Skills audit: soundtrack and livetype

Sound track:
Initially I began by opening a programme called Soundtrack Pro, I used the search tab and listened to the variety of genres provided. I then selected different instruments in order to construct and create a composition. The instruments I used included vocals which consisted of the looping of
a constant drum beat and vocal of a woman singing I shortened and lengthened each of
them to what I felt suited better and ultimately
sounded better.
The result of my composition was a pop song which reflects the current style of music I think is on top of the chart right now.

I opened the live type programme and used the font tab to select my desired font which was 'bordeau bold' I then selected the effects tabs and chose frigid as it served quite a big impact due to the fact it instantly reminded me of a typical thriller effect. With that I chose the tracking option which seperate the letters creating a space in between them. I selected the colour red as it can be associated with danger and anger which can be common attribute of a thriller.

Post rough cut

After receiving feedback from teachers on our rough cut we were able to discuss ideas and methods into creating the thriller into a higher professional standard.

The changes included:
. Lighting
. Starting positions of the variety of shots
. More close up shots to show the fear element of the thriller
. Using the space of the location more effectively.
. Increasing the length of the thriller

All these changes would create a better quality sequence.

Skills audit: editing

After completing the filming process we began the editing process because as we were working towards a deadline it was imperative that we met our deadline. I began editing with Francene on the Monday and we came up with some ideas into how we wanted the final cut to look. Using final cut pro and the sound track we devised ideas to progress onto our final production.

We then met up on our Tuesday media workshop to carry on our editing incorporating the exisiting shots for our rough cut. Unfortunately I was unwell on the Wednesday lesson, this was also the deadline for the rough cut and therefore wasn't involved in the final rough cut.

However after a brief discussion with my group I was told both the negative and positive feedback so I knew how to improve the work. I used my existing skills within film making and the feed back from the teachers to help create a professional outcome.

Skills audit: Filming

On friday the 5th of March we began filming, we set of with a positive and confident attitude to result in a professional outcome. We spent about 2 and a half hours in hollows pond directing and filming shots such as the establishing shot and some of the opening shots; theses included a mid shot, close ups and a long shot. Using a professional attitude we all directed and produced ideas when on location. One particular bonus for our group was the weather perfect natural sunshine to enhance the effect of lighting on the trees. However we didn't intend to only use the natural lighting because we wanted to use the effect of darkness.

Some negative points about our first day of filming was we weren't able to use the full cast o therefore only was able to film a limited number of shots.

Although we worked at a fast pace we couldn't afford to let our pace and motivation drop. As this was our first day of filming we still hadn't completed the film and we had a few more filming sessions to come.

Animatic

This is where we took shots of our story board one by one then uploaded them onto final cut as a clip, this was done to make a short animated clip to give us a fill of how our clip will look in reality.

Editing-Wednesday 24th March 2010

As the rough cut deadline was Wednesday 24th March 2010 we had to edit using Final Cut Pro intensely to ensure that our film was handed in on time. Much of our editing time consisted of including transitions in order to reduce the jumping effect from one shot to the next. Francene and I stayed behind in order to finish the soundtrack using Soundtrack Pro which took us around 45mins and further editing using Final cut Pro. We also changed the order of some of our clips to help our film to be clearer. Following feedback from our teacher we were advised to include more clips of us talking as she thought the film dived into the action too quickly without establishing a relationship between the three of us before introducing the little girl (Kyla). We acted upon this by adding a long shot clip of us talking and interacting with eachother.

We encountered a few problems in handing in our work as our clips got disconnected and kept reading a message of offline. This meant that we had to call the technician to copy and paste all of our clips to reconnect them further adding to our stress levels.

Countdown to Rough Cut

The deadline for the rough cut was Wednesday 24th March.

On Monday 22nd March I attended a workshop to start editing our sequence together. This went well, but I didn't get much done as I was by myself. I met up with Alexandra after college to get additional help and we managed to add a few more shots.

On Tuesday 23rd March Alexandra, Mohamed and I met up at lunch time but unfortunately nothing got done.

