Hannah Ram Evaluation Activity 7 Notes

Quality Summary 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Quality of holding a shot steady Whilst filming the preliminary task we were unable to use a tripod to keep the camera steady so we held the camera by hand. Due to this many of the shots are of a poor quality because they were shaky. Before moving onto our full product we knew that this was something that we had to change to make our full product better than our preliminary task. Therefore, to avoid this problem we constantly used a tripod when filming in order to create steady shots that are easier on the eye.

Quality of the framing shots For most of the preliminary task the quality of the framing shots are okay, but the framing of some shots are particularly poor. For example, when Jemima walks into the room part of her head is cut out of the frame. Before filming our preliminary task we did not think about the positioning of characters within the frame in order to create meaning. In the progression to the full product we knew that we had to avoid this problem. So as a group we planned where characters were going to be in advance in order to convey particular meanings. For example, in the second half of our opening when Horatio walks into the Newspaper Office is he central to the frame to show that he is central to the storyline.

Quality of shooting material appropriate to the task set- i.e. the content of your film pre and post editing was consistent with the exam directives

In the preliminary task there were a range of things that we had to include e.g. the 180 degree rule. As I was unaware of what it was I researched it to make sure that when we filmed the quality of the shooting material was appropriate to the task set. This taught me the importance of research. Therefore, to make sure that our film would be consistent with the exam directives our group members conducted individual research on the conventions of psychological thriller. This meant that we knew what we needed to convey within our opening. For example, we found that most psychological thrillers mainly use medium shots and close ups within their opening, so we made sure that we used these shot types as they were appropriate to the task.

Quality of selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting;

In my opinion, we used mise-en-scène fairly well during the preliminary task as we thoughtfully planned out costumes and props before starting to film. For example, the interview was conducted in small room with a table and two chairs to replicate an interview scenario. However, the location that we used wasn’t very well thought out because it doesn’t look very much like a police interview room because it was bright and airy, whereas, on programmes like ‘The Bill’ the interview rooms are quite dark and don’t contain shelves like our interview room did. Furthermore, we didn’t think about lighting and as a result we missed out on an opportunity to create a tense atmosphere. To make sure this didn’t happen again, when we were planning our full product we made sure that we thought carefully about the location and lighting so that we could effectively create meaning using all areas of mise-en-scène, rather

Hannah Ram Evaluation Activity 7 Notes

than just focusing on props and costume like we did in the preliminary task. For example, in our opening we used natural lighting at the start to create a sense of equilibrium and at the end we use darker lighting to create an eerie and sinister ambience. However, we still made sure that we paid attention to costume and props too as Horatio wears red, black and white coloured clothing because they have connotations of blood, death and danger; which are all themes that are related to our film.

Quality of editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer

Although in the preliminary task I think that meaning was made apparent to the audience through the shot-reverse-shots that we used, they were not as effective as I would have liked and the overall quality of the editing made our preliminary task seem amateurish. In order to avoid this in the final product, we used continuity editing to establish a logical coherence between shots and make the opening easier for the audience to follow so that meaning is made apparent to the viewer quickly and effectively. To make sure that the continuity editing worked well I had to make sure that I cut the shots well in order to make them flow on from each other successfully, unlike in the preliminary task. A poignant example of meaning being made apparent to the viewer through editing is the transition between the penultimate and the final shot, as I used a fade in to show that the images on the wall are being absorbed into Horatio’s mind. Furthermore, at many different stages during our final product we asked our target audience about what they thought was going on in the opening to make sure that the right message was being conveyed.

Quality of using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set;

In our preliminary task we only used dialogue. However, the dialogue was sometimes hard to understand and there were times where you could hear ‘action’ being said because we couldn’t edit it out without cutting off the start of the character’s dialogue. There was also the problem of background noise being present in the shot. However, as most psychological thrillers do not contain dialogue within the opening two minutes we were able to avoid this problem. Instead we used a mixture of diegtic and non-diegtic sound in order to convey meaning within our final media product. When our opening first starts the audience can hear Horatio’s heavy breathing, which creates a creepy undertone to him following Mia and then our non-diegtic eerie sound score starts to play in order to create a sinister atmosphere. The eerie music works in correlation to our opening because confirms that Horatio’s intentions are sinister and is also a typical convention of a psychological thriller. We also used an editing tool on ‘iMovie HD’ to edit out any background noise that would distract the audience from our film. However, we keep in the diegtic sounds of the typing on the keyboard to make it seem more realistic.

Quality of positioning and movements of actors

Within our preliminary task the quality of the positioning and movement of actors was generally okay but in retrospect some of their actions seem fake, particularly when Leon drops the gummy bears at the end. We knew that we didn’t want this to happen in our final product so we tried

Hannah Ram Evaluation Activity 7 Notes

to make the movements of the actors as realistic as possible. For example, when Horatio walks in the newspaper office his actions seem realistic. In the progression we also decided to explore how movement can create meaning so we came up with Horatio’s trademark action of pushing his glasses up because it acts as a signifier for his mental disorder because it is a repetitive action.

Quality of group planning, meeting targets, organization

In both the preliminary and final task we worked effectively as a group and as a result we met all of our targets. Equally, we planned the setting, costumes and props effectively. However, through lack of organization we were unable to obtain a tripod when we needed to film, which was the major problem with our preliminary task. In the progression to the final product we learnt that we had to be organized, particularly with the equipment that we would need so we created a role within our group for an equipment manager.

Group dynamics i.e. how did your group work together

Both in our preliminary task and our final piece I think that our team worked well together, as we knew how vital it was to be in constant communication with each other. We made sure that we had clearly defined roles from the outset so that everyone knew what they were doing. We also had a group leader that would remind us of the deadlines of our specific duties and make sure that the group was always informed on what was happening.

Other points of evaluation (e.g. equipment related etc)

From conducting our preliminary task we knew that we would need an equipment manager to make sure we always had what we needed before filming. However, towards the end of our final product this was out of our hands as the school’s professional camera that we had relied on using (because of white balance problems with the other video cameras) battery died and they were unable to find the charger. This means that our newspaper scene does not look as professional as we would have liked because there are lines running down the scene, which we did not notice when filming with the professional camera. However, because we were unable to re-film we had to leave the scene as it was.