Evaluation part I (Planning)

As initial planning of our evaluation we looked at the 7 questions which we will have to answer:

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?
2) How does your media product represent particular social groups?
3) What kind of media institutions might distribute your media product and why?
4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
5) How did you attract/address your audience?
6) What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression for it to the main task?

Me and Declan have decided to analysed and listed our approach to Question 1. We thought this would be a great way of planning this part of the evaluation and considering the technologies we would like to incorporate. 

Sound Scape

Since my research into sound featured within thriller films, I have begin giving consideration to the soundscape of our group's piece. A Soundscape is a very important aspect of a film, especially within the thriller and horror genres. As part of our group's research into sound, I have been looking into the possible avenues of royalty free samples to guarantee us the right type of sound for our thriller opening. I have browsed through pre-recorded diagetic sounds to place into our thriller during the last unsupervised lesson.

"Sound is 50 per cent of the motion picture experience" - George Lucas.

Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, the importance of film sound cannot be underestimated. The entire sound track is comprised of three essential ingredients:  

• the human voice (Dialogue) 

• sound effects (Ambience and Effects) 

• music (Soundtrack, Score)

These three tracks must be mixed and balanced in order to produce the necessary emphasis on effects and to create a desired audience response. These comprise to form the Soundscape. They are analogous to elements in the real world.

I have looked into various websites such as SoundJay and Sounddogs. I found both of these sites very useful, when searching for free audio. Here are just some of the sound effects we have considered:

'heartbeat' effect - This can be layered on top of the running scene during the beginning and at the ending of the opening when this scene is repeated, to realistically emphasize the character's emotions.

Cafe noise - Adding to the background scenery during the shots. Because the dialogue will be imported, we therefore need to essentially build our soundscape back up, so creating realistic cafe noise is a must. This is something we may also record ourselves instead of simply sampling it. 

'Eerie Atmospherics' - Providing a transition between the flashback sequences and the 'real-time' as the Witness narrates the story. This is something I am going to look into further because it is important we harness the right sort of music. I.e. Too over-the-top  could quite easily be mistaken as horror music which is not in keeping with our genre. 

A screenshot of one of the Sound archives I have been looking in to.

The first draft

Planning Filming part III

Final Cut Effects

Here is a list of Final Cut effects I have identified as being useful for the thriller video.

Having explored many video tutorials on Youtube and experimented with Final Cut, I have began to piece together the specific editing style I am after, to suit our thriller video. I am giving careful consideration to effects in order to achieve my desired video, but also to not completely tarnish it with misplaced effects.

We have agreed as part of the editing to first edit the footage and piece it together in Final Cut Express. We will then open the project in my Final Cut Pro X, (essentially as post-production). 

Filming update

We were unable to film the estate scenes today due to one of our actors being ill. This has now been scheduled to Monday 26th November. We will be filming the cafe shots this Thursday and editing will then commence next week. 

Planning filming part II

For part II of the filming our biggest obstacle will be maintaining continuity with the weather on the estate scene. 

However this should not be a problem, as the weather on Monday is due to be overcast and when subjecting both sets of footage on different days to colour correction/editing on Final Cut, we can alter this continuity. 

We have maintained using social media as a great way of keeping everything organised and being able to communicate with our actors so readily. 

Research into Sound

In today's lesson we considered the importance of sound in films. The biggest consideration to take is: "what isn't present in a scene is just as important as the sound that is present in another". This is important with building suspense and engaging the audience during film openings, thus it is crucial we give careful considerations to the sound in our thriller opening. 

The websites: 
http://www.looperman.com 
http://www.incompetech.com/music/royalty-free 

are good for accessing royalty free music loops, acapellas and vocals. This is an important legal consideration to be taken. 

When looking over http://designingsound.org, I came across a series of interesting articles discussing the use of sound in film. One in particular, "DTS presents: Music Sound Design with Diego Stocco by Jack Menhorn" explores how soundtracks can be generated by playing unlikely sources. 



This video was particularly inspiring. For our thriller opening we have already considered making our own non-diegetic sounds to illustrate actions such as the kicking of the victim and the scuffling of the witness' shoes. 

