Wednesday 28 March 2012

Preliminary Task

We were given a preliminary task to complete before reaching the main thriller opening itself. This was seen to be a warm-up for when the main task is done. The reason as to why we had to do this is because it was a method to help us get used to the cameras for the first time, and how to edit properly for the first time. It was also a good opportunity to refresh our minds on the basics of filming (stated below) and also all of the different camera shots and camera angles. 


Basics
When completing the preliminary task, we had to look at the basics of what we need to get done. The basic things that we looked at was match on action, over the shoulder shot, 180 degree rule and also shot reverse shot. The reason as to why we done this is to get a rough feel of the basic rules when we were filming our preliminary task. Below are examples of images of each of basic rules stated above.

(Match on Action)

(Over the Shoulder shot)

(180 degree rule)


(Shot Reverse Shot)



Story Board

We created a story board for our preliminary task in order to know and understand what we will be doing at all times throughout the preliminary task. The story board was a rough construction of the shots that we will be using for each section and also the type of camera angles that will be used. Below is an image of the story board that I drew. 


The image above is a story board of my preliminary task. As you see, the each of the boxes shows description of what is happening at that precise moment. It also shows the different shots, angles and even a description of their body language. Unfortunately, my group didn't want to go with this idea, therefore we ended up using another storyboard within the group. Below is an image of the story board.


The story board above was created by Rianna Bathwaite. She is a member of group 4. Due to the fact that this had to be done a group, and one of the storyboards had to be nominated, we decided to use this storyboard.


Understanding Editing Software

In order for me to get a rough idea of how to edit my preliminary task, i decided that i wanted to watch a video on YouTube about how to edit video's on final cut pro. This is the main video that i watched online to give me a good insight on how to use final cut pro and how to edit using it. The good thing about the video below, is the fact that it also showed me how to include special effects into my editing and methods that i can use to add effects to the editing. Another good thing about it is the fact that it showed me how to get rid of the parts that i don't need also.




Script

Rianna is walking down the corridor at a slow pace towards the door. She is anxious as to what might happen to her because she hasn't given the boss hiss money. She opens the door and walks in to find her boss sitting at the table expecting her.

Darren: (sitting down with hands on table) What time do you call this?

Rianna: (worried face) I... I came as fast as I could, I'm sorry I was late.

Darren: Well I don't care about your problems, I want my money now! (slams fist on desk)



PRELIMINARY VIDEO COMPLETE

Below is the final video of our preliminary task. (please watch the video)


Relevent Information:

Actors: Rianna Brathwaite and Darren Smith
 
Filming Crew: Shannon Prizeman and Jamal Ali



Choice of Costume:

The choice of costume was purposely chosen to relate to what the short preliminary task is out. For example, it shows that Rianna is wearing grey, this was purposely done to represent her intellegence and modesty. However Darren (myself) was wearing black, this was to empathise the power that he has, as shown in the task.

Thriller Questionnaire (Questions & Results)

Questionnaire
(Please Circle Your Answers)

1) Gender

Male     Female


2) Age

Under 12     13-15     16-18     19-21     22-24     25+


3) Do you like going to the cinema often?

Yes     No


4) Do you like going to the cinema?

Yes    No


5) What is your favourite genre?

.............................................................


6) What do you expect from a Thriller film? (Multiple Choice)

Crime      Suspensions     Investigation     Romance     Comedy    

Adventure     Death      Drama        Fast Pace     Other


7) Do you watch thriller films? (If yes please state the latest thriller film that you have watched)

Yes     No

...........................................................


8) What thriller sub-genre do you prefer to watch?

Political Thriller      Conspiracy Thriller      Physiological Thriller      Disaster Thriller

Action Thriller       Crime Thriller     Sub-Natural Thriller     Spy Thriller     Other 






Results

After giving out the questionnaire to 20 people, I thought that it would be a good idea to put them together and see the type of results that I obtained. Below are the results and they are annotated with reasons as to why the results are useful and how its helped me to decide the type of thriller that I will be doing for my main task. 

This is one of the questions that I asked within my questionnaire, the reason for this is because I wanted to know the amount the different genders that took place within my questionnaire. I wanted to see if the results that I get would have been accurate in terms of the two different genders. 

I also asked people the age group they were. I did this in order to search for the most accurate base target market that I would have. The age had an impact on the questionnaire because of the different certificates that there were for different types of thriller films. The questionnaire shows that the majority of people that filled in the questionnaire were of age 16-18, this shows that most of the results will be based around people of that age group. The second most common age to fill out this questionnaire was people of age 13-15.

This is another question that I asked. The reason I asked this is because I wanted to know if they go to the cinema often. When I said often, I told them that I meant once every two weeks. 60% of them said that they go to the cinema often whereas 40% of them said that they don’t go to the cinema often.

This is another question that I decided to ask the partakers of the questionnaire. I decided to ask this because I wanted to know and see the people that were interested in a the cinema and the people that like to go.  80% of people that took part in the questionnaire said that they like going to the cinema, however 20% of people said that they don’t like going due to various reasons such as costs and environment etc. 

I asked this question because I wanted to know the most common genre that people prefer. The reason I asked this is because I wanted to see the percentage of people that like to watch thriller films due to the fact that I am currently studying it. Luckily, 25% of people that completed this questionnaire said that thriller is their favourite genre; this shows that people have an interest in thriller films.

This is another thing that I decided to ask the partakers of the questionnaire. I wanted to know and find out all the people hat watch thriller films and see the percentage of people. I feel that by having a rough idea of the amount of people that watch thriller films, then I will have a good idea of the people that have interest within it. Luckily 80% of people that filled in my questionnaire about thriller films said that they are interested in them. This is good because it shows that people are alert to thriller films and they are likely to know the differences between a lot of them.

This is a deeper question regarding thrillers that I asked the partakers of my questionnaire. The reason for this is because I wanted to know what types of things that people will be expecting in a thriller in order to help me for when it comes to my main task. I also wanted to know this type of information because I wanted to know what the most common thing to come up in a thriller is. I believe that by knowledge of this, then it would have given me a baseline idea of what I would use for my 2minute thriller opening.

The statistics showed that 32% of people were expecting some crime to appear. For example, they were expecting an antagonist and a protagonist. These are some of the conventions of a thriller genre. 20% of people were expecting death. This is another convention of a thriller genre; they were expecting somebody to die in the cause of the film. 20% of people were expecting drama; this could have been anything such as suspicion, enigma or anything. 10% of people were expecting romance, for example someone dying within the romance and there could have been a suspicious storyline behind it. 

This is simply a generic question in which I asked people. I just wanted to know the last thriller film that most of them watched. 2 people (13%) said that phone booth is the last thriller film that they watched. The reason as to why I asked this question is because I wanted to get ideas from the most commonly watched thriller so that I can use ideas to help complete my 2 minute opening of a thriller film.

Example:
Below is an example of one of the questionnaires that was given back to me.