EVALUATION ACTIVITY 7- Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

From doing our preliminary task, I felt I learnt many techniques and acquired many skills required to create an opening of a thriller; I believe our greatest achievements within the task was the way in which we edited our production, I felt the filter looked professional, the film as a whole was rather flowing and the soundtrack was perfect for in-keeping with the theme of a thriller. However, if I were to compare our thriller to an industry standard thriller we would require a much more advanced set of skills, to achieve their standard of filming. Looking back to my preliminary task, I can now see a massive improvement in my filming and editing skills, and knowledge regarding the use of technologies.I believe I am much more confident in editing and filming, I am able to use a wider variety of shots as evident in the opening of our thriller. Getting to grips with pinnacle studios has enabled me to improve our thriller, as at first when editing the preliminary task I felt less confident, and also less knowledgeable in terms of the software needed to enhance the production.

An important aspect of filming we learned from mistakes we made in our preliminary task was continuity.Continuity is an imperative component in any film, and the fact that we had continuity errors in the preliminary task made it look unprofessional, something in which we were keen to avoid in the thriller opening. In our preliminary task we made the mistake of filming the same character wearing different clothes when she wasn’t supposed to be. The images below show the unintentional change of outfit.


Rosie wearing an outfit

Rosie wearing a different outfit

Mistakes such as this don’t frequently occur in professional films. To ensure that this didn’t happen in our AS production we completed all of our filming in one day, and we also made notes of the clothes each character was wearing, this was to eliminate any risks of doing this. This came into organisation, something we lacked in the preliminary task, but in which we were very attentive to in the thriller, planning the production made it easier to be more efficient. Planning for me was something I learnt is imperative; it is an essential part of any successful production.

Secondly, the match on action shots we had in our preliminary task looked satisfactory, however we wanted to perfect this in our AS production. It is important when editing a match on action that both clips are cut to the correct length. This meant editing the clips fame by frame, to ensure the final match on action looked flowing and professional, this was another thing I learnt the importance of; attention to detail, as detail is what makes the production look effective, for example the blue filter used; a minute change to the thriller that I personally believe succeeded the most in giving our thriller an overall mysterious and threatening feel.  In our final production our match on action is of the mother entering the house with the pram. This match on action changes from external to internal, we thought this would be the perfect transition of locations from outside, to inside.

Match on Action - Preliminary

Match on Action - Preliminary

Match on Action - AS Production

Match on Action - AS Production

The most noticeable difference between our preliminary and our AS production is the music. In our preliminary we used none, however in our AS production we used a piece which helped create the mood and give our production more meaning, and also it created a more eerie and threatening effect. It made the equilibrium of the mother pushing the pram seem happier and heart felt, whereas it also made the disruption of the baby being kidnapped seem more piercing, shocking and scary. Music is always used in professionally constructed films to create mood, one example of this is in face off. A soft, light and orchestral soundtrack is heard at the beginning where John is riding a carousel with his son the music aids the reflection of  his unconditional, deep love for his son, and the happiness he brings him. After the attempted assassination of John consequently kills his son the music quickly changes into a different piece which creates a more depressing mood, in hope the audience understand his grief and loss for his son. We tried to almost mirror this sequence of events by having a family of two and then the disruption of the 'lost' child.


The 180 degree rule was something we were told was necessity in our preliminary task, and therefore had to learn how to use it properly. This rule is vital in terms of creating meaning and avoiding confusion whether it's a professional film, or a student/amateur enthusiast production.

As shown by the picture above, the 180 degree rule is used when ‘shot reverse shot’ is being filmed. The rule’s purpose is to ensure the characters involved in the ‘shot reverse shot’ appear in the correct position, and don’t disorientate the audience. This is a rule that mustn't be broken. We used shot reverse shot in our preliminary task when Hannah and Rosie had a conversation, wherein one character is shown looking at another character, and then the other character is shown looking "back" at the first character. Since the characters are shown facing in opposite directions, the viewer assumes that they are looking at each other, thus ensuring our film looks professional and flowing. I personally found filming a shot reverse shot sequence was rather easy and something I enjoyed doing in both tasks, however I felt a considerable amount more confident when repeating the sequence in my thriller.