Evaluation Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have
learn in the progression from it to the full product?
 The Preliminary Task
When we created the preliminary task, we were
new to the cameras and equipment and also to
the editing program. We therefore had to
experiment with everything in order to realise
the potential angles and effects we could
achieve.

The planning involved in our preliminary task

involved working from a script and we casted
actors who were in our group. Our actors
learned the script and one of the actors was
also a member of our crew . We devised a shot
list and set our cameras up in a 180 degree
rule. Filming took an hour and this enabled us
to re run the scene in order to make sure
everything was perfect. Editing the preliminary
task took 2 hours and we all took it in turns to
edit each part of the film and adding effects.
 Main Task
Compared to the preliminary task, the main task involved lots of planning prior to filming and even more
time when editing the film.
Before filming we had to research into the history of horror and into similar media works in order to
develop a new and creative opening of our own horror film. We also had to consider our target audience
and how we could adapt our film to appeal to them. We then created our initial ideas which enabled us to
consider different ideas and then incorporate several ideas leaving us with one creative idea. We then
created an exact film brief on how we would like our film to be and a script, after this we created
character profiles for the two characters in the film and when auditioning actors for the parts we had to
consider actors we believed to have similar attributes to the characters and who gave a believable
performance. We had to get consent from the parents of our actors due to them being under 18. After we
had our idea and our actors we had to scout a location that we visualised our film to be set. Before we
could even begin filming we had to experiment with make up to make sure we had it looking realistic and
believable. For this we had to buy lots of materials, including liquid latex which is used for make up in the
film industry. After creating realistic make up and buying all the costumes and props needed for our film
we were then ready to film, and because we only had to scenes we fit all the filming into one day. We had
previously created a film schedule that enabled us to multitask to make the best use of our limited time,
this included me filming the male character for the first scene while Georgie created Rachel’s make up.
When we were filming, the white contact lens we needed for Rachel teared and she was unable to wear it.
This meant that we had to re-evaluate our camera angles in order to make sure the audience were aware a
horrific attack had taken place on Rachel, this included close ups from different angles. In the rest of our
film we would like to make it explicit that Rachel was left blind in one eye after the attack.

After filming, it was time to edit. This was extremely time consuming because we had several problems
with each computer we worked on and this limited how quickly we could edit. After we finally found a
computer that worked for us, we had to put in lots of extra hours outside of school in order to meet the
deadlines. When editing, we had recorded sound over the top to create our heartbeat noise and this was
something we had never done before.
 What have I learnt?
When creating the preliminary task, the work and research we had to do prior to filming was nothing
compared to the grand scale of hard work and time we had to give to the main task. Creating the
preliminary task has helped me to learn how to use the cameras and equipment to my greater benefit in
order to use different camera angles and effects to create a film. However, we still had a lot to learn after
we had encountered problems with our main task. This helped us to overcome problems and to prioritise
the more important factors of our film and concentrating on making them stronger. The use of tripods
helped us to capture different camera angles which we hadn’t used in the preliminary task. For example,
low shots to show how Rachel was a damsel in distress.
All the planning involved has helped us to
develop our horror that is similar to existing
products,: Saw(2004) and The Eye(2008)
It has also helped us to consider the generic
conventions of a horror and how to include
those conventions in our film but also how to
break those conventions to leave our audience
in suspense and not knowing what to expect.

It has also helped use to improve the quality of

our filming, for example in the preliminary task,
our shots were shaky and we especially made
sure that we stabilised our shots in our main
task.

I now feel more confident with the equipment

and editing software after spending so much
time using them, this makes me feel more
comfortable knowing my potential for my next
project.