Evaluation Question 7

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

When I look back to the beginning of the course when we made our preliminary task, I now think about all the things i have learnt, and what i could have added to it to improve and make it better.
I then look at my final thriller opening and see many things i have included that i didn't even know about  when we were creating the preliminary task. There are many different editing features, sounds, mise en scene references, camera shots, angles and methods of filming that i hadn't even considered using back at the beginning, but i think now that if i had used them it would have given the preliminary task much more of a thriller feel to it.

 One of the things i think i have learnt the most about, and improved upon is audio editing. By using software such as garage band and soundtrack pro, i have been able to experiment with different sounds and techniques to help create both non-diegetic and diegetic sound that enhance the thriller atmosphere of the opening.

Another skill i have improved upon is basic footage editing. using final cut pro i have been able to add sounds and footage together and create a final opening that has little continuity mistakes and makes each cut flow easily. adding fades and different transitions to our footage has really improved upon defining the feeling of a thriller.

Also credits and titles have been one aspect of an opening to a film that i have improved upon. Creating production company logos and production team names is now something i have had practice with, which also helps me to understand when to make them pop up in-between scenes of the opening.

There have also been many different methods of filming and camera angles that i have learnt and used to improved upon my skills of being a camera man. One of the main camera methods that have helped me to enhance the thriller genre and feeling, was learning to use a track and dolly to produce a vertigo shot (trombone shot). in our thriller opening, we used the vertigo shot to convey the main characters fear and anxiety of the situation he is in. We also used quick panning shots, to create a sense of fast paced running as the character runs to open the door. 

By experimenting with the preliminary task in the beginning of the course, we were able to learn from the mistakes we made in order to improve our skills and understanding of making a thriller opening. It was because of the preliminary task that we know all of the basic shot sizes and angles, and in the time after that, we developed our final opening that had been perfected from the things we missed out or did wrong in the past. So over time, i have learnt many new things and have aimed to include many of these new techniques i have learnt and improved upon, to complete and make a successful thriller opening.