Since the completion of my preliminary task, my knowledge has
advanced and I have learned a variety of new skills which have enabled
me to apply them to my thriller. When we first began the preliminary
task, I had little knowledge in gaining research, planning, editing and
shooting for a film. With little experience in editing and shooting,
only little experience from taking stills. When we began the preliminary
task, we were put into groups. Working in a group was something we had
to adapt to due to not knowing each other, and different opinions.
Research
With
our preliminary task, research wasn't much of an important factor
because of the preliminary task not having a genre to it. This meant
that the research involved researching camera angles and shots, and also
specific rules when shooting. For example, I learned that close up
shots are used to show the emotions upon a characters face, to engage
with the audience. And that a high angle shot is used to show that the
character or object is vulnerable, and has a lower status than the other
characters. With the help of research I learned what the 180 degree
rule was and why its used and shouldn't be broken, it's a crucial part
of filming when filming a conversation which is there so that you don't
confuse the audience. Furthermore, other terms i had learnt through the
preliminary task and research were shot reverse shot; a film technique
where on character is shown looking at another character and then the
other character is shown looking back at the first character. I had also
learnt the film technique of match on action as well. The progress I've
made with research from the preliminary task has been very efficient,
allowing me to add the knowledge of what i've learnt about planning from
the preliminary task and apply that to the research into the thriller
genre. The research I've done for the thriller has allowed me to gain
the knowledge I now know about the genre which is vital; as well as
watching thriller films I never would have watched unless particpating
within the subject of media. Through researching films of the thriller
genre, we learned and were able to notify the importance of conventions
with the genre, meaning that we could apply this knowledge we've
researched to our media product, the thriller opening. My research
included films such as 'Witness', 'Animal Kingdom' and 'Heavenly
Creatures'. As well as researching films, I researched into other texts
such as 'The Lady in the Lake' a novel. For any media product, research
is vital as this is how you are able to gain knowledge in that specific
area, for us being the thriller genre. By analyzing real media products
such as 'Animal Kingdom' our group was able to take generic aspects of
that thriller and apply references to our own.
Planning
For
any media product, planning is essential. With the preliminary task,
aspects of planning such as costume were not taken into consideration,
so we just went along with what we were wearing on that day, noting that
if we didn't complete filming in the time given in the lesson then
continuity would be an issue. For the production of our thriller as a
group we took note of costume and used it as a way of conveying the
representation of social groups, race and gender. Through planning other
aspects such as which intertextual references we were going to include
were important and this type of knowledge would have only been acquired
through research. For example when planning intertextuality, we used the
2 wide open car doors and added this to make a reference to our
thriller when using the white van and having both of the vans doors wide
open.
Camera angles and shots
 |
| An example of a tracking shot used |
This is an important factor to take into
consideration. With the preliminary task, we explored a variety of
camera angles and shots which were gained from researching them. For the
preliminary task the way we planned our camera angels and shots were
through the use of storyboards. The progress that I have made with my
knowledge of camera angels and shots, is that I have greater
understanding of why certain shots are used, for example a low angle
shot is used to express the authority, or importance of an object or
character. For the thriller opening, we made a shot list which included
the camera angles and shots, and as a group preferred using a shot list
instead of a storyboard because we found it easier to add a new shot if
we needed to.Another reason why we favored a shot list was because the
shot list was done electronically on Microsoft Word, so when had lost a
copy of the shot list we could just print off another copy, this would
have been much harder with a storyboard because we had hand-drawn our
storyboards. Although as a group we found it effective to have a
detailed shot list as well as a basic storyboard because we found it a
lot easier to visualize, so knew what we were doing.
Additionally,
when shooting our preliminary task I had less knowledge in camera
angles, so the perlimanry task included limited camera angles. However
since then, my knowledge has increased in camera angles and their uses,
so a greater variety of angles and shots were used in our thriller
opening 'Transit'. This is another way how I have progressed into
becoming much more confident in both using the camera angles as well
understanding them as well.
