Planning: Preliminary task

what is a preliminary

The preliminary task is a trial to see how your group can work with a camera also enabling us to get used to filming in addition to this editing is also involved in this task. Furthermore within this task we must create our scenario and film it then edit it as a group.

The purpose of the Preliminary task was to simply learn how to be able to operate and film with a camera and also edit your filmed work. During this task we we had to experiment with the camera by playing around with different camera techniques such as shot sizes, angles and movements in order for us to find out which will be most effective for our actual thriller opening.

The Task
Since we had to create a 30 seconds scenario involving 2 people having a minimal conversation this was our opportunity to focus on camera techniques you would see in this scenario was as point of view, over the shoulder, close ups and medium shots. We came up with two locations, just outside school and in a hall way where people could sit and revise. As it was a place where people could sit and revise it was an obvious idea to have two people talking about work and revising together.

Production roles

We had to separate our group into individual roles to make sure we were all involved in this task in some way. I was the director and also the camera operator therefore it was essential that I experiment with the camera and what the character should be doing at the time. Our group decided to give me this role because I have some experience in camera work and I’m good at organising a group and making sure everyone knows what they’re doing. The edited work was done between the whole group as we are all creative individuals and therefore we could make a better edited version of our filmed work.

Difficulties we faced

 During editing we notice that we had to show that time has gone by as they have a conversation as we only had 30 seconds to show therefore we managed to overcome this as we found out the uses of the fade cut and wipe cut which was to show time has passed. During filming I also noticed that I spent too much time experimenting with shot and angle which led to us rushing in the end however it helped because now I have a clear vision of what camera techniques to use when actually filming the opening.

Planning: sound

Sound is extremely important in the creation of films because they adapt to a scene by creating an atmosphere or creating moods and emotions for different characters. It’s extremely important to plan sounds you will use when producing a film as it allows the audience to be connected with the film for example if a good person was to die in a film and sad, slow, depressing music was played straight away the audience would be connected with the rest of the characters because they would know how they feel and the soundtrack would set the mood depending on the situation.

The main conventional sound you will hear in our thriller will be the wild life of the forest for example the twigs snapping, the wind hitting the trees and other insects or bird noises such as owls and pigeons. This is conventional because it automatically puts him audience in an anxious mood.

For one of our on screen sounds in our first scene we're going to have characters laughing at a point where the nerd falls over. This gives the audience a clear understanding of the relationships between the characters and who everyone is friends with within the group. By showing who is laughing on screen we can see who is laughing and who is not, showing who respects him and who doesn't.

We're also going to have heavy breathing coming out of one of the characters (antagonist) as he’s late to the filming and therefore the stops for a bit to catch his breath. This automatically makes the audience feel worried and get a bad feeling for that character. This will also be on screen sound to showing whose breathing and where that character is or what he's doing.

Moreover, as the 'antagonist' scares the couple the female in the group will scream to show that she got scared of the figure behind her. This will be on scree this, similarly makes the audience want to know more about this character as they get a mysterious feeling about him. This sound also is onscreen so that we can see her facial expression at the same time when she screams.

In addition, the sound of crushing twigs will be shown when the group of friends start walking to find a better location to film the thriller. This creates tension for the audience members and makes them feel uncomfortable. This will be shown in on screen however it will only be in longshots to show where they’re heading to and what they’re stepping on.

planning: Editing

The quality of the editing within a film is very important, especially in thriller films because the editor plays a part to determine how the audience feels. Its essential because it puts all the filmed work together to get the directors final idea. Planning out what editing techniques to use will be important as they will save us time when it comes to actually editing.

At the start of our thriller opening scene all the characters will be introduced at a slow paced editing as it enable the audience to understand the characters and the relationship with the other characters within the film. In addition it gives times for the audience to clarify the character characteristics and personalities, it will also be used for the opening credits as we will need to state who the character is played by and the characters name/role within the movie for example, "khaled jaffer as the nerd." By using slow paced editing it helps us to show the characters body language, facial expression and costume while showing the opening credits, saving us more time as the opening scene can only be 2 minutes long.

Next; a straight cut will be used to show the antagonist who is watching the group of friends from a distance. We have chosen this simply because there is no other reason to use other editing techniques. This will automatically make it clear to the audience that its gone from one area of the forest to the next and also with the characters.






There will be a few fade cuts withing the opening scene. The fade cuts will be used to indicate that a few minutes/hours has passed and there is new activity which the group are getting on with. Without a fade cut the audience will never know that time has gone by which is why its essential that we use this editing technique.

Fast paced editing will be used when the ‘’antagonist’’ captures there first victim and starts to kill them. Consequently, this will create tension for the audience members as they'll be in shock of what has happened to the victim in such a short time and therefore they will be alert looking out for any other piece of action they can capture. The fast paced editing automatically put the audience in a zone where they would feel uncomfortable because of how fast the editing is, making them expect something to happen however they wouldn't know at what point it would.

Finally, this will then dissolve into the scene where the couple find the victims camera on the floor with blood around it. Similarly, this will create tension for the audience keeping them alert and they are still confused and are alert to seek for answers within the thriller to try and complete the prices of the puzzle.