Audience feedback on rough cut

During the lesson we asked various people to watch our rough cut. We then asked three questions to different people to see their view on it.

Group Evaluation of Rough Cut

Best Bits:

• The Montage: The montage  flows well with the music and heartbeat sound effect
• Props: The significance of the knife is clearly shown and the red velvet cake has an impact and represents the blood from the knife.
• Natural: One of the best things watching the rough cut is the way the characters seem involved. It makes it look more natural and the atmosphere is better due to Ophelia standing out.

Things We Need To Improve: From watching our rough cut we realised a few areas need to be improved. For example:

• Re-filming parts: We noticed that some of the clips in the cut are not as professional as they could be. This will make our whole opening sequence look bad. The part that is most noticeable is when Isla comes through the door, she is slightly smirking which when you notice it its unnoticeable.
• Syncing the music: The 'Happy Birthday' does not match up the characters mouths. Channing this is  a effective way to make it look more professional.  
• Pace of the clip: It moves to fast! Each clip looks as if its been cut off and doesn't have the impact we want it to have.
• Credits: We need to add credits to the start. This will make it more like a opening sequence.
• Effects: We need to add an effect on some of the shots to create a more distorted atmosphere. Using colour correlation and making the shots darker will help balance and create an eerie atmosphere.

Rough cut

Here is the rough cut of our opening sequence. This will give us an idea of the different scenes and editing techniques that need to be used. This cut is before colour correction and effects have taken place so after filming the next scenes we will add these in. Overall I think our team is working together to produce a successful final piece and this rough cut allows us to view and produce a better opening sequence. 

Editing #2

After downloading all our footage from day 2 of filming, we started putting together our opening sequence. Placing it all in order and starting to put in effects and transitions. 

Below are some pictures of us editing:

Overall we are finding editing a long but easy process. We all come back during free periods and after school to do some  editing, so the group work is definitely there; which is helpful.  The major problem we have is getting the sound matched up to the different clips and flowing the volume to make it sound better. After adjusting the clips the backing music of the heartbeat makes an eerie atmosphere which is useful when creating a horror opening sequence.

The best part to editing is watching it back and seeing the improvement it makes with just a little transition or a effect.  

Risk assessment

Writing a risk assessment is helpful when identifying possible problems or health issues which you need to look at before filming. To the left is our risk assessment which I created before filming which informs our group of any risks that could take place. It also advises us what to do if an incident occurs. There is not many risks as the location we used were not dangerous and will not put any other members of the public in danger. 

Sound

Music: We have decided to use this song as non diegetic music in our final piece. It's very tense and has a good climax which is conventional to the horror genre. Additionally, it create an eerie atmosphere which will engage the audience and make them want to watch more.

During the party scene we will use ambient sounds including chattering, laughing and glass clinking. This is more affective way for getting the target audience to feel more involved as though they were at the party.

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1400004


During our opening sequence a subtle heartbeat will enter to build suspense.

http://www.soundjay.com/heartbeat-sound-effect.html

Day 2 of Filming

Day 2 of Filming

Editing #1

After filming our first part to our opening sequence we were able to start editing. In today's lesson we uploaded all the footage collected along with the music onto final cut express.

As suggested before we wanted the shots to be distorted with a slight blur. Using the effects tab on final cut express we tested some to see which one suited our intentions. Below are the effects we tested out:
Overall the earthquake distort effect was popular within our group. This is because it created a slight blur across the shot. The other effects we tested didn't fit our intentions due to the way the image moved.
However after talking to miss about our ideas she suggested the bloom glow effect. We tried it out and was happy with how it looked. Additionally the settings where you can adjust the lighting and blurs will be good when editing the sequence properly. We also added 'cross dissolve' when putting our clips together. 

Day 1 of filming

Day 1 of Filming by Georgina Huggett

Communicating the Horror Genre

The genre we have chosen for our opening sequence is horror however as the theorist Robert Stam suggested the genre of a film is difficult to define as films may fall into more than one. Our film is going to include elements of thriller and romance but we will mainly be representing the horror genre. Rick Altmans suggested two facots, semantic and synaptic elements, show what genre something is so using sounds, characters, lighting, and credits along with the contrast of emotions will help communicate the horror genre.

The most obvious way we will be conveying the horror genre is through the sound. We will be using a mixture hyperbolic, non-diegetic and diegetic sounds throughout our opening sequence. This will create tension and an eerie atmosphere that is conventional to a horror genre.

Another way we will be communicating the horror genre is through the characters. The main character will be represented as mysterious which will create narrative enigmas within the audience making them want to watch on. Additionally using a unrevealed killer is conventional to a horror genre so when filming the murder seen the character will be in all black and will disappear without identity.

