Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

 

I have developed as a film maker as I have used different pieces of equipment for example the camera, tripod and the editing software (iMovie) on the macs. When we filmed our preliminary task and had to edit it I didn’t know how to use the macs and the editing software iMovie, before we started editing I made sure that I experimented with using the software so that I knew how to use it when it came to editing our film work. I have also developed skills when using the camera in the filming process for our preliminary task this helped me when we filmed our thriller opening title sequence as it helped me to make sure that all the shots were still and there was no movement in those shots. I gained skills when filming as I made sure that all the shots were steady and there wasn’t much movement from me as the camera person, I also made sure that I included a range of different shots that are usually seen in thrillers  for example extreme close ups and close ups. I stuck to the 180 degree rule and used match on action shots and I also made sure that when editing our thriller it had continuity.

I think that our prelim task was good and we used many different shots and camera angles. We used mostly straight cuts; however we did use fade to black for some of the transitions, and this made our prelim look professional. We edited our prelim well and we made sure that each shot looked good, for example on the CCTV shot we used a black and white effect and put a time stamp in the corner to make it look like a CCTV camera.

 

 

We also made sure that we added transitions between the shots to make it look a bit different, this made our prelim look good and also professional. The opening of the door was a successful shot because we edited it so that the sound of the door opening matched the door opening in the next shot. We also stuck to the 180 degree rule, this makes our prelim look good and also it made it look professional. The things that we need to improve on in our preliminary task were; the use of the music and where we placed it, this is because in our peer assessment our peers said that the music didn't sound right and wasn't really needed. Another thing that we needed to improve on was that we need to include a wider variety of camera shots and angles. We learnt from our preliminary task and we made sure that we used a wider variety of shots in our thriller; we also made sure that the soundtrack suited our thriller and the theme.

 

I think that this is also a successful shot because this shot and the next shot was edited well so that the sound of the door opening matched the door opening. I think that this shot doesn't need to be filmed again as it has been filmed well and edited well.

I think that this is a successful shot from our prelim because we have made it look like a CCTV camera; however you can see that it shakes a little bit. If we were to do this shot again i would make sure that it didn't shake and that it was steady.

 

When we filmed our thriller the first time using one of the cameras from school the quality wasn’t that great and when we put all of our footage onto the mac ready for editing we realised that the quality wasn’t that great and we hadn’t used a wide variety of shots, we also noticed that we went against the 180 degree rule in one of the shots. After looking at all of our footage we realised that we needed to film again, before the day of filming again we made sure that we knew exactly what other shots we were going to include and who was going to act in it. The second time filming went a lot better we decided that this we were going to film at Georgia’s house instead of Elle’s because it had a lot more light and was easy to film in. we also had Elle from our group act in our thriller as she knew how we wanted each character to act and therefore this was useful when filming as we ended up with better quality acting and camerawork. We also decided to use an IPhone to film on as it was a better quality camera then the cameras from school,  doing this resulted in us having a better quality of footage. We did not use a tripod the second time as we were using a phone to film, as I was the camera person I made sure that I didn’t move and I had a steady hand when recording each shot/ scene.

We made sure that we spilt all the jobs up equally when doing all our planning, we came up with all the shots we were going to use together and wrote up the shot list together in our group.  We made sure that before we started any of our planning all the jobs to do with planning were spilt up equally between the four of us, we then made sure that once each job had be completed that each person in the group had all the planning on their blogs. From our preliminary task it was clear that we needed to make sure to use a wider range of shots as well as having a lot more shots throughout our thriller in order to make our thriller look professional and like an actual thriller. Having a lot more extreme close ups and close ups in our thriller opening sequence would make it seem more like a thriller and would help to create tension and suspense in our thriller. As I was doing all the editing for our thriller I made sure that I knew what order the shots were going to be in and also once I had edited part of the thriller I would check to make sure that the rest of the group liked what I did.  Our thriller is more successful than our preliminary as we planned in detail for our thriller and we didn’t do much planning for our preliminary.

I think that our thriller opening title sequence is successful because we have included a wide variety of shots that are typically used in thriller openings. The shots that are mostly used in thrillers are extreme close up and close ups, we have included these shots in our thriller opening to create tension and suspense. The first part of our thriller opening is successful as it shows the location and then shows the magazines in the bedroom, then it flashes between the blood dripping on the magazines and the magazines in the bedroom to show how the blood got onto the magazines. The magazine covers have skinny girls on, having the blood and the claw marks on these magazines suggests that the alter ego doesn’t like the way she looks. I think that this part of our thriller is successful as it clearly shows the messages we want to create for the audience. The rest of our thriller is of the teenage girl hearing the noises and going up stairs to find the alter ego, all the shots that are used are successful as they clearly show the location and the teenage girl as well as portraying the girl to have two different sides to her personality. This is clearly shown in the bedroom scene.

