Title Sequence Evaluation(The House)Jordan-River Searle

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

I’ve created a horror thriller in which I have used, developed and challenged forms of real media products. We met the key concepts of a typical horror thriller, although, we also challenged some conventions to make our title sequence unique. Allowing our audience to have familiarity as well as variation.

I have watched many thrillers to ensure I understand the specific conventions. I thoroughly analysed camera, sound, mise-en-scene and editing. I then found inspiration in other thrillers in doing so. Two of my first thrillers that inspired me were Black Swan and The Conjuring. Black Swan used a simple fade in a out of the title with two contrasting colours. This was similar to The Conjuring however what I liked about that was the style of font. Especially the times new roman sans serif style. Both titles were bold and outstanding, which is why we chose to base ours around these.

Another influence on our script and screenplay was Paranormal Activity. The idea of a baby being in trouble or creating a paranormal or supernatural field in the house I thought created a stronger horrific title sequence. Furthermore it makes the household feel relatable to the audience like a ordinary family.The idea of children relating to horror is a modern theme that is popular. This takes something innocent and vulnerable and places fear and the idea of supernatural with this. Therefore flipping the stereotype and challenging the audience’s natural thoughts of children and what is good, bad, safe and dangerous. Therefore we wanted to incorporate this idea like Paranormal Activity. This is shown through presence of children or the implication.

Furthermore The Conjuring displayed more ideas that I thought were especially good and I wanted to develop in my own way. This was a shot from inside a room. However I wanted to make this my own and show the protagonist walking into the room or opening the cupboard which we have done to start from black and then fade in as the door opens. I think think this adds great tension on the protagonist and also anticipation of what is coming out of the dark as the audience are already placed inside the room.

Another influence on our work was Shutter island. Shutter Island used lots of prolonging shots that were matched with a beat or a similar sound to a bass. This was sound match to create tension as the a shot would shoot on to the screen along with the big loud bass to create tension. We wanted to incorporate this within our title sequence. In which we did so at the ending with a loud prolonging beat engages with the screenplay as the door slams shut to end. This creates tension and also dramatises the scene. However we differed from Shutter Islands use of this as this beat was a recurring repetitive beat that carried on throughout. However in our piece we decided to have it as one final bang after a long pause of silence. The silence therefore representing the reaching of the climax and the loud bang accompanied with the door slamming shut to represent the climax as well as the finalisation of the title sequence. We felt this was a strong device that we wanted to include within our work.

Furthermore we conformed to the modern horror stereotype of female protagonist. Specifically a ordinary teenage female form a typical middle class background. We wanted to make the protagonist as relatable as possible to create relevance between her and the audience as our target audience are also teenagers and young adults so our audience can relate to this. Furthermore the use of a slim long haired female is more effective than a man as the protagonist. This is because women are stereotypically weaker and more vulnerable, hence why a female is stereotypically the protagonist in many horrors and thrillers. For example one specific example of this is House at the End of the Street. This gave us the idea of specifically having our female teenage protagonist in a vulnerable state throughout the title sequence through the use of mise-en-scene and camera, which is also done in House at the End of the Street. In the film she wears a white casual top with plain colours, we wanted to represent this innocence and purity with the use of a white top also. furthermore they use a lot of negative spaced shots which highlights the female protagonist as lost or disconnected from the scene, or as if something else is in the room with her. We wanted to recreate this feel in our own way and present our female protagonist as vulnerable in her surrounding by the use of this.

both on screen for a longer duration as well as a sound match of a long dramatic bass like beat to add tension at a sudden point. E.g both at the

end of the title sequence.

Camera:One of our main and favourite kind of shots was a mid/long shot with our protagonist centre of the screen or sometimes on one side of it. This was because these shots left a lot of negative space, which allows the audience to either draw themselves into the character and remain focused on their actions or to imply the character is lost or disconnected from the scene due to all the space around her, as if something else is there in the negative space or she is drifting from the scene or it is captivating her. This also captivates the audience as the protagonist stands out against the scenery in the shots and is portrayed as weak and inferior with the use of further high angles, centering and rule of thirds.This allows the audience to be drawn to the surrounding and lead to mystery and tension.

