Skills Audit: Editing

Our Skills Audits we were taught at the beggining of our Film project were vital for us to complete our final piece of work. The skills we were taught such as;

Final cut pro- cutting clips, changing speed, changing colour, adding edits

Livetype- creating text, changing its colour, adding effects, adding backgrounds, changing the style,

Sound Track Pro- Listening to the music, playing more than one track at the same time, fading sounds in and our, adding sound effects,

and overall just knowing how to use the programme.

Before beggining editing, our way of keeping all our shots organised was to arange them in order and rename each shot. This allowed us to allocate each shot easily once they were imported into final cut pro.
By then following the storyboard we was able to start putting the shots onto the timeline including extra shots we had filmed. For the changing of scene we put in "fade" edits to allow our film to flow. We began our shots with the woman in a urban enviroment. This gave the film an instant calm feel. Soon as the scene begins to change the normality of our film begins to disapear and the audience will realise somethings wrong with this "woods" setting. In order to make our "wood" settings stand out more, we changed the speed of the shots to a slower pace and added a black and white effect to some of them.
Changing the shots to differeng setting also allowed us to create an elipses. Cutting to the "wood" shots then back to the woman meant that we could skip time and put her in a different place each time rather than filming her whole movement.
The last shot of the woman throwing away the key was our most meaningful shot of our opening. The woman throwing away the key implied that she had something in her past she wanted to hide and she was doing this by throwing away the evidence to it.

Skills audit: Filming

(couldnt add any images to this blog as blogger says it has no more space for images)

During our filming process we spent 2 days filming.

For both days of filming we brought our storyboard along with us. This aloud us to follow what we had planned and reminded us what we wanted to do. Aswell as this, being in the setting also aloud us to realise other shots we could include.

We spent one day (saturday) up Highgate woods. We found it difficult filming in the woods as we were only filming the setting and not an action therefore deciding the shot angles etc was a struggle. However we filmed Tracking shots, Panning shots, High angle shots, Low angle shots, Establishing shots. When filming we just experimented with these types of shots and all took turns with the camera, to see if each of us could make these shots work in different ways.

Our second day of filming was the following tuesday at London Bridge. In order to film in the station we had to get a permission pass from the station offices. Once we started filming there was a lot of people around. In order to ensure that our shots were not disturbed by the people around us we filmed each shot a number of times. When filming the "tunnel shots" the area was a lot less busy therefore only had to take around 3 takes of each shot. However because of this we decided that we had extra time therefore filmed the shots in a number of different angles to give us a wider choice when editing. The bridge shots were most difficult as this road was very busy one minute, and the next minute only had a couple of people on it. This meant that when we were filming a tracking shot, people would walk in front of the camera or people who were vising the area would wave thinking we were famous.

On both days of filming we had to film a 2minute sound shot of each setting we used. This was so that if we wanted to use natural sound in our final piece it would match up.

Overall i enjoyed our filming experience. It was hard work but our whole group was very pleased with the shots we ended up with.

Changes in light of feedback from rough cut

From our rough cut there were only a couple changes we realised needed to be done.

When recieving feedback from our rough cut we were told that there was not much to split our shots of the woman from the wood shots. Although we planned on letting the music create the distance between these two shots, we also decided to change the wood shots slightly. On final cut pro we learnt how to slow down the motion of the clips and we also took away the colour leaving some of the clips in black and white. I think this gave these shots a more "thriller" feel to them.

Although we had not added the sound in our rough cut, when watching it back, we realised and so did others that some of the natural sound in our shots could not be used. There was a shot in the woods that we could not use the natural sound on as you can hear football players shouting in the background. There was also a clip of the woman on the bridge that we could not use as before the clip end the members of our group begin to talk. However we fixed these faults when adding sound so it did not effect our final piece.

Amber Bradley's Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of a real media product?

The conversation

Similar to our film "Twisted," the sequence for "The Conversation" is established in a busy urban environment. In our sequence this is where the antagonist is introduced. Urban areas are regularly used in thrillers because it fits some of the popular occurring story-lines involving characters who suit this surrounding.

