Today I researched into existing preliminary tasks which were created by previous AS level media students, from a range of schools around the country. From this research I have found effective techniques which could be extremely useful when creating my own group preliminary task; the making of a thriller video.
To begin my research I went on blogger in order to look into other students' productions; once on their blog I could use the links on their page to locate their preliminary task. As I analysed each of the videos, I could see that some students created more enthusiastic and quality productions than others; from this I could see which techniques to take in and include, and also the ones I shouldn't. Many of the effective and diverse videos I could see used very quality lighting when needed - when a character was being focused on, bright light was used in order for the audience to concentrate and know what to observe. Lighting was also used to create a great effect of shadows, which could be used to convey the elements of the genre (this would be thriller).
Many of the videos used two particular match on action shots: this being, one shot of someone opening a door and the consequential shot of the door opening. These two shots were used in almost every video I viewed; not only would this be unoriginal and "boring" if we used this in our own production, but would also show no creativity or determination to make an effective piece of work. In order to keep the audience interested and excited we will need a unique idea to use with the match on action shots.
From this research I have found that my group will need to use a wide range of methods and techniques to develop our video into a quality piece of work, before and after filming. We will need a good script, setting, and lighting to portray a practical meaning and intention of what the video clip will be about.
