Tom Simpson: Looking back at the Prelim

We planned for our thriller much more thoroughly than we did for the preliminary task, primarily because of what we had learnt from our preliminary task. But also the idea for our thriller had much more depth and was way more complicated than the basic shot and editing sequences we had gone through for the preliminary task. For the prelim we were given a storyboard and script which meant we only had to work on creating the basic shots that we wanted. Where as for the thriller we storyboarded, wrote a script, chose specific actors, designed the set and had to research the conventions of the type of thriller we wanted to create. The editing process was much more complicated partly because of the sheer number of shots we took, which required marking, but also because the thrillers we researched were mostly produced by big media conglomerates, for example the film Se7en I researched was produced by New Line Cinema which is a fellow subsidiary of Time Warner. In the prelim we were only using basic wide, medium, or close shots where as for the main task we were using the range of shots and filming skills we had learnt about since the prelim. We found storyboarding difficult as our thriller contained montages and after effects, however we used the benefit of the script in order to formally introduce our thriller and explain the concept of it. The visual narrative was generally shown through the way our thriller was displayed and the editing process, because it moulded our sequence of shots into a game show program and solidified the basic plot of our thriller. The camera work of our thriller is clearly an improvement from the prelim task. We took into account head space, the 180 degree rule and the framing for our shots. In the beginning montage sequences we knew to keep the camera in exactly the same position for each shot of every character so that it would flow fluidly. We displayed new techniques like the wide shot zoom close up of the presenter during the introduction of the show, which we had learnt about through research of reality TV and throughout the planning of our thriller. The spacing and framing we used for each character interview was a new skill we had all learnt since the prelim. Our use of all areas has been developed since the prelim including sound. When filming the prelim we stuck to using the attached microphone, where as during our thriller we used a second wire microphone as well so that we had the choice of which sounds recording to use. We set the microphone up by doing rehearsals of the lines each character was going to say and making sure that the sound was keeping at the right level. Another difference between our prelim and main task in terms of sound was the after added sounds in our main task, the voice over, the synchronous non diegetic sound effects of gun shots etc and of course the music we added to create mood with in chosen shot sequences. This was done by our utilisation of a relatively new media technology, final cut pro and after effects which allowed us to work over the top of our thriller and add the special effects that help to conform to the conventions of reality television