Film Project: Final Cut of Movie

Evaluation: YouTube account

As a group decision we decided to create a YouTube account for our decision, we are going to upload all of our evaluation and our final cut of our opening sequence. I tohught this was a good idea because we are further our idea and letting more people know about our conventions and thoughts.

Here is the link for the YouTube account

www.youtube.com/user/grouptmedia

Evaluation: Question 7

Evaluation: Question 6

Evaluation: Question 5

Evaluation: Question 4

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation: Question 2

Evaluation: Question 1

Evaluation: Opening Sequence

Now we have completed our Opening Sequence our next task to complete was to evaluate our project. To do this we had to record a session of discussion with me and the group. We had a few question to go by and to prompt us in the right direction. Everyone had to participate, and put their personal view in. Along with question we had brief notes on what to say, we used this then added any personal view on the project.

Here is the questions and brief answer we had, so you can understand it more and read into depth on our views:

Film Project: Sneak Peak

This was the film that we showed as a group to our classmates during the showcase. Everything went according to plan except we hadn't finished the soundtrack in time for the showcase but it didn't affect people's understanding of the narrative or genre. Although, the clip of the red lips didn't export with the rest of the video so it came up "Media Offline" This was a problem as it did affect the control of the narrative but we explained to the audience after the clip what the scene should've been.

Film Project: Feedback

Today is the day to present our film intros, however these are the first cuts so they are not complete we are presenting to the class so that we can get feedback so we can improve our piece to get a better grade. Like our piece is almost finish, we need a few more edits and we need to add music. I think this task is very helpful because we get pointers and shown what needs to be improved and what bits are good.

Overall i think we got good feedback from the class and teachers. They were particularly impressed with the smoking sequence, they said they liked the pace of it, the variations of angles in the sequence and they said the sequence allows the audience an insight of the characters personality and what they might be like, we had suggestions of a gangster or a city sliker. Another good point is that they understood the storyline, such as they knew that they were flashbacks and got the plot.

However we had some feedback that will help us improve our grade, the main piece of feedback was that the first sequence was maybe a little too long, they suggested more edits in the walking sequence to help pick up the pace of it, so we will be editing that in the next few lessons to get it looking good!

Also in the next few lessons we will be filming an evaluative discussion of our opening sequence once it has been completed with music and all the edits. This will give my opinion on what I enjoyed about the process.

Film Project: Music

Music was one of the best tasks, as its something that a enjoy. I am a huge music fan and play guitar, piano, drums and like to think i can sing so I offered to create the music. To make the music to go with the opening sequence was being made with Garage Band, the music software on Apple. I found the my way around Garage Band quite well, thanks to using it alot at GCSE level.

I had ideas for music from the start, i didnt want to make music which was typical dark and mysterious, i wanted to make a real track which would be put together and have a real structure and a flowing theme. Initally i wanted to make the song from scratch of the keyboards, but after a few attempts it was proving to hard and we was slowly running out of time, so i decided to make the music through the pre recorded sounds in the software.

I had ideas for the sound, i done a bit of research on Youtube looking at other similar thriller movies. I want a melody that flowed throughout. So i made a start, i wanted a contrast drone to start with when the establishing shot occurs and the titles. Then when the walking scene begins the music drops into a walking passed bass, piano and drums. The genre is sort of Jazz but a dark side of it. I added FX of footstops for the close up of Sam walking across.

The smoking scene the music changes slightly, to signify the change in sequence. The music slows down abit, the music almost has a break and we forget about Sam walking to kill but keeps the flowing melody throughout. Then Sam is reintroduced so the music picks up, a big drum beat is put in when the ciggarette hits the floor, to enhance the fact that past backs are coming. An electric guitar, makes the music a huge production.

Me and the group was pleased with the final piece of music and believe it is suiting.

Film Project: Smoking Sequence

Our film intro has some really interesting and debonair shots, but I think the most iconic and rememberable is the smoking sequence, its my personal favourite. The shot allows an insight into the characters personality and the audience can make assumptions of what he is like.

This scene was sort thought of on the spot, we had the idea of the sequence but it really come together on the night. I went to Morrisons to get some cigarettes and matches and luckily enough i didnt get asked for identification. I think the matches gives the idea of the film being set in the past and also the sound of the match sparking is significant also the light from the match gives a natural key light.

