1. Production Log
Filming:
How did it go?
The filming for the film openinng on a whole went reasonably well. We had thought
out when everyone was free this included the cameraman, actors and director. We
had planned this on the weekend and came to a decision to film during Wednesday
as this was fortunetly the day when we did not have school due to teacher’s training
day. We had agreed to meet up during 1 in the afternoon where everyone had meant
on time, filming earlier during the day ensures us that we have plenty of time to film
or even refilm. We had filmed at 1pm in one of our chosen location, the forest, where
it was quite bright. After finishing this location we then filmed our other chosen
location, the church, this was when it was dark. This was perfect as it links to the
generic conventions of a thriller as it was dark and in a church which brough
suspense. We had no trouble shooting as nothing came in the way in our location as
so the filming was almost smooth. We done plenty of camera angles and movement
with the help of our cameraman and tripod, also key aspects like the 180 degrees
rule and match on match action were used. This was used to place an intrest to our
film opening for our audience.
Did you change anything from your planning?
We had changed some scenes, props and locations. We needed to add more
scenes to our filming so we had added a ‘stabbing’ scene although the victim was
meant to be originally cut with a knife on his face, we had changed it to where he
was being threatened as this longed it more and the cut on his face was to complex
to make it look real and health and safety purposes. We then also did not include an
alleyway as our location as this wouldn’t have flowed well with our film opening.
Apart from this nothing else was changed.
Where were the difficulties?
There wasn’t any sort of difficulty. Despite being in our film where we had some
actors not looking that serious but with editing we were sure that we can fix this. We
also had to logically think how to film the main actor being hunged, but with effective
thinking we had thought of showing only the bottom half of the actor’s body being
hunged, we showed his legs twitching which was a great way of bringing fear and
disgust to the audience as that is what a typical thriller film does. But to before this
scene the actor’s leg must not be on the ground to do this he had to sit on the branch
where he moves his legs whilst being filmed, for health and safety we did not want
him to be actually hanged but seemed so as this is a health risk towards the actor.
Are you on schedule?
2. Indeed, we was on schedule and reached before the deadline for filming. We had
made our own rota when to film and edit with this we planned ahead. So we
therefore finished filming when were suppose to and also was editing when we were
so suppose to although this was a rather long task and still in process.
Is the lighting correct?
The lighting was correct with naural lighting you can gurantee that the footage will
look alot more nicer and clear. With the help of ‘IMovie’ we are also able to change
the lighting to make it fit in better, we had only done this on a few scenes as this
creates a greater effect.
Do you have a variety of camera shots/angles/movements?
We made sure to use a variety as we understand the importance of this. We want to
show that we have understood the meaning full of camera shots/angles/movements
and that this tells you that we know when to use it and especially how to use it. We
had acknowledge that using this will well keep the audience intrested. Using the
same camera movements/shots/mvements will only show a lack of knowledge of
filming, being repetitve will be seen as dull and boring.
Editing
Are you on schedule?
With editing we are on schedule. We had finshed some of the editited footage but
after we arrive back ffrom half term we should be finished. At the rate we are going,
we should be well and truly finished editing before the deadline.
How is it going?
The editing is going rather well, we had imported the footage to the computer then
immediantly started to edit. We have cut some scenes and we was not required to
do any refootage. We are now just adding effects, transitions, sound effects etc.
What are the difficulties?
Some scenes are hard to fit together, but with transtions we were able to make the
scenes fit smoothly together. With variety of transitions was a great help to us which
we are indeed thankful. Another difficulty was choosing a copy right free music which
fits into our film opening, this had become a dilema for us but fortunelty with
thorough research we were able to find a copyrigh free music which fit well into our
film opening.
What programme are you using?
3. For editing we are using IMovie which is a editing software this is due to IMovie is
really easy and fast to you thus being also very resourcesful. In addiotion we have
used IMovie before so we are use to it and know how to use it.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of this programme?
Advantage of IMovie is that it is super fast and easy adapt/learn, the programme it
very resourceful as it contains many tranitions, sound effect, you can also add any
background music. We didn’t find any disadvantage to this but only that you have to
use the computer which you editited on, so its very specific which one we’re allowed
to edit on.
Are you going to add any effects to your footage?
We are going to include effects to our footage such as fast-forward, slow motion,
freeze frame. Using fast forward and reverse shot will create a flashback. The freeze
frame allowed us to add titles to each character
Are the lengths of your shots correct? Do some go on for too long? Could you
cross cut between shots?
The lengths of our shots is reasonably at accurate length this meaning quite
moderate. Being too long will only bored the audience, so we kept it at a appropriate
length. The scenes where the shots that were lengthy, we fast forward so we can
make the scene quick. We used cross cut between shots to shorten the footage. The
overall length of our footage came to 2 minutes.
Does the narrative make sense?
Yes the narrative does make sense. We have tried ensure that the narrative does
make sense as we did not want our audience to be confused whilst watching the film
opening as this could be quite frustrating.
Is it clear that it is a film opening and not a short film?
We made it clear that our film opening was very clear that it was not a short film.
How we done this was that we gave some hints, but not giving to much away, where
the story line was going but the rest was them to work out to keep their attention still
intersested.
Diegesis
Where have you got your music from?
Through research, we have found our music on youtube. This was because youtube
has many good offering of royal free music. Fortunetley, we had found a royalty free
music which we ensured was legit and appropriate to use.
Why could you not use copyright music?
This is because it would be a form of stealing therefore being a crime. You could
also be fined for copyright music as this is basically invading someone’s privacy.
4. Are the sound levels all the same?
We made sure that all the sound level was the same by either decreasing or
increasing the sound. But in our film opening the sound was all muted so there was
no noise interferance.
Does the music fit the pace of the action on the screen?
Indeed, the music that we applyed fits well with the actual pace of the action on
screen. The pace of the action was quite faced paced but this fitted perfectly with our
music as this too was quite fast pace.
Does the music create the mood you want the audience to feel?
The music does create a mood we want the audience to feel, the music creates a
suspense atmosphere which we want our audience to feel as this is a key generic
feature to thriller.
Do you use free royal music?
We made sure it was royal free music that we had used. We had found this on
Youtube which proved that it was. We have evidence here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkGop8kgRDg
Titles
Does your font fit your genre?
The font we had used fit in well with our genre. We didn’t want to do it over the top
as we know this is suppose to be professional. Our font that we usedis mysterious so
that it still had the thriller aspect.
Have you used only two fonts and not changed them too often?
We only had used one font because we wanted it to be consistent, to flow well within
the film opening. The only change is the title and nothing else was changed.
Can you read the text?
The text was at moderate size so that the audience can read it well and in time. We
made sure that the text was easy to read and fitted well in the background of the
footage.
Is the colour easy to read/does it fit your genre?
The colour of our text is red. The colour red is used as it is easy to read, not being
too bright nor being too dark. Also the use of red represents blood, danger, death
this is so it fits in well with our genre.
Have you used all the titles you needed to?
We made sure that all of our titles that was neccessary in the film opening. We
showed the titles over the whole film so it doesn’t get ‘squished’ together. We made
it quite slow for the audience too be able to read the titles.
