Main Task: Editing my shots

Finally was the time when I was able to edit all of my shots together to form my film intro. I decided to do this first so It'll be easier to see which sound effects will fit in with the intro of my film rather than finding a sound effect that doesn't at all go with the intro that I have designed.

I decided to edit my film with all the shots being in order of the intro. So I first started with the house shots such as, Alex and Harry communicating in the house  and Alex walking up the drive. By running through all of these clips I was able to see the perfect time to edit them all so the over all work did not look cheap and rubbish. The transitions in this scene I think went very smoothly so when the camera pans up to the ceiling it ended the scene onto the next part of the editing. However the transition proved quite difficult to perform as I has to judge perfectly how the scene would transition from one scene to the next.

Next I edited my shots when the 2 men are about to break up in order to search for the creature. Again editing was quite tricky because since the day we filmed was quite cold their condensation could be seen on the side of the screen before they walked on so I had to carefully choose the precise moment when each of the characters walk in. Also when they exchange their dialog it was hard to judge when they would be shown speaking to one another without it looking like I had to film it separate times, before eventually finding the perfect effect. However after some trail and error the shots were in place and soon the last shot of them together ended that particular scene.

For the next scene where Alex gets taken by the creature this was fairly easy because the shots were all times really well when put together but the sounding would prove trickier later on so I had to further improvise on how I could base the shots successfully in this scene without effecting the audio too much in the first part of the clip however, the later part of this clip proved easier to edit because it was more easier and better executed. In the last part where Alex cries for help, it was perfect in terms of camera work and I was able to move onto the final shots.

These last shots were easiest because they all fitted perfectly when Harry runs to Alex's aid past the tree that spooks him before heading into the climatic shot. When he runs in shot and sees the bush that took his friend, there was a slight problem with this shot due to the fact when he turns to face the bush, the camera gets knocked slightly so it made it look unprofessional and cheap so eventually I had to edit it all out. The final climax was by far the simplest because the shots were perfect when Harry looks over his shoulder and when the monster jumps out at the end before the screen finally cuts to black ending the intro when the titles then appear on screen.

Before I finished however I tweaked a few of the shots to try and make the intro shorter and eventually I managed to drop its total time by 4 seconds and made the intro look more smooth. When I was reviewed on how it looked my teacher said I had to edit the shots slightly, one of which was that the camera shakes in the shot and diffuses the tension out of the scene whilst the other was a shot that was too long and may have made the scene lest tense and make them loose interest in that scene. To improve it I edited out the shake of the camera in the first scene to make it look more professional and for the second shot I cut the clip so it was a few seconds shorter, so instead of the audience waiting for a period of time to walk in and loose that spark of curiosity, the viewers can instantly get into the action of the next scene immediately, As a result of these slight improved changes in my editing all of it was completed and I could move onto the audio effects.

Main Task: Locations

The locations of all my filming were all relatively close to home. I originally planned to most of the out door filming at a nearby woodland near my mums house. Also when I planned the characters as being scientists, I also planned to film the first shots of them in a dark corridor and then go to a room that was full of the scientists investigations and theories. However due to limitation of time of finding the area to film the first shots and the fact that my cast lived quite far away from the woodland I had planned to film, I had to think long and hard about where I could potentially film the rest of my intro.

Once I had found my cast members and edited the characters as being monster hunters rather than scientists, I knew that the location for my filming had to be relatively close by. After much wondering I decided to suggest filming in a little woodland section called Canada woods. The wood has a high bank beside the foot path that gave me the opportunity to film a wide variety of shots, in particular high angle ones. It was also a good location the little bridge is within view of the open sky so the panning shot was easy to perform when it panned down from the sun to the characters in the scene.

 

 Pictures of the first out door area in the film.

 

Another area of inspiration for filming in this area was because of the sinister looking tree beside the path. This was good especially because I needed something that would cause the more senior character to get uncomfortable after his colleague cries for help.  It was also good as it was easy to use the 180 degree rule between Harry an the tree, to enhance the effect and look as though he is actually staring the tree. This is also perfect as it has a long even path that is clearly visible from the side of the tree, so the character can easily be seen running down the path in order to rescue his colleague.

Pictures of the path and sinister looking tree


Lastly for the last out door shot I used was the jump scare of the creatures attack on Harry. This was a good space because it was wide open to give the feeling that the character is potentially exposed to some sort of danger and that he is being watched. It also was good because of the large hedge which gave the inclination that the creature was hiding within it so it is ambushing his victim. It was also good because it allowed various different shots to be used like when Alex walks up to the bush when the twig snaps or when Harry gets attacked by the creature at the climax of the intro, so overall it gives it a very good effect on the climax of the intro.

