Evaluation Question Seven

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

At the very beginning of our course, we were placed into groups and asked to create a short clip from a script from the popular television show 'Casualty'. The main purpose of this was to practise our editing skills and camera work, as most of us had never even picked up a camera before let alone had to deal with Final Cut Pro. However, by doing this task I feel like I was able to learn a lot about editing, especially in terms of continuity. By doing this task at the beginning of our course the group as a whole had much more knowledge on aspects of editing to help us with our film opening, and as can be expected, a massive improvement can be seen.

One thing I learnt from the original preliminary task was the 180 degree rule when using a shot-reverse-shot. This ensures that the characters appear to be on the right sides when the camera switches over, otherwise it appears as though the characters are facing the same way, staring blindly ahead and talking to themselves.

I feel like I've improved greatly on creating a fairly decent looking shot-reverse-shot, as in the preliminary task there is a slight delay between the two sets of characters when the camera changes, which is better in our final cut as the pace is a lot quicker to reflect the fast paced atmosphere of the argument between characters. I was able to create this using the blade tool - something I learnt to use in the preliminary task which allowed me to cut the clip down to a more precise point than I could get if I just dragged the individual clips down.
The pacing of editing has also improved in other aspects, as even though it's supposed to be a fast paced and dramatic conversation, the slow and drawn out clips in the preliminary task don't reflect this atmosphere, something which is shown in the variety of clips and shots we have in our final cut.
One thing I'm really proud of in our final cut is the continuity when our main character Amber is walking through the woods, as I contributed most to the continuity of the woods footage, as well as going over and editing sounds to finalise our opening sequence. When creating the part where Amber walks through the woods I wanted to give it variety but at the same time make it flow smoothly between shots as if it had happened all in one take. Again I used the blade tool to cut things down to a more precise level, and tried to match the points where it seemed like it would fit and flow the most (for example when Amber is stood in the middle of the empty woods in a long-shot looking around, and then it goes into a close-up of this).

In the preliminary task a more basic version of this can be shown (walking down the corridor in a long-shot, to a mid-shot, to opening the door from the other side).

When filming Vendetta we made sure that we had this variety of shots, and even that we filmed so much that a lot of shots we didn't have to use after all. This is because in the continuity task one or two of the shots aren't of the best quality, especially due to the lighting. From this the whole group learnt to film more than we needed and to check our work first, as although you can add in filters and change a lot about the shot, not much could be done if the footage was poor quality in the first place.
One large improvement that can be shown is the sound. Although the sound continuity is okay overall in my preliminary task, there is still some obvious and abrupt endings to parts of the sound (such as when the door is opened). We later learnt as a group to detach the audio from it's clip. This enabled us to be able to fade out the sound and make it seem less abrupt, a technique of which proved very helpful when trying to get the sound continuity of the guitar to match between clips. We also added both diegetic and non-diegetic sound over the top of some clips, allowing us to build up tension in the case of the music but also to add to the sound continuity by adding artificial forest sounds over the top.

We were also able to add voices into our sequence at the beginning on the beach to give the sequence more exposition and explain some of the situations, like why they were event there in the first place. When filming the footage we had a microphone attached to the camera to make sure the sound quality was a lot better. This wasn't really an issue in the preliminary task, but as we were filming of a very windy beach this gave us the ability to get the best sound from filming.
However, one of the biggest things I've gained from progression of my continuity task is confidence in my abilities as an editor. I've learnt a variety of techniques using Final Cut that have helped me to improve my skills and knowledge of creating media products such as television and film.  

Evaluation Question Six

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Research and Planning
After getting a general idea of what type of film we wanted to create we started to research films that were similar to our genre, giving up the ability to see what sort of conventions make up a typical thriller film. To do this, we searched for thriller films using Google and found a large list of them on the website IMDb. From there we were also able to analyse in detail the different aspects of thrillers, allowing us to choose what sort of aspects we wanted to include in our own film. These are some of the more simple aspects of technology, as not much knowledge is needed other than search for key words.

We then needed somewhere to display all this knowledge and our ideas. The whole group decided the best thing to do would be to set up a blog, as we could then most our research, diary entries on progress and videos to show the entire process on making our opening sequence. We were given the option to use a Tumblr blog, but given what we were using the blog for it seemed for professional and easier to use Blogger. I was quite unsure about how to use Blogger at first, going out of my comfort zone by choosing it over a more simple Tumblr style blog, however I quickly learnt how to use the different aspects of it which allowed me to put more content into my blog. Blogger was also really useful as I managed to download the free app on my ipod, allowing me to post diary entries at any time.

