G4: Final Cut

This is the opening of our film, Ditched, that will be shown on 29-03-12 to an audience who we will ask to fill in a questionnaire on the effectiveness of our opening.

CdL; Reflections on 26/03/12 and 27/03/12

• RB and CdL stayed after school on 23/03/12 and exported the finished version of our opening
• This week will be spent completing some individual and collaborative evaluations of the work, which we will post on here
• Final changes to the opening included turning down the soundtrack at the point of the doorbell ringing and replacing this with an extended version of a reverse cymbal sound effect from Freesound.org which RB found and we considered particularly effective in building the tension.

FK: Audience Question Postproduction

• We had to make a questionnaire to distribute during the screening on the 29/03/2012
• We used a mixture of scaled, open and closed questions in order to get sufficent and useful feedback from our audience.
• We are all asking some peers and staff to come along to view our film.
• Here is an example of the questionnaire

Q1) Would you say the girl was an antagonist or protagonist?

a)      Protagonist

b)      Antagonist

c)      Not sure

Q2) On the scale please circle your understanding of the narrative

4- Understand fully

3- Understand

2- Not sure what’s going on

1- No idea

Q3) Which of the following aspects of the title did you think were effective? (Please tick the appropriate box)

	Highly Effective	Effective	Neither	Ineffective	Highly Ineffective
Title
Font
Colour

   Q4) Would you be interested in viewing the full feature film if it was available?

a)      Yes

b)      No

c)      Maybe

Q5)  On the scale please circle the effectiveness of the sound track

4) Goes very well with the film

3) Good, but could be improved slightly

2) Satisfactory

1) Does not work well at all

Q6) Do you think the flashbacks give enough information about the murders?

a)      Yes

b)      No

Q7) If no, what other information would you include?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Q8) Overall how successful would you say the editing was? Please tick one answer.

Brilliant	Good	Some problems but     majority works well	Poor

FK: Reflections on 23/03/2012

• FK came in during a free period, and made the titles fade into black
• FK also turned down some of the sound (the door bell) in order to make it fit with the piece
• During the class lesson we recieved feedback from Mrs Johnson who said we needed to change the contrast on some of our dining room scenes.
• CdL and RB did this by creating a "my preset" option within edit and dragging this onto the clip.

CdL; Reflections on 22/03/12

• All took turns editing together some more of the flashbacks to lengthen the opening
• FK and RB added fade effects to the flashbacks which add to the disjointed sense of the piece, and also helps to make it a little longer
• FK and RB also synced the soundtrack with different events on screen, however this is quite complicated as none of us are experienced with the music side of things, and is not yet finished
• RB changed the titles so that they are now in our chosen font, Face Your Fears, from Dafont.com, and CdL and RB discussed adding motion or a motif to the actual title of the film which appears at the end of the sequence. We also considerd the sizing of the title, as havng it filling the screen seemed childish and out of place with the rest of the opening.
• CdL and RB experimented with extending the radio static at the beginninmg of the sequence, as we didn't want the sound and title screento start at the same time. However we experienced some compliactions with the actual length of the sound, and so have had to copy parts of it to make sure it lasts for long enough. This can be changed after we receive feedback from teachers and technicians.

CdL; Reflections on Fifth Shoot

• On 20/03/12 we were advised to either include more flashback shots or CUs, or to film some additional footage to make our opening reach the required time stated in the brief, as currently it only reaches one and a half minutes
• I took the camera and tripod home and filmed shots of JdL through the frosted glass of my front door, as this creates a sense of enigma when the audience sees a character who may well be the antagonist's next victim, but cannot see his features as they are blurred through the frosted glass.
• These shots will only be used for maximum three seconds of the sequence, however when coupled with slowed down flashbacks, and the titles, as well as the fact we are opening with a black screen and the sound of a radio being tuned, it may be very effective in extending our sequence to meet the time specified in the brief
• This shot will be included towards the end of the seqence and, with the non-diagetic sound of the doorbell, sourced from Freesound.org, will drive the action of the antagonist hiding the album and leaving the room.