On the day of our deadline, Tyra and I finished off the editing and stayed behind to make the soundtrack to our sequence. We used FinalCut Pro to put our sequence together and used transitions to make our clips merge together more as the were quite jumpy. We also used the Toggle clip overlay tool to make it appear like Kyla was looking at us without us seeing her.

when we moved onto another computer, our clips went offline. We were oblivious as to what to do so we called the technician. The problem was easily solved as it appeared that all of our clips were not on the hard drive.

When it came to the soundtrack, Tyra and I had no problems and we finished it within 45 minutes.

After 3 hours we were finally finished and decided to do our titles on Friday.

Animatic storyboard

For our animatic storyboard we took a photo of each individual shot. This was effective as we were able to view our story board in a consistent flow. However some of the shots included in the original storyboard weren't used in the filming process. For example we intended to use a shot of us drinking alcohol but when we began to film we decided it wasn't necessary so obviously didn't use the original idea. There were also shots such as shot reverse shot and a match cut that we discussed that would benefit our trailer but again when filming chose another idea. However in order to lengthen our trailer we may use some of our original ideas. It may be a good idea when filming again to remember to use a variety of shots.

Animatic StoryBoard

For our animatic storyboard, we took pictures of individual shots of our storyboard. We put them all together and watched them on quicktime player.

This was helpful as it helped us to see what our opening would look like.

It also helped us to analyse what shots we had used and what shots we needed more of.

Rough Cut Commentary

We completed our rough cut on Wednesday 24th March. After receiving both negative and positive feedback, we decided to make it constructive and act upon it.

The majority our feedback was good, but we were told we needed more close ups to make our film more effective. Both of our teachers agreed that Kyla was the strongest character, however we needed to have more shots if us in order to introduce us.

We were also told that the clip of me running was not convincing as i didn't look scared enough.

Therefore, we decide that we are going to film on Tuesday 30th March.

Rough cut -evaluation

Acting upon feedback from our teachers and after careful analysis we have decided that we need to include more close ups and so as a result we must go filming again. We were advised to include more shots of the child actress in order for the audience to be able to establish a relationship with her. We were also advised to get more shots of the pond to enforce a connection between the pond and the tittle as our film is entitled 'hollow pond'. Further feedback given was that our running shots need to have more pace and we need to look more frightened. Additionally we were also told to cut out the shot where me and Alex are hiding as we do not look frightened enough and it does not portray the message of terror that we were trying to convey.

In response to the feedback given we will film on Tuesday 30th after college.

Sound inspiration

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJ8an_SMykU&feature=PlayList&p=252CCF84414BC4F4&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=31

I listened to some sound clips on youtube and came across one I quite liked what I found. From 4.24 onwards is what I particularly liked as has quite a chilling and cold effect and I immediately thought that something of this nature would mesh really well with our opening sequence.

Animatic story board

For our animatic storyboard we took a picture of each individual shot we intended to use and put it into final cut pro on the timeline. I feel that this was an effective method as it's a much more clearer and concise way to observe the work and its also a lot more easier. We used a number of the shots that we initially drafted in a storyboard and equally we eliminated many of them. For example there were many close-ups that involved the alcohol but due to cutting out the alcohol we decided not to use them. There were also many shot reverse shots that we were supposed to include however we did not end up incorporating them. Conversely we intend on filming again and so we may end up using the shot reverse shots we initially intended to use in order to lengthen the time of our opening as our rough cut is around 90 secconds long. We also need to time of shots as we have as we have lots of close ups and long shots.

Anitmatic

Further filming sessions

After carefully analyzing our clips we came to a mutual decision that the lighting was poor due filming at different times of day so unanimously we decided to attempt filming again. Initially we were using alcohol as a prop but came to realize that it was an unnecessary distraction and so therefore we eliminated it. After careful analysis we also realized that are acting skills weren't very good and that we needed to be a lot more naturalistic in a lot more of the shots as many of our shots came across as over posed and calculated. Acting upon feedback we also decided to shoot are establishing shot again as the handheld camera movement meant it was less smooth and had loads of instances where the clip came across as quite jerky. We also decided to add more close-ups in order to improve the quality of our shots as most of them were from a long shot angle.

