Friday 19 March 2010
Thriller Opening Sequence - 'Absent' 1st draft.
The 1st draft of our thriller opening sequence was in for today and we had completed this task 3 days prior to this deadline.
(The video above is our first draft)
When Henna and I were importing the video to YouTube the file was corrupted and the picture was distorted, pixelated and off colour; Henna and I repeated uploading the file plenty of times to Youtube, but the same thing happened. For the next lesson Henna and I decided to reconvert the video and upload that new file onto Youtube as we figured something had gone wrong with the first file convert.
* Because this happened this post had been edited in the next lesson in order to embed the video from Youtube into my blog.
Overall I feel that our opening sequence fits into the chosen genre of a thriller as we have created a sense of tension, mystery and narrative enigma in order to keep ur audience hooked. I also think that our characters fit their chosen roles and play them well. Though I think a few parts need to be shortened and when Character B says 'Don't Jump', it needs to be clearer so a possible re-film maybe needed there.
Thursday 18 March 2010
Editing the 1st Draft.
*Throughout the whole editing process, I physically did the editing on the computer while Henna, Trisha and myself directed the editing apart from twice when Henna did some editing on the computer. All editing decisions came from us all as a group.
(04/03/10)Lesson 1: Today we were able to start editing the footage that we had previously filmed on Tuesday, but first we had to capture the footage onto the computer by using the capture feature on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. When capturing we realised that the computer wasn't capturing the image very well from the tape; it was appearing distorted and when played back on the camera it actually wasn't. We attempted this a couple more times but it still wasn't working so we decided to capture the footage by connecting the camera directly to the computer with the tape in it. Although this took much longer, this technique proved better for us and we were able to save our footage onto our 'T':Drive.
Before editing our footage, we noticed there were over 50 clips saved which contained the footage we needed and also some shots we had repeated because we needed to make sure we got it right or because some went wrong; this needed sorting out so we went through them one by one deleting ones we don't need and keeping ones we do need in our project file on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
After doing this we renamed our clips so it would be easier to tell them apart during the editing process instead of trying to tell them apart with names like 'Untitled Clip 001'. After doing this the programme crashed and we found that the auto-save feature was not working so by the end we had renamed all of the clips again.
(09/03/10)Lesson 2: Today we carried on with the editing process and we started the lesson by reffering back to our storyboard so we knew what clip we should put first. We figured it was the establishing shot so we put it on the editing timeline and watched it back. The sound was excellent and the zoom out we had worked well, but we all thought it was too long. We trimmed the clip and watched it through again. It was about 15secs. shorter than the original and this made it more effective for the audience to know the surroundings of this place and how high up it is and less dragged out.
The next clip that we edited was the walking feet of character A. In the original clip we had planned for the shot to pan up from her feet to her face, this couldn't happen as something was in the background of the shot, when moved up to her face, that we didn't want so we decided to just keep her walking feet and we trimmed the clip to where we thought was best.
The next clip we edited was an over the shoulder mid shot. On this clip we saw that the sun light had made the clip look too bright in contrast to the others clips, but by adjusting the colour we overcame this problem. We went through a lot of the following clips and watched them, trimmed them down to where we wanted and adjusted bits of audio.
All three of us in our group wanted our opening sequence to be the best it could so sometimes we'd disagree on the clips, but would offer our ideas of how to improve.
(11/03/10)Lesson 3: Today we focussed on one clip in particular; the clip of the phone being zoomed in on when it is ringing. This clip took a lot of time to edit because when filmed we had a loose shoe on our tripod so when attempting the zoom in the shot was sometimes unsteady. We had all filmed this many times and we only found a good few shots of the phone where we could clearly see the words 'incoming call' and 'unknown number' on the screen so we trimmed them down, put different shots together and layered the same audio over the top of each clip so it would sound like it was originally in the same clip and after trying out different arrangements of the clips we found the one that worked as we wanted. Then we were about to move onto the next clip and try to find some music to go onto the soundtrack of our opening sequence but then our software, Adobe Premier Pro CS4, crashed. This caused us to lose to lose half of the editing we had done as the auto-save feature was not working again. We then discussed what we should do and then decided that I would do the editing all over again while Henna and Trisha discuss the music for our soundtrack. After this was done they discussed with me what they had thought about for the soundtrack, they said they felt we did not need any more ambient sound and we all agreed on finding copyright free music that was dramatic and somewhat orchestral.
(16/03/10)Lesson 4: Today we edited the last few clips which contained Character B’s walking and speaking part and Character A’s speaking part along with her walking over to the ringing phone, dropping the phone and running away. We trimmed these down and added and adjusted appropriate background noise to make it all flow for example the phone
ringing; I put the same audio used when the phone is ringing at first over every other clip the phone is ringing in, then dipped the volume when she is further away from the phone and raised it when she was nearer by it. After doing this we moved onto the title sequence. The software was being slightly slower than normal but after noticing this we saved our project every five minutes because it had crashed before and we did not want this happening again.
