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Q7

I feel that I have developed greatly as a film maker, I took media at GCSE and so I knew some of the key terminology however I never had to make or produce a film which meant that I had no experience of this before my preliminary task.

I also came across new technology when editing my preliminary task, I had never used any editing software so at first it was hard to use iMovie, however once we had started using it and we had to learn quickly about all of the functions and features of iMovie. Once we had used it a few times and we had got used to it, it was much easier for us to use. I felt that our preliminary was very successful as it was a practice run at using the macs and the cameras; it gave us a chance to learn from our mistakes and practice using more advanced camera shots and then we could see if they worked and if we should use them again. However if I could go back and redo my preliminary I would try to make it flow more and use different cuts, as we only used straight cuts and simple camera angles so it got quite boring. I would say that our final production is a better quality than our preliminary as we were more prepared and we were more adventure’s, we tried to use more cuts and we added effects in between shots so that it looked more like a thriller and not just jump cuts to the next scene.

We also thought more about lighting and we made sure that we used lighting to create mood and tension, we did research on other similar thriller to see what good effects they use and how they use conventions. We decided that we need to think further into costume as in our preliminary you could see our clothes under our costumes so we had to make sure that the costumes were covering our full body not just our top half partly.

 We developed in the range of shots that we used; we also learnt how to use the tripod more effectively and how to make sure that all of our shots were steady. Having a wider range of shots meant that we had more variation and we didn’t have to worry about only using a basic range of shots and the production being boring.

We thought much more deeply into the setting and the background of the shots, in our preliminary task you could see the actors cloths as well as the costumes, we had to change this so that you could only see the costumes. In our preliminary our shots weren’t framed very well as you could clearly see the setting behind the character did not make sense and it did not follow the plot of the production.  When we made our final production we had to make sure that we framed our shots correctly and we had to make sure that you couldn’t see anything that we didn’t want the audience to see or that didn’t relate to the plot of our production.

In our preliminary we didn’t stick to the 180 degree rule, this is where the camera doesn’t cross from one side of the room to the other, this is used so that the audience won’t know what is going on as if a character is holding something in his left hand, when the 180 degree rule is broke the character will be holding that object in his right hand which then confuses the audience as they don’t understand why it has swapped sides. We managed to stick to the 180 degree rule in our final production but not in our prelim. If I could improve our prelim I would make our shots flow better so that it looked more professional and I would make sure that we followed the 180 degree rule as then the plot would have made more sense. The match on action is important as you have to make sure that the props and costume fit into the genre or else the story and plot will make no sense and the audience will be confused. As our genre is action we had to make sure that we used props that related to this, therefore we decided to use guns as that appealed to our audience and it made sure that it contained some action. 

  

 

 

When we were trying to come up with ideas for our final production we came up with all the ideas together as a group, we had to decide first on our sub-genre and we all watch and enjoy action thrillers so we decided that was the best genre for us to do. Once we had come up with the basic idea for our thriller we had to decide on a name that linked to our idea. Once again we decided this on a group; after we had all submitted various ideas we decided that the best option was to call it ‘on the run’ we chose this as for our plot it is a man that is running away and hiding from a group of soldiers/ the army/ the police or a swat team. It also gives the audience a sense of mystery as you don’t learn any of the characters names or who the men work for and what the man on the run has done to be in this position. This leaves the audience with questions on their minds which makes them more likely to want to watch the full film. I feel that from the use of more advanced skills and from thinking deeper into the planning of the production meant we could increase the length and increase the audience appeal. Our preliminary task was 1 minute and 24 seconds, whereas our final production was 1 minute and 51 seconds. The mise-en-scene of our final production is also greatly improved as the lighting in our preliminary was just whatever was in the place we recorded; we didn’t alter any of the lighting to add mood and effect, other than in our final scene.  In our final production we used the lighting much more effectively to create mood and grab the audience’s attention. The props that we used were also greatly improved; in our preliminary we used small plastic guns whereas in our final production we used replica air-soft guns so that they look like real guns which made it look more professional and more realistic.

Overall I feel that our thriller was very effective as it is a very unique idea that grabs the audience’s attention and it makes them curious about the rest of the film; it makes them ask questions about the characters that you don’t find out in the opening titles. We used a range of camera angles that gave the titles variety and we used different cuts so that the audience didn’t have to see the same thing multiple times. The only improvement I would say is that we should have started filming earlier in the day as it was very dark when we started filming so we had to rely on the lights at the location and any lights we had brought ourselves. The reason we couldn’t film earlier is because the location that we was using didn’t close to the public until 4:30pm which meant that we couldn’t start filming till about 5:00pm which meant that it was already dark when we wanted to start filming. The main strengths of our thriller is that because of the plot being a man running away and hiding from a group, we didn’t want the audience to see too much about him or loads of his face/body so using lots of fast paced straight cuts meant that the thriller flowed easily and it ran through nicely compared to our preliminary. We created the music ourselves and I would say that this was one of our strengths, it helped to create the mood and the pace of the music fit in with the pace of the action in the plot.    

