Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? 

Since we did our preliminary task, we have developed a lot through the two tasks. There were many strengths and weaknesses within our preliminary task but it is evident since that these weaknesses have been overcome and we have continued to enforce our strengths onto the project to make it even more successful than the last task.

One problem that we had in our preliminary was the quality of our footage. We switched between filming with an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 6 and there is significant difference between the two devices’ camera quality. On the top of these two screenshots is a picture of what the footage of the iPhone 6 quality was like. The iPhone 6 is evidently in a much better quality than that of the iPhone 5’s on the bottom. The iPhone 6 films in a 1080p footage which means pretty much every detail placed into the shot is in crisp detail. However the iPhone 5’s footage seems to appear fuzzier than the iPhone 5’s. It is still a good detail but it is evidently worse than that of the iPhone 5. To overcome this issue, we filmed with Canon DLR cameras instead of our phones. We filmed on a Canon E0S 100D and a E0S 1100D. Both cameras have very similar qualities and so the differences between the two camera’s shots are completely unnoticeable. The quality of the cameras is also significantly better than that of the iPhones.   

Another problem we found was editing the actual project itself. Initially we began using the Apple Macs to edit our preliminary and we used a program called iMovie. However, it was quite a confusing program for us to work with and we weren’t sure about what we were doing with the program. We struggled to figure out how to place in our clips and how to cut them properly to the right sizings. We also struggled to figure out how the layers work and how to save our project on a separate project to ones that were being used by other students. So we decided that we would instead use a program called Sony Vegas Pro 13 as we had a member in our group who had extensive knowledge of how to use the program and they taught the rest of the group how to use it. We overcame this problem in our final edit by going straight to editing with Sony Vegas Pro 13 and we were able to get to editing straight away and get it all done quickly. 

We’ve developed on many skills during the time filming and editing our final piece. One thing we have improved on significantly is the quality of our piece. We edited the piece so that it is fast paced in order to create the suspense and action which is a convention of a thriller movie. We did this by keeping each clip short instead of lengthy like they were in our preliminary. We found that when we kept our thriller clip’s longer, suspense or excitement didn’t build up within the piece and it also meant that our thriller came up to over 4 minutes which was too long for the requirements and meant that it slowly started to become boring. So by shortening each clip, we found that the whole thriller itself seemed to be at a quicker pace which caused more suspense and made it exciting to watch. Our thriller was cut down to 1 minute 29 seconds which we felt was long enough to include all of the enigmas and ideas we wanted to set up within the opening sequence but also short enough to be able to keep the pacing quick.  

We developed especially well on our continuity. We had an issue within our preliminary that we didn't notice until it was fully completed that we had an error with our costumes. In one clip, it is obvious that our second actor is wearing her glasses. However when the cut changes over to her shoulder the glasses are clearly on top of her head.  

So when we created our final product, we made sure that our actor's costumes stayed exactly the same throughout it and if any changes to the costume or makeup were made it was shown. For example, there is a part of our preliminary where we wanted our victim to appear dirty after falling over in the mud and so we showed a clip of her rubbing dirt onto her face. This allowed us to change the costume when needed to in our product without obstructing any of the continuity.

From our preliminary we developed on the soundtrack greatly. When we did our preliminary task, we found that a suspenseful, non-lyrical audio soundtrack worked best when trying to create a thriller-esque opening that was suspenseful. So when we created our final piece, we developed on this skill by using a non lyrical backing track to accompany our piece. Instead of lyrics, we used audio clips of past interviews with families who's children had gone missing. We did this because we thought it would add a sense of intense realism to our piece. As the audio continues, the amount of time 'missing' is mentioned begins to happen more frequently. So the audio is supposed to help cause a build up in suspense to the point where our victim is captured and fade out after she has captured. It creates the idea that these where perhaps past voices of other people who'd been captured in the past and the voices go quiet when our victim is captured because she is just another victim who's been captured and won't be found again. This worked a lot better than the soundtrack of our preliminary task which was just a low, suspenseful sound continuing through the piece and didn't create much of a build up to the apex.  

Previously in our preliminary task we had a few issues with match on action. We found that a couple of clips seemed to jump slightly and we hadn't completely matched all of the actions up between shots. So when we created our thriller, we spent a lot of time focusing on making sure that everything matched up correctly with each clip change. An example of where we had a match on action error was during the segment of the preliminary where our actor opened and walked through the door in the corridor. We found that her hand was slightly out of place during the few cuts we made whilst she opened the door and walked through it and so the shots didn't match up completely to create a smooth sequence of our actor passing through the door.  It was slightly difficult to match up these clips however because we'd used a mid-shot of our actor walking up to the door, a close up of her hand on the door and another mid-shot of her walking through it. Because we used different angles we forgot to make sure that the placement of thee hand matched up in every camera angle.