Furthermore we decided we wanted one close up and one extreme close up in our title sequence rather than a typical horror that displays many close ups. This is because when following the regular conventions of a horror thriller we would include many close ups to allow the audience to see her facial expressions to connote how she is feeling at the present point. Therefore we are challenging these conventions by only using two main close ups in our title sequence as we want to show more a detachment between the character and what she is doing to portray how she is vulnerable in her surrounding and doesn’t know what is happening around her. Hence why we only choose two exact points in the sequence to really denote what she is feeling. One is during the start to show a sense of confusion as she doesn’t know what is going on and then one is also right at the end to show her as frightened or shocked. This is because these are two different turning points in the sequence that trigger certain actions or parts of the story.

We also chose to incorporate a point of view shot in a certain point of our sequence. Thiscan be seen as challenging the thriller or horror thriller genre as this can be used a lot insome films but also not at all. However we wanted to connect the character with our targetaudience and directly address them using camera. This is because our target audience areof similar age to the protagonist as well as likely to be in a similar style of house with a similar lifestyle. Therefore by choosing to incorporate POV shots within our title sequence not only are we challenging other films and title sequences of the thriller genre, but also challenging ourselves by choosing to do so. As POV isn’t a direct trait of a thriller, however it can be used and by choosing to do so is variating from the typical and doing what we want it to do by connecting with our audience as well as rise tension as to what is happening and what is going to happen. this is because the POV is used just before the climax and the pause in sound.

Editing:The pace in our title sequence is conventional of a horror thriller as it slowly gets higher and the tension slowly rises. This is because traditionally in a horror or a thriller genre the tension would rise until it reaches some sort of climax. This is something I think we successfully achieved as throughout the sequence the tension begins to rise until we eventually meet this climax at the very end. We wanted to do this to engage our audience to give them this suspense as you get closer and closer to the door upstairs (also why we included the POV shot just before seeing this door).

As well as this we have used specific cutting and jump cutting transitions throughout the title sequence to add to the suspense and create a jumpy and tense opening to the film. Cutting and jump cuts are typical and conventional of a horror thriller due to the pace being heightened. However we use a fade at one point to emphasise how she is asleep which is unconventional of a horror thriller as they don’t normally tend to use fades or dissolves. However we felt a fade best suited this specific part as it made it seem as if she was still asleep yet we were in the room watching her or seeing the rest of the room from her POV yet whilst still being asleep.

Like a traditional and conventional horror thriller we wanted our title sequence to be one complete scene rather than maybe a variety placed together. This was because wanted to keep flow and order in our sequence. We didn’t want one thing to be happening and then another thing the next. This is because typically in a horror thriller ou follow the protagonist and don’t leave them throughout. We wanted to live up to this expectation by making sure the camera and the whole sequence evolved round our protagonists causing the sequence to flow nicely rather than jump from scene to scene. Allowing us to create a rise in tension and suspense for our audience. Setting:

Our setting choice can be seen as typical or atypical to a horror thriller. This is because of a variety of reasons. For example this is because in horrors and thrillers you have two types of scenes/homes in the film. there is

either the old family warm feeling home which is normally used to relate to the target audience living in a familiar surrounding - which we have chosen to do, so we can do this. Or on the other hand a rather rich environment

with a grand house and just a higher class of lifestyle. However we chose to make the scenery similar to ones of our audiences. this is done with the stereotypical features of middle classes families household. For instance the fire, television, kitchen, bedroom doors and the casual layout and decorations of the household gives the scene

a homely feel. This can be seen either way as conventional but we specifically wanted a family house to make ot more relatable to our audience, like our choice of protagonist etc.

Mise-en-scene:We lived up to the conventions of a typical horror thriller with our use of colour editing. In our colour editing I made the decision to make everything in the piece colder and overly darker. This was because throughout the titles there was a warm glow either from the artificial light or the fireplace, therefore I wanted to make it seem colder and more of a horror thriller to create a stereotypical tense atmosphere. This was with the use of colour balance and brightness and contrast effects in premiere pro when editing. We didn’t want any strong lighting throughout the scene unless it was a slight glow on her face so you can see it in low key scenery. Apart from this we wanted low key lighting throughout or just a slight colder and darker feel throughout, which I think we achieved.

