Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Throughout this task, our group felt very stressed from deadlines and work amounts at the beginning, however by the end we were really happy with our final product and the effort paid off.  I feel like I have learnt many camera skills throughout this process, and compared to our preliminary I can now pull focus on a camera. Not only this, but I have also learnt how to use IMovie and use Photoshop in more depth.

Our group also feels like we have improved working together as a team, and managing one another to make sure no deadlines are missed. Planning skills were key during this task, however our group made sure that all planning was finished before we even went out to film. This made the process a lot less stressful then it was going to be and more enjoyable.

I learnt some specific skills in my production. This includes being able to work in a team well and contribute with confidence, not feeling embarrassed of sharing certain ideas. Also, my camera skills have rapidly grown, since George and Matt have shown me how to use certain effects on the camera, and how to pull focus a camera shot. This will help me in the future if ever I have to film again, since I will know how to work a camera and IMovie to edit the shots on. We used a Nikon D800 for this task, which gave our group the opportunity  to film at 60fps in full HD too. 

I feel like my confidence has grown during this task too because I had to act in it as one of the characters. I would defiantly not class myself as an actress but it was interesting to see how our group managed with it. Furthermore, our group stuck to the 180-degree rule throughout filming our thriller opening sequence, and had to re-shoot some of the shots because many went wrong because of it. Additionally, because we re-shot the scenes that didn’t follow the rule, it has made our overall production look more professional and exciting to watch.

Continuity was also very important when filming our opening sequence because if any one of the characters was not wearing what they were wearing from their last shot taken, then it would confuse the audience on how that happened since you would not see them getting changed or moving anything about. A good example of this is when George was walking out of the house to get into the car, however it had to be re-shot because I noticed he was wearing his sixth form lanyard. It wasn’t that obvious, although any continuity errors could’ve made our production piece a lot worse.

I personally think that out thriller opening sequence is very successful. I think this because it uses short, fast paced editing which entices the audience and makes it more exciting. Also the music works really well with it and is perfectly in synch. If our group could improve on anything though, I would suggest that it would be making sure our planning was more sufficient and organized, because we couldn’t think of an idea to end our opening with so we had to re-shot a number of times and we wasted a lot of time doing it. I also like our project because it is different to the stereotypical thriller openings, and doesn’t incorporate dark woods, high-pitched string instruments and a typical chase scene. Our ideas for the sequence remained sinister and dark, yet funny and witty, which makes it more uplifting to watch.

Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Q6: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

To film our thriller opening sequence we used a Nikon D800, which gave us very high quality shots instead of using an IPhone built in camera. What I learnt about using this camera was that in order to achieve high standard shots, you needed to make sure that the camera was fully in focus, and needed to be incredibly stable. We achieved this by using a tripod, which meant we could get very still shots instead of holding it by hand. None of our group produced any shaky footage, which was good, and instead of using a dolly for tracking shots (because we didn’t have one) we found ourselves being extremely resourceful and attaching the tripod to a skateboard, so we could follow the characters with a steady camera.  Specific shots such as the end shot (Car driving away) was used by setting up the camera on a tripod and leaving some distance between the back of the car and the camera, as the camera could’ve gotten damaged. This is effective as it means the camera is not shaky and all over the place, and can be used to focus primarily on one subject.

We learnt that the composition of most of our shots featured a background of some sort, and a main subject – either a character or a prop. This was effective as we edited it with fast paced music so the audience could get a sense of how the characters were in a rush and the tension building up between them. The framing was used in a similar way, as it is showing what is in the shots, whereas the composition is how the shots are laid out.  

The weather was good for all the days we filmed, however it didn’t affect us at all since we were inside most of the time. Our opening sequence took us about 3 whole days to film, but because we didn’t like the last shots we did, we went back and re-filmed them.  Most of our shots were close ups/extreme close ups, although I personally felt like this worked effectively since it captured the tension and excitement a thriller should show.

