To help gain inspiration, I decided to watch a variety of other thriller film openings made by other students across the UK. Being able to pinpoint both positives and negatives about their final piece will in turn help my group when we come to make ours so that we won't make the same mistakes.
Exemption
The first thriller film opening I watched is called Exemption, which was made in December 2013. The opening is about two boys who seem to be kidnapped and after trying to escape, one of them are recaptured and the last one remaining is faced with a decision; should he run and leave his friend to die? Or should he save his friend and risk getting captured once again?
The initial thing I noticed about this film opening was the cinematography; the attention to detail was clear to see - small elements such as close ups of the scenery help add to the climaxing tension, as it directs the audience attention away from the main ongoing action and forces them to pay attention to the smaller details. This is seen clearly from 0.20 - 0.40, as it helps not only establish the scene without giving the surroundings away, but helps enforce the idea to the audience that this choice of setting isn't normal by showing objects such as bloody, broken glass etc. This is something we'll be using in our thriller opening as it introduces the setting as well as showcase the mise-en-scene without obviously broadcasting the location; this is a good technique to use if you want to keep the surroundings a secret which increases the mystery element and overall escalates the eeriness.
I also liked the subtle editing techniques used; my favourite being the focal pull seen at 2:00 - 2:05 as it draws the audience's attention to something that they might not have seen or noticed yet. It's a way of making sure that small details that add suspense are picked up by the audience. This is something we were interested in creating in our film opening but due to the basic camcorders' that we were given by the school, they don't come equipped with a camera focus lens.
A successful technique to use is to verbally explain as little as much in a thriller opening, using actions rather than words builds suspense as the audience don't know what's going to happen next and when they do, it'll be visual and impacting. Leaving the audience in the dark forces them to be unknowing and therefore vulnerable, this puts people on edge and instantly creates atmosphere. The majority of professional thriller films seem to do the same thing, have very little dialogue during the opening and when it is used, it's short, direct statements or questions; rather than speeches to inform/educate the audience - as you want to create interest.
The use of silence is something I'm keen to use as silence forces the audience to either strain to try and detect sound and/or focus the rest of their attention on the action taking place during the film opening. Silence at a crucial moment, either just before or after a climatic moment heightens hostility, and alters the mood of the opening; it can give the audience a moment to process whatever they've seen or for them to sit wondering what will happen next. From 1:00 - 1:15, the audience are at the edge of their seats waiting with anticipation wondering what will happen and what the main two characters will do. This instantly achieves the main criteria of the film opening, 'to create suspense', and proves that it can be achieved simply and yet extremely effectively.
Today we came up with ideas of possible thriller film openings; we worked together as a class in order to generate and stimulate initial ideas after watching a few film openings by previous AS Media students, afterwards we split up into smaller groups.
After deciding our groups, I'm with Milly and Zeyna, we thought about possible ideas; in order to help us we watched some new and upcoming thriller trailers. After writing up a variety of ideas we decided on one idea which linked closely with the current paranoia over the disease, Ebola, which has many people panicking over. Miss Sills said our idea shared some similarities with the film '28 Days Later' so we watched the opening to that to help us also.
This idea is one of favourites as there's a variety of things that we can include in the story opening; it's a theme that's very versatile, which means as a group we're free to explore different storylines etc. We could go down the route of (similar to most post apocalyptic films, such as 28 Days Later or I Am Legend) where a deadly virus/disease as wiped out the majority of the human race and only a few people left, the films protagonists, can survive. Or we could go down a different pathway entirely where perhaps the deadly virus has caused some sort of malfunction or unexpected plot twist where something out the ordinary as sinisterly happened.
I would like to include at least one high or low angle shots, as I think they are extremely effective and they're not seen/used that often and so therefore it makes a scene much more visually pleasing and interesting to view.
When planning a thriller plot it's important to think of the camera angles as these help tell the story. In the majority of thriller films, the antagonist is hidden from view of the audience, their identity kept a secret, and so the camera angles used will effect this. If we decide to stick to this convention, our camera angles will be limited as close ups to show facial expressions can't be used for the antagonist; however camera angles such as over the shoulder and point of view shots will be extremely useful to help build suspense - as the audience will see things for the villains point of view and yet won't know who they are.
Today I looked at a variety of thriller promotional posters in order to identify and analyse the different conventions that they have in common; whilst we're not creating a film poster, it helps when creating a film opening to be aware of the conventions and what the audience expect to see when going to see a thriller film. The film opening is the most important part, as not only does it introduce the film, but it has to be exciting enough to keep the audience's attention without giving away too much information.
