Main Task Evaluation

I felt that the filming and editing of our media film was hugely successful. After our original planning stage, we went straight into filming, closely following our storyboard and script.

We then started drawing up a script. To make this as realisitic as possible we put ourselves into the roles of the characters and using out storyboard, instinctively improvised the speech. This would then make our script sound like a real conversation rather than unrealisitic and monotonous.

When filimg and editing, however, we had to take into consideration the target audience for our piece. We were aiming our film at any gender from age 15-30. This was, becuase of the violent nature of our initial idea, we didn't think it would be suitable for any below the age of 15. Therefore, when doing our script, we were able to add in swearing and more adult lanaguage to make it more realistic and suit the audience it was aimed at. We also felt a more mature audience would appreciate more stylistic features, such as the point of view shot from the phantom (including the heavy breathing sound) and a more wide ranging use of the camera, which we used most notably when the phantom was looking at the explorers from the bushes. Also, premonitions are something that will be grasped better and taken more seriously by an older audience. This gave us room for freedom and creativity.

After the planning stage, we got straight into our filming. We completed our filming process over a few days and then took a further few weeks to edit our film. We felt that we completed our film to match the brief as well as possible by keeping it under 2 minutes and gave the common expectations of the opening of a thriller as we made the beginning almost like an anecdote to the rest of the film, as it shows what the Phantom could do and leaves the audience unsure of what will happen but excited to find out.

We followed closely the Final Destination 3 opening in terms of the premonition idea. However, in our film, we used more effects to make it seem clearer that it was a premonition so not to confuse the viewer. For example, at the end of the premonition, we zoomed into one of the characters eyes then back out again to the beginning of the film again. This created the effect that everything that has happened was in his head. We also used flashes as the camera went in and out of the characters eyes, which created a confused effect. Using the basis of these ideas we’ve our unique twists on it helped us make this idea much more effective and helped us make the film like a modern day thriller with our own ideas incorporated within.


We also followed the brief when it came to technical abilities:

-Holding a Shot Steady - We used this plenty of times throughout our film. A good example was at the beginning of the film where we had an establishing shot to set the film. This had to be steady so the viewer could instantly see the surroundings. Looking back on this shot, however, we felt that we should have shot this from higher up to give an even greater perpective, although this was impracticle at the time. This was also used at the end of the film when one of the characters walks away - this is pivotle to the opening and meant we had to keep the shot still.

-Using a Variety of Shot Distances - Throughout the film we shot from different distances. We used a close-up shot just before the Phantom attacks Chris, a mid shot when Will and Chris were talking at the beginning and a long shot when the Phantom watches them walk away from at the top of the building. The point of view shots from the phantom all have a variety of distances - from watching Chris and Will at the begining from a long distance to watching them from the bushes at a short distance to chasing Will with a medium shot.

-Shooting Material Appropriate To The Task Set - Our material suited the idea of an opening of a thriller in the fact it was under 2 minutes long and would have left the viewer wondering what will happen next. The use of a premonition is typical in contemporary films, especially in openings.

-Selecting Mise-en-Scene - We chose to shoot our film in the back lanes behind our school. This gave a spooky, mysterious effect for our film and suited the idea that the Phantom was haunting an abandoned school. Our clothing for Will and Chris wasn't too formal as they were only young explorers and were chasing a beast but weren't too casual as they were on a serious mission.

-Editing so that Meaning is Apparent to the Viewer - During the editing process we added in a range of colours and a heartbeat sound whenever the camera was from the Phantom's point of view so the viewer would immediately know this was no ordinary character and would identify when the shots were just "narracting" to when we looking from the phantom's point of view.. We also used a two flashes of black when the premonition had finished so this was fully apparent to the viewer.

-Using a Variety of Appropriate Shot Transitions - As Will is killed, we used quick flashes to change from the premonition back to the beginning of the film again. This created an interesting effect and made it apparent to the viewer that the previous action was a premonition. We also used quick transitions when the phantom is seen running down the stairs and out of the door - this, combined with the shaky camera movements, created another sense of tension.