Q2 padlet

Q2 padlet

Q2

 Sam played the antagonist or the victim/hero. We looked at other heroes and victims to see what they looked like and how they dressed, we looked at taken first as we knew that it is a popular thriller which uses lots of conventions of traditional thrillers so we thought that it would be a good place to start. We then looked at the Bourne identity but we couldn’t find any characters that were similar to our character so we decided to use the one we had found in taken. We chose to use normal clothing, this fit in with the narrative as he was supposed to blend in with civilians as he was on the run from the men so if he was dressed in army clothes or like a soldier then he would be easily recognised and they would easily be able to find him. Having him dress in normal clothing makes him seem not important and not part of the main plot. We chose to have him sitting down away from the men or running, this symbolises weakness, and being a coward and trying to avoid all conflict by hiding inside of the cabin in the construction yard until the men find him where he then runs away to another hiding place.

I compared this character to “Kim” from Taken; both characters play an important yet lesser role in the films the story couldn’t exist without them however they aren’t constantly in the film and aren’t constantly referred to. Although one character is male and one is female, they are similar in other ways than appearance. They are however different ages, one is a 15 year old teenager and the other is a young adult aged between 20 and 25, they are both wearing similar clothing, they are wearing casual clothing that you would wear when you go out with family or when you just go out with friends. The man from our thriller is only known as the wanted man in the opening he plays an important role as he is wanted by the other men for a reason that is currently unknown to the audience, however you don’t know from the opening if he is the only man they are after or if he is even the main character. In taken Kim is the daughter of Liam Neeson, she plays an important role as she gets kidnapped so the film follows Liam Neeson as he tries to find her and get her back. It follows where Liam Neeson goes through Paris so it follows both characters but mainly it covers Liam Neeson so she only plays a side role. Both characters display similar characteristics and they both act similarly. It seems that neither are trained or want to try to fight off the men that are coming after them. Both characters try to hide from the attackers that are after them and both are alone and look worried like they can’t look for or ask for help in the fear that the men might find and kill or kidnap them. The shot is fairly similar as they are both mid-shots that show most of the characters appearance however they only show the top half of the character so you can’t see all of the characters clothes. Both are filmed inside and inside a house, the angle of the camera shows weakness in the character. Both are in well light rooms however from the shot you can’t see what time of day it is outside.  

The character don’t display similar facial or physical features yet the rest of their features are similar and they   both have very worried looks on their faces which could mean that they both recognise the danger that they are in which would mean that  they are intelligent characters. During taken the girl is in a house with her friend and then she sees her friend get grabbed by some unknown men, this triggers her to ring her father and hide under the bed. This is similar to our thriller as the character is calm and fine until he hears and sees the men coming towards his hiding spot which causes him to leave his things and run out of the place and find a new hiding spot. The narrative of the films is similar because they are both doing the same action however one character is older and one character can ring for help which the older man can’t do that.

Our thriller film is also similar to a film called man on fire as in this film an ex assassin is contracted to protect a family that could be in danger, the main character builds an unusual bond with the family’s daughter, she then gets kidnapped and has to go find her on his own. This is similar to our thriller as all we learn from the opening titles is that there is a man that is on the run from a group of soldiers and we don’t know what his motive is or what he has done wrong, however each different audience member will have a different view and representation of how they picture the rest of the film. The main characters in both films are similar as both have a motive that is why they are doing their mission, however a difference is that the character from man on fire is trying to get something back that means a lot to him whereas we don’t know the motive of the main character from our thriller. They are different in their personalities seem different as one of them runs away from danger and the other one seems to be attracted to danger and action because of what he wants back. One of the men is being hunted by soldiers of an unknown organisation whereas the other seems to be hunting men from an unknown organisation.   

Glen played the role of the main attacker/villain/protagonist. He wore dark clothing so that he could blend in with the time of day and it would be hard for the people he was going after to see him. We decided on what he would wear and how he would wear it by looking at other villains from thrillers to see what they wear normally the first film that we looked at was lone survivor and we looked at the soldiers from that to see the typical clothing that soldiers have to wear. We then looked at the film Bourne identity as it contained soldiers and it was in a city setting so we could do a comparison to our thriller. We compared this shot and character to Mark Wahlberg in lone survivor.  The characters are different in the sense that mark Wahlberg plays the hero and from the opening it seems that the other character is the villain. However both characters wear similar clothing and they both wear body armour, we got the idea to use body armour as many soldiers in films wear body armour to give a more realistic effect.  One character wears a hat to cover more of his face and one character wears a balaclava to hide all of his face and so nobody knows who he is. Despite one character being a hero and one being  a villain, they do display similar features, both shots are done in the outside. One shot is at night and the shot and character is only visible because of the lamppost or lights that are above his head.







The difference in lighting between the two characters symbolises the different kinds of tasks that they have to do and what kind of character they are.  Both of the camera shots used are close ups of the characters faces, they are used to show facial detail and to show the audience what they look like. Both of the characters use the same prop, a gun, it symbolises that it is an action thriller and that they are soldiers.  

We also found that our character could be compared to the villain in Bourne identity as we wanted to compare it to someone of a similar motive and of a similar mind-set; this gave us a better idea of what they wear and how they act in comparison to heroes.  In the Bourne identity the antagonist is trying to recover his identity as he suffered a head trauma which caused him to have brain damage and memory loss, he is also trying to remember why this villain is after him and trying to kill him  as he doesn’t remember why he is being attacked. The characters are similar as they both have a stern face and they are concentrated on looking directly at something.   
  

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Q1 Prezi

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