Editing 28th March

Today our group edited together the clips of the detective scene. With the use of three cameras, we had to make sure we didn't break the 180 degree rule with our editing. So far the editing of these clips looks really good, as the flow and use of distances add to the intensity of the interview. What's more, this footage really contrasts the next scene, adding more drama to the kidnapping. The music also adds to this as it begins as soon as the next scene starts. This adds the 'thriller' convention to our film as other groups have also said the idea and filming add a tense atmosphere.

We have also (with the help of our teacher) come up with a new idea for our titles. Our choice in music has occasional thuds, so we thought we would make the titles judder to add to the chilling tone. At the moment however, we have to think carefully about the time we have left to add this in. Hence, this idea is very time consuming as we would have to add separate key frames making the movement more clear and realistic. Nevertheless, we are still going ahead with this idea due to the titles lacking excitement and meaning. An example of this is the film Se7en:

Summing up, the editing so far is going well we just need to make sure with our filming tomorrow we complete the following:

• newspaper scene with Luke in study
• new footage of Luke walking up the stairs (not wearing socks- makes his character more cold)
• adding dialogue in the Luke and Charli scene
• filming Charli's leg and upper body for the beginning titles

Preparation for survey

Here are some of the questions we may consider when asked for our survey:

1. What do you think the genre is?
2. Why do you think this?
3. What type of media institution might distribute our media product?
4. Why do you think this?
5. Who do you think is the target audience?
6. Did this media product target you?
7. Did you connect with the characters?

Music decisions

During my search for music, I have found it difficult to find a piece that fits our criteria. Our music has to be:

• Scary yet quiet- builds tension
• Piano, violin, flute sounds (thriller convention)
• Music that fits in with the editing

So far the music I have researched is either too fast or too loud. Our group wanted something that set a dark tone but also create meaning with a tense atmosphere. Recently I have found some music, however my group member said this choice was too heavy. However, previous groups have already used heavy music in their thrillers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr3-UV2DYjU&feature=player_embedded This type of film also is similar to our thriller through the choice of characters: male having dominance over female. Therefore, this could be something to consider for music choice. However, we are still searching for our music.

Filming: 26th March, Detective scene

In today's filming in Mr Michie's office we used three cameras to film each possible shot of the actors. The actors consisted of Mr Smith being the detective, and Miss Wilson being the mother. We picked these actors as they teach drama and thought this would be ideal as they could play the role perfectly. We asked them how to act, for example we wanted the police detective to be sensitive but focused on the job, and the mother to be frighted and worried for her missing daughter.

During filming, we gave them the script:
Detective: So. I need to know exactly when you last saw her. Do you remember?
Mother: [pause] Of course I remember. She looked so lovely. [staring at the floor, not concentrating]
Detective: Mrs ___, we need to know. It's vital in this investigation.
Mother: It was Sunday 18th. She left at 2 O'clock to meet her friends, that's all I know.
Detective: Thank you. And don't worry, we'll find your daughter.
Mother: Please, you have to. 

and starting to film them from different shot distances and different angles ranging from mid shots, close ups and extreme close ups. Each of us had a camera and filmed these distances from different places. However, one person had to be out of the shot each time due to someone else seeing someone in their camera. Obviously they had to wait otherwise this would ruin the continuity.

Overall we believed this filming went well as we managed to complete each shot in the time given: 1:10-2:00. After this we then uploaded the shots onto the computer which one of us we edit into our film. Hopefully this footage should add 30 seconds to our film, giving us the opportunity to cut some of the long shots of Charli and take away some of the static shots too.

Here are pictures of the script and the shot list:

Solutions

Today after talking to our teachers about our problem with filming, we decided a new deadline in the Easter holidays. This way we'll be able to film and edit all our footage on time. Even though we are the only group doing, this wasn't our fault due to the uncertainty of the actors. Our re-shot was going to be filmed on Thursday, however the actors aren't available again so we are filming on Saturday instead. Obviously this coursework isn't the actors piece of work and we understand they have their own commitments, however this has pushed us back in the process making us change deadlines. Nevertheless, we are hoping to filmed by Saturday and we are also taking home a laptop mac as the media room won't be open for us to edit on the computer during half term. This way by taking home a laptop we can edit in our own time and give our teacher the copy of our finished product at school on the 12th April.

