This document analyzes and summarizes the strengths and weaknesses of student films in different genres, including action, thriller, and unclear. For "The Edge" action film, strengths included establishing tension through editing, shots of the main character, and music. Weaknesses included dark lighting and weak acting at times. For the thriller "Angel Dust", strengths were editing fitting the narrative and non-diegetic keyboard sounds, while weaknesses included dark lighting and lack of title incorporation. The thriller "The Disappearance" had strengths of raising questions and a cliffhanger ending, but weaknesses such as unsynchronized sound, grainy camera, poor lighting, and repetitive shots. The unclear genre film "Homicide" had some good camera

1. Analysing Previous Students Work
By Hafsah Zaman 12.6

2. The Edge
GENRE - ACTION

3. Strengths
 The editing of the opening of their film presented juxtaposition to establish that the
main character was being chased by two men.
 The positioning of the main characters head and where he is looking also helped
the audience the establish who he was being chased by as the men then walk in
the opposite direction to which the boy is looking.
 The non-diegetic music creates tension as it builds up gradually and it also
changes half way through to suit the scene which is being shown.
 There are loads of longer shots on the main character throughout – this creates
tension as if the audience are waiting for something to happen.
 The lighting is quite dull and dark throughout this is to create an atmosphere for
the movie and it may also create tension too.
 The use of fading is used when the scene fades to black and then lights back up
again – this is something done during the editing process to make it seem more
effective.

4. Weaknesses
 The use of lighting was dark and it may have been dark for a reason but
it sometimes made it hard to establish what is actually on the screen. It
also made it look a bit black and white.
 The acting of the characters was a bit weak in places but the fact that
there was no dialogue is a way around it
 The font of the title was not clear enough and a bit confusing as it
looked a bit illusionistic.
 The film was slightly out of focus in parts but it was in focus for the
majority of the film.

5. Angel
Dust
GENRE - THRILLER

6. Strengths
 Good use of editing – it fit in with the narrative of the film as it seems the
film has a lot to do with the internet, the editing was cleverly done to fit
in around the main idea of the film.
 Non-Diegetic keyboard sounds used for what was being typed, this also
links in well with the narrative too.
 The opening only shows the face of one character which could suggest
that she may be the main character and she is vital to the narrative of
the film.
 The camerawork is fairly repetitive throughout but this was done
purposely as it was supposed to have the look of a webcam camera on
a computer/laptop. There is mainly medium close-ups used throughout
the opening and a few close-ups of the other characters hands whom
the first character is speaking to online.
 Overall, there was a good use of camera but not much moving around
of the character within the one frame.

7. Weaknesses
 The lighting throughout is a bit dark and dim but this may have been
because of how they wanted to put across each scene. It was meant to
look like a webcam camera that the character was speaking to.
 The title could have been incorporated into the opening a bit better
instead of just appearing on a black screen – to make it more enticing.

8. The
Disappearanc
e
GENRE: THRILLER

9. Strengths
 Non-diegetic music creates some sort of tension but not much.
 The way the movie is set out and the acting within it does raise some
sort of questions that the audience may think they need an answer too,
this is good because it keeps the audience interested and makes them
want to carry on watching the film.
 The opening of the film does end on a cliff-hanger this may make the
audience want to carry on watching the film so they are able know what
will happen next.

10. Weaknesses
 The sound is not matched up – this makes the film look unprofessional
and sloppy.
 The camera quality is grainy and not clear throughout the majority of the
opening.
 Lighting is poor because you are unable to work out what is actually
going on in the scene through most of it.
 There is a lot of background noise that doesn’t really fit in with the film,
this could have been avoided if they filmed in a quieter place.
 The shots that were established were very repetitive as a wide range of
shots were not used and because of this the film lacked impact and was
not very believable.
 Overall, I felt that it was a bit confusing as it didn’t flow as well as it
could have and it could have been made a little more believable.

11. Homicide
GENRE: UNCLEAR

12. Strengths
 Some good use of camerawork as long shots and medium shots were
used well in some places within the film opening

13. Weaknesses
 Not a wide range of shots used throughout, very repetitive as the same
shots were used.
 Some shots were not very practical.
 They haven’t thought about mise en scene as you can clearly see it has
been filmed within a school and it is pretty evident that has nothing to do
with the narrative of the film that they are putting across.
 There is not enough build up tension because the same music was
used throughout at the same volume and at the same level.
 The non-diegetic music that was used was too loud when the characters
were talking because it was hard to understand what they were actually
saying.
 Overall, the acting is general was very weak and unbelievable.
 The genre was not revealed in the opening, it was very unclear.