This article was also useful: http://mixonline.com/post/features/movie_sound_effects/index.html

It gave me certain considerations to take on-board, for instance, the importance of sound and why it is used. A good example of this is "Although realism is important as a baseline, more often than not the recordings (or library recordings) get beefed up considerably."  

Things such as "A classic technique for making car chase sounds more exciting is to subtly layer in a lion (or other large animal) roaring to add to the tension of the sound. Although that’s become somewhat of cliché, it can be very effective." This has left me considering what can be put into our 2 minute thriller opening across the two different settings (the estate and the cafe) to emphasize the narrative and add to the suspense. 

Experimenting with colour correction

Today I experimented with colour-correction on a project I had recently shot with some friends.

Both of the below, are before and after examples of the alterations I had made.

With the use of effects such as Vignette, Strife and Projector, I have begun giving my video more of the desired 'cinematic-look', in essence, giving it more of a darker look, which is typical of thriller films.

What I have given particular thought to is the desired realistic look of the video. I did not want to simply tarnish it with effects, but instead maintain a real-life look. Protecting the skin when editing the colour for example, has been one of these considerations.

Glidecam

I will now be using a 'Calicocam' Glidecam for the filming. 

For previous final cut tests, I simply fastened my camera onto a tripod which worked surprisingly well as a makeshift glidecam, giving a fairly precise and steady motion for the footage.

However this will make the footage more steady and I will hopefully find it to be of much use.

I have also been looking at several 'Calicocam' videos on YouTube. Here as some examples which I have found useful for deciding whether to opt for using a glidecam or not; the comparison between using one and not, is demonstrated:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjZi1i4ymFk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC4d5P8z4BI&feature=plcp

Production Schedule

Here is my production schedule for the construction of our music video. 

Group organisation via social media

We decided to create a group conversation between us and the actors on Facebook, to enable us to keep in contact with them. This has been particularly helpful for deciding the shooting dates (which will be displayed on the Production Schedule) and discussing things such as required costumes. During the Cafe scene we will be using different costume to that of the estate scene. 

Final Cut Test #3 (motion)

Here I experimented with motion by reversing video. I later added a zoom effect when reversing to achieve more of a sustained and commercial look (00:14+). After this I increased the speed of which the shot was being reversed and added a flashing effect. I also tweaked colour across the video with the Vignette effect, to give it more of a 'cinematic' style. 

I shot this with my Iphone camera, however my canon 550d will be arriving next week and I will begin planning with this. 

Division of Labour

Each of us will be involved in the duties of Planning, Research, Filming, Editing and Evaluating.

However as we have recognised, we have each got our strong points.

Here is a brief summary;

Me: I will be doing the bulk of the filming and editing, have a knowledge of using final cut and practising with footage.

Declan: Involved in the planning side of things, including finding the estate location. Also, by having acting experience, will be able to plan how certain shots will be depicted. 

Chris: Acting as a second camera, (effectively, I will act as the glidecam camera) he will get more of the longer and establishing shots during the filming. 

Previous Student Work

Across my Research into Thriller videos, the work of previous students has been of much help.



'The Abduction' is a good example of previous student work. What I particularly like about the video is the consistency of effective camera work, by using shots that allow the audience to immediately engage themselves with the story. 

Flashbacks have been used in a controlled way. By opening the video with a flashback and later on making clear distinctions between the present day and the past reflected in flashbacks, this makes the video all the more enigmatic and allows the plot of the story to be put across effectively.

Another thing I like about the video is the use of a film/director's screen at the beginning of the video. The quality of animation adds to the professional style of the video and is fitting with the thriller genre.

I also think that the acting of the characters of a high-standard. Although we are not marked on this, I think that it has helped to achieve this high-standard of student work. By having represented a realistic scenario through good acting, this adds to the suspense of the video.

What I think the video falls down on most is the picture quality. At times, shots are out of focus. I think the director could have also given more consideration to colour correction. 



Another student example, 'Delusion', was one that I found less inspiring.

What I liked about the video was the use of non-diagetic sounds such as the smashing of a bottle and the eerie piano music. Both of these were used effectively in setting the scene.