This shot is successful because it shows how the blood got onto the magazine before being shown in the teenage girl’s bedroom. It also creates the message that the character doesn’t like the way she looks, this shot is an extreme close up we used this type of shot as it clearly shows the blood being smudged by the alter ego.

 

This shot was successful as it clearly shows that the girl is scared after hearing the noises coming from upstairs. This is an extreme close up showing the teenage girl’s facial expressions when she hears the noises.

 

 

This shot was successful because it clearly shows the magazine the teenage girl was reading being dropped on the floor after hearing the noises coming from upstairs. This shows that the girl is scared of what could be upstairs, this is an extreme close up at floor level to show the magazine being dropped and where it lands.

 

 

 

This shot is successful because it shows the alter ego from the teenage girl’s point of view. This shot is a mid-shot and shows the alter egos face as well as her costume and make-up, as she is wearing dark clothing and make-up it is clear that this is another character and is the darker side of the teenage girl, we know this because this character is played by the same actor. We can also see that this character is the villain/ antagonist in the film as well as being the teenage girl’s dark side.

I think that we improved our thriller by filming again as the second time filming we included many more shots and this made our thriller opening title sequence look more professional and like a real thriller film. I think that the shots that could be improved are; the shot as she is walking down the hallway towards the bedroom this s because it cuts her head off a little bit and if I did this again I would have made sure that you could see her whole body or used a tracking shot. Another shot that could have been improved is the shot of the teenage girl walking through the doors downstairs as the lighting changes and it looks a little bit odd. I think that we could have added a few more shots of the alter ego.

 

 

 

 The image above on the left is from our preliminary task and the other image is from our thriller opening. Both images show a girl walking up the stairs, we have developed this shot from our preliminary as we have placed the camera in a better position and therefore this shot in our thriller clearly shows the teenage girl walking up the stairs. This shot from our thriller is more effective as it has a greater impact on the atmosphere because in our thriller the atmosphere is more tense, which is a typical convention of a thriller, and in our prelim it isn’t as you know what to expect whereas in our thriller you don’t because the face of the character is being hidden in this particular shot which could also show some mystery to the events that are about to happen. Both these images also show that I have developed my camera skills and also that I have used a more abstract shot in my thriller than in my prelim.

The image above on the left is from our preliminary task and the other image is from our thriller opening. Both images show an extreme close up of a girl opening a door, we have developed this shot from our preliminary as we have made sure that the camera was closer to the door handle to show it clearly. The lighting in our thriller is dimmer than in our prelim because it had an impact on the atmosphere but also we changed the position of the camera so that when she opened the door she would be the one to see what was inside first and not the audience. We did this because it gave more mystery and gave more tension to the scene which is a typical convention of a thriller.

 

 

The image above on the left is from our preliminary task and the other image is from our thriller opening. Both images show an over the shoulder shot, we have developed this shot from our preliminary as we have made sure that the camera was closer and looked more like an over the shoulder shot. I placed the camera in a different position and made sure that the camera was closer to the girl’s shoulder because it was a more effective shot because you could see what the character was doing or looking at and it would make the audience feel like they were the ones looking over the characters shoulder so it made them feel like they are a part of thriller which is a good thing because it is important to make the audience feel like they are a part of something as it appeals to them more. These two images show that I have developed my camera skills from filming our prelim and then filming our thriller opening. It shows that I have become better with using the camera and have used these skills to make sure that our thriller had a better outcome compared to our preliminary.

The strengths of our thriller opening sequence are; the uses of the extreme close ups and close ups as this made it look more professional and showed details such as the teenage girl’s facial expressions and the opening of the doors. I think that the effect we used on all the shots made our thriller look more interesting and different. Another strength of our thriller is the shot of the title at the end of our thriller this is because it was clear that this was the title and the way the posters were ripped off to expose the title was interesting and made it look interesting.

The weaknesses of our thriller opening sequence are; some shots needed to be a bit shorter, however this could not have been changed as these shots show the teenage girl walking through the hallways. Another weakness of our thriller is the typography used for all the main titles as I don’t think that it suited our thriller as well as it could have. The shot were the teenage girl walks from the top of the stairs towards her bedroom is also a weakness because the first shot was meant to be a long shot, however I didn’t film t from the right position and therefore the shot didn’t include her whole body. If we did this shot again I would film from a different place to show her whole body. We could have used different transitions to get from one shot to another instead of just using straight cuts.