It is also evident that we have recorded the entire piece during the nighttime this was because we wanted to live up to the conventions of a horror thriller, suggesting that bad things happen to us in the night as well as the night creating mystery. Furthermore this meant we had a artificial glow throughout our original recording due to lights inside. Therefore linking back to why we edited the colours throughout. We wanted a dark nighttime scenery to reflect on the atmosphere as mysterious and dark like the lighting. This also creates a contrast between the protagonist and the surroundings and adds to why she looks detached, lost and out of place due to her white jumper and the dark surrounding.

Sound:For sound there was no build up or change in volume. Infact we instead chose one ongoing track that is in the background throughout the title sequence. This was because we felt the screenplay built up the tension well on its own, however we just needed a piece of background music to create the atmosphere in the scene. This idea was influenced from the title sequence of Se7en. This was because in the title sequence they had a piece of ongoing music that had a range of different layers of digetic sounds to create a mysterious atmosphere due to all the different types of digetic sound. This accompanied with the screenplay can also give the piece pace adding to our verisimilitude. Our choice of an ominous and ambiguous tone of music carrying on throughout our title sequence is unconventional to a horror thriller. This was to accompany the audience’s feelings as they would be wondering what is happening, accompanied with the pace of the screenplay this would then create tension.

Furthermore we then can be seen as adding to this challenge and infact developing our own unique style as we then used silence towards the end when we reached the climax this was to create ultimate tension in the scene along with the low key lighting to create mystery as what is happening. This silence and pause in the background digetic sound allows a change of pace as well as atmosphere. therefore when we finally reach the final climax of the title sequence and the door slams shut we conventionally chose to display this in a dramatic way with a loud ongoing bang as it fades out to black.

I think I have challenged, used and developed the thriller conventions. My aim was to achieve an original thriller title sequence, that was new and unique when compared to others of the same genre. I wanted to engage my target audience and entice them by the storyline and the conventions I have challenged. I felt this was a right move and the best thing to do as our thriller would then be unique and not just a typical one. making the audience therefore more engaged and not expecting the normal. however i didn’t want to completely forget about the conventions of a thriller otherwise it may not be classed as a thriller or I could risk losing my target audience as they might not have enjoyed the film if it was too far away from the typical conventions of a thriller.

My main concern when it came to the conventions of a thriller were to make sure I created suspense and tension throughout my film, whether this was with the camera, editing, sound or mise-en-scene. I think we have achieved this as throughout the film it is slowly getting faster in pace whilst the tension is slowly rising to create suspense for the audience as they watch waiting for the mysterious story to be unveiled before them using a range of challenging conventions and using them too. One example of this is the sound, the way it pauses and creates silent and then with a juxtaposing bang of sound and then furthermore the lighting creating a cold ominous and mysterious atmosphere

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

The one and only social group we have represented is a young teenage white British female, which I feel we have presented in a stereotypical manner. as a group we decided that we wanted to live up to the stereotypical views of our chosen social group as we wanted our film to be engaging through a relatable way to our target audience of a similar age to our protagonist. We decided that we wanted our protagonist to be stereotypically weak and feminine. We wanted to do this in a cliche way to suggest that something bad is going to happen or the screenplay is leading up to something due to the rise in pace and tension. This accompanied with a weak stereotypical feminine character we felt gave the film more engagement as she looks vulnerable and inferior to what is happening around her or what could happen.

Mise-en-scene such as her costume displays to the audience her feminine style, however this is done subtly within the costume. We wanted to make sure our chosen social group fitted our scene and wasn’t over or under dressed and infact casually dressed like an ordinary young teenage british female. This is so we would be able to create a direct address between the character and the audience as if she is just a normal person and as if what is happening to our protagonist can happen to anyone. This is why we decided for her to wear a simple jumper and jeans with her hair down.

However what we decided would make the differences are the colours. This is why we decided for our protagonist to wear a white jumper to symbolise purity and holiness, which would therefore connote her vulnerability in the tense film play.

