Finally after all the planning, research, filming and editing we have finished our thriller opening, here is our final product. Hope you enjoy watching it.
Friday 11 March 2016
Feedback, Evaluation of Feedback & Making Improvements
In this post I will be taking you through the feedback we had of our rough cut. I am going to embed pictures of our group making any necessary improvements.
Here is our rough cut feedback;
The First bit of criticism we got was the fact that the camera was a little bit shaky, especially when we filmed the external scenes with Alex following Stacey. The camera was shaky because we used a dolly and moved it along the road which was bumpy this is why the camera was shaky. To fix this we refilmed the scene but instead of using the dolly wheels we used the tracks to do a tracking shot instead which made the movement of the camera smoother.
The soundtrack didn't suit the action that was going on. The soundtrack needed to decrease or increase to create tension. We needed to add stingers throughout the film in order to show the audience there was something tense happening to create a build up of tension.
We tried to make the scene look dark in the editing instead of natural darkness. This made the lighting look quite artificial and more blue than a night. We fixed this by importing all of those videos again and just left them with their natural lighting as we felt it looked better than it did when we tried to change the lighting through editing.
Another criticism was that when we have Alex looking at his watch and then it skips from 3 o'clock straight to 5 o'clock it looks artificial as no one understood what was really happening. To fix this we could have added a dissolve transition to make it looked as though time has passed and he had been waiting for a while.
When Stacey hits Alex over the head with a bottle in the kidnapping scene everyone thought it sounded more like a comedy kind of sound effect rather than a real hitting sound. We could add a louder sound effect to it to make the scene look more realistic and aggressive and more like a thriller.
When we filmed the dragging scene we couldn't see Alex's feet. We could re-film this scene and have Alex's feet in the shot to make it look like someone is actually being dragged because before all we could see was the floor so for some people it was confusing and they didn't really know what was going on.
The next criticism was the flashback scene was quite difficult for people to understand. No one really understood what it was, what was happening etc. We could add a fade to white instead a fade to black and we could add a flash transition to make it look more like a flashback scene and to make it more understandable.
In the kidnap scene we could film the scene as if the kidnapper is gradually getting closer to Alex to build up tension instead of just having the kidnapper appear in front of Alex straight away. This is because when the kidnapper appears straight away and then the film ends everyone thinks "what just happened" if the kidnapper gradually appears it will give the audience time to process that it is the kidnapper.
We could have the kidnap scene at the end as a point of view from Alex and then instead of using a transition to make it look as if he is being unblindfolded, we could use some black material to make it look more realistic like the kidnapper is taking the cloth off of his eyes.
Looking at the feedback we refilmed some parts of our film to improve it and make it look better.
From the comments we decided to move the place of this scene to make it look more realistic. As the scene was there were a lot of things that caused a distraction for the audience like the curtain and the picture so we changed the place we filmed. We also added an establishing shot of the school and the school bell to make it clear to the audience where the scene was taking place.
In this clip we decided to add in a graphic match from the bell to Stacey's eye, from the comments we received we thought that it would be a good idea to do this, it is to create tension as we know it is in a school and it also show the audience the expression on Stacey's face which creates tension.
This is before we made any changes. This is where Alex id following Stacey home. We then refilmed it and changed the angle of the camera to make it more understandable for the audience.
This scene is when Alex is waiting for Stacey to come out of her house, he looks at his watch so the audience knows how long he has been waiting there. We decided to change the scene back to natural lighting as we thought changing it to dark in the editing made the scene look artificial.
This is the part where Alex gets dragged away by Stacey after being hit over the head.
We refilmed this scene and kept the light natural as again we thought it looked artificial. We also refilmed it with Alex feet in the shot as we thought it was more understandable for the audience that there is someone being dragged.
We then improved the kidnapping scene as the lighting wasn't very good. We also made the jump scare more tense and realistic.
We made the whole scene using low key lighting so that the scene looked more dramatic and made the audience think more about what might be happening as before we felt the scene was a little bit too obvious like everyone knew what was about to happen.
My next post will be the final cut.