This poster for 28 Days Later is very simple with a simple red background which could symbolise blood, danger, panic, but also love. It shows a lone figure walking near Big Ben, which instantly tells the audience that the film is set in London, one of the most busiest cities in the world. Behind the title, a there's a biohazard symbol, which could suggest quarantine or an imminent health danger. Above all of this, there is the tagline which reads 'Day 1: Exposure. Day 3: Infection. Day 8: Epidemic. Day 15: Evacuation. Day 20: Devastation.' This tells the audience a series of steps that has occurred in the film, which is a direct link to the film title '28 Days Later', meaning that what the audience witnesses takes place 8 days after the final step; devastation.
The poster for Buried was kept incredibly simple, with just a simple black background which could symbolise darkness, evilness, death, fear and mystery. The title is placed at the very top in white, which once you look down, the placement makes it seem as if the title is sitting at ground level and Ryan Reynolds is in fact buried several feet underneath. At the very bottom, you can see a small box illuminated by the light from a torch and you can see the actor, Ryan Reynolds inside. Just above him is the film's tagline; 'Your fate is never sealed', which is a direct link to that fact that perhaps the coffin isn't sealed and perhaps there is a way out. This film poster instantly draws attention, because it doesn't give you as much information as other posters do, e.g; 28 Days Later.
Limitless is classed as a thriller film, however the poster breaks the majority of conventions seen and used for thriller film posters. It looks like an action film or maybe a science fiction with the unusual variation of bright, blurred colours that dominate the poster. The poster is divided into three sections, perhaps to in an effort to show three different viewpoints or three different stages. The top third shows the main character, played by Bradley Cooper, seeming to be living the life of luxury with his own private jet, a girlfriend and poker chips; all things that indicate he has enough money to gamble. The second third shows just him alone with the tall buildings and blinding lights, most likely a major city such as New York City, in the background. The last third shows him standing on the edge of a balcony in an apartment looking down to the ground below, perhaps contemplating whether or not he'll jump. Each section shows something completely different. The title is a simple white font with the tagline below which reads 'What if a pill could make you rich and powerful?'. This poster relies heavily on the tagline to draw audience attention in; by using an open question that is written in a way to be as vague as possible, but also in order to gain attention; as the images are quite generic.
There are many conventions seen and used in thriller films that help convey the meaning of thriller film, all of these elements help add suspense and tension to the film. Some of these codes and conventions include:
Non Diegetic music is a common convention seen in all films, however in thrillers; it can change a scene entirely and alter the mood felt for the audience.
The non diegetic sound heard in the opening of the film Annabelle is a prime example of how non diegetic music is used in films. It starts of extremely quiet using a mixture of string and wood instruments to create a sinister feeling; they start and stop and various times causing the audience to feel on edge, because just as they think it has stopped, it starts up again. This sound begins to build from around 0:40, getting louder and far more intense than before. This alerts the audience informing them that something is approaching as we often associate sound getting louder to something coming closer. Around a minute later, the non diegetic sound reaches it climax with the instruments almost sounding as if they're screaming as they all come together, before suddenly halting all at once. This technique forces the audience to not let their guard down as just as they think the worst is about to come, all danger is eliminated and they're left in silence. Silence is a powerful thing to use in thriller films, as means the audience's attention is focused on the action and also makes them conscious of any other wary noises. After this, a child's musical box plays followed by a sinister sound growing louder in the background before it all cuts off.
Character conventions of a thriller usually star a group or a family as the protagonists; it's rarely one person - however sometimes this is seen in films. This is because the audience tend to feel at ease when there is a large number of people; however this is also an advantage for film makers as it gives them more chance to kill off characters without the audience knowing. For example; the group of 'Purgers' from The Purge.
When they do realise the number is dwindling, this increases the tension felt during the film. For Apparition, we decided not to stick to this convention as we felt that introducing a variety of characters in the opening wouldn't be as effective and would take the attention away from the suspense element.
The antagonist is a villain who usually keeps their true identity hidden throughout the film to increase tension and fear, for example the masked killer from Scream. If the audience and the protagonist(s), don't know who they're afraid of; it makes the atmosphere a lot more intense and frightening. We decided to stick to this convention, keeping the identity of the antagonist a secret until the end of the opening. Using subtle hints throughout increased the suspense of the film and built up to the climax, the reveal of the antagonist.
