From my preliminary task, I feel I have learnt three main things; how to edit to an advanced level, how to achieve the shots we want with lighting and how the opening sequence of a film is supposed to work.
My editing skills have vastly improved over the course of this project. I feel I am now able to edit any footage into a sequence that makes sense. Not only am I able to do this, but I have furthered my skills in minor technical details and I am now able to cross cut shots with dissolves and fades to create specific effects. I have also learnt to add effects to sound to create eerie moods and out of the ordinary sounds. The ability to unlink audio and video footage was something new to me and I used this to a great extent.
The use of lighting was something I have never tried before, however we used lighting to great effect on our shoot. I learnt ways to create different of lighting, such as; beams, flooding, day-light and incandescent lights. I have also learnt how to use them in different ways to create different moods on shots.
The improvement of light even between the two shoots is clearly visible.
Although I already had an idea of how to create a flowing continuity sequence, my ideas behind film openings were not fully consolidated. By watching through other opening sequences and working with my own to make it perfect I have learnt the theories and conventions behind an opening sequence. I have learnt how different directors use theories of equilibrium and disruption to draw in audiences. Whereas, in my preliminary task I could only just use continuity editing to create a flowing narrative.
I feel that this project has greatly increased my knowledge and understanding of how films work.
The equipment our group was assigned to aid our shooting was; a Sony HD mini DV camera, PAGLight C6, Shotgun microphone camera attachment and a standard Jessops’ tripod.
Personally, I found working with the Sony camera really easy as it was light weight and user friendly. All important buttons were highlighted and labelled well. The camera had an auto focus setting, but had a focus assist wheel which allowed us to get either a sharper focus on a shot. The camera was simple to set up with a fully automated cassette cage and LCD screen display with a clear settings menu.
We also used a PAGLight C6 system. However, we didn't connect it up to the camera as the shotgun mic was attached. We were able to achieve the lighting we wanted well with this lighting equipment.
The shotgun microphone was ideal for the sound we needed to capture. As our piece had no in depth dialogue, using the boom mic would have seemed unnecessary. The shotgun mic had settings for different environments, but we used ours on stereo1 the duration. The mic was easily connected to the camera itself, by sliding in the chip and screwing down the wheel to lock it into place.
If I were able to go back and change what we shot, I would only find myself shooting one or two shots. This is because, we, as a group, had many re-shoots so we gained the benefits of hindsight before our final shoot, and were able to counter problems before they arose.
If I had to pass on advice about using the equipment practically, it would be to make sure you know the capabilities of all the equipment you are using before it comes to the shoot. Then you can plan around any problems you would have otherwise encountered.
From using the equipment on several shooting days, the main thing I have gained is the knowledge that high quality cameras and general media equipment is readily available for a small proportion of the price I would have expected. Going into the shoots I was worried that the equipment would not suffice to the needs/wants of the group. But I now have faith in equipment that we can buy on an everyday consumer market.
This same insight can be said for the editing software we used.
The main piece of software used was Adobe Premiere Pro, this piece of software used non-linear editing technologies, allowing us to create several tracks of both audio and video with separate captured clips on them. In total, our group used; 3 video and 5 audio tracks. The use of multiple tracks allowed us to cross dissolve shots and have audio clips playing over each other to create an eerie/echo-y effect.
The adobe software also allowed us to alter the speed of a shot, and whether it was playing forwards or backwards. Seen in our video.
2:14 to 2:26
We were also lucky enough to have the AppleMac facility in school. The Mac has many editing tools and sound effect programmes on it which could all be exported into premier pro. However, the programme I used on it was LiveType, a programme that allowed us to create movement within titles, and have specific backgrounds and font textures to create the perfect match for our sequence. We were given a quick tutorial by Ryan Deans, the media technician, on how to use the software, and then were set free to have a fiddle with it ourselves.
If there was anything I could change about our editing and software, it would have been to have spent more time on perfecting the titles; they are interesting but fairly standard. However, they did fit well with the end product.
The only advice I can offer to prospective media students is that editing is a long a dragged out process, but if you spend the time working at it, you can create an amazing piece of film, and have some fun along the way. So just work at it, and you WILL be satisfied with the end result.
Due to our audience being a small niche of horror watchers who are also tech-savvy, we consider them a a hard to reach audience who rarely watch television. However, from research we have founs that they do spend a lot of time on social networking sites.
Therefore, to achieve a karge audience at our official first screening, we set up a Faceboo events page and invited members.
Many said they were attending on the event and the turnout was great.
This and other viral campaigns is the best the way to contact our audience and reach out to them to inform them of our film. They will also want to be able to invite friends and send information to eachother via the net. so a net based marketing campaign is the way forward. Other places we have seen campaigns like this is with the launch of paranormal activity with the demand it scheme which created huge media attention.