Rough Cut

We finished filming the shots we planed, and then started to get together a rough cut of our thriller clip. This is a short preview of the final clip we intend to make, this was a chance to add all our shots together and see and it would look in one. Using programs such as Final cut pro, we was able to add effect, this was effective because the shots now create suspense which helps us excel with the thriller clip. We also used sound track pro to produce an over- sound; we decided that we only wanted minimum dialogue so we made our own sounds, a suspenseful instrumental, violin sounds, which imply suspense. We now know what we want for our final clip, we need to work on credit, and we need to look at extended our clip by about thirty seconds.

More filming, more camera moe

We viewed our first filming section and came to a decision that we needed to re take some shots. We all agreed that our shots were poor and so decided to approach our thriller in a different way.The first thing we changed was the alcohol as we thought that it was too much hassle.It properly took us all in all three to four days to film all the shots in our thriller. We had one minor set back our young girl actor was only available for one day and this meant that we had make sure we made use of our time appropriately, the major problem was with the lighting, some of the shots came out to dark and that's what meant we had to go out and film all over again, I wouldn't say this was a bad thing because indeed you learn from your mistakes. I really enjoyed filming, being the camera man I was able to excel in my camera skills and now I believe I can say that I know how to use the camera's safely and constructively.

Our first filming day me being camera man.

We shot our first set of shots in Hollow Pond which is located in Walthamstow. The outside actor child we planed on bring filming was unavailable for filming that morning we decided to shoot all of the shots that she wasn't in, this allowed us to keep up to date as it would have been a waste of time to start filming only when the young girl was available. This was when I started to thing of more ideas about shots to include, we started by filming our establishing shot, floor shots and close ups, then after analysing and seeing what we could improve we retook some shots that were not successful.

The Mise en scene of our short clip was the forest itself and cans of beer which at the end of the filming decided that it was best to just leave this out of our filming, although this would add suspense the characters being intoxicated because of the way they would act, but we had to cut this out because it wasn't helping us much only causing more of a burden. On the 12th March we decided not to film, but instead watch our footage so far so that we could analyse it and discuss what we could do to make it better, this day was also used to blog what had been going on in our group soo far.

Further Filmings

After viewing our first filming, we decided to analyse our shots. We all agreed that our shots were poor and so decided to approach our thriller in a different way.
The first thing we changed was the alcohol as we thought that it made our thriller cheesy.
It took us 3 days to film our thriller. Our child actor was only available for one day and so we made sure we made use of our time appropriately.

Location shots and ideas before filming

These are location shots of hollows pond the forest which we filmed at. I had a vital image of the scene in my head from the pictures taken, but when we went back to the park another day I noticed some things that would help make our thriller better and we really contemplated about the lighting because we wanted strong shots that had effective lighting.

rough cut

Bag Swag Exercise

We watched the a short extract from the action thriller, Collateral. The task was to create a sequence that had a shot reverse shot, an over the shoulder shot and of course a bag swap.
As a group we decided to shoot our short clip in City and Islington canteen.As part of the thriller making we had to perform and produce a bag swap. After having a tutorial which introduced and helped us to understand how to use cameras efficiently. In my group we used a variety of shots including an establishing shot, close ups and floor shots to draw attention to the swapping of the bags and both cunning and confused expressions of the characters.

Looking back at this experience of the bag swap task I was satisfied with the outcome of our production as it was our first time behind the camera, this was a chance for me to prove to my team that I was the man for the Camera job. We learnt that we needed to be more aware of the positions we placed the camera in and we needed to think more carefully about how to link our shots together better, the problem that we found was that some of the shots never correlated because we never sequenced the clip properly.

Skills Audit:Filming

On the 5th March we shot our first set of shots in Hollow Pond. As our child actor was unavailable we decided to shoot all of the scenes that she wasn't in so that we didn't waste any time. We shot a variety of shots including our establishing shot, floor shots and close ups.