When doing the title sequence we all agreed on the font and their whereabouts and the fade transitions. This did not take too long so then we started to play around with the scene transitions at the start of our sequence. We tried out different transitions but the cross transition made them fade into each other. We did this with the first scenes of Character A up until Character B walking.
(18/03/10)Lesson 5: Today we wanted to sort out the soundtrack of our opening sequence. We all looked on different music websites that offered copyright free music. We wanted something slow paced, dramatic and atmospheric to fit our theme of a genre. Trisha and I found a piece of music on the website: http://freeplaymusic.com called 'Abandoned'. We thought the title fit our character and also the music was dramatic, orchestral and fairly slow paced. We downloaded the track and then imported it onto Adobe Premier Pro CS4. The starting to the music piece suited the opening sequence so I trimmed the track down and placed it where we wanted it. We felt this created the mood and atmosphere we wanted and was perfect for our opening sequence.
(04/03/10)Lesson 1: Today we were able to start editing the footage that we had previously filmed on Tuesday, but first we had to capture the footage onto the computer by using the capture feature on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. When capturing we realised that the computer wasn't capturing the image very well from the tape; it was appearing distorted and when played back on the camera it actually wasn't. We attempted this a couple more times but it still wasn't working so we decided to capture the footage by connecting the camera directly to the computer with the tape in it. Although this took much longer, this technique proved better for us and we were able to save our footage onto our 'T':Drive.
Before editing our footage, we noticed there were over 50 clips saved which contained the footage we needed and also some shots we had repeated because we needed to make sure we got it right or because some went wrong; this needed sorting out so we went through them one by one deleting ones we don't need and keeping ones we do need in our project file on Adobe Premiere Pro CS4.
After doing this we renamed our clips so it would be easier to tell them apart during the editing process instead of trying to tell them apart with names like 'Untitled Clip 001'. After doing this the programme crashed and we found that the auto-save feature was not working so by the end we had renamed all of the clips again.
(09/03/10)Lesson 2: Today we carried on with the editing process and we started the lesson by reffering back to our storyboard so we knew what clip we should put first. We figured it was the establishing shot so we put it on the editing timeline and watched it back. The sound was excellent and the zoom out we had worked well, but we all thought it was too long. We trimmed the clip and watched it through again. It was about 15secs. shorter than the original and this made it more effective for the audience to know the surroundings of this place and how high up it is and less dragged out.
The next clip that we edited was the walking feet of character A. In the original clip we had planned for the shot to pan up from her feet to her face, this couldn't happen as something was in the background of the shot, when moved up to her face, that we didn't want so we decided to just keep her walking feet and we trimmed the clip to where we thought was best.
The next clip we edited was an over the shoulder mid shot. On this clip we saw that the sun light had made the clip look too bright in contrast to the others clips, but by adjusting the colour we overcame this problem. We went through a lot of the following clips and watched them, trimmed them down to where we wanted and adjusted bits of audio.
All three of us in our group wanted our opening sequence to be the best it could so sometimes we'd disagree on the clips, but would offer our ideas of how to improve.
(11/03/10)Lesson 3: Today we focussed on one clip in particular; the clip of the phone being zoomed in on when it is ringing. This clip took a lot of time to edit because when filmed we had a loose shoe on our tripod so when attempting the zoom in the shot was sometimes unsteady. We had all filmed this many times and we only found a good few shots of the phone where we could clearly see the words 'incoming call' and 'unknown number' on the screen so we trimmed them down, put different shots together and layered the same audio over the top of each clip so it would sound like it was originally in the same clip and after trying out different arrangements of the clips we found the one that worked as we wanted. Then we were about to move onto the next clip and try to find some music to go onto the soundtrack of our opening sequence but then our software, Adobe Premier Pro CS4, crashed. This caused us to lose to lose half of the editing we had done as the auto-save feature was not working again. We then discussed what we should do and then decided that I would do the editing all over again while Henna and Trisha discuss the music for our soundtrack. After this was done they discussed with me what they had thought about for the soundtrack, they said they felt we did not need any more ambient sound and we all agreed on finding copyright free music that was dramatic and somewhat orchestral.
(16/03/10)Lesson 4: Today we edited the last few clips which contained Character B’s walking and speaking part and Character A’s speaking part along with her walking over to the ringing phone, dropping the phone and running away. We trimmed these down and added and adjusted appropriate background noise to make it all flow for example the phone
ringing; I put the same audio used when the phone is ringing at first over every other clip the phone is ringing in, then dipped the volume when she is further away from the phone and raised it when she was nearer by it. After doing this we moved onto the title sequence. The software was being slightly slower than normal but after noticing this we saved our project every five minutes because it had crashed before and we did not want this happening again.When doing the title sequence we all agreed on the font and their whereabouts and the fade transitions. This did not take too long so then we started to play around with the scene transitions at the start of our sequence. We tried out different transitions but the cross transition made them fade into each other. We did this with the first scenes of Character A up until Character B walking.
