The document provides an evaluation of the student film "Grounded" including criticisms and credits. It summarizes the dialogue, camerawork, editing, sound, and lighting used in the thriller. The dialogue helped explain the plot but revealed too much information. Camera angles like overhead shots made characters seem vulnerable. Editing with cross-cutting and dissolves built suspense. Sound and lighting had some issues due to equipment and time constraints. Overall the film achieved mystery and cliffhangers but the students would improve the dialogue and lighting given more experience and resources.
2. Introduction
This presentation will show the skills we had to use when filming
‘Grounded’ as well as the problems we had to deal with which
came our way during the whole time we had to complete the task. I
will be outlining the pros and cons of the final product as well as
pointing out the different camera shots and editing techniques we
used in the thriller and why.
3. The Dialogue
The dialogue helps the audience to understand the plot as signposting the
development of the story. The dialogue between the members in the family
helps us understand their situation and the phone call from the mystery caller
leaves the opening title sequence on a cliff-hanger. This was extremely
important to include as we wanted the audience to carry on enjoying and
watching the rest of the thriller.
However, as a group we criticised the dialogue as it may have allowed too
much information for the audience as they may want to work some parts of the
plot themselves. In addition, we could have improved the quality of the
dialogue and we should have kept to the script strictly.
As a result of allowing the characters to go in the direction they may choose to
go in, the dialogue was not as successful as we liked it to be.
Moreover, we were rushed for time because we only planned to include the
Sophie scene for the whole thriller, however when we finished editing, we were
told it was too short as it only came to one minute thirty seconds. We had to
come up with an additional idea quickly as well as fitting it in that was a
convent time for us and the actors we had to find.
4. The Camerawork
The overhead shot makes Nicole look vulnerable when walking up
the stairs. You cannot see her facial expressions from this angle
however, this could have been a good shot to use if we had not
seen who she was beforehand. We wanted Nicole to look
vulnerable on purpose as she has lost her child and the camera
angle emphasises this.
The Point Of View shot with Nicole searching in Sophie’s bedroom
allows the audience to empathise with victim. Furthermore, the
point of view shot allows the audience to put themselves in the
characters shoes as it allows the audience to engage with the
thriller.
5. The editing, sound and lighting
The cross cutting between each scene keeps audience to stay connected and
maintain their interest in the storyline. The dissolves from scene to scene adds to
the suspense and creates mystery.
The non-diegetic sound of the music increasing in tempo influences the
audiences’ mood. The diegetic sound could have been improved by the
quality of the sound of phone call. If we had a better budget we could have
used an additional software to make the dialogue clearer. The lighting towards
the end of the scene was poor as the outdoor lighting kit ran out of battery. This
may have been less preparation from us, although it was fully charged, however
if we stuck to our schedule in a stricter manor, this problem may not have
occurred.
As a result of this, the lighting in the coffin had changed but we could not have
helped this at the time. We did further research on how to solve his by using the
editing system which was a possibility by masking over the light from another
scene. However the editing software was an old version and the facilities of
solving this problem was limited on top of us students having little experience of
using adobe premiere pro. If we had a bigger budget to work with and more
time to investigate into the software, we could have solved this issue.
6. What was achieved
Finally, all thrillers must have enigma. Enigma is holding back the
story line and not giving too much information away to the
audience.
We also wanted to include audience gratification, which is when
the audience will be on the edge of their seat and expect surprises.
Enigma may also include an active audience where they have to
work the plot out.
We have achieved this by ending the thriller on a cliff hanger, the
intense cross cutting between Sophie and her family and the
mystery of the character that took her, where she is and why she is
there. All these questions can be answered by the audience
therefore we have achieved enigma in the opening title sequence
to our thriller.
7. Conclusions
Overall I would have liked to of changed the dialogue between
Nicole and Johnathan if we had more time. I would have changed
the lighting in the coffin in the last time it cut to the coffin scene if
we had a wider knowledge on how to use the software. I enjoyed
the experience I gained from using the camera equipment and the
editing software and working in a team.