Our group kept in mind about the rule of thirds and golden rule when filming since it would mean that our audience would focus specifically where we would want them to focus. For instance, if we used the rule of thirds then our audience would focus on the middle of the screen, whereas if we were using the golden rule then they would focus on anything lining up from one of the corners of the shot to the other corner.

We decided to use IMovie to edit our videos in. Matt was skilled in this area so he took on most of the editing. IMovie is Apple based videoing software that allows you to trim, structure and import footage so you can edit it. It is basic software so that means it’s pretty easy to use and get the hang of.

I designed the ident, and used the software Photoshop to complete it on. I started off by researching all about idents to get some inspiration, and then drew a black rectangle with the shape tool and tried out different sans serif fonts until I liked it.  To create the music to the opening sequence our group also decided to use Logic Pro. We used the recording studio at school and Matts house to record the guitars, bass, drums and vocals. Logic Pro is an excellent piece of software for producing, editing and mastering music, and found it very useful when composing a piece for our project.

How to use IMovie:

 Start off by choosing the theme.

 Then progress to selecting the clips you would like to use.

You can grab the sides of the yellow box to highlight the clip, drag it into your project and begin to trim it to your preferences.

Once you've added more than one clip, you can then proceed to choose your preferred transitions.








Now once you have found a transition that you would like to use, select the clips and drag the transition in between them.









You can now begin to share your video, either through Youtube, Facebook, iTunes and more, and now you have finished the process of using iMovie in a basic structure.

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

 These two shots would appeal to our target audience of young adults since it incorporates wealth, power and violence in to them. This is because we can see a man wearing a suit, put on silver and gold watch, and another shot includes him putting a gun into the back of his belt. These props work very effectively and make the sequence look professional.

We managed to create enigmas throughout our opening by not showing the characters faces at all. Our group felt like this was the best decision, since we decided that if we showed the characters faces to the audience then there would be no enigmas to find out, and in this case the enigma was to try and find out their identities. Also, by not showing the characters faces we felt that our opening sequence appealed more to a wide based audience and looked more professional, this is because the characters in this sequence are not actors, therefore find it awkward on camera – therefore to make it look effective yet comfortable to film, identities were not shown.

Additionally, the use of sound during these two shots incorporates a heavy guitar track, edited and produced by Matthew. This works well with the shots as well since they are perfectly in sync with each other. This music would be described as synchronous since it goes with the thriller genre and builds tension and anxiety amongst the audience quickly.

Both of these shots are close ups, just focusing on George holding the selected props. We made the editing very fast paced so the audience do not lose focus, and become bored. This also creates an effect of suspense since it is like the adrenaline of the characters put into editing.

This shot shows me picking up a knife from a selection. This makes the characters seem more ‘spy-like’ since it shows that the female has a lot of weapons to choose from, making it a not out of the ordinary thing to do. Furthermore, we used bright lighting here to emphasize the knife, which is being picked up; this is done because the light bounces off from the reflection of the metal. This shot is another close up, and is edited very fast paced and in synch with the heavy guitar riffs to create suspense and tension.

These shots show the male spy taking a break from getting ready by having a cup of tea. This is humor added on to the serious thriller atmosphere, which makes the opening sequence more uplifting and exciting to watch.  When these shots are being played the music turns a lot quieter and goes into diegetic, which means that it sounds like the music is coming out of a radio.

This is the last shot seen in the opening sequence, and it features a fast sports car driving away into the distance with smoke coming out of the exhausts. This is a typical action/thriller shot and can be described as very effective throughout research and through our vox pops. We thought it was good to end on this shot because it meant that our narrative didn’t drag out for too long, and it keeps the audience interested. Additionally, our original plan was to film for an extra 30 seconds, however the footage we got was not what we wanted and would’ve made our opening sequence seem less professional. This shot was good for raising enigmas and questions throughout the audience as well, which is what we wanted to do.