Post Production - Uploading

When I had finished editing my film I needed to export it and upload it to YouTube. I didn't have any problems at all during this time which is good as when I was exporting my preliminary task I had a few problems but this time I had none. I had to export my film twice as one was a draft that I showed to a few people and then they gave me some feedback and told me what I could improve so I went back and edited again and then after the second export I didn't think I could improve it anymore so I uploaded it to YouTube.

Post Production - Editing

Whilst editing my final film I went against the usual conventions of a psychological thriller, which is quick editing and flashbacks, and I used slower paced editing in a linear style. This was because I felt this type of editing would fit better with my film. I also didn't make any adjustments to the footage. This was because the way it looked normally fitted well with the style of my film and I think this is because of the time in which I went out to film as the weather was just right to fit my film. However I did have to overlay a piece of footage as there was a skip in between two pieces of footage so I masked it with a different piece of footage that would fit with the situation and it worked better than having a skip in it. If I was to film this again I would make sure that during that scene that had the skip in it, I would film it as one long piece of footage rather than a few short ones. The only effects I added was at the end I made the last scene fade out and two of the titles I used fade in. This was because I wanted to keep my film simple because I didn't think it would work well if it had too many complicated effects in it and I don't have much experience with the editing software, Adobe Premiere Pro, so trying to do anything complicated may of ruined my film. Also the soundtrack I used in the background was a royalty free dark ambient song I found on YouTube and I used it because it helped stick with the simple style I wanted and it also helped keep the film a psychological thriller as the music would be a convention of the genre.

Storyboard Animatic

This is an animatic of my storyboard. All the shots are in order and last as long as they should do during the film.

Order of titles

This the order in which the titles will pop up during my film opening.

Costume and Props

The main villain is going to wear some black smart clothing (shirt and tie) because antagonists usually wear smart clothing and the dark colours suggest mystery and death. The protagonist should wear lighter colours to show the audience they are the protagonist. The main antagonist will also have a picture of his 'daughter', this should show the audience why he is like he is and therefore they will have some understanding of what is going on and they will be able to feel some sympathy for him. The picture holds many memories and maybe even haunts the antagonist so it is an important prop that will be introduced straight away. 

Weather Report for Day of Filming

To make sure that my video can be as good as possible I have checked the weather reports for the day I would most like to film. Hopefully there is no rain as this would stop me from filming because it would damage the camera.

Storyboard

Screenplay Draft

FADE IN:

EXT. ALLEY WAY – DAY

A man is walking down an alleyway, he walks all the way out of the alleyway and then stops at the roadside. He looks up to check whether there are any cars coming then he crosses the road.

EXT. PARK – DAY

The man sits on a bench next to the park. There is also a mum sat on the bench and he is sat next to her whilst her daughter is playing on the park. The man pulls out a picture of a different little girl.

MUM

Is that your daughter?

MAN

It was.

MUM

Oh right. What happened?

MAN

She disappeared.

MUM

Oh, I’m sorry.

The man shrugs off the mum’s apology and puts the picture back in his pocket. The man then turns to face the mum.

MAN

What would you do if you lost your daughter?

MUM

(shocked)

What? I... I don’t really know.

The man stands up and walks away back towards the alleyway. As he walks the mum turns around and looks at him then he stops.

FADE TO BLACK

Planning for lighting

When I am filming it should be during the afternoon so it should be starting to get dark because it is winter and the natural lighting should be good enough for soft lighting which is what I would like. I could use extra lighting however it could make the shots look unnatural and add an extra harshness to the image and therefore that could take away or change the intensity of the scene.

Possible Locations for Filming

For our film we can only have a maximum of 3 locations to film at so I have thought of 3 possible locations to where I can film.

1) An Alley Way

Filming down an alley way would be very simple and would be a simple location for the scene meaning the audience would be able to focus on the characters more as the imagery is simple and wouldn't give anything important to the story line. However this can be a hard location to film in as there is not a lot of space making it hard to get good camera angles. An example of an alley way I could use is the one down the side of Cloudside Primary School.

2)  A Field

A field is a conventional location of psychological thrillers so using a field as a location would be good. There is also a vast amount of space to be able to get many different shots and angles on the scene. A field could also help to create the enigma around the main character as the audience would wonder why he is in the field and also how he ended up there.

3)  A House

A house could be a good location to film at because I could set up the mise en scene however I liked which could help give clues to the audience about what is going to happen in the film. The mise en scene could also help to create an enigma.

Moodboard

This is a mood board of ideas I have had for the opening of my psychological thriller. I will use these ideas to try and shape what I want to do for my opening.

