QUESTION 7

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

Victim

My first preliminary task, I set it in a house and on the street creating a victim and follower. The victim leaves the house and begins to walk down the road, then someone starts to follow her, wearing all black in a hoodie, and getting closer and closer. It builds suspense when the follower disappears, so the victim goes home thinking their safe. The follower then appears in the garden, hiding round the corner and captures the victim. It then goes to a different scene, where the victim is tied up with a pillow case and is struggling to escape, the follower then reveals herself to then blackout. This was also a thriller genre film, as I focussed on trying to get the suspense very intense.

Shots

In this short film, I did a lot of experimenting with the different shots trying out different angles and getting the focus right.

I used focussed on getting the shots one after the other, in a chase like way, so I had to constantly film the same thing in different positions. I used match on action, so when the victim turned around from the front, we could see her reaction from the back from the followers point of view which I was aiming for.

Some of my shots were very shaky, as I didn’t used a tripod I just held to camera and followed alongside them. This meant you could hear my footsteps and my shadows which I found in my outtakes, especially when I followed

behind.

I also tried doing a 180 degree shot, where I showed a very short conversation with my two actors, this was the weakest part of my film as it wasn’t clear and it wasn’t a proper conversation.

In my film, I had already planned my shots, which I didn’t with my preliminary task. I shots used changed a lot, so I used more close ups and flicked quickly between shots, whereas for this I had an order.

I also used titles in my film, which I hadn’t used in my preliminary task, which was a new skill I learnt.

Lighting

As I was filming outside, I wanted to film when it was dark outside. I tried it but the shots weren’t clear enough. It made a huge difference filming in the day time, which I took into consideration for my final film, which I filmed all inside so there was no natural light.

The shots I also filmed inside also weren’t clear enough, I didn’t think about the lighting. Due to the location I was filming in, this was the only place I could use as I wanted to create a dark basement with a single light, but this wasn’t available. So I used a hallway of a house only using natural light. I learnt a lot about how important to think about the lighting of the location to start with, as it really affects the quality of the picture, which I also found in my final film.

Costumes

In my prelim I didn’t really think about my costumes for the actors in great detail, I knew I wanted the person following to be dressed in all black with a covered face, and the victim looking like a normal everyday teenager.

In my final film, I went into much more detail in what I wanted from the actors, and the message it would portray from what they wore. I had to use two lab coats to show they were scientists, as I wanted them to look very similar so they looked equal but still so you could tell them apart.

Focussing

The focussing in my prelim worked for some shots but not for others, from the camera I used I found it easier for focus, but the shot angle would have improved the focus much more if I had changed it. For example, this over the shoulder shot, I had tried to focus mainly on the victim with the follower out of focus but found both were out of the focus. If I had changed the distance, the victim would have been in a clearer view.

What could I improve on?

Focussing is still something I could improve on, as in my final film I found that still some shots are out of focus. This will come when I have much more practise with a camera. I could also improve of my editing, as I my prelim I found it easy to film the shot after shot then piece them together, whereas in my final piece trying to chop and change it created transitions that weren’t smooth, and missing actions missing out pieces so that it didn’t flow. I also would like to improve on my special effects, as I didn’t include any in my films which is something I would like to learn about in the future.