Evaluation Task 7

Evaluation Activity 7

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Pre-Production

This phase of production had a lot less time spent on it, as we simply only had a short period of time to draw up our project. This resulted in more last minute tweaks in the production stage when we should've just been filming. In each task we planned our location, storyline and a rough script however the thriller opening was more in depth and professionally conducted, which in my opinion was a great reason why this production ended up running more smoothly.

In contrast to the preparation of our preliminary production for our thriller opening we created storyboards, conducted research into production and mini pitches of which we shared amongst our group. Collectively we comprised an overall pitch which was presented to the class. 

The presentation of which was key in the development of our final product as the class pitch brought with it scrutiny over our idea for the thriller we originally wanted to produce. The original plan was to create a crime thriller about a young boy growing up around drugs and gang culture however the concern for our group that came back to us from feedback was that it was more of a social realist film as appose to an actual thriller. Not only this but it was heavily picked up on how this was a common premise amongst independent filmmakers especially in London, with similar productions such as Kidulthood and Adulthood respectively.

We heeded the constructive criticism and decided to go ahead with planning out the thriller opening going in a different direction.
Once we had our updated thriller ideas ready we presented them to potential audiences in order to gain feedback.

We conducted research into production company's and into determining who our key demographic would be be making questionnaires and analysing age rating of similar media products.
Once we had shared our ideas and had a collective direction of how the thriller would pan out we created a storyboard to plot out the production scene by scene.










Production

In the production stage of our tasks we shot all the scenes that we had envisaged in pre production.

During the shooting of the preliminary production we made sure to capture the desired camera shots that were needed to adhere to the criteria we had been presented with which included the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot/reverse shot.

180 Degree Rule

Match on Action

Shot/Reverse shot


We had learnt from our preliminary task that we required a more suitable location and a domestic location proved to be a great environment to shoot a psychological thriller.
In the thriller opening we started shooting chronologically to how we had written the production in the pre-production phase, beginning with the establishing shot in the shower and ending in the hallway with the dead body.

In our domestic location we didn't require any artificial light, the light that lit our Mise en scene was all natural, coming from windows and through open doors of the opened planned living environment.



The domestic setting also presented us with plausible props that we used throughout our production such as the razor and the carving knife, which we used effectively to create tension as we used them in close-ups dwelling on the action as means to linger which put the audience at an uneasy disposition.





Post - Production

In the post production stage we conducted editing. For this we used Final cut pro to comprise our footage together. In this stage we also added titles, credits and audio.






Upon reflection of both films that we created it is apparent that we were more concise and aware of risk within our final piece as appose to our preliminary film...

To the left in these screen grabs we can see issues that occurred during production and that weren't eradicated in pre - production, however they are direct results of the problematic location.

The first image shows a shadow which is of a crew member who wasn't meant to be in the shot as a our protagonist can be seen entering the shot as he opens the door.

In the second image a collection of both cast and crew were accidentally featured in the shot as they are seen in the distance behind the bench and in the reflection of the windows.

There was a third issue that diminished the quality of our product, the problematic location lead to there being strong diegetic sounds coming from planes flying above, our location being right near a runway wasn't helpful yet seeing that we had to shoot on-sight it was almost unavoidable.



We improved the appearance of text with our second production. The preliminary task featured basic text with a blank bank background whilst in the thriller opening we were able to add text at the forefront of our Mise en scene. For example the film's title was featured amidst the close-up of the protagonist's watch.




Before posting our full thriller we posted a rough cut in order to see how not only we viewed our production but to also get considerable feedback from audiences. We received mainly extremely feedback from consumers however it was pointed out as to certain subtleties that lessened the overall quality of our production such as the establishing scene, where the camera was originally jittery however this was soon resolved and the cleaner finish can be seen in the full product of which we posted later.

 













Reflection

Upon the completion of both productions i feel that i have learnt a lot from the first to the second, between the preliminary and the thriller opening. I have realised that to create a film that i'm satisfied with it takes careful planning and patience as well as being comfortable with all the components that are utilised in the creation of the production including technologies such as the camera and editing  programmes such as Final Cut Pro.