Question 7 for AS media - thriller opening sequence

1. AS Media Evaluation
Question Seven
LOOKING BACK AT YOUR PRELIMINARY TASK, WHAT DO YOU FEEL YOU HAVE
LEARNED IN THE PROGRESSION FROM IT TO THE FINAL PRODUCT?

2. Intro
 This question refers to looking over our time as a group in this media course,
and how we have progressed and improved of the year in aspects of
creating our film, compared to the preliminary task we created at the
beginning of the year, including in the filming, editing and sound of our
final product

3. Editing
 During the beginning of our media course, after filming our preliminary task, we
found it very difficult to use the editing software on Corel, the software we used. It
was completely new to us as none of us had studied media before, and we needed
to learn and adapt to how to use this software. However, progressing on to the
editing of our final product, we had learned many more skills on how to edit. For
example, with the use of sound editing, we now know how to merge sound in and
out, how to mute sound, how to add layers of sound, and many other aspects. In
other parts of editing, we learnt how to crop scenes, add transitions and effects,
insert soundtracks etc. Generally our overall skills have improved massively, which I
feel contributed a lot to the final product, allowing it to be far better than the
preliminary task
Crop Tool

4. Camerawork
 Looking at the camerawork in our preliminary task, this is another aspect
where I feel we’ve learned skills and progressed as media students. For
example in our preliminary task, none of us were that confident to take the
role of filming with the camera, and when we did we were often shaky
with the camera and scenes didn’t come out that well as we couldn’t
always keep it still, or we may of not had the correct setting turned on
when using the camera as the equipment was new to us and we didn’t
know how to use it. Yet, progressing to the final film, with practice with the
camera, and learning how to use it properly, our skills have developed
and we have filmed much better and very accurate and effective shots
for our final film, showing how we have progressed in that aspect

5. Camerawork Comparison
As you can see, looking at these two photos, the one on the left is from our preliminary
task, and the one on the right is our final production. There isn’t a huge improvement
in the camera quality, but the image is clearer to see, showing our development in
the adjustment of the cameras settings and keeping the shots steady

6. Camera Shots
 Another aspect of the actual filming of the opening. In the preliminary task
our shots were very basic and lacked variety, mostly because we didn’t
know what many of the types of shots were actually called, or how to use
them effectively. When it came to filming our final product, we had
learned about a variety of shots and how to use them, such as over the
shoulder shots, establishing shots, close ups, mid shots, point of view etc.
From this knowledge we could therefore use all these shot types in our final
film and put them in places where they were worked most effectively, like
in the bedroom scene of our opening, where the main character packs a
bag of things, we felt it necessary to use close ups here for the audience
to see what each of the items looked like. This is another way in which we
have learned new skills and progressed from the preliminary task.

7. Camera Shots Comparison
In the comparison of these two shots, and the shots shown earlier, you can see that our
preliminary task is using similar lengths of shot types, whereas our final task has a greater
variety. This includes the over the shoulder shot shown on the right, to look at what the
main character is doing and what is ahead of him. Learning how to use these types of
shots was something that we improved on since the preliminary task

8. Other aspects
 We have learned so much more in the progression from our preliminary task to our
final product, we have completely developed in skills, too many to completely
cover. Some of the other aspects we improved on include: camera movements; for
all of the shots in our preliminary task we had the camera completely still, and we
kept it very basic, as we didn’t have the confidence to try and experiment with the
camera as such, but in the final product for the whole base of the opening, we
filmed the main characters point of view with a tracking shot following him around
the house, as we tried to implement much more interesting and difficult shots into
the final product. We also included a soundtrack in our final product, which adds
much more excitement to the finished film, something we didn’t even consider in
the preliminary task, as we didn’t actually know how to add a soundtrack at this
stage.
Online soundtrack
website download

9. Conclusion
 Overall, we have progressed in many ways and learned a lot of skills since
creating our preliminary task, such as how to edit effectively, and the
many aspects that includes, ways to use the camera well, with regards to
the shots and the movement, how to add sound to the film, and create
layers of sound, and also generally how to create a far better finished
product than the one we made at the beginning of the course.