Screen shots of editing

Final opening sequence

Opening sequence: Evaluation activity 1- In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The title of the film

I chose to show the title of my film at the end of the sequence. When it did appear, i made it very sudden so the audience are alert. When you think of the word 'Unknown' words like mysterious, strange, unfamiliar are related and come to mind. The picture below shows all the synonyms.

Setting/Location

I chose to use the location of my own house. The setting is introduced in the second shot, which is a shot of my bedroom. I chose the bedroom and hallway because when you normally watch horror films something happens which is bad when the character is sleeping.

Costumes and props

As, there was only one character in my film, i only had to think up a costume for one person. I chose for her to just be in her pajamas because she was in bed and thats what people wear when people go to bed and especially young girls. 

Camerawork and editing

Throughout the process of this task i have learnt a number of things about camerawork and editing. Although i have done this before with the prelimary task, i was more creative with this peice of work, when i say this i mean that i tryed out all different shots and effects. When i was editing in premiere pro, i cut clips which i had already learnt how to do that in previous task but i also was more creative with the video and audio effects.

Title font and style

 I used the font style 'Cracked' because it was very spooky and thought it suited the setting of my film well, i kept the colour plain and used white so that the audience can see what is written easily. If i had another chance to do the font i would put it into another program and make it move to get the audience watching even more.

Story and how the opening sets it up
The story is that a young girl is being watched by this unknown creature that see's everything in negative. She's unaware of this and something wakes up her up and she goes to investigate because odd things are happening like the window being wide open and she doesn't know how this has occured. When she goes to investigate downstair she  is stunned by the unknown character, which gives her a huge fright, then the audience hears two gun shot but no image has shown, so the audience do not know which one has the gun. This is going to be revealed in the rest of the film.

Genre and how the opening sets it up
The genre is a horror, the audience will know this because the music gives off this effect and is very spooky.

How the characters are introduced
The main character is introduced firstly in a negative video effect, this is because its what the unknown creature is seeing through its eyes. The character is in bed at this point and is unaware of anyone in her house or even watching her.

Special effects
I used a number of different effects. I added different video effects to some of the shots, this includes negative, a 4 screen effect, blurring the camera etc. I also changed the audio effects, i put more of an echo on it, i did this is premiere pro.

Evalution Activity 2- How does your media product represent particular social groups?

           -Young girl from my opening sequence                -Young girl from 'Prom Night'

Similarities

I have chosen Brittany Snow as a similar character to my character. They are both teenagers and both being watched/followed and maybe killed by an unknown character. They both live happy, popular lives but have the same problem, someone is after them and they have no idea why. They are both pretty girls. There is a scene in prom night when Brittany snow is in the bedroom and the killer is in there with her, the same as my opening scene the young girl  is being watched.

Differences

As with all the similarities comes with differences, for example, the story plot is different, the girl in 'Prom Night' is at a hotel not at home. Also, for the majority of the 'Prom Night' film the girl is in her prom dress, whereas the girl in my film is in her pajamas for all of it.

Evalutation Activity 3- What kind of media institution might distrubute your media product and why?

My Logo

This is my logo, i got inspired by the production company name. As my production company is called 'Flash films' as soon as you hear or see this you automatically you think of a flash. My logo is very simple but effective at the same time. If i had more time to do a logo, i would make it much more exciting and experiment more with the different adobe programs. 

Evaluation activity 4- Who would be the audience for your media?

     

My target audience

My target audience would be young adults because i have rated my film a 18, so would be unsuitable for children and people under the ages of 18. The young couple would shop in expensive shops because most young couples will not have children so can spend all there earnings on themselves, the male would shop in places like HMV and designer shops whereas the woman would shop in high street shops like Topshop. My film would interest them both because its a thriller. The music they would listen to would be the latest hits but would mainly listen to kiss 100 but it all depends on what kind of young couple they are, if the couple is gothic they would listen to head banging music. If the couple like my film they would also watch TV programs such as The Walking Dead, this TV series is all about zombies, this is similar to my film because the unknown creature could be a zombie.

Feedback
After i put my opening scene up onto my blog, this allowed members of my class and other people comment on my video. The comments showed me what was good about my video and what i could improve on.

Aimee said...

I like the symbol of the candle at the beguinning and the creepy but gentle piano music in the background - creates alot of suspence and tension!

I also like the speaking / monolgue added in the background to explain a bit of the story and give a better idea of whats going on

the solarized effects are really good and create a very gloomy and creepy effect to the film!

I also like how the different shots are put/blended together to create a clear story-line

I'm glad aimee liked film, i didn't want the audience to feel lost so i'm happy she knew what was going on. I was aiming for the music to make the audience feel on edge and give off a scary vibe.

Kirsten Phillips AS Media Studies said...

