moving onto the advanced portfolio - evalutation grid of AS thriller film (sarah)

Evaluating your own Foundation Portfolio Thriller Opening.

 

Assessment Criteria	What went well	What did not go quite so well
Shooting material appropriate to the task set;	We shot a character who had clearly be followed and then abused by another character. We did this through use of mise en scene and shot variation. This fitted in with the thriller genre as we played on the feelings of fear and used a stereotypical hooded male character as the antagonist. We used the most important shots in our film as we filmed too much so each shot was appropriate to the set.	We only used two settings and did not experiment enough with different locations. This was due to the lack of time as the two settings were very close to each other. Our plot also didn’t need many locations so to improve this we should’ve changed our plot slightly to vary the setting more.
Controlled use of the camera	We used a hand help camera techniques to give an effect of fear and action. We also used a tripod for the other shots such as panning and long shots. This was to make sure the shots were still and to the best potential. We made sure to check and re-do the white balance in every shot so the colour was accurate.	For the tracking shots we didn’t have a steady cam so the shot was quite shakey and not as good as it could’ve been. The tripod we had also wasn’t one of the better ones as it was slightly loose so the panning shot to begin with could’ve looked a lot better.
Attention to framing	The close ups were framed correctly, we used these to show facial expression. We made sure to recompose the positioning of the characters in our storyboard to match the frame of our filming.	The tracking shot of where the character is walking, we shot her legs with blood splattering to the floor. This was a problem as without the use of a tripod the framing could not stay steady and therefore as we were focusing on the steadiness our framing lacked.
Variety of shot sizes	We used lots of different angles and shot sizes, especially close ups to capture the characters feelings.	Although we experimented with a variety of shot sizes, I think we could’ve improved our work by using a few more extreme close ups, maybe of our characters eyes to reinforce the feeling of fear and confusion.
Close attention to mise en scene	We carefully chose costume in our film and did a lot of research into other thriller costumes. We used a ripped white tshirt which with the prop of the fake blood contrasted with the white very well. With the hair and makeup we made her hair appear scruffy and on one of her eyes we smudged her makeup and made it look like a tear had fallen slightly, this gave the appearance that she was hurt and had been crying. We also used LED lights from the left side in the close ups to create a slight shadow which is a convention of thrillers.	One aspect of mise en scene that we could’ve improved on is setting. Although the setting was as desolate and isolated which is how we aimed for it to be, the time of day we shooted made it appear less scary and thriller like. We could’ve also used more props as the only prop we used really was the phone. We had considered the antagonist carrying a weapon however we thought (due to the setting) most weapons would look less appropriate and as it was in public, people may have mistaken it as an actual weapon.
Editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer	We used an effect on Final Cut Pro called ‘light rays’ which made it clear to the audience that the character was experiencing a flashback. We also used a fade at the end of the thriller to convey that something bad was about to happen and that it was the end of the film.	We could’ve used more editing techniques such as distortion and more fades in other parts of the film. However the editing we chose, we felt like it made more sense but to improve it we should’ve experimented more.
Making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects	We used titling captions in a black grunge like font to follow the conventions of thriller. We also used an outline in white to make them readable on screen for the audience.	We could’ve used captions in a text font on the screen when the character is walking home on her phone to indicate to the audience where she is and give some context as to where she has been and what she is currently doing. We use a split curtain effect in editing which broke the continuity.
Recording and editing sound with images appropriately.	We used quite a few foley effects as non-diegetic sound. I used the sound of my footsteps running on the spot to be used as the action of running in the film and the thud of my hand on a desk as the heartbeat of the character.	We could’ve experimented with using a sound bridge to link shots. We couldn’t find a place that would be appropriate to use one when filming after looking at our storyboard but to improve we should’ve changed some of the shots before we produced the storyboard to make room for one. The diegetic sound in our thriller also varied from being very quiet to suddenly very loud which was a definite problem.