Our Mise en scene included the forest itself and cans of beer to add to the fact that we were tipsy.

We decided to use the idea of alcohol because it would get the audience thinking whether or not what is being shown is real or not. This would add suspense and would make the audience want to carry on watching out film to see what happens next.

Fortunately, the natural lighting in the forest was bright and so we didn't need to use artificial lighting.

On the 12th March we decided not to film, but instead watch our footage so far so that we could analyse it and discuss what we could do to make it better.

Art Of the Title Sequence

This tittle sequence that I picked attacked me because of the type of thriller that it is trying to illustrate which i believe is a Action Thriller. The tittle are of the actors in the film, the director and whom the film was written by. The tittle sequence lacks images but still has a strong impression on me, the extreme close up in one of the picks suggest to me that this may also have elements of a Psychological thriller. This tittle sequence uses suspense skillfully, the pictures within the image is not quite obvious which therefore leaves the audience in a mysterious situation that places thoughts about what type of storyline would be dressed in the film to support the whole sequence. Each section of the tittle sequence is trying to show something different to the audience about the film. The upper cased letter effect on the font connotes a stronger and a bolder style which outlines the figure of the title in a clearer way and emphasis on the letters also by using the colours red, white and yellow to present this effectively.

First media filming session

Today we took part in our first media filming session. We spent about two and a half hours in Hollow Ponds filming various shots such shots include an establishing shot of the location, close ups of each of our faces and conversations between us. We also incorporated a long shot which consisted of only our feet. Though we filmed in daylight we plan on editing the shots we have so they appear as if they have been filmed at night. As the little girl we intended on using was unavailable we were unable to film the most important shots and so therefore we filmed other additional shots that were needed instead.

We brought cider from an off liscense which contributes to a small area of the mise en scene. Overall I felt that the today worked well as we got quite a bit done my favourite shot was the establishing shot of the location as it really captured the essence and beauty of the surroundings and it appears as if it's a safe place where one can go to in order to escape the demands of daily life. It also seems like a place where little can go wrong thus adding to the suspenseful element of our film.

Intro to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

In order to use the Cameras effectively we had to learn about how to look after the camera carefully, and what precaustions we should take when we are using it. It is key that two people attend to the camera at all time's the equitment is expensive and your have to take in to considerations that other groups need to use the Cameras aswell. It is also important about the way you hold the camera if you don't correctly hold it, you can drop it and damage the camera.
This tutorial lesson on the Cameras was very useful as I now have a full understanding of how to use a camera and also how to look after it.

Skills Audit Soundtrack and livetype

SoundTrack

Sound track pro is a rather similar program as Live type, but it specialises in sound, adding music and noise to my short clip thriller. Very helpful for soundtracks or just simple special effects. We will be using this feature to add a heartbeat and piano, violin music to our coursework. It offers other sounds such as up beat and tempo music. It has alot of different ways of expressing sounds and works very well with media work.

Live Type

We used the program called 'Live type' this allows you to create texts in different types of fonts, including special effects. Live type is used to make tittles, in this case i made the opening credits for my short clip. The program allows differnet types of font to be used, along with different colours, size and angles. Another feature Live type allows effects to be added on with motion, such as fades, disolving, bouncing and glazing. This makes the font look alot more proffesional and offers alot of different effects ideal for any situation.

News and Current Affairs Events: Haiti Crisist

January 12th 2010 saw one of the biggest disaster to strike the western hemisphere, one of the most poorest countries, Haiti. A massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck the Caribbean nation, taking over 50,000 peoples life's. Thousands of buildings collapsed and aftershocks continue to cause problems for the people of Haiti. This quake has lefted homes and shelters in the ground people have been forced to live on the streets and in makeshift camps in open public spaces. All across the world people have started to taken words into actions by helping this poverty struck country, charities all over the glode have started to raise money to aid the people of Haiti. British Red Cross, Africa development trust or just some of many organisations which are collecting donations from the public to help bring Haiti, food, water and try and reestablish housing for the people who have been made homeless.

