Q7 : Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product ?

Our production team needed to improve following the Preliminary task. Our preliminary task was simplistic and on the whole not overly creative. I truly believe we have developed and become more media aware regarding key technical aspects of our film. Our preliminary task was, simply, an exchange between two people, an Inspector and a criminal in an interrogation style. Our narrative was simplistic and so two were the technical aspects.

Our preliminary task was very simple technically. In terms of camerawork, it was repetitive and consisted simply of mid shots in a shot reverse shot. This conveyed the idea of a conversational feel between the two characters. We complied with the 180 degree rule and the rule of thirds, which made the film easier to follow and didn’t disorientate the audience. This gave us a base knowledge of rules to follow in terms of composition and allowed us to put them into effect in our real opening sequence of our thriller film.

Comparatively, in our opening sequence of our thriller, it was more varied and carried much more meaning and diversity to the film. We used a range of shots, such as establishing shots, used to set the scene and provide depth to the location in which it’s set, mid shots and close ups which provide texture and allows emotion to be seen on the characters face. We also used tracking shots to comply and conform to the genre, which was important to us. Another thing that influenced our thriller was the use of a DSLR, which provided us with a good quality camera to shoot with, whereas in our preliminary task, we filmed using an iPhone 7, which had a negative impact on our final product. To summarise, our camerawork was basic and fairly one dimensional, comparatively, in our thriller, we were more varied and more confident with the camera and using it in a way which complied with composition rules but also presented the themes of the character which we aimed to achieve, camerawork improved drastically.

In terms of lighting, in our preliminary task, we used solely low key lighting in order to create a tense and an intensity in our scene. We also played around with using silhouettes to try and emulate the Film Noir genre and have aspects of that in our film. Not only this, we also used three point lighting to create a perfect, harsh and bright lighting to put the suspect in particular lighting to connote the guilt he feels. In our thriller, we looked to replicate the skills we used in terms of low key lighting to provide this idea of intensity and used lighting across half the face to connote the idea that Masterson has two personalities. In our thriller, i think the use of diegetic lighting through both the naturalistic lighting seen in the woods and then the candle light enhanced our lighting and furthered both the professional of the film but also gives it a nice aesthetic. The lighting we used in our thriller was due to the basic knowledge of using lighting for effect which really culminated the use of lighting in our film. To summarise, I would say we gained information from our preliminary task and enhanced and experimented more with lighting due to the greater knowledge of lighting which was gained in the research and planning phase of the course.

Editing in our preliminary task was very, very basic. This was due to a lack of experience and knowledge around how to edit. This was highlighted by the simplicity involved with in our

Set up of the prelim task

Diegetic lighting of the candle

preliminary task, it was mainly shot reverse shot which illustrated the lack of experiment, knowledge and reflected the quality of our preliminary task. The conversational style we were tring to show involved fast paced cuts which simply weren’t achieved. However, one positive of the editing process of our preliminary task was we learnt how to use, albeit basic, the programme Premier Pro. In our thriller final cut, the edit is more varied and knowledgeable, mainly due to us using a programme of which we are more knowledgeable and this impacted positively on our thriller. Also, we used a range of advanced techniques, such as colour blending and a flash cut. It was also important to retain the continuity of the film through editing and overall, it was a more positive experience due to the variability of the edit as oppose to sticking to one technique which would make the film one dimensional and dull. We used editing at the point where Tom Rush punches Masterson as the screen dips to black, thus showing how Masterson has been knocked out. The fast paced cutting and editing generally creates a tension and helps us portray the character of Masterson, as he isn’t in control of how quickly the edit is moving, whereas Tom Rush is in control. To summarise, our editing was more refined and polished which had a greater impact on our thriller.

Our work ethic and team sprit with in our group was brilliant; we bounced ideas off of one another and worked tirelessly to ensure this thriller was of a standard of extreme quality. Team work is an important part of any project and this film was no different, our team work depended heavily on our strong friendship which helped communication throughout the project. Working to a brief was something I personally found brilliant fun, to construct a plan and research phase before executing your final product is something that is very rewarding and having a specific brief made it easier for us to narrow things down and select an idea, whereas having a vague brief would have caused confusion. In preliminary task, one thing we had was a great script, albeit lengthy, and we wanted to ensure our narrative was still engaging and clear whilst trimming the dialogue, in the end, we looked the challenge dream and reality, and that naturally led us to a psychological thriller.