As text and images from google get a bit boring after 20 odd posts, we decided to think of more inventive ways to display our work. One of these is by using Prezi, a more inventive and interactive type of powerpoint. Like Blogger, I had never used Prezi before but after setting up an account and following the instructions I found it fairly easy to use and a lot more interesting.
Another different method of displaying work was by creating videos and screen recordings. Some of these were done in class on the Final Cut Pro, and others were created at home on iMovie (this is in the case of the behind the scenes footage). This again is a much more inventive way of displaying work that I learned to use during this project.

Creating the sequence
As you can't create an opening sequence without a camera, this is probably the most important piece of technology that we used. We borrowed a camera from the college, as well as a really old and broken one (to use as a prop) and a microphone to attach to the camera to improve the sound. We also used a tripod to hold the camera steady. I had never fully had a chance to use a professional camera before, and so this was all fairly new to me, however, with the help of my group and my research I knew about the type of shots and framing that would be appropriate for our film and so this made the whole process a lot easier.

We also used my Fujifilm Finepix S4000 to film some behind the scenes footage. This also made sure that everyone had a chance to film something during the process, whether it was behind the scenes or footage for the actual sequence.

In terms of editing our footage, the group as a whole decided it would be the best option to use Final Cut Pro. This is because we all edited our continuity task using this software and so we were all familiar with the basics. I later learnt a lot more about Final Cut editing our footage, such as adding filters, sound effects, the various tools (such as the blade tool), transitions and many more. I now feel a lot more confident in my abilities as an editor from learning these techniques during the construction, and I am also able to edit at a much faster pace and work on my own.

Another website that was vital to the construction of our sequence was DaFont.com, which we used to select and upload the font we used in the titles. This was important because although Final Cut has a variety of different fonts available, none of them really suited our film like the one we eventually found.  By learning how to upload different fonts we gained a much wider variety of the type of things we could choose from, improving our sequence.

Youtube
Youtube played a massive role throughout the entire project. From there, we were able to look at and analyse film openings, allowing us to compare and contrast them to our in order to give us the knowledge of our genre and create the best possible film opening we could.

By searching for Royalty Free suspense and horror music we were also able to find the music we needed in our sequence to create the all important tension. We later used Audio Hijack in order to download this music from Youtube and upload it into Final Cut Pro, a technology I learnt to use in the process of constructing our sequence.

Finally, Youtube was also massively important to us as this is where we uploaded our Final Cut, as well as our Rough Cut. This allowed us to gain feedback from a wide audience and see what went right and what we could improve on. Youtube allowed us to place annotations on our videos, which gave us the chance to display more clearly what we did and why.

Overall I learnt a huge amount about technology and how important it is throughout the process of making my opening sequence, and these skills I have learnt are sure to help me in my future media projects. However, even though technology is massively important it can be argued that it is the person themselves that has the creativity, and not there ability to use technology. Technology aids a persons creativity, giving them the ability to do a lot more with their information and understanding, as well as giving them the opportunity to create great content. It's up to the individual how they use this.

Evaluation Question Five

How did you attract/address your audience?

By adding annotations to our video as a group we have shown the ways that we attracted our audience, as well as the ways our film shows the classic conventions of thrillers.

Evaluation Question Four

Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation Question Three

What kind of Media Institution might distribute your product and why?

In the video above I talk about the type of production and distribution companies that would be best suited for our film 'Vendetta'.
The pictures used are either screen shots from my blog and the Vendetta opening sequence, or images found from Google. Some of the images may not match exactly with what I'm saying but are used to give a general idea.

Evaluation Question Two

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film represents the social group of teenagers. This is because of their appearance, such as the way they look young, and dress casually in fairly plain clothing. This is also shown in what they're doing, such as the way they're gathered around a fire on a beach; eating, drinking, laughing and in general just messing around like the stereotypical teenager.

To analyse this more closely, we can look at our main character Amber:

We tried to make Amber representative of the stereotypical teenager in the media; she appears drunk, looks easily bored and impatient of her friend and looks fairly alternative in terms of her appearance. This makes her stand out slightly from the rest of the group, who are dressed fairly plainly and laughing and joking around. This shows that although she's different to the rest of the group, she's still a typical teenager, which makes her more relatable of people of that age group - which is also our target audience.

One character from another film that you can compare in ways to Amber is Wendy from Final Destination 3.