Furthermore as we wanted to create a stereotypical image of a ordinary young teenage white british female we wanted to emphasise this through the use of scenery. the props throughout the household of the fireplace, television, baby monitor, sink and just general architecture of the household suggest to us the type of middle class average lifestyle she is living which we have aimed to achieve as we want this stereotype to be successful as we want i to relate.One way in which we made her seem weak were the choice of shots such as high shots and long shots to make her seem inferior to her surrounding. This was because we wanted her stereotype to be a weak and inferior one and by portraying her in this way it makes her seem in danger or at least vulnerable because of the way she is being shot.One other way in which we present our protagonist as living up to its cliche stereotype is by the fact she is babysitting a baby. This is a stereotypical thing for a young female teenager to do once she is deemed responsible enough to look after others apart from herself. This links back to why we originally chose to have this specific protagonist. This was because we wanted her to be naive and think she is responsible and independent by being pretty much alone in a house with no one else to protect her. This is because as a 17 year old’s stereotypically think they are more independent and nearly an adult as they reach the legal 18 years of age to make them an adult in the UK. However they are infact still naive, growing and vulnerable to everything, if anything more vulnerable. This is why we decided the babysitter role was perfect due to her not only having herself to think about but also the babys.

As a group we decided we wanted to keep the identity of the baby unknown, as we felt this added tension to the title sequence as we are left waiting the whole time to see this baby. This is because we do not actually know there is a baby at all but we are implied that by the mise-en-

scene, due to the shot of the baby’s room and the baby monitor we see numerously downstairs. This is because we are taking the stereotype of a young new born baby and using it to our advantage in our film to suggest innocence and vulnerability due to the baby being completely naive

and incapable of doing anything for itself. Therefore the fact this young naive baby has been left in the hand of this stereotypical ordinary female teenager that is constantly being presented as lost, weak, inferior and also vulnerable can only add tension and mystery to what is going

to happen.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

By presenting our audience with another social group of a newborn baby this allows them to realise that this is a family and not just one stereotypical young girl. Also we wanted to follow the stereotypes completely when faced with the characters due to following the conventions

of a thriller. However by presenting the audience with this baby it allows them to think about the danger moreover and not only about the danger of the young female teenagers life but also the baby upstairs. therefore when we finally go inside the room with the female later on and

we see her reaction and the door slam the audience are left to wonder what is inside or what has happened, whether there is another presence, a supernatural, paranormal or human one. This allows the title sequence to end as a cliffhanger and open up to the rest of the film in

a very mysterious way still not knowing what happened and what caused this tense atmosphere. Therefore by following these stereotypical social groups and presenting them in such a way it allows the audience to engage with this and familiarise themselves as well as create pace

and tension throughout.

Who would distribute your media product and why?Personally, I think that if our title sequence were to become a film, then I think it would expand a become a large Hollywood studio film. I think this as our narrative could easily expand and engage our target audience at a wider level, and possibly other audiences once adapted or expanded to. I think Hollywood producers and writers etc. could easily adapt to the narrative of our title sequence as it is very ambiguous and has no real direction as to what is going on. Furthermore it ends on a cliffhanger with the audience wanting to know more. Whether the protagonist has been killed, or something is in the room or something has happened to the baby. There are a huge varieties of ways in which the film can be made into therefore making me think it can easily become a larger film in Hollywood. Furthermore I think with this expansion and the advertising and publicity that would come with the film the audience would grow and become more intrigued due to the appeal and the interest in the title sequence.

Moreover, I think the camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound are another as to why our title sequence could make it to being distributed into a large Hollywood studio film. Due to the fact it follows the typical conventions of a thriller and a horror thriller like ambiguity, tension, suspense, mysterious atmosphere, dark and cold, fast pace editing etc. On the other hand the style of the title sequence and the overall storyline of it is infact atypical which makes the title sequence original and unique compared to others which would interest our target audience, meaning if it were to be distributed at a higher level. Then our audience and potential other audiences would be intrigued at the different storyline and style of filming due to it being unique however keeping the key conventions.

