Filming Session 15/02

In this session we attempted to shoot the first death scene, n this scene the antagonist lurks along a building and spots his victim, he then creeps up from hehind and attacks him. We managed to get some good footage which included a variety of shots such as long shots and mid shots, but we were rather unorganised and we spent alot of time trying to find the right angles to shoot from. This caused us to lose time and we could not finish our filming of this sequence, therefore the next time we film we will be more organised and plan the shots we want before-hand. During this filming session we focused hard on not breaking the 180 degree rule, we also tried to keep the tripod still and at the right level, these are past mistakes we have made and learnt from.

Editing Session 14/02

Our first editing session was somewhat of a success, we managed to edit together the first 40 seconds of 2 minute thriller opening. We believe that we have put it together well and it all runs smoothly, the cut transitions are good and the first bit of editing we have done has good fluidity. We had alot of material to work with which is good as it gave us the chance to choose from a number of shots to decide which ones looked best together, we are confident with what we have done in this session and we can build on this from here onwards. We have also put the title sequence together which was the main aim of this session.

During this session we came to a conclusion that we were going to change a section of our plotline. In the animatic our thriller began with location shots to reveal the setting and then fade to a flashback, however after re-evaluating our footage we have changed the order of our shots and our thriller is now going to begin with a flashback.

Filming Session 07/02

In our second filming session we were alot more wary of time, we were alot quicker getting the setting and props ready so we had a good amount of time to spend on the filming. With the last filming session we spent alot of time trying to decide on the correct sort of lighting, so this time we knew which position and placement to put the lamp to create the lighting which we wanted. We managed to completely re-shoot the scene of which we previously tried, adding new shots such as close-ups and mid-shots which we felt could make the final product more dimensional. We managed to get this sequece filmed in enough time to begin filming another part of the thriller, which was the introduction of our antagonist. We used a number of shots in this next part such as close-ups, mid-shots, long-shots and P.O.V shots, this meant we will have alot of filming to edit when we begin our editing session. Over the course of this filming session we managed to film alot of good material, and we will have alot to work with when we begin editing.

Filming Session 31/01

In our first filming session we attempted to film the opening scene of our thriller, this is the part where the setting is introduced as a corrider and staircase. We used a good location but as the room was very dark it made the camera blurry and unclear, therefore we spent alot of time finding lamps and setting them up correctly for the right amount of light we wanted. Once we eventually found the right lighting, we began filming but were unsure of the shot angles we were using. We couldn't get the right sort of shot we planned in order to reveal the setting, so we tried a number of other shots which we weren't too confident about. We soon ran out of time with this session, so we decided that we will re-shoot this part of the sequence in future filming sessions. Next time we attempt to film this part we will be more wary on the time we spend on lighting.

Evaluation of Animatic

After evaluating my animatic, I came the conclusion that the idea is good but the plotline is too basic. Therefore we are going to continue thinking of ideas to add to our thriller until we are happy with the amount of action we have planned, so by the time we start filming we will have an clear and organised list of shots to film. The drawings we used in our animatic are simple and present the plotline well, and the non-diegetic music is effective and gives us an understanding of how the final piece would appeal with the sound included.

Overall I felt our animatic is fairly good and will be a good platform to build on as we progress to our final ideas for our thriller intro. We will definately make some changes and adds new parts to it, but the we were given the task to make a 2 minute animatic and we have reached that goal. The drawings show clarity and are evident as to the genre of our film, so they worked well. I believe the non-diegetic music is very effective as it doesn't match with the action, which creates a spooky effect, also the daunting laugh heard as the antagonist appears is thrilling. Furthermore I believe that after we elaborate on this plotline, we will have a good plan to work with, I am confident with our production at this stage.

Thriller Opening Animatic

This is our animatic, we have created this based on our initial ideas. It will give us a good understanding of how our filmed thriller opening will appear and if it looks good, also if the non-diagetic music works well with the action.

Target Audience Feedback

1. Is the storyboard typical of the thriller/horror genre?
    Yes = 9          No = 1

Question 1's results are useful to us as it shows that almost all of our audience identify this as a thriller film.

2. Would this film appeal to you?
    Yes = 7          No = 3

Question 2's results are also positive as the majority of the audience would be interested in watching our thriller based on the storyboard, the latter may not be specific fans of the thriller genre so this is not so much of a problem.

3. Do you think a rating of 15+ is suitable?
    Yes = 5          No = 5

Question 3's results is 50/50 which will be important in the next stage of our development as we are presented the obstacle of re-evaluating our storyboard and suggest changing the age rating, or even changing certain aspects to make it more appropriate for a 15+ rating.

4. Do you think the idea of flashbacks would work well with this genre?
    Yes = 7          No = 3

Question 4's results show that 70% of our audience believe that the flashbacks work well in this genre, this is good as it gives us confidence when including them.

5. Do you think the storyboard is long enough?
    Yes = 2         No = 8

Question 5's results is constructive as it shows how the majority of our audience believe that the storyboard is not long enough, therefore we will gather our ideas and add more to our plotline.