I like the use of music used, as i feel that this creates a really aery feel and works well to create tension. I also like the effect that the candle gives at the beginning, also helping to create a scary atmosphere. I think that the voiceover works well to tell the storyline and help the viewer to link together what's going on. I also like the effect of the negative imagery, this works well, adding to the tension of the music. I like the use of the loud gunshot at the end to finish of the story as this gives you an idea of what's happened without actually showing you.
The only criticism i can give is that i feel the gap between each person talking is too long and so maybe could be closer together to help it flow better.
However overall this is a nice piece, and the music and shots used have worked well together to create a scary atmosphere.

I relieved that Kirsten thought the music was aery and created tension as this is what i was aiming to do. The candle was meant to be a scary thing to make the viewer aware something was not right so i am glad most the people that commented, commented on that. I didn't know if the negative realise effect work but as Kirsten brought it up, it must of been successful, because some people didn't that the negative effect is what the 'Unknown' is seeing through there eyes. I agree with kirsten when she mentioned the big gaps between the speeches because people could forget what they just said or could get bored.

YvonneASmediastudies said...

The voice over really helps the viewer relate to what's going on. The effects adds to the horror theme and i particularly like the candle shot. There is a different variety of shots and this shows off your framing skills. The use of music builds the tension throughout the opening.

one point i would make is that in the talking part the girl says i hope not when i think she is meant to say i hope so, like she is hoping to just be silly?

great job :)

Yvonne mentioned about the voice over, this was a last minute thing so I'm glad i did it now because all comment are complementing the use of the voice over. I'm happy that the audience likes the use of music as it took a while to find the right one! I do see where Yvonne is coming from but the victim friends says 'Oh i think your just being silly, you've got nothing to worry about' then the victim says 'mm, i hope not' meaning i hope i don't have anything to worry about. But, i know this because i made the video whereas the audience such as Yvonne noticed it didnt make sense, this must mean that quite a few people didnt, so in the future i will take more time with my script.

Evaluation activity 5- How did you attract/address your audience?

Evaluation Activity 6- What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Here are two pictures of me holding the videoing equipment.

Throughout the process of the filming and editing i used a number of equipment and programs, for example when i filmed i used a video camera and to take picture i used a camera. After i filmed i used a number of programs for example premiere pro, blogger.com, google, the internet and i accessed this via an apple mac computer.

Evalution activity 7: Looking back at your prelimary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Final task

I learnt how to add a negative effect to my piece. I did this via the camera, i experimented with a few shot and it turned out good. The negative shows the audience what the 'unknown' see's through its eyes.

I kept the negative effect throughout but here i used the panning up camera shot.

Prelimary task

 

This is an example of match on action.

 This is an example of shot reverse shot.

As you can see from the prelimary task to the final task alot has changed. I have been more experimental in my final task.

Shot list, production schedule and screen shots of editing for Final opening sequence

Shot list:
1. Focus pull
2. Hand-held/long shot
3. Focus pull
4. Tilt
5. Long shot
6. Focus pull
7. Pan
8. Close shot
9. Tilt
10. Following shot
11. Wide shot

Production schedule

Final idea and storyboard for final task

i was thinking of doing a like start of a horror movie.

firstly, she will open her eyes and a shovel hits her in the head then she wakes up in the morning when she has come around, the camera angle is going to be her point of view when she wakes up and shes going to be looking around, she quickly looks at the window which has been mysteriously opened which she don't recall opening she also notices her sister not being there. she gets up out of bed and walks around slowly to keep the audience in suspense, she flicks on the light and when the light turns on, her hand quickly catches her eye which is covered in blood, she gets freaked out. You haven't seen her face yet. She quickly runs the the nearest mirror and switches the light on, then you hear a massive scream and a black screen will appear with the title.

when the camera is on her point of view it is blurred because she wears glasses, but when its normal other shots the focus is clear.


the following picture is my storyboard:

Add caption

Prelim task- Film, Script, shot list, storyboard and Production schedule

My Script and Shot list:

Script

·      Becca walks into the toilet

·      Lara and Yvonne walk into the toilet

·      Both look in the mirror

·      Tilt of becca on toilet

Lara: have you seen Sam today?

Yvonne: Yeah, what is she wearing?

Lara: I know, How hideous

·      Becca comes out of the toilet

Lara: OH!

