Evaluation Q7

Q7

One way I have developed my skills is by the way a shot is framed. In my prelim, many of my shots included too much in the room it was shot such as doors, other students walking by and items that should not be in the shot. I have improved this by choosing carefully instead of recklessly where the camera was shooting from. I have also learnt due to this how to compose a shot correctly. This was a major problem within my prelim as we were in a large room with many items that should not be in the shot, but I improved this in my opening and if there was something that was not correct I tried to cut the obstruction out of the scene.



 

Two shots where we broke the 180 degree rule

 

In my prelim I also many shortcomings of the piece such as breaking the 180 degree rule, rule of thirds and golden mean, these are major parts that we mainly ignored during the prelim and this made it looked rushed and reckless. I improved on this during my opening as I addressed these issues and made changes in the shooting. As with the 180 degree rule, if I did break it in my thriller, I showed the camera actually breaking it instead of just switching placement of the camera. We also ignored the rule of thirds to some extent; I also addressed this and made the action take place in the centre of my opening. The golden mean was also mainly ignored and I improved this as I included it more often and tried to film it along the mean in my thriller.

One of the skills I have developed is editing. Before I started my thriller I had little experience of editing a video, But I soon after I started, I found out how to add filters, effects and transitions as well as changing audio. Learning these skills also helped me create a more successful piece as well as improve the flow of my thriller so it looked appropriate and did not look reckless as was the case within my prelim.

I also developed the use of continuity within my thriller. I did this throughout to make the thriller move at a correct pace as well as make it look as natural as I possibly could. This was useful during shooting and editing my thriller as when I filmed, it looked more realistic but also it was easier to edit as the shots seems to flow correctly into each other and make it look natural.

I also used my own type of shot reverse shot within my thriller. I did this in an unconventional manner as usually it shows two characters talking or something like that. However, I made it different in my own way. I did this by flipping the views of two of the shots within it where the camera is behind the character looking into a bush, I then reversed it from the monsters point of view. This was useful during my editing as it also made it easier to find which shots fitted together correctly and which ones did not. This helped me find “junk” clips and ones that can be used.

My versions of shot reverse shot.

I also used the 180 degree rule within my thriller. This was very hard to maintain all the way though as many shots that I wanted included breaking the rule, however, I came up with alternate shots to not break this rule. It was useful during editing as it made the shots seem easier to put together. However, when filming, it made it harder but it paid off as it made the thriller look more realistic.

This sequence was hard to film as I had to change camera angels to make sure I did not completely break the rule.

 

 

I also used a small amount of match on action within my thriller. This was rather easy to do during filming as it was not hard to do. This is because there are many places it could be done. This also made editing the clips easier as they connected and made cutting between them look better.

 

This sequence of MOA also made it easier to film the credits as I added in the production name here as well as making a good looking cut between the three shots.

I feel overall that my thriller opening was good as it had many elements of a normal thriller movie as it had fast paced editing, a narrative and also created some kind of atmosphere. However one area I would have improved was the mise-en-scene. I would have improved this as it is not a very dark location so it reduced the fear effect. I would have changed it for a forest or a possibly wasteland area to create this. But I feel apart from this, that the thriller is good. One of the strengths of it is that the shots are original ideas and that they are barely used within real thrillers. This makes it more engaging and interesting for the audience. Another strong point is the pace of the editing in some parts of it. This is strength as it adds pace to the opening as it gets faster as the action happens, this makes it seem more like a real thriller than if it was slow. However, one weakness would be the choice of mise-en-scene as it reduces the fear effect and also seems to not fit in with the thriller genre.