Evaluation Question 7 (Zak Green)

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

Looking at both our preliminary task and our actual thriller opening we can clearly see that there was a lot of difference between the two.

Pre-Production

- Firstly for our preliminary task we were only given 20 minutes to come up with the concept for our task, this was difficult because it meant that we didn't have much time to come up with the perfect idea for the plot etc. Whereas for our actual thriller opening we had around 2 weeks of planning time which meant we could actually think about what we wanted our thriller film to be about and it also meant that we could create story boards and figure out what props were needed and who was going to do what job. 

-  Also for our preliminary task we were only allowed to film inside of the school premises which wasn't great as there weren't too many suitable places to film. However for our thriller opening we were allowed to film wherever we liked which was great as it allowed us to film in a dark garage which meant our thriller film could give a scary effect which we wanted

                                                       

- As for props for our preliminary evaluation we were only able to use whatever we had available in the school (which wasn't very much). Whereas for our thriller opening we had about 2 weeks to buy all the props we need, in our case that was the hammer that was covered with blood and the black hoody, if we didn't have that much time we probably wouldn't have been able to get these props and therefore our opening wouldn't have had the dramatic effect that it had.

- Finally for the preliminary task we weren't given any professional lighting which meant we only has the lights in the classroom to use. Whereas for the thriller opening we were given professional lighting such as LED hand held lights and camera LED lights, which meant that when we showed the names of the women on the wall they could be seen clearly despite the fact that the room was very dark.

Production:

- For our preliminary evaluation we only had around 40-50 minutes to film which meant that we had to rush it and we couldn't really make any mistakes as we probably wouldn't get it finished. Whereas for our thriller opening we had around 1 week to get it filmed however we filmed for about 5 hours. Having the longer time to film meant that if we made any mistakes then we had time to correct them, also it meant that we had lots of time to make sure everything was perfect before we started editing.

- Before we started filming for our thriller opening we had to do a number of things. Firstly we had to make sure that the antagonist looked like a murderer we did this by making him wear a black hoody, we also had to write all the names on the walls and we had to get the woman in position. Whereas for the preliminary task we had hardly any time meaning that we wouldn't have been able to get all these things ready.

- For our thriller opening we had around a week to film meaning that we could wait for the weather to be right to film in. In our case we had to wait for it to be a rainy day to add to the suspense. Whereas for the preliminary task we had to film it on the day meaning we had to use whatever conditions that were given to us.

Post Production:

- For our preliminary task we were able to use final cut pro to edit our work. However it was difficult as myself and many others didn't has past experience with the program, what made it even more difficult was the fact that we only had a lesson to finish and upload it. However for the thriller opening we had previous experience and we were given around 10 lessons to edit the work and upload it which was plenty of time and i think our work was successful.

180 Degree Rule:

-Our preliminary task followed the 180 degree rule because when both Gavin and Janith were sitting down opposite eachother the camera was positioned at the same place for the whole scene. This was vital because if the camera moved round to the other side of them then the audience would get confused because earlier in the film the camera was positioned somewhere else. 

                 

For our actual thriller opening we used the 180 degree rule when the antagonist is about to kill the woman because the camera stays in the same position for the whole scene.

                 

Finally when we filmed the thriller opening i felt more confident than i did when i filmed the preliminary task because i knew how to use all the equipment because we used it in the preliminary task

Conclusion

To conclude i think that the pre-production stage was the most important stage of the whole project. I think this because it meant that we could thoroughly plan out our opening to make it as successful as possible. If you compare the pre-production stage for our preliminary and the pre-production stage for our actual opening you can see that there was a clear time difference and this affected the final product.

 Preliminary task

 Thriller opening