Since the begin of the prject when we first gathered ideas for our opening, many changes and adaptations have been made which has improved the outcome of our results. One progression we have made is to change to initial plot of our opening. To begin with, are opning was going to be a thriller with a horror sub genre about a baby who committed a numerous amount of killing due to a mental illness it had. As a group we decided to go against this due to the fact we would have to work with a baby doll. This we realised would prove to be too difficult because it wasn't a live person, so it would be hard to create effective shots are gain a sense of verisimilitude in the opening. Therefore we used one of the member in our group, Callum, to act as the antagonist who murders two people. This made it easier for us because it meant we could have callum act specifically how we wanted the main character to appear.
Also, we had initailly decided to film much of our opening in a corridor and stairs. It was hard to get shots looking effective becuas the camera always looked postioned very much the same here as this area was too small. Therefore, when then felt as a group, we would only use this location to place the dead bodies at the end of our opening. However, after taking into consideration feedback from our teacher and also looking at how this would appear, we decided to go against using the corridor/stairs altogether. This is because, placing the bodies here would seem random because there was no reason to change the location of the victims body once they had been killed.
Saturday 26 March 2011
Thursday 24 March 2011
Filming 08/03
In this filming session, me and my group's main focus was to complete the shots we were told to do by our teachers feedback. This ment just touching up different areas of our opening to boost are grade at the end of the project. The first thing we done which our teacher said needed doing was using a pan of the dead body at the end of the first killing scene in the specific location where the killing took place. This was a success because ending the scene with a pan made the introduction of the next scene smoother.
Next, we needed to add a POV shot of the antagonist killing his victim outside on the bench. However, as the antagonist was standing up his victim was sitting down, this made it hard to use the POV shot. This is because when trying to film the scene, I could not get a high enough angle to shot both the killer and victim becuase the victim was too low down. Therefore as a group, we decided to change this shot and have one from a different angle which allowed the viewer to see the antagonist grab the victim so it was a lot clearer. Also, this added more diversity to our thriller opening.
Lastly, we also added a ending shot which was of the antagonist walking away, this was shot from a LA and the camera gradually tracked upwards so the antagonist became in full view. In this shot the title of our film "The revenge of Toby Hackett" will appear. This will be the final shot to end our opening that will dip to black at the end which looks smooth, giving a neat end to our thriller.
Next, we needed to add a POV shot of the antagonist killing his victim outside on the bench. However, as the antagonist was standing up his victim was sitting down, this made it hard to use the POV shot. This is because when trying to film the scene, I could not get a high enough angle to shot both the killer and victim becuase the victim was too low down. Therefore as a group, we decided to change this shot and have one from a different angle which allowed the viewer to see the antagonist grab the victim so it was a lot clearer. Also, this added more diversity to our thriller opening.
Lastly, we also added a ending shot which was of the antagonist walking away, this was shot from a LA and the camera gradually tracked upwards so the antagonist became in full view. In this shot the title of our film "The revenge of Toby Hackett" will appear. This will be the final shot to end our opening that will dip to black at the end which looks smooth, giving a neat end to our thriller.
Filming 01/03
In this filming session, my group didnt have any major filming to do and was just improvements on bits of our opening we noticed could be better when watching the footage back. One of these improvements was to re-do the shot where the antagonist captures his victim inside the lift for the second killing scene. Initially we had a shot of him grabbing the victim for a prolonged period of time while waiting for the elevator doors to close. This did not look natural because the victim did not put up a fight while we waited for the doors to shut, which decreased teh verisimilitude of the film. Therefore we decided to cut this shot a lot sooner and then get another MS of the elevator doors closing outside the lift where you couldn't see the two characters inside the elevator. Also, this added to the suspense becuase the audience is not able to see what is happening inside the lift so more excitement is generated when they are shown the antagonist walk out with the victims body on the floor.
The next shot we re-done was the point of view shot of the antagonist rushing up the stairs whilst holding the camera free hand for the second killing scene. This shot again adds suspense becuase its as if the audience is placed in the view point of the antagonist to connect the viewer. This shot was hard to perfect as doing it free hand ment it was diffucult to get a good camera level as it was sometimes jerky.
The next shot we re-done was the point of view shot of the antagonist rushing up the stairs whilst holding the camera free hand for the second killing scene. This shot again adds suspense becuase its as if the audience is placed in the view point of the antagonist to connect the viewer. This shot was hard to perfect as doing it free hand ment it was diffucult to get a good camera level as it was sometimes jerky.
Individual Progression
At the beginning of our prjoect, I was very concerned about achieving a good grade due to my lack of skills using Premiere, which we had to use to make and edit our opening. This is because I had not used it before and therefore felt that my film would suffer as a consquence.
However, throughout the progression of our project, I have become increasingly confident about using this software on the Apple Mac laptops to improve my work. I now know how to load footage I filmed on the video camera onto imovie which you then put onto Premiere. Also, I have learnt how to shorten clips down to make them appear how you want on your film. Lastly, I know how to use affects such as "dip to black" and "black and white" which I have included in my opening which has improved the outcome of our are film so far.
