Thriller Opening Evaluation

Question 6: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression

from it to the full product?

At the beginning of the course we were given a task to create a short sequence with continuity using a varied range of camera shots. The task we set to help us get an understanding on how to use the camera, shoot from different angles, what camera shots convey and how they are typically used.After learning the basics of filming we then had to gather an understanding on basic editing and how to configure our way around final cut pro.

Over the course of the academic year I have learnt a range of different skills that enabled  the opportunity to produce our final thriller opening sequence. Alongside our inspiration for the sequence and access to more resources, the skills I have learnt for the filming and editing processes have meant that I have come quite a long way. 

Since the preliminary task my camera work has greatly improved. During the preliminary task my camera shots were very shaky and were off centre, however since

then my skill improved and the establishing shots from the thriller opening looked a lot more professional than in the prelim.

The first frame is a screenshot of my cameraworkfrom the prelim. As you can see the rule of thirds rule

hasn't really been applied or taken notice of,there’s a lot of empty that isn't needed. The second frame is from our

thriller opening sequence. The whole frame has been filled and there isn’t any negative space.

For our preliminary task we were given about 10 minute planning time and went out with a very rough idea of what we were doing. This was obviously reflected in the prelim as our

plot wasn’t very imaginative; neither were the shot types. The thriller opening took a lot more planning than expected, we had

to produce a shot by shot list, shooting schedules including many other documents that are in previous posts. This level of

organisation meant my group spent most of our time being productive. From the preliminary task we learnt that it was important to plan and to also have a lot of extra footage,

cutaways and a wild track incase you wanted to change your ideas slightly or if you had problems with some of your shots

and the continuity wouldn’t match up you could use the cutaways.

These shots from the prelim show how bad our continuity was and how little we took it into consideration. In the first frame

you can quite clearly tell that I’m not in the hall way but as Denzel carries on walkingI suddenly appear

I learnt that it is always important to dress the shot appropriately, it makes it clearer to the audience what is taking place. For example in our thriller we had the chain round our necks which added to the realism of our idea. For my preliminary task we had no props and our

location was a hallway in our school which did not seem realistic at all.

During the editing process I learnt about adding non diegetic sound and transitions which I didn’t experiment with in the prelim this

it a lot more challenging for us all especially when trying to matchthe pitch up of Megan screaming.

Overall the knowledge and quality from the finalopening sequence increased and the newly learnt skills along with improved skills are clearly shownwhen watching the prelim and then the opening

thriller sequence.