Research into Real Audiences.

To be able to gather research I sent out a survey I made on surveymonkey with the aim to find out what genders prefer psychological thrillers and what people expect from a film of this genre.

How social groups are represented in film

Sound Design

Sound design is the technique of specifying, acquiring and manipulating or generating audio elements. It consists of using prerecorded or composed sound effects or dialogue, this is when its edited to construct a effect or mood perfect for the scene,in the film, TV show, radio or live shows.

The girl with a dragon tattoo opening sequence has a good example of prerecorded sound being used.

Soundtracks in psychological thrillers

Soundtracks are music that was previously recorded and are added to films over the top of the image to try and add tension and atmosphere,also sometimes the initial recording could be bad quality sound wise so they could play over a similar clip.

How films attract their audiences.

Here is an emaze presentation I made on how films attract their audiences.

Potential Target Audience - Psychological Thrillers

Usually the target audience of a psychological thriller is 18+ because they contain characters which may disturb anyone younger. Many psychological thrillers attract females aged 18 - 35 because they enjoy the mystery more than physical conflict which is more aimed towards men. Things like emotional and mental conflict attract less males than females but the difference is only a small amount. Also, due to the fact I will be filming in a British location my film will potentially appeal more to British people as they will be familiar with the location used making it easier for them to enjoy the images in front of them.

Classifications in film (15 - 18)

15 rated films contain more bad language, violence and mature themes than others meaning that nobody under the age of 15 is allowed to watch any film with this rating. Many actions, thrillers and horrors are rated 15 because of the violence which occurs within the film.







18 rated films are for adults only. This means nobody under the age of 18 can buy or watch this film. Films are usually rated 18 as they have no 'boundaries'. However adults are free to choose what they watch.

Classifications in film (U - 12A/12)

Within the film industry there are all kinds of different films and some of them are classed as unsuitable for children or teenagers.

U, stands for Universal and means it is open for everybody over the age of 4 to go and see. There is no use of drugs and only occasionally nudity but no sexual context. Bad language will be infrequent and very mild.

PG - Parental Guidance

PG films are for general viewing however some of the scenes may be unsuitable for children under the age of 8. Unaccompanied children can watch these films but the parents are advised to consider whether the content will be okay for the viewing of younger or more sensitive children.

Films classified 12A and video works classified 12 contain material that is not generally suitable for children aged under 12. No one younger than 12 may see a 12A film in a cinema unless they are being accompanied by an adult. Adults planning to take a child under 12 to view a 12A film should consider if the film they are going to watch is suitable for that child. To help them decide,  No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a 12 rated video work. A 12 rated film has the same concept however even if the child under 12 is accompanied by an adult they still cannot see the film.

Production and Distribution Companies in Psychological Thrillers

This is an emaze presentation I have made to show which production and distribution companies are associated with films of the pyschological thriller genre.

Blue Velvet title sequence

The Blue Velvet title sequence is only 1 minutes and 24 seconds long which is very short for an opening title sequence. Therefore the first title comes 3 seconds in and just like se7en the titles pop up very quickly.

Se7en opening titles

This is a diagram I have drawn of the se7en title sequence. Compared to Jacob's Ladder it has over double the amount of titles and they appear a lot quicker on the screen. The first title is at 4 seconds and the largest amount of time between titles is 6 seconds.

Jacob's Ladder Opening Titles

This is my diagram of the opening title sequence of Jacob's Ladder. The titles are very slow which could be a clue on how the story of the film will go, for example the first title doesn't appear until 13 seconds into the opening and there is a 25 second break between title 7 and 8.

Shutter Island opening scene analysis

During the opening scene of Shutter Island, the scene switches between flashbacks and reality. This is shown through colour; colour during reality is less vibrant and darker whereas during the flashbacks the colours are more vibrant and 'happy' colours like green and yellow. This shows that the character's flashbacks take him back to a time when he was happy. This creates an enigma as the audience wants to know what happened to him.

High Key and Low Key Lighting

High Key:

A high proportion of fill light is known as high key lighting. High key lighting is brighter and more even. This style of lighting is used in mostly musicals and comedies so the sense of liveliness is enhanced or to enhance the intensity in a particularly dramatic scene.


Low Key:

Low key lighting is more shadowy and the shadows created create the effect. Low key lighting works well in Horrors or Mysteries. Low key lighting would also work well in psychological thrillers which is what i'm doing for my coursework so I will need to work on getting this lighting correct.

Memento Opening Scene Analysis.

