The evaluation for our final horror opening - Inbox(1)

Media Studies - Final Task Evaluation

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Inbox(1)

If you click this link, you will be taken to my groups final horror opening; Inbox(1).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N_uVTVMCCg

Editting - 7th April

Today, we finished our horror opening. We made the changes required from the feedback given to us about our opening. We created a piano piece in garageband to fit into our horror opening, and created a sound bridge using ambiences from the freesound website. We also rearranged our footage and titles to make it more understandable, and we also took out some shots, and entered some new ones. As a group, we are much more pleased with the newer version of our horror opening. We entered the names for our production company (Prestige Elite) and our distribution company (MRH Distributions) at the start of the opening. We created logos for these using photoshop, and we recorded vocal sound for the distribution company. After having completed everything for our horror opening, we added our names to the start of the film as a final touch. We have now finished editting everything together for our horror opening, and it is now complete.

Editting - 5th April

As a group, we showed our horror opening to someone who had no idea about the storyline or plot, to see if it was understandable and clear. However, after having received the feedback for our opening it was clear that changes needed to be made. It seemed our opening was not very understandable and it was often unclear what was going on and who was where etc. Therefore we discussed and decided to change our footage order slightly and we also decided to change the sounds we had previously added. We decided to change the sounds because there was no sound bridge involved and the sounds we used had no continuity at all. It was easier to realise these errors when we received the feedback, because it was not as noticable to us as a group, because we know the storyline and plot ourselves; therefore it was more understandable to us. Now we have this feedback, we can alter our opening to make it clearer for an audience.

Editting - 4th April

Today, we managed to achieve quite a lot of editting. Firstly, we managed to put sound into the whole of our horror opening, and we also managed to finish the opening titles and titles which would appear throughout the opening. We used freesound.org to download copyright free soundtracks, which we used in our 2 minute opening. We tried to make sure that the titles were in appropriate places and in time with the sound affects and music. Although we managed to finish all of the editting and sound, we were not sure as a group if the piece was finished as it still did not have a finished feel to it yet. Our next step will be to show somebody our opening to recieve their opinions and feedback.

Editting - 28th March

In this editting session, we decided to work on titles and transitions between the shots. We added the main titles which would appear at the start of the film including things such as production company, distribution company, and the music creators. We chose to have the transition for the titles as a fade in/fade out dissolve, as this made it look quite spooky when they appeared on screen. For some of the titles, they were shown over the top of the footage, however we included the first ones at the start of the film in their own shot by themselves. We made the lengths of the titles 3 seconds each, however some had to be shortened slightly due to shot changes. We decided to use the production company name of; 'Prestige Elite', because it was the name of our font, which we quite liked. We also decided to name our Distribution company 'MRH Distributions', due to the letters being the first letters of our names in the group. We chose 'Sinister Sounds' for the music company as we thought it sounded like it fit the horror genre well. In our next editting session we will finish the titles and start to add the sound.

Independent Film Company Research

My group decided to do a small amount of research regarding independent film distribution companies. We did this because we were having trouble thinking of a name for our own company. We researched and found names such as; 'Dogwoof' and 'Red Barn'. These names were random which made us realise the name did not have to be something which related to film in any way. We also found a production company name of 'Twisted Pictures', which specialises in the horror genre, having created films such as the 'Saw' series. The final company we came across was a company called 'Brain Damage' who also specialises in the horror film genre. In researching these companies, it made it easier for us to think of company names for production, distribution and sound.

freesound.org downloads

My group used the website; www.freesound.org to find different background noises and scary sound affects for our horror opening. We downloaded six different sound tracks which we will consider to use in our opening. We found loud bangs, quiet creepy background music, and various other sound affects when we browsed the site. We saved these downloads onto the desktop and we will be testing them by entering them into our horror opening in final cut.

Editting - 21st March

Today we editted for a further hour on our horror opening. In this hour, we experimented with the titles which will appear in our opening, and discussed a filming company name. We discussed already made names such as "Twisted Pictures", "WARP Films" and "Warner Brothers", and we are still yet to come to a decision. We decided we would have the titles over the top of images rather than seperate to the footage as we believe this looks better and more professional. We looked for suitable places to insert the titles, such as empty, blank spaces in the shots (for example in the establishing shot, the bottom of the shot is black when it reaches the house). However, the editting itself has not changed much since the 15th.

Editting - 15th March

Today we spent a further two hours editting a rough cut of our footage. We finished with all of the shots we wanted in the order we need; matching our storyboard. This means that next time we edit, we can make sure everything is accurate and add/take out parts as necessary. We diverted slightly from our storyboard as we had a new idea which we wanted to try. We put several quick shots of the figure in at random spaces in the opening so that it would recur unexpectedly to the viewer. We thought this would add tension and show the audience that the figure is a key part to the movie. As a group we also experimented with the title "Inbox(1)" appearing at the end, using a typewriter effect; to give the effect that someone is typing the title, which links to our film.

Editting - 14th March

Today, we editted more of our footage together for a further hour. We discussed what slide transition to enter when our flashback occurs. This was because we wanted to make it clear to the audience that it goes back in time. As a group, we decided on a "fade in fade out dissolve". This faded out the blur of the extreme close up of the eye into black, and faded in again on the new shot (the flashback). We then decided to have cross cutting shots, alternating between the figure walking towards the outside front window, and Claire and Emma on facebook inside the house. We thought this added tension to the film as the audience can see the figure approaching, whereas the characters cannot. However, we came across a slight problem with this piece of footage. At the end of the piece, there was a slightly jolting zoom, which looked unprofessional. To overcome this, we created three freeze frames that worked just as well as a zoom, and accompanied with the right soundtrack, will add to the tense feel to suit the horror genre.