However, I strongly believe that our media product could not be distributed into a TV series/movie or internet release. This is because I believe the narrative of our title sequence is far too complex for any distribution on to TV whether it be a series or a movie. Due to television having a far more wider range of audience as well as some not being able to maybe understand. Furthermore I think this could not be made into a tv series due to the storyline and hwo I think it could only be made in to one consecutive cut and not a series from this original title sequence. This si because i think the storyline is far too direct for a series and has a clear vision as to where it is going and to go and change this into a series would be unnatural. This adds to why I don’t think it could be an internet release too as it is an original and intriguing storyline and narrative that would be able to make it globally and be distributed to a larger and more direct audience that would increase it’s popularity through this type of distribution.

After looking at many thrillers that were produced by different companies, I came to the conclusion that i thought New Line Cinema and Paramount Pictures would be the most suitable for my distribution of my product. However if I had to pick one I think it would be New Line Cinema. This is because I have looked into a few films that the company have distributed. For example Final Destination, The Conjuring and The Butterfly Effect. Specifically in The Conjuring it has a lot of similarities as well in The Butterfly Effects, such as styles of camera work and filming as well as some of the same stereotypical ideas such as families, children and strong ambiguity. This therefore reinforcing why it would be a good idea to distribute this further by a large distribution company who have experience and know how to expand a successful horror thriller film.

Who would distribute your media product and why?

The following image is a image of the front cover of The Conjuring which is a product distributed by New Line Cinema which I think would be best to distribute my product due to some similarities.

The font is extremely similar to my media product’s as in fact what influenced me in the first place. It is sans serif font that has a very old styled almost feminine feel to it. Furthermore this font is specifically the type of font we would have due to the current type of horror thrillers and this recurring old times new roman style of text.

The front cover also has a noose on it. this has connotations to suicide and other dark imagery. Thus connoting it is a horror thriller and there is a lot of suspense and tension in the film which is similar to my media product. furthermore the front cover has a lot of negative space which is also featured in a lot of my filming and the types of shots I like to incorporate to make the shot more open to other things coming into it and for the audience to look out for like in a thriller or horror thriller. This is done so with the use of wide shots, longs shots and rule of third shots.

Furthermore it also features a similar type of house to the one we have in our media product, only a bit bigger and with a bit bigger garden. however there is still open space and it has the same kind of look with a old style of house feel. However this house seems a little too grand and in too much of a desolate are compared to ours, although it is like what I mentioned previously.

Who would distribute your media product and why?

The following image is the front cover of Paranormal Activity 2 which is a product distributed by Paramount Pictures which I think could be able to distribute my product due to some similarities.

Similar style of high contrasting text and typography. With the use of bold blacks and whites, this is similar to my product as with my typography I have only used contrasting blacks and whites to make them bold and stand out. However the style of font is different to mine. The title is also written in capitals to make it seem more important which we have also done in ours.

Furthermore there is also the presence of a child in this too which shows the tension of vulnerability when there is danger and horror and makes the piece more terrifying and adds to the suspense of the audience due to the social group of a baby. This is because babies are naive and have no way to protect themselves and need others to do so for them, hence linking to a family and other characters and the storyline revolving around this family. This is similar to my title sequence narrative due to the story evolving round this one teenage girl, which builds tension as we see the film flow and slowly build pace. This can be similar here as this film follows the life of a family and what happens inside their household, which explores similar ideas of other presences and a stereotypical and ordinary house that is meant to be familiar with the audience then made horrific with the thought of something else in the house with them etc. Which is very similar to my title sequence.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Age: We think that the target audience for our age group is 15-25 year olds. This is because our protagonist and only character that takes part is 17 herself and is portrayed to be that age in the film. Furthermore I think the storyline, narrative and meaning behind it is very specific to our target audience as we have made our product to specifically tailor to our target audience. For example we have tried to directly address theme with stereotypical conventions as well as other atypical ideas to engage them. This is so it is familiar yet engaging and not boring to our target audience.

Gender: We do not have a specific gender that we aim our product at, because we feel that it is suitable for both genders and is like other thrillers with female protagonist or male protagonists but still aimed at the opposite gender. However it can be argued that it is a female targeted product due to there being no males in the opening and how feminine the opening can be to connote her as weak and vulnerable on purpose. Although this is purposely done to add to the storyline and what is going to happen and not to target our audience as females.

