Looking back on their preliminary task, the group felt they had improved in several areas for their final product. They learned to use equipment like tripods and tilt shots to improve shot quality and framing. They also planned more carefully, allocating roles, researching genre conventions, and choosing appropriate locations and costumes. Their use of editing, sound, and actors' movements was refined to better convey meaning and atmosphere for the psychological thriller genre. Overall, greater preparation, organization, and focus on technical and creative elements allowed them to produce a higher quality final product.

1. 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in
the progression from it to the full product?
Quality Summary 7. Looking back to your preliminary task, what do
you feel that you have learnt in the progression from
it to the full product?
Quality of holding a shot In our preliminary task we did not use a tripod when
steady filming; this meant that many of our shots were
unsteady. When looking back at our preliminary task
we realised this was something we could change. In
our final film we used a tripod for all our shots; this
meant we were able to gain steady shots, which
were of a higher quality. We learnt to use different
camera techniques such as tilt shots, for example
the shot of the pictures of Mia; these techniques
helped us to convey to our audience the themes
and ideas explored in our film.
Quality of the framing shots The framing shots in our preliminary task were often
faulty as the characters were not central in the
frames, or did not fit entirely into the frames. In our
finished product however, we made sure that the
characters were always in the right place in the
frame depending on what ideas or conventions we
were trying to portray. For example, when Horatio is
following Mia we made sure both characters could
be seen, and that Horatio was walking behind Mia a
little to her right, so that both could be included into
the frame; which helped to convey to the audience
the idea that Horatio was following Mia.
Quality of shooting In our preliminary task we were not happy with our
material appropriate to the reverse shots as they didn’t flow well and there was
task set- i.e. the content of a lot of space between them, we realised that our
your film pre and post shots needed to flow better, and so in our final
editing was consistent with product, although there are no reverse shots, we
the exam directives cut each clip more carefully and precisely to allow
our film to flow much better, making it easier for an
audience to follow the film and for our film to keep
their attention.
During the preliminary task we tried to stick to the
exam directives, however some of them we did not
successfully use, we realised that research and
planning before filming were important, and so in
our final product we did a lot of research into the
codes and conventions of a psychological thriller
and also how to film certain material to convey a
certain idea. The last shot in our final product of
Horatio’s eyes is a classic example of the
conventions of a psychological thriller, and also the

2. way we filmed it, by zooming in on Horatio’s eyes,
was classic of the conventions of the genre
psychological thriller.
Quality of selecting mise- The mise-en-scene in our preliminary task was good
en-scène including colour, in the way we prepared props beforehand and
figure, lighting, objects and thought about the props, however we did not
setting; consider atmosphere or trying to create a meaning,
instead we simply found semi-appropriate location
and used it. When watching our preliminary task
there was no sense of atmosphere or mood during
the film, and so in our final product we thought
about everything needed to create meaning,
atmosphere and convey the codes and
conventions of a psychological thriller. We thought
about how we could use lighting to create the right
mood, for example when Horatio is in then news
room we used low lighting to create quite a sinister
atmosphere. We also used appropriate music to go
with our film, which made it more obvious to an
audience that the film was a psychological thriller,
and the music also created an eerie mood.
Costume was important in conveying the
character’s roles and personalities in the film, as well
as a forewarning of what was to come later in the
film, such as Mia wearing black, which symbolises
death and danger. Our settings were appropriately
chosen and make it easy for the audience to
gather what is going on in the film, and the
intentions of the characters, such as the media suite
being used for the newsroom, and Welham Road
for the street where Horatio follows Mia. We also
thought more about whom we chose for our
characters, by researching the conventions of a
psychological thriller and identifying the certain
characteristics of different roles.
Quality of editing so that The editing of our preliminary task was quite basic,
meaning is apparent to the and we mainly used it to try and make the film flow,
viewer however often the film did not flow as well as it
could. In our final product we used editing to
properly make our film flow well, but also to help
convey meaning and some of the ideas of our film.
For example we faded most of the clips together to
make them flow after one another. Also, instead of
using reverse shots we used separate shots of
Horatio to convey his isolation.
Quality of using sound with In our preliminary task we used no sound except
images and editing dialogue and occasionally the dialogue was

3. appropriately for the task unclear, we also sometimes had background noise
set; too. From this we learnt that we would need to find
a way to get rid of the background noise and if we
included dialogue, make it clearer. In our finished
product we used appropriate music to create an
eerie mood, the music changes and becomes
slightly more sinister as Horatio types up the article
about Mia, as this is where the opening two minutes
becomes more sinister and reveals more about
Horatio’s character and intentions. In the very
beginning of the clip we recorded the sound of
heavy breathing, to convey the idea to an
audience that Horatio is breathing heavily, meaning
he is determined and serious about following Mia.
We also edited out any background noise in our
film, as this would distract the audience from the
action of the film. We used no dialogue in our film,
which makes it more mysterious and leaves the
audience with unanswered questions.
Quality of positioning and The movement of actors in our preliminary task was
movements of actors sometimes a little unsmooth and seemed too
rehearsed to be believable to an audience. We
wanted to make our final film as believable and
seem as unrehearsed as possible, so we did this by
trying to make the movement of our actors more
natural and help convey their intentions more
obviously. Horatio has a signature action which is
when he touches his glasses, pushing them up his
nose; he does this twice in the opening two minutes.
We used this idea of a signature action, because it
helps portray part of Horatio’s character and also
makes him seem as if he is determined and serious
in his obsession with Mia.
Quality of group planning, During the making of our preliminary task, our group
meeting targets, worked well together and met the targets; however
organization we found that we lost time by not always organising
everything properly. When it came to making our
final product we still met all the targets, and our
planning and organisation was much better, as we
planned everything, including when we would film
and when we would edit. We also communicated a
great deal better too.
Group dynamics i.e. how In our preliminary task our group worked well as a
did your group work team, but we carried out all parts of the task as
together whole group, and although we met the deadlines,
we found we lost time because of this. When it
came to making our final product, we knew that

4. allocating specific roles to different people in the
group was very important for making sure
everything was done in time and to a good
standard, and so we allocated different roles, but
also worked together on some bits to gather
everyone’s opinions. We found communication
much easier this way, and made sure everyone in
the group was clear about the ideas and opinions
of others.
Other points of evaluation We found that in our preliminary task, our main
(e.g. equipment related problem with equipment was that because we
etc) filmed it all by hand, our shots were often jerky and
actors didn’t fit into the frames. We also were
unhappy with our location in the way that it had
many objects in it that we didn’t want in the shots,
making the film less believable. In our final product
we improved on these things by using a tripod at all
times to gain steady shots, and we chose locations
we knew would be ideal, and if there was a
problem with the location such as unwanted
objects, we ensured they were moved and not
included in any of our shots. We also allocated the
role of equipment manager to one person in our
group, which helped us to always have the
equipment ready at the right filming times.