Dilemma

Yesterday we were due to film our final re-shots of Luke and Charli, however, Luke pulled out after we arrived at the location giving us the only option but to cancel. Annoyingly, this means we will have a tight schedule in our editing and filming as the next time we can only film is Thursday, the day before our deadline. This has put extreme pressure on us (which wasn't our fault due to our unreliable actors) and made our group late in editing for our final piece. We just have to hope that we will be able to finish in time due to one of our actors being extremely unreliable.

Filming schedule: re-shots

Saturday 24th- Afternoon  CANCELLED DUE TO UNAVAILABILITY OF ACTORS
Luke (kidnapper) and Charli (heroine)

• Luke and newspaper
• Luke going upstairs
• Luke and Charli- reactions

Monday 26th- Lunch time
Mr Smith (detective) and Miss Wilson (mother)

• investigation continues scene

New Schedule for 24th:
Thursday 29th

Luke (kidnapper) and Charli (heroine)

• Luke and newspaper
• Luke going upstairs
• Luke and Charli- reactions

Evidence of communication between teachers for scheduling filming:

Preparation for filming: detective + luke/charli scenes

In today's lesson we planned many tasks such as:

• Possible locations for the detective and mother scene
• Script for detective and mother
• Shot list for detective and mother 
• Shot list for Luke/Charli
• New font and logo of 'Upside Down Productions'

Possible locations

We looked around school for ideas of where to shot the detective scene and came to the decision of shooting our footage inside Mr Michie's office. We moved the table into the middle of the room and put two chairs either side to make it seem like a detective's offlice. The mise-en-scene in the room also refletcts a typical police office as there is a file cabinent and a telephone. Most importantly though we have made a name for the detecive on  a piece of paper to establishes what type of character he is.

Props and mise-en-scene

For this detective scene we need to make it seem as realistic as possible. So we need:

Police dress

• A notepad and pen for the detective
• Correct smart clothing
• Desk- telephone, computer, papers

Police desk

Script (developments)

Detective: So. I need to know exactly when you last saw her. Do you remember?

Mother: [pause] Of course I remember. She looked so lovely. [staring at the floor, not concentrating]

Detective: Mrs Blank, we need to know. It's vital in this investigation.

Mother: It was Sunday 18th. She left at 2 O'clock to meet her friends, that's all I know.

Detective: Thank you. And don't worry, we'll find your daughter.

Mother: Please, you have to. 

Shot list- Detective and Mother

1. Establishing shot of room
2. Mid shot of detective (showing name tag)
3. Shot reverse shot of mother, mid shot (perhaps hold this shot and use detectives voice over?)
4. Shot reverse shot to detective
5. Shot reverse shot to mother
6. Shot reverse shot to detective
7. Back to mother- hold close up
8. Black screen- role on titles

Shot list- Luke and newspaper

1. Establishing shot of study
2. Point of view shot of newspaper
3. Close up of face- smirk
4. Point of view table- putting down newspaper
5. Close up of face- hold, hears noise
6. Back to long, Luke gets up and walks out

New logo: Upsidedown productions
 

Music post continued

Debussy: I found this music sheet on the internet: PDF Music Sheet. We could either use the real song in out film through this website, or use me playing the flute myself.  If we use the real piece it would sound more effective, however we'll have to cut a huge piece out of the music and keep replaying it (due to us only using 20 seconds) If we use my playing however, I could create some notes to add on which will hopefully come across more atmospheric because the feel of the piece is too flowing and melodic. Through our research, we've found that thrillers use more cold sounds, however this piece could work all the same.