Although fairly different in appearance, a few similarities can be made; such as they're both female, dark haired and dress casually and in a modern way, although Amber does stand out more because she appears to be more alternative than Wendy.

Both Wendy and Amber appear to be control freaks, focusing more on themselves rather than other people. They are both shown to be typical teenagers in the events they both do; Wendy going to an amusement park with her friends and Amber going to the beach with hers. However both of these events end up badly, with both of the female characters getting away from their groups, and both escaping a gruesome death. 

Both are the main characters in their films, with the story and camera focussing mainly on them throughout. Another similarity is that the are both considered to be the last one standing (although in Final Destination this is left fairly ambiguous), as in our original plot we have all of the teenagers on the beach killed one by one until there is only one left - which would be Amber. 

By being typical teenagers both of the characters are relatable to the audience, however in the case of Amber this is slightly less in the beginning because of her moody attitude and the way she pushes away her friend who is just trying to help her. 

Evaluation Question One

In what way does your media product use, develop or challange forms and conventions of real media products?

Looking back at our research into the conventions of a thriller film, many comparisons and similarities can be made between what things are in a typical thriller film, and the things and ideas we included in our own opening sequence.
A link can be made between our opening sequence and the opening sequences of other films such as Silence of the Lambs. Although these are quite different in terms of their storyline, they both give an introduction to their character, show titles in a similar way and share some of the typical conventions of their shared genre.

As you can see both sequences take place in one of the most iconic settings for a thriller film; the woods. Both of the main characters appear at first to be isolated in the woods, both of which seem dark and eerie, which helps to create tension.
Both sequence involve the camera following behind the main characters through the woods, which helps to create the feeling that they're being watched. Both also include close ups of the main characters face, showing their emotion but also emphasising their isolation, creating a sense of paranoia about what might be there with them.
However in both situations it turns out just to be someone they know. The sequences start to differ here, as this is where in our film we create tension by making the audience believe that our main character Amber is about to be attacked, when it turns out to be her friend Evelyn. They then have an argument (although both show over the shoulder shots in both sequences of the conversation) and Amber walks off back to her friends, which is similar to the main character in Silence of the Lambs walking away from the setting of the woods back to her normal life.
Both of the main characters are dressed in modern seeming clothes, suggesting that both films are of similar times, although in Silence of the Lambs the female character is dressed more plainly and shows more independence, where as both of the female characters in ours seem more like the typical female characters you find in a thriller film - helpless and in need of rescue.
The titles in both are of a simple style, both of which roll over the top of the sequence and both show a similar sort of order (e.g. main actor first and director last).
By following both of these characters you can tell the story is following them, and by the use of the setting, light and feelings of being watched it helps the audience to identify the film as a thriller.

Some additional things we included in our film that don't appear in the opening of Silence of the Lambs was the murder of one of our characters straight away, flicking between beach shots of the group and the our character being killed to give make it appear as though no one can hear to help, and so all of the violence is implied, which helps to create a sense of mystery.
Being upfront about the killing in the first few minutes allows us to follow the story of what happens next, and who is next and why the character was killed in the first place. By going straight into the plot line it helps our film to be more exciting and engaging for the audience watching, rather than giving a slow build up of the initial death.
In our opening sequence we didn't really use special effects, as this isn't really typical of the thriller genre. Most thrillers tend to be more realistic which was an effect we tried to get in our film because the idea that this could be real and could happen to anyone makes it more scary - another classic convention of a thriller.
The only effects we added was to darken each clip using a 'day into night' effect so it appeared darker and more eerie (as though it took place at night) and a record effect which was essential to our plot line.

In short, we kept with a lot of the conventions of a thriller - such as the darkness, the mystery of the killer, close-ups, tension and eerie music to help the audience identify our film as a thriller. However we didn't use all of the conventions, such as shadows and ghosts, because this would have been a sort of overkill of the film, making the audience feel overwhelmed and confused at the plot. We used enough conventions to make the genre clear, but not too many to make it overwhelming.

Construction - Final Cut

Preliminary Task - Continuity Exercise

This is the preliminary exercise that was created as a group and edited by myself in order to practice camera, filming and editing techniques, but most importantly continuity.

