Diary For Main Task*

12th February-
On our first meeting our group sat down to initiate our ideas. We created mindmaps, bulleted lists and a summary of our intentions including starting points, location, props and costume coming up with our general overview. Our group worked quickly and successfully to achieve that we had both a completed and detailed plan. All three of us brought forward many imaginative ideas however we had to narrow it down to one main idea that we would focus on.

17th February & 24th February-
We continued our planning and began to plan a storyboard that would include the different camera angles and the effect on the audience. We also drew images of different shots that would portray a variety of interesting shots creating a mysterious atmosphere. Our group communicated well and came up with several title names for our Thriller. Our final name (Reprisal) was decided as a group decision. This fitted in well as the deifinition of Reprisal was to take something back.

The lay out of a storyboard, helped us through the process of our filming and editing as it gave us a good understanding of what we wanted to include such as, the camera angles, who would be in the shot, what the shot would be portraying and what is going to be revealed. The order was very easy to follow and our group worked sucessfully together.

26th February-
Our group continued on with our planning, we worked at a table brainstorming ideas. We went into detail about costume, and what each character would be wearing and why this was our choice. We also spoke about using several props that could portray Alex (main character) to look intimidating and sinister. We also jotted down our actors/actresses and what role they were going to take.

3rd March-
Today we progressed to going out of college and visiting our location. We walked down to into Stapleford and decided where would be best to film. Due to William Lilley Infants School having children on the premises we thought it would be ideal to ring and ask permition to film the school incase of any child protection laws. The school were very understanding and allowed our group to film the school as part of our Thriller. That day we also took several photographs of the settings to give us a wider understanding. When returning back to College, we planned out our filming schedule and when all our filming would take place. Ensuring that we all had equal parts of filming with the video camera.

5th March-
This day was an unfortunate day, we went out and began filming all our shots and worked very quickly and sufficient. However, when returning back to class and watching the entire film back we noticed that shots were shaken, and close ups looked like a home video. This seemed like a waste of two hours however, it helped us develop our thriller further. Even though we were an hour behind we are going to catch up in the next lesson ensuring we work quickly to get the filming filmed.

10th March-
We produced our anamatic storyboard and uploaded this onto ur blogs today due to weather conditions outside. We didn't think it was suitable to be outside in the wind and rain as this wasn't part of our Thriller. So today we updated our storyboard adding in a few more shots we would like and why they would fit it comfortably with previous shots. We took several photographs of our storyboard and ordered them to make sense and then uploaded them onto Adobe. As a group we then gave a detailed description for each shot summarising the effects of what was taking place.

12th March-
TodayAlex searched the internet and fount several suitable choices of mysterious music. Unfortunately both me and Carl were excused from media today due to a five hour exam we sat for Photography. Alex however, continued on with our schedule without us. He provided us a numerous amounts of music from audio sounds and as a group we decided which one we thought was best suited for our thriller. Alex also began the opening credits. He chose a traditional looking font and kept a black background and used several different transitions however, we did change some of this but it was a start of our editing.

17th March-
Today we continued on with our groups filming. We used my little brother to play the role of the child. He was dressed in his school uniform and suited the role we gave him. We got a variety of shots to portray that Alex (main charcter) was watching and stalking the young boy (Jamie). Our group worked quickly and successfully and got a large amount of filming to add in fillers when it came later on to the editing. We also went to the park to film and had Jamie look like an innocent young boy having fun on the park. It built up the atmosphere as it created tension as the audience are unsure what the main character wants off the young boy. When arriving back into College we captured our filming so next lesson we could continue on with our editing.

18th March-
We began our editing and started by played with the credits. We added several transitions in and often used fading to black as it gave it a eerie atmosphere. We had to be quick with the opening credits due to limited time. However it had to be slow at the same time to sense a sinister feel to our thriller. We also worked on our saturation and altered the lightness to give the sense of mysterious. We also worked on the speed duration through out every transition. We worked with dissolve transtions as they looked fluent and created a thriller that was easy to watch.

19th March-
Today we spent about three hours finalising our editing. Ensuring that the entire thriller made sense and looked fluent to create comfort for our veiwers. Today we were picking up on little things to ensure that our grade could be as high as possible. We ensure that the shots fitted in with the music and when the music turned dramatic the scene comprimised this. After completing our first draft we had to download it onto a DVD for our teacher to mark. However, for some apparent reason it would not download due to this complication Alex uploaded it onto his blog so therefore, we reached the deadline as Miss could analyse it off his blog and give us improvments for our next lesson.

24th March-
Today we were given a grade for our final peice so far. Our group got a 'B' Grade and a list of several things to be improved. We also were given the opportunity to update our blogs if neccessary.
Our Feedback:
*0:40 boy on climbing frame- this is, or looks like, a still, not a video- swap for another clip*
*the initial swing shot might be better within the titile sequence eg- title/ swing/ title/ swing/ title/ boy on climbing frame etc.*
*1:05 is the boy walking away from the park in slow mo? It therefore, doesn't look natural*
*Alex looks into the camera during the smoking scene- (cut this)*
*Music suddenly cuts at the end- change this*
*REPRISAL should stay on for lonher at the enf and then fade out with the music*
*Need to create more of a threat about Alex- try a straight cut from his face on the swing*
*Some sections don't quite make sence eg why is boy running down the alley- he doesn't realise that he is being followed, so why run?*
*Sound effects- what are they? are they voices?*
*A heart beat effect might add to the tension.*

26th March, 7th, 9th and 16th April:

We continued with uploading our blogs today, ensuring that everything was up to date.

21st, 23rd and 30th April:

I have completed all the corrections for my thriller.