Evaluation Question 7how did your skills develop using software and hardware and how is this improvement evident in your work?

Research and planningSince my prelim task I have looked at more professional films and have researched the different things that I film opening has such as;

the amount of titles and the type of fonts used: ( i found a film whose font i really liked and thought represented the genre well which was the film Se7en, i then looked on Dafont for some sketchy fonts with and eerie feel to them.)

where a thriller film normally is set: ( i did some research and found out that thriller/horror movies are usually set in urban everyday areas, with some films being an exception being set in a surreal environment.)

the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds used: ( i found out that normally in thriller movies there will be conversation for the sound and whenever this is not the case the music is quite ambient and harsh)

and the different characters in a thriller:( i found that usual characters in a thriller include a criminal possibly with a dark past, police, investigators, main protagonist and the main antagonist.)

Use of colour and lighting: ( the lighting in a thriller opening is usually quite dark and lowkey to keep the atmosphere tense.)

I have also looked at the different conventions associated with the genre I chose. In my prelim task, there is no titles or music the only sound is the two characters talking. With my prelim, I didn’t really know how to fully use premier pro whereas with my actual opening I had time to figure out what everything did.

construction.Lighting

In my prelim I didn’t really think about lighting, we didn’t have studio lights in the room, we just used the light from outside through the window, in my final product I used the flashlight from a phone to direct the light, I used this instead of studio lights because it is handheld and is easier to control where the light goes, it is also easier to move around as a phone is something that is always with you.

Actors

In my prelim film, I was the director and worked in a group with two other people, I think that this was the easier option as I think that directing the film and playing a part in it would be quite difficult as the person filming wouldn’t understand fully what you wanted them to do and where you wanted them to be. In my final film opening I, again, did not play a character and instead got my aunty to play my main character. In my final film I knew exactly where I wanted the camera and how I wanted the shot to be filmed, the same as in my prelim but I was more comfortable around the camera and knew different techniques.

Locations

In my prelim I don’t think thought about the location too much we just chose a classroom that was free to work in, however in my final film opening I knew where I wanted it to be filmed, which was inside a house, I shot both inside and outside the house, outside for the establishing shot and inside for the actual story.

Sound

In my prelim I didn’t have any music to go with my film, I only had the two characters talking, I spent too much time trying to make the film flow together and didn’t focus on the music. In my final product I used three pieces of music each representing a different emotion I wanted the audience to feel, I focused equally on all parts of my film instead of on just one.

Shot composition

In my prelim didn’t really use very many, different shots, I didn’t use a variety of angles and the shots weren’t very exciting. I used shot reverse shot for the talking and match on action for one of the character walking through the door, I also used a tracking shot where a character moved from the door to sit down. In my film opening I used different shots and a variety of angles to show different perspectives, I also used both a tripod and handheld to achieve this effect.

Steadyshot

In my prelim film I used a tripod and also filmed hand held, I think that the handheld bits are quite shaky and probably couldn’t be helped. I also used both handheld and a tripod in my final film, the handheld here is also shaky but it adds to the emotions and feels like it’s from a person’s perspective.