So we developed on this skill and made sure that all of our clips matched up when we created our thriller. One specific point where we did this was when our victim passes through some tree branches. We asked our actor to freeze as we changed the camera positioning to create a new shot and then in the editing process we made sure that all the clips were matching perfectly to create a smoothly running sequence. We cut the clip as she was still moving through the trees as we cut to the other clip and then returned to the first clip and showed her still continuing to move through the tree. There is a slight jump here, but it still works smoothly and isn't entirely noticeable when actually watching the sequence.  

In our preliminary we struggled with the 180 rule and broke it at one point. During our shot reverse-shot, we first established that Actor A was on the right and Actor B was on the left. However when we cut across to Actor B's shoulder to film an over the shoulder shot from them, we showed Actor A on the left and Actor B on the right. We should've shown a transition with the camera that moves Actor B on to the right sight of the screen instead of suddenly changing it between cuts because by doing it how we did, it can be disorientating or confusing for the audience.  

We feel that we successfully used the 180 rule in our piece and that it wasn't broken within our piece. If we needed to change the angles of our actors we also made sure that there was a visible change between the placing of our actors. There weren't many areas within our piece that required us to change the positioning of our 180 line since our actor was mainly walking through a sequence and we panned the camera with the movement, but there is evidence that we were obeying the 180 line rule. For example in the beginning of our opening, we started filming from the right side of our victim and made sure it continued to stay on that side of the victim for the next few shots. 

We also included a sequence where our victim moves from point A to point B through a shot and show her moving from the right over left of our screen. 

When we started production on our product, we had to go through extensive amounts of planning to make sure that everything was sorted and fully thought through so that we could create our product effectively and make sure that it is of the highest quality possible. The stages of our planning included:  

⦁ Thriller ideas: here we looked at other thrillers that could inspire ours. We evaluated what was good about three different thrillers and how it could inspire our own thriller's genre and storyline.  

⦁ Timeline: we recorded what titles we wanted to appear on the screen and at what time. We made any comments on specific transitions that we wanted on these and noted down the names of the job titles and the crew's member associated with that job. 

⦁ Schedule: this was our plan for what areas of the production we wanted to work on at different points of the week. So for example Wednesday we scheduled the deadline for the completion of our story board and shot list and Saturday we scheduled filming.  

⦁ Shotlist: we planned what shots we wanted at specific sequences within our product so that specific effects were created by using certain shots on a certain scene as opposed to other shots.  

⦁ Mise-en-scene: we planned out what kind of characters would be in our piece and what they might look like. We planned out the type of lighting we wanted to use in our piece and the makeup and costumes we wanted to use as well as the props characters would use. We also planned out our ideal location and setting and why it would be fitting to our thriller.  

⦁ Risk Assessment: we assessed the risks that are posed to us during the filming process that could cause danger to our actors. For example, we recorded a risk of tripping because of the amounts of over ground roots or rocks that could be scattered around the forest that could cause our cast or crew to fall over.  

⦁ Company ident and titles: we planned out how we wanted our ident to look and the titles and fonts we wanted to use in our product. This was so that we could make sure that our company comes across as professional and the fonts suited the actual product itself.  

⦁ Storyboard: the storyboard is a rough plan of what we wanted going on within different segments of the opening and what kind of shots we wanted. They included a small drawing of the kind of composition we wanted. It is like a picture run through of our whole opening.  

⦁ Consent Forms: we had to make sure these were filled in before we did any form of filming. These allowed us the permission to use the young actor in our piece and provided information to the parent as to what their child would be involved in and if we'll have permission to publically share pictures and videos of their child for educational purposes. It also allowed us permission to also film within our desired location.  

⦁ Concept: we planned out the rough idea of the storyline and genre we wanted for our thriller. We could easily expand and change our ideas by keeping it as a concept. 

⦁ Target audience: by deciding who we wanted to target our thriller to, we were able to expand on our piece even more and make sure that our piece would be completely suitable to our target audience and attract the correct audience. 

⦁ Sound: we planned out the various ideas we had for sound in our thriller and why we wanted certain sounds. It allowed us to brainstorm what sort of audio would be required to cause certain effects within our piece.  

⦁ Font: like our titles, we thought that planning the type of font was very important because if the font did not fit the genre of our piece, it would take away suspense from our piece.  