-Using Sound With Images And Editing Appropriately - In the editing process, we added in different sound effects, including a heartbeat when the phantom was on a screen, to create mystery and throughout a quiet bit of tense music up until the phantom attacks which created a huge amount of suspense in the piece

-Using titles appropriately - The final bit of editing involved adding in a 20th Century Fox opening and, after creating the logo for out film, we added this in with a spooky transition to create a thriller-type effect. After consideration we didn't feel this titles were good enough and decided to change them. After using artofthetitle.com as a guide we used an idea that's prominent in many contempary films: short clips relating to what the film is about are used. We used clips showing piles of books on a table, a noteboard with clippings on and a whiteboard with scribblings all over it - this relates to the explorers in the opening and Chris' first line: "We've been researching this for 6 whole years". We followed this up with the name of the film.

We received good audience feedback from our piece and everyone enjoyed the editing process as we took our time perfecting it and the variety of camera shots. We also received good feedback for the parts where the phantom was on screen as this point of view shot created a very unique look and gave an exciting and mysterious feel to the piece. There were some things that the audience felt we could have improved, especially our opening shots, which looked much more amateur than the rest of our film. If we were to do this again, we would think more carefully about our opening shot and try to make this more creative, maybe making the shot higher to get a better perspective of the surroundings.

We used modern technologies when planning and editing our film. During the planning process, we used the internet and DVD and video to research into other thriller films, including the ones I mentioned above which influenced out final piece. We also used the 2D Design Programme to create a more professional looking storyboard and Microsoft Word to create a script. In the planning stages I also used Microsoft Powerpint to create a slideshow showing research into the film XXX - this was then put into Paint using the Print Screen button so it could easily be uploaded to Blogger. Every bit of work we have done in lessons has been updated on Blogger. Although we had some problems uploading things to the site, we managed to work our way around it.

During editing, we used Adobe Premier to edit our film. At first, we struggled to upload our film to it, but after changing cameras, we solved this problem. We could then use plenty of different techniques on the programme, to make our film look as professional as possible. We also got sounds and music from files that had already been added to the music programme iTunes.

I felt that we made huge progress from our preliminary task to our final main task, especially in using original ideas and concepts. We spent much more time planning (see the Time Sheet) our piece which gave us a good idea of what we wanted in terms of editing, storyboarding and camera shots. We could also be much more creative when filming our piece, making the final product more polished and professional.

Storyboard

This is the storyboard which out group will use as a basis to work upon when filming our 2 minute opening. Although we'll work ideas around this, this is the general plot.

Script

This is the final script we have decided upon for our filming.

Character List:
Will (played by Mike)
Chris (played by Joe)
Phantom (played by Reece)

Will: Chris, I really don’t know, this doesn’t feel right…

Chris: Will! We’ve been researching this for 6 whole years! And you want to back out now?

Will: Yeah… sorry, just last-minute nerves…

(Will glances up at abandoned school. Switch to phantom point of view)

Phantom: (heavy breathing)

(Quick takes of phantom down stairs, out of door, going to the path. Phantom spies in bushes on Chris and Will talking)

Chris: Christ, Will, you look like you’ve seen a ghost... (Laughs)

Will: (shouts) SHUT UP! I can’t do this!

(Will walks off. Twig snaps. Will turns round)

Chris: …the fuck?!

(Phantom attacks Chris and kills him. Will starts running)

(Trips over. Phantom attacks)

Will: ARRRGHHHH!

(Camera zooms out of eye. Back to beginning)

Chris: Will! We’ve been researching this for 6 whole years! And you want to back out now?

Will: Chris! Listen to me, we can’t do this. I’ve seen what’s gunna happen…

(Interrupted by Chris)

Chris: What?! Well, if you’re such a psychic, fuck off then. I’m doing this, whether you’re coming or not.

Will: Please, Chris! I’m begging you. Don’t go!

Chris: Did you just hear what I said? I’m going whether you’re coming or not.