RB; Reflections on 21/3/12

• We chose our final sound effects and music to be used in our opening and put them into our opening. With sound effects like the mach strike and the door bell we had to be careful to insert the sound so it was in sync with the actions.
• CdL filmed a final shot which we were advised to include by Mrs Fernandez.
• We continued to edit our opening and look at what we could improve. We had been advised to change the montages of our flashbacks and to spread the shots out more throughout the opening.

FK: Timetable of the planned hours for editing

	MONDAY 19th	TUESDAY 20th	WEDNESDAY 21st	THURSDAY 22nd	FRIDAY 23rd
LUNCH	CdL, FK, RB	CdL, FK, RB	FK, RB	CdL, FK, RB	CdL, FK, RB
FREE	RBCdL		FK	FK,  CdL, RB
AFTER SCHOOL		CdL RB	FK,RB	CdL, RB	RB CdL
ENRICHMENT			FK

Here is the timetable of the planned hours we are spending outside of lessons on editing.

(Black is unavailable)

FK; Idea development

Changes in the concept

• We no longer use a lake for a dumping ground, instead we use a ditch. We did this to ensure our actors were safe.
• We decided to adopt more of a montage style flashback, shortening the originally planned flashbacks.
•  We had orginally planned to film primarily within the bedroom, but due to feedback from our peers and teachers, we have now moved throughout the house to create a more interesting film opening.

Changes in Location

• We had to change the location of our external location. We did this as we did not realise the cost and distance of the planned location. We moved from Alexandra Park in Hastings, to a more accessible Knole Park in Sevenoaks, which overall worked well for our piece.

CdL;Reflections on 20/03/12

• FK continued with the editing of the shots together, considering the length of the shots and how best to vary this
• We discussed the idea of having a radio being tuned as the first scene fades in from a black screen with titles, and then RB found some suitable sound effects from Freesound.org
• FK slowed down the speed of some of the shots, giving our antagonist a more purposeful and precise nature of movement, and thus adding to the tension of the piece
• We considered which shots are actually going to motivate the flashbacks, as since our original concept we have altered some of the iconic shots and therefore need to reconsider which shots are going to be the strongest

CdL; Reflections on 16/02/12

• RB and CdL looked at the footage from the third shoot
• Some more CUs were needed so we planned our fourth shoot for 19/03/12
• RB and CdL began editing together the shots of the house, and put all the flashback shots on the same timeline as this is easier to organise
• Received feedback on the flashback shots- we either have to use the "old film" effect or the high contrast, to give some uniformity to the shots. We have decided to keep the high contrast effect on the flashbacks.
• Considered possibility of having the opening begin with a black screen and the sound of a radio being tuned, as we are using a piece of classical music as our soundtrack throughout the sequence and do not want it to sound out of place.
• We would also include some of the titles on this page, to give a slow, tension building pace to the sequence

RB; Reflections on 4th Shoot

• We returned to RB's house to film some close up shots of the house scene we had left out on our last shoot.
• We filmed each shot at least twice from each angle but had to refilm some shots due to camera shake when using the cam-frame rather than the tripod.
• We refilmed the close up of FK putting on her shoes from an angle as we were not happy with the stright on shot.
• We also took close up shots of FK putting her lipstick and the flickering candle.
• In all of our shots, we were careful to use the same props as our previous shots to ensure the mise-en-scen is continuous throughout our entire opening.