Final Cut Feedback

After finishing our Final Cut and uploading it to Youtube, we wanted to get feedback on what our target audience thought. The picture above shows the reaction of the A2 Media class at our college.
We're really happy with this feedback as it shows that they liked the film overall, giving it a rating of 8/10. We're especially happy that they picked up on the continuity of the clips and sound, as well as the location because these were things we tried really hard to get perfect. We also tried hard to add more exposition into our film opening by adding in additional sound (see previous post about adding in voice recording of characters) as this was one criticising of our rough cut feedback. Luckily our audience picked up on this in our final cut and so our effort paid off.

The Music

As mentioned before, music and sound is one of the main ways tension is built in a thriller, and so it was really important for our group to find the right piece of music to go over our opening sequence. We looked into trying to make our own but decided it would be easier to find a high quality piece on Youtube.
We searched for key words like 'tension' and 'thriller' and one of the first pieces we came across was the one we used.

We decided to use this music instead of our original choice because it built tension a lot better, but was a lot more dramatic towards the end. In the middle of the piece there's a load bang which we managed to match up perfectly to when the killers hand touches the shoulder. It also sounds really creepy and chilling, which fits our genre really well.

Because it's Royalty Free we can use this in our sequence, because it won't break any of the copyright or licence laws, and we won't have to pay for it.

Production Diary Entry - 13/03/13

Today in class we were finishing our opening sequence ready for the deadline. Luckily for us we only had a few things left to do before we had completely finished and were ready to export.
To start with I finished editing the titles, changing the font to match throughout and adjusting the length of the titles to match each other, as well as adjusting where they were in the sequence, so they looked okay in the clip but were roughly the same length apart.
We then looked at changing the music to make it more dramatic at the end. While we were editing Faye looked on YouTube and found some royalty free music that we could use. We then matched this up to the sequence so that it would fade in where the character 'Evelyn' is left alone and attacked to the end of the sequence where the title of the film appears.
We then asked Michelle to look through our sequence and suggest anything we could improve on. She suggested a few things (post to follow) such as cutting a few of the clips in and making the noise build up in certain places.
Using this advice we cut down some of the action scenes so they appear for a lot less time, which adds to the drama of the sequence. We also added a forest noise track over the first part where 'Amber' walks into the woods and faded the sound out in the clip before to make it flow. We also added some sound effects over the top of the clips where someone sneaks up on 'Amber' and fading it out to trick the audience into thinking something bad is going to happen when it doesn't.

We then recorded us saying things to give it more exposition, explaining why they were there and why she walks off annoyed then added this over the top of the sequence and adjusted the sound levels so it sounded natural.
Our last step was adding in Shani's ident into the beginning of the sequence, which we then added a fade in between the end of the ident and the beginning of the opening so it doesn't jump to suddenly.
After finishing this we played it through, and adjusted the sound slightly in places so it fit and then we had finally finished, ready to upload.

Behind the Scenes

As a group we thought it would be a really good idea to get some footage of when we were filming, showing the process of what we were doing and how we did it. This inspired us to bring along an extra camera (and 16 batteries) to film what was going on, picking it up and recording the odd moments we could when the camera started rolling, as well as our attempt to build a fire. This was also useful because it gave everyone in the group a chance to do some of the filming, whether on the professional camera or the behind the scenes.
As a group we took it in turns filming, and because we were often running around setting up between takes or trying to walk down a slope some of the footage is a bit shaky and jumpy at points, which I managed to stabilises slightly but only up to a point. If we do this again I might see if I can get a steady cam to do the behind the scenes footage on. All of the footage was filmed on a Fujifilm Finepix S4000 and edited in iMovie.
The clips in this are filmed over two days, with the original clips of the beach footage cut out when we decided to film the beach part again after we realised the footage wasn't up to the highest of standards (previous diary entries explain why in detail).
Because of the plot of the sequence - teenagers on a beach gathering with cameras, we decided to use mine to record certain parts of the scene such as Faye and Beth hitting the camera away in annoyance because they don't want to be filmed, as well as a couple of shots of people messing around having and occasional shots of the fire. Some of this we used in the final sequence with a record effect over the top to give it an added effect and make it more obvious, but a lot of it was left spare for behind the scenes.
I decided to add a special thanks to our friend Beth at the end in the credits because over the filming of our project she was a massive help, this is because she stepped in last minute to star in our film when our extra cancelled as well as being willing to help again when we needed to re film. In short, she was just amazing throughout the whole thing.