Theme; stereotypically, the theme of thriller is something realistic which heightens the fear factor as the audience are forced to believe that this scenario could happen to them. This is why thrillers usually include being set in houses, neighbourhoods and happen to ordinary people like the majority of their target audience. We stuck to this convention for our film opening as it's set in a home with the protagonist being a young girl. The time period is somewhere in the future and it's not unlikely that something possibly a virus or disease could cause apparitions of ourselves to walk among us.
Cinematography conventions include the type of camera shots. When filming the protagonist, extreme close ups and close ups are used to show their facial expressions when certain things happen. This is so that the audience can see and often subconsciously mimic these expressions seen. Reactions shots are used during dialogue as well as shot reverse shot for the same reason. In our film opening we decided we wasn't going to use much of these as there isn't much dialogue used, as we feel it's better and much more effective for a film opening to have little to no dialogue. This heightens the suspense and forces the audience to pay attention to detail.
For the antagonist, low angle shots and an over the shoulder shot is usually seen as it's an effective way to show the villain without revealing their identity. Keeping an identity a secret is also an effective way to increase tension and these camera shots and angle allow the antagonist to be viewed in a fearful way. We stuck to this convention as we wanted to keep character b's identity a secret and this was the best way to do so.
EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.
Editing is another convention seen as jump cuts and cross cutting is relied on heavily to not only confuse the audience further fuelling the tension but also to give the audience more information that would have been too dull to show using continuous editing. This type of editing often reflects reality as it's far more common for people to view and remember traumatic events in a series of unrelated flashbacks that don't happen in a chronological order.
When creating Apparition, we used cross cutting to show that something sinister was going to happen (character B outsider the house) which adds to the suspense. During the voice over, we also used jump cuts to show smaller details of the house in order to subconsciously remind the audience that the setting is a natural, realistic one which once again enforces that this could happen to anybody in real life and therefore increases the fear element.
EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.
Mise en scene is an important convention for thriller films. The location of many thrillers take place in a realistic setting such as a house or local building (eg; a school, hospital etc) as this makes the action that takes place more surreal, in the sense that the audience could believe that this scenario could happen to themselves; which is why we stuck to this convention and set our film opening in a house.
EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.
The costumes we thought about, often in thrillers the protagonist wears everyday clothing in order to remain similar and relate back to the audience whilst the antagonist wears darker clothing to symbolise evilness. However, we decided to break this convention by making the protagonist (character A) wear dark red, this colour has connotations of danger and bloodshed which are subconscious triggers and warnings for the audience that something bad will happen to this character.
EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.
The antagonist (character B) we decided would wear grey to symbolise death and ashes hinting that this is what character B would create; death and peril. Both characters we made them wear the same clothing, this way the audience could (if they were paying close enough attention) realise that they could be the same person.
EDIT: I have included screenshots of our final film opening as examples to show how we recreated this conventions.
During lessons, we looked at a variety of different thriller openings in order to identify how they create suspense and think of ways we could include some of these elements in our film opening.
The Dark Knight
The film starts with an establishing shot, informing the audience that the action is taking place in a city in the daytime. As the camera zooms in closer, suddenly a window in an expensive building is shattered and there's a man in a clown mask with a gun; who is presumed to have shot it. This is done so that the audience are instantly feeling tension, this character is committing what looks to be a crime in the making in broad daylight, he doesn't have the shadow of the night to protect him from witnesses or cameras. As the scene continues, it's made clear that there's than one of these people and due to their similar dark clothing, which is a convention of the antagonist and their matching clown masks; it's clear they're working together. These first set of characters that the audience sees in the film is a group of clowns performing a heist, which adds the element of mystery, because the audience can't see their identities and we instantly know they are the antagonists and therefore are not supposed to be trusted. We hear the clowns talking about their boss 'The Joker' and it's clear from the way they focus on this character and talk about how they've heard of him, both groups of clowns, that he is the main antagonist of the film and therefore much more powerful than the rest of them; so powerful in fact it appears he's sitting the heist out - but still insists on getting a cut of the money. As they rob the bank, the non - diegetic music builds in the background insistently which creates suspense; as the audience are aware that something is going to happen and this heist won't be successful. In a way that's almost overlooked, one of the clowns kills his partner and continues on his own; the music picks up informing the audience this is not what should have happened. A bank teller decides to grab his own gun and protect the people in the bank by shooting at the thieves, with the non diegetic music almost screeching with string instruments being played; drawing attention to that fact that something major is going to happen. As he inevitably runs out of bullets, one of the clowns kills him as the music dies down, subconsciously ensuring the audience that nothing shocking will happen. It's then that the clowns reveal that the boss 'The Joker' told them that each member of the team's job had been fulfilled, that they were meant to kill each other. It eventually leaves two clowns and after pointing guns at each other, it's revealed that the last remaining clown was supposed to kill the bus driver. Just then, the bus driver smashes through the bank wall, killing the clown and leaving the last one standing - who happens to be The Joker.