⦁ Audition reel: we filmed a selection of potential actors in our audition reel and evaluated what we liked about each one and what we didn't like. This allowed us to pick who we thought was the best to act in our product because we felt acting plays an important role in making a thriller engaging.  

⦁ Location scouting: we visited potential filming locations and evaluated them. This allowed us to find the weaknesses and differences of different kinds of locations and find the perfect location to film our opening within.   

I think that our thriller is very successful. I really enjoy it and I think it fulfils the conventions and expectations of a standard thriller. I think that our thriller easily creates a lot of suspense and has an emotional impact on our audience, which was evident when we filmed our vox pop reactions to our opening. I think that our thriller evidently shows the different strengths that our team members brought to the project. 

One thing that we like about our thriller is the title of our product. We wanted just a simple handwritten font to appear as the title of our product but we decided that it would be most effective to animate it rather than having it just simply fade in and out. When we edited our title, we used various different masking frames to make it appear as if the title was being written onto the piece. We practiced writing out the word 'missing' to see how it would look if it was being written onto a piece of paper. This allowed us to know how to mask through the fonts to make it look as if it was realistically being written onto the screen.  

Another thing that we liked about our piece was the visual effects. We liked the effect that we used on the trees to create the hallucinated, distorted effects.  We felt this was a really effective visual effect and made the POV that much more immersive because it showed what the state of the child was in and what she could see. It allowed us to show that she felt trapped within the forest and that she was surrounded by the trees. It also created a sense of claustrophobia because it showed entrapment and shows that there was no way out of the forest.  

There are a couple of things that I think could use some improvement in our piece. One thing is that we showed at the beginning of our product was our antagonist placing gloves onto his hand whilst he is in his garage. However when we cut to the other sequence where the victim has left his hideout and is now going to go after the victim he no longer has gloves which defeats the object of having to keep his handprints off what he touches so that he cannot be caught. So there is a small costume error in our piece that could easily be fixed by retaking a couple of shots with the gloves visibly on the antagonist.  

Another thing that I think could be improved upon in our product is costume. Because the weather had been so cold, we had to make a short notice costume change so that our actors were wearing appropriate clothing for the weather and not freeze with the weather. However on our antagonist, the choice of coat took away a sense of intimidation that his previous, very dark clothing gave him. He also wore a backpack that looked like a regular schoolboy backpack and so it created the sense that instead of some insane kidnapper was chasing our victim it was actually her older brother. His costume is too casual for the character he was intended to represent and so he does not seem as intimidating or as scary as he did earlier on in the piece.  

Our thriller was edited very differently to how it was when we filmed our final product. In our final product's timeline, it is obvious that each clip is very short. We did this so that a fast pace was created in our piece. It allowed us to fit in all of the action and enigmas wanted to be set up whilst still being able to maintain a fast and exciting pace. It is also obvious that there are numerous more components to our piece then there was to our preliminary. Our final product features one layer for the border which is the black bars that are on top and at the bottom of the screen of our final product. We did this to make it appear more like a movie quality since most high definition movies have these borders. We had 6 layers for the titles so that we could place numerous texts onto the screen at one point instead of restricting it to one layer and having all the texts come on one after each other or all fade in as a block. We had another two layers for our title and two layers to create the blinking, hallucinating tree effects for the POV Shots. On the final layer we placed our audio so it was separate from all of the movie clips and our clips were on a layer together. 

However for our preliminary, we only used two layers. It is obvious here that our preliminary's clips are a lot longer than the ones in our final product. This didn't help to build suspense in the preliminary and our preliminary seemed to drag on. So this was clear development in our editing techniques when it came to the clips themselves because we learnt that short, quick clips caused more suspense and action then it would do if the clips were long and dragged on like they did in our preliminary task. We also only had two layers which was because we chose not to use titles and a border. When we didn't use titles and the border, it gave across the impression that our preliminary was unfinished. The border and titles give a sense of professionalism and completion to our piece because they add a more movie-esque appeal to them.  

We also found when we filmed our preliminary that there were some clips that could've been refilmed or not even included. For example we used all of our clips in our piece including this shot. However when we completed it, we found that the shot was awkward and seemed unnecessary in our piece. 

So when we filmed on our final product we developed on our camerawork and took the time to film extra shots. By doing this, it meant that we had a lot of options as to what clips we could add to our piece. When we finished our piece, we found that we had a lot of clips that were unused but we decided that they weren't needed in our piece. We decided this because we made sure that when our actors did an action, for example when our antagonist placed on his gloves, we filmed it a number of times at changing angles so that we could decide which one worked the best within our piece.