During the opening scene of memento there are a lot of close ups. One of the main close ups is on a photo of a person who has been shot. This creates an enigma because the audience wonders about the photo and wants to know who took it. Also the colours during the scene were raw and intense to creat a realistic feel. The sound during the opening scene included mostly non-diegetic sound, the music used was intense and the title was in time with the music representing tone. The picture used creates mise en scene as a polariod picture is used and this is a memento of the crime which is the same as the title of the film.

Editing in Psychological Thrillers

Editing in psychological thrillers from kjr84

Camera Movement/Shots for a Psychological Thriller

The most common shots used in a psychological thriller are; the mid shot and the close up. These shots are used as they help the audience to relate to the characters because they can see their facial expressions, allowing the audience to understand how the character is feeling. This creates a realistic feeling which is a common theme throughout psychological thrillers as the more realistic a film is, the scarier it is. Another shot used more commonly is a extreme long shot/establishing shot. This is used because it gives the audience a sense of location so they can understand the diegesis and what sort of troubles the character could come into. The "12 Monkeys" trailer is a good example of these shots being used.

Sound In Psychological Thriller

During psychological thrillers there will more than likely be non-diegetic sound during a scene that accompany the images. The non-diegetic sound is usually tense music or eerie sounds, this is important because it reinforces the relationship between the characters and the setting.

The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller and in the trailer is a good example of tense music being used.

Psychological Thriller Setting Ideas

Within a psychological thriller the setting is very important and the two most common settings used are a city or inside a building. These are good settings to use as they provide realism. Using inside a single building, for example a house or restaurant, could be good to use because I am limited to a maximum of 3 locations so it would make it easier. It would also allow me to film the entire scene in one day or maybe 2 which would give me more time to edit. Using a city setting would be good because it would give me a wide variety of choices for different shots however it would be difficult to get find places without many people who would interrupt filming. 

The Girl on the Train

On Thursday I went to see The Girl on the train. This film is a psychological thriller which is what one of the briefs for my course work wants me to produce so to get ideas on how to make a successful psychological thriller. Whilst watching the film I felt uneasy and was constantly thinking about what was going to happen. This is something I must make sure I can do so I can grip my audience to my film. There was also a lot of enigmas that left me wondering about something was happening. If I can leave the audience watching my film ask questions about what is going on in my film it will be a success.

Colour In Film

Colour is used in film to show emotion and can often represent genre in a film. A good example of colour used in film is Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom. The uses of green, yellow and brown mean the colours do not contrast each other creating it to be pleasing to look at. He used this because it is calming and it suits the film.

On the other hand colours that are on the opposite end of the spectrum will compliment each other as they balance out the image and the flow of colour won't be disrupted. Films like Amelie use this complimentary style colour scheme which creates the atmosphere of the film.

Sound Terminology

Different Elements Of Sound Used In Ex-Machina

During this scene there is a few different elements of sound used. Firstly, diegetic sound is used as the character in the white shirt punches the other character in the black hoodie. The thud from the punch and the bump from when the character hits the floor is diegetic sound as the characters in the diegesis can hear both of these sounds. There is dialogue in the scene which is speech between the characters.There is also non-diegetic  sound used. The music used is non-diegetic as it cannot be heard by the characters. The music can also be described as parallel sound as it complements the text image.

Preliminary Task - Editing Part 2

During the editing process the audio levels of the film didn't change however I had to turn the audio level of the music down so that the audio of the film was still audible but the music could still be heard and be effective. I rushed this part as I was so close to the deadline so I don't think the audio levels are very accurate so this is something I will have to improve upon when it comes to my coursework.
Whilst editing I only cut the videos down and didn't edit anything else like the saturation or brightness. This is because I do not know how to do this however when it comes to my coursework this may be something I definitely need to change so I will have to work out how to do this before then.
When I had finished editing my film I had to export it so that I could put it on to the Friesland YouTube channel. Underneath is the finished product.

Preliminary Task - Editing

Before editing I had to upload all of the clips we had filmed onto the mac which I was filming on. This took a very long time as the mac I was on is older than other macs. It took nearly 2 days to upload the clips onto the mac so next time when I am doing my coursework I will have to upload my clips on a different mac so that I have a lot more time to do editing.
As we filmed in groups we had to share a SD card so it took longer to get all our clips onto the mac as we had to do it one at a time, therefore when I am doing my coursework I will have my own SD card so it will take less time to upload clips giving me more time to edit so that I can produce a better piece of work.
I edited my film on premiere pro by dragging clips I uploaded to the computer into the sequence and then cut them down. The only tool I used was the selection tool which is the standard tool that is used most the time anyway. I had to add 2 effects to 1 shot adding a horizontal flip and a vertical flip. At first I didn't know where to find these effects to add but after asking someone in my group I know where to find all effects so this will help me in my coursework as well as now.
So that my editing suited the brief, my shots had to be edited so they included and match on action. Match on action is where a shot cuts to another view that matches the first shots action. The brief also wanted me to film in continuity which is where through different shots the audience has the impression the action unfolds with consistency.

