Evaluation Question 7

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

Looking back at my preliminary task I feel as though I have improved tremendously with regards to planning, filming and editing. At the beginning of the planning for my thriller opening, many different ideas formed that we carried out by using storyboards, shot lists and intertextual links to other thrillers to prepare for the shoot. Researching the thriller genre made it easier to recreate scenes and perform intertextual references between a variety of thriller films. I worked in a group of three where we created the characters and their personalities, costumes and props to define them and make them believable. As I was one of the characters, I was therefore responsible for my costume and chose specifically to wear a red scarf and gloves to display intertextual references to the film ‘Sin City’ (2005, directed by Frank Miller) because I learnt that audiences like to notice aspects of the thriller genre. From my preliminary task I have learnt the importance of planning, therefore developing more detailed storyboards and the complexities of certain shots. For example, I feel my greatest achievement has been the effect of certain camera angles and shots such as close ups and over the shoulder shots, which I had no experience of before the preliminary task. In particular, we made sure that background noises were kept under control as we had suffered this problem during our preliminary task. We searched different locations and went on a recce to decide whether the location we wanted to use would create the perfect image of cinematography for the final product. We decided on the different shot types and camera angles that were usually used in thriller films, such as close ups, low/high angle shots to display power or vulnerability and over the shoulder shots to create the sense of being watched. A great deal of effort was put in to make sure all the scenes were exactly how we wanted them and especially the importance of composition for the mise en scene.

I used the editing suite to a much greater extent when producing the full product. Before on my preliminary task, my editing was not as advanced or elegant as it is now. For example, most types of transitions and visual effects were used between clips and I used slow motion for Eve White’s head spin to create a sense of motion and fear. I edited with a member of my group which helped me to advance as we learnt different editing skills from each other. I was good at performing how to piece the clips together and he taught me how to use smooth transitions.

The audience feedback that I received from year 13 students (our target audience) praised my camerawork and editing skills. This shows the extent of my media progress and has made me more enthusiastic about the media industry giving me more confidence about the subject. I was extremely pleased with the positive feedback and have taken on board their suggestions for improvement that will help me with future projects. Personally, I think that the strengths of my product have been the editing because we spent a long time perfecting it. The weaknesses are that the image of the character Scarlet Fraser was not obvious enough to portray as a femme fatale, and the ending wasn’t a significant cliff-hanger as noted on the student feedback. Most were undecided if they would want to watch the rest of the film. However, saying this we changed our idea a number of times due to them being unrealistic and too weak to represent as a thriller.

Overall, I have enjoyed the experience of creating a film and fully researching the thriller genre, as I was uncertain of what a thriller film entailed before I started this course. The most important thing that I have learnt is recognising key aspects and how much time and effort goes into the making of a film.