Other conventions of the opening of the thriller genre may include; establishing the main characters, keys props, close up shots, fast pace actions and some others.

In our film "Twisted" we shot a close up of a woman to establish her as the main character and get the audience to familiarize themselves with her. We also filmed a close up of our main prop which was a "key" to establish to the audience that this prop will be something important to the story-line.

The main character throwing something away creates tension and suspense. It tells the audience that she has done something which she wants to forget.

Although our opening is not particulary fast pace, we felt it contained suspence by cross cutting between 2 settings, the fast urban environment and the bleak annonomous empty woods.

The titles in our sequence are simple but the edit is edgy and creates a sense of fear.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Our film represents an urban middle class life, whe

re a wealthy woman has killed her boyfriend because of domestic abuse.

In marathon man the protagonist is introduced running in an empty park, dressed in casual clothes.

Although my film opens with a si

milar theme of a woman traveling, she is not the protagonist but is the antagonist. We show this by making her stand out in a busy urban area because she is on her own, wearing big sunglasses to cover her face and once she is at her destination she throws something away showing she is trying to forget something. Her smart blazer, designer bag and smart boots show she is quite a sofisticated woman and is wealthy.

In thriller films, they do not normally give away immediately at the beginning who the antagonist is. This was our aim. Although by making our antagonist throw something away showing she has a secret, the way we dressed her does not give her secrets away. she looks "normal." Another film that does this is Jennifer's Body.

Although megan fox plays the antagonist in this film, the way she is dressed does not give this away.

Link to Jennifer's Body Official Website

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product

and why? How will you attract/ address your audience?

This student film has 5,612 views and has been online on youtube for a year.

I have an online marketing strategy and this is a step by step account of how i am going

to construct that strategy. In order to make my film successful on line, i am going to begin

by creating a vimeo. Once this has received a lot of hits i will then upload my video onto

youtube. I can do this because i am aware that it can now be successful. In order to

introduce people to my film i will create a Facebook page to advertise it and send a link

onto friends i have on this networking site. I could also have a screening of the film for

friends/ family and piers to introduce them to the film officially. I will then ask friends to

send this onto their friends and i think this is a good strategy to get a lot of hits. As well

as using youtube i could use other networking sites such as; Myspace, Bebo, Twitter etc.

I could also try to get my film into independent film festivals such as Raindance and they

may then put my film onto their virtual film websites.

Here is an example of a Facebook page specifically for films-

http://www.facebook.com/Film

Who will be your audience for your media product?

When preparing out opening sequence to our thriller, we had to think about our audience. Our audience would be aged between 20- 35, 80% skewed female, and their class will be C2DE.

Our audience is is Technically Savvy and is likely to be working class (profession such as admin officer/ secretary), enjoys socialising with friends, regular cinema visitor, will have their own page on a social networking site (most likely facebook or twitter), reads often (books aswell as celebrity magazines), owns a blackberry, uses public transport, takes pride in their image, busy scheduled, keeps a diary, healthy diet, has an ipod.

This is an image of what you may find in our audiences bag:

This bag belongs to Jennifer. She is a 26 year old woman who works as a receptionist in a solicitors firm.

· NOW magazine

· Diary and Pen

· Purse

· Hand cream

· Selfridges Receipt

· Water Bottle

· Blackberry

· Cinema Discount Vouchers

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

Before starting our film project all 3members of my group were new to everything. None of us had any experience therefore during preperation, filming and editing, we picked up loads of new skills.

Research and preperation:

Before we started filming we had to learn about different genres within the thriller genre. To research these we used the search engine google to look at various websites.

We watched various thriller films, including marathon man, to gain ideas on what skills are used in filming a thriller film e.g. camera angles, shots, music etc.

We watched openings of various thriller films to give us even more of an idea of what to include in our opening. We looked at the camera pace, match cuts, music, titles, and other aspects. We watched these clips mainly on youtube.

Before starting this product i did not realise the usefullness of google and youtube. The information we found out on google was easy to access and helped us a lot with our project. The clips we watched on youtube were easy to access and their was a wide range that we could study and analyse.