Source Code
Source Code starts with the main character awaking in pain against a glass window, a tannoy plays in the background with the sound of bombs exploding in the distance. Suddenly, the sound of a passing train, jolts him from his seat; it's now clear that he is on a moving vehicle, a train. As he looks around in shock, a woman talks to him informing him that she took his advice and thanks him for it; he stares at her in confusion. Seemingly normal background noises such as people talking, beer cans opening, make the main character, Sean, jump and look around frantically. This creates suspense, because it's unusual to see people react in this way to normal daily life sounds; the audience so far also haven't been given been much information and are just has much confused as Sean. As the woman talks to Sean, he doesn't pay much attention instead taking in his surrounds, which is shown to the audience using short establishing shots and jump cuts. The conductor asks for his ticket and Sean jumps back violently as the woman he was talking to reaches for his jacket to get his ticket; however she doesn't seem fazed by this; this also builds the the suspense, surely she would have said something if Sean was acting strange, is this normal behaviour for him? So far, there has only been diegetic sound used, the background noises of conversation and the array of sounds trains make. This makes the audience feel at ease, so far there is nothing subconsciously to make them fear or become weary. As the woman asks Sean if he's okay, the camera cross cuts to a variety of different people complaining about the delay and if they'll make it up in time - this is a new piece of information for the audience, but not quite beneficial as it doesn't tell them much. It's then as suddenly the non diegetic music begins that Seans leans forward and tells the woman that he doesn't know who she is and that she has been calling him by the wrong name. She laughs this off and he staggers to get off the train as he notices more 'normal' things happening on the train, the non diegetic music builds. As he stands by the doors of the train, he asks another passenger where he is to which the passenger replies 'Chicago', this adds to the suspense, because the audience are now aware that not everything is as normal as it might seem. There is another quick establishing shot to show the train at the station and another to show it moving off as if to force the idea that this is normal and nothing is out of the ordinary. Sean returns to his seat, and the camera cross cuttings to a birds eye view of the train moving off towards Chicago where the non diegetic sound builds louder this time using string instruments. As Sean looks out the window, brief flickers of what seems to be his own reflection confuses him and makes him look away. He asks the woman if she saw that and when she replies that he is make her feel uneasy, he quickly leaps out of his seat and to the bathroom. He looks in the mirror and is shocked to see a completely different face staring at him, as he looks through his pockets he finds ID confirming that he is Sean Fentress, a teacher; however this is not what he looks like to the audience. This is very climactic, because not only is the main character confused but so is the audience and they have been given hardly any information about what is going on or what is going to happen. The non diegetic sound increases as the main character looks once again in the mirror, seeing a face that isn't his before opening the door and finding the woman outside. He jumps as she asks him if he's okay and he repeats that he doesn't know who she is or who Sean is. The camera cross cuts to the train passing another, causing the passengers inside to jolt to the side, before cross cutting again to show the train approaching the heart of Chicago; meanwhile the non diegetic music is getting more and more intense. As the woman tries to calm him down, without much success, trains keep passing each other causing them to shake in the carriage. She says they'll get off at the next station and talk things through, promising him that 'everything will be okay'. Just as she finishes that sentence, the train they're in explodes. This creates suspense, because of the shock factor, the audience didn't see it coming and therefore they want to know what will happen next. In our film opening, we will keep to the convention of keeping the antagonists identity a secret seen in The Dark Knight as this will build suspense for the audience, as they don't know what they're fearing. We will also try to include a plot twist or an element of shock at the end as this will keep the audience enticed and wanting to see what happens next.
Over the course of two lessons, we watched Sixth Sense in order to help us identify suspenseful moments.
Sixth Sense is a film released in 1999, staring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment; it's a supernatural thriller film about a young outcast boy, Cole, who is able to see and talk to the dead. He gets help from a child psychologist, Dr. Malcolm, who is going through personal problems himself and the film ends with a major plot twist.
