Camera work, editing and technology

In our opening 'The Last Chapter' we used a range of different camera shot, angles and movement such as; mid shot, close up, long shot, extreme close up, over the shoulder shot and high and low angle shots, match on action, zoom and panning. We used a variety of shots, angles and movement to create tension to the audience and to keep them engaged. We did not use many hand held shots apart from the credits as hand held shots create confusion and a distort effect which we did not want to create as it did not link to our narrative. However, we did use one when the 5th victim is walking and the serial killer is stalking her, this is to get her point of view and so the audience can see what she can see.

To create our opening we had to use the software 'imovie'. This was new to both of us this year as in year 11 we used a different software. Due to it being new to us we had to learn how to use it and we did this by doing a preliminary task which helped us how to add crop, cut and add effects if needed. We both felt that 'imovie' was a good editing system as it was a lot faster than last year, and had more features and effects. In our opening we used 'ken burns' on the serial killer when he is in the garage, this helped us by not getting in some of the unwanted settings and props. We also used the effect 'vignetta' which gave it a gritty look which added to the atmosphere. We also used the 'mute' button as there was some background sound which was not needed, so we muted it so we did not have to re-film.

We decided to get a picture of 'iMovie' so we could annotate it and to show some of the features which we used in order to create out thriller opening 'The Last Chapter'.

We also had to use a new software called 'Garage Band' which was a software where we could make our own music for our opening of our thriller. It let us use a range of different instruments such as piano, drums, base and guitar. Each instrument had a different sound and effect and we were able to choose from a wide variety of different types. For example, we choose...... as we felt like it created tension and a mysterious atmosphere. We were also able to choose how loud or quiet we wanted the music. We mixed it up and used a range of quite and loud music as it created even more tension. For example when the matches were lit we made the music slowly go out so the audience could hear the lighting of the match diegetic sound. It took us both a while to get used to the software as it was new to both of us, and in GCSE we did not have to creat our own music we could use already made music which made it a lot simpler. However, we both enjoyed using this new technology as it made us be independent by having to create it ourselves and we could rely on anyone else to do it for us. We wanted to increase and decrease tension and by creating it ourselves we had control over it. 

Lastly, due to us doing A-level media, we had to change our camera to an SD camera. By changing to an SD camera it meant that we could import our footage ourselves, straight onto our apple mac computer. We did this by taking out the SD card and placing it into the side of the computer, where it came up with our footage and we just had to click on the clips which we wanted and it would import straight to our 'iMovie' where we could start editing. We felt like it was very easy and simple to upload the footage ourselves, and we did not have any problems doing it.  

Our progression from GCSE and the Preliminary task

Overall, we both felt like we successfully used the technology which we were given to the best of our abilities. Before we did any editing or filming we doubled checked we knew how to use the camera, and the editing software's by doing a preliminary task. We felt like this did help us get used to the technology as we hadn't used it for quite a while and we were given new software's to use. By doing the preliminary task which was the continuity editing task, we were able to try out the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. Due to us using them in this task and us thinking they looked effective we wanted to use it in our opening thriller. However, we only used the match on action shot in our opening when the killer was walking through the gate. It showed him walking up to the gate, then it continuing on the other side showing him through the gate. We felt like we achieved this successfully by our editing skills and made it look realistic. We used the 180 degree rule on the pool scene so it didn't look unrealistic, however we didn't use it again as it was not needed due to us not having a conversation between two people. We also didn't use the shot reverse shot due to us not having a conversation within our opening. However, if we filmed more than two minutes of our opening we would have used it as we knew how to use it effectively.

When comparing our A-level work to our GCSE work, we both felt like we made a lot of progression as our camera work was a lot steadier, we used a variety of different shots and angles and due to the new software which we were given, and we felt that we could explore and use the best features for our thriller which will make it most effective.