Creative Tools
1. How did digital technology enable you to develop creatively and are there examples of the technology obstructing or preventing your creative flow?

Digital Technology helped me with filming a lot. The tripod helped me achieve different effects, especially making the images still. Also pan and movement shots. We came up with an idea of the actor holding the tripod and facing the camera towards the actor, it came out as a very moving effect. Of course the camera helped us record all of our progress. The most helpful technology was the computer and Premiere Elements, which made our film make sense. We could change the video clips we filmed, add different effects, music and titles.

2. Thinking About Audience – making meaning
How did you respond to the initial brief with the audience in mind?

We thought in a way of a person who didn't see the film and didn't know the ideas we had. We tried to edit in a way that it made sense for a person knowing nothing about the production, ideas and thoughts which were supposed to be presented.

3. How did your analysis and research into the type of film you selected impact on the creative process in pre-production?

We researched horror, thriller and differnet genres of drama to get ideas for our film. We looked at the different effects and ways of filming. We got our idea for the beginning of our film from Mr and Mrs Smith where they are talking to a psychologist, which worked out as a simple idea but effective. To make it Hollywood film-like we got the logo from universal pictures. From this idea I developed my own which goes straight after it. We looked at the editing from horror movies and the effects which make a film scary.

4. In filming and editing, how did you ensure that the meaning would be apparent to the audience? What creative decisions did you make in planning, rehearsing, filming and editing that were influenced by your sense of the audience and possible layers of interpretation?

We ensured that all the filming made sense and logic order. We used appropriate costumes and mise-en-scene. Also we used two main actors who were supposed to be a person in childhood and the same person grown up. We used actors who looked alike and had an age difference. We used a tripod in all the filming because it made the look more professional. Also we used different shots to make it more interesting, unusual and dynamic. We edited the film very thoughtfully because the shots had to make sense by being in the right order, as we had a difficult task in trying to show the future and the past which could only be achieved mostly by editing.

5. How did the audience respond when you trialled aspects of your film? Are there a variety of possible interpretations of your opening sequence that will depend on the cultural situation of the viewer?
The audience found it very scary and thrilling, also they liked our filming. One of the viewers made a comment on a mistake we had which we corrected.

Maria Timchenko