Match cut preliminary

As part of this project on making a thriller we had to produce a match cut which included a shot reverse shot and some dialogue a conversation between two or more characters. there was one criteria we has to work with the 180 degrees rule.The first match cut in our clip was of me walking down the corridor, I walked into a class room, the match cut was of me on one side of the door opening the door and the other side of the door entering the room. Because the shots worked well together along side my well trained editing from the teachers I managed to have a good, effective match-cut. In this production I mainly was involved in Editing and acting, this was a good chance to really use my Final Cut Pro skills. On making a thriller clip this type of shot is effective as people working into room and the audience not knowing what's going to happen next they feel anxious and this creates suspense.

Thriller Sub-Genres

These are some of the Thriller Genres which I am aware of and find interesting.

• Psychological Thriller
• Action Thriller
• Conspiracy Thriller
• Political Thriller
• Sci-Fi Thriller
• Religious Thriller ( For example the 'da vinci code' )

My favourite type of thrillers are Psychological thrillers and Action thrillers these types of thriller i find interesting because they are suspenseful and keep me on the edge of my seat. I find these thrillers interesting because they creates suspense through lighting, and vocal techniques used by the characters the best effect with I wish to use in my thriller is sound back ground music, non-diegetic sound always has me wondering whats going to pop up.

Now knowing that there are different types of thrillers, when I watch a film I always analysis which type I think the film is, this is useful to me because I would like to adept curtain features I've seen into my thriller.

The font of this title sequence clearly indicates a psychological thriller as it's handwriting of which is quite jagged and rigid, it's also slanted and very minute. The characteristics of the writing suggest it's been written by someone of an unnerving uneasy disposition which reflects the nature of the main character whom has psychopathic tendencies.

The images that are behind the text are very abstract close ups of disturbing images of which leads to suspense; as the images are so very perculiar the audience ar left wondering what is left to follow. For example the shot concerning the individual cutting off skin from his fingers suggests he may being to erase his DNA in order to become untraceable which leaves the audience wondering what his/her motives are as we can assume that he/she has done something bad.

The tittle sequence appeals to me because it leaves me wanting to watch the entire film as I am intrigued by pyschological thrillers due to the fact hat they play with your mind and keep you engaged throughout. There's also often an unexpected twist which I like because it leaves me on edge.

Intro to Cameras Health and Safety tutorial

In order to help us to understand how to use the camera's and use them more effectively we were given a health and safety tutorial where in which we were taught basic skills such as turning the camera's on and off, using the zoom and the focus buttons and inserting and ejecting the memory cards correctly. We also were given instructions on how to set up and place the camera on the tripod correctly and safely. This tutorial was essential as it will allow us to use the camera's efficiently and safely when filming.

Intro to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

Before handling the cameras and going to create our title sequence, we had to undertake a tutorial that introduced us to the basics of using the equipment.

Firstly we sat through a PowerPoint presentation explaining the key features of the camcorder like the canvas, zooming features and how to put the camera into focus.

We also learnt basic skills like turning the camcorder on and off, inserting memory cards and how to put the camera into focus.

After we were comfortable with the camcorder, we were shown how to set up a tripod stand before doing it ourselves.

I found this tutorial very helpful as it enabled me to use the camcorder more efficiently.

Art of the title sequence

The font of this title sequence clearly indicates a psychological thriller as it's handwriting of which is quite jagged and rigid, it's also slanted and very minute. The characteristics of the writing suggest it's been written by someone of an unnerving uneasy disposition which reflects the nature of the main character whom has psychopathic tendencies.

The images that are behind the text are very abstract close ups of disturbing images of which leads to suspense. As a consequence of the images being so very peculiar it leads to suspense as we ae left wondering what is to follow. For example the shot with the person cutting of skin from his fingers suggests he may be cutting his DNA in order to become untraceable which leaves the audience wondering what his/her motives are as we can assume that he/she as done something bad.

The tittle sequence appeals to me because it leaves me wanting to watch the entire film as I am intrigued by pyschological thrillers due to the fact that they play with your mind and keep you engaged throughout, there's often an unexpected twist aswell which I like because it leaves me on edge.

