After the preliminary task, I feel that we have come a long way as we didn't know how to use half of the programmes as we do now. For the preliminary task we were asked to create a 'door opening scene', we had to film and edit the character walking through a door, entering a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she would exchange a couple of lines of dialogue. The shot types included match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree angle. This was a quick task so it did not require as much time and commitment as the final task, our planning consisted of the shot types we were going to include ,what the dialogue was and the storyline. Our storyboard was drawn on post-it notes and we included all the different shots we wanted to use and any props we had. Also, on a separate piece of paper we had our script of what we were going to say.
For our final product it obviously required more effort and research into what we were going to do, for example low lighting, not letting the identity be revealed to create an enigma for the audience, story-line. We also planned the shots we wanted to use, our story-line, the plot, soundtrack and how we were going to edit our final piece. Lucky for our group our opening didn't contain any dialogue as we felt that our soundtrack was effective on its own as it created an eerie atmosphere.
During the time from our preliminary task to our final product I feel I learnt a lot to do with certain types of shots, how to create a soundtrack and how to use a variety of new programmes that the macs offer. Although we only had a limited knowledge of certain shot types, however we were able to develop them further in the final task. Although I was acting and didn't film during the final piece I still feel that I understood the concepts more and understood how to conceive a decent film opening, this is because of our experience that we got from the preliminary task. Some of the shots included long shots, close ups, medium shots, these were the basics for our preliminary task, some other shots that we developed on were point of view shots, tracking shots and many others.
The shot on the right is a long shot from our final product, the shot on the left is also a long shot from our preliminary task.
These are both close up shots. The image on the left is taken from our thriller opening, showing the victims legs. The image on the right is from our preliminary task, showing one of the characters about to open a door.
Some of the other shot we developed for our final opening scene that we used was a point of view shot. Here is a screengrab of this shot used in our final product
We also learnt about establishing shots, which is the type of shot that sets the scene for the audience. These shots are usually taken looking like a long shot, but in fact establishes the scene.
This is an establishing shot, from our thriller genre. Which is also where the scene is set for most of the opening.
Another shot that we learnt in order to make our thriller opening a success was a high angle shot. This shows that the person is vulnerable, and possibly the victim.
This is a high angle, this is taken from our opening as well. This is portraying our victim in the torture scene.
After we had filmed all of our shots for 'Captivity' we had to edit it. To do this we needed to use our editing programme, Final Cut Express we edited our whole sequence on this programme. This allowed us to cut parts of our takes and edit efficiently to create effective continuity. Final Cut enabled us to add titles, and also add transitions into our opening sequence. The first time we used Final Cut I found it to be quite fiddly and hard to use, but as I progressed through the project, I came to terms with the programme and achieved our opening. We also learnt how to use various programmes such as After Effects and Garageband to help create our soundtrack and distribution logo. From our preliminary task I learnt that to have a successful sequence we need to have precise planning as it is a big part of creating it and it also helps us structure what we are going to do when and where. By knowing exactly what shots, the scene, storyline we can efficiently create a hopefully, successful media product.
On the whole I feel that our media product was successful, because we researched carefully into our genre and were able to apply the conventions we wanted to use to go with our storyline. The part of our opening scene that I think is the best are the torture shots, because of the lighting and some of the angles of the shots. One of my favorite shots is when the antagonist (David) grabs me the victim from behind as it comes as quite a shock to the viewer.
Preliminary Exercise
Continuity Exercise
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