Looking back your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product? How did my Preliminary Task introduce me with conceptual and technical knowledge to embark on my Thriller Production?
The 180 Degree Rule
Match on Action
Looking back on my Preliminary Task I learnt a-lot of information on the 180 Degree what contributed to helping me further on in the progression towards the completion of my main task. I learnt how in order to not cause confusion for the audience the 180 degree rule must be maintained. This involves only positioning the camera only on one of the 180 degree sides of the characters you are filming, when two or more characters are filmed together. Although I learnt that sometimes this is intentionally broken to cause confusion.
During the filming of my preliminary task I also learnt how to use Match On Action. This is where the action in one shot follows on to match the action in the next. This helps the audience to see the film as having a smooth sense of continuity between shots, making the action run smoother. We used this particular technique in our preliminary task, in an character opens a door and then the door slams against a Bin. This helped to create a sense of smoothness and continuity between shots.
Shot reverse Shot
Another thing which I learnt in my
Preliminary task was hot to use shot reverse shot in my preliminary film to create a sense of tension between characters. Initially this was used in our preliminary task. From then to the progression to our full product I learnt how this technique in particularly important to the Thriller genre as a whole. On a wider level I have learnt how to use it in a more serious situation to create anticipation and tension to then ensure our full product was using typical thriller conventions.
From my preliminary task to the full product I have built on the initial knowledge that the Preliminary task helped me firstly understand. I then went onto through the use of case Studies of Thriller movies and the research of Thriller Conventions to then understand and Learn how techniques such as the 180 degree rule may be broken to cause confusion, how Match on action is used and particularly shot reverse shot in order to create tension for the Audience. One of the main aims of Thriller films. How did I used Camera angles, Lighting and Movement? Working within the Generic Conventions for my Preliminary to the Main task (The Thriller film) and How I worked to a specific Brief and Deadline and reinforced Generic Conventions. •
In my preliminary task I learnt how to use Camera angles for particular effect. For example high angle to show vulnerability and low angle to show power and authority. We used these throughout our preliminary task to show the power struggle between the two characters in the argument. We also learnt how to use close ups in order to create a sense of tension and show the characters emotions. Here are some examples in our work. We didn’t use lighting particularly for effect in our preliminary task, Instead using effects such as Black and White in terms of the color and the effects this has. For example creating the sense of a colder more hostile environment. In terms of movement we learnt how to take tracking shots (then carried on to use in the full product).
Using the generic conventions is extremely important in order for our audience to recognize the genre of film we are producing and to meet the brief. The preliminary task gave us the chance to try and test out using some generic conventions, such a close ups and shot reverse shot to create tension between characters. The preliminary task also gave us the chance to prepare us for sticking to an deadline when editing our footage. Giving us a sense of how it would be for our full product. It allowed us to get to terms with how to use the editing software adobe premiere and how to achieve certain effects and transitions which was really helpful. In the preliminary task we had to work to achieve the specific brief set which was an argument between 2 characters. It allowed us to understand how briefs and deadlines should be met and how to time ourselves wisely with the amount of time we should take for filming and editing in order to not miss this deadline.
In conclusion the Preliminary task helped me understand the basic ideas of the effects that certain camera angles will create The importance in the movement of camera and lighting. From this to the full product I then went on to learn how I could use Lighting to create the effect of chiaroscuro lighting. Another example of how I progressed within this area to the full product Would be that I went on to learn how close ups are a particularly important convention of Thriller films through my case studies. In terms of what I learnt about Generic Conventions and deadlines, I progressed in this sense through my use of person research And case studies and learnt how to manage my time better by using more free periods at sixth form in the editing room than I did In my preliminary. The knowledge from my preliminary helped to set me up to make my full product very successfully overall from The information I learnt whilst doing it to then how I built on it to help me progress further.