First Preliminary Task- “The Break-Up” Film Opening

My first preliminary task was to create a short film to experiment and learn different codes and conventions along with camera angles and different types of shots. To begin with, we had to create a story board which, although I had never made one, I had seen my brother make one for a film he made. Next we created a script, which was simple and did not have complicated lines because we were focusing on the film itself to convey the message through codes and conventions. To edit, I used iMovie.

            We incorporated symbolic code colors and some symbolic names into the film to show what each of the characters was going through. For instance, Genesis’ confidence was reborn at the end (hence her name) and she also changed out of her black layer of clothing to show she was ready for the new, and was her happy old self, leaving her sad self behind. Hope was the mentor and friend who helped Genesis have hope for the future and was wearing yellow to signify happiness, and the sun (light). Jeremy’s name was not symbolic, but he was wearing black to show that he was the one who gave Genesis her black “layer”.

            We used different angles to show Genesis feeling vulnerable (high angle shots) and POV shots when Genesis runs into the bathroom, to show her urgency to hide away and lock herself in the bathroom. When she opens the bathroom up to Hope, it is as if she is opening herself up. Hope leads her to the bathroom mirror to literally reflect upon herself and see that she should love herself and forget about any person who does not make her feel the way she should. Because of the theme, while I was editing, I decided to create the title: The Break-Up.

            There were some issues about sound, for instance it was loud in the classroom, which made the audio difficult to hear in the film. In the bathroom there was an echo that was out of our control. We also had to film everything the second day because, although we had started the first day of filming, some wardrobe things had changed, so we decided to make it as accurate as possible by filming everything in a day.