Productions:

When filming, we used our storyboard to help us keep track of what we needed to do. The storyboard aloud us to plan in advance; the angles of each shot, the mise en scene, the location and to know who in the group is going to be doing what. It kept us organised and allowed us to seperate tasks into the short time we had. A shot i think we used well in our thriller was the low angle shot of the woman on the bridge. The low angle shot made her look weak as she was so far away from the camera and her surrounding was very big compared to her. When filming we had to take into consideration the weather conditions. This is for the safety of the camera and also the different weather conditions would effect the editing of our final work. When filming shots for our match cut, one thing we need to do is make sure there arent any people in one shot that wouldnt be in the next, as it will look unproffesional. The area we chose (london bridge) was hard for our filming as the amount of people in the area changed rapidly. One minute the area would be empty and the next it would be crow

ded. If we was to film this project again, although i feel we edited it well, i would choose a setting that has a lot less people travelling through it.

Editing:

When editing out final piece of work, we put a lot of effort and time into making it as proffesional as we could. Our preliminary task helped us rehearse for this task and gave us the chance to get used to the software we needed to use.

Our edits from one setting to the other did not fit when we first put them onto Final Cut Pro, so we experimented with different effects to the find the one we thought suited them best.

For our match cuts we took a lot of time, playing the clips in slow motion, to make sure that they looked neat and accurate. We also included shot reverse shot when editing.

To create our titles we used "live Type". This programme contained a number of text styles, sizes, colours and also different effects. You could choose where on the page the font will appear and also decide whether you want a plain background or whether you would like the texts to go over your video. We chose to have our titles over our video as we wanting the tension to continue building and we felt that having a black screen seperationg the clips at any point would reduce the tension built.

For our music we used "Soundtrack Pro." On this programme we could upload our video and playback music over our clip, to see what went well and what didnt. The programme had loads of different styles of music, as well as different sound effect and it also allowed you to overlap sounds. This helped us to make our music as unique as we could. We used two different music clips onto our track, one to suit each setting. In order to make the music sound proffesional we had to learn how to fade it in and out and where it was appropriate to overlap. We also used some natural sound in our thriller opening.

We also put togever a video which explains in word out experiance of different technologies during out filming process -->

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the

progression from it to the full product?

Our preliminary match cut exercise gave us an idea of how the process of making our final opening sequence would be. Firstly we drew up a story board in a single lesson and in our next double lesson we filmed for an hour, then spent the rest of our time editing this work.

our main problem with this exercise was that the camera was not in focus. Although we focused the camera when we started, we did not focus it after every shot which meant that it did not stay in focus. this made the film look unprofessional and was hard to see. This made us extra aware when filming our final piece and we checked after every shot that the camera was in focus. If we did not do this then we would have had to reshoot everything.

This clip shows a shot from our preliminary exercise and shows that the camera was unfocused

When filming our preliminary match cut we did not take a variety of footage. Rather than filming each shot from different angles, we planned what angle we wanted and just shot that. This meant that we could not change our mind about the way the shots would match therefore could not improve anything we didn't like. However because of this, we remembered to film each shot in loads of different angles for our final piece which gave us a wider variety of choice.

When filming our preliminary match cut we did not line up shots properly. This made our film look unprofessional and messy. Because of this, in our spare time we asked for help off one of the technicians who taught us how to line up shots properly and this allowed us to use this skill in our final film.

This clip shows that our shot was not lined up in our preliminary film. T'sharna's head is cut out.

Audience feedback and comments?

After our screening at the cinema, we got feedback off of some of our audience.

This image shows the words that came up most often:

We used Wordle to create this image.

We also asked one member of the audience to give us a video feedback of what they thought and what they would improve:

This interview was filmed in City And Islington College!!

story board

This is the storyboard of our thriller opening. We imagined 26 shots that we were going to film, however once we started filming we realised that our shots would change. When looking at our storyboard then watchin out final piece of work you will notice a difference as a lot of shots have changed. However I feel we did follow our storyboard well in term of the order that things happen but the angles of the shots had changed completely. I think this is because we had not been to the setting and thought about the shots before creating the storyboard therefore we did not know what would work and what would not.

