Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The change from the preliminary task to the actual thriller opening was a big step up as we were able to put a lot more time and effort into it to make it more how we wanted to, with the planning of such jobs as location finding and fonts we were able to make it more personal to how we thought it should be. With the time we were given we were able to go research potential areas in which we could film in rather than just in and around school. This made it able to also get a wide range of different shots types as well, using long alleys or high up places like we did in the shot going up stairs. with the final location ending up to be Anglia Square, we were able to look around and already plan shots we would take before we even started filming, which was great help when planning. More time meant we could also go into more detail with areas such as casting and props, with casting we could get people from school who we knew were talented in acting. Sam was a key example because he is currently taking A-Level Drama and was able to create some fantastic emotions which look perfect for the effect we were trying to create. With a bigger area to film in meant we could get a lot of variety in are shots, we could also start to use small details of the location to really create excitement and variety in the film. To do this, I added a shot reverse shot of the protagonist running down a ramp to the subway and coming round the corner of a railing. While running down he places his hand on the railing and shortly after, the shot returns to him.

Shot reverse shots are a great way to keep variety in a scene when there's not much else you can do, they also help to build on the tense the scene might have, for example by showing just how tight he's holding onto something and maybe if he's shaking etc. shot reverse shot is also used at the beginning where it shows the terror on his face, cuts to the tight grip of enigmatic bag and then back to his eyes. Shot reverse shots are very commonly used and are very smooth if done correctly, an example of a brilliant shot reverse shot comes from Double Indemnity with the insurance rep Walter, starts flirting with Phyllis. Alot of the research we did come from various thrillers and noir films including Double Indemnity which was very influential when thinking about lighting for the thriller, for example with the use of the sun coming through the venation blinds into the dark gloomy room.

When we first started the planning for the thriller opening, it required alot of team work to organise and prepare the things we needed to do. Although at times it was hard to get things right and agree on things, it made the whole thing very much easier and making anything is always better when done by more than one person. In terms of my edit, i think overall it went alright, in the early stages i was getting feedback all saying sort of the same thing which was to fix the sound and remove any wind you here and i very much agreed with it. the wind was a huge problem when it  came to editing as nearly every shot had loud pieces of wind recording in it which was very of putting when watching, when planning though we decided to bring a second camera which we would use a microphone with to record background sounds and non-diegetic recordings to crisp it up. i think overall the most important thing i have learnt when filming and editing is how to keep an interesting  fast and exciting pace in it. With the edit i did, the whole opening was basically a chase and so keeping a good pace was key to making it intense and wild. I think the way mine does it by having alot of movement in the shots and even using a shaky cam effect in some shots as well as tilt shots.