The Newspaper thriller task

The class was given a task to create a thriller scene as a practice filming session. We had to capture a person reading a newspaper in a thrilling way using all camera techniques in the correct way, including: an over the shoulder shot, an extreme close up and a P.O.V shot. After receiving the requirements, we all had to attend a camera tutorial where we learning about adjusting the tri-pod, attaching and de-attaching the camera from the tri-pod, blurring and focusing on objects etc…

As soon as the tutorial was over, we all sat down beginning to plan. We all had input on the story, coming up with ideas and improving on each others ideas. We also had to decide who would be in the shot and who would be better at filming certain shots. For instance, Shabaz would be in the scene and Tareek would film his feet by tracking alongside him. Our basic storyboard idea was a person reading the newspaper and someone coming from behind and grabbing their shoulder. We decided to keep the person coming from behind anonymous as it would create tension and builds up atmosphere whilst leaving the audience eager to identify the anonymous person.

When looking at the footage we had captured I was pleased with it as it was our first attempt and thought we had done well. I was particularly pleased will the shot of the doors opening and closing as it was from a low angle and captured height. I feel that all the shots were well taken as a whole however, I think that the shot of the anonymous feet walking could have been taken steadier.

Whilst editing I felt that it was going well as all the shots made sense put together. In spite of some of our main shots going missing, we made the most of what we had and made it work. For instance, we had filmed the doors opening and closing. But when we uploaded the footage we had discovered that only the doors opening was filmed. We then decided to reverse the doors opening so it looked as though they were closing.

I learnt that mise en scene is vital in film making as it plays a major role in creating atmosphere and revealing the setting. I also learnt that if the first shot doesn’t meet standards due to interruption of people walking by, that it should be done again and again till its worth screening.

I think that we managed to create an element of suspense through keeping one character anonymous as this draws in the audience’s attention and makes them want to identify with the character. When starting to film we all made sure that it was vital to add the 5seconds of free filming before and after. We made sure that we filmed with the characters head at the top of the screen.

Over all I think that our first attempt went quite well as nothing major went wrong. I think that there is room for improvement and all these things will be considered whilst filming again. Next time, I will personally double check if the camera is recording so that when the time comes to edit, we will have all the takes we need.