Pitch

Before we started filming our Opening Sequence for out thriller, we had to present a pitch to our teachers.

We had to discuss our original plot with of our film. Our original idea was a Hansel and Gretel themed thriller, involving parents leaving their children in danger because of financial situations. Although this was our original plan, we went on to changing it as we thought our new idea was a lot more appropriate.

Our new plot ended up being about a woman, who has murdered her fiance for unknown reasons and throughout the film she tries to move on with life, but her past begins to haunt her and is slowly revealed.

In our pitch we revealed that we would film in Highgate woods and around the London bridge area. Our setting did not change. We chose these settings because we felt that Highgate woods would give a scary edgy feel to the opening. We chose London bridge because it is a calm urban area that fitted with the woman's lifestyle and character.

We also had to discuss safety aspect when presenting our pitch. These were things such as; DONT film in the rain, DONT touch the lens with your fingers, DO keep the camera in its case when were not using it, DO always remember to cover the lens when not using it.

We did a rough story board to give an idea of what our opening would look like. in this storyboard we had to display different shot to capture our characters in different angles. Each shot would be shot with a Point Of Vue shot, Close Up, Over Shoulder Shot, Pan, Long shot and some others.

Our pitch made us realise that we did have some faults in our plan such as the story line. It gave us the chance to go over our plan and change it so that it was improved. One we made these changes we had a clear idea of what to start doing first.

Rough Cut of Thriller Opening

This is our rough cut edit of our thriller opening. We have not yet added sound and have only just begun adding titles therefore we still have some work to do. Because we only have 1 week left until our final deadline we will be attending workshops to complete the overall piece on time.

Planning Preliminary Match Cut Exercise.

For our Match Cut exercise we were given a story board and another piece of paper which told us what we need to include.
For this exercise we need to include

• A match cut
• Dialogue
• Shot reverse shot

Our plan was to have one character walk down the corridor into a room and the match cut will show her entering the room.

We then planned to have another character sitting in the room and the characters to end up sitting opposite eachover. They would then start to talk which will be the use of dialogue and we will show this using a shot reverse shot.

Final Edit Of Livetype and Sound Filming Practice

The Bag Swap

To get used to using the camera and prepare us for our Thriller Opening Sequence, we did an excersice in class called "The bag swap."For this excersice we had to plan and film a short video of 2 people swapping bags. In class we created a story board to prepare us for this task and to make our filming schedule clear to us all. We shared the task of drawing the pictures and planning the shot between the 3 of us and all had an equal input. We decided that Josh would be in charge of the camera and me and T'sharna would be in the shots. Our location was college because of the time we had and because we thought that the use of the college lift would be a good way to catch the "Bag Swap."

Whilst filming, we included techniques such as; handheld camera, elipsis, tracking... We also used zoom, wich we realised does not look good on a moving shot.

Once we filmed our shots (this took 1hour), we went back to the classroom and used Final Cut Pro, to edit our shots into a sequence. We all worked togever closely for this task as it was our first experience of editing so we all wanted to get the practice in. Once we edited the shot into the sequence we wanted, we used Livetype to import the title into the sequence. We also used the programme Sound to import the music we felt matched the sequence.

Skills audit: Livetype and Sound

For our Skills audit we learnt how to use the two programmes Livetype and Sound.

Livetype is a programme which allows you to create texts and then edit it including;
background
colour
styles (etc)
This image can then be improted into the edits on final cut pro. This would usually be used for the title of the sequence, or for credits and other possible reasons.

Sound is a programme which has loads of different music, that you can play and imerge with other sounds. It allows you to create different feelings and make the music your own. When imported onto final cut pro, it adds effect to the sequence.

Intoduction to cameras & health and safety tutorial

In this lesson, in our groups we were given a tutorial of how to use the cam- corders and tripods. This excercise was to familiarise us with the equiptment so that we could use it properly.

