Evaluation Task Seven-
Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?
Looking back to my preliminary task in November 2012, I have learnt allot since producing my own opening to a horror film. These include things like; Camera shots, Editing, Mise-en-scene, and Settings, I feel that in all of these I have progressed and learnt how to use them correctly and in a way that I can address my audience and create suspense and a good horror opening.
The camera angles and shots used in my preliminary task were basic and I only used an extreme close-up on the door handle, but based on my feedback, the extreme close up was the only aspect we needed to improve on. In our film "Intruder" we used a range of camera angles and shot types including; High angle shots, Low angle shots, Extreme close-ups, Close-ups, Panning. Our CCTV footage shows the intruder in high and low angle shots depending on where he is in the home. By changing the angles frequently this changes the vulnerability of the intruder and this confuses the audience and makes them uneasy as they do not know whats going on.
I used close ups to show the props and this helped to incorporate the titles of our actors into the title sequence, where as in our preliminary task my titles were a basic screen with a black and white title. The close ups also create a sense of realism to the audience.
The camera movement in our preliminary task was very static and only panning was used for a few seconds to show our main actor Harry walking along the lockers. In our final film we also used static camera movement but tried to move the camera as often as we could; We panned the camera along the police tape and also moved the camera during the CCTV footage as well. This created variety for the audience to ensure they didnt loose focus or get bored watching.
Framing is the key thing that i have learnt to do properly since my preliminary and i have shown what i have learnt in my final version of intruder. With framing of the family homes rooms we made sure the house looked like a proper family home to the audience and for example that the closeups of the prop of the police investigation file did not have anything on the desk that would show it was filmed at school. (e.g folders, letters, genral peices of work.)
Whereas in my preliminary task there are shots with school posters and displays in the background. This shows I have learnt to frame my shots well and have learnt from the preliminary task that it ruins the mood and genre your trying to portray to the audience.
The mise-en-scene of our preliminary task was very basic and the lighting was light and the same throughout. The costumes and props were basic, minimal and found within the school, making it look amateur and shows it its actually filmed in a school. In our final film we used low key lightning to create the sense of night or early morning as we actually filmed the night scenes during the day. By using the cameras built in flashlight this gave the grainy low key lighting effect for the CCTV. This also links to the genre of horror as low key lightning is a well known convention of horror. For costume in "Intruder", we made sure that the main actor George was wearing black as this shows him as evil and is a contrast to the actor playing the mother (Susi) who wears white which connotes innocence. The props we used in our film create realism as the police tape is real and the police file look real in shot as well. This tricks the audience into believing it is true and real.
For mode of address in our preliminary task we didn't focus on this as well as we did for our final product. For our preliminary task we only had a few lines to exchange between characters and they were last minute and very improvised between the actors. This is shown by how the actors say there lines, they are very monotoned and unbelievable, the actors also sound uncomfortable and they do not come across as natural to the audience.
However in our final title sequence we had planned the scripts for the 999 call at the begining and the police interviews throughout, we also made the actors rehearse their lines before filming on camera, this made the speech seem more natural to the audience and look more professional overall, creating a sense of realism to the audience.
Editing was the aspect of this that I feel I have learnt and improved most on as my editing for my preliminary task was very basic and easy and only involved very simple cuts and transitions. Whereas for our final film we spent many hours in the editing suites making sure the film was finished in time. The main feedback for my preliminary task was that I didn't cut the close up in time and it was too long which didn't look natural to the audience. The main challenge for our editing for intruder was the CCTV footage and getting all four screens to appear and match with timings and music at the same time. This involved layering the four different shots on top of another. Also another challenge we had to overcome was adding in our REC images at the bottoms of each of four CCTV screens, the hardest part of this was making sure REC buttons were blinking at the same time and also in the same place throughout the footage.We used allot more transitions in our film intruder compared to my preliminary task, we wanted to make these seem basic as we didn't want the suspense to be over-shone by colorful and interesting transitions.
