1. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? Question 7 James Bodkin

2. Forming groups and working collectively on the project?  To begin the planning of our film, we researched the Thriller Genre and found out most of the Genre’s key aspects to get a better idea of the genre overall. We looked at and analysed opening titles sequences for various films. We explored how Mise en Scene creates mood and reflects the themes of the film with lighting, camera angles etc.  When organsing groups, we decided who was the best actor, who was imaginative etc. so that we could figure out the appropriate roles when making the film.  It was difficult when organising the groups because some people wanted certain roles and didn’t want others.

3. Preliminary Exercise  When making our preliminary exercise, we learned the basic rules of how to film and set up shots.  We learned various shots, including the Shot, Reverse Shot. This usually takes place during a conversation in a film, where a shot of a person face cuts to another person, the cuts back to the original shot.  We learned about Match on Action, which is when a shot of an action (e.g. opening a door) cuts to another shot which is in perfect synchronicity with the other shot.  We learned the 180 degree rule, which consists of making sure that the camera doesn’t go over the 180 degree line during a shot, reverse, shot (image above).

4. Planning and filming our Thriller OTS  We started planning the OTS by creating a story board and discussing our ideas with the group.  We combined all of our thoughts together to create one final idea that we agreed on.  On the filming day, we felt confident with filming because of all of our planning work, so we knew exactly what we had to do.  When we reviewed our footage we decided that we needed to re-film some of the footage to get the film that we wanted.  We feel that our end product was very succesful, however next time I will spend more time preparing the storyline more, so that there is a greater satisfaction at the ending of the film, so it is more typical of the genre.

5. Editing  I learned a lot when doing editing, and I now have a very good understanding of editing and how much editing goes into a film.  I found it easier to edit the footage because when filming we had continuity editing in mind.  There were various sound effects put in place in the editing stages and various transition were placed including the titles which makes the experience of watching the film far better.  I feel that my overall skills in filming and editing has been greatly improved.