The shots of the hedge and the space where the final scene happened


Lastly for my indoor shots I  and the scene where we see the first two characters I basically used the street and house to show him walking up the road towards the house from various angles. In the house itself the only parts I showed was the living room where the audience first meet harry looking over his paperwork. It also shows Alex walking into the room and allows the audience to see a clear comparison between the two characters as they exchange dialog. Lastly the last indoor shot I've filmed was the hallway because it showed the characters walking out ready to search for the creature and I was able to pan up to the light ready for the transition to the first outdoor scene.

So all my shots were essential into working well with one another to ensure they all made the scene professional and perfect.

Media Project: Filming

Now that all of my planning had been completed it was now time for me to start my main filming for my project which I was very excited about. My first challenge was to try and find some actors who would perform in my film. Happily I knew someone, Harry Burbage, who was already doing media and liked acting so I knew he would enjoy being part of my film. However this was trickier for my second actor as most of my friends were busy or unable to attend, so instead I put down a Facebook status that asked people if they would like to take part and soon enough another person, Alex Damon came forward and said he's like to perform in it too. So with my actors ready to perform we arranged to meet on the 27th December ready for our filming to begin.

When they arrived at about midday I went through the pair of them my storyboard of my intro, script and risk assessment to show them what they had to do. After a thorough look through we all headed off to my planned location of were I wanted my intro to be filmed. Once we got there was a high bank that gave me a perfect shot of the two characters walking over the bridge ready to break up and search for the creature. Next we decided to film the shots with the two characters preparing to break up to go to search for the creature, which is shown by the use of a high camera shot looking down on the pair of them walking away from each other at the end of the scene. Since the area where the doctor was closest too, we decided to film the shots of when he hears that his colleague is in trouble and runs to his aid. Next we filmed him running down the down the path and seeing the scary looing tree before continuing to run towards him.

Next I decided to film my shots of the first scientist walking towards the area where my creature encounter will take place with the two characters. I firstly decided to film the part when Alex walks into the area from the creatures point of view in the bush before filming him saying his line before walking towards the bush and crouching down before the climax of his death unfolds. After this we filmed the shots of Harry as he runs into the scene walks towards the bush and the monster briefly attacking him. This final shot proved to be rather difficult to perform because the bush that we had to film with was not fully concealing so we had to improvise on how to cover Alex up without being seen and what best shots we could use when the hand reached out to grab Harry in the climax moment, also when filming up at Harry how to get the perfect view point in the same bush without it making look cheap and unprofessional as a result of when its completed. However after improvising and testing I was finally able to achieve my goal in completing the main filming for my task and begin the editing for it.

So after this was completed I was able to start my editing to complete my film intro and show it off for everyone to hopefully enjoy and be slightly scarred.

Main task: Costume and props

For my costumes I thought long and hard about what my characters should wear in my film intro. At first, when I depicted the main characters as being scientists, I would simply have them wearing a white lab coat and black jeans to fit in with the horror and dark feel. However this become improvingly difficult to come buy in the limited deadline for my filming. I eventually decided to have the main characters be monster hunters, so told them to wear so standard out door clothing.

For Alex appropriately enough as he was the younger member of the two men, he wore some tracksuit bottoms and all football trainers, to show his youth and young age. It also implies that he is not taking the job very seriously. In comparison Harry's clothes are very much the opposite to Alex's. He wears a smart walking coat, formal button up shirt, casual genes, a hat and a pair of walking shoes. This shows us that he is very into the feel that he is wanting to find this strange being and see why it causing much mayhem and what it is. So in a way it also shows a representation age in the extract between the two characters simply buy what they are wearing to give the audience an impression of who is more formal and who is not really so motivated between the two characters.


Here is visual comparison of the two characters differing costumes.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex's informal costume 

Harry's formal costume

For props I used a wide diversity of these throughout my intro. Firstly and most notable of all of them is Harry's backpack. For this it added professionalism into Harry's character and emphasises that he is a well prepared and intelligent person who is ready for the search for this creature. The other props I used were later thought up to add tense and speculations in the scene, in particular where we first see Harry in the scene. The main thing we can see is the work that Harry has in front of him, most of which were props that I had or created myself for the scene in mind.  Firstly was the giant red folder that he has with him when he's looking at the data readings for the creature. This was really my school folder which was large enough to look like a private document that contained private information of what the creature was and how it was potentially created.