Overall i think i have mainly improved on my editing and filming techniques as these are the key areas that i have learnt most about in producing my film. By using the technology I have and learning to use camera angle and movement and music to create suspense and leave my audience uneasy scared and uncomfortable. And I feel that I have improved greatly since my preliminary task and this shows in the final product of our film "Intruder".
I used close ups to show the props and this helped to incorporate the titles of our actors into the title sequence, where as in our preliminary task my titles were a basic screen with a black and white title. The close ups also create a sense of realism to the audience.
The camera movement in our preliminary task was very static and only panning was used for a few seconds to show our main actor Harry walking along the lockers. In our final film we also used static camera movement but tried to move the camera as often as we could; We panned the camera along the police tape and also moved the camera during the CCTV footage as well. This created variety for the audience to ensure they didnt loose focus or get bored watching.
Framing is the key thing that i have learnt to do properly since my preliminary and i have shown what i have learnt in my final version of intruder. With framing of the family homes rooms we made sure the house looked like a proper family home to the audience and for example that the closeups of the prop of the police investigation file did not have anything on the desk that would show it was filmed at school. (e.g folders, letters, genral peices of work.)
Whereas in my preliminary task there are shots with school posters and displays in the background. This shows I have learnt to frame my shots well and have learnt from the preliminary task that it ruins the mood and genre your trying to portray to the audience.
The mise-en-scene of our preliminary task was very basic and the lighting was light and the same throughout. The costumes and props were basic, minimal and found within the school, making it look amateur and shows it its actually filmed in a school. In our final film we used low key lightning to create the sense of night or early morning as we actually filmed the night scenes during the day. By using the cameras built in flashlight this gave the grainy low key lighting effect for the CCTV. This also links to the genre of horror as low key lightning is a well known convention of horror. For costume in "Intruder", we made sure that the main actor George was wearing black as this shows him as evil and is a contrast to the actor playing the mother (Susi) who wears white which connotes innocence. The props we used in our film create realism as the police tape is real and the police file look real in shot as well. This tricks the audience into believing it is true and real.
For mode of address in our preliminary task we didn't focus on this as well as we did for our final product. For our preliminary task we only had a few lines to exchange between characters and they were last minute and very improvised between the actors. This is shown by how the actors say there lines, they are very monotoned and unbelievable, the actors also sound uncomfortable and they do not come across as natural to the audience.
However in our final title sequence we had planned the scripts for the 999 call at the begining and the police interviews throughout, we also made the actors rehearse their lines before filming on camera, this made the speech seem more natural to the audience and look more professional overall, creating a sense of realism to the audience.
Editing was the aspect of this that I feel I have learnt and improved most on as my editing for my preliminary task was very basic and easy and only involved very simple cuts and transitions. Whereas for our final film we spent many hours in the editing suites making sure the film was finished in time. The main feedback for my preliminary task was that I didn't cut the close up in time and it was too long which didn't look natural to the audience. The main challenge for our editing for intruder was the CCTV footage and getting all four screens to appear and match with timings and music at the same time. This involved layering the four different shots on top of another. Also another challenge we had to overcome was adding in our REC images at the bottoms of each of four CCTV screens, the hardest part of this was making sure REC buttons were blinking at the same time and also in the same place throughout the footage.We used allot more transitions in our film intruder compared to my preliminary task, we wanted to make these seem basic as we didn't want the suspense to be over-shone by colorful and interesting transitions.
Overall i think i have mainly improved on my editing and filming techniques as these are the key areas that i have learnt most about in producing my film. By using the technology I have and learning to use camera angle and movement and music to create suspense and leave my audience uneasy scared and uncomfortable. And I feel that I have improved greatly since my preliminary task and this shows in the final product of our film "Intruder".
Excellent analysis of the development of practical skills from prelim task to final opening sequence. Detailed & thorough with plenty of media language used throughout. well done.
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