Evaluation Q7 - Joe Tiongson

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

• Looking back on our preliminary task I feel that I've definitely made progress in terms of my knowledge and understanding on the filming world such as location planning, different filming techniques, the importance of lighting and the importance of how audience research is crucial to have before even generating ideas on the concept of our opening.

Pre-production

• Pre-production consists of planning all the necessities before we pick up a camera and start to film. Pre-production consists of the location on where to film, creating a script and plot and gathering equipment. When doing our preliminary task we found that this is a significant stage in filming and takes time and effort to plan out efficiently which we didn't have so when it came to the pre-production of our actual opening, we made sure to spend the appropriate amount of time into planning the factors that would influence how our production stage would run. 
• Through planning we were able to be more efficient with our time as we feel we didn't 'jump head first into the shallow end' meaning we didn't go into the production stage blindly and without a rough idea of what we're doing.

Production

• When we started filming our preliminary task, we were able to experiment with a variety of different camera shots and angles and found out which ones were more suited to our film opening in a way that generated a certain atmosphere or make the audience feel a certain way. An example of a shot we found acceptable was the close-up shot and we evidently used this a lot in our opening because we felt that this shot allowed us to portray the actor in a way that illustrated his emotions clear and unsettling.

• Between the preliminary task and the final product we were able to demonstrate more types of shots that suited the thriller genre. One type of shot we kept in both was the close up of the feet however it generated two completely different attitudes towards the way it was used; in the preliminary task we used the close up to portray where the character was going and no other purpose whereas in the final product we've used this technique to establish a suspenseful and mysterious atmosphere for the audience to fit into conventions of a thriller.

Preliminary Task

Final Product

Post-production

• Post production consisted mainly of editing because we didn't have to re-shoot any scenes due to our efficient planning. Unlike the preliminary task, we knew what scenes we needed through the storyboard so there was no need for improvisation.

Preliminary Task

• One technique technique of post-production which we all felt confident and familiar in both is the concept of continuity. This was our strongest point as a group as we all got our head around this technique easily, its also a great technique to demonstrate because it makes the scene transitions from one to another smoothly and doesn't confuse the audience making the shots more realistic and easily interpreted.

Final Product

At the end of the day...

From looking back to our preliminary task and at our opening there is a clear development between the two. I'm extremely proud of how our opening turned out in the end as it matched the storyboard I generated and portrayed our development and understanding of the devices and filming techniques from not knowing what we were doing to the adequate A level media students we are. In our final product we've incorporated the conventions needed to produce a well planned and effective thriller opening.



Our knowledge and understanding has developed from the preliminary to the final product because of how much research and planning we conducted in relation to conventions of a thriller opening. We got a good idea of the kind of shots are used in thriller openings and adapted them to make our successful thriller opening.