered with our audio, so we had to reshoot certain lines to ensure clarity. But that didn’t even matter in the end as we didnt have any audio after we transferred the shots from the camera to my laptop. Which then made it difficult because we had to voice over and find different audios that matched up with the scenes perfectly.
Based on my experiences, something I want to do differently in my next coursework piece is to prepare more thoroughly for unexpected challenges, such as cast availability and location constraints, by having backup plans in place. I also want to explore more dynamic camera movements and creative lighting techniques to enhance the storytelling further, this will also ensure that the audience is hooked on the film. This project has been a great learning experience, showing me the importance of flexibility and problem-solving in filmmaking, and I look forward to applying these lessons in my coursework.
Time line
My experience with editing the Preliminary Task 2
For my personal edit of our footage for the task, I decided to use CapCut because it was recommended for beginners and had the tools I needed to create a professional-looking edit considering I had no prior experience that could assist me in any way. I had no prior experience with this software, so I had to learn as I went which went reasonably smoothly as it wasn’t a hard software to use, although sometimes I had some troubles with getting the shots to match up with the sound. Especially in the scene where Carmen (Evie) was walking in the corridor with her heels on. It was difficult to match up the sound with the speed of her walking. Experimenting with different features to achieve the best results was difficult as I had never used this editing platform before. Since our film is a murder mystery thriller, I focused on using dramatic cuts, and eerie sound effects to build suspense and enhance the tension. Although it was challenging at first considering our camera had recorded in slow motion and had no sound once plugged into and transferred onto my laptop, I quickly adapted and found ways to make my editing choices contribute to the dark and mysterious atmosphere of our project.
Before starting the editing process, I had to come up with the storyboard, timeline, and brainstorming for the film (which is shown in the photos below). Since I played one of the bodyguards, alongside Sean, who stepped in for Alina, I had to consider how our scenes would flow naturally within the storyline as there were alot of scenes filmed in different locations that we needed to ensure made sense with the prompt and that could be easily edited. Zach, as Nathaniel, had to portray the fear and confusion of a man being kidnapped by his wife, Carmen, played by Evie. This required me and my group to structure the scenes in a way that made the story clear while maintaining an air of mystery which would ultimately keep the audience hooked. Planning the sequence of events helped ensure that the audience could follow the plot while still experiencing the suspense which was the main idea of our story.
One of the things I was most pleased with in my edit was how I incorporated various camera techniques, sound design, and mise-en-scène to create an engaging and immersive experience, i feel as though the scenes combined with the music played a crucial roll in getting the audience to understand the atmosphere or even what we were trying to convey into meaning for the story to come across. I used a mix of close-ups and wide shots to emphasize key emotions and actions, while different sound effects helped build tension, such as the heels or the music in the background from the GodFather, I found that in crucial moments i had to ensure that their was enough suspense created by the music in the background. The use of lighting, such as the curtain that I decided to put up over the window to create a red huge that would then be ironic considering that Nathentil gets murdered later by Carmen. As well as that the props were the cup, ring and the main prop the gun, which was cut out by Evie and coloured in by me, this also played an essential role in setting the tone as it created vast lighting and prop use which helped connect what we were trying to get across in the plat to the main themes, making certain scenes feel eerie and unsettling. The biggest challenge was ensuring that all the cuts were smooth and that the pacing kept the audience engaged without revealing too much too soon.
From this task, I have learned how to edit in a way that enhances storytelling which I feel will help me later with my coursework, by using smooth transitions and well-thought-out cuts to make the piece more captivating. I also gained a better understanding of how sound and visuals work together to create a compelling narrative, despite finding this difficult in the beginning I managed to make it work in the end. In my next coursework, I will apply these skills by planning my shots more effectively and using editing techniques that strengthen the emotional impact of the story. This experience has taught me the importance of preparation and attention to detail in filmmaking, and I look forward to improving my skills further.