Q7:Looking back at

your preliminary task

what do you feel that
you have learnt in the
progression from it to
full product?
By Elena Middlicott

Preliminary task
Research into thriller genre

Ideas

Different types of thrillers e.g. action

and psychological

Development of our idea

Planning

Examples of thriller films e.g.

black swan, inception and What
lies beneath

Filming

Written analyse
(Blogs)
Editing

End

Final thriller opening

Preliminary task / Final thriller opening

Similarities

Differences

The rule of thirds has been used in

both, with a huge success.
Camera quality has been maintained
and even improved.

Steadiness was a issue but within our

thriller improved.
Poor use of music in Prelimrary taskmusic in our thriller fits and adds to the
overall effect of the thriller.
bad continuity in parts - extremely good
continuity that flows from one scene to the
next easily.
Poor acting- successful acting
Ineffective music that lacks quality and
links to the story- effective music that is of
a great quality, enhancing the story line in
our thriller.
Poor use of CGI- great use of CGI that
works with the story line that we wanted to
produce in our thriller.
Preliminary was very amateur- our thriller
was very professional and easy to
understand and watch, also complex and
sensitive approach to idea.

Knowledge of thriller genre before the prelim

to knowledge of thriller genre after the final
thriller opening outcome
Before the preliminary task my knowledge around thrillers was very limited, yes I know of
thrillers and only really knew about the action thrillers and that was mainly through
watching fast and furious. I didnt really know the depth and detail required to fully create
a thriller, I knew particularly nothing about thrillers and what really made a good thriller.
However, now I understand the idea of thrillers and depth and detail required to create a
thriller from what genres are available to tiny details that portray a meaning, but also to
the story line and addressing the audience. I focused mainly on psychological thrillers
which I found quite hard to link to at first, but through watching psychological thrillers and
examining them, tiny details were defiantly key ; such as in our thriller we used red bubble
bath rather than normal bubble bath, adding danger and the idea of bloodshed, however
also having a razor in the shot as the idea of self-harm or self-inflicted pain. Little details
were something that really I felt made me think as to why that item was added or what is
the items true importance within the shot. Also, the image of the character was also key,
as if we used someone who is happy it would not create the continuity of her disorder and
the real way it affects her mental health and well-being. But, showing her happy then
progressing into a down wood spiral, it would show something has triggered this rather
than always being unhappy. Overall, through the close analytical judgement and study of
thrillers I feel very comfortable about them and I have expanded my range of
understanding all genres of thrillers hugely.

Written analysis (blogs)

Within the preliminary task not much written effort and care was taken, we mainly got
stuck in to the filmed task. Although, planning what story we were going portray took
time. However, from knowing that we lacked time and effort on the preliminary, we took it
upon ourselves to ensure we took the rest of our blogs through research into the
evaluation questions very seriously, and analysed in depth to portray our real
understanding of thrillers, showing our true analytical skills. I have also showed further
progression by adding extra blogs in order to extend and expand my knowledge further,
but also showing my true interest in media. By extending my research I was able to
make judgements within my thriller much more quickly and efficiently, based on research
as I could target my audience specifically based on knowledge gained through market
research and based on other successful thrillers. Through research I also gained
understanding on the music and editing as within psychological thrillers much of the
music is eerie and slow, but gradual build ups were key to create the slightly unusual,
quirky feeling. In terms of editing, by using CGI such as slow motion and speed up
elements, creates the idea of the character being unable to process elements and
segments effectively, showing the condition taking control. This information is what was
gained from the research and investigation in other thrillers. If I was to take more time in
the preliminary task research we could of created a more original idea, rather than an
argument and something based on thriller to link more heavily to the idea we have
produced, in order to compare what we were like when we started to what the final
outcome was, showing our process of progression in terms of thrillers itself.

Editing
Within the preliminary task our main area of fault was defiantly the editing as we mainly
lacked knowledge on the software and program itself. Meaning, the idea of trial and
error was used through the majority of the process. Making it harder to know what would
fit effectively and sometimes going a little overboard on transitions, rather than
considering that often minimal is better. However, we still did cover the required criteria,
of 180 degree rule, match-on-action and also maintaining rule of thirds. A range of
techniques have been used from cutting from one shot to the next and long shots just to
name a few. By doing the preliminary task it shows our basic understanding, but also
getting a taster of what the software is like and how we can use it to create and modify
elements to specific things that we want. We used the process to be able to experiment
with transitions and music, but also the process of adding a title and credits to the
footage that we filmed. Although, the main area in which I felt we struggled with was
cutting and pasting items together in order to create continuity. As many of the shots
placed together in our prelim is very much dead cuts, not flowing effectively and
producing a smooth, clean line. Thats what really needed to be addressed when
creating our actual final thriller and I very much feel that was what was achieved. In our
thriller we created a thriller that transitioned well without the use of out-dated transitions.
With the use of CGI and restricted angles that limit the characters identity was much
more of a success, creating something that is fresh and full of clean continuity. Overall,
the editing really brought our thriller to life and expressed our ideas perfectly.