Preliminary Task Evaluation

I feel our preliminary task went extremely well considering we didn’t have a very long time to plan or shoot our short thriller.

I feel our use of steady camera work was consistent throughout our thriller, the majority of the opening shots were done with a stable tripod and the tracking shots were done by hand, though they were done by hand we tried to give it a professional, smooth look, which I think we succeeded in doing.

The framing within most of our shots were just how we had planned them, such as the shot where the character with the briefcase is in the foreground, however slightly to the right, which holds your main focus whilst still giving you some focus upon the background in which we had the two other characters following him, I feel this was a very effective shot. Whilst we are planning our thriller I would like to incorporate some more adventurous shots like this one.

I felt we covering the main shot types in our preliminary, such as a mid-shot, close up and also a long shot. I felt the use of variety kept the viewers interested and kept the video professional, I would like to replicate this in our thriller.

I feel our preliminary covered the main objectives of the assignment, as we used a range of shots and added some dialogue whilst keeping it short and effective. Our use of Mise-en-scene worked well as we set it in dull lighted corridors, the clothing was appropriate as the use of suits helped add an importance and power to the characters; we also used props such as the briefcase to keep mystery and suspense within the storyline.

We used mainly straight cuts within our task, we took this tip from watching thrillers and found they used straight cuts to help show immediacy and bring tension to a specific area of film, however we used a fade transition from the first scene to the second, this helped represent how it has gone from one area of the building to the next, we also used a fade to black at the end to leave it on a slight cliffhanger and also help use then put in our credits.

We used a soundtrack with a simple sound to it and then added thuds to it when we felt tension hit the hardest, this was to enhance the effect it had on the viewer and keep them on their toes, however I would like to try and make our own soundtrack when we make our thriller, the little time to edit our production meant we had to find a basic suitable soundtrack, however I still feel it works well to hold tension.

We have used the 180° rule at the very start of our preliminary, this helps the audience to not get confused with the placement of characters, also the use of dialogue at the start of the movie helps set the plot and general idea of the scenes ahead.

We have also used an effective shot reverse shot as one of the chasers shouts “Oi”, the camera cuts from over the shoulder of the target straight to the side of the character chasing him, we have done it very clearly to speed up the tempo and create tension.

I feel our editing techniques also made a large positive impact on our preliminary, we used colour correction to filter out unwanted light areas and create a darker, more eerie feel.

In conclusion I believe our preliminary task went very well, we had a large variety of shots, an easy to follow storyline, well placed props and steady camera work. However I feel that lighting might have been a problem as in some scenes it is very dark, though this adds to the effect I think we will consider having extra lighting handy to keep certain areas of focus visible. I also feel we should look into different styles of title sequences to use in our thriller, as they can be very effective if done correctly.