During the planning stage of my preliminary task, I was very late telling my two actors and therefore they were unable to film on the day I had hoped. This meant that we had to rearrange a date which ended up being closer to the deadline, causing me to stress a little as I was uncertain of whether I would get it done in time. My filming location was in one of my actors house, so luckily that was no hassle, as they were happy for me to use it whenever I needed. This meant that in my planning for my thriller, I asked my possible actors weeks in advance of filming, to firstly ensure they were willing to be part of it, and secondly to make sure they were available and aware of what my intentions were. Luckily, they were all keen to help and due to using social media, it meant they could all respond very quickly. I learnt to be a lot more organised and this certainly made filming my thriller more enjoyable.

My filming location was my local village woods called: ‘The Wild Gardens’, which again, like my preliminary task, meant that it was open for me to use whenever. The difference being, that my preliminary task location was indoors, which meant I had no problem regarding the weather. However, weather was a big issue in during the filming process of my thriller, meaning I had to cancel some filming dates due to wind, rain and even snow, in order to keep it as continual as I could. This made me realise, that however organised you are with filming dates, you must always have an alternative date set, because the weather can be very unpredictable, particularly in the winter months, when I filmed. Moreover, even though I filmed indoors, the lighting varied between the matched conversation, due to taking too long filming one side of the dialogue and also due to the camera position moving slightly, such as tilting up and down because this can affect the exposure. Therefore I learnt that filming at the same time each day is very important in ensuring a continual sequence. Some shots in my preliminary task haven’t got the correct framing, for example during the matched cut conversation Alice is not centre frame;

This means that, we as an audience, do not concentrate much on her character as our eyes are distracted by the background. Therefore I learnt that precise framing is very significant in showing the audience who they need to focus on and also divides the characters of most power/importance who would be centre frame, compared to those of little worth, who would be framed outside of the centre and have very little of themselves in the frame at all. Sound is another big aspect that I really learnt and extended my knowledge on from the preliminary task to my thriller. Due to my preliminary task having no non-diagetic sounds, the only diagetic sounds you could hear in the background was the radio, which unfortunately I didn’t realise as I was filming. This meant that at different angles the radio seemed louder in some shots, but more noticeably it changed song, which effected the continuity of the piece. This meant that whilst filming my thriller, I became very aware of the sounds around me, particularly as I was filming outside. I ensured that whilst filming the shots of Harry by the wall, I waited for any cars to pass, so there were no engine noises in any of the shots and intensified the volume of my music if any wind diagetic sounds were too obvious. I learnt that soundscapes are very useful in portraying a characters intentions and their persona, for example, I added in a very low toned drum whenever Eddie’s character appeared, and then increased the volume each time he got closer to Harry.

I left very little time for the editing of my preliminary piece, because it was a short project, therefore I had to make sure I had plenty of time left to edit my thriller, as I had huge intentions and was really hoping to create a professional looking sequence I was really proud of. Luckily we were allowed several edits for our thriller, enabling me to really edit thoroughly in all aspects, which is when I began noticing improvements. I learnt how to use the Final Cut Pro app on the Macs, which took me a few hours to get used to, due to never using one before and how their functions differ hugely from PCs.

After the preliminary task, there were a couple of things that I chose to keep the same, for example working solo and not changing to a group. This is because it was easier to make decisions, as I knew what my intentions were and how I wanted it to look. It also allowed me to avoid any arguments, as I had complete control of all aspects of production, and only had myself to blame if something went wrong! Moreover, I love the creative control you gain from working alone, as you can come up with a thriller plotline that’s all yours! It also meant that I didn’t miss any deadlines, as I had only myself to rely on and made sure I was organised and had everything planned out correctly. On the other hand, I found the equipment quite a hassle to transport, due to the limited space on the school bus and having to carry it along with all my school bags too. However, at the beginning of filming my thriller, I realised I could use my own camera and tripod, to avoid having to carry all the equipment to and from school. This made the whole process a lot easier, and I didn’t have to worry as much about breaking any of it.  

Overall, I learnt that I definitely work better independently and I learnt that planning for every aspect of production is very important if you want your film to be successful.