Preliminary Task - Filming Part 2

Whilst we were filming for the preliminary task we had both natural and unnatural lighting. Whilst we was filming in the humanities corridor most of the lighting was natural as there was a lot of large windows which let sunlight in, however it was a rather dull day so it hardly changed much. Also there were lights on the ceiling in the corridor however they are pretty old lights so they didn't add much light. Whilst we was in the IT room the light outside was brighter as it was a different day but didn't make much of a difference, on the other hand the light in the room was much brighter than the one in the corridor so more light was added in the IT room.
The main focal point in the camera for the duration of the scene was either one of the main characters or towards the end of the film it was a pizza box, so the focus of the camera was usually on these things and the background was left partly out of focus. Whenever the characters are in shot the rule of thirds apply as one is usually placed towards the left side of the frame and the other to the right although at the end the character left in the scene becomes the main focal point during this shot and so the audience knows they are important during this shot they are placed in the centre.

Preliminary Task - Filming

There was 3 of us in a group all filming/acting in the scene and we filmed during school hours in an IT room and a corridor in humanities. When we first started filming we were in a different room, however when we went to go film in that room again it was occupied so we couldn't film in there so we had to change room. To avoid this happening in my coursework piece I need to make sure I know where ever I am filming is unoccupied and what times it is unoccupied.
Whilst filming for the preliminary task we had to start the camera rolling before saying 'action' so that the start of the shot wasn't cut off and the entire shot is there. We also had to do the same at the end of a shot so we didn't cut the shot short. As I was one of the main characters in the film I didn't really use the camera very much and I have also never filmed with a DSLR (the type of camera we used to film) so when it comes to my own film I will have to pick up how to film with it as quick as possible. Below is an example of the camera we used to film.

We used a tripod for nearly all the shots as it steadied the camera which was what we were being marked on. We used 2 different tripods one was given to us by school to borrow and another one was a Gorillapod which one of the members of my group owns. Below is a Gorrilapod.

The brief we were given for the task told us to film in continuity and we had to follow the 180-degree rule and we did this by filming from the same side of the room for the entire scene. It also said that the characters in the scene should exchange a couple lines of dialogue, therefore we made a screenplay which the actors had to follow, however we didn't follow the screenplay to the full extent and cut some bits from the screenplay out due to time. This is something I will have to overcome when it comes to my coursework so that it is as good as possible.

Preliminary Task Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our preliminary task. The aim of this storyboard is to give us a guide to what shots we will be taking whilst filming. It would also help us follow the 180 degree rule, shot/reverse shot and match on action.

Deadpool Opening Sequence Analysis

During the opening sequence of Deadpool, there is an action scene that has been frozen and the camera goes around the scene whilst credits are shown. To start off with you see the Marvel animation which will be recognizable by nearly everyone who watches the film. Putting this at the start of the film helps the audience recognize that films made by Marvel have been successful so this film should enjoyable which would create a larger audience as the people who have been to watch it will recommend it to their friends and family.

 The first part of the 'frozen' scene, the camera pans out to show a man who has a mark on his head and then the camera continues to pan around the scene going 'through' different gaps and showing different props like magazines, spilled coffee and a wallet with all its contents falling out. You also continue to see different men all wearing similar outfits who have been beat up.

Then the camera pans around a character in a red and black suit which shows he is the main character as he stands out as he has a unique look compared to all the other people we have seen in the scene.

Eventually the camera zooms out of the seen and we can see the men and the character in a suit are in a car that has crashed. Then we see a piece of paper which has a drawing of the character in the red and black suit and there is writing on it which says "Hi, i'm Deadpool" this means the audience learns the name of the main character in the opening sequence without having to meet the character.

The 'frozen' scene is effective because it shows the film is an action and also makes the audience wonder how the car crashed and how the men in the car ended up in the position they are in, meaning the audience will want to watch on. It also shows the film contains comedy because of the props used like Hello Kitty lip balm and the credits which use jokes like "Produced by asshats". Also the music used is very light hearted and isn't typical action movie music.

Altogether the opening sequence is effective because it reveals the main character, genre and sub-genre before the film starts so the audience knows what to expect.

Preliminary Task Screenplay

Screen play Preliminary from Ethan_Whitmore