After intense research, into the thriller genre and it's main audience. We were able to structure our sequence around the audience to create the greatest appeal to them. There are parts of the film which, for our audience, will create both pleasure and pain.
I think the film addresses the audience well with the thrill it provides and the sexuality portrayed in the film.
During our research and planning stages, we created a character profile explaining who our main target audience is. From knowing our target audience we were able to create a character profile. This profile compiled all the information we had found out from research. Fortunately the media technician in school fits into our target audience.
Here is a moodboard of our target market's interests.
There are two main companies behind the production and distribution of my product.
One is the production company; Green Tree Productions.
Green Tree Productions is a small London based production company who help/specialize in low budget films made by un-known directors. Their clients are usually local (to London) and many films do not make it onto the big screen. However a few have been exhibited at specialist film festivals and become internet sensations. They produce a wide genre of low budget films.
Tough monkey films are a similar company to Green Tree. They are looking for the next generation of talent.
They have both their own productions and also help to raise finance for independent directors.
The distribution company, the other main institution, works in synergy with Green Tree Films and distributes the majority of their horror films.
Even though Green Tree Productions are not a specialist horror producer. They will always look to DBB Films, who are specialist horror distributors, to distribute their films of the horror genre. The relationship between these two institutions is similar to the one we see with Icon and Paramount Pictures. Paramount Pictures, a production company, produce their films for American audiences. However, they also want to distribute films to the UK and Australia. Icon and Paramount also work in synergy to create an easier path to distribution.
As this film is only a low budget production. It is unlikely that it will make it to the big screen apart from screenings at independent local cinemas, such as; The Phoenix in North Finchley and The Rio in Dalston.
It is more likely that it is put on a DVD platform or maybe onto a website for pay per view download/streaming material. However, if the film were to go global, following in the footsteps of paranormal activity, the film could be distributed through more expensive platforms, such as theatre viewings and BLU-RAY DVD.
I could see the release of this film being something similar to that of paranormal activity. It could easily build up a cult reputation through internet viewings and then suddenly, a few years after its initial release, it hits the big time and becomes one of the most gripping, tense, and scary films anyone has ever seen.
My opening sequence only has two characters. The different social groups represented are gender and mental condition.
The two gender opposites are the main female character and her male binary opposite.
The relationship between the two fits with the stereotypical representation of a female character with the male being the more dominant of the two. We have also see dominance like this in other films including cellular with Jason Statham and Kim Basinger.
This dominance is highlighted by the clear power difference between them. On one hand you have the female locked in a shed, clearly overpowered by the main male we see. Who, is wandering round his house completing his daily routine. This clearly shows the separation between the two, with him being highlighted as a more powerful being.
The mental state of a character is also strongly represented in my piece. The main male figure is a sufferer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He is seen completing an otherwise normal daily routine with sets of four. He does things four times over. His mental state is clearly presented as volatile and un-stable. We got the idea to run a OCD character from a video on youtube.
The stereotype for mental health is usually basic, but can sometimes go deeper showing extreme signs of psychosis. A prime example of this is from Silence Of The Lambs. In which we see a male character that is an OCD sufferer capture a girl and almost look after her. Which our character sticks very close to. This shows that mental instability can be shown in any form.
The coursework brief I was assigned was to make a film opening sequence. The chosen genre for my opening sequence is thriller.
There are many theories behind how films should, and do, work.
Certain genres have certain enigma codes paired to them. Thrillers are usually depicted in films by contrast of lighting and concealing information.
The image shown here is of the protagonists feet in the second scene of the sequence. However, from the image we cannot determine whether it is male or female. The light cleverly creates a good contrast on the object in focus which makes the audience gradually piece together what is happening in the narrative. The lighting and concealing of information is an obvious enigma code of the thriller genre. As we see here in a still from the The Others.
The director has used light really well to allow us to see the figure sitting at the top of the stairs, however the shot is vague enough so that information is concealed and we are therefore left piecing the rest of the story together.
Another horror/thriller signifier is blood and general violence.
Although it is hard to make out there is blood clearly visible on the wall of the shed. This example of violence is a strong enigma code of the thriller genre. Other films we see this in include the Saw series and Hannibal.
The use of blood here allows us to clearly see that the film is a horror/thriller based film.
Tzvetan Todorov suggested that all films, and especially opening sequences, start with a base of equilibrium in society. He suggested that this equilibrium is then broken and it is the protagonist's job to restore order. This is called the disruption.
My opening sequence starts with the equilibrium of someone's daily routine.
The equilibrium is then broken as we are introduced to the protagonist. It is clear that this girl being locked up is no ordinary occurrence we can then assume that this is the disruption that the protagonist has to conquer.