However what I didn't like about the video was the initial establishing shots. I don't think they bared much correlation with the storyline. I believe the director doesn't go into enough depth in the couple's relationship, only using one scene to try and explain what is happening. The video is quite dependent on the narrator for this reason.

The variety of shots is also quite limited. Because the Title is introduced almost half way through the video, it is as if the director has rushed themselves with trying to summarise the plot of the story. Because of this, the video doesn't leave us on much of a cliff-hanger either, thus lacking suspense for this reason.



Again like the previous example, I think 'Hardcopy' takes too long to build suspense. The first 45 seconds deliver an impression of what is to come but also uses this opportunity to include titles. This could have been done at 00:46 where the action immediately kicks off, acting as the perfect thriller opening video. 

I think the director could have given more consideration to his fonts, with the absence of any sort of animated director's title.

Once the video does build in suspense, it is done well. The shot where we as an audience enter through the agent's bedroom window is particularly effective and we are then acquainted with the main character. The use of music during this shot is also effective, building an enigmatic atmosphere.

 The use of a loading bar on the computer screen emphasises the gripping suspense, with frequent shots cutting back to the opponent asleep. The final shot where the opponent is suddenly woke up by the noise of the agent dropping a CD is effective. However I think what spoils this slightly is that we have already seen some of the shots of the agent on the computer during the opening scene. This goes against the conventions of a thriller film. You would tend to see snippets of how the event will play out.

The director's camerawork is commendable, with a variety of steady shots used. However to improve I would have liked to have seen more hand-held filming if I steadicam had been accessible.

Final Cut Tests #2

Here, I used a different environment to exploit different effects, which best suited the mood of the video. If 'HD' is not automatically selected, select that as there is quite a contrast otherwise. I am satisfied with this test and would like to try shooting in more of an urban environment next. 

Shot List

Having a shot list will be important in defining how the key events will be depicted. We can anticipate that the finished result may alter from this.

Storyboards

Final Cut Pro #1

After downloading Final Cut Pro X for my Macbook, I decided I wanted to see what I could do with the camera on my iphone. Unfortunately, the HD Quality is not what it should be because importing the footage from the iphone to my macbook proved to be a problem. I had to instead send the footage directly to Youtube and then download it off there, before importing it into Final Cut to be editted:

Iphone -> Youtube -> Macbook -> Final Cut Import -> Export to Vimeo

- I have now got around this problem.

In the first half of the video, I focused mainly on giving the car journey a 'cinematic-look' by using effects such as 'Dream' and 'Vignette'. I then carefully used colour manipulation techniques such as'Hue/Saturation' and 'Colorize' as well as adjusting colour. To further this 'cinematic' style I then added a'letterbox' (the horizontal black lines either side of the video) and used 'Artifacts' to create the circular orange/yellow blur effect. 

In the second half, I used similar effects but rather than going for a 'cinematic-look', I chose to try different colours to display a different mood for the piece. Here I used the 'Hard Light' effect and also experimented with effects such as 'radial', 'distort'. Later on, I used 'prism' to make the camera look like it had a different lense on it and used 'droplet' to create a circular effect which catches the audience's eyes. I ended both halves with the 'flashing' effect which I think is particularly useful. In both cases, I used a different degree of intensity to fit the mood conveyed. 

Preliminary Task

The preliminary task is set by the exam board OCR to allow us to show our skills both filming and and on Imove editing the footage. The preliminary exercise was to create a video including:

•  Continuity - a system of cutting used to suggest a progression of events in real time and space (Only Cuts, no use of Flashbacks for example.)
• Match on Action - where a shot of a character starting an action and the completing the action in the next shot.  
• Shot/Reverse shot -  An editing pattern that cuts to the view in the opposite direction (used most often for dialogue)
• The 180 degree rule - Camera should be positioned on one side of the line of actions (within the 180 degree arc). Do not cross the line of action (place the camera on the other side of the line line of action).

Additional features were set by the teachers;

• Shot Variety – size and angles 
• Good Framing of shots
• Make us laugh!
• Music
• Everyone must have an appearance on screen
• Random object from the box!