CdL; Third Shoot 15/03/12

• This shoot unfortunately ended up being a little rushed because of the time at which FK and CM had to leave, however we worked through all the shots at least twice in order to minimise the need for future shoots
• However I think we may need some more CU shots of the antagonist which will fit in with the femme fatale, noir convention. I particularly think there is a need for a CU of the lipstick being applied, as at the moment we are using an over the shoulder shot with the reflection in the knife.
• RB predominantly took on the role of director and I was filming for the majority of the time, however the shots in the bedroom we both worked together on, as we had been told to be careful in avoiding the bed posts in the shot.
• We shot footage of the curtains moving in the wind, and also some without the curtains in. We will decide which of these shots to use after viewing our footage on Premiere

RB; Reflections on 14/3/2012

• Using our two final title fonts, I created a title page for each of them on premier which will be similar to the final shot of our opening.
• In our opening we are planning to use a red font against a black background for the title so I used these colours to make them look as similar to how it will finally look.
• I learnt to make the tile fade in and out from a black screen and to create movement in the title shot.

FK; Reflection on 14/3/2012

• I learnt how to slow or speed up a certain clip and incoporated this into our work.
• I finished the editing of some of the footage from Knole park using image effects and transactions from the previous lesson.

G4; Third Shoot

Date - 15/03/12

Location- RB's house. We will be shooting on the staircase, in the bedroom and in the kitchen

Equipment - Camera and tripod

Props-  Dress, high heels, bruise makeup, red lipstick

Roles- RB and CdL alternating between director and cameraperson, FK as makeup artist and playing the antagonist, with additional actors CM and LSW

We have considered our set design and will be making an effort to create a more sparse appearance of the rooms to reflect the obsessive and abnormal tendencies of our main character, for example cutting curtains out of the bedroom shots and shooting at a higher angle to eliminate the bed post from the shot. We have decided this after feedback from Mrs Johnson on our practice shoot, as she felt that our mise-en-scene was cluttered

FK: Reflection on 13/03/2012

• During this lesson I put some of the footage shot at Knole park onto premiere
• I played around with the contrast, brightness and saturation to create a look particular to our flasback scenes.
• I also cut shots in order for them to be very short so they would fit nicely into our actual footage.

CdL; Reflections on 13/03/12

• CdL downloaded some countryside atmosphere sound from Freesound.org for the scenes in the flashbacks
• We discussed how loud to have the soundtrack and whether or not diagetic sound should be recreated with sound effects

CdL; Reflections on 12/03/12

• FK imported the footage from our shoot on location at Knole Park and began editing it into the kind of length and style we wanted for our montage
• CdL sourced more sound effects from Freesound.org which we will use for the diagetic sound of our opening, and experimented with the soundtrack we have chosen by adding it to our animatic
• RB was absent; however we have arranged with her which lunchtimes we will be setting aside to work on the editing
• We also finalised the plans for our third shoot tomorrow
• Received feedback from Mrs Fernandez and Mr Fiveash who both suggested we stop using the zoom function on the camera as it does not work well in feature films- consequently, in our third shoot tomorrow at RB's house we will be using static and panning shots but excluding zoom from our filming
• Learnt how to incoroporate motion into the shots on the Premiere editing suite in place of the zoom function

RB; Reflections on Second shoot 10/03/12

• We had planned to do the fight scene/dumping ground scenes at Alexandre Park in Hastings, but because of problems with our actors we had to change location and do the shoot at Knole Park in Sevenoaks instead.
• We found an area of the park that we thought was suitable for the shoot to take place. 

We decided that this was a suitable location for the shoot as we needed to use a hill and the area looked cut off and rural. This location fit this criteria as very few people walked past.

 

• For the flashbacks of the dead bodies, FK applied make-up to look like burn marks and bruises on the bodies.

• When filming, we decided to film each shot from at least two different angles so when we edited it together we could make it look disjointed.
• We took several static shots of the different dead bodies' limbs which we will edit into a montage.
• Despite the location change, we still found that we could set up effective shots in the location.

Roles

• FK played the antagonist and applied the makeup. She also found the location for the shoot.
• CM, LW, RB and CdL all played dead bodies
• RB and CdL did the majority of directing and filming between them
• CM and RB also took some behind-the-scenes photos to illustrate the progress we made, some of which are featured on this blog

FK; Makeup

• I decided to experiment making a burn effect in order to make it as realistic as I can during the shoot
• I drew on things I had learnt in stage make up classes

• For this example I used :
• PVA glue
• Paint; pink, red, yellow, green and black
• Tissue

G4: Second Shoot

• Date - 9th March
• Location- Alexandra Park (Hastings)
• FK to get on the train at 09:39 and RB to get on at 10:10
• Equipment - Camera and tripod
• Props-  Dress, Heels, Makeup (bruises), Lipstick, Shirt, Black jeans
• Weather - The weather forecast predicts come cloud, yet this will not effect us.