We learnt how to set up the tripod and how to change the height and angle of shots using this tool. We also learnt what the buttons on the camera meant, aswell as learning how to focus the camera, insert our memory cards correctly, and other simple rules e.g. do not zoom whilst shooting.

After this tutorial we had the draw up a Story Board of a short sequence we were going to create called "The bag swap." The story board allowed us to discuss the shots we were going to use, and allowed us to have a cleared idea of what out final edit would look like. We only had 45minutes to film our shots so we decided to stay on site for this excercise.

Final edit of Livetype and Sound Practice

The Bag Swap

To get used to using the camera and prepare us for our Thriller Opening Sequence, we did an excersice in class called "The bag swap."


For this excersice we had to plan and film a short video of 2 people swapping bags.


Once we filmed our shots (this took 1hour), we went back to the classroom and used Final Cut Pro, to edit our shots into a sequence. We also used Livetype and Sound to finish off our sequence to the standards we required it to be.

Technical ordit or Bait Tutorial

Bait Tutorial

In order to create an opening sequence that looks proffesional, our class had a Bait Tutorial, which teaches us certain skills in editing on an apple mac.

There are 4 different sections on the screen; the Timeline, Canvas, Viewer and the files.When editing using Bait, all unedited shots are in the Canvas. To select a section of that shot which u would like to use; u select it by pressing "I" at the beggining of the shot, and pressing "O" at the end of the shot. You then drag your selection down to the Timelie. Any shots that are selcted and brought down to the Timeline can be watched in the Viewer.

On our tutorial we learnt how to use match cuts. The example that we used was of a man walking into a cafe and grabbing food from a plate. We cut from his body, to his hand, then back to his body. Match cuts make the shot change look natural and they have to be accurate for them to work.

There is a tool on Bait called Razor Blade. This tool allows u to select sections quickly and delete them with a click. It is easy and fast so that no time is wasted. It is found on the toolbar on the right of the screen.

If there are any gaps inbetween clips on the timeline, to get rid of them quickly and perfectly, click in the gap and press CTRL at the same time to close the space.

To edit shots so that they dissolve into eachover, click on the end of the shot and press CTRL and "T" on the keyboard and the effect will be added. However if there isnt sufficient space on the IN and OUT points the effect will not work and an error bar will appear.

To include music in your clip, select the music you want, using "I" and "O" for the IN and OUT points, select the hand at the top of the bar and drag it onto the Timeline underneath the clips.

Analysis of 9 shots from art of the title sequence

Art Of The Title Sequence:

Sherlock Holmes

Opening sequence:

The sequence begins with a shot of a man with an old fashioned camera which straight away advertises that the film is going to be old fashioned. The shot of the men changes with the camera flash into an old fashioned black and white image, then into a newspaper layout with the image printed onto it. The film title is then introduced in the same style font. It tells the audience that the film is going to be set in victorian times. We are the shown a shot of a street name and it zooms out into an establishing shot of the street, to introduce to us the scenery and the area. It allows the audience to relate instantly to the characters within the film by seeing their lifestyles. The camera then shows a tracking shot of a horse cart, then moves into a panning shot of the building, then into an establishing shot of a character looking out of a window. This allows the audience to assume this will be one of the main characters.

Ending sequence:

The ending sequence for Sherlock Holmes, is a lot more active and detailed than the opening sequence. In the ending sequence the titles are hand written in fountain pen style. This highlights the style of the film and its victorian setting. The titles conclude the film by advertising the names of the actors and who they played next the the face of their character. The shots are of moving images, that fade into a freeze frame of the image printed on to old fashioned brown paper, with an overall lack colour. This alongside the titles highlights the films victorian style. The shots are fast moving and exciting which matches the intense music used to conclude the film. This all leads to the audience feeling satisfied with what they have just seen and wanting more.

News and Current Affairs

"COLD KILLER WHO NEARLY GOT AWAY"

This headline was about a man who hung himself in his prison cell. He was in prison for beating his wife to death in 1974. He then reported her as missing and police begun a search for her. It wasnt till 1997 that he was convicted for the murder.

