Evaluation 6 - What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Here is the video of my Evaluation 6 - What Have You Learnt About Technologies From The Process Of Constructing This Product?

Editing Diary

As I used a MacBook Pro for the editing of our Thriller opening I was able to use Final Cut Pro X. Before this project, I only had limited experience using Final Cut Pro after watching a few YouTube tutorials. I then got to experience using many different transitions, effects and sound in Media lessons whilst working on Underpass.

The first thing to do was import all the footage from the iPhone 5 and had to sort through what clips were suitable to use and also to keep within the time limit. To start doing this, I put all of the clips in chronological order based on our storyboard and watch the film through without clipping or editing any of it. After I was happy with the order, I deleted the clips, which were either outtakes or didn’t fit and scaled it down to two and a half minutes. Next, I had to focus on our flash-forwards that occur at different times in our Thriller to act as a transition between scenes.  To do this I put a “Flash” transition at the start and end of the clip where James the teenager is lying dead in the underpass. Then I put the Old TV effect to give the footage the impression that it had to come from a CCTV camera. When these two elements combined, it gave it a convincing CCTV look.

I then had to focus on the titles that were going to be put at the start of the film. I looked through all of the 155 titles that could possibly have been used and saw a range of different ones that could be used. They ranged from flashy, flamboyant animations to simple words that can flash up on screen. Not wanting to detract from the dark feel to the movie, I decided to use simple titles. I got a font from DaFont.com and tried putting the titles on top of the footage. They seemed to work and after consulting my teacher, we agreed that they looked good and they have been used ever since.

The rest of the editing process was fairly straight forward and the majority of what was left was trimming the final clips to get it under the time limit and to make sure one shot wasn’t on screen for too long. The main problem came when it came to choosing the music. We as a group wanted to use the track No Church in the Wild but then found out we were only able to use copyright free music. After a quick Google search, I found the website Incompetech. This website allows you to search music based on feel and so I searched Dark and Eerie. I found some good tracks and the start of our Thriller uses the track Bent and Broken. The problem I had was when it came to the chase scene. The music that Incompetech had was too cheesy and made the Thriller quite comical, which was not what the group wanted. I then looked at another blog and spoke to fellow Media students and one of the groups said there was some good music on YouTube. I searched “copyright free music” and in the first few hits I found a good track to use.

After this was sorted, the editing process was complete and this left us to complete our evaluations.

Final Movie Poster

After some deliberation between the group, I decided our initial idea for a poster to try and make a professional looking one complete with a BBFC rating and credits on the bottom. I decided to use a photo of the Underpass in which our Thriller takes place and also to link in with the title of the film. I took inspiration from other film posters such as The Dark Knight Rises and decided to use predominately dark colours with a contrasting colour for the writing. The credits at the bottom of the page were also an idea that was taken from existing posters.
Below is our final poster -

Soundtrack - Initial Ideas

With filming complete and the editing process underway, the next stage for us was to start searching for a soundtrack. After an hour of browsing through both the internet and the iPhones of our group we thought we had found a great backing track for the opening credits of our Thriller when Joel suggested the song "No Church in the Wild" by Jay-Z and Kanye West featuring Frank Ocean & The-Dream. After informing our subject teacher of our choice, she voiced her concern about copyright infringements. We as a group hadn't considered this problem and so we had to find a copyright free soundtrack to use in our film.

I then came across a great website called Imcompetech which allows users to download copyright free music directly from their site. As of this moment we are considering a number of different tracks and have not decided on a specific one to use.
More information on soundtracks will be posted both on here and on our official Twitter page.

Joe Alborough

Focus Group - Teachers

In this podcast - Joel chats to Mr Goodacre and Ms Weeden from the Business department at Shenfield High School to discuss Thriller films.

BBFC

Joe Alborough

Mood Board (with analysis)

Mood Board

This mood board shows a variety of different thriller movie posters and thriller movie screenshots. The mood board will give us inspiration that we can use when making our own thriller poster or maybe even for some parts of our final video.

The colours in the images are one of the first noticeable things. There are no bright or vivid colours used. They are mainly blacks and reds. These colours add to the mystery that a thriller tries to create and also gives the action a slightly evil feel. Also the connotations associated with the colours red and black give the audience a subconscious sinister feeling giving the visual aspect more of an impact. Some of these connotations are: evil, blood, aggression and power.

The posters also focus around one person, whether it is the protagonist or antagonist. Having just one character in the shot focuses the audiences attention on that character and can either create the feeling that either the protagonist is isolated and vulnerable or that the antagonist is powerful and scary.

The posters are rather minimalistic