Race: I think we have aimed our product mainly at white british males and females due to our protagonist being the same. Furthermore the surrounding and scenery she is set in is idyllic of a british middle class household so therefore being familiar to a white british person and making it more targeted at them than any other race. furthermore thrillers and horror thrillers are very popular in Britain so this is another reason as to why it would be our target audience.

Age: 23 Gender: Male “I liked the ending the best, as it was fast, dramatic and unexpected!”

Age: 17 Gender: Male “I liked how professional the opening looked, as well as the camera work.”

Age: 19 Gender: Female “the camera angles were amazing and the storyline was so good.”

By conducting an audience research survey it allows me and my group to see what others from my target audience thought of my finished product. Therefore allowing us to see what we have done good and bad overall and in specific areas of camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound. After looking at the responses above I can see my group and I have done well from the warm response of positive replies.

How did you attract and address your audience?

When creating this opening I always had in mind my target audience of 15-25 years old. I feel what attracted and addressed my target audience was specifically the storyline, use of camera and mise-en-scene. I feel these played an important role in engaging our audience and helping them to enjoy the title sequence. This is done with the use of POV to see what the character in the film is seeing as if the audience is the character in the screen. This helps the audience to have an emotional attachment to the character and the product due to it pulling them in. i think this is important for the characters and the product to relatable to our target audience. Furthermore why the chosen protagonist is of a similar age to make her seem relatable or familiar to someone similar in their lives. Moreover the choice of location and costume plays a strong part in attracting our chosen audience as it will seem engaging to them due to the direct address due to familiarity in our product to our audience.

I have attracted my target audience with the use of mise-en-scene and choice of character; specifically costume. This is because she is wearing ordinary casual clothing of a typical 17 year old british female teenager. This would then be relatable to the audience if they are similar in any way or if there is someone else they know in their lives that is similar in any way because of where they live and this being the stereotypical look of a 17 year old white british female teenager.

The POV shots allows the audience to be brought into the diegesis of our product and feel as if they are the protagonist getting closer and closer to the door, as if they are reaching out for it. This si so they feel the emotions that our protagonist would be feeling at that very point to. However the audience is more aware of the danger than the character is due to the character being presented as lost. the POV shots engage the audience and create tension.

Our chosen setting is very familiar to those of a middle class background that are british as this type of house would be familiar to them and them knowing this type of house is a scene pf danger, mystery and tension can only attract the audience and address ou target audience due to the familiar surrounding. However the inside looks very different to those of the outside, but we do not see the outside which is good as the inside looks more stereotypical than the outside.

Audience survey and results:We firstly needed to know what age they were to see if they were our target audience or not to see if our target audience liked our finished product. As well as this we wanted to see if other ages enjoyed it too, to see if it can be broadened.

We then needed to see the gender of the people who filled in the responses to see who was biased to liking it more - male or females? this was completely even which proved us to have an open audience to gender

We then needed to see what others would rate our title sequence, judging on a scale of 1-5. This came back with very positive results saying it was excellent and good.

We then had to ask if they would watch the rest of the film if there was one. 10/12 answered yes and the other 2 answered maybe. This was extremely positive telling us we had made a very good product that our audience enjoyed. Also linking back to distribution.

When then asked opinions on some other questions which also gave extremely positive replies. Overall our response for our product was great and it evidently shows in our research as there is no negativity at all throughout the entire responses. I am extremely happy with the response.

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Throughout the process of making my final product of a title sequence for the genre thriller I feel when it came to the technology side of things I knew exactly what I was doing and to be honest didn’t really struggle with any of the programs and equipment we were using.

However at the start there were simple things I just didn’t know which I soon picked up after my teacher showing me the right way. for example I wasn’t the best with the equipment and how to set up the camera, tripod and everything else needed for filming. Furthermore I wasn’t very steady at the start when recording especially when it came to POV’s, tilt’s and pan’s. However after teaching myself and trying to get the hang of the equipment I quickly learnt how to properly use the equipment and this helped my group and I a lot when it came to actually filming as I was the main person doing so. At the tart this was a real pain not knowing how to properly use the equipment because we had to constantly re shoot trying to get the right shots, however when we eventually got better and individually me, we came along and made much more progress along the way.