Possible non diagetic sound: http://www.grsites.com/archive/sounds/category/4/?offset=24
The police radio's could be used during the detective scene

Music ideas: me playing debussy

listen to ‘Debussy- Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun’ on Audioboo

Storyboarding possible footage

The first picture shows a policeman at a table with the mum sat on the other side. The policeman will start talking to her and asking questions about when she last saw Charli. The next picture shows a close up of the mum, expressing her sadness over the disappearance of her daughter. The shot after that, will show again the mid-shot of the characters sitting at a table. The final shot will then show the mother in a mid-shot close up talking to the camera/policeman about finding her daughter.

We will use this footage either through a TV which Luke will be watching or just extra footage at the beginning of the film creating meaning and setting the tone. If we decided to film it through a TV we would show it as news and create a headline showing 'Breaking News'.

Feedback from teachers

From today's lesson we gained feedback from our teachers to help with the progress in filming. We realised that we needed dialogue during the end, so in our re-shots we are going to make Charli say something like: "Who are you?" or if she does know Luke: "What are you doing?!" This is shape the meaning of our film and add narrative too. We also need to re-shot the shots of Luke walking up the stairs as we feel if he didn't wear socks, it would make an impression to the audience that he is cold blooded. With our new footage we also need to organise when the teachers can film. We also need to work out whether we want to include the newspaper, so this means will have to either re-shot or add certain shots of Luke discarding the newspaper.

New ideas

In today's lesson while we were editing we came across some new ideas. Feedback from teachers showed that we needed more reaction and a storyline to help shape our thriller. This made us think of additional footage. We need to include more titles and put in a new shot of Charli's feet in the opening. These will help shape the timing and opening. However, we also came up with having a completely new opening which consists of a police man and the girl's mother and father being interviewed. We thought of having them on the news and showing this through a TV. We would then film Luke paying no interest to the TV, however the missing girl is upstairs (Charli). We have been inspired by this type of footage through Doctor Who:

Skip to 3:07 and the use of a TV in the room is shown. We thought of using this idea by the mother talking desperately to the camera to help find her daughter. This would show a close up of her face but also include a slight fuzziness as this will be filmed through a TV. Luke would then turn off the TV so show that he doesn't care about what happens to her as he a psycho. In addition, by adding this footage it will mean it will add more time so we'll be able to cut down on the static shots- making our film more interesting and flow more.

With further editing, we also need to make the ending more dramatic and we can do this by making more shot reverse shots. This will occur when Luke walks into the room as we need to make it clear whether Charli knows Luke or not. This will add suspense to to film. If we can't get hold a the policeman we have a back up idea, or use it as well. This will be of Luke closing a newspaper with the headline of Charli missing. We will gave to design the newspaper so it will look something like this:

Editing: 27th Feb -1st March

Last week we started to edit for our rough cut for our thriller. We found this task quite easy, however we have some problems at the moment as our footage doesn't exceed 2 minutes. Nevertheless, we haven't finished our titles, nor have we added our new footage for the opening. (This will be of Charli's legs as we have to re-shot what we already had). Hence, I don't think editing will be a big stretch for our group.

In lesson we have already made our production company animation/logo which is called 'Upside Down Productions' and this will consist of the 'upside down' words to rotate from being upside down. We have decided that this font will be different compared to our titles for our thriller as usually production companies and titles are in different style and font. (I have found this out from my research).

I have also gone in by myself a couple of times either during my free time or a free period to help keep the process moving. For example last week I researched some production companies so I could try and become aspired with the logo etc. I completed this task on Photoshop, however I have left this so the whole group can input and decide.

With our titles, we haven't decided exactly what the font and colour etc will be as we just wanted to see what our film looked like with text and footage. We have also changed the opening to have pace- each clip lasts for 4-5 seconds and so does the titles. This adds pace and style to our opening however we need to figure out whether this fits with the rest of the thriller.

Another thing we need to think about is music. So far with my research into finding music I have been unsuccessful. This is either due to the music being too dramatic or basically because it won't fit/too short. This means I will have to research deeper into the music to help shape our thriller perfectly.