(18/03/10)Lesson 5: Today we wanted to sort out the soundtrack of our opening sequence. We all looked on different music websites that offered copyright free music. We wanted something slow paced, dramatic and atmospheric to fit our theme of a genre. Trisha and I found a piece of music on the website: http://freeplaymusic.com called 'Abandoned'. We thought the title fit our character and also the music was dramatic, orchestral and fairly slow paced. We downloaded the track and then imported it onto Adobe Premier Pro CS4. The starting to the music piece suited the opening sequence so I trimmed the track down and placed it where we wanted it. We felt this created the mood and atmosphere we wanted and was perfect for our opening sequence.
Tuesday 2 March 2010
Filming.
Today my group, our chosen actors and I decided to film our opening sequence. We used a Sony Camera with a tape and a tripod. We did not need any extra lighting as it was quite a bright day and we wanted natural light.
We set off at around 10am with one of our actors, Annie. We walked to one of the chosen locations which was the clifftop. We started with the establishing shot of the clifftop view which would set the scene in our opening sequence. We had to re-film this a few times over just so we got it right.
I attempted one of the establishing shots and shot the shots of Annie picking up the phone; the close up of her talking on the phone; the shot of her running away which i had to film a few times over and also the close up of the phone for the end of our opening sequence. Each of us within the group took turns to film, direct and make sure that everything else is okay when filming the shots.
When filming, we noticed that the shoe on the tripod was a bit stiff when panning the camera from left or right, or up or down. We overcame this by changing the tripod; in order to do this, a trip back to the college was required. This was convienient as we finished filming our first set of shots at around 12 so then we needed to get Jonathan from college so we could film the next set.
After gathering a different tripod and the extra props and our actor, Jonathan Tang, we went back to the location of the clifftop to continue filming the rest of Annie's scenes. But just before this, Patricia and I took a detour and went to the bottom of the cliff and told Henna, Jonathan and Annie to go to the top and that we would meet them there. We took the camera with us and told Annie to stand at the top so we could zoom in on her from the bottom of the cliff. We thought this would be effective as then it would give a feel of the height of the cliff and how much serious danger our character could be in. Patricia and I took turns filming this many times to get it right.
When we joined them back at the top of the cliff, Henna filmed Annie taking the photo out of her pocket and then I filmed Annie looking at the photo at a high angle, looking over her shoulder. As Jonathan was also with us we started filming his shots which took place in our second location choice of the graveyard, which was around 5 minutes away from the cliff edge. Henna filmed the long shot of Jonathan walking through the graveyard and close up of him dialing the number on the phone. I filmed the long shot of Jonathan on the phone and the close up of him talking on the phone which took several attempts because we needed a clear sound. This was the end of filming our opening sequence and we had finished at around 3pm.
One of the main problems we encountered was the lighting, as the weather was cold and the sun was out, it was casting unnecessary shadows and also making the scenery look too bright and in some shots was causing the actor and us to not be able to see properly due to the sunlight. The white balance on the camera didn't help with the brightness as when reset it did not take it away.
We set off at around 10am with one of our actors, Annie. We walked to one of the chosen locations which was the clifftop. We started with the establishing shot of the clifftop view which would set the scene in our opening sequence. We had to re-film this a few times over just so we got it right.
I attempted one of the establishing shots and shot the shots of Annie picking up the phone; the close up of her talking on the phone; the shot of her running away which i had to film a few times over and also the close up of the phone for the end of our opening sequence. Each of us within the group took turns to film, direct and make sure that everything else is okay when filming the shots.
When filming, we noticed that the shoe on the tripod was a bit stiff when panning the camera from left or right, or up or down. We overcame this by changing the tripod; in order to do this, a trip back to the college was required. This was convienient as we finished filming our first set of shots at around 12 so then we needed to get Jonathan from college so we could film the next set.
After gathering a different tripod and the extra props and our actor, Jonathan Tang, we went back to the location of the clifftop to continue filming the rest of Annie's scenes. But just before this, Patricia and I took a detour and went to the bottom of the cliff and told Henna, Jonathan and Annie to go to the top and that we would meet them there. We took the camera with us and told Annie to stand at the top so we could zoom in on her from the bottom of the cliff. We thought this would be effective as then it would give a feel of the height of the cliff and how much serious danger our character could be in. Patricia and I took turns filming this many times to get it right.
When we joined them back at the top of the cliff, Henna filmed Annie taking the photo out of her pocket and then I filmed Annie looking at the photo at a high angle, looking over her shoulder. As Jonathan was also with us we started filming his shots which took place in our second location choice of the graveyard, which was around 5 minutes away from the cliff edge. Henna filmed the long shot of Jonathan walking through the graveyard and close up of him dialing the number on the phone. I filmed the long shot of Jonathan on the phone and the close up of him talking on the phone which took several attempts because we needed a clear sound. This was the end of filming our opening sequence and we had finished at around 3pm.
One of the main problems we encountered was the lighting, as the weather was cold and the sun was out, it was casting unnecessary shadows and also making the scenery look too bright and in some shots was causing the actor and us to not be able to see properly due to the sunlight. The white balance on the camera didn't help with the brightness as when reset it did not take it away.
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