 

My folder that I used in my film


The other two props that I used were much more visible on the screen to the viewer. These were the shots of the graph about TS Re gen  and the Necronomicon inscription page. These props were added in as a visual effect for the audience to show what the character is looking at and what it is telling him. These shots were inspired by my testers who explained that they needed to be added, in order to make the scene more engaging and tense. I put the graph in first to show that he is smart enough to know potentially how this creature came about and then the second one to show that he knows this thing is un natural and that its potentially dangerous and cause severe damage.

The props used for the introduction of Harry's character.


For Alex's character, no props were used. This again links back to the representation of the characters age. Because he is younger, he can't interpretative the data successfully and shows that he is not as intelligent and powerful as Harry's character. The props do this by significantly increasing this gap between them, but they also play a key role in keeping the viewers attention engaged and alert about what will happen in the rest of the intro.

Main Task: Shot list and shooting scedule

Before I decided to start my filming, I easily thought and planned about how I would film my shots. Because the filming would be in the winter months and it would get dark and cold fairly quickly I decided already that the best plan to take, was to film my outdoor shots first before filming the indoor shots afterwards. This was to ensure that the cast members would be happy on the days of the filming and that the filming of my scenes would be easily done without any problems to the shots. agreed with my cast members on what date we would film the shots and we agreed the filming would be done on the 29th December.

After I found the locations of where we were going to film did I fully come up with a good plan of my shot lists. I planned the shot lists and schedules around the areas that were closest to us to save us walking back and forth from area to area to film the shots. The first outdoor sequence we filmed was when the two characters arrived in the woodland area which was the first area of the wood that I planned to film my first shots. From that section I decided to film all the shots in perfect sequence as the would appear in the film to make more realistic and for my actors to stay in character. The next area where I decided to shoot was the area not far from the bridge where Harry was searching for the creature before he heard his cries for help. Next walking down the same path Alex took when the two characters broke off. I filmed the sequence of shots with the sinister tree, again in order of shots to make the transitions between each shot smooth and realistic.

Next we came to the wide open space area to film the build up of Alex's death and the Climatic ending at the end of the intro. Firstly I filmed the POV shot of the creature in the hedge watching Alex (again all filmed in sequence). Then was Alex's last Dialog sequence in the scene and when the twig snaps and he looks up. Then the rear shot of him as he walks up to the bush where the creature is hiding in before the mid shot of him looking into the bush before it cuts away to the next scene. Lastly the sequence of the outdoor shots was completed was Harry's climatic taking by the creature. I filmed all the shots again in sequence to make the events appear as real as possible and make the product successful and professional. However after this shot, it was nearly dark and the last couple of shots for my filming were agreed with my cast to be done the next day.

The next day, we met up to film the last of my shots in the house at the start of the intro. However on that day I decided that the schedule would be a little bit different. I decided to get all the Dialog parts out of the way first, since once this was done the cast will not need to speak for the rest of the intro. After the Dialog was done, I planned to film Harry over the folders and records as well as him looking at the two sheets.

Lastly for my outdoor house shots I filmed them again not in the shot sequence. Firstly I planned to film the two characters walking out of the house ready to search for the creature and panning up the light bulb for the first transitioning shot. Finally I shot the two shots of Alex walking up the house which would be shown at the very start of the intro. So with that my schedule was done I was ready for filming.

Main filming: risk assessment

Now that everything was in place I was ready to start my filming and make my intro come alive. But first I had to complete my risk assessment for my cast members and myself before we could start our filming completely.


The first thing I noticed that could be a risk was that since we were filming in winter the paths we'd be using would be slippery with ice or mud, and said that if they should encounter any, they should take caution in stepping through it and not trip over and cause injury. Secondly since my camera case would be lying around as we filmed, I made sure my cast members had to check were they were putting their feet in case they stood on the case with the camera inside it and break it, so ensured safety around all my equipment as well.


Next I decided that since we'd be filming in a bush, I made note that it may contain sharp branches or leaves that can puncture the skin and cause bleeding, so we'd make sure that only a safe bush would be used in our scene that would prevent any injury. Another one is that potentially, when off the path to film some scenes, there could be tree stumps or holes that they may not see so if they see any holes in the area we are filming we'd try and film the character walking through our scene area were they cannot be harmed by holes or unseen objects.


Lastly on my risk assessment was the fact that for one of my scenes we'd be filming near a main road, so we would only stay on the pavement and the grass area next to it and not put ourselves at risk of being hit by a car. Secondly I would be filming in a low down position close to the curb the road were I filmed some shots so my other colleague would tell me when a car came I would stop filming immediately and move out of the road to let the car pass then film the shot again. Lastly when filming the shots in my house, my cast members may be likely to trip up on the shoes they'd get into when they walk out of the house or trip over the step as they walk out of the door so I told them to take care and do it as normally as possible.

My Risk assessment