Constructing our Preliminary Exercise Video

To construct our preliminary video we split the video into eight scenes.

The first was a long shot, having our mystery character walking down a long, straight, corridor walking towards the camera heading for a door around the corner. To capture this shot we attached the camera on a tri-pod and placed it central of the corridor. This allowed us to use a panning shot to smoothly capture the character approaching the door.

The next shot was a low-angle close up of the door handle in which the character placed his hand on it, ready to open the door. We then recorded him from this angle entering the door as it would help us with the continuity editing.

The third shot was a low-angle shot, point of view shot from a second character. This was a shot of the man entering the room looking into the camera, with his right hand pointing towards the camera shouting the word, ' YOU!' . We used a low-angle shot here to show the characters position of power and authority.

The fourth & fifth shot was a mid-shot which gives us our first view of our second character, sitting at a table and the first character is just visible in the other end of the frame. This was used to show the distance between the two characters. The male character (character 1,) says ,'YOU MUST DO IT', out of shot but then slightly appears towards the end of this scene.

The sixth shotis a response of the the women (character 2, left of the frame,) in which she says 'I wont' in a timid voice to shows she is scared. Throughout this scene the camera is static and attached to the tripod and remains at the same angle.

The seventh shot is a high-angle, over the shoulder shot of character 1. The camera angle makes the women look very venerable to us which is the image we are trying to portray.

The last shot is a over the shoulder shot from character 2. This shot captures the size difference between the two characters. This represents the contrast in the two characters objectives.

Analysis Of Preliminary Video

After analysing our preliminary video, i noticed that there was several problems with the video.
The first been that in the opening sequence which consists of the male walking towards to camera. This sequence goes on for far too long which doesn't makes the sequence appear suspense which is against what we was trying to achieve. During this sequence the male also looks at the camera a couple of times. This makes the video appear unprofessional and the level of acting must improve for our actual thriller.
The second fault occurs as a result of poor editing. This is when the male enters the door. The continuity editing is of a poor standard and makes the video appear 'jerky' and it doesn't appear natural. The poor standard of continuity editing also appears again at the 16 second mark. The transformation from one angle to the other wasnt a smooth transition and as result makes the video appear 'jerky'.

AS Media Studies Preliminary Video

Me and my team, Daniel Onslow and Amanda Ngonyama created our Preliminary video. The point of this video was to get us used to working with the equipment i.e the tri-pods, camera etc. It was also a chance for us to get some acting experience in preparation for our actual movie.

This is our Preliminary video.

Film Language : Camera Movements

When using a camera to capture shots, there are several types of shots that can be used to capture the right image.

Panning Shots
This is where the camera moves slowly across from side to side on a fixed axis



Tilt Shot
A tilt shot is where the camera moves up and down on a  fixed axis.

Crane Shot
A crane shot is where the camera moves around above ground level, mounted on a crane normally. For example the first few seconds of this clip from Godzilla.



Tracking Shot
This shot is were the camera follows the action on a set of tracks made especially for this scene.

Rolling Shot
A rolling shot is were the camera moves diagonally across the screen making the image askew.

Audience Research : What was established?

From the vox pop we established that the main aspect of a thriller is creating suspense and miss-leading the audience through the use of macguffins. We will use this vital piece of research and make sure we include the techniques and themes mentioned in our vox pop to make sure we deliver the experience viewers seek, in a thriller movie.

Technical Analysis of Our Vox Pop

On the hole our first attempt of a Vox pop is very well executed and well constructed. We have the three questions asked by our presenter Amanda, followed by the responses of two anonymous people. The frames include the peoples heads, nothing is cut out and the subjects are central in the frame. Their is not bundles of empty space in the frame, it is all occupied by the subjects which is good. When analysing the sound, it is very clear, and every word can be heard. There is no unwanted sound , background noise or any noise interference.

As for the quality of the video, it can be better. Several times in the video their is some unwanted footage , one being when the presenter finishes asking her first question the screen goes black for a short period of time. This demonstrates that the editing of the video could have been better and we could of used a transformation effect to elimiate this black screen. On the hole i believe our first vox pop attempt is very well constructed but can be made better with some more editing. 

Constructing Our Vox Pop

To construct our Vox pop we decided to have a presenter ask questions, followed by the responses of the questions we would later record.
To record the presenter asking the questions we attached the camera to the tri-pod to get the camera at the right height, and to keep the camera steady so clear, steady shots can be made. We then had our presenter practice off camera to make sure when recording she knew exactly what she was to do, and what was required. We then recorded her introducing what she was doing and then stopped. We did this several times so we had several versions to use encase one of the versions had a problem. We then recorded the presenter asking one question, then stopping so we could edit in the responses. We did this several times for each questions as a precaution.
After completing this we then moved into a empty classroom and we managed to get a response from one of the teachers. Before recording we attached the camera to a tri-pod so the shots will be steady and we adjusted the height of the tripod so we had the person in the middle of the screen, making sure parts of her head was not missing as this would look very poor. When the camera was set up correctly we then asked the interviewee the questions and gave her time to think about her responses. When she was ready we then started recording a second before she starting talking so we could edit the piece easier. We repeated this for all three responses from this interviewee and the other as it was the easiest, most accurate and practical way to carry out our task. We also recorded each response twice as a precaution.
When all the recording was complete we then headed into the editing suite and pieced together our vox pop, making sure their was no time gaps between the questions asked, and responses.