I believe this storyline could be used as it is a good basis for a Thriller film.

Haiti Earthquake

On tuesday 12th January 2010 at 16:53 and Earthquake hit Haiti; the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Thousand were left injured or killed, many were left trapped for days. Schools, hospitals, prisons and homes have been left collapsed. Now the country are relying on the Foreign Aid to feed them and keep them living. This earthquake is reportedly one of the worst to hit our region for 200years.

I feel this could make a good basis for a thriller film as it involves real activities that the audience will already know about and it will be their chance to see a remade version and see the experience for themselves.

I found both these stories in the Sun newspaper.

How is suspence created in the film you watched in class?

Marathon Man

Marathon Man is a thriller film set in New York, which uses a lot of suspence to excite and involve its audience.

examples of suspence used in the film:

The man is in the bath. His house is silent apart from the slight sound of water moving about. The silence creates tention as it makes the audience really concentrate as they know something is going to happen and are curious to know what. The lights in the flat then begin to turn off. They go off in a sequence leading closer to the bathroom each time. The darkness coming closer represents that something bad is coming near. the man in the bath then jumps out the bath and shuts the door. The audience continue to ask themself "whats going to happen next". Whoever else is in the house begins to try break down the door. The panic on the man passes on to the audience as they still want to know whats going to happen. The scene then becomes more active as the man smashes the window and shouts for "help". It excites the audience and keeps the suspence but leads to the audiences anxiety to grow even more. "Will someone hear him?... Who are the people in the house?... Will he get help in time?..". Then we see the man try to escape as the door is broken off but does not get away.

The suspence used for this scene excites the audience and makes it a lot more enjoyable to watch. It lets the audience connect with the character and the storyline.

Photo word activity

As a group, our activity was to take 4 photos that represent certain moods and feelings. We had to be creative and try to use ideas that arent "typical".

This task is to help us to gain imaginative ideas for our thriller opening.

Hanging
This image is quite basic. It shows the image off feet hanging from a table.

City

This image evokes the mood of a city. The building in the background, the sign with directions, the motor vehicles and the bicycles. These object all highlight things that happen in the city on a daily basis.

Through

This image is a reflection of someone legs on a window aswell as the outside image that we can see through the window. I feel the image evokes the word through bacause it is showing an image through another image. This plays with the viewers mind.

Calm

This image shows a lone plane in the sky, with no obstacles or clouds in its way. I feel that this image evokes the the feeling of calm because of its neutral colours and the overal picture could be described as empty.

Detailed analysis of the thriller clip we watched in class.

Collateral

The sequence begins with an establishing shot of Tom Cruise. This introduces the audience to the character. We are then shown an establishing shot of Jason stathan, which introduces us to his character. Both characters are in a crowded place and are walking towards something which shows us there is a link between the two. This is a shot reverse shot and when it returns to Tom cruise it becomes a medium shot, and then changes to a close up. There is then a medium shot of Jason Statham that Tom Cruise walks into as they bump into eachover and both drop their bags. Both characters look suspicious and are wearing smart suits. The smart suits make imply they are business men of some sort. Tom is wearing sunglasses inside which makes him look more curious than Jason and makes the audience assume that although they are dressed "smart" and look like business men, they are up to something.. The character talk for a moment, seeming to be straingers, but then pick up the wrong bag which tells us they have swapped bags on purpose.
Supence in this opening sequence is shown from the shot reverse shot. The audience will wonder "who are they?" "how are they going to be linked?" etc.
The sound in the scene is blocked out slightly and the sound of the two characters footsteps are emphasised and get louder as they get closer to eachover. This also tells the audience that something is going to happen. music then starts as Tom walks away with the bag, with an over the sholder shot of him. Although the suspenceful moment has ended, the audience know it isnt over.

Clip found on youtube- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6ij2S3Oz4A

Definition of Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty about an action that is about to happen. When used in film it excites the audience by making them ask questions and think of all different possible outcomes.

Suspence can be created through;

sound e.g. music/ silence,

camera e.g. movement pace/ shot reverse shot etc.

Wikipedia Definition