Here is our rough cut feedback;
The First bit of criticism we got was the fact that the camera was a little bit shaky, especially when we filmed the external scenes with Alex following Stacey. The camera was shaky because we used a dolly and moved it along the road which was bumpy this is why the camera was shaky. To fix this we refilmed the scene but instead of using the dolly wheels we used the tracks to do a tracking shot instead which made the movement of the camera smoother.
The soundtrack didn't suit the action that was going on. The soundtrack needed to decrease or increase to create tension. We needed to add stingers throughout the film in order to show the audience there was something tense happening to create a build up of tension.
We tried to make the scene look dark in the editing instead of natural darkness. This made the lighting look quite artificial and more blue than a night. We fixed this by importing all of those videos again and just left them with their natural lighting as we felt it looked better than it did when we tried to change the lighting through editing.
Another criticism was that when we have Alex looking at his watch and then it skips from 3 o'clock straight to 5 o'clock it looks artificial as no one understood what was really happening. To fix this we could have added a dissolve transition to make it looked as though time has passed and he had been waiting for a while.
When Stacey hits Alex over the head with a bottle in the kidnapping scene everyone thought it sounded more like a comedy kind of sound effect rather than a real hitting sound. We could add a louder sound effect to it to make the scene look more realistic and aggressive and more like a thriller.
When we filmed the dragging scene we couldn't see Alex's feet. We could re-film this scene and have Alex's feet in the shot to make it look like someone is actually being dragged because before all we could see was the floor so for some people it was confusing and they didn't really know what was going on.
The next criticism was the flashback scene was quite difficult for people to understand. No one really understood what it was, what was happening etc. We could add a fade to white instead a fade to black and we could add a flash transition to make it look more like a flashback scene and to make it more understandable.
In the kidnap scene we could film the scene as if the kidnapper is gradually getting closer to Alex to build up tension instead of just having the kidnapper appear in front of Alex straight away. This is because when the kidnapper appears straight away and then the film ends everyone thinks "what just happened" if the kidnapper gradually appears it will give the audience time to process that it is the kidnapper.
We could have the kidnap scene at the end as a point of view from Alex and then instead of using a transition to make it look as if he is being unblindfolded, we could use some black material to make it look more realistic like the kidnapper is taking the cloth off of his eyes.
Looking at the feedback we refilmed some parts of our film to improve it and make it look better.
From the comments we decided to move the place of this scene to make it look more realistic. As the scene was there were a lot of things that caused a distraction for the audience like the curtain and the picture so we changed the place we filmed. We also added an establishing shot of the school and the school bell to make it clear to the audience where the scene was taking place.
In this clip we decided to add in a graphic match from the bell to Stacey's eye, from the comments we received we thought that it would be a good idea to do this, it is to create tension as we know it is in a school and it also show the audience the expression on Stacey's face which creates tension.
This is before we made any changes. This is where Alex id following Stacey home. We then refilmed it and changed the angle of the camera to make it more understandable for the audience.
This scene is when Alex is waiting for Stacey to come out of her house, he looks at his watch so the audience knows how long he has been waiting there. We decided to change the scene back to natural lighting as we thought changing it to dark in the editing made the scene look artificial.
This is the part where Alex gets dragged away by Stacey after being hit over the head.
We refilmed this scene and kept the light natural as again we thought it looked artificial. We also refilmed it with Alex feet in the shot as we thought it was more understandable for the audience that there is someone being dragged.
We then improved the kidnapping scene as the lighting wasn't very good. We also made the jump scare more tense and realistic.
We made the whole scene using low key lighting so that the scene looked more dramatic and made the audience think more about what might be happening as before we felt the scene was a little bit too obvious like everyone knew what was about to happen.
My next post will be the final cut.
Rough Cut
After all of the planning, research, filming and editing here is the rough cut. We can make improvements from our rough cut to our final cut. This is just our very first attempt.
My next post will be the feedback, evaluation of feedback and making improvements.
My next post will be the feedback, evaluation of feedback and making improvements.
Title and Ident Construction
In this post I will be talking about our title and ident and how we constructed them in Final Cut Pro X. We had finished editing the rest of our film now all we needed to do was add our title and ident.
We used previous research from our blog that we have done throughout the year to see how the titles and idents should be constructed.
