Preliminary Evaluation

What would I have done differently?

In my preliminary task the main thing that I would change is the costumes. Due to our lessons only lasting one hour we were limited to an hour a day which meant that each time we would film the characters costumes had changed.  This affected the film badly as it looked strange as the characters costumes changed at least three times in the film. In order to fix this in my real horror opening I will make sure that my characters wear the same clothing and hairstyles in every shot unless a costume change is necessary. 

I would also change the amount of shots we took to make this task. When editing I felt like I was limited with the amount of shots that I had to work with. To make sure that this doesn't happen in my final horror opening I will film a lot more different shots selecting different camera angles and types of shots. This way I will have more variety to work with when it comes to editing my final film opening.

What did I like?

What I really liked about my preliminary task are the different camera shots that we used to create suspense. We used some point of view shots when opening doors, looking into classrooms and uniting rope. I found that these help to bring the audience into the film which helps add to the suspense. These point of view shots (especially the shot of panning the classroom) bring the audience to the edge of their seats. I found these shots very effective and will try to incorporate them into my final horror opening.

I also liked the music in the background. It was a few long held out notes played from a  synthesiser. The music really helped to add to the tension. I would like to use music in my final horror opening to create a similar effect. I have composed a piece of horror music for my music GCSE last year which I could possible use.

What worked well and what didn't?

 

A major factor that really worked for me was the point of view shots. I found that panning the classroom, opening the doors and untiying the rope looked really good in the final preliminary film. These shots really helped to bring the audience into the film as though they are a character in the film themselves. This helps to build the tension of the film as they are more alert and aware of the surroundings and may not be expecting something to happen. These types of shots are something that I would really like to add into my final horror opening.

 

Another factor that worked really wel for me was the fade-in and fade-out transitions. i found that these really helped to make the story flow. Along with the jump cuts that were slightly noticable because of the lack of video that we had to work with the fade outs looked really smooth and well done. I especially liked how at certain points in the preliminary task like at 26 seconds when the film fades to black. I really liked this transition as it starts a new type of shot in the film. Rather than following the main character (me) down a number of corridors the camera angle changes to a close up of my face. The fade to black really helps the audience to see this change in camera angle and see how effective it is.

 

Somthing that I would like to work on is the way the story jumps around. After I had been walking around the school for a while, looking around and then finally having heard a noise and panning the classroom the film suddenly jumps to me running accross a room to tend to Jemma to make sure that she is okay. However, I find this a very messy scene. I feel as though something needs to happen invetween these two shots. This is something that I would like to work on in my final horror piece. A way I could fix this is using a type of parallel shot showing the two characters veiws on the situation. I feel as though this will really help build up the suspension in the overall opening.