A2 Critical perspectives in the Media - Skills Development - Pre-production

23/06/10

As part of the A2 course, I will be looking at the skills development of my previous (AS) coursework.

In terms of pre-production, I completed a variety of research and planning to aid the production of my own thriller opening.
The research and planning for my original group was quite difficult as the sharing of responsibility meant that often I had to ensure that all of the members of my group completed their research and planning tasks. I found the research and planning of this to be useful nevertheless as it meant that I was aware of the importance of research and planning to the production, and that without sufficient research and planning, particularly into the codes and conventions of thrillers, the film being produced is ineffective or does not meet the brief.
The analysis of thriller openings as part of my research, as well as viewing thriller openings on YouTube helped me to understand the codes and conventions of thrillers and decide on certain creative elements in my own project, for example, some of the cold colours that I used were inspired by the monochromatic colour scheme of Secret Window. I also felt that the study of narrative theory, such as Todorov and Propp, was beneficial to consider during production and pre-production. My investigative and research skills, as well as my skills of analysis, were improved by these tasks; in terms of my skills of analysis, I felt that I became more able to read a media text and to quickly identify codes and conventions. It was beneficial to me to see how these codes and conventions worked in practice, helping me with incorporation of and conforming to these conventions in my film.
Completing sufficient planning for my thriller opening was very beneficial to me, and I found that it was easier to film a shot if it was well planned. I had difficulty with time management for my final project, which was completed individually due to differences with my group, as I was reliant on when the actors were available to film. I felt that my time management skills were actually improved by this however, as I had to use my time more efficiently when I was able to film; this often meant planning shots more carefully before filming.
Overall, I felt that my organisational skills developed a great deal throughout the completion of my film; I found that research and planning is essential to a good production, as well as gaining an understanding of the problems that can occur during the production if the planning is not completed to a satisfactory level and the dangers of straying too far from the brief. I also learnt about the challenges of completing research and planning such as time management, and storyboarding. Having worked on two storyboards, one with my original group, and one for my individual film, I found that the completion of storyboards becomes easier with practice, though I felt that my drawing was perhaps not up to the standard which would best present the storyboard.