The shots in this sequence vary we have low angles, panning of the cigarette going to the mouth, also the shots are quite close and an over the shoulder shot as i blow the smoke out. Also an additional shot in the sequence is the cigarette hitting the flow, i think this was Aisha's idea. After a few attempts we got good drop of the sparks and in editing we will slow this down so you can see the sparks.

Film Project: Flashback shots

I think the flashback shots are a brilliant way to show our groups clever approach to make an original, cool movie. We have two flash backs, one of me 'The Victim' meeting Holly 'The Victim Lover' in an office and the second being mouths saying "I love you" and "I love you too".

The way we are going to signify the flashback is when firstly the cigarette will hit the floor, then flash to white then into the black and white flashblack, then flash white then back into the opening sequence. The second flashback will be from my head hitting the floor, the screen flashing white then into the black and white flashback then back into the sequence. I think it will work, I am hoping that it will be recognizeable for the audience to see that it is a flashback.

Film Project: Establishing Shot

The first shot in out opening sequence is the Establishing Shot, we all thought and establishing shot would be the best way to start an intro, but we all didn't have an idea where to film it. But after tihnking for a while i knew the perfect place to film it was on top of a hill in Loughton, it has the best view all the way to city and you can see Canary Wharf. This is perfect as we wanted to give the city business worker sort of vibe and an shot that zooms in to the city lets you know its set there.

I also got the idea from the opening sequence of the famous horror movie 'The Excorist' where the camera zooms into the house where the film is set.

Film Project: Editing

During editing we encountered a problem with one of the flashbacks, where we planned to desaturate all of the colour except for the red colour of the lips. We chose to do this effect to show that the person speaking was a woman and the colour represents the love and blood; themes which run throughout our opening. It also fits in with the red colour of the title, which appears at the end. The programme we are using didn't include the correct tool we needed to use this effect and so we had to use a different programme to edit this one clip and then move it back across into Final Cut Express. Instead we used Final Cut Pro which allowed us to use an advanced colour corrector. This meant that we could isolate the colour red on our clip and desaturate all the other colours.
We also managed to find sound effects to a couple of our clips, including the sound of a match lighting up and are still deciding between different footstep sounds.

The clip that we edited in Final Cut Pro:

Film Project: Film Name

We have completed parts of the editing and it is going really well, we have got some really good shots together and are interlinking really well. However at the end of our film intro we are going to have a black screen with the name of the movie appear, but once again we are having trouble with choosing a name for the movie. We wanted a name that is not to obvious because our movie is original and special, at first we had a few names that floated about, names like 'She loves me not', 'Obsession' and 'Deception'. We all like these names, but none we loved. We thought 'She loves me not' seemed a bit soppy and didnt link with the theme and genre of the movie. However I like the one word film titles, but i wasnt keen on these either was the group, we thought 'Deception' was too similiar to the new block buster 'Inception' and 'Obession' did link well with the story line, but the rest the group didnt feel the same and we were sure to make an anonymous decision. After a few names we came up with 'Possesion' and every one was happy with this. So our film is called 'Possesion'

Film Project: Filming Completion

All our filming has finally been finished after a few interuptions and im really pleased with what we have got and achieved. All the filming is on the editing suite and ready to be edited, so the next stage of our process to get all the transitions and edits together and looking good

Film Project: Second day of shooting

Now it is time for our second outing to film the second section of our Film Intro. We meet in the same place at the same time, just as it was getting dark. Tonight we was filming, the killing so I was prepared to get stabbed and shot.

As we was walking to our scene to film we noticed that the lampost we filmed under for the smoking sequence had been removed. This was very random, as you dont get a lampost being moved everyday, in a worried flush we thought our movie had been ruined but after a few reinsuring words we put our heads together and found a similiar place to film from, it was also under a lamp post. Me and the group believe it is good subsitute and hope it is not to noticable.

So without wasting time we got straight into filming, the first shot was of Sam grabbing my shoulder and stabbing me. We done a few shots of Sam approaching me flicking his knife and stabbing me in the side, so it looks believable and i think this was achieved. After this I had a great idea of the ciggarette i was smoking would hit the floor in slow motion, to signify i have been stabbed.

Our intro has a few flash backs, so from filming before we used that. The next shot was filming me hit the floor, the same camera angle as the ciggarette drop. At this point a Police car had stop near by and we was looking pretty suspicious at this moment so we paused filming for a minute until they drove away. Another flashback comes in after me hitting the floor. Then the low angle shot of Sam pulling a gun out and shooting me. Done!

I was pleased with this session, even though we had a slight hitch it showed that together we can figure out something and make the film work.