Preliminary Evalution

From the preliminary task, we have expanded on our knowledge of filming techniques and continuity. With a limited time scale, we used our existing experience to the best of our ability and found an appropriate location, as well as mocking up a suitable storyboard to fit the task set.

We found difficulties with the level of lighting available to us, as we could only use natural lighting. This caused unwanted shadow, of camera-men as well as equipment, however we tried to avoid this as much as possible and the final cut shows no shadows that we did not want.  Another problem we encountered, was the time of day that we were filming. Considering the narrative of the preliminary task, the ideal time of day to shoot would be evening or nighttime, to give a clear visual to express the mood of the narrative.

Although we had to follow a set plan of shots, we added extra ones in to give across the narrative in a more accessible way to the audience. This makes it easier to watch and also flow better. We used a low angle shot when the female character is running towards the camera; this expresses the panic and urgency the character feels. We also did this as a tilt to make the situation feel awkward for the viewers to watch as well as feeling uncomfortable, this adds to the confusion, which we wanted the audience to feel.  At the start of the scene, we used a pan movement to establish the environment and also give across to the audience that the characters are far away from any inhabitancies, except the cars in the background, which was unavoidable. 

We only used diegetic sound in this piece; this creates the sense of realism for the audience and gives a feel that they are connected to these characters. There was little dialogue in this scene, which leaves the mystery to the action, and keeps it unexplained. There was a large emphasis on ambient sounds like the trees rustling and blowing wind, this also gives across the sense of realism but also helps to enforce the feeling of isolation from people.

The costumes used it this resemble that of modern clothing, this shows the time in which this piece is set, as well as resembling the class of the characters. The location used is a wood, which enforces the feeling of isolation as well as giving the audience a reason to feel uneasy because the association with bad things happening in woods. As we said earlier we used only natural lighting, which we found difficult to control, but used it to the best of our abilities. We tried to make the body language as obvious, but realistic, as possible. There was a dying man on a bench, positioned in a way that the audience won’t have to guess as to what he’s doing, but know what he’s doing. The girl running away and acting hasty with her friend whom she bumps into, again shows the sense of urgency and leaves the audience wondering what has actually happened (a convention of the thriller genre). The girl who bumps into her expresses shock and confusion, again, contributing to the genre.


The editing was very basic.  We used transitions such as fade in and fade out for the video (at the beginning and the end of the footage) and fade up for the audio. The video mainly consists of jump cuts as this is fitting to the genre being thriller as it makes the audience more on edge. it also makes the video move faster making it appear to be a faster pace. Whilst editing the footage we made sure it was continuous especially in the running clips to do this we made sure it looked like she was actually running and not stopping and starting at the beginning and end of each clip.


Overall, we did the best we could given the time we had to produce this video. We hope that this will help contribute to our main project and has made us aware of various things we need to consider in our main thriller production.