The student has progressed greatly in their planning, research, shooting, and editing skills from their preliminary task to the full thriller opening production. For the full production, they planned more strictly, researched thriller conventions, better understood techniques like the 180 degree rule and camera shots, and improved their editing skills like managing volume levels and continuity. They also gained a deeper knowledge of thriller conventions and the film production process overall.

1. Q7
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

2. Planning
I would say I have progressed a great deal in planning since my preliminary task.
First of all, although we made storyboards for our preliminary task, we did not
follow them as strictly as we did for our thriller opening, thus we unintentionally
broke the 180 degree rule in the preliminary for example, which was as a result of
not following our plan.
Another element of planning that has been improved since, is the continuity of
costume/appearance and weather, which in our preliminary (The Stolen Phone) we
had one shot which was sunny and the next it was wet because we had to shoot
over several days (Louisa’s hairstyle also differed as result). Our thriller opening
‘Framed’ was filmed over several days too, however we took much stricter
decisions to do with continuity as we wanted it to be as realistic as possible, so if it
was raining, we would have to shoot on another day.
So since the preliminary, we gained improvement in decision making and
organisation.
Another element that helped us improve as group since our preliminary was being
more confident to share ideas- mainly since planning ‘Framed’ we knew each other
better than in the preliminary task. This meant we could discuss ideas more too;
our initial idea was going to be quite different from the final idea and this is
because it evolved with discussion and compromises with each others ideas.

3. ResearchFor planning to be at its best, research is needed to influence ideas.
Upon researching different thriller films, they helped shape our thriller
opening so we could use inter-textual references and gain knowledge
within the thriller genre. Whereas, in the preliminary task we had lack of
influence to our ideas because we had a lack of knowledge in the genre. I
researched a variety of thrillers while planning which ranged from noir
thrillers (e.g. The Third Man) to action thrillers (e.g. Essex Boys) and soon
found it easier to distinguish generic conventions they all shared, so
researching helped me identify conventions which would ultimately be
used in ‘Framed’. Like chiaroscuro lighting and tilt shots for example were
elements of thrillers I had leant from research, and both of them appear in
our thriller production.
I made the soundtrack myself for both the preliminary and final production
so I did a lot more research into thriller soundtracks- my favourite and
most influential was The Bridge soundtrack. Whereas, again, for my
preliminary there was a lack influence and knowledge although I still I did
some research into ‘suspenseful music’ from Youtube.

4. ShootingBecause I played such a small acting role in ‘Framed’ (and our
preliminary task), I was given the main role of being cameraman. During
the preliminary I didn't have a full understanding of the 180 degree rule,
but I would say since then, I have a much better grasp on the technique
thus used it appropriately in ‘Framed’. Whilst shooting the preliminary
task, we would often be talking in the background whilst action was
taking place and realised this upon editing that it was a problem that
needed to addressed and dealt with for our thriller production. We
therefore made sure no one spoke whilst action was taking place.
I would say I have developed my use camera movement, angles and
framing since the preliminary task in which we used mainly basic camera
shot types whereas in ‘Framed’ we used tilt shots and close up shots of
faces to establish the genre more evidently.
Another element of shooting we improved on is repeating shots, our
teacher stressed the importance of redoing shots multiple times so we
could choose the best one; something we didn't do in preliminary-looking
back at footage and assessing its usability.

5. Editing
I’ve had quite a hands on approach with editing as well as
camerawork with both the preliminary and thriller opening,
I have really improved my knowledge with the editing
software (Adobe preliminary pro) like volume levels and
transitions. I also improved at manipulating colour,
brightness and contrast levels to achieve a desired
aesthetic and continuity between cuts. In my preliminary,
we achieved editing techniques such as match of action
and in our thriller opening we tried to develop the
technique further by using it more and making the cuts
between action a clean and realistic as they could be.

6. Knowledge
What I’ve learnt most in this course is how the genre has its own
conventions, I’ve learnt whilst watching thriller films and TV shows
at home that I can now easily spot certain aspects that make it a
thriller such chiaroscuro lighting, tilt shots, locations (e.g. bleak,
cramped environments) and as a viewer I now feel clever for
recognising them and so has enhanced my enjoyment of watching
films. My overall knowledge of the how films are made: pre-
production, production and post-production has made me more
aware of the process real media productions are made, but on a
much larger scale. And I also gained experience in composing a
soundtrack to a film, which I gained more expertise in a my music
production software as a result.