We added out idents at the start of the film which was our production group Optical Productions and Dynamite Films. We then added the titles; the producers, the actor, the actress etc. that we had appearing over the live action.
Here are our finished title and idents below;
We added a white title design so that we could ensure that is showed up on the live action in the background. it is simple but effective.
Our ident had been downloaded and we changed the name to our production company, we then added a soundtrack to it to make it look more realistic and make it more effective for people watching.
We all chose a ident that we thought would be suitable for our film and the name of our production company. The name dynamite matched the ident perfectly.
My next post will be the rough cut
We used previous research from our blog that we have done throughout the year to see how the titles and idents should be constructed.
We added out idents at the start of the film which was our production group Optical Productions and Dynamite Films. We then added the titles; the producers, the actor, the actress etc. that we had appearing over the live action.
Here are our finished title and idents below;
We added a white title design so that we could ensure that is showed up on the live action in the background. it is simple but effective.
Our ident had been downloaded and we changed the name to our production company, we then added a soundtrack to it to make it look more realistic and make it more effective for people watching.
We all chose a ident that we thought would be suitable for our film and the name of our production company. The name dynamite matched the ident perfectly.
My next post will be the rough cut
Monday 7 March 2016
Editing
In this post I am going to go through the editing process of out thriller opening Never Look Back.
Here are some shots of our editing;
In this screenshot we were deciding which soundtrack would work best with the live action going on. We wanted a soundtrack that was tense and sounded as if it was meant to be in a thriller and not in a comedy or horror film. That is what we are trying to do in the screen shot above.
In this screenshot we were changing the lighting in the editing because when we filmed the clips they were all filmed in the daylight. Some of the clips we wanted to be in the dark. This was to create a tense and dangerous atmosphere. When something bad is going to happen to someone it seems more realistic happening in the dark than in the light. This is why we were changing the lighting on some of the clips from day to night in the editing.
In this screenshot we added a sound effect underneath the clip of Alex being dragged by Stacey. This was a sound effect of something being dragged to give a better idea of what was happening to him. Without the sound effect it could have confused some people as to what it was.
In this screenshot we were adding a sound bridge. This was so that we could see the point of view from Alex but also hear his dialogue. If we had have put the two clips next to each other it would have been confusing as the dialogue would have been cut off which is why we had to put one clip on top and one clip underneath.
In this screenshot we were adding the title of the film. We tried different styles for our title but we made the decision that this one looked the best. We added the title at the end of the film, this is because we had the opening of the film and then after the title the rest of the film would start, we thought it looked better at the end than in the middle.
In this screenshot we added inputs and outputs so we could dip the sound whenever we needed to as the background noise was either too loud or didn't sound right with the soundtrack playing in the background so we had to adjust the sound of the clip in some parts.
In this screenshot we were adding the titles over the live action. We had to decide where to put them and what colour to have them. This is because we needed a colour that would stand out in the scene as the action in the background was moving. For example, if we had white titles that moved onto a white background then it wouldn't look right and you would be able to see them so we had to make sure the titles went perfectly with the live action in the background.
In this screenshot we were editing the flashback scene. We added in a transaction between the flashback scene and the scene before that. We added a flashing transaction so that the audience knows it is a flashback scene and they didn't get confused.
My next post will be the title and ident construction.
Shooting on Location Diary
Day 1
We have now started the process of filming our opening for our thriller Never Look Back which is very exciting. All equipment is booked and the actors and crew are ready. Below is a diary of our first day of filming.
The very first day of filming was spent at our first location which was Annie's house (Stacey in the film), filming the flashback scene with Stacey and her dad. In the scene Stacey is sitting in the corner of her house on the floor doing her homework,when her dad approaches her and hits her. Stacey is seen cowering in the corner looking very scared and vulnerable.
Before we could hit record there were a few things that we needed to sort out, things such as the lighting as the sun was reflecting onto the wall which was affecting the lighting on the camera. We also had to make sure that Annie was in the perfect spot in her house in order to set the scene as being dark, dull and miserable to represent how Stacey must be feeling in the film. We had to ensure that all objects were out of the way that could cause continuity.
