Preliminary Exercise 15: Planning

Today in class we discussed the importance of editing sound in film. We were told to plan and create a 7-10 second film of an interesting scenario. The objective was to fully analyze and consider brief synopsis of shot, action line, genre, and atmosphere. While planning we also had to make sure to consider different forms of camerawork. For instance, shot sizes, camera framing, angles, composition, and camera movement. We also had to include different sounds ranging from diegetic and non-diegetic sound, dialogue, sound effects, and music. My team and I decided to choose the genre Drama. At first we had a difficult time figuring out exactly what we wanted our scenario to consist of. Eventually, we decided to do a “school fight.” We took about 30 minutes to discuss how we wanted to perform our act and what type of dialogue to use. We then filled out the chart below.

 

Section A: Planning a shot
Scenario: School Fight
Shot Narrative Conventions
Video synopsis (Be detailed. 3 lines minimum.)	Aubrey heard rumors that an old friend named Madea was talking bad about her. When she found this out she decided to confront Madea but she hid in a classroom. Aubrey continued to bang on the door and eventually Madea came out ready to fight.
Film genre	Teen Drama
Action Line (Add a subject, action, and place.)	Made a and Aubrey have a confrontation.
Tone of the Shot (Describe using adjectives in full sentences.)	The tone of this short film is considered tensed and angry.
Camera Shots
Describe why you select each camerawork technique.
Shot Size:	We used medium full shot to capture the background character along with the environment.	Camera Angle		We choose the camera angle eye level to give a point of view perspective.
Camera Framing	We selected three shot camera framing because the film includes 2 people about to fight.	Camera Movement		We choose a static and pull-out camera movement to get the full effect of tension between the two characters and show the environment.
Sound in Film
Dialogue (List 2- 3 lines.)	1. “Open the door! Come outside!” 2. “You wanna talk about me so come outside!” 3. “What’s up?! What’s good!”
Sound Effects	Diegetic sound		Non-diegetic sound
(3-4 effects) Ambient, Foley, Hard Effects) Categorize the source of your music into Diegetic/Non-diegetic.	·       Foot Steps ·       Banging ·       Door swinging open		·       Record button starts
Music	Diegetic sound		Non-diegetic sound
(Score, Incidental music, direct sound) Provide examples for each. Explain selected sound titles.			·       Tensed background music

 Reflection

Planning our short film in class was both challenging and exciting. Initially, my team struggled to settle on a concept, but after brainstorming various ideas, we unanimously agreed on depicting a “school fight” scenario within the Drama genre.  Working together, we took our time laying out the dialogue and scene's flow, making sure every detail added to the tension and emotion we were going for. A careful process of choosing the right camera angles and shots was used to heighten the drama and draw the audience into the scene. Our discussions on sound design also added to the richness of our story by incorporating non-diegetic tension-building music and diegetic effects like footsteps, highlighting the significance of auditory elements in film production. Overall, the planning stage fostered teamwork and creativity, laying a solid foundation for the execution of our cinematic vision.