Evaluation (Preliminary)

Overall, we worked successfully as a group and managed to complete our planning, setting up, filming and editing all within the set deadline. Throughout completing the preliminary task I discovered some strengths, weaknesses and gained a sufficient amount of knowledge along the way.

I feel like a particular strength was how effectively we planned and thought about everything in advance before the official day of filming, for example, how we looked for a location in advance and set it up in order to see if it would fit in with our preliminary idea, instead of wasting time on the filming day searching for a location. This improved our planning skills and enabled us to see how significant planning in advance is, in case something goes wrong as we will have a limited amount of time to prepare our thriller sequence. Another strength throughout the preliminary task was our team work skills as well as the filming process. We worked very well in our group and took turns to film as well as incorporating the required shots (180 degree rule, match on action and shot revere shot) without difficulty – we worked effectively and successfully managed to disregard any unwanted items (such as lighting equipment or props) within our frame whilst shooting.

 
A large weakness of our preliminary task was the dialogue once we had added in the non-diegetic music. We found that the character’s dialogue was unable to be heard as the non-diegetic music was overpowering the character’s dialogue. After a brief discussing within our group we overcame the problem, which meant if we ever stumbled across this difficulty during the production of our own thriller we would know how to fix this problem which would also decrease the amount of time wasted trying to resolved the problem, as we would already know how.

This preliminary task helped me gain an insight of many problems that may occur in the future as well as knowing how to resolve them. I learned how to film from certain angles and how to alter a shot if it didn’t work the way I wanted it to as well as learning how to do many things on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4, for example, slowing down the speed of a scene (incorporating slow motion) as well as increasing the volume of a character’s dialogue or using a boom mic if it is unable to be heard. I also learned how to use my time effectively as well as learning how to choose (copyright free) sound which we incorporated into our preliminary sequence in order to add to the verisimilitude.

In conclusion, I feel very confident using the camera and lighting equipment that is already provided as well as feeling prepared to shoot my own thriller due to learning new filming techniques because of this preliminary task. I felt that editing was a little more challenging than filming, however, overcoming the sound difficulties we found with the aid of each other and the teacher’s help, I feel more confident with using Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 for my own thriller. I also feel that our preliminary task was a success and once we had incorporated all the different aspects (such as filming, lighting, editing etc.) of creating the short sequence, our aim of creating a dark, suspenseful atmosphere was proven to be successful.

The Bomb (Preliminary Video)

This is our final piece.

Editing (Preliminary)

In order to edit our final shots together, to complete our preliminary sequence, we used Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. Using this software allowed us to add diegetic and non-diegetic sound/music within our sequence, improve our continuity and bring the whole preliminary sequence together. Chris and David had much more experience using this programme compared to me and Stephanie, therefore Chris and David enabled me and Stephanie to edit a moderate amount of the sequence in order to allow us to gain more knowledge about the editing software. However, Chris and David still had an equal amount of editing time. 

We found editing to be harder than filming therefore whenever we came across a difficulty we asked each other for help, when this attempt was unsuccessful we asked the teacher to help us whilst we paid close attention so we don’t miss anything. If one of us knew had to edit a certain part of the sequence but another group member(s) didn’t, we would share our knowledge with each other. For example, when Stephanie didn’t know how to make a certain part of the sequence slow down, I shared my knowledge and showed her how. 

A large obstacle that we stumbled across was, once we had added the non-diegetic music (with the intention of creating a suspenseful atmosphere); we could not hear one of the character’s dialogue. Instead of removing the non-diegetic music altogether, we worked as a team and overcame this problem by increasing the volume of the character’s dialogue. Although we found this tricky at first, we all found this as a useful piece of experience for the future as it allowed us to gain knowledge on how to prevent this dilemma, if it ever occurs in our own Thrillers. This also enabled us to gain an understanding of how amplified an actor’s voice should be as well as allowing us to decrease the chances of the non-diegetic music overpowering the actor’s voice (in the future). 

We worked very effectively and efficiently as a group as we incorporated everyone’s ideas within the editing process and took turns to watch and listen to the final sequence and discussed together if anything needed altering or changing, this enabled us to work better as a team and ensure that everyone was happy with the sequence. We worked very effectively as a team and even though there were dilemmas throughout the filming process we overcame those problems as a team which enabled us to complete the preliminary task successfully.

Filming (Preliminary)

Prior to the day of our group filming, we explored different areas with the intention of finding an appropriate location to film our preliminary task in. After a brief search, we decided that the most suitable place to film was the media studio. We thought this as we had easy access to camera equipment (such as a tripod), lighting equipment as well as a black and grey backdrop which we thought would add to the suspense and dark atmosphere which we would attempt to create. We had also planned our storyboard and were determined to use our time effectively and efficiently as we only had 2 hours to complete our filming (the following day). 

