Nigel - Evaluation Question 7

If I compare the preliminary task to the thriller opening, there are a lot of differences as well as improvements. There is a lot different in the research, planning and overall time spent completing the thriller opening compared with the preliminary task which means that it isn’t fair to compare them directly, but from the preliminary we can learn some lessons.   

For starters, we planned titles in our thriller opening whilst in the prelim film didn’t have any specific titles, only credits. This was mainly because our prelim was made to show that we could put a sequence together following the 180 degree rule and having a shot reverse shot successful sequence. We didn’t necessarily use this in our thriller as there were no conversations but most importantly the rules were followed where it was needed to keep continuity at the end product.

One great lesson from the preliminary task was FOCUS. Focus was a great focal point of our thriller opening due to the errors in our prelim. Every shot that we took, we spent at least a minute deciding the focus (as we used a camera which wouldn’t automatically focus for us). Although human error, there were ways to attempt and prevent it. We didn't get all the focus right in our thriller opening as some shots were off the standard of the overall project,  but the preparations we made to make sure that the focus was perfect on most of the shots showed that we learnt from our mistakes and what happened in the preliminary task wouldn't be repeated once again. 

Obliviously the prelim wasn't intended to have an outrageous amount of story and depth but when it is compared with the thriller opening the idea of the story and narrative seem even worse.  There was unsurprisingly more time and effort which went into crafting the story and plot for the Thriller opening. The prelim narrative honestly didn't make that much sense, it made sense to us before scenes were cut and ultimately just not filmed. Although it fit the criteria which we had pursue to fulfill what was expected. I think this helped us figure out that there needed to be more planning which needs to have gone into the actual narrative and story of the thriller, so we could make an opening which would make sense. To do this we, as a group, sat down and discussed the whole story; start to end for our film idea, creating our film synopsis. The whole concept 

The soundtrack and sound overall had more effect towards the audience and mood in the thriller opening than the preliminary; this may have been because there was more to work with the whole narrative or that the music choices were better.  The prelims sound was very vague and quiet at some parts because it was all synchronous sound. We learnt from the poor sound and decided to record extracts and clips of sound with the recorders to add into post-production. Although we did actually add sounds into the prelim, it was a basic comedic bird sound which gave the character, or the stuffed animal, more realism for the audience, the added foley sound showed that we tried to create something which was planned, as we planned what we would add in post-production but not to the extent that was done in the thriller opening.  

Nearing the post production, of course there was time spent doing the preliminary task but I think that was because we were growing our skills and knowledge on the editing software itself. There was a lot more work and time which went into the thriller editing than the prelim for obvious reasons, this wasn’t just because there was more to edit but because we were being more ambitious with the overall editing to create a much more complex and exciting project. One major difference was the ambition in location and settings. I shot a few short clips of the locations that we filmed at so we could keep a record of it. We went to the locations early in the morning, first the graveyard so we could get the morning effect with the cold breathe in the air and the overall cold effect. 

One final point of improvement is the organisation, from the photo below you can clearly see that we had forgotten to take our bags out of shot, therefore there were some issues there, to fix this we could have put the bags the side of the room which wasn't in the view of the camera at any time. In our thriller, bags are out of the frame and far away whilst every shot is taken. 

In the end, I believe that the preliminary task allowed for more practice and experience before the thriller opening. This was as useful to us as we could go into the thriller project with more confidence and experience. It allowed us to get together and plan to create, film and then something we are proud of.