These two images also highlight two of the binary opposites in our sequence.
Obviously you have the binary opposite of male and female characters and clear representation of good and evil.
However, it goes deeper, you have the opposites of comfort and dis-comfort between the two characters with the kitchen being a well modelled living space compared with the dingy area that is a shed. From watching the entire sequence we can assume who the villain is, however it is only late in the sequence when we find this out. The man seen in the start of the sequence is only recognisable as the villain when we seen what he has done, or what we assume he has done.
Not only does this shot lead us to the disruption in the sequence, but it is also when we first see the man as a villain.
The shot clearly goes back through his house and into the shed at the end of the garden.
We, as an audience, are then introduced to this. Although we know very little information about the person, we can see that they are tied up and obviously a victim or hostage. The fact it is in his back garden makes us assume that he put her there and can guess at him being the villain. There is no clear evidence that the kidnapped female is the protagonist from the opening sequence, we may be able to guess as she is introduced early on, but the fact she is a victim maybe suggests she isn't. On the other hand, the film Quantum Of Solace, released in 2009. Shows Daniel Craig escaping after being captured. He is clearly the protagonist later in the film, but has to resolve an initial disruption before anything can happen.
The form my opening sequence takes is one with a series of title screens that evenly break up a montage of clips. The titles work well to break up the lengthy and at points quite boring narrative behind making a cup of tea. They keep the audience interested for longer until we see the more exciting and fast paced 'action' in the sequence.
My opening sequence conforms well to conventions behind opening sequences. We are eventually introduced to two main characters who are in-fact the protagonist and the villain.
However, the location shot in the opening sequence is not one that will appear a lot in the full film but will appear for short pivotal scenes. Although we can still scope how the rest of the film will pan out.
1) Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?
In my group I worked with, Catharrin, Ciara and Bianca, we split the task up as equally as possible between the four members sharing out the tasks of filming acting and editing. However there were some people that had greater strengths in some areas so we allowed them to contribute most to these areas. Such as, the group decided that because Ciara and Bianca both did GCSE Drama they should take the main roles in the sequence therefore Catharrin and I took a more technical role operating the cameras and editing. This allowed us to have a quicker production process as we were not constantly changing sound a camera technicians allowing us to get a better finish on each of the shots.
Overall I think that our group worked well together and we got on great. The atmosphere was relaxed however we still managed to get the task finished
2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?
We initially had one meeting in which we discussed the plot of our sequence and who would play what role. After deciding the plot we had to choose a location, and the media office sprung to mind. We all chatted about it and went and had a look around the office to see if we could get it to work, and finally decided it would be the ideal place to shoot the sequence. We finally laid out a rough script with everyone contributing and planned a final meeting for later that week so we could finalize all our ideas.
During this final meeting we ran through the script making final changes depending on what we thought would sound more realistic in the sequence. From this run through we could decide the final script and how it would fit together.
On completion of the script we could begin to plan the storyboard. We knew that we had to include some of the continuity theories that we had learnt about, in our sequence and the techniques that were essential were ‘match on action’ ‘shot/reverse shot’ and ‘180 degree rule’. It also had to have someone coming in a door, crossing a room, and sitting opposite another person and exchange couple of lines of dialogue. Bearing this in mind, we discussed the different shots we could use, taking into account the space we had in the room, and how they would all fit together. We decided to use a vast range of shots in the end to make the sequence look more professional and increase the continuity of it. For instance, we decided upon using a pan shot to track a character. We made sure our shots had eye line match to ensure the characters’ gaze stayed the same. We used mid shots, close ups, long shots, Point of view shots, reaction shots and over the shoulder shots. Also when doing the storyboard we thought about the 30 degree rule so that our footage didn't look like it had a glitch. Each of us completed a page of the storyboard so it was equally shared out. The importance of the storyboard was so the director can visualise the shots and it also creates a narrative flow. Therefore to get a narrative flow we had to have a beginning middle and end including characters and some sort of event to happen, which in our sequence we planned the awkward moment.
We then used this storyboard to quickly work out what shots needed to be recorded for our shooting schedule as some shots were done twice. We grouped shots together according to setups therefore made the shooting process much easier.
3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?
Before we attempted filming anything, Mr. Deans, the media technician, taught us all how to use the boom mics, the camera, the shotguns mics and the headphones to a level which allowed us to operate them with no assistance. We were also told the purpose of a clapper board and how we would be using one in our sequences.
