Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

The preliminary task, which me and my group produced included a 30 second to 1 minute scene. It could be about anything we chose however, we had to include someone walking into a room and having a conversation with someone else and then getting up as leaving. We also had to use a over the shoulder shot, close up, panning and a long shot within the filming to create the short scene.

From completing the preliminary task I learned how to use and set up the tripod and camera as well as this I learned how to set up different shots and angles in order to make the scene conventional. During the filming of the preliminary task I found it difficult setting up the tripod correctly to get the camera shot level. Otherwise the shots looked as if they were wonky, which meant they looked unprofessional. I struggled with this because I had never used a tripod or camera before and so I was learning how to use them both at the same time. I overcame this struggle by taking time during the preliminary task to learn exactly how to use the tripod with the camera. Therefore, by learning how to use them both during the preliminary task it saved me and my group time when it came to filming our final media product. Additionally, from this I learnt which shots were conventional to the genre and so we knew which ones were best to use during out final thriller sequence. 

Preliminary Task

The Clown Final Version

In the preliminary task one of the types of shots we used was an over the shoulder shot during a conversation between two people. From creating this shot in my preliminary task I learnt that it was conventional to the genre as it allowed the audience to see the characters point of view. This then helped in the build up of suspense as they could see the actions of the character and put themselves in the characters situation. Compared to in my preliminary task, in my thriller I used the an over the shoulder shot when the antagonist was stood in the mirror in their bedroom and had a flashback whilst looking at a picture of their next victim. Moreover, this created suspense for the audience as they was able to witness from the antagonists perspective him choosing his next victim and watching a flashback of how he allured her. 


Furthermore, the preliminary task also helped me lot to understand how everything worked before filming my thriller sequence. As a result if I was to re-film my preliminary task then I would of watched scenes back and would of checked any equipment being used was set up properly before filming. This is because from the editing stage of the preliminary task I learnt that sometimes my footage filmed previously would be not be up to standards. However, as we only realised this during the editing we couldn't go back and film. Furthermore, by completing the preliminary task I learned that when I filmed my thriller sequence I should re-watch anything that has been filmed before moving on and filming the next scene. This is so i know it is up to standards, otherwise me and my group could struggle to find time to re-film the part of the scene later on. 

In conclusion, by completing the preliminary task it enabled me to practise in creating different camera shots and angles. As a result fro this it meant that when I filmed my final thriller sequence with my group we did not waste as much time as we knew how to recreate the proficient angles, which fit in with the thriller genre.