Will: (angry) don’t say I didn’t warn you Chris!! (Storms off)

(Camera behind Will walking away. Looks round and hears scream)

(Zooms into Will’s eye. Blackout)

Time Sheet

This is my time sheet, which will help me organise my progress throughout the coursework task. It gives my group and I a good basis on which to work upon.

Main Task Plan

After discussing ideas with our group and coming up with a mind map and a storyboard we came up with an idea that we felt best suited our ideas and that would help us use the best camera shots, editing and sound to help us get the highest grade possible.

Our final idea is about two explorers who are looking for a Phantom by an old abandoned school. After the Phantom leaves the building he kills both explorers before it's revealed this was a preminition. This creates a huge sense of tension and this type of early anecdote is used in many thrillers (especially ones that contain mythical creatures) to show the audience what the film will be about - it leaves the viewer wanting to know more.

During this process there were two film ideas that we wanted to incorporate into out film. The first was the film Predator. In the film, the Predator is always seen through its own eyes and we felt that this created a much more spooky effect than if the creature was seen the whole time, as you wouldn’t know what he looked like, but could still see the danger of it. Not only this, but whenever the film was shown from the Predator’s eyes the screen would be a strange range of colours and make everything look abnormal, which not only distinguished the Predator from other characters, but makes the Predator far more mysterious. This was another idea we felt would suit our film.



The other film we took inspiration from was Final Destination. With our own twist on it, we took the idea of one of the characters having a premonition, and then when the premonition finished, another character not believing his friend and carrying on. We wanted to use this idea as it is guarenteed to keep the audience in suspense and is typical of popular thrillers.



When planning our piece we have already and will do the following:
-We will organise our actors, time, location, costumes and props although we have already started this with our location and actors
-We have drafted some of our ideas onto paper and as time goes on we will update this to fit our -Once we have finished these drafts we will outline this to show how our project was managed.
-Research into exisiting films. We used ideas when planning from the film 'Predator' where the Predator is seen from a point of view shot and has a different view of the world to other camera shots. We will be encorparating ideas from this effect into our own film.

Main Task Brief

After completing our preliminary task we are ready to start our main task. For our main task we are required to make the titles and two minute opening to a thriller film.

In the opening we are required to use the following technical skills:

-Holding a shot steady
-Framing a shot
-Using a vairety of shot distances
-Shooting material appropriate to the task set
-Selecting mise-en-scene
-Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer
-Using a variety of appropriate shot transitions
-Using sound with images and editing appropriately
-Using titles appropriately

Preliminary Task Review

I felt that the prelimiary task went very well. We successfully followed the brief by kepping our clip to around 2 minutes long and followed the brief plotline - a character opening a door, entering a room, sitting down then having a short scetion of dialogue with another character. When doeing this we had to use THREE camera techniques, as follows:

-Match on Action
We did this when Joe entered through a door, and we flicked to another angle on the other side of the door. We did this 3 times, as Joe entered through three different doors. On the third door, however, rather than keep to the follow-on camera we had used in the previous math-on actions, we decided to do a split screen by cropping both scenes on eiher side of the door when editing. This gave the film a very realistic feel.

-Shot/reverse shot
We did this during the dialogue when switching from over one shoulder to over the shoulder of the other character when the charcater opposite the camera was speaking.

-180 degree rule
Again, we used this when there was dialogue. We made sure that when we used our shot/revere shot and over the shoulder shot,we kept on the same side every time rather than switch to the other shoulder so we didn't confuse the viewer.

This was our first experience of making a film and editing it and I felt we did incredibly well considering this. We followed the brief exactly and used numerous different camera angles and techniques to show our range of skills. When we edited we made it lok polished and professional by using different editing techaniques available. We even added a 21st Century Fox opening and bloopers at the end to make it look like a real film.

Depsite these successes I felt there were some improvemnets we could have made. In the second scene we should have used a different camera angle as the one we did use looked slightly unprofessional. Also, when Joe's character Henderson first entered the film, the way he removed his coat didn't suit the music or the tense mood and broke the idea of a thriller and made it look more like a comedy. To improve this we should have slowed it down or edited the way the coat removed.