May 9, 2012
April 17, 2012
Editing Our Thriller Sequence
We used Serif Movie Plus x5 to edit our thriller. We began by capturing all of our footage onto the software.
The first step to editing our footage was to select which footage we were going to use. This was done by watching the imported shots and then dragging the selected footage down onto the timeline ready for editing.
Once we had chosen the footage which we were happy with, we began to cut the shots so that they only consisted of what we wanted and not of any extras like talking in the background.
Then we began to put the shots in order so that they began to tell the story. Once we have done this we realised that we needed more shots of close-ups and different angles so we went out and re-filmed. After re-filming we then imported the new footage and added the shots we wanted to the time line.
We then began to sort the shots out by placing the new footage in with the old stuff and cutting them to fit well and show continuous editing.
Once we had cut and put everything in order, we began to look at the effects which we could use on the footage. We tried out many different effects and colour contrasts to use on the shots of the mental woman were on the screen and decided to use ‘Grey Scale – Half and Half’ because we thought that it fits well with the theme and it gives the woman a paler look which makes her look ill which is what we were aiming for. We then looked for different effects to put on the shots of the twin sisters and decided on ‘Old Film’ because we felt that it showed that it was a flash back and that it was set in earlier years.
After the process of inserting the effects onto the footage we manipulated the flash backs by slowing them down fractionally so that they didn’t look like the present day, but a memory of the woman.
We trialled and researched into many different title ideas and decided that we were going to use a similar titles as the film ‘Se7en’ because we thought it went well with the thriller theme. We made our titles on Picnik.com by saving the same word in the same font and colour in different places on a black background. They were subtle changes which worked well when we put them together. Once we were happy with how they looked, we added a flicker effect to them which made the titles look more like the Se7en titles and how we wanted them to look. We then placed the titles inbetween cuts to show the names of the actors, directors, editors etc.
Once we had finished with these titles we instered the production company titles which we have previously made on Picnik.com which we placed at the begining of the sequence.
We went on freesound.org and found sounds to use in the sequence. These sounds included atmosphereic music and a bug zapper sound for the titles. In the sequence there was dialogue which was too quiet even on the loudest volume. This meant that we had to do get the actors into the media lab and do a voice over which we cut and then added into the timeline.
Finally, we decided to add short shots of a whit background into the sequence when there are quick cuts to make it more dramatic. We made the shots very short so they only appeared for a very short time to make the quick shots look like flashes
Thriler Conventions in our Thriller Opening
We explored the typical thriller conventions and manage to distinguish a few of them in our sequence. This help clarifies to us and to the audience it is in fact a Thriller
April 16, 2012
Final Cut Thriller Sequence
This is our final cut. I am happy with the variety of shots and quick edits we have included to speed up the pace as I feel this creates tension when Olivia is escaping. I am pleased with our final title as we have put in close-ups of Olivias face that flash in between the title as i feel this was an original idea and will make our target audience jump.
Sound Issues
When filming the microphone on the video camera only captured minimum volume and the dialogue was not clear enough. To resolve this problem we had to bring in the actors in to the media lab and re-record over their voices.
To make it easy to match up the speech perfectly we first played it several times to make Olivia familiarise with what she had to say and allowed her to listen to her tone and pitch of voice and the way she said it. Then when we actually went to record it we also played it so Olivia could lip read exactly what she says making it as accurate as possible. We made her repeat the process several times and then re-listened to them and saw which one matched the best.
After that we deleted the original sound and uploaded it on to serif and replaced it in exactly the same place. Unfortunately, Bethany and Sophie were unable to come and re-record themselves in the media lab so Lauren had to do it. We went through the same process and tried to make it as accurate as possible.
Cinematography
Here our some examples of the cinematography that we have used in our thriller opening sequence:
Pan Shot:
A pan shot is used here from the top of Olivia’s body to the bottom, to help establish her in the shot and allow us to see her from top to bottom. The quick flicking in this shot builds up the tension and keeps the audience attatched to the narrative.
Close-up:
A close-up is used of Olivia’s face to make it the main focus of the shot. It is the master shot so instantly grasp’s the audiences attention. The audience gets to see full detail of her face as she screams and is further intices the audience. The editing of the paleness further enhances the creepiness of the plot.
Long Shot:
A long shot is used as an establishing shot and allows the audience to see the main character in her surroundings. The mise en scene is completely bare giving making her feel secluded.
Over the Shoulder Shot:
An over the shoulder shot gives the illusion that someone is looking over her and allows us to see it in her point of view.
Low Angle:
We decided to use a low angle shot for this to give her a sense of power as she is managing to escape. The feet in the left hand side of the frame also gives a grimace image towards it.
Possible Shooting Problems
Before we began to film our opening sequence we thought of possible problems that could occur when filming and we tried to think of possible solutions to these to make the filming easier and more 0rganised.
- Make Up
Because we knew that we were going to be filming over a period of days we knew that we had to make sure that the make up on our characters was the same each time. We decided to take a picture everytime we did the make up to make sure that they always looked the same. This includes doing the make up on the main character and making sure that the twin girls both had their hair sprayed black each time.
- Lighting in the room
The footage we used of the main character was all set in one room. This room was in a shed-like room and so had light from above and also, natural light from outside. We thought that the lighting may be different when we film on different days. We decided that to solve this problem we will need to film at similar times each and if the lighting is different we will use artificial light such as lamps to improve the lighting.
- Making sure the shots match up at different angles
We were worried that our shots wouldn’t match up when the angle changes because we were planning to do many quick cuts and angles. We decided that to overcome this we would all take notice of what the actors did and refilmed from a different angle straight away so they could do it again in the same way and remember what they did.
- Where to film
We wanted to film the mental woman in a room which looks like a mental institute however, we did not know where to find a room like this. To solve this we did research into mental institute rooms and decided that a police cell would be a good place to film. We called up the local police station and asked if we were able to film there however it was not possible to do so. We then decided to look for different places to film and found a white room with a fallen light which could be cleared to make it look empty and like a mental institute. This was then where we decided to film.
April 2, 2012
Title Final Ideas
From our title research we adapted our idea from the opening titles of the film ‘Se7en’. We thought they did it very originally and did not make it too complicated.
Likewise to the Se7en opening credits we wanted to have the titles on a black screen and then have a font of writing that would reflect the protagonists physchological state. We created this on the editing website http://www.picnik.com. We uploaded a plain black picture and used the text ‘Go’ as seen in the pictures above. We then flipped it and then kept saving it in different positions, likewise to the pictures above.
asmediamilly 