Progression from Preliminary Task

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

In terms of research and planning for filming, we planned a lot more as we knew we wanted it to look better as we were not happy with how our preliminary task turned out. This meant we researched thriller films that were effective within their genre and generated some ideas. We planned our shots with the genre in mind, however we were less reliant on the storyboard as when we started filming we changed some ideas as we felt we could make our media product better. This showed how we were much more considerate of the mise-en-scene and compositions. In our prelim task, we used similar shots which did not create as much suspense, so in our film opening we used a variety such as long shot, mid shot and close up as this created more tension. Our skills with the camera improved as well as we decided that it would be best for me to film as I have a steady hand, so it would look better overall and cleaner cut. I have also learnt the skills to use a camera in my photography course which has helped me to apply my knowledge when filming and achieving the right exposures in each shot which I did not know about earlier on in the year. Filming was also a much quicker process, as we knew what we wanted to achieve so did not have to do as many testers like we did in the prelim task.

In terms of post production, we learnt how to use more effects on Adobe Premiere, as in our prelim task we only used simple cuts between each shot. For our main task we took the thriller genre into consideration, and we wanted to build suspense, therefore we included many fade to black effects at the beginning to set a slower pace. As well as this, we learnt how to add text for the credits which were not used in our prelim task. This helped it look more professional. Music was also added to our film opening as this is a key factor in building suspense in thriller films. We did not use music in our prelim task, which made the overall piece not at its best as the sound of the camera recording could be heard.