Production Diary Entry - 11/03/13

Titles, Voice-overs and Behind the Scenes

Today in class we continued editing our opening sequence and adding the things that our audience recommended on our feedback.
We started by adding more titles to over the top of our sequence, including our cast, director, producer, editor, etc. We messed around with the positions of these titles on the screen and decided that instead of having them in the same corner of the screen we would alternate them between each title (so some appeared in the left corner, then the right corner, then in the middle right, etc) because we felt that this looked a lot more professional and overall a lot more interesting.
While finishing our editing we also looked for different music to put over our sequence, as our current was good in the sense that it seemed appropriate and did build tension, but it didn't seem that dramatic and it made the ending a lot less dramatic overall. Because of this we looked around on youtube for music we could use but so far we haven't found anything. We also had a look to see whether we could create our own on Garageband but none of the sound clips on their seemed appropriate for our sequence or genre. In the meantime we'll keep looking for music to include in own sequence, or a way to create our own.
We still need to add voiceover to our clip but we decided to do this on the break of our next lesson so we have an opportunity of a quiet, background noise free classroom. We also need to add Chloe's ident to our opening (we're using Chloe's because it's the first production company mentioned) and just adjust the clips and sound slightly in certain places to make sure there is a flow of both the continuity and audio as our audience mentioned some of it was out of sync.
Apart from these things we're really close to finishing our piece, and hopefully we'll be able to finish it slightly earlier to gain extra feedback.

As a group we thought it would be a good idea to create something showing the process of filming our piece, and so today I've also been working on the behind the scenes footage for our sequence and managed to finish it (post to follow with the video later today).

Title Sequence Changes

As a group we decided that our original idea for our title sequence (having an individual sequence at the end of our opening sequence) was too ambitious and unusual for a film opening, as usually the titles run during the sequence or right at the beginning, and it's rare that you see a title sequence at the end of the opening one.
On our feedback, one of the things that the audience mentioned is that the beach clips at the beginning ran on a little too long, but if we added the title into this part it would give it more of a purpose, thus making it more engaging.
However, we decided that we're still going to make our idea of the graphic match of the body on the floor at the end of our sequence, to the body on the backing of a police case file at the end because we think this is an interesting and unusual idea that would leave the audience questioning what is going to happen next.

Production Diary Entry - 06/03/13

Deadlines, Continuity and Extras

Today in class we finished our rough cut ready to be shown to the class. However before this we had adjusted a few extra things in order to make the whole sequence run more smoothly. We detached the audio from the sound clips and faded them out at parts in order to create better continuity of the sound.

By the end of this we had everything pretty much finished with the exception of a few titles and an ident. After searching Google Images for a record effect we realised there was one in final cut, which looked a lot more professional than the ones we found so we decided to use that instead. We found an instrumental song on youtube to play over the back on the final part of our sequence, although for our final cut we're considering changing this to be more dramatic. We added a filter over the whole sequence to make it look darker and colder, which goes well with the conventions of a thriller.

We were then ready to show our rough cut to our class.
A more detailed post of the audience feedback is on my blog but the overall view is they liked it, but we needed to add titles, tighten up the sound and make a few things clearer. They seemed to like the variety in shots, which was good because that was one of the things we tried hard to get while filming.
After our feedback we started to edit again, adding the title of the film at the end and starting to add in titles over the beach scene. We also decided to change our idea of the title sequence (post to follow).
In the next lesson we will continue editing and adding in the things that our audience said to improve on, such as more tension and in general just getting the continuity a lot tighter, as we only just realised that one of the extras took their coat off in between takes.
Judging by the amount of stuff we have left to do as long as we stay focussed and deligate the tasks between the group we should be able to get our opening sequence finished by next wednesday (the deadline for the final cut).

Roughcut Feedback

One of the important things about making and improving a film is audience feedback, after all the film is made for them. After finishing our rough cut we showed it to our Media class, this is because they're the right age for our target audience, so they're the best people to judge our film opening sequence and tell us what they think worked well and what we can improve on.

Heres what they thought:

• More titles at the beginning to make it clear it's a film
• Liked it - the sound is clear and effective
• Loads of camera shots/good variety
• Music is good/appropriate
• The ending where Beth (the character 'Evelyn') goes down could be more dramatic
• Dialogue is out of time in places
• Some points are confusing - needs more exposition (Why are they at the beach? Why does Amber look annoyed and walk away?)
• Camera stuff works well
• End section was good
• Cut down the first section we get the idea pretty quickly

What will we do?

It's not enough to just get the feedback, you need to listen to your audience and improve your piece to fit what they want. 

