Preliminary Task Evaluation

For our Preliminary Task we had to make a short video, using a range of camera techniques to convey a story. Our story is centred around a crime situation, and one of our characters is a criminal played by a teenage girl. This creates a negative view of this social group as the character displays themes of dishonesty and corruption, not wanting to answer the questions put forward to her. However we have portrayed regret felt by the character through her body language and our use of close ups. Our other character, the detective, shows a positive portrayal of their age group, as this character shows themes of justice and morality, yet is also cold and unsympathetic towards our other character, presenting a cruel and apathetic personality, and therefore making a negative view of this social group.

To attract our audience we added a theme of intrigue and curiosity from the audience. As the interrogation continues, the audience are left unaware of what the crime is, creating a sense of mystery we designed to draw in the audience, and make them want to know more. We also left our ending on a cliffhanger that leaves the audience wanting to know what happens next, and whether our criminal character gives the detective the information he wants.  

From using technologies in the construction of this project, I have learnt a lot. When filming, a problem we came across is when we discovered the tripod we were using was not tall enough to get successful angles for each shot. To solve this we put the tripod on a chair, and held it steady throughout filming so we could ensure the shots were at the right angle.
We also discovered that our location was busier than we thought it would be. This meant a lot of background noise occurred when filming. To solve this we filmed mostly in a closed off area, and solved the background noise at the beginning in editing. To do this we altered the sound so that what we wanted the audience to hear was at a higher volume, but unnecessary noise was made quiet. This allowed the attention of our audience to be focused on what was happening in the scene, so they would not be distracted by other noises.

From the entire process, I feel like I have learnt many things that I will take into consideration when doing our Thriller Task. Firstly I would ensure we used more shot types, especially those that show our characters personalities. For example, we did not use any low angle shots, which would have been useful to show the dominance of our male character.
I would also make sure to focus more on lighting, as we found it was quite dark and our actors faces weren't as visible as we would have liked.We had only used a single light in the corner of the room to act as our non-diegetic lighting, but in editing found it wasn't enough to fully show the actors faces.
To make it more professional we would have also focused on our location planning, and would have used a location that looked more like the setting (a police station) to make the overall product look more expert and realistic. 
We will also take into account the length of our outcome. When filming and planning we felt we had more than enough footage but found that after editing it all down, it was not as long as we would have liked. To solve this next time we will take editing into consideration, and make it longer.

For the task planning, we decided to all individually make a mind map of ideas, and decide on one as a group. After we had done this and the script had been written, we all discussed where to film, ensuring we found a time we were all available. 
We then planned our storyboard, which was an essential part of planning as it helped us in filming so we'd know where to place our actors and the shot types we wanted to use.
We also made sure to plan our shots to obey the 180 degree rule, which we successfully did. 

After completing the task, I now know what I need to work on. I need to focus on sound editing, which as a group we found difficult, and we need to think further about using more shot types. We also need to work on filming more than necessary so it is not as short after editing.