On the other hand I never had any struggle when it came to editing any of the title sequence or either of the intros or sound within our overall title sequence. This was because I had become familiar with the Adobe programs such as Photoshop, Premiere Pro and After Effects from about year * and I have always done digital art through school and I am now doing PVA in A Level. Therefore this gave me an advantage when it came to editing our title sequence and any of the intros or music. I felt extremely lucky as I saw some of the other groups struggle a lot with this and even some of my group. This is when I realised it was best that I probably showed the rest of my group also how to use these programs and to do some of the stuff that we need to know when editing as I wanted to help the others so they could edit themselves (although it was just I in the end that did do all the editing). This helped us to progress further asa group due to teaching the rest of my group how to use the different technologies.

Overall I feel in terms of technology I have not learnt a lot as I feel I already knew a lot of the things I used and did in terms of making, editing, filming etc when in the process of constructing my final product. However I feel that everything I knew was put up to challenge each time causing me to make sure I knew what I was doing and making sure I upheld the same level that I wa working at as I wanted to maintain a professional look and style to our title sequence. I feel we did achieve this, however I do not feel I have learnt a lot in terms of technology though this process, although some key ways to use some of the camera equipment I have learnt.

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

When looking back at my preliminary task I can easily see the big change in myself and my group as well as our overall quality of work. This is easily seen when focusing on each aspect of it. I remember at the time, when I think back to it thinking that is was so easy and how simple this all would be. However now looking back on it I see how foolish I was and how much I have progressed since that poor work. I have learnt many things that are important to create a successful product, such as organizational skills. When researching into genre, I realised how important this was to the overall product as I had to keep looking back at the key codes and conventions of a thriller genre when doing research and analyse of other thriller genres. This was because I wanted to take inspiration from others and use this to create my own, this was something I before lacked and had poor research on which led to me just guessing on what I thought from previous films I had seen and stuff I just imagined etc. Additionally making a storyboard was a very important process when creating a successful product as when I was making the storyboard it took a dreadfully long time and I remember thinking why I would do it so detailed. However after I then realised why i would include annotations of shots, sound, duration etc as well as detailed drawings with thorough notes. This was because the detail helped myself to visualise what our product would look like and this is what we lacked when I was in my preliminary task as I just threw a few things together and had no real direction or understanding, whereas with this key thorough storyboard it made everything ten times better.

I think from looking back on my continuity task a lot has improved in terms of camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound. When recording my continuity task I remember my groups and my terrible camera skills at recording and how unsteady we were. Furthermore just the overall quality of everything when it came to handling and skill when filming was just terrible and needed to be improved. On the other hand since this in a original product we have come a long way as we kept practising and re trying and re shooting until we got shots right and we got better at shooting and this is evident when I look back on my work comparing them to one another.

You can see a massive difference in the quality when comparing left image to right. You can see the camera is completely off balance and we obviously did not know how to use the tri-pod properly to get the right 180 degree balance and make sure everything is straight. However when looking at the right you can see it is perfectly straight and we have obviously learnt how to deal with this problem by getting to grips with the tri pod.

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

When comparing pans from my previous continuity task and then looking at my final products pans I can see a massive difference. Before when panning I rushed what I was doing and didn’t properly know what to do, hence why the protagonist is not centered. However when comparing to my final product and how I am now I can see how I have improved by keeping the target centre and remaining at a steady pace rather a an unsteady one from before.

Also when I look back and compare my tilt shots I can see the difference and overall improvement in this too. I can see how I have centered my target now, whereas before it was completely off. Furthermore the tilt is steady and just goes up and down, whereas before it was slightly going left and up and down at and unsteady and unnatural pace, which lost continuity and overall effect. However I have now got to grips with this and I have overcome all of this.

Due to progression in practicing camera, editing, mise-en-scene and sound I think what I have created is good, advanced and overall a successful product