Question 7 :Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from

it to the full product?

Teamwork
Teamwork was very key for our thriller film to become successful. We all had different responsibilities for our planning and therefore we could spend more time on one aspect to make it a very strong piece of planning, and then all of us would share our ideas to be used. Also we had different roles for filming, two people on camera and two actors. This meant that we could concentrate on the aspects we had and strengthen them. Although we did vary roles as we knew that it would look good if the actors filmed a few scenes, which shows a variation of skills. Not only that but we also had to share equipment and be responsible for items at different times as it didn't always suit us i.e. the camera and the tripod. was the camera man for the thriller as we came to a group decision that !atthew "utcher would suit the role of the specific male a lot better than me. Not only that but the other actor preferably needed to be a female as it would fit the storyline which we wanted, and so overall we came to a group decision that would be the camera man with #hoebe #erry, which was good as know her very well from high school and we shared a lot of enthusiasm to make our thriller successful. !atthew "utcher and $orrel %rundy were our actors for the thriller opening.

&amera skills and using a tripod

'verall, think that my camera skills have improved a lot. Through the constant use of equipment as was the camera man, and also because of greater knowledge of shots which e(press different messages and show status. The tripod was very helpful as it meant that there was less stress on me to produce good footage as could avoid shaking. Through research have developed knowledge of other successful camera shots which have been inspirational for some of our thriller shots.

A worms eye shot used in my preliminary task to show power

A tilt shot used in &old &ase to show vulnerability, however it does show more skill with a camera

The importance of generic conventions and a cliffhanger

%eneric conventions
The use of generic conventions wasn't needed for my preliminary task but for my thriller had to use them to establish the genre of the film. also had to research many different types of thriller convention to ma(imise the awareness to the audience that my opening is a thriller. )(amples include claustrophobic surroundings, isolation, darkness, powerful male characters etc.

&liffhanger

The use of a cliffhanger is very important as it is a common convention of a thriller. Therefore we had to use one when making &old &ase as its only an opening and therefore the audience would suspect many theories after the cliffhanger has been seen. Typically, if a cliffhanger is good, then the rest of the film tends to be, as it can set the scene and leave the audience wanting to to watch on. *rom my own research know that there have been many successful films over previous years through a cliffhanger, which have been shown and improved through flashbacks, which our thriller also does and therefore supports the conventions of a thriller further.

The importance of research to inspire ideas and the importance of researching a soundtrack
+esearching to inspire ideas
The use of case study research and independent research were both very important for producing a thriller opening like &old &ase. This is because when creating a thriller you have to make interte(tual references and meet the general e(pectations of a thriller film, or challenge thriller conventions in which the audience is overall intrigued, which is what we set out to do when producing our thriller opening, as we knew that by the linking films to others the audience could develop thoughts and feelings on specific characters in &old &ase. Not only that but you can see the popularity of certain thrillers by researching them on websites such as !,". Which allows you to see whether a specific thriller film has met the needs of the audience and entertained them.

$oundtrack

+esearching a soundtrack was very important as it was key to find a good soundtrack to develop thriller conventions, by building up tension and suspense to increase the need for a cliffhanger to simply leave the audience on the edge of there seats. To find a suitable soundtrack required a lot of searching on the internet and specifically -ouTube as you had to find a song that met the requirements of your thriller opening, therefore we had to find a soundtrack of a suitable length, and one that provided suspense and suited the cliffhanger which would end the opening sequence.

)valuation
*or my preliminary task there wasn't nearly as much to write about as there was for &old &ase evaluation. As many aspects of a film in general were missing from my preliminary task e.g. soundtrack, generic conventions. .owever my thriller opening required a lot of these aspects to be analysed further and in greater depth as some aspects of thrillers are very meaningful but can require quite a lot of research to understand. Which is what feel have gained over the last year of media, as have developed an understanding on what makes a good thriller film and what the audience wants to see. 'verall, am very happy with the developments 've made in knowledge of how to make a good thriller opening sequence. feel that have massively improved my knowledge of thrillers through research and in class analysis, which has been key as it involves everyone's opinions on certain matters which you may agree or disagree with. Not only that, but teacher feedback has been key as you know that the teacher has great e(perience and knowledge of the film industry in general, and therefore you know advice will be beneficial if taken on board. This has meant that have made a thriller opening which think is a very skilled piece of work compared to the skills had when making my preliminary task. $o overall, am happy with the opening have made which is named &old &ase.