The Thriller – how we progressed

By James Muir

PLANNING AND RESEARCH

We researched are target audience because in the prelim we didn’t really

have a specific audience therefore we needed to do some research into what

audience are normally into thrillers and we found out that 18-35 year olds

should be our target audience.

We researched into our storyboard because in are prelim we didn’t really

think about it and we made a quick decision where as in the final film we knew

it had to be a good story otherwise it wouldn’t work so we created a digital

storyboard on how the final film is going to be like and in this storyboard we

included the shots we were going to use in detail compared to the prelim we

didn’t go into detail.

THE CAMERA WORK

In our final film we included a lot more close ups because in the prelim we

received feedback that there was not enough close ups and it is’nt detailed

enough therefore we decided to include close ups in our final film.

In the final film we also used tracking whilst the actress was on the way to

her office however in the prelim we didn’t use any tracking, this was because

we didn’t really know how to track safely.

In the final film we also used panning from a distance to get shots of the

scenery however in the prelim we tried to do panning but we didn’t do it with a

tripod so it was very unsteady and shaky so didn’t look very good. In the final

film panning we used a tripod so was much easier.

LIGHT COMPARISON

As we filmed our final film outside and inside we used

natural light at the start where as in our prelim it was

just set in a room so we used the lamp light. Where we

set are final film we used an office and in that office there

was around 5 light switches so we could have some on

and some off to make the lighting better where as in are

prelim we only had 2 lights so it would be either dark or

very bright.

SOUND COMPARISON

In are prelim we used music from youtube and didn’t create it

ourselves because we were not that confident with soundtrack pro and

we ran out of time. We decided to get a james bond soundtrack from

youtube. We improved this in our final film by creating are own sounds

with included non diegetic sounds and foley sounds. We used

soundtrack pro because we had learned to use it properly and

according to our footage that’s how we decided what sounds to use

such as the knock on doors. Compared to our prelim we just used

diegetic sound even though it was quiet, this didn’t really our prelim

any good.

EDITING SKILLS

In our prelim it was pretty basic when it came down to editing we just

selected clips and put them together but we still edited however not in detail

for example we didn’t use any cross cuts or match cuts even though we tried

to it was just a case of that we didn’t have the right camera shots to do it.

Compared to our final film we didn’t really have as much footage but it was the

editing process that got us through it as we used transitions from each scene

and we also used cross cuts and match cuts. In the editing process of are final

film we used final cut pro same as we did in the prelim however in the final

film we went in to much more detail and included a range of transitions and

also titles and also the sound we editied whereas we didn’t in our prelim.

MISE EN SCENE COMPARISON

In the prelim our mise en scene wasn’t really good as we were not organised and didn’t have a

proper location, we wanted a casino setting but instead we used a classroom. Also the costumes of

the prelim were not any good as we were just wearing normal casual clothes and not a suit or tux

which you would expect normal poker players to be wearing. Compared to are final film we took a

lot of consideration into are Mise en scene because we knew where we went wrong and this made

it easier. In the final film we needed a good office so we managed to contact an owner of an office

and use that for the day as we didn’t want to use a college office as it was too small. The office we

used was perfect. Also for costumes we improved a lot, we got the main character who was a

detective to wear a suit which made her look like a detective instead of wearing normal clothes

we needed her too look well dressed. Final film props were also perfect as they were already in

the office so we made it look as real as possible. The one problem we came across was in the the

prelim and that is that the sunglasses we were using broke so we had to improvise and still use

them but it didn’t really look right. We didn’t have any problems with props in the final film.

THE TITLES

We researched the conventional orders of a typical thriller opening as we did

not include titles in are prelim. We done this by the use of youtube and

teaching materials on the candi blog. We found the order and then included

titles onto the final film. In the final film we used narrative titles where the

titles of the film come up whilst the film is still being played, we decided to do

this because it creates a flow to the film as we didn’t think stand alone titles

would have this effect. When doing the titles for the final film we had to

change the font size and colour, we changed the font size because it didn’t

really stand out and we also had to change the colour because at first it was

blurred into the background and it was hard to see when receiving are

feedback.