Evaluation Question 7

Foundation Production- Evaluation

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

I have developed as a film maker by improving my skills as a camera operator and as an editor. I feel that I have gained confidence by acting again in our thriller and developed a more experienced skill as a film maker. I have learnt how to create professional looking titles into our thriller and add new transition effects such as the fade into our thriller. As I shared the editing of the preliminary, I feel that by editing the whole production I have proven to myself that I was trusted at being able to complete the edit and have support from the rest of the group through our choice of editing techniques.

The strengths of our preliminary were our continuity as we made sure that we had ordered the shots together so that the audience would not get confused. We also made sure to keep to the 180° rule throughout shooting our short film. Our preliminary had a range of consistent and organised shots that ran consistently throughout the footage. We also used various shots types such as mid shots, high angled shots and close up shots, when it came to editing our preliminary we used a few techniques. Compared to our full thriller product we have included a wider variety of shot types in our footage. We also improved the amount of editing techniques we used as we implemented more professional titles and transitions into our full product. By changing the look of the titles in our full thriller product compared to using our lanyards in our preliminary, we made our thriller look more professional and almost like a real media product. We also added a different filter effect compared to our preliminary which looked hazy and old looking. We did not have any diegetic sound in our full product compared to our preliminary as some of the sound in our preliminary was unclear and we thought that by having no diegetic sound in our full product would increase the tension we wanted to create. We did have difficulty manoeuvring the camera steadily in both the preliminary and the thriller however, we managed to stabilise some of the camera movements in our full product better this time.  I have learnt how to construct our thriller on both my iPad and on the iMac as both were different in terms of the versions however, I still managed to work with both of them to create our finished thriller. I have continued to develop my continuity skills. This is due to the fact that when I edited the footage I made sure that I arranged the footage in chronological order, so that the audience would not notice any confusion in the way we shot our scenes. We kept to the 180° rule and ensured that the characters were kept on the same sides of the line at all times. We did use shot reverse shot in our thriller from the shot of Scott being sat down in the corner of the room to him then being behind me. This was useful in making Scott seem quick and mysterious as he vanishes from one place and reforms in another. Finally we developed on match on action to make sure that each shot followed each other from when we cut to another part of the scene. These factors were useful when shooting our thriller because it helped us to be organised in what we were shooting and how we were going to shoot it. It also reminded us to keep to rules of media industry so that we would not make any mistakes in our filming. They also helped us when editing to keep our shots in order of their occurrence and making our footage seem consistent and smooth.

 

We approached our planning a little nervously and at the start we were overwhelmed with the amount of genres route we could pick for our thriller. In the end we finally chose to make a crime thriller film. We thought that this would be the best genre in terms of the costumes we could wear and the props and location we could use. I feel that our thriller had both strengths and weaknesses to it. I feel that our proudest accomplishment was when we had a problem on the day of filming where we had to change our storyboard because of the mistake we made, when we began filming. We talked through how we would amend that mistake and then continued filming with a new idea as to how to implement the new footage onto our storyboard. I felt that we acted very professionally and calmly in that situation and I was proud of our group for what we ended up having as our thriller. I think our range of shot types and the editing techniques we used were appropriate and well put together when we looked back at our finished product. I feel that the filtering effect on our thriller could have been lighter so that the shots could have been clearer. I feel that the soundtrack was used well as it added the tension we were looking for to go with our footage. I feel that our communication skills could have been a little better as we did have some disputes over what we wanted in our thriller however, I was pleased that we agreed on our final piece together and that we were all happy with it. I feel that we got a positive response for our thriller however, I understand that everyone had their own opinions as to which thriller they preferred out of the class. Overall I was very pleased with what we made and I was very happy working with the people in our group as even though we all stressed out a little about the task we had lots of fun creating our final product.