Evaluation Question 7

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

My preliminary task

Our brief for the preliminary task was to include someone walking through a door and to include some speech. It has allowed us to practice a variety of shots and skills that helped us to create our thriller opening. For example, the opening shot of Freya walking is similar to the close up shot of Freya's feet in our opening. It also allowed us to get used to setting the scene which was relevant to our storyline. Our preliminary task was set in an isolated and deserted setting as the scene was meant to be secret and suspicious whereas, our thriller opening is set in an forest to fit in with the common conventions of a thriller film.

Developed skills

My preliminary task allowed me to experiment with different shots and skills to see which ones work and which ones don't. This was crucial as it allowed me to know what would work in our opening. One skill that I learnt was editing and having continuity a series of clips into a smooth and flowing video. I also learnt about the importance of the 180 degree rule and how to incorporate it into our opening. The preliminary task also allowed me to learn how to use the editing software which made it easier when it came to editing our thriller opening.

Problems

During the production of our thriller film we came across a few problems but we easily resolved them. The first day we filmed the camera battery ran out very quick so we couldn't get much filming done, we easily resolved this by making sure the camera had full battery for the next day we filmed. The second day of filming we realised that a few of the shots were too shaky and had to re film them. This wasn't really much of a problem as they didn't take long to film and we learnt how to hold the camera from our mistakes. During editing we wanted to use a typewriter style font for our opening credits but the school computers would not allow us to download fonts. We overcame this by having to compromise to a pre-downloaded font which actually turned out to work better than the font we did want originally.

Evaluation Question 6

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

During the filming and planning of our thriller opening I learnt how to use a variety of different camera angles. Some of these include: close ups, point of view shots, pan shots, long shots, medium shots and over the shoulder shots.

Close-up

We used a close-up to show Gemma's hand as it falls to the ground. We used a close up because we didn't want to reveal to the audience how she did die and wanted to keep it to the audience's interpretation.

We also used a close-up of Gemma's face when she hears the loud splash. This allows the audience to see Gemma's reaction and facial expressions.

Over the shoulder shot

An over the shoulder shot was used here so the audience is able to see what Rachel can see as well as being able to slightly see how Rachel reacts. It also allows the audience to see the whole scene and the relationship between Rachel and the girl; the fact that Rachel has stopped quite far away suggests that she isn't too sure about what she should do and that she is weary of the girl.

Very long shot

We used a very long shot to show the complete setting and the character's clothes. This is one of the very first shots so it allows the audience to get a sense of the setting and what the characters are going to be like. It also suggests just how far the girls are away from home, giving off a sense of danger to the audience.

Pan shot

This shot allows the audience to see the full environment as well as it allowing us to reveal certain things that the audience would not have been able to see before. We use it to reveal the possessed girl to the audience, making it seem like she just magically appeared.

Medium shot

A medium shot was used here to easily show the character's expressions as well as being able to see a more detailed view of their clothing. It also allows the audience to gage what the characters are like.

Point of view shot

We decided to use a point of view shot here to show the audience what Gemma could see and that she couldn't see the danger, explaining to the audience why she was confused as to why Rachel was running away. It also allows to audience to see more of the scene and shows how deserted the forest is.

Establishing shot

An establishing shot was used as the very first shot in our opening to allow the audience to get a sense of the setting and also to allow them to make a judgement of what they think the rest of the film is going to be like.

Editing

After filming the range of shots we then used Adobe Premier Elements to edit the film together. For this we used a range of tools and techniques:

Timeline

The timeline played a crucial part in the editing of our film opening as it allowed us to identify the different shots and clips and also allowed us to see how long our film was. It also shows where the music and sound effects have been placed. It made it easy for us to cut clips accurately as you are able to zoom in and out.

Slow motion

We used slow motion in two of the shots in our film opening. We did this by going onto the time remapping feature and selecting the areas that we wanted to slow down. You are then able to select how much you want to slow the frame down. This enabled us to create tension during our film.

Changing the clip volume

In some of our clips the sound was slightly too quite or too loud. To fix this we used the volume tool by going onto adjustments and selecting the volume option. We could then make the sound in the clip quieter or louder to make the volume consistent throughout the entire film opening.

Adding text

In our opening credits we use text to indicate to the audience: who is in the film, director/crew, the production company and to set the scene. To add text we clicked onto the adjustment section and selected the text tool. We were then able to select the font, size, position of text and the colour of the text.

Fading music in and out

During the frames where we start or end music we wanted it to be a smooth start/end so we decided to fade it in/out. To do this we right clicked over where we wanted to fade the music and selected either fade in or fade out. We used three different pieces of music and a couple of sound effects throughout our opening to create a soundtrack. Luckily we also managed to record quite a lot of digetic sound while we were recording our opening.