Shot list

1.     Long shot

2.     Match on match action

3.     Long shot

4.     Match on match action

5.     Tilt

6.     Shot/reverse shot

7.     Reaction shot

8.     Following shot

9.     Reaction shot

Storyboard

Production schedule

Location	School toilets
Time	2:00pm
Costume	School clothes

Film

Saturday night fever opening sequence- Evaluation

Evaluation
From filming this process I have learnt several things. I have learnt to work and organise the film crew and directing cast. I also organised the costumes and getting the actor changes and the props and being in the public eye in costume. I also put my camera skills in progress and knowing what camera angles I needed to include and when. I learnt how to be clear about what I am trying to achieve. I realised how important it was to make a shot list and a storyboard. I appreciated the importance of time management, everything I did take longer then I thought. I had to understand to importance of planning. I had to be professional about it and understand the importance of acting skills to produce a convincing project. I learnt the value of patience and experienced working with reliable people. Also, i used sensitivity when selecting locations to get the best out of your actors. I had to be aware of the weather conditions and the personal comfort or discomfort of my actors or crew.

When i was editing my film, i learnt several things like how to set up a project, how to import and export footage, cutting footage, unlinking sound, scaling and resizing clips in point and out points, adjusting framing and realising the importance of good camera work, the importance of lip syncing, understanding the value of pace, flipping film where necessary, speeding up or slowing down, titles and font styles used and found out how difficult this was to match the original font.

Ideas for main video sequence

My first idea:
Well, there is going to be 2 different places that are going to be filmed. In the first setting it will be of a deserted house and in there their will be a person lying there dead and the house is all messed up and there is a phone ringing in the background and then the second setting is of a person running away scared and she's all flustered.


My second idea: 'THE UNKNOWN'
i was thinking of doing a like start of a horror movie.

firstly, she will open her eyes and a shovel hits her in the head then she wakes up in the morning when she has come around, the camera angle is going to be her point of view when she wakes up and shes going to be looking around, she quickly looks at the window which has been mysteriously opened which she don't recall opening she also notices her sister not being there. she gets up out of bed and walks around slowly to keep the audience in suspense, she flicks on the light and when the light turns on, her hand quickly catches her eye which is covered in blood, she gets freaked out. You haven't seen her face yet. She quickly runs the the nearest mirror and switches the light on, then you hear a massive scream and a black screen will appear with the title.

when the camera is on her point of view it is blurred because she wears glasses, but when its normal other shots the focus is clear.

Comparison- Saturday Night Fever Opening Scene Remake

Saturday Night Fever Opening Sequence- Remake

Opening scene of The Incredibles & Juno

The Incredibles- http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/03/19/the-incredibles/

• The family looked shocked- you can tell there is danger about
• Camera angles- Whip pan, zoom, passing shot, enigma
• Cartoon
• Font styles- Bold, the credits are like a book

Juno- http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/04/15/juno/

• Camera shots- Medium close up
• Montage
• Switched to cartoon
• Zoom
• Enigma
• Birds-eye view
• Looks like a comic, font looks like a comic too

Opening scene of Edward Scissor Hands

Edward Scissor Hands- http://www.artofthetitle.com/2008/12/26/edward-scissorhands/

When Edward scissor hands opening scene first came on, my first impression was that it was a very spooky scene because of the music. The mood that is created makes you feel very anxious as it only shows close ups of different objects. The different objects are clues of what the film is about, for example they show close-ups of a pair of scissors and a pair of hands. When you see extreme close-ups it makes the audience try and work out what it is. For example, the picture below looks like a metal ball but as the camera moves down it reveals the audience that its some sort of robot.

When the statue appears on the screen the camera is circling it. There are extreme close-ups when it shows all the objects that give the clues away. In this opening scene there are a number of different camera angles: close ups, extreme wide shot etc. They also use zoom and they merge two clips into one as they change. For example, look at the picture below:

The picture is showing three different things happening at the same time to hook the audience, this shot is show the font and two other shots, the background one is of the robot and the picture which is coming on next is off a smaller robot but the audience may need to watch more intensely to see what unfolds.

The music is very scary and spooky it makes it scarier because of the dull colours used and the camera moves very slowly and makes the audience not know what will happen next.

The font style is like crooked with gives the impression its haunted and scary. When the title comes up ‘Edward Scissors hands’ the way it moves relates the title, it moves in a cutting motion. They keep the same font throughout.

When the camera is doing an extreme close up on the mans face it spirals out and zoom out at the same time.

When the film first starts it is snowing and then the shot changes and it isn’t no more until the end when it switches back and there is a extreme wide shot of a house. Also, there are dull colours used to set the mood of anticipation but then as the film it about to start it changes colour to more lighter and you can actually see the green trees etc. 

^ Example of Extreme wide shot.

In the picture below we see the steam appear and the text fade in by the steam, (see below for picture):

Opening sequence- Practice edit

Evaluation

For this task I used Adobe Premier pro CS3.

When i made this sequence i learnt alot of things. This includes importing, cutting, linking, resizing, slowing down and speeding up clips. We also put music into it and added in titles. I also took clips from london city and created a montage of film clips.

Trainspotting opening sequence