After successfully completing our final edit on our thriller opening I am very happy with the overall product. I feel like our narrative is clear and our skills are shown throughout.
Initially, as group we found it quite challenge to start off as we were slightly lacking in ideas for our narrative, however, after lots of research we had a solid idea of what we wanted to do and where we wanted the film to go.
Most definitely, our first draft of our thriller opening helped us in creating our final product. This is when we could really identify what bits we wanted to keep, any shots we needed to re-film, along with any shots which we felt were not needed. This was an opportunity for us to spot any continuity errors and be able to rectify them for our final edit. Our final edit follows our final story board very closely which once again, could be completed in more detail and accuracy after we had completed our first draft as we had a more clear image and structure in our heads.
I really like the juxtaposition at the begging using Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition between life and friendship shown through the photos, opposing then with darkness and death when the camera pans the body in the garage. I feel that these two opposites create mixed feelings for audience increasing the tension that is being built. I think the binary opposition in our film was really very effective and we used a range of camera shots and editing techniques to make it appropriate for the genre.
I also think another really effective aspect of our film and probably my favourite part of our thriller opening, is the 360 degree shot with the zoom at the end of our opening. This draws the audience in and creates the idea that the jealousy has consumed Jazz and it has been passed onto Josh (myself) as the camera zooms and fades into Jazz's eye and then zooms out of my eye. The only thing which I am not very pleased about with the 360 degree shot is that it is not very smooth; this is because we had to speed the clip up by around 'X100' but this couldn't be helped, as we did experiment with the 360 degree shot in slow motion but we found it to be not as effective, therefore, we choose to speed it up to create the 'consumed' and not thinking straight type of atmosphere and feeling.
I would also like to comment on the 360 degree shot not being central to Jazz's eye when zooming in. This was a difficult shot to film as we did not have the equipment which enabled us to steady the camera and centre it. If we had more money and more equipment such as tracks, the camera could of ran on the tracks to make it steady and level meaning that we could have centred it a bit better. These are the results that would happen if our opening was filmed professionally with equipment to match but for obvious reasons we did not have access to such equipment that would be used in the professional film industry.
There were not any communicating issues as we were filming our thriller opening therefore everything ran very smoothly. Being a group of friends outside school definitely helped as it meant there was no conflict and we were all confident enough to share ideas with each other. I believe that being friends ensured that we came up with the best possible ideas as we could critique each others suggestions without anyone being offended and this is something we did throughout the whole process to evaluate which ideas were best and more appropriate.
I feel that our film successfully portrays the narrative however, there are certain areas which I would like to focus on which I believe serve the narrative the best. I think the use of photo montage which was inspired by the BBC's 'The Missing' reflects the relationship of the characters and establishes the equilibrium at the beginning of the film.
The use of music in our thriller opening has served to be a vital aspect when we look back at what it reflects. The main theme song, 'Jealousy' by 'Frankie Miller' clearly denotes the main theme of our narrative to our audience and it is not typical of a thriller film. I think that introducing the song ('Jealousy') back in when the garage door slams is very effective and reinforces the signs and contrasts of innocence vs guilt which is being portrayed in the contrasting shots of myself (Josh) and Jazz. The re-establishment of this music also helps to reinforce the main theme of the film to the audience letting them infer that the theme of 'jealousy' is going to continue throughout the entirety of the film.
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