To film the arranged pieces, we were given Sony HD video cameras and used Mini DVs to record the action. The equipment was extremely user friendly as we simply had to hit the red button to record and then press it again to stop the camera. Each group was assigned their own camera and edit-suite so there was no chance of our footage getting corrupted by another group, and this also allowed us to know exactly where all out footage was in case we needed to find it and further edit it. To ensure that we had the right shot that we were looking for, we did a couple of takes on each shot until we were all happy with the shot.
We were given some attachments to the camera, being; a shotgun microphone, headphones and a tripod. The shotgun mic fitted easily on-top of the camera with a quick wheel release mechanism, the mics were ideal for the sequences we were shooting as they only picked up sound from the source it was pointing at, in this case, the actor/actress. The headphones allowed the sound technician to check the quality of sound being recorded without sending feedback back through the mic. We were also given a tripod so we could place the camera on it. We used this to make all our shots steady and increase continuity.
We used dry-wipe clapper boards so that we could pinpoint each shot once it had been captured to the computer, which made the footage easier to edit.
To edit the captured footage we used Adobe Premier Pro, which is installed on the edit suites located in the media block. The program was really easy to use and fairly self explanatory, it allowed us to easily cut and move bits of footage around with no real problems. Adobe Premier Pro has two screens that we use to edit the actual video, and another that has an output monitor which displays what the sequence looks like from start to finish. We found it easy to cut up our sequence and drop the correct shots into the correct place with the razor tool. The hand tool that allowed us to drag out the video segment so that we could almost hide bits of the footage if they were not needed, this tool was helpful as it meant that if we made a mistake we could easily correct it by simply dragging out the sequence rather than dragging another copy in from the source monitor. We used 2 video tracks so that we could break up our clips making it much clearer to edit. The two tracks we use allowed us to easily see where one shot finished and the other began by switching from track to track as the video moved along.
4) What factors did you take into account when planning, shooting and editing?
While planning our sequence we had to consider who was good at what and based the script and everything around that. We thought; what’s the point in having two great actresses and putting them on the wrong side of the camera. We made sure that we had the room we would be shooting in was free when we needed it as all the other media groups were also shooting in the media block at the same time that we were.
To plan the shooting of the sequences we had to re-organise the furniture in the room in order to fit both characters in our establishing shot. We also tried our best to keep the lighting in the room a constant, however we did not have full control over this as the light was natural and weather conditions are prone to change.
We did not plan the edit much but just tried to fit it as well as we could to the storyboard we had sequenced, with appropriate match on actions.
5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what you would you improve/ do differently?
My Coursework Preliminary Sequence involves three characters, two entering a room and one in a fixed position always in the room. The sequence starts with a master shot of the room with Bianca typing. The shot then cuts to Ciara entering the room from outside. The two girls in the sequence, Bianca (right) and Ciara (left) are engaged in conversation about a party that is to take place that Friday evening. However, Bianca is not invited to the party thus creating an awkward moment; this situation is only worsened when a third character, Spencer enters the room.
In my opinion I think our sequence went really well. Although it isn’t exactly what we wanted, whether due to lack of acting ability or silly mistakes in continuity during shooting, it is similar to the original script and story board and what we were aiming to achieve. However, there were some mistakes, while shooting, one of the actresses forgot which hand she had previously used to open the door entering the room. This meant that when it came to editing we had to drop a shot that was key to the sequence. Although, this doesn’t mean that the film was a complete failure as there are several other good examples of match on action in the sequence, mainly during the exchange of dialogue. But, I would still aim to improve my skills on the final coursework piece, if I were to pick one point to improve the technical side of things it would be the lighting in the two rooms, because the camera is digitally focused it takes a couple of seconds to adjust to the new conditions once it has started recording, meaning that in a couple of shots the light dramatically changes within the first three seconds. We could correct this by allowing the shot to role for two seconds before the action actually starts. The acting could have also been a lot better, however this is not a key element that we get marked on so it is not essential but if the acting is good the shot seems more realistic creating a better feel to the sequence.
Overall I think the task went really well and we all managed to gain something from the experience. The sequence is not perfect but can be easily improved with some re-shoots.
6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?
As this was my first media studies task at any level I felt that I had a lot to learn, which I did. Actually going away and doing a task has taught me better than I feel sitting in a classroom and learning about it could ever do. I had to learn to deal with new challenges in the subject and feel as if I coped extremely well. Not only have I learnt about the processes behind creating a short film but the continuity techniques behind making a film look life like.
Hi, I'm Spencer Wilkinson and this is my AS Year12 Media Studies Blog. If you need to find any work associated with my coursework project you should be able to find it on here. Feel free to look around and watch my videos. Hope you enjoy the final project [when it gets finished].
xx
My Top 5 Favourite Films
Here is a list of my top five favourite films of all time:
1. Vertical Limit 2. Fight Club 3. Shaun of the Dead 4. Black Christmas 5. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