Tutor Feedback
Tutor
feedback played an important role in producing our thriller. Tutor feed
back allowed us to make improvement upon editing, planning, and
research as well as ways to improve our evaluation drafts. When we
received feedback on a bit of work, we are notified by blogger in emails
as well as it saying that there is '1 comment' on the selected piece of
work. Once I read the feedback I could apply it and improve that bit of
work. For example for my question 4 of the evaluation, my tutor had
told me what i had done well, and then informed me on how i could
strengthen my work. After reading the advice I then applied it to that
question, a successful way of making progress on work.This is an
effective way of feedback partly because of how easy and quick it is.
 |
| An example of the feedback my tutor gave me on quesion 4 |
Audience Feedback
 |
| The questionnaire |
Audience feedback, like tutor feedback, is very
important in seeing what your peers thought of the media product. Once
we had completed the final cut for our thriller opening, I
electronically sent a questionnaire to both males and females so that I
could get some feedback. I sent the questionnaire to people between the
ages of 16-21, because this is our demographic. The questionnaire asked
several questions such as 'does the soundtrack effectively reflect and
enhance the mood & action?' so that i could gather what people
thought the negative and positive parts were of the opening. I collected
a small sample of questionnaires and overall received a positive
response to the thriller. One participant said that the soundtrack
'reflects the grittiness well' however the same participant noted that
it 'took them a time to find the link between the watch and the girl'.
This is an improvement we would make as a group, if given the chance to
do the thriller opening again.
 |
| Colour grading |
Sound and Editing
The
preliminary task enabled us to give us a chance at editing using Adobe
Premier Pro. This was a first time using this software for many of us,
including myself. Prior to this, i had never used editing software
before, so was all completely new to me. The preliminary task allowed us
to experiment with Adobe Premier Pro, giving me the knowledge to do
basic edits and effects. The things i learned included: Inserting in and
out points in video points to cut the clips making them shortened, I
learned how to use video transitions as well such as fade to black, and
also how to include titles. These few lessons when editing proved vital
when it came to editing our final thriller production. However gained a
lot more progress when editing the final production. With the help of
the members in our group I made a lot more progress in editing and for
example learnt how to use colour grading, which alters the look of the
footage.
 |
| The effect of changing the colour |
Within the preliminary task we weren't
made known of diegetic and non-diegetic sound so therefore didn't know
its importance within a media product. So for the preliminary task when
editing we left all the diegetic sound in. This gave the effect of
making the situation unrealistic but made the mise-en-scene realistic.
Nevertheless when doing research and planning into soundtracks with my
group for the thriller production, we learnt that sound was extremely
important. When shooting and editing our thriller opening we made it top
priority to keep an even balance between diegetic and non-diegetic
sound so that we could get that realism from the mise-en-scene as well
as to build tension. Another way in which I have progressed since the
preliminary task.
Working Within a Group
Working
within a group allows for greater creativity. When working with my
group when producing the thriller, one of us would come up with an idea,
then another one of us would improve upon that making it more creative.
What this meant is that it improved our teamwork together, making us
more comfortable within the group through sharing ideas and suggesting
for improvements. Working within my thriller production group allowed us
to come up with ways to establish the genre in our film, as well as
allowing several responsibilities to us as individuals so that we were
more efficient as working as a group. The result of this meant that we
could come up with a wide variety of ideas, and also we could come up
with ideas fairly quickly due to our individual roles. Another advantage
of working within a group means that we can help each other understand
certain factors within the thriller genre. We all carried out individual
research into media texts so that we could distinguish things such as:
the type of thriller, character roles and location advantages. This also
meant that we could do the shooting process very quickly and come back
to shoot another day if we needed to, which we did. One do the best
advantages of having assigned roles within a group and working with a
group means that we can help each other and reduce stress, making me
feel much more comfortable working in a group since the preliminary
task, therefore making progression