At the point we completed our rough cut, we hadn't yet finished everything completely. We still needed to add in our ident and finish our title sequence, so the first thing the audience said has already been thought through. We had the idea to run titles throughout the beach scene at the beginning, which gives it more of a point so we wouldn't have to cut it down, plus it's a lot more traditional than having it at the end of the opening like in our original idea.

We're going to look for different music and sound to put throughout the whole thing just to add tension into the sequence a bit more. This will make the ending a lot more dramatic which was mentioned in the feedback.

We've also started to edit the dialogue to be more in sync with the clips. During the editing we had to detach the audio and adjust it slightly to make it fit more due to background noise and the flow of guitar. This is probably the reason parts of it are out of place but this can easily be fixed.

To make it clearer why the group are there we're going to dub audio over the top of the beach scene at the beginning, giving the illusion that it's just one of the group speaking about something along the lines of "It's freezing, we're never going camping in the winter again." and to explain Amber's mood "She always gets annoyed when she's drunk."

Rough Cut

 

At this stage we're pretty much finished. We still need to add our ident and more titles but apart from that we're waiting for audience feedback to see what worked well and what didn't. This will help us for our final cut.

Production Diary Entry - 04/03/13

40 Minutes, a Hill and Some Aeroplanes

Today, after the loss of a camera memory card which contained 20 clips and had somehow dropped out of the camera bag by accident, and then my 40 minute walk to Sandbay to find it still lying in the sand we uploaded the footage from our refilm and started to edit it into our sequence. Like we thought at the time our footage turned out really well and everything seems to fit in well enough so that it's unlikely that we will have to film again.
Today for the most part we just spent time editing in the individual beach clips, fitting them into where there was a blank space for it in between the woods sequence and making sure that the flow of sound between the guitar, as well as the chatting was continuous throughout when it changed from one shot to another one. We also started looking for music to play over the end of the sequence (the part where Evelyn is attacked) and began thinking about the title sequence in more depth by looking up silhouettes of people that we could use while their name appears underneath. I suggested using silhouettes instead of actual characters because it gives the whole thing a greater sense of mystery and looks a lot more professional as a whole.

Something similar to this

We took turns editing the clips into the sequence and for the most part we're almost finished, we just need to add effects and filters, find appropriate tense music and finish the continuity of the sound due to several aeroplanes
We also need to add in our ident and title sequence, but again this isn't a lot to do and we should be finished by the rough cut deadline on wednesday.

Production Diary Entry - 03/03/13

Take Two, Action!

Today we went to refilm the beach scene for our opening sequence. We decided to get there at about half 3 because this is about the time that we filmed our woods scene, and it would give us time to set up and film everything before it got too dark like last time.
This time we had three more extras with us, as well as our friend playing 'Amber'. Shani filmed it all so unlike last time she wouldnt randomly be in a shot one minute and gone the next.
We also managed to build a proper fire this time, so it actually looked decent in comparison to our last attempt, which it's fair to say failed quite a lot.
This time we were definitly better planned and focussed. We aimed to get loads of shot with a lot of variety between so we would have enough when we come to edit the clips in. We had a lot of props with us, like food, a guitar and cups, but this time we actually remembered to set all of it out properly.
As well as this we gave a lot better direction to our extra and our group itself, making sure they were in the same position throughout the first part of our beach scene so we could get the continuity right, and I made sure to repeat the guitar chords again to help the continuity. For the most part we recorded the group randomly without telling them so they would act natural and wouldn't look at the camera too much or act awkwardly. This pretty much made it just like a real gathering, only with a camera or three.
In short our second attempt at filming the beach scene went really well, we got loads of shots and planned everything really well. All we need to do now is edit in the clips, edit the sound and add a few fancy filters and transitions and we're ready for our rough cut on Wednesday.