Having the knowledge to use Premiere will help improve the grade of my finished film. This is because its give me freedom to do what I want with the filming I have got so that me and my group can use a variety of features to make the film appear how wish it to to so meet are brief in the best possible way, which is to create a two minute opening of a film in the thriller genre.
However, throughout the progression of our project, I have become increasingly confident about using this software on the Apple Mac laptops to improve my work. I now know how to load footage I filmed on the video camera onto imovie which you then put onto Premiere. Also, I have learnt how to shorten clips down to make them appear how you want on your film. Lastly, I know how to use affects such as "dip to black" and "black and white" which I have included in my opening which has improved the outcome of our are film so far.
Having the knowledge to use Premiere will help improve the grade of my finished film. This is because its give me freedom to do what I want with the filming I have got so that me and my group can use a variety of features to make the film appear how wish it to to so meet are brief in the best possible way, which is to create a two minute opening of a film in the thriller genre.
Sunday 20 March 2011
Teacher feedback
Our teacher thought that our film opening was coming on well but could see a few areas which needed some improvement to bump are grade up. One of these areas was not to include the scene we had in the stairs/corridor where we initially had an idea to pan over the dead bodies are the end of each killing scene. This is because the teacher didn't think it flowed well to change the location of killing and put the victims body in a random place. Instead, we were told to use pan of the bodies in the same location where they died and dip to black at the end of the pan to begin the next scene.
Furthermore, our teacher also thought that some shots were not edited smoothly enough and therefore did not look natural, decreasing the films verisimilitude. An example of this was when the killer grabs the victim in the second death scene in the elevator. This is because the shot was not cut quickly enough as we tried to wait for the elevator doors to close which took too long. Therefore we re-done this and used a shot from outside the elevator so you were unable to see the killer grabbing the victim for a prolonged period of time so it looked natural.
Lastly, our teacher did not think that the baby music we originally believed we would use would work well. This is because we had changed our idea a few times as we progressed until it got to the point where our opeing wasnothing to do with a baby, so the music didn't seem right. The teacher suggested we should look for more music which still created tension bu was relevant to our thriller opening.
Furthermore, our teacher also thought that some shots were not edited smoothly enough and therefore did not look natural, decreasing the films verisimilitude. An example of this was when the killer grabs the victim in the second death scene in the elevator. This is because the shot was not cut quickly enough as we tried to wait for the elevator doors to close which took too long. Therefore we re-done this and used a shot from outside the elevator so you were unable to see the killer grabbing the victim for a prolonged period of time so it looked natural.
Lastly, our teacher did not think that the baby music we originally believed we would use would work well. This is because we had changed our idea a few times as we progressed until it got to the point where our opeing wasnothing to do with a baby, so the music didn't seem right. The teacher suggested we should look for more music which still created tension bu was relevant to our thriller opening.
Filming 15/02
In this filming session, me and my group filmed by the elevator for the second killing scene, where we hoped to lay down a total of 30 seconds for our thriller opening. Here we took into consideration past filming sessions where we noticed that we did not include enough diversity previously in terms of shot distances. Therefore, in this section we inluded a range of shots distances such as a over the shoulder CU of the victim pushing the button for the elevator. Also, a MS of the victim in the lift. Moreover, we included an over the shoulder shot CU of the victim which shows a LS of the killer in the background, which added more variety because it was like two different shot distances in one. This would keep the audience attracted to the film as there is lots of different things going on in a short period of time. Also, in this filming session, I did a free hand shot, waking quickly the camera up the stairs, to create the affect that the killer is tracking his victim. Doing it free hand made the shot shaky creating pace, which entices to audience as a tense atmosphere develops. Also, we believed this was agood idea becuase it is a type of shot commonly seen in thriller movies, which is our target genre.
Although we included various shots, we did not plan these shots before we began filming and came up with the ideas while we worked. This meant that alot of our filming time was interupted while we thought of shots to use, which lost us editing time after filming. Furthermore, we also got confused on more than one occasion when we filmed in different areas. This is because we were concious braking the 180 degree rule as we lost track of the differenct places we had filmed from.
Aspects to consider for next time:
When we next filmed, we need to ensure that we have an effective plan of shots to use so we and ready to go and do all are filming fluenty without changing anything. This is so that are time was used efficiently so that we could get the shots done quickly and go and edit them so are project was pushed further forward. Lastly, we must make sure that we keep a good track of what shots we have done and where these were done. This is so we knew where we could film and where would be breaking the 180 degree rule.
Although we included various shots, we did not plan these shots before we began filming and came up with the ideas while we worked. This meant that alot of our filming time was interupted while we thought of shots to use, which lost us editing time after filming. Furthermore, we also got confused on more than one occasion when we filmed in different areas. This is because we were concious braking the 180 degree rule as we lost track of the differenct places we had filmed from.
Aspects to consider for next time:
When we next filmed, we need to ensure that we have an effective plan of shots to use so we and ready to go and do all are filming fluenty without changing anything. This is so that are time was used efficiently so that we could get the shots done quickly and go and edit them so are project was pushed further forward. Lastly, we must make sure that we keep a good track of what shots we have done and where these were done. This is so we knew where we could film and where would be breaking the 180 degree rule.
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