1. Looking back on our prelim, it is clear that I have learnt a lot about camerawork, filming and editing. In regards of
camerawork, I think that as a group we were successful in exploring and using all kinds of camerawork and camera shots
and the improvement from prelim to main task is clear. For example, this shot clearly demonstrates our knowledge of
camera shots. In both tasks we used the scene of opening a door, but we used different shots and angles to show the
action happening. In the prelim task, we simply shot the opening of the door using an ‘over the shoulder shot’ but in our
opening sequence, we got a medium close up, mid shot of the door opening to really focus on the action, a clear
improvement of our camera skills.
Although the majority of the time we have improved our film, we also featured some similar camerawork from our prelim into
our final piece. For example, we used a match on action pan shot of the main character walking in both shots as it not only
shows our understanding of a match on action shot, but it also establishes who the character is, the mise en scene and the
setting and location. The use of a pan shot was important as it enables the audience to engage more in the scene as they are
quite literally following the characters move.
2. I think in our opening sequence we improved on our mise en scene and using it to create meaning for
the audience. In our prelim, both characters were wearing casual clothing but this was because the
characters did not have any meaning like the characters in our main task do. Although in the main task I
am wearing similar clothing to our prelim, we changed it to more dark clothing to create confusion in
whether or not I am the antagonist or the protagonist. Furthermore, with the antagonist (Katie), we
created a clear symbol that she is the antagonist through her wearing a black cloak, like she is some sort
of haunting figure.
The lighting in both pieces are very different. In the prelim, the lighting is mostly high key as it is mainly
natural lighting we used however, in our opening sequence we used mainly low key lighting as it is a
convention of the thriller genre. When filming, the lighting was brighter than we wanted it to be so in
the editing process we adjusted the lighting to make it darker and this was successful in fulfilling the
conventions of the thriller genre.
We also added props in our opening sequence but we did not in our prelim as we learnt props add a lot
more meaning for the audience and enables the audience to understand the plot. The main props we
used were a newspaper, a mobile phone and a funeral booklet.
3. One improvement we made was our choice of camera angles. In our prelim, as shown here, we used a low angle in the
conversation to film the characters but there was no need for this shot to be used. Therefore, in our opening sequence, we
used fairly simpler shots and angles that were suitable to film the character. Although we do have a very vague shot
reverse shot on the stairs, it is not as clear as the one in the prelim and this is mainly because there is no conversation
between two characters so there was not a place to use a shot reverse shot.
Our editing skills hugely improved from our prelim to our final piece as we were more familiar
with the software, Final Cut Pro. The main example of our editing skills improving is the use of
special effects. We used a fair amount of special effects in our opening sequence as they are a
key convention to the thriller genre. We also improved on our choice of transitions and used
this to create continuity editing. We really improved on sound, not only on actual music but
voiceovers like the ones in the kitchen and the bedroom.