Production Diary Entry - 27/02/13

If at First You Don't Succeed

Today we continued editing our opening sequence. Whilst editing we realised that the footage of the scene we shot at the beach can't be used because continuity between the shots is out, mainly because of background sound and the position of our characters changing too noticeably.
We decided as a group it would be better to film the beach scene rather than leave the footage as it is, and luckily our footage of the woods is good so we'll only have to redo this part.
Because of this, we spent part of the lesson trying to rearrange a time to shoot the scene whilst switching places between working on editing the woods footage, working on our blogs and creating a shot list so we can ensure that we have enough high quality footage when we come to film again.
We've managed to arrange it so we can have roughly 5/6 extras on the set, as well as the two main characters. This is more than we could get last time which should help to create a more realistic party/gathering setting than we were going for in our original shoot. We've arranged to shoot on Sunday 2nd March because this leaves us enough time to edit the footage for our rough cut, as well as it being the only day when everyone is available to help out.
As far as editing the sequence has gone, we've finished a basic edit of the woods scene. I pieced the footage together and then Chloe and Shani cut the footage to further the continuity and started editing the sound, making it more even throughout. For now we've left parts of it blank because we originally planned to intertwine parts of the woods scene with the beach, but we can add those in on a later date.
At the moment we're arranging specific times to meet everyone on Sunday, and arranging the props. One thing we have to do is on sunday myself and Beth (who plays Amber) have to remember to wear the same clothes to ensure the continuity between the woods scene and the beach.
Hopefully the footage from the beach will turn out okay and we can finish editing in time for the rough cut deadline.

Production Diary Entry - 25/02/13

Filters, Cross Dissolves and Photoshop

Today we uploaded the footage we shot on Saturday, looking through and selecting favourite on sections of the clips on final cut to use in our sequence. We have really good footage of the woods scene, which means that we should be able to get really good continuity when we come to putting out footage together. When we come to making our rough cut for this scene we will add a filter through to dim the lighting, giving the appearance that the whole thing happened later than when we filmed it. One or two of the shots are out of focus slightly, but this isn't too noticeable and these shots probably won't be used anyway. We have a good variety of shots with good camera work for the woods part of our sequence, so hopefully it should turn out well in the final edit once we add in the effects and sound.
For the scene on the beach some of the shots have background sound that's going to be difficult to get the continuity of the group, and in a lot of cases the shots are too different to each other which further adds to the problem of continuity.
We talked to our teacher Michelle about creating a camera record effect, so the audience can tell the difference between what footage is the professional recording and which is meant to look like it's being filmed by the characters in the sequence. She said that to create this effect, we can either find or create our own version of the image we're looking for and layer it over the top in the edit. When we get our all of our footage in a rough edit we can start thinking about this, as well as any filters and cross dissolves.

Something like this to go over the shots 'recorded' by the characters

At the moment we're talking about re-filming this part of our sequence so we can get good continuity throughout our sequence and not just the woods scene, but we'll discuss this further on wednesday when we come to put the footage together, in case we're able to use it okay after all.

Production Diary Entry - 23/02/13

Lights, Cameras, Action!

Today was the day we finally went out filming for our opening sequence, and it's fair to say we had a few dilemma's along the way but luckily we managed to overcome them and everything went okay.
The girl who was supposed to be playing 'Amber' had to cancel last minute, as did a few of our extras but luckily we were able to find someone to replace our main character and the group stepped in as extras instead. Because of this we went straight from Worlebury woods to sandbay which saved us some time.
It took quite a long time to get to our first location but once we got there we were quite professional in setting up and getting the shots we needed, as well as more just in case. We tried to make sure we got a good variety of shots (close ups, long shots, etc) which would make our sequence more interesting.
Then we went to our beach location at Sandbay and started to set up. One problem we encountered was trying to build a decent fire. We managed to get one started eventually but it took up a large amount of time and we had to rush part of filming that scene to make sure we had everything. On this part of our sequence we were probably less well planned than for the woods scene, and I don't think we filmed as much as we could have because the camera battery has run out near the end so we didn't have a chance to film more. Hopefully we have enough to make the sequence, if not we'll have to think about filming that part again.
One thing that really went well with our filming was our planning in the woods scene, we got a lot of shots and worked really well with each other, taking turns filming and each helping to get decent shots and putting forward last minute ideas.
Beforehand we were all really prepared and brought with us everything that we needed to bring on the day, and all of us stuck to a time limit fairly well at the beginning of the shoot.
However one thing we could improve on the next time we go out on a shoot is to plan a little bit more, just so we plan for extra time in case we run a little bit behind, and to make sure that we know everything we're meant to shoot and stick to that plan.
To improve for next time we could also give a little bit more direction to our actors so we can get them to do exactly what we need them to and they're not left guessing at points (this was more the case in the beach scene than the woods).
Overall I think it was a good shoot, we only encountered a few problems but managed to overcome them fairly easily. We got a lot of footage for parts of our sequence, although next time we need to plan a little bit more and try to keep our focus going throughout the day.
Our next step is editing to create a rough cut and in that stage we'll be able to see if any of our footage needs to be redone.