There are many moments throughout the film where the suspension builds adding to the thriller genre, however for me there is three main scenes where this is shown well.
The Kitchen Scene
The first is the kitchen scene where it's a school morning and Cole and his mother are going about their daily routine. Cole's mum walks from another room which seems to be the laundry room and into the kitchen. She sighs and closes a couple of cabinets that have been left open, she isn't surprised by this and calls Cole - it's seems as if it's a normal thing; that Cole opens the kitchen drawers and never closes them. Cole then enters the kitchen and sits at the table eating his cereal, whilst his mum walks back into the other room to retrieve a piece of clothing (Cole's tie), when she returns, seconds later, Cole is in the exact same position; however all the kitchen cabinets and selves have been opened as if something or someone was looking for an object. She screams in shock as it's clear that Cole couldn't have opened all of those drawers in such a short amount of time. As she closes the cabinets slowly, Cole looks terrified with his hands placed firmly on the table and lies claiming that he was looking for Poptarts, He then rushes off to school and Cole's mum notices the hand prints he left behind from sweating so much on the table. Diegetic sound plays with a radio in the background, and the sound of their dog barking; this is to make the audience feel at ease - these are familiar sounds that we're used to hearing on a regular basis.The mid shot shows both Cole's mum, Cole and part of the kitchen, which allows the audience to trust the scene as they can see everything of importance and therefore they don't feel like anything is being hidden from them. The camera tracks Cole's mum as she leaves the kitchen and so because of this the audience can't see what's going on in the kitchen, there are no sounds that indicate that anything sinister is happening either. The camera pauses on Cole's mum as she turns around and walks back into the kitchen, which means that the shot turns into a over the shoulder shot; the audience see the frightening scene at the same time Cole's mother does - her scream scares the audience and creates a similar reaction. From the camera angle, the audience can see Cole sitting in the same place but all the cabinets open, the camera shakily zooms in closer; this increases the suspense as it's unclear whether the disjointness represents a found footage camera shot/angle or that it's used to add to the uneasiness tension in the room. Non - diegetic sound isn't used in this scene, as it's clear that the intention for this scene is so that the audience couldn't detect that anything scary was going to occur, it was a true surprise. This adds to the realistic element, because even though the diegetic sound fades during the climax of the scene, it slowly returns reminding the audience that it's a normal day, similar to the one that we all experience daily.
Stuttering Stanley Scene
The second is the stuttering Stanley scene where Cole is at school and his teacher asks the class what the building was used for, nobody knows the answer and so Cole speaks out claiming (correctly) that it was a place where people were hung. The morbid quality of the answer for someone of such a young age surprised the teacher and so he, as the audience would expect, denies this instead claiming that the school used to be a legal courthouse. They bicker back and forth, before the teacher ends up staring at Cole in disbelief along with members of the class; this angers Cole and he tells them to stop quite forcibly. The camera angle flickers between the two of them in a shot reverse shot, as the diegetic sound of a clock ticking in the background is heard adding to the suspense. As Cole then shouts at his teacher calling him a 'stuttering Stanley', non diegetic music builds in the background. Cole's teacher walks towards Cole slowly, which makes the audience apprehensive as they know something bad is going to happen soon enough. The camera changes between close ups of Stanley and his teacher to show their facial expressions, it also zooms in meaning that the audience can't see what's going on in the background. As Cole's teacher begins to stutter, Cole closes his eyes which in turn makes the audience want to do so too, the non diegetic sound is much louder at this point and Cole begins to shout as if trying to be heard over the sound. Cole chants 'stuttering Stanley' continuously with non diegetic sound surging noisily over the top, it reaches a climax until the teacher slams his fist on Cole's desk, labelling him a 'freak'. This is suspenseful, because the audience know something is going to happen due to the non diegetic sound, but they don't know what or when; this makes them nervous and wanting to look away.
