1) What planning did you do? How was this useful and how did you change from your plans?
After our groups were chosen and the task was set, we began thinking about what our film would consist of. Due to me being sick I could not be there when my group were planning the story boards, but when I returned they filled me in on what they had come up with. Each of us created our own individual storyboard to help with the initial planning, and when finally evaluating, to refer back to. Also when making the film, we were able to look back on the storyboard if we had forgotten what shot or location we wanted to use.
One of the problems with our storyboards were that we made no note of how long each shot would be; the aim for the film was to be two minutes long, but unfortunately due to us not making not of the time, once making our storyboard we had no idea if we had gone well over the two minutes or well under. So to make sure that we had enough footage we filmed far more than we needed, For example, when filming Robbie was walking through the corridor we made sure that we filmed him for about a minute, that way if we were under two minutes we had something relevant to add in.
After that, our group then went onto delegating roles to each member;
Acting: Robbie and Jackson
Filming: Elle and Me
I think that the storyboard did help me with filming, because without it I think that I would have forgotten what each shot had been planned and this would have left the group confused. However I do believe that it is quite time consuming as it took a whole lesson for our group to think of the plan and then draw it up in a storyboard, this could have been time we could have spent filming.
Before starting the filming we also took some practice shots of the 180 degree rule and match on action shot, this was to build our confidence in filming when making the actual film. It helped us because we were able to decide which shot suited each scene best, for example, we felt that the match on action shot suited Robbie storming out of the door best, because it had more of an impact. The 180 degree rule would not have worked with this shot, but we would not have known that without planning.
When planning we did not take into account what Robbie and Jackson should be wearing; as our filming took up two lessons, we forgot the fact that they were wearing different clothes the next day, which was a big continuity error. This took up a lot of time as rather than filming in just two days, whilst the other groups had started their editing, we had to film the conversation again, making sure that Robbie was wearing the same clothes he was wearing in the walking shots.
All of the errors that occurred whilst planning we have taken into consideration when planning our next project.
2) What camera skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the camera and has this confidence changed during the project?
At the start of the course, aside from making fun videos with friends and family, I had never really used a camera to shoot videos. Since the beginning of the project I think my camera skills have improved tremendously, I now know the different ways you can use a camera, for example; the use of the 180 degree rule, match on match action and shot reverse shot.When watching films or television programs now I can point out and make note of the shots used and how effective they are, before learning about media I would just watch the film or program and not think that the shots made any relevance. At first when filming my camera shots, they were very shaky, but now I have built the confidence to hold the camera in a way that the film will come out well. I think that my groups film contained a lot of confident camera shots and angles, for example; when Robbie placed his bike into the bike rack we used a low angle shot which was very effective because they gave Robbie, as a character, a high superior status. Also when Robbie was cycling into the school, we used a low angle tracking shot, which again showed his status, and let the viewer feel that their eyes were moving with Robbie as he went into the school. I have had some idea of what lighting can do to film, because of my knowledge of photography, but even more confident on how lighting and space can effect the mood and emotions of the situation. I think all of these new progressed skills will really help with my groups thriller.
4) What editing skills have you developed? How confident are you with using the editing program?
Before the project I had used windows movie maker to edit movies that I had made with my friends. But they were never taken seriously, and the editing software used for our films was much more high-tech. At first me and Elle did get a little bit confused about how we were able to edit our footage, but once we got the hang of it, we worked well together and managed to produce a well edited film. When coming across some continuity errors, we managed to fix them, for example, when Robbie was walking into the room, he closed the door, but with the shot from inside the room, it was not shut. We overcame this by editing out certain points which made this continuity error noticeable. We also added some transitions, when necessary, for example, when Robbie is walking through the corridor we filmed him form birds eye view aswell as an over the should shot, so we added a transition from the over the shoulder to the birds eye, to make the film smooth without any glitches. I think when editing our thriller, my knowledge will expand even further due to the fact that may add a soundtrack and some more effects, which will make my confidence grow even more. Overall I am very happy about the end result of our film, and I think my group worked really well together, so well that it has resulted in us working together for our thriller too.
5) Other comments
The 180 degree rule was used effectively when shooting the conversation, we did not break the rule, and when shooting we constantly kept it into account. I think our team worked tremendously well together and we made a successful film.
Action Adventure films are a lot more unrealistic than Thrillers, for example, if a character fell down a cliff, they would defiantly get up and walk away, with nothing but a little bit of dust on their shoulder. The character can basically defy gravity, and example of a 'defying gravity' character is James Bond, if it was real life, Bond would have died many films back. 
The main target audiences for Action Adventure are 12-18 year old boys, this is because most Action Adventure films are based on video games, or comics (spider man, batman)
Usually in thrillers, the men live and the women die (for example, in Once Upon a Time In America and Inglorious Basterds) , however some directors are now putting females in their thrillers as leading roles (for example, in Jackie Brown). 