On the day, we collected our camera and were ready to film, however, there was a minor setback as someone else was using the media studio and had rearranged our planned location. In order to decrease the amount of wasted time we gathered our props, which included the table, two chairs, fluffy toy cat ("the bomb" within the sequence), toy gun and scary mask. Once the other people had left, we set up our location (as well as props, lighting and backdrop) as quickly as possible in order to waste as little time as possible. 

We had a small difficulty at the beginning of our shooting as we wanted to shoot the keypad of the door being opened but the window next to the door reflected and you could see our reflections as well as seeing the unwanted background of our setting through the glass door. We quickly resolved this problem by choosing to shoot the door keypad from a different angle as well as drawing the black curtain on the other side of the glass door with the aim of covering the unwanted background which could be seen through the glass door. Swapping roles (such as being in charge of the lighting or a certain prop) enabled us to work effectively as well as allowing everyone to have a go at filming several shots. 

After someone had filmed several shots we would come together as a team and go over our work in order to see if we needed to re-do any shots/angles or change anything throughout the filming. We decided to come together as a group every so often with the intention of ensuring that everyone was happy with the sequence. We worked very effectively as a team and even though there were dilemmas throughout the filming process we overcame those problems as a team which allowed us to complete the preliminary task successfully.

Storyboard (Preliminary Planning)

Once we had brainstormed and gathered ideas, we decided to have a group discussion in order to come up with a storyline for our sequence. We drew and discussed the storyboard in order to make sure everyone within our group is happy about the storyline.

Sound (Preliminary Planning)

After we film our piece, we will need to edit our footage together, in order to piece our short sequence of unexpected events. As we have various diegetic sounds within our sequence that we will not be able to recreate within our piece (for example, an explosion at the end), we will use a free sound source (freesound.org) that will enable us to make our piece seem as realistic as possible. We chose a pistol shot as we have included a shot scene within our short sequence, as we do not have a real gun, we will need to edit this sound in, to our piece. We chose another diegetic piece which is the explosion. As we cannot create a realistic explosion at the end of our piece, we needed to find an explosion that sounded as realistic as possible, but an explosion that would work well with our scene. Furthermore, we chose this diegetic sound as it is a prolonged explosion that will work well with our sequence. After we chose our ambient sound, we needed an overall soundtrack that could be heard continuously throughout our sequence. There will also be a death within our brief piece, therefore we aimed for a dark, dramatic soundtrack that would compliment the ambiguous plot. We should this soundtrack as it was dramatic, as well as quite sharp, which we thought would work well with our overall sequence.

Props (Preliminary Planning)

Once we had planned our storyline and script, we needed props. The props we wanted to use include: 
- A scream mask
- A toy pistol 
- A fluffy cat 
We decided to use a scream mask with the intention of increasing the fear factor once our audience watches our piece. Furthermore, we incorporated a scream mask in order to foreshadow that here will be a death within our sequence. Although, it is a fluffy toy cat, we decided to use it as a deceiving prized possession as the audience will discover that there is a hidden bomb within the cat during the end of our sequence. We also decided to use the cat to fool the audience as well as to set off the unexpected bomb. As there is a shooting within our sequence, we need a prop that our actor could use in order to follow through with the shooting (within our piece). We used a toy gun that looked fairly realistic in order to make our storyline and the unfortunate shooting as realistic and professional as possible.

Script (Preliminary Planning)

As our group was planning, we thought it would be a useful idea to plan our characters in advance in order to give everyone a chance to use the camera as well as to do some editing.
Characters
Protagonist: David Thomas
Antagonist: Chris King
Sidekick: Stephanie Hanna

We thought writing a script in advance, would be a lot easier for our actors in advance. This enabled everyone to see what will occur in our story as well as at which points certain events will occur. Furthermore, as our script was already planned, this will enable us to use our time efficiently when it comes to filming.
Script
(Protagonist unlocks door and walks in)

(Protagonist sits on the chair)

(Antagonist and sidekick appear)
Protagonist: I want my cat back.
Antagonist: I’ll never give it to you.
Protagonist: I’ll kill you
Antagonist: I don’t believe you.
(Protagonist points his gun at sidekick and shoots her)
(Sidekick falls to her death)
(Protagonist reloads gun at points it at the antagonist)
(Antagonist throws the cat to the protagonist as the protagonist shoots the Antagonist)
(Antagonist falls to his death as the protagonist catches the cat unaware that it’s a bomb)
(Protagonist exits the room, the door and curtains close)
(The bomb explodes resulting in the protagonist’s death)
(”The Bomb” titles sequence appears)

Brainstorm (Preliminary Planning)

Brief
"Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule."

My Group 
Irena Mileva (Me) 
Stephanie Hanna
David Thomas 
Chris King 

Brainstorm

Our group decided to brainstorm various ideas in order to gather our final idea and use out time as effectively as possible.