 ROLES

FK: Acting/ Make up artist

RB: Filming/ Directing

CdL: Directing / Filming

Additional actors: Chris M and Liam SW

FK; Feedback on our first shoot

• We received some feedback from both Mrs Johnson and Mrs Fernandez over our first shoot, which we used as a practise.
• Mrs Johnson says that we need to focus on mise-en-scene to create a more "set like" atmosphere.
• Mrs Fernandez says that our zooms need to be slower and we need to remove personalised items from the piece.



In this clip we are going to improve by;

• Slowing down the zoom into the mirror
• Filming from a high angle to remove the bedpost from the scene
• Either close the curtains, or dilberately use them within the shot ( so blowing curtains ect)

RB; Reflections on 06/03/2012

In this lesson we:

• Finished working on our animatic using our storyboard and film footage
• Continued to look for sound effects and music to use in our opening. We looked on websites such as freesound.org for sound effects.

RB; Reflections on 05/03/2012

In this lesson we:

• Started working on the animatic using photos from our storyboard and clips from our practice film shoot on 02/03/2012
• Looked through our footage from our practice film shoot on 02/03/2012. We decided that we will re-film some of the shots from different angles on our next film shoot and we will improve on our filming technique by then.
• Began looking on websites for possible sound effects for our opening and discussed which sound effects we would need and where we could put them in our opening.
• Revised our risk assessment and call sheet for our next film shoot.

RB: Title and Font

• We have decided that our title will appear at the end of the opening in a dark pink or red font with a black background.
• After looking at the results of our audience research survey, we decided that the title of our film would be 'Ditched.'
• We are still deciding between two fonts:

and

Research & planning - interim grade

Well done - this blog is an excellent record of concept development; you engage with key concepts when deconstructing similar texts, especially issues of representation and ideology, using semiotics to deconstruct meaning. There is clear audience feedback and a particularly strong reflection on the feedback from the pitch which you have used to improve your concept. Your technical observations are excellent and it is evident that they have informed your practice tasks.

Your practice tasks show progression in camera work, however you do need to ensure steady camera work at all times (unless handicam). Nevertheless, you have made the most of these opportunities and clearly reflect and learn from the process. I would like to see you carrying out more practice filming where possible before shoots, so that you can reflect on planned shots and make the most of time management on external locations. This will also increase your confidence and more experience beforehand means that you are more likely to come up with creative shots and take risks on set to get something with real visual impact.

Use of ICT to present work is excellent. There is also clearly evidence of collaboration and discussion in concept development.

At this stage, all 3 of you are at a high L4 grade. Continue to use the blog as a detailed record of all the processes, from filming, to logistics and editing.

Excellent work.

CdL; First shoot 02/02/12

• We had to change the angle of the shots in the bedroom as the position of the door in relation to the mirror was not ideal
• However, we found and alternative angle which was equally effective
• The lighting was less of a problem than we expected as RB had already researched and dealt with the issues we had been warned about
• We found that we need to managed our time better as not all of the shots we wanted to get finished were completed- however this is to be expected because it was our first proper shoot and we had only seen the location in photos
• The shots of the staircase were successful, especially the CUs
• We plan to complete these shots on 05/02/12 along with one of our other actors as he couldn't be there for the first shoot
• The props need reconsidering as the shade of lipstick we are using as the motif was not ideal; however FK is going to buy a different one and we will re-shoot the scene with the lipstick in
• The shot of the antagonist using the knife as a mirror for her lipstick was particularly effective and we feel that we convey her obsessive tendencies well in the dining room scene