Final feedback

We all went round in groups looking at the other members of our class's work. if we had more time and could improve on our film we may have:
-used a more realistic body
-got more shots of inside the car
- made the music a bit less repetitive
and include more close ups from inside the barn, for example unlocking the barn door.

All the groups could see that it does include thriller genre conventions, for example the use of light created suspense and the music held freaky quality's. Some people perceived it to be a murder/mystery.

Some groups also thought the soundtrack was repetitive, however still effective. Others said that the use of diagetic sound was pimping! for example the car pulling up and the dragging of the body. 1 group also pointed out that the body wasn't realistic enough and clearly just rags and a coat... oww dear.

Several groups also commented on the end title how it fitted in with the theme of the sequence with the use of moving light, as well as the choice of font.

The groups also depicted from our sequence that it required more close ups for a more effective atmosphere.

when asked to decide what they thought would happen in the film, the groups all predicted similar things, for example find out who's body it was and about his past and who the murderer was. and why this person was killed?

in all we are happy with the comments we received


:):):)

This is it ..!

After Light

Editing

We are pleased with the way our editing has gone; we have got all our titles in our sequence now and added a few transitions.
We are very pleased with our end title "after light", it came out just the way we wanted with the right font and comes up on the screen at the right time, I like the way it goes from black to white and shines which creates a supernatural feel to the sequence and makes an impact.
Were happy with the other titles also, the choice of font suits the scene and we like the names we chose.
I am very happy with the sound and think it goes well, there are sections where it jumps because it is hard to blend them together but we are working on it and shall sort it soon.
Not many transitions were used because we didn't want to make it to complicated, which can ruin a sequence, the video filters we used were fade and cross dissolve.
The visual style we are trying to create is an eerie, psychological thriller, we wanted a lot of suspense and tension in our sequence for example the audience would be wondering where the driver is going and why he is stopping at a barn. I think we have successfully achieved this.
To create this visual style we used the slow eerie music, the variety of interesting shots using just the car light in the dark and the clever titles.

response to rough cut feedback

After allowing every other group in our class to watch our project so far, we received some very positive feedback along with some ways in which we could improve it.

Positive feedback:
Editing: Good range of shots from in and out side of the car.
good use of transitions especially when the car pulls up into the yard.

Camera work: The car lights worked well and gave off a good source of lighting. for example the headlights as the man walks out of the barn to the boot of the car,
headlights drawing closer almost to cover the whole screen
good range of camera angles.

Sound: Soundtrack fits the piece well
Good use of diagetic sound at the beginning to create tension.

Mis en scene: the setting used was effective and worked well
the minimalistic use of mis en scene reflects the spookiness the audience are supposed to feel.

Narrative: it is simple but still good for and opening sequence.


Things to improve:
Editing: more transitions could possibly make it a bit more interesting.

Camera work: quite repetitve- similar shots.

Sound: more use of diegetic sound could be used- of the car.
repetitve

Camera Moves - Techniques and pointers

(This blog was composed with help from 'the guardian guide to making film')

Pan
A pan is a horizontal camera pivot from a stationary position from left to right or vice versa. this movement enables you to follow a subject or to show the distance between two objects. when panning, face the middle of the pan with your feet firmly planted on the ground. from there, twist your upper body towards the start of the pan, through centre, and end with your upper body twisted toward the end of the pan. Always start on a still shot and end on a still shot.
A whip pan is a sped up version of the pan that creates a blur effect, this can be used to convey the passage of time, or simply to frame rapid action as it occurs.

Tracking is lateral camcorder movement that parallels a moving subject. Professionals achieve this using a track on which a wheeled "dolly" is placed.

Animatic

Here is our animatic, the transitions i used were cross disolves and to make it black and white i used the effect image control- desaturate, then altered the brightness and contrast and then used Channel- colour offset.

Story boarding and animatics

We have made a story board showing the main shots in our sequence, so that anyone who looked at it would be able to work out what is going to happen. We decided not to include all of the shots we are going to take in the story board, as we did not think it was necessary to do so. however, it does still make sense.
Under the drawings, are captions showing the type of shot that it is e.g long shot, and a short definition as to what is taking place in the shot, and also the direction of the camera.
After we completed our story board in pencil, we then went over it in black pen so that when it came to taking the pictures for our animatic, it was clear.
We then used the camera to take pictures of our shots individually. Once all of our shots had been taken, we uploaded them onto our computer and then imported them into final cut. From here we could edit our sequence, adding transitions and cutting our shots to make them more appropriate lengths.
Then the music made in garage band was added so that we could get a feel for how weel it went with our sequence. we may need to alter this after filming.

the soundtrack

I have been producing the soundtrack for our opening.
I wanted an erie feeling to the sequence and i think i have achieved this well.
The soundtrack isn't very complex because our sequence isn't very complex, there wasn't very much to choose from in garage band for this type of sequence but i am pleased with the one i found. I didn't want to cram a lot of different soundtracks into the sequence because it would be to much. I wanted a slow erie soundtrack, which i believe i got.

things to include

car
farmhouse
headlights
yard
forest
farm/narrow road
eary music
sudden loud sounds
shadows/silhouettes
view of inside of car

Surface- Great example

I think this sequence is very good and interesting, it has thriller conventions in it but could also be portrayed as a horror. What makes it a thriller is the suspense and erieness to give the audience a thrill.
The structure of the sequence- while the titles are coming up there is some sort of murder going on and it keeps cutting back, the audience is not sure what is happening which makes it a good thriller. My guess is a vampire film because you can sort of see a man bitting a girls neck.
The lighting is very good and works well, it is quite dark, and with the blood moving with a black background is very effective, when the murder is happening it is dark but with a white light shinning on the two characters, which makes a sort of grey, this works well and makes me think she is being murdered somewhere dark and eerie. From what i can see there are no props and cant tell what clothing apart from the close up of the girls jumper.
The camera work is very good and suits the genre, it starts off quite calm and focuses on the blood floating, which i'm guessing was food colouring in water, then as the sequence goes on it gets faster and there is a lot of rapid camera work and quick imagery. There are a few close ups of the girls face, one being of her eye, which at first glance i couldn't tell what it was, there is also close ups of her body, which you can see a white jumper. The framing is very gd and works well.
I think the sound is very good in this sequence, goes extremely well with the setting. It starts off very quiet and erie but by the gets very loud and fast. At the end it makes you feel quite uneasy