Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our preliminary task my group consisted of me, Beth Ryman and Libby Gelsthorpe. We decided to base our film on mystery and aimed to create suspense and the feel of being watched too our audience as we thought this would help us with our main task of creating a thriller introduction because it will closely relate covering some common conventions of thrillers. The ways in which we anticipated to create this was to use lots of high angle shots made to look like CCTV camera views in order to follow people to a mysterious setting to show they are being watched. When following the characters to the mysterious setting we took many different angled shots to ensure we could edit it together without having to waste time filming again and to also help our film have more action too it so it doesn't seem boring to watch. The mysterious setting we chose to use for our task was our schools recording studio as it looks formal, has a high sense of security, and looks a mysterious technical setting; it also enabled us to use the screens to display shots we had recorded earlier in the form of CCTV.

The majority of shots we captured for our preliminary task where taken using a tripod to ensure they were consistently steady and could give a realistic CCTV effect, the shots taken by hand where ensured to be stable by the tensing of arm and hand whilst holding the camera. This helped all of our shots be as stable as possible throughout; however when editing we decided that more shots should have been taken by a steady hand rather than tripod too help us create more action within the film. We also found out when editing that some of the shots we had taken had focusing issues and appeared to jump as movement occurred close to the camera. The shots we mainly used where long shots and close ups, including over the shoulder and mid shots. Whilst filming abiding by the 180 degree rule was essential in order for our shots to be professional, we also considered the golden mean and the rule of thirds when angling the camera.

The framing of our shots briefly followed our storyboard and earlier ideas we had brainstormed. We aimed to make the characters in the shot the focus point, giving away little information on setting or the close up visuals of characters.

I feel that overall our preliminary task turned out well and how we expected. I think this is because we ensured we used a large variety of shots covering many shot types. Also I feel we considered Mise-en-scene into all of our shots which helped us create professional shots that where edited together to show the story of our task clearly. Lighting was not an issue in the settings we were filming in because all areas where bright enough to get professional looking shots. We thought it was appropriate for characters to wear formal clothing for this film adding to the idea of suspense but also giving the characters a sense of importance.

When editing our film we used mainly straight cuts to help the shots flow without delay whilst following characters to the final destination. The quick movement from shot too shot can help create tension and give more action to the film drawing the viewer in to make sure they follow it through. Upon arriving into the destination and the revealing of both characters a fade transition was used to separate the shots from the following to the destination, to the arriving. This also insinuated to the audience that a change of time was happening. For the end of our film we decided that the fade to black was the most appropriate way to end to keep the tension of the film and to signify to the audience that it was up to them to interpret the mystery for themselves. We also applied the stabiliser effect to all of our shots to ensure there was as minimal movement as possible within them.

In conclusion I think that our preliminary task went exactly as it was planned and we ended up with a near professional looking film. In the time we were given to complete this tasks we managed to record more than enough shots in order to enable us to create a flawless, easy to follow film that creates suspense and tension. I think the problem we occurred during this was the quality of the camera we were using, as it resulted in some of our shots being jumpy when they were intended to be still. When recording our thriller we will take this into consideration and use a higher quality camera to record our shots, possibly with manual focus; manually holding the camera may be another option when recording to give more of an action edge on our film making it less boring to watch as a final product.