Firstly we had a rehearsal of Stacey's dad going to hit her and her cowering in the corner just to make sure the framing was right and we had to ensure that the camera was in the right position. We wanted Stacey to be sitting in the corner on the floor to represent how vulnerable she is feeling. This gives the viewers the impression that Stacey is inferior to her dad as she is in the corner and sitting on the floor instead of at the table.
This shot took a few takes as we needed to make sure that the framing was perfect when Stacey's dad was going to hit her. We needed to make sure that he wasn't blocking the shot and we needed to make sure it looked realistic when he went to hit her.
However, we made a big mistake. After filming the flashback scene we started to pack all of the equipment away and we realized
that we forgot the dialogue so we decided to do the flashback scene another day.
Day 2
After our first unsuccessful day of shooting, forgetting the dialogue. We were hoping for a better day of shooting on the second day.
In this day of shooting we filmed more of the outside scenes, when Alex is following Stacey home from school.
Below is a diary of our day 2 of shooting.
The first bit of footage we filmed was Kyle storming out of the Media suite after Stacey. We first placed the camera inside the Media suite and panned Kyle storming out of the door. We then took the camera outside and placed it looking at the door. We did this to create a match on action when we did the editing.
We then took the camera and the equipment down to the brook where we continued to film Kyle following Annie home. We placed the camera behind him and watched Annie and Kyle walk down the brook away from the camera. We then used a pedestal shot and a tracking shot to make you feel like you are walking with Kyle. When we filmed this shot tracking Kyle we did it hand-held to give it a more realistic feel as if you are there with him.
Day 3
We have now started the process of filming our opening for our thriller Never Look Back which is very exciting. All equipment is booked and the actors and crew are ready. Below is a diary of our first day of filming.
The very first day of filming was spent at our first location which was Annie's house (Stacey in the film), filming the flashback scene with Stacey and her dad. In the scene Stacey is sitting in the corner of her house on the floor doing her homework,when her dad approaches her and hits her. Stacey is seen cowering in the corner looking very scared and vulnerable.
Before we could hit record there were a few things that we needed to sort out, things such as the lighting as the sun was reflecting onto the wall which was affecting the lighting on the camera. We also had to make sure that Annie was in the perfect spot in her house in order to set the scene as being dark, dull and miserable to represent how Stacey must be feeling in the film. We had to ensure that all objects were out of the way that could cause continuity.
Firstly we had a rehearsal of Stacey's dad going to hit her and her cowering in the corner just to make sure the framing was right and we had to ensure that the camera was in the right position. We wanted Stacey to be sitting in the corner on the floor to represent how vulnerable she is feeling. This gives the viewers the impression that Stacey is inferior to her dad as she is in the corner and sitting on the floor instead of at the table.
This shot took a few takes as we needed to make sure that the framing was perfect when Stacey's dad was going to hit her. We needed to make sure that he wasn't blocking the shot and we needed to make sure it looked realistic when he went to hit her.
However, we made a big mistake. After filming the flashback scene we started to pack all of the equipment away and we realized
Day 2
After our first unsuccessful day of shooting, forgetting the dialogue. We were hoping for a better day of shooting on the second day.
In this day of shooting we filmed more of the outside scenes, when Alex is following Stacey home from school.
Below is a diary of our day 2 of shooting.
The first bit of footage we filmed was Kyle storming out of the Media suite after Stacey. We first placed the camera inside the Media suite and panned Kyle storming out of the door. We then took the camera outside and placed it looking at the door. We did this to create a match on action when we did the editing.
We then took the camera and the equipment down to the brook where we continued to film Kyle following Annie home. We placed the camera behind him and watched Annie and Kyle walk down the brook away from the camera. We then used a pedestal shot and a tracking shot to make you feel like you are walking with Kyle. When we filmed this shot tracking Kyle we did it hand-held to give it a more realistic feel as if you are there with him.
Day 3
After a successful day of shooting. We were hopeful that day 3 would be the same. In today's shooting we filmed mostly outside. However, we also did the flashback scene again after our first unsuccessful attempt the first time.
Here is a diary of how day 3 went.
