Evaluation - Question 7

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

The preliminary task given was to create one scene between 30 seconds and 1 minute. In the scene there would be 2 people that walk into a room, have a conversation then leave. The scene had to include the following shots: over the shoulder, panning, mid shot, long shot and a close up.

Whilst creating this scene, I found it hard to put the camera onto the tripod as I couldn't get it to stay up straight. This meant that some of the shots were a bit wonky and not straight so it didn't look right. I also found it hard to work the camera at times because when I thought it was filming, sometimes it wouldn't have filmed anything. This meant that when we looked back during the editing stage, some clips weren't there so we had to use ones that weren't as good. To overcome this during the actual filming of my opening thriller sequence, I made sure that it was recording then played it back once after recording to make sure it was still there. This also meant that when I look back on the scenes, I could see whether or not it needed to be refilled to reach the standard required. However, I did learn how to turn the camera on and make sure it was ready to film. I also learnt about which angles and shots are the most conventional to the thriller genre. This meant that when we created our actual thriller sequence, we already knew what were the best shots to use.

The task helped to create our thriller opening sequence because as I learnt the best angles to use, we

were able to choose the most conventional shots and angles during planning and filming and where the camera needed to be placed to make it the most conventional. For example, during the preliminary task we used a long shot which I learnt was conventional to the thriller genre as it can easily build up suspense for the audience. As result we used it in the thriller opening sequence when the victim  is walking down the alley way, about to see the photos of herself
building up tension. This was also good because it meant that we didn't have to look up each camera shot/angle to find out what it was. From filming the preliminary task to filming the thriller opening sequence, I learnt how to correctly use the equipment so that everything was filmed properly. This meant I had to learn how to use the tripod properly so that I could stand it up in the right positions for certain camera shots and how to put the camera onto it so that I didn't have to do handheld shots. I also learnt how to use the camera properly so that it was definitely filming meaning that the scenes we want to use can definitely be used. By using the camera properly, it meant that everything would be on the camera ready to be edited.

To conclude, the preliminary task allowed me to practise creating different camera techniques so that when I actually filmed the real thriller sequence I wouldn't waste time and could create the appropriate angles to fit in with the thriller genre.