Starting to Edit

As a group, we have had our first editting session using the Final Cut software. Although we only did this for about 20 minutes, we feel as though this has set us up for the rest of the opening as we now have a more clear idea on what we want to produce. We started our opening with an establishing shot, which tilts down to reveal the house. We discussed and came to the decision that as our opening starts in the present, then goes to a flashback, we needed a way of portraying this to the viewer. One of our shots had an ending which blurred out. We discussed using this and thought it would be effective when put together with sound and transitions. We are prepared for the next time we are going to edit our footage together, as we now have the first few shots together which set up the rest of the opening.

Ready for Editting

Our group is now ready to edit our footage. We have uploaded it all onto the AppleMacs, and we have all the footage we need. We have the new storyboards to work with whilst editting and we are clear with what we need to do. We have met the deadline of 28th February and as a group we think that we managed our time well.

The Updated Storyboards

The new versions of our storyboards are now displayed in the post containing the original ones. We changed our idea after the first filming session as we agreed that the plan we had orginally come up with was not suitable enough for the horror genre, and would also go over the two minute time limit. We have also taken out two of the characters in our new storyboard, Karen and David Osborne. The reason for this is that because those two characters were only going to be needed in a small section of the original storyboard. Now that the storyboard has changed, that section has been removed therefore we did not need those characters. We are confident that our updated storyboard will be more effective and link more to the idea of the teenage horror genre.

Uploading Footage

Today as a group, we uploaded all of our footage from our memory card onto the macs. We checked we had everything we needed and are happy to start our editting after half term. We have met the deadline of February 28th, and we think we managed our time well. We have roughly 30 minutes of footage to work with for our two minute opening, so we definitely have enough.

Filming

We filmed tonight as planned, (27/01/11) and we thought that it went very well with the footage we managed to achieve. We now have all of our footage for our horror opening recorded onto the camera, and it is saved onto our SD Memory Card. Tonight, we focused on creating the shots involving the blood. We used a variety of camera angles and movements to produce them. We then watched back through the footage we had obtained in todays filming, to check that we had everything we needed in the shots involving blood. We are very confident about the outcome of our final horror opening, as we now have plenty of footage to work with.

Filming

We filmed tonight as planned, (20/01/11), and got all of the footage which we had hoped to film today. Today, we focused on using the fake blood to cover all of the footage in which it was involved in one go. We also repeated some of our previous footage due to the lighting outside. As a group, we sat and went through all of what we have filmed so far, and discussed what was left to be done. We think that we only need one more filming session to finish all of the footage we want to edit together. We have arranged to film next Thursday night, (27/01/11).

Costume and Props

We considered the Costume aspect of Mise-En-Scene, and decided that I should wear typical teenage clothes. For the filming, I wear leggings, vest-top and a hoodie. I also wear a ring and necklace. For the outside footage I wear boots. These things will need to be kept exactly the same every time we film.

I have my hair straightened every time, and I also wear make-up.

Filming

As a group, we have gone out and bought some fake blood from fancy dress shop "Chameleon" to use in our filming.

Filming

We filmed as planned tonight, (12/01/11), and after doing this, me and my group think that we have a lot more footage to work with, and better camera angles to fit with the horror genre, for example low angle and high angle shots. We focused on our outdoor footage today, as we need the lighting to be the same throughout. We also focused on a scene of one of the characters crying. Again, we made sure costumes hair and make-up were the same.

We have altered our idea from our original storyboard, and changed some of the characters. The characters we have decided to remove from the opening is Karen and David Osborne. This is because we think that our original storyboards would have lasted a lot longer than two minutes, and we postpone the horror aspects for too long, therefore we wanted to cut out unnecessary sections.

Once created, I will upload the pictures of our new storyboard to my blog. We are next filming on Thursday 20th January.

Filming

We did our filming on Thursday as planned, and have now arranged to continue filming on Wednesday 12th January. On the Thursday, we filmed some of our indoor footage and dialogue. We have planned to film the footage which needs to be outside on Weds 12th. We will do it all on this date because the lighting will need to be exactly the same for continuity so it is important that if we do not finish the outdoor filming, then we will have to do it at the same time of day every time. We have also made sure that we have the outfits worn last time prepared for Wednesday as well. The only issue which may come up is if we cannot book out a camera. If this is the case, we will have to reschedule our filming.

Filming

We used the camera to start our filming on Thursday. We filmed some of our inside shots from our storyboard. However, as it was only our first time filming for our Horror Opening, we didn't think it went very well. So, as a group we are going to discuss when we are going to film next, and what we are going to film so that it will be more organised. We will be filming again one day next week and we are going to start our outside footage while it is still dark earlier. I will post to my blog when we have planned our next filming date.

Film Planning - 05/01/11

As a group, we have planned to start our filming tomorrow (Thursday 6th January) from roughly 3.30pm until 6.00pm. This is because in this time it will be the right lighting to fit our storyboard and plan. We have started at this date due to reasons such as not being able to book out a video camera, and also the location for our filming had christmas decorations, therefore we would not be able to ensure continuity in our footage.

Thinking about Mise-En-Scene, we know what the location will look like each time we film, what props may be in the background, and also what clothes and make-up the characters will be wearing. This needs to be made sure it is kept the same every time we film.

Tomorrow, we will discuss what further dates we will film on, so that we make sure we meet the deadline, and spread out the time we have left evenly so that we get all the footage we need.