The Animatic

 

Shooting Schedule

We decided to film on Saturday 23rd February because basically, it's the most convenient day to film for all of us (including our extras), but it also gives us enough time to get all the shots we need as well extra ones just in case.
One of the most important things about this was the weather; using the Met Office website we were able to look at the weather for Saturday to make sure it won't rain, and luckily it's not due to rain that day. Or at least we hope it won't rain - we are filming in England, so luck is sort of against us on this one

By using the Met Office website again, we were also able to check what time the sun would set, which hopefully will allow us to get there in the right amount of time so we can set up on the beach and film before it goes completely pitch black.

THE PLAN

Our first location will be Worlebury Woods. This is because it won't be as obvious if we film this part earlier in the day, because it's fairly built up and so not as light. We can also darken the lighting in editing later if there's a problem.

We'll then travel to town to meet the extras before going to Sandbay, which is about a 20 minute bus ride away. We aim to get there about an hour before the sun is due to set, giving us enough time to film about a minutes worth of the footage that takes place on the beach.

Below is are clearer times of what we are going to film and when

Production Diary Entry - 18/02/13

Whatever You Do, Don't Forget The Camera

Today my group planned the details for our shoot, deciding on the date and times for filming which will be in a post when we confirm everything later. We also finalised the props that we need, and divided up certain props so we're each in charge of bringing certain things. I'm bringing the fake blood, guitar, a prop camera (which we're hopefully going to film some behind the scene type stuff on), a torch and some stuff to make the fire.
We also contacted the extras for the beach scene and checked that they were all available on the filming date. Unfortunately some of them were busy on the day we decided but luckily we still have enough people to make it look like a realistic teenage gathering. Although we don't have many boys to star anymore but this shouldn't be too much of an issue.
For our main characters we decided that I'm going to be playing Evelyn, our friend Daisy is playing Amber and another friend Jake will be the killer (although this doesn't matter as much because the killers face is never shown to add suspense)

Shot List

The Storyboard

The Location

As a group, we decided that the best place to film the beach scene would be Sandbay, as it's fairly secluded and has a woods right by it, which is the perfect setting for our thriller opening sequence. After walking round the beach, we found a spot that was sheltered on one side by the trees with the beach on the other side of it.

When we come to film we'll set the group up around the fire, facing away from the woods. We'll have to be careful to film from certain angles, as in the background there is a road and at another angle to the left you can see a car park. Luckily as we're planning to film in the afternoon/early evening this shouldn't be a problem as there aren't many cars that go past which would ruin the secluded and isolated feeling we're trying to create.

One issue we realised when we got there was that there is quite a lot of wind, which shouldn't affect the shots too much as bad weather is one of the classic conventions of a thriller. However the wind and the sound of the sea is likely to affect the natural sound and dialogue of the characters chatting to each other in the background, as well as the music and the guitar in the shots. In the area we chose to use (shown above) the wind wasn't too bad as it's stopped mostly by the trees. Also, as we're planning to have mostly mid shots and close ups hopefully are characters will be heard. When it comes to filming and editing we're going to see if we can find a way to enhance the sound incase the noise on the beach does become an issue.

Below is a quick test footage so we could see what the sound would be like when filming, as well as giving us the ability to see what the area would look like on film.

This was shot on a Fujifilm Finepix S4000

We then looked for our second location to film for the end part of our opening sequence. We decided to look at the woods by Sandbay, as being right by our first location it would be the easiest place to film. However we couldn't find a part of the woods that wasn't near the road, was flat enough to film, or was built up enough to create the isolated feel that we wanted for our film, creating the effect that no one can rescue the character and that they are entirely on their own.  

Because of this we decided to use another location for the woods. To make it seem like the other woods  is the one behind the beach we plan to use shots from both woods, matching the shots of the Sandbay woods with our other location so it doesn't seem obvious they are different places completely. To help this we plan to get audio of the natural sound from the woods near Sandbay and gradually fade it out of the shots from the location, creating an eerie silence for the final part of our opening sequence.

Our Second location is Worlebury Woods. This is better than Sandbay Woods because it's denser and creates the isolated and secluded feel much better than Sandbay. It's also the perfect location for the woods scene because it's a lot flatter as a whole, and there's a lot less background noise, which again build up that eerie sense we were trying to create.

As for the specific place in the woods to film the scene, we decided it would be better to find this on the actual day of filming, as there are a lot of place in the woods that would be perfect, but it's such a big woods that even if we did find a specific place the chances are we won't be able to find it again.