Sunday 20 February 2011

Editing 14/02

In this editing session, my group managed to edit the first 40 seconds of our opening to how we wanted it. This was the first proper piece of editing we had done since filming parts of our opening. I believe it helped us majorly, in pushin on with our project. This is because it ment we has the first bits of our film layed down so we could progress further. Also, having this done ment we could show it to our teacher which he could then evaluate for us to give us advice on how to improve it to aid are marks. The first thing we done in the editing task was to put the appropriate titles over our film at the correct time which we managed, although we still haven't decided wether to change the font or not. One difficulty we faced was changing the colouring which we wanted to be black and white for our flashbacks. This was proving tough trying to set the colouring, as it made it look graphic, decreasing the verisimilitude. However, we over came this when we found a black and white feature in Premiere which changed the colour to black and white automatically. Another aspect which we thought may make the editing stage hard was the amount of shots we had to choose from. In our second filming session, we included many different shots so we couild choose the best one which we believe may be hard to lay down on Premiere as we would need to look at all the different ones and choose what works best once edited. However, this actually worked to our advantage becuase we had plenty of shots to work with. Therefore we learnt from this editing session that the more increasing number of shots you have makes it easier in the post-production stage when editing as you have more choice.

Furthermore, when editing we changed an idea we initially thought we would use for our film. We decided to go against using the pan  and tracking over the dead bodies to begin our film. Instead, our group decided to begin with the flash back scene and then use the 'dip to black' tool to fade into the dead bodies after the flashback. This means that the film will be more engaging from the start, as this scene is high action, so the audience;s attention is captured straight away.

Aspects to consider for next time:

Our group need to decide what font we would like for the titles. This is because the font we have at the moment does not look very good and was only picked quickly, so we could progress with the rest. Having a good, appropriate font that fits the conventions of a thriller will make the finished production look more professional.

Filming 07/02

In this filming session our group was a lot more productive than last time, so we achieved more filming, helping us progress. This is because it was our second try at filming, meaning that our teachers and peers gave us advice on how to improve the quality of our work. As some of our filiming was a good enough standard first time round, we began re-shooting the opening 15 to 30 seconds of our film opening at the stairs/corridor. This time, we used a variety of different shots again which worked well last time round such as mid shots and close ups of the characters and long shots of the location. However, the lighting was not great when we tried for the first time, so this time round we used a lamp effectively, by moving it around where we would be shooting, trying lots of different shots to find the best possible way to do this shot.
Once this scene was done, we were able to move forward and shot another scene, this was of the main antagonist character. We wanted to make sure he had the dominance of the scene as he is the foremost character; therefore we made sure he had the most screen time as this connotes this importance in the rest of the film to the audience. This part of the film is a flashback of the antagonist killing his victims, so my group thought this part of the film would be best suited in black and white. This is because black and white often is used to show something which has occured in the past. Furthermore, in this session we stretched our shot type further, by using close ups, mid shots and long shots, as well as including ones we hadnt tried such as point of view and over the shoulder shots, making our film opening more diverse.

Aspects to consider next time:

Overall, this was a successful filming session as we completed the beginning shots for our film and then managed to get started on the next scene. However, on starting the next scene, as we are filming in a school, we were forced to stop as it got the lunch time when pupils were in the way. This means next time we have to plan what time we are filming better so that we get what we need done without people distracting us.
Also, we should talk through what the actors will be doing e.g. exactly where they should be positioned and how they should be acting. This is because sometimes we were slowed down slightly becuase the actors were unclear on what they were ment to be doing in order to achieve best results.

Monday 14 February 2011

Filming 31/01

The aim for our first filming session was to get the beginning 15 seconds laid down that we could work with and begin to progress with our project. This part of the film was set in the corridor/stairs, where the camera tracks along the dead bodies in the dark, lit up artificially by lamp shades. As a group we realised that we could use new shots such as close ups and mid shots to create more variety and engage the audience, reducing the repetition. The location is a basement; therefore we wanted the lighting to be high-key artificial lighting, when filming it was noticed that the shots were dark and blurry because we were shooting in a dark room. We therefore had to re-evaluate the shot to solve this problem. We came up with an idea to use a lamp which was enough artificial light to brighten up the corridor so that the bodies of the actors could be seen clearly to the audience in this scene.


Aspects to consider next time:


When we next film, we must make sure that we carry on using a variety of shots. This is so the film is more engaging, whilst improving our marks for the film because we are showing that we can use a numerous amount of shot types and distances.
Also, our next filming session should have suitable lighting to aid the quality of our final piece. This means lighting should be bright enough to see whats happening in the shot but dark enough to stay within the scary, tense atmosphere often created in horror movies. 
Lastly, as we wasted time sortin and correcting the lighting, we wasted time. So next time, our group should plan our filming time efficiently so we get more filming completed and push on futher with our project.