Preliminary Task - Evaluation

Overall I believe the production of our film was very successful however there were a few weaknesses. We ran into a few troubles when editing, such as overlong shots, which we learnt to cut down to fit what we wanted, or the sound of dialogue being too quiet compared to the inserted non-diegetic music, which we quickly corrected by working together and finding out how to utilise the software to fix it, which now means i know how to fix this problem at any point during the production of my thriller should it happen to occur. During filming as well we had to figure out how to set the scene to make sure nothing was unwanted in the frame such as lights or unneeded props. Thankfully ,although they were difficult to keep out of frame, in any of our final shots we did not have anything unwanted inhibiting us from using that particular piece of filming in our final edit.

Several strengths of our production would be the editing which i believe after overcoming all of the difficulties looked smooth and professional, the continuity was good and we managed to make the whole scene appear seamless. We also abided by all the rules and included the character entering the room and exchanging the required four lines of dialogue with another character. Furthermore we managed to include an action match without it feeling forced, therefore making sure it seemed to legitimately fit in the scene with everything else. and finally we did not break the 180 degree rule and kept all filming on one side of the room.

In conclusion the preliminary task went very well and was not victim to any major weaknesses, and any it had were dealt with quick and effectively. Filming and Editing this task has given me crucial knowledge to allow me to go to make my final thriller project to the best of my ability.

Preliminary Task - Finished Product

The final edit of our short film - The Bomb

Preliminary Task - Filming

When it came to filming the preliminary task after planning it and preparing i thought i may not be able to use the camera myself as i was an actor in the film. But in the end me and my group worked around this and found a way to allow me to film. I filmed the POV shot from the view of my character, and also was able to film the mid shot dialogue part when Chris' villain character was talking. Using the camera and getting a feel of how it is to film a scene really helped me as now I will know what to do when filming my final thriller and I will not be confused. We filmed in a very short space of time as the amount of time available was limited, however we worked effectively and efficiently with what was provided and gathered several shots for each shot and angle chose to film, this allowed us to have many shots available to us at the point of editing, giving us flexibility and a broad choice of alternate shots if we notice something is wrong in one of them. The filming went very well for the most part and taught me a lot of things I can bring to my final thriller project.

Preliminary Task - Editing

For editing the preliminary task together the group used Adobe Premiere Pro, it was easy to use, we managed to cut and fit all the scenes together efficiently to make the final product as good and professional looking as possible. Using the editing software allowed us to add in non-diegetic music and transitions to give an extra effect to the final edit. We found that the sound of the actors dialogue was a bit too quiet and could not be heard over the non-diegetic music we had placed in. Whilst this was annoying and a tricky obstacle to begin with we managed to work together as a team and overcome it. This was in the long run a good thing as it allows me to now know the level a volume an actor is required to talk with when i come to making my final thriller. Using the editing software was difficult at first but now I have got to grips with it and believe I shall be able to edit my thriller to the best of my ability.

Preliminary Task - Storyboard

We initially created a storyboard for the prelim task to outline the ideas for the plot and shot types we were going to use, therefore making it a lot easier for us to commit to and complete the task efficiently. I drew the pictures for the storyboard so contributed effectivley to the group.

The storyboarad perfectly showcased the kind of angles and types of shots we would use, whilst also showing aspects of mise en scene and editing techniques such as action match and shot reverse shot. We even drew arrows to show the direction a character or camera would move to even further help us know how to film the scene when we picked up the camera to do so for real.

Preliminary Task - Dialogue

Protagonist - David Thomas
Villain -  Chris King
Henchman - Stephanie Hanna
Camera Man - Irena Mileva

Protagonist: I want my cat back

Villain: You'll never get it

(pulls out gun) 
P: Ill kill you

V: I don't believe you

(Kills Henchman)
(Villain throws cat to Protagonist, as Protagonist shoots him)
P: Thank you

(Leaves room, then we hear explosion, he is dead)