The first bit of footage we filmed was the flashback scene (again). We again had to get the camera in the perfect position as we had the same lighting issue. The light was reflecting on the wall so it effected our lighting a little bit but we managed to sort it out in the end. The camera was positioned perfectly so we rehearsed the scene before pressing record just to make sure it looked the way we hoped it would. The scene was perfect (we remembered the dialogue this time) so we moved on to the next scene.
The second bit of footage we filmed was Kyle following Annie out of the brook and then to her house. In this part of the scene we used a dolly to move backwards as Annie was walking towards the camera. Also in the shot we see Kyle crossing the road making the audience suspicious of where he is going.
There were a few obstacles to overcome when shooting this scene as it was quite wet and windy. The camera did wobble and shake a few times and also there were bumps in the floor so when we used the dolly it caused the camera to shake and wobble. We had to film this scene a few times to ensure that it looked perfect.
The next bit we filmed was Alex Watching Stacey from across the road. First we filmed a long shot of Kyle from across the road so we could get a better idea of where he was and where he was standing.
We then went over to where Kyle was standing and filmed an over the shoulder shot so the audience can see what Alex is seeing from his point of view. For the over the shoulder shot it was quite difficult to get the positioning of the camera perfect as we had to do it hand-held to make it look more realistic.
The next bit we filmed was the close-up of Alex's watch. This was a very difficult part to film as we used a hand-held shot again but this time the camera had to be at a high angle to make it look like we are looking down at Alex's watch from his point of view so we had to hold the camera up quite high which wasn't easy. We filmed this scene a few times to make sure there were no mistakes and it was perfectly filmed.
The next bit we filmed was Alex being hit over the head with a glass bottle. This was a very difficult scene to film as we had two people holding the camera one had the camera as the point of view of Stacy and the other had to stand in front of the camera to hit Kyle over the head with a bottle. This was the part that we filmed the most takes as it was quite hard to get right.
The final part of filming for the day was the part of Stacey dragging Alex away. This was quite an easy part to film as all we had to do was hold the camera quite low to the ground and walk backwards as if it's from the point of view of Alex.
That concluded our day 3 of filming.
The first bit of footage we filmed was the flashback scene (again). We again had to get the camera in the perfect position as we had the same lighting issue. The light was reflecting on the wall so it effected our lighting a little bit but we managed to sort it out in the end. The camera was positioned perfectly so we rehearsed the scene before pressing record just to make sure it looked the way we hoped it would. The scene was perfect (we remembered the dialogue this time) so we moved on to the next scene.
The second bit of footage we filmed was Kyle following Annie out of the brook and then to her house. In this part of the scene we used a dolly to move backwards as Annie was walking towards the camera. Also in the shot we see Kyle crossing the road making the audience suspicious of where he is going.
There were a few obstacles to overcome when shooting this scene as it was quite wet and windy. The camera did wobble and shake a few times and also there were bumps in the floor so when we used the dolly it caused the camera to shake and wobble. We had to film this scene a few times to ensure that it looked perfect.
The next bit we filmed was Alex Watching Stacey from across the road. First we filmed a long shot of Kyle from across the road so we could get a better idea of where he was and where he was standing.
We then went over to where Kyle was standing and filmed an over the shoulder shot so the audience can see what Alex is seeing from his point of view. For the over the shoulder shot it was quite difficult to get the positioning of the camera perfect as we had to do it hand-held to make it look more realistic.
The next bit we filmed was the close-up of Alex's watch. This was a very difficult part to film as we used a hand-held shot again but this time the camera had to be at a high angle to make it look like we are looking down at Alex's watch from his point of view so we had to hold the camera up quite high which wasn't easy. We filmed this scene a few times to make sure there were no mistakes and it was perfectly filmed.
The next bit we filmed was Alex being hit over the head with a glass bottle. This was a very difficult scene to film as we had two people holding the camera one had the camera as the point of view of Stacy and the other had to stand in front of the camera to hit Kyle over the head with a bottle. This was the part that we filmed the most takes as it was quite hard to get right.
The final part of filming for the day was the part of Stacey dragging Alex away. This was quite an easy part to film as all we had to do was hold the camera quite low to the ground and walk backwards as if it's from the point of view of Alex.
That concluded our day 3 of filming.
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