Münchausen Syndrome Scene
In this scene, Cole and Malcolm have attended a funeral in order to reveal the way young Kyra Collins died. Her dad watches a video surrounded by the entire funeral guests, in which Kyra's mum is seen intentionally making her daughter ill in order to look after her for longer; but it backfires and Kyra dies. The main part of the scene alternates between the video playing and a close up of Kyra's dad's face in a shot reverse shot; this is done to show the emotions and reactions play on her dad's face caused by what he's seen. Every time the camera cuts back to the video, it zooms in subtly; whereas originally the TV was in the frame as the scene continues on, the camera zooms in adding tension and atmosphere - as it's clear that there's something that the audience need to see and therefore need to play close attention to. The video shows Kyra's mum walking in and after placing the tray on a shelf, returns with what seems to be poison and once again the camera zooms in to highlight this; to emphasise that what is currently happening is wrong. When zoom is used, it makes the audience submerged in the action and feel more involved in a scene, which therefore heightens the suspense. Eerie non - diegetic plays in the background building up as the scene reaches the most climatic moment, which adds tension as voices from the video is heard in the background. The camera shot changes to an extreme close up as Kyra eats the poisoned soup, which draws attention to the main point of the scene that Kyra was wrongfully murdered by her own mother. The scene shows an over the shoulder shot of Kyra's mother, as the non diegetic music changes to atmopsheric violins; this camera angle is used to show the reactions of the other funeral guests as the audience feel like Kyra's father approaching the murderer of his daughter - his wife. The sound increases volume as the camera angle changes to medium shot of Kyra's dad, it zooms in shakily reflecting the hostility in the room. The camera does the exact same when focused on Kyra's mother as she tries to come up with an excuse.
For our preliminary task, there was a number of things we had to include; such as the 180 degree rule, shot reverse shot, match on action shot, a conversation and a clip showing someone walking through a door. In my group, it was myself and Milly; however because there was only two of us we needed a third person, so we managed to get help from someone else who isn't in our media class, Jess.
180 degree rule is when all camera work has to be on the same side, this way the audience won't get confused and the actors in the film will match eyeline and be facing the same direction. Break the 180 degree rule and the audience will become disorientated. Shot reverse shot is an editing technique used during a conversation when the camera shots flick between each character in order for the audience to see the facial expressions of the characters. Match on action is a variety of shots used to show one action continuously, this technique allows the audience to stay interested in a simple action.
I was happy with the camerawork we used throughout our preliminary task, as we showcased a variety of different camera shots and angles, which I'm pleased with; however during the shot reverse shot - character B isn't in the centre of the shot which means that the attention of the audience isn't on the main character; this is something that we can learn from and ensure we correct when filming our film opening.
I think the editing of our preliminary task was done well, there are some shot that perhaps don't work for example at 0.20 when character B looks to the left and right which is filmed as an over the shoulder shot - we didn't edit this as smooth as we would have liked and there's also a pause in the background sound which can be picked up. Overall, I think our continuity of the editing was something we did well, as it all flows together and doesn't cause the audience to feel confused. I think our preliminary task did make sense, despite the overall idea of it being rather basic - I think it works as due to the shortness in length it doesn't need an elaborate plot line.
I learnt that when filming in a real location with members of the public, mise en scene is very important especially when filming a variety of shots that all need to continuity amongst them. I also learnt to make the most of your mise en scene, for example the camera shot/angle used at 0.08 where character B runs past the windows and looks in; this is a very effective shot and adds an element of comedy - however we didn't think of this shot until we had arrived at our location and seen the mise en scene.
Whilst I don't think we managed to create an element of suspense, we managed to hopefully generate interest as there's a lot of dialogue said that suggests suspense, which could draw the audience in. I think one the best ways to create suspense is by using music, we didn't use a lot of this and so therefore in our coursework, we'll be sure to do the opposite as use plenty.
When filming, we forgot to film a more detailed shot of match on action seen at 0.16; initially we just had character B walking through the door and so after reviewing our preliminary; we went back to film. The next problem we had was that I wasn't wearing the same clothes, however this was easily resolved when we decided to just film an extreme close up of my hands opening the door so that way you wouldn't see my clothes.
We got a lot of good feedback from Mr Higgins after he had watched it back; he also pointed out about characters being centre when filming shots and the lack of match on action that we had initially used. Other than that, he said we had a lot of good ideas, great editing skills and that he looked forward to our film opening.
I hope to gain from AS Media a deeper understanding of the media skills that I learnt in GCSE. I'm interested in the film industry and so learning about media will help immensely; in order for me to gain knowledge about the creative development behind it all.
Working in a team will help me work with new people and be able to combine a variety of ideas to create one final piece.
I'll also gain an understanding for the planning process behind creating film trailers as there's much more to it than what most believe.
Understanding how the media actually works is something I'm looking forward to, as well as the way major companies in the film industry create excitement by marketing and promotion.
