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

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

• Using the 180 degree rule - I have learned from previous lessons and when creating the preliminary task that the 180 degree rule is very important when filming two people, especially when having a conversation. the 180 degree rule is a basic guideline in filmmaking that states that two characters in the same scene should always have the same left and right as each other  There's an invisible line that runs straight through the two people involved (usually having a conversation standing opposite each other) which cannot be crossed by the cameras as it will confuse the audience as to who is who. I hadn't notice this before in media products but after researching it and experimenting with it in the preliminary task I was then aware of how important it was and to stick to it for our final piece, although we didn't feel the need to use this in our thriller. 
• When creating the preliminary task I had gained confidence with using specific camera angle and movement. I had a lot learnt the names of these, camera angles such as: high angle, low angle, tilt, close up, long shot, mid shot. I was then able to challenge these and insert these into the preliminary task. I gained confidence from including these into the preliminary task and so therefore was able to take away what I had learned and used it in the final thriller opening.
•  Since the preliminary task I have completed loads of research on thriller conventions such as locations, sounds, costumes and character types. By getting a good outlook on other thrillers I was then able to take in my research and incorporate it into our planning for our thriller. Also from looking back at our preliminary task and getting feedback from other members of my class I was able to notice the strengths and weaknesses and avoid the weaknesses when it came to the thriller opening. 

Team work
When put into a group for the preliminary task I had never met the people I was working with before which was a good thing as I could build my communication skills and team working skills. We were able to help give each other constructive criticism and opinions on what we thought looked good or bad (both of the filming and editing (side). This helped to improve our individual skills for our final thriller opening piece as we could take away what we had learned from others and put it together. As a thriller group, we had all come from different preliminary groups so we all had learned different things and could put together all of what we had learned to make a very strong final thriller opening product. 


Also, we each had individual blogs in which we would post to and receive further feedback from our media teachers. The people in our group would all post very similar things, we would then individually each receive feedback from our teachers which would be slightly different and we could apply all of the feedback that we gained to our posts to make them at the best standard. Also, on our blogs we had all researched into different media products (especially thriller film) and had gained different ideas and used a range of intertextual references. 

strengths of our final product
location in our thriller film was a very important factor which highly suited our genre of a modern day thriller. The use of graffiti in a run down area as well as the underground gives off this dark feel and sets the scene of our thriller movie. The underground signifies the claustrophobic spacing and is also very similar to the location of other British dramas such as"Kidulthood" and "Adulthood".

Editing 

When editing our final piece together, from preliminary experience, we had more experience with the software so we found it easier to adjust and edit the final piece together. One thing that went extremely well was when the shots changed to the anonymous mask character, I was able to use my editing skills and razor that specifics shot out and distort the sound of the music and make it sound as if it was in the background. I was able to colour correct and edit the shots. For example, when everyone was dancing the colour was bright and highlighted. However, when everything went downhill I made sure that the brightness was lowered and everything became a lot more dark.

Lastly, the soundtrack was a good strength because it completed the genre and kept to the targeted audience of youth. Without it, the party wouldn't seem so active and there would be no build up of tension when Chione was almost passed out in the end scene.

Weaknesses of our final product

One weakness of our overall media product is the lack of diegetic sound.We found it very hard to include diegetic sound into our thriller opening as when filming there was a lot of noses that would have ruined the thriller genre i.e. dialect of people in the background and cars etc. We tried to include at least one diegetic sound (the noise of the tap) as it looked too much like a music video without it.

The font and colour of the title isn't very professional looking. We tried to make a relation between the posters for the party and the actual title (bright green colouring) but then we realised that the poster was too near to the beginning and the title was shown right at the end so there was too much time inbetween the both for people to even notice that they were related.

What is the most important thing you have learnt about filmmaking since the preliminary task?
Since the preliminary I have learned many things. The most important thing that I have learned from the whole experience is to keep an eye on time. I found that there were many weaknesses with our thriller final cut but I had spent too much time completing other tasks that I didn't give myself enough to make the final cut how we wanted it. There are still some weaknesses that could have been adjusted if we had organised our time more efficiently. Also, when shooting the film I learned that it shouldn't be rushed and I should take my time when filming because we found that we rushed filming and so therefore, didn't have enough footage that we could compare and edit in.