Evaluation 7 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From doing our preliminary task I learnt the basic skills required to create a short, satisfactory sample of film; however the skills required to create an opening of a thriller at the level we were expected to do so, required a more advanced set of skills. Looking back, I can see a massive enhancement in my filming and editing skills, and knowledge regarding the use of technologies.

An important aspect of filming we learned from mistakes we made in our preliminary task was continuity. In our preliminary task we made the mistake of filming the same character wearing different clothes when she wasn’t supposed to be. The images below show the unintentional change of outfit.

                                                            Rosie wearing an outfit

Rosie wearing a different outfit

Mistakes such as this don’t frequently occur in professional films. To ensure that this didn't happen in our AS production we completed all of our filming in one day, and we also made notes of the clothes each character was wearing, this was to eliminate any risks of doing this.

I particularly found the editing process a lot easier to handle in the thriller production compared to our preliminary task.  I feel that this is very evident in the two.  Our uses of dissolves and fade to black were much more effective in the thriller as we had more knowledge about the different effects they both create.  In the preliminary task we were very new to using the camera and so were mostly experimenting with the equipment and trying new things whereas in our AS production we had the skills we needs to produce a better standard of film.

Secondly, the match on action shots we had in our preliminary task looked satisfactory, however we wanted to perfect this in our AS production. It is important when editing a match on action that both clips are cut to the correct length. In our final production our match on action is of the mother entering the house with the pram. This match on action changes from external to internal, we thought this would be the perfect transition of locations from outside, to inside.

 The most noticeable difference between our preliminary and our AS production is the music. In our preliminary we used none, however in our AS production we used a piece which helped create the mood and give our production more meaning. It made the equilibrium of the mother pushing the pram seem happier and heart felt, whereas it also made the disruption of the baby being kidnapped seem piercing, shocking and scary. Music is always used in professionally constructed films to create mood, one example of this is in Face/Off. A soft piano is heard at the beginning where John is riding a carousel with his son showing his unconditional, deep love for his son, and the happiness he brings him. After the attempted assassination of John Travolta's character consequently kills his son the music quickly changes into a different piece which creates a more depressing mood, in hope the audience understand his grief and loss for his son. 

The 180 degree rule was something we were told was necessity in our preliminary task, and therefore had to learn how to use it properly. This rule is applied whether it's a professional film, or a home made one. 

As shown by the picture above, the 180 degree rule is used when ‘shot reverse shot’ is being filmed. The rule’s purpose is to ensure the characters involved in the ‘shot reverse shot’ appear in the correct position, and don’t disorientate the audience. This is a rule that must not be broken.  In the preliminary tasked we used the 180 degree rule when mine and Hannah's characters were conversing.  Similarly in our AS thriller production, this rule occurred when my character, Sarah, and Alexia's threatening character bumped into each other on the road.  Here we used shot reverse shots to push the idea that the two were having a conversation, even though it was extremely brief.