Analysis of 9 shots from Art of the title sequence

I have chosen this particular title sequence because I think the use of shots used creates a spooky and forboding atmosphere which helps add to the knowledge of Thriller films we have gained already. The style of the title themselves uses a font which gives a hand written effect, this adds to the traditional and spooky feel to the film. The titles state the production team and the main characters to give the audience an insight into what kind of film it will be. The images used in the title sequence are all close up images of the character in progress of something the effect of using close up images allows the audience to take time into working out what the images are and why they are being shown. This title sequence appeals to me because I enjoy the fact that is a hidden enigma and it is enjoyable to work out what the images are and why they re ll significant to glue the story together. I also enjoy the fact the titles don't use the usual dark sinister effect of using only a dark background the use of light gives a weird and more frightful effect. The fact that the titles are placed over strong clear photography makes the titles become more apparent.

Thriller Clip Analysis

We watch the Deja Vu thriller clip, this film was action packed with thrills and full of suspenseful moments. They used high pitched music to create tension, this films about agent who go back in time to try and save a woman's life preventing her from getting murdered then he falls in love with her during the process. Just like all other thrillers the film starts with a very normal settling a jolly atmosphere, happy children, people laughing, then we see a baby doll drop into the sea, for me this is like a sign of drama something going to go wrong when i see something like this happen. At the point were we see a man looking for were music is coming from and he's searching around pacing through cars to find where this is coming from, he sees a car with the radio playing and the keys are plugged into the ignition, immediately i can feel that they going to be some kind of action it makes me anxious to know whats going to happen then suddenly we see an explosion, this comes to me as a shock because of the normality of the opening for something like this to happen am really eager to find out more, what's going to happen next!

Our meeting

For a pre production work we all met up to discuss pitch ideas about where we wanted our Thriller title sequence to be filmed. With all of us having many ideas each idea maybe being too ambitious or too vague we finally achieved an agreement on our final idea. An idea in which everybody's ideas were collective to create a joint idea.

We drew pictures and wrote ideas about where we should film and what shot should be used before assigning to our individual tasks. Two other members of the group then went to take images of the locations we wanted to use.

Our teacher set us the task to pitch our ideas to herself and one other teacher for our pitch to be approved this was to be presented as a slide show. Each member of the group did there own slide and presented it to the teachers and the rest of the class.

Match cut excercise

For this short task we had to film a short clip to show our understanding of filming a match cut and using the 180 degree rule and filmed a conversation between two people in the shot of an over the shoulder shot. It was essential that we did this.

The clip could have been longer including more action. To begin with the short clip that myself and others submitted could have been improved on. To begin with we didnt view the lighting well as the light was facing the camera preventing the character being shown. When filming the short clip the transititions didnt run smoothly and the desired match cut concluded to a 'jump cut'. The camera distance kept changing when we filmed more shots which prevented the shots being consistent. There was also too much space which wasnt needed which prevented the main focus to be on the two characters. We failed to meet the rule of eye level should always be a 3rd of the way down the screen.

With the over the shoulder shot there was too much space. Overall it was a good attempt the improvements needed can be incorporated into our final project.

Bag swap excercise

For part of our pre production work in class we had to film a short clip of a bag swap inspired by the opening scene of ' Colleteral' in which we had to include at least one shot reverse shot an over the shoulder shot and a match cut. We decided to film in the canteen as this was convinient and also a place where our two characters could socialise in order to perform the 'bag swap'

We came up with the idea to have two friends seated in order to swap the bags using their feet. we filmed this by using a floor shot so it was clear what was going on. we used a variety of shots including the opening establishing shot, close ups and long shots.

The most effective shot for me was the floor shot this i think was effective because it was the main focus- the angle used also allowed the main focus to be on the bag swapping. The fact that the only things shown in the shot was the bag and feet also made it very challenging for the audience to define each character.

However it was a challenge when editing all the shots together as you wanted it to look professional and not under thought about. An improvement would be to try and make the transitions to each shot more smooth.