Discussion of appropriate technical competencies

Holding a steady shot.

This wasn't too bad as we had the tripod to keep the shot level, however, we did encounter some difficulty with keeping the smoothness continued whilst panning and tilting the camera at the same time. Our hands were slightly out of balance trying to do it all at once but we tried our very best with it. After a bit of practice though our techniques did improve.



Framing a shot.

This was quite simple as we had already planned most of the shots before we had started filming. We already organised what kind of shots we were going to use and what was going to be placed in the screen. Each shot was going to be a different frame, keeping the audience tense and unexpectedly waiting to see what was going to happen next. We had to make some minor adjustments from our animatic as the location chosen did not quite fulfill all of our expectations and needs as we wanted the haunting victim to be standing behind the camera. However, this could not be done as a bush was directly behind the bench, meaning it was impossible for her to stand there - so we moved her the left of the screen.

Shot distances.

Throughout the filming process, we used different shot distances to explain the different emotions trying to be exploited to the audience.
An example of this would be when we had an extreme close up of Grace's eyes looking sorrowfully down into the picture frame, as it looks like she is looking down into her past memories.
The extreme close up is further used in Paris's (victim) eerie smile as she knows she is about to avenge her own murder.

Shooting appropriate material.

Before filming started, we planned everything that was going to be in the frame. The first scene opens with a close up of a cross, and slowly zooms out to reveal the church setting and later on Grace (murderer) sitting down on the bench reevaluating her past memories. The opening view is appropriate as the church and cross connotes death, which is significant as the thriller is about the death and resurrection of Paris (victim).
Later on, as Grace is seen walking away from the scene of the murder and walking down the stairs, I thought it would be a good idea for a dutch tilt shot to be used here as it emphasizes the disturbed and unsettled state of mind of the murderer.
Also, in the park scene, the camera focuses mainly on Paris and Grace (not Tara and Grace C) as the other two are not really that significant with the storyline that is being presented.

Editing, transitions and effects.

The majority of cuts are straight cuts, keeping in mind that the nature of a thriller is not to be calm and peaceful, but to have a set pace in the product to help add to the needed suspense for the audience. However, cross-dissolves and fade transitions are also used to keep the past 'happy' memories consistent and flowing. Only when the mood of the memories begin to change does the straight cuts have a purpose in creating the pace of the thriller. Although, a cross-dissolve transition is also used at the end when the 'ghost' of the victim runs at the killer. It is used because as the victim starts to run, you can still faintly see her standing still in the background. This further emphasizes the fact that she is a ghost of her former self.
We only used these specific transitions as we wanted to make sure the transitions from scene to scene looked realistic. Unnatural transitions would have only made the production look fake and tacky. This was not ideal.
Black and white effects are used in the scenes showing the friends together and the friend dead because it shows that this has all happened in the past, and the full-colour scenes are actually happening in the present day.

Mise-en-scene.

We had the murderer wearing all-black clothing as the colour black connotes death, grief and darkness. In the black and white scene, although it is hard to tell, but the murderer was actually still wearing black clothing, but also wearing a red hat. The colour red connotes blood and danger - which is seen to happen later on in the sequence.
The victim was wearing a white, flowing dress - as white connotes innocence and also a ghostly manner. Angels are shown in mythology and readings as wearing white gowns, this could foreshadow the fate of this character. However, this angelic connotation is slightly subverted in the fact that she has come for revenge.
Nearly everything we have chosen to be put into the frame has been put there for a reason - especially the backdrop of the church and cross (death).
The actual picture frame was especially made for this too. By making it looked battered and worn, it creates the effect of time passing since this happy, joyful picture had been taken.
Looking closely at all of these factors, each section helps forebode the nature and story of this thriller. As a thriller should "show and not tell".
It took careful planning to try and get it all just right.

Using sound with images.

Most of the sound heard is a non-diegetic soundtrack which sets the mood for the production. It is a mellow piano piece with a haunting side to it, emphasizing that there is a twist in store after the friendship memory in the frame.
However, near the end of the production, we overlapped the sound of a scream which leaves the audience questioning what has just happened to them both as the last thing we see is the victim diving at Grace. Then after the scream, a sign saying "Is there more to life than this?" is flashed across the screen - leaving the audience in more shock and left on edge.
In addition to this, there is a faint, overlapping heartbeat sound effect which can be heard once the memories are over and the ghost is standing beside the other girl to get her revenge. This is meant to be the sound of the murderer's heart as she gets overwhelmed by the memories and drops the frame which smashes.
This was quite simple to do as we only had to download the music from akmmusic.com and rearrange the sounds on the timeline of iMovie. I had to lower the sounds when the heartbeat comes in as it was too low to be heard of the piano music. However, apart from this (and making sure the scream was in sync with the action), it all came together quite easily.

Graphic match.

The graphic match used in our production was zooming into the frame, and then dissolving it to match with the past scene in the park. I thought this looked really effective, as it seemed like Grace was looking down in her memory of this time. It wasn't to complicated to do, as I took a picture (with a normal camera) of the first 'pose' of this scene just before I filmed them. We made sure that this was the first scene shot, so I could print off the picture and place it into our especially designed frame. Then we just had a 'point-of-view' shot slowly zooming into the picture.
The only difficult part was to make sure we cut and dissolved it at the right time so that it matched as well as it could have done.