Looking back in general to all aspects to our preliminary task we have come along way and all of those area's have improved a great deal:
Planning Stage:
- Taking into consideration that we had very little time to both film and to plan out what we were going to film and where we would film it. We had so little time to record it and the fact that it was our first time filming with a purpose and a deadline meant we didn't film all that we wanted to, we had to go back and film more.
- Compared to the amount of preparation we did for our thriller opening, we did a lot more for our thriller opening as the amount of detail we needed to include increased. We did a storyboard and did several group pitch's in order to gain more idea's and to try and get a clearer idea about what our thriller opening will be. Moreover we did a group pitch to the class so we could get some feedback in which it shaped our final idea before we went out to filming. We had find a main character as we felt that we couldn't all be in it because we needed at least two people to film at one time. We also had to plan what our main character was going to wear
Soundtrack:
- Our soundtrack for our preliminary task was very basic and we just threw one on and put in on for the whole clip, it was more hoping it worked with our clip rather than making it work second for second with our clip.
- For our thriller film opening we had to make sure that the music was not copyright, this meant we had to ask the artist if we could use his music, we also had to use 2 music tracks as we couldn't use one track through the whole film because it didn't fit our film and didn't sound right. We had to make sure that the music was perfectly in sinc with the titles and credits as attention to detail.
Shot Types:
- In our preliminary task we used all three of the continuity editing however we didn't use them to a great deal of effect, we included them as it was part of our task but failed to use them with a great deal of meaning or for any strong purpose.
- However in our thriller opening we used the 180 degree rule to great effect. The 180 degree rule shouldn't be broken unless it is broken to effect as it is hard to do and can often make your whole clip look very bad. We broke the 180 degree rule in our film when cameron was walking we saw him from the left side and from his left side. We see him from both sides because you can get a better idea of his surroundings and adds a range of camera angles which keeps the audience interested and intrigued. We also used close ups on both my face and on the car key to add even more angles.
Equipment:
- During our preliminary task we were 50-50 with the equipment and not completely comfortable with what all the buttons did on the camera and how to use it properly because none of us had ever used this camera before. Moving the equipment was a issue for our preliminary because we filmed on site which meant we only had a few minutes walk to where we would film and get back was just as easy.
- Comparing that to our thriller opening we all filmed parts of the clip as we all felt confident with the camera and how to use it to effect ( focus, zooming in/out & white balance), we didn't use a great deal of equipment ( camera, tripod ) because we didn't feel we needed to. We were only going to use the lights if for one reason or another the lighting was low as we only had one chance to film. Moving our equipment wasn't as easy for our thriller opening but we shared the equipment out to the 3 of us so we would all take some of it which then meant we needed teamwork as we all had to meet up at one time and if one person forgot to bring their piece of equipment then we couldn't film that day. Trust was key to our success.
Overall Thoughts:
- Looking back from when we did our preliminary task we had very little knowledge of camera angles,shots,equipment,lighting etc. Compared to now we have so much more knowledge and so we can produce a thriller opening that builds suspense and adds tension throughout.
- One of the main differences between our thriller opening and our preliminary task was the amount of time. It was the one thing that i think made the biggest amount of difference in quality. The levels of detail we went through for our thriller opening compared to our preliminary task was huge and is the reason there are so many comparisons between them.