Low key lighting and a contrast of light are conventional to a horror genre so using these in our opening sequence will hide the scene making the audience unaware of what's going on and feel tense on the front of their seats.

The credits we are planning to use are simple yet effective. A bold one colour large font is conventional in a horror films so using a white or black font will stand out from the background making it aware to the audience.

Using these conventions in our opening sequence makes the audience build up fear and feel the tension set by the film which will make them want to carry on watching it.

Film Idea

Title: Two Faced

Film Institution: Distortion Productions

Age Rating: 15 because it is going to have elements of murder, and gory scenes of blood. 

Genre

The genre will be a mix of psycho thriller/horror

Narrative Storyline

We are going to do a non-linear narrative illustrating the girls life. It will be in the form of a flashback . This adds more suspense and allows the audiences to question. We will try to follow Todorov's narrative structure as much as possible. The equilibrium will be at the party where Ophelia's at the house with her family. Disruption would be when her friends ditch her and she starts becoming jealous of coral. Battle for resolution is when Flynn trues to help Ophelia and gets her back on track. Finally the new Equilibrium is when Ophelia gets help and admits to corals death.

As Roland Barthes' Theory of narrative Enigma codes suggests every film uses enigma, action and semantic codes to get across to the audience. We will be using these in our opening sequence to engage the audience. The enigma codes are unexplained and the audience will need to see the rest to the film to find out the answer. In our film the montage of the dead body will act as our enigma code making the audience ask a series of questions. In addition the action code will be shown through the use of the knife cutting the cake. This will hint to the audience how the film is going to carry on next. Finally Barthes suggests that part of a film might be decoded by an audience, adding extra meaning to the narrative. Within our opening sequence we will film a red velvet cake. The red connotes danger and signifies to the audience that something bad is going to happen.

Characters

Ophelia- Is the main character who is also the protagonist of the film.

School friends- Friends of Ophelia. We see them together in a school environment and at sleepovers to show her normality before this incident. These friends eventually ditch her and she becomes worse and worse.

Coral (Ophelia's best friend)- this is the person that Ophelia kills. Throughout the film we receive clues due to why. Firstly, as she is turning psychotic she begins to become jealous of Coral's looks and her popularity. therefore, Ophelia feels she is losing her best friend. 

Family- The family are background characters as this film is just going to focus on Ophelia's journey. So, I feel that the family are only going to be present in our film and we will probably not see them throughout the film.

Teachers- Ophelia's teachers in school may be a key part in the film as they can assess her progress from a normal everyday teenager to a psychotic and twisted character. This is shown in clips of a parents evening where they create enigma answers to how she evolved into this type of character. 

Ophelia's boyfriend (Flynn)- Her boyfriends personality would be very caring and sensitive . He is the only person there with her at the end of the film.

Location/Setting

Most of the film is going to be situated within the school environment as well as friends and Flynn's house. Ophelia's house is also shown in the opening sequence. Lastly, the alleyway is a key part to the film as this is the murder scene

Shooting Schedule

Day/ Time	Location	Shot Description	People Needed
Tuesday 8th December	Isla’s house – Alleyway	Close ups of dead body	All crew + Lily Chapman (our actor)
Saturday 12th (Draft Filming)	Isla’s House – Party Scene	Various shots for the montage of the party	Devyani and Isla filming on day

Group Communication

In order to communicate effectively with all our group members we created a group chat on imessage to plan ideas and plan filming times.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

When watching the preliminary task back we found various strengths and weaknesses:
 

How filming went?
Overall the filming process was quite easy. We had a plan and completed it within an hour. The only problem we encountered was finding a character that would play the other part, Devyani was happy to be the interviewer so just had to find the applicant. Luckily one of our friends had a free lesson and was happy to take part. 

How editing went?
After our practice editing task, using final cut express, the process for this was easy. The main problem we had was trying to match the sounds of the door opening and closing up. Additionally the cuts to different shots didn't flow as we wanted so we had to adjust it and  put in effects. 

Location:
The location we chose for our prelim task was the 6th form common room. Although we did it during a lesson a few students had frees so was within the area we were filming. The problems with this included noisy background noise and the characters didn't act to their best potential.  

Strengths:
The main strengths were the various positives were used throughout. Additionally, clear characterisation and practice of the 180 degree rule. This has made us feel more prepared for filming our opening sequence.

Next Time:
The next time we use the cameras and final cut express will be for or final piece so we have to make sure we do certain things to make it successful. For example the characters can't look at the camera when filming as it make it look unprofessional. Additionally remembering to control situational variables will make sure we minimise background noise.