My Preliminary Task

A Commentary of my Preliminary Task

In my Preliminary Task that was taken in October 2012, we was given a task to see what our basic knowledge is on  different camerawork skills and how we can put our ideas into a short clip. As a group we had to demonstrate different types of shots one of them being 180 degree rule, another is match-on-action.

In my group I was working with Aimie Fisher (Actress) and Scott Warner (Actor) we created a basic idea of money borrowing and how some situations don’t always work out the way we want them to. In this short clip we were able to perform the shots that was necessary (180 degree rule, match-on-action, long short, over the shoulder, close up)The short clip went well as Aimie and Scott showed their emotions on this clip which gives the audience an understanding that Aimie does not have any money to give back to Scott and is not leaving without a fight, on the other hand Scott shows that he won’t be taken as a fool and is consistent with asking that one question ' Where's my money ?'.

The short clip worked however there are something’s I would change if given the opportunity again one of them being the long shot of Scott walking down the corridor due to the shot not being straight and seems that Scott is falling off the edge. Another thing I would change is the speed of the short film everything happens extremely fast and everything is over in a short couple of seconds.

Analysis of Thrillers

To get an understanding of the Task we will have to preform, as a class we had to watch 4 different introductions of 4 different films The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three; Strangers on a Train; Psycho and The Shawshank Redemption. Each story is completely different in the way that its either shot or introduction of sound but in each one of these films there is a man who is in charge this shows that the women are clearly the weaker sex and are most likely going to be a 'damsel in distress'.

The first film we watched was The Taking of Pelham One, Two, Three, the beginning of the film had bold and capital titles which make them stand out even more, the music in the background was intense, fast, aggressive, tough and didn’t seem to go anywhere it sounded like a never ending sound this immediately sets the scene for when the old man comes out of the Cab and arrives at the Subway. This shot is a long shot so you can see that the old man is in New York, you could also notice this by the yellow cabs, to make sure the audience knows the actor that they have to watch they do a close-up of the old man. One thing that the audience would notice straight away is why is the old man getting out of a cab to go to the Subway, why not just continue taking the cab? This leads the audience to believe that something will happen right at the beginning of the film.

The camera follows the old man into the train station and has a shot of Train 6, once the old man arrives on this train he constantly looks at his watch and he sneezes, when he sneezes his moustache falls of this is when the audience realises he is in disguise. The old man looks at the two children at the front of the train and you almost see that he wishes they weren’t there as something is most likely going to happen to those people on the train. The camera then goes inside the train drivers cabin and the audience can see that it’s a first day at work for one of the train drivers and he is left on his own, the saying something always goes wrong on your first day. After the camera moves away from the children it goes to the attention of the train drivers door the old man does not stop starring at it until the second man who looks exactly the same as the old man walks onto the train.

The second guy was indeed a ladies man and one who was not good at hiding his identity this was shown when he was waiting for the number 6 train and he was walking around without his glasses on this allows the cameras and other people to see his face and maybe recognize it later on. Once the second guy walks on the train he goes to the door to show to the old man that he’s there once he has down this he looks a women up and down and starts playing with his lips with his tongue, whilst he is doing this he is looking into her eyes and her face; the women is doing the same back to the second man but with disgust (another way someone can pick out his real identity).
The last guy who you can clearly notice is the main guy 'Top Dog' as when he walks everything goes silent all you can here is his footsteps walking along the platform. When he arrives at the front of the train you can tell that he is calm and in control; when the train driver speeds to him asking him what he is doing he has a confident sound in his voice and says ' I am taking your Train ‘of what he is going to do at that point we hear non-diegetic music once the gun comes out of his pocket.


    The second film we watched was Strangers on a Train is different as the director was extremely cleaver with the way he shot the two men walking out of their individual cabs with their luggage showing that their going somewhere, one guy was walking left to right and the other right to left. Both men look highly important and look quiet rich due to people carrying their luggage for them. Straight away you notice that the man with the black and white shows (the man who walks right to left) is the man who is the trouble maker the one who is not 100% right and the other man who is wearing plain black shoes (walking left to right) is the one who is control he is alright with his life and is a good character, we later find out the one in the white and black shoes is only rich because of his family and is just waiting for them to die so he can get the money he wants, the other man who is wearing black shoes is a tennis player and is famous and rich by his own well-being.
When both men are going about to take their sets on the train the black and white shoes guy sits down first and a moment later so does the black shoes guy, the black shoes guy stretches his legs and hits the white and black man’s shoes opposite this leads the black shoes guy to say 'Oh, excuse me' this leads the men talking and end up leaving the train one thinking they have made a plan on killing each other’s waste of time wife or mother and the other man thinking that was some random guy on the train. The music throughout this clip puts the audience on the edge of their sets as its an odd beginning of a sequence but the music carries it through and sets the scene for when the two men arrive at the station and arrive on the train.

     The third film we watched was Psycho this was the shortest sequence of the 4 film as it jumps straight into the film.  We see a man walking into a house and slowly walking up some stairs as the man is half way up the stairs the camera goes to the mother’s room door this door slightly opens, carefully and quietly trying to make as little sound as possible. As the man continues to walk up the stairs he arrives at the landing and is about to turn left as he is doing so the mothers room opens fully and the mother comes out with a blade in her raised arm and slashes him with the knife, this cuts him across the cheek and neck the man immediately falls down the stairs. The music in the introduction is extremely jumpy as is like someone stabbing someone constantly and goes from a light sound to a hard intense sound and all the music is consistent and does not have a break at all it is continues throughout.

      The final film we watched was Shawshank Redemption we watched a sequence in the film when Andy is in the office of the prison and he has found some records he could play so he locks the door and turns on the speakers and starts to play the Italian music. The prisoner all stand quietly and listen to those voices and they get a sense of freedom and that their not in prison anymore this once song make some people in the prison cry due to its heart full tone. The old guy Red said that ‘ that the song they was singing about was to beautiful to describe with words’ this shows how much a bit of the outside world means to them and that each and everyone of them needed that little something to keep them going as prison life is no life at all. Red described their voices as beautiful and is like birds flapping into our drab little cage and made these walls dissolve way – every last man at Shawshank felt free. This makes the audience feel some sort of happiness, even though they are in prison for something they have done in the past no man should be treated like that and then the music goes straight to their hearts and seems like heaven to each and everyone of them.