The document summarizes what Hannah Ram learned from creating a preliminary task and progressing to a full product. Some key points include: 1) Shots were shaky in the preliminary task due to lack of a tripod, but a tripod was used for the full product to create steady shots. 2) Framing of shots needed improvement, so character positioning was planned in advance for the full product. 3) Research was conducted on conventions like the 180 degree rule to ensure content was appropriate. 4) Attention to details like location, lighting, and sound editing improved the overall quality and meaning conveyed. 5) Movement of actors and continuity of editing between shots was enhanced.

1. Hannah Ram Evaluation Activity 7 Notes
Quality Summary 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you
have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
Quality of holding a shot steady Whilst filming the preliminary task we were unable to use a tripod to
keep the camera steady so we held the camera by hand. Due to this
many of the shots are of a poor quality because they were shaky. Before
moving onto our full product we knew that this was something that we
had to change to make our full product better than our preliminary task.
Therefore, to avoid this problem we constantly used a tripod when
filming in order to create steady shots that are easier on the eye.
Quality of the framing shots For most of the preliminary task the quality of the framing shots are
okay, but the framing of some shots are particularly poor. For example,
when Jemima walks into the room part of her head is cut out of the
frame. Before filming our preliminary task we did not think about the
positioning of characters within the frame in order to create meaning. In
the progression to the full product we knew that we had to avoid this
problem. So as a group we planned where characters were going to be in
advance in order to convey particular meanings. For example, in the
second half of our opening when Horatio walks into the Newspaper
Office is he central to the frame to show that he is central to the
storyline.
Quality of shooting material In the preliminary task there were a range of things that we had to
appropriate to the task set- i.e. include e.g. the 180 degree rule. As I was unaware of what it was I
the content of your film pre and researched it to make sure that when we filmed the quality of the
post editing was consistent with shooting material was appropriate to the task set. This taught me the
the exam directives importance of research. Therefore, to make sure that our film would be
consistent with the exam directives our group conducted members
conducted individual research on the conventions of psychological
thriller. This meant that we knew what we needed to convey within our
opening. For example, we found that most psychological thrillers mainly
use medium shots and close ups within their opening, so we made sure
that we used these shot types as they were appropriate to the task.
Quality of selecting mise-en- In my opinion, we used mise-en-scène fairly well during the preliminary
scène including colour, figure, task as we thoughtfully planned out costumes and props before starting
lighting, objects and setting; to film. For example, the interview was conducted in small room with a
table and two chairs to replicate an interview scenario. However, the
location that we used wasn’t very well thought out because it doesn’t
look very much like a police interview room because it was bright and
airy, whereas, on programmes like ‘The Bill’ the interview rooms are
quite dark and don’t contain shelves like our interview room did.
Furthermore, we didn’t think about lighting and as a result we missed
out on an opportunity to create a tense atmosphere. To make sure this
didn’t happen again, when we were planning our full product we made
sure that we thought carefully about the location and lighting so that we
could effectively create meaning using all areas of mise-en-scène, rather

2. Hannah Ram Evaluation Activity 7 Notes
than just focusing on props and costume like we did in the preliminary
task. For example, in our opening we used natural lighting at the start to
create a sense of equilibrium and at the end we use darker lighting to
create an eerie and sinister ambience. However, we still made sure that
we paid attention to costume and props too as Horatio wears red, black
and white coloured clothing because they have connotations of blood,
death and danger; which are all themes that are related to our film.
Quality of editing so that Although in the preliminary task I think that meaning was made apparent
meaning is apparent to the to the audience through the shot-reverse-shots that we used, they were
viewer not as effective as I would have liked and the overall quality of the
editing made our preliminary task seem amateurish. In order to avoid
this in the final product, we used continuity editing to establish a logical
coherence between shots and make the opening easier for the audience
to follow so that meaning is made apparent to the viewer quickly and
effectively. To make sure that the continuity editing worked well I had to
make sure that I cut the shots well in order to make them flow on from
each other successfully, unlike in the preliminary task. A poignant
example of meaning being made apparent to the viewer through editing
is the transition between the penultimate and the final shot, as I used a
fade in to show that the images on the wall are being absorbed into
Horatio’s mind. Furthermore, at many different stages during our final
product we asked our target audience about what they thought was
going on in the opening to make sure that the right message was being
conveyed.
Quality of using sound with In our preliminary task we only used dialogue. However, the dialogue
images and editing was sometimes hard to understand and there were times where you
appropriately for the task set; could hear ‘action’ being said because we couldn’t edit it out without
cutting off the start of the character’s dialogue. There was also the
problem of background noise being present in the shot. However, as
most psychological thrillers do not contain dialogue within the opening
two minutes we were able to avoid this problem. Instead we used a
mixture of diegtic and non-diegtic sound in order to convey meaning
within our final media product. When our opening first starts the
audience can hear Horatio’s heavy breathing, which creates a creepy
undertone to him following Mia and then our non-diegtic eerie sound
score starts to play in order to create a sinister atmosphere. The eerie
music works in correlation to our opening because confirms that
Horatio’s intentions are sinister and is also a typical convention of a
psychological thriller. We also used an editing tool on ‘iMovie HD’ to edit
out any background noise that would distract the audience from our
film. However, we keep in the diegtic sounds of the typing on the
keyboard to make it seem more realistic.
Quality of positioning and Within our preliminary task the quality of the positioning and movement
movements of actors of actors was generally okay but in retrospect some of their actions seem
fake, particularly when Leon drops the gummy bears at the end. We
knew that we didn’t want this to happen in our final product so we tried

3. Hannah Ram Evaluation Activity 7 Notes
to make the movements of the actors as realistic as possible. For
example, when Horatio walks in the newspaper office his actions seem
realistic. In the progression we also decided to explore how movement
can create meaning so we came up with Horatio’s trademark action of
pushing his glasses up because it acts as a signifier for his mental
disorder because it is a repetitive action.
Quality of group planning, In both the preliminary and final task we worked effectively as a group
meeting targets, organization and as a result we met all of our targets. Equally, we planned the setting,
costumes and props effectively. However, through lack of organization
we were unable to obtain a tripod when we needed to film, which was
the major problem with our preliminary task. In the progression to the
final product we learnt that we had to be organized, particularly with the
equipment that we would need so we created a role within our group for
an equipment manager.
Group dynamics i.e. how did Both in our preliminary task and our final piece I think that our team
your group work together worked well together, as we knew how vital it was to be in constant
communication with each other. We made sure that we had clearly
defined roles from the outset so that everyone knew what they were
doing. We also had a group leader that would remind us of the deadlines
of our specific duties and make sure that the group was always informed
on what was happening.
Other points of evaluation From conducting our preliminary task we knew that we would need an
(e.g. equipment related etc) equipment manager to make sure we always had what we needed
before filming. However, towards the end of our final product this was
out of our hands as the school’s professional camera that we had relied
on using (because of white balance problems with the other video
cameras) battery died and they were unable to find the charger. This
means that our newspaper scene does not look as professional as we
would have liked because there are lines running down the scene, which
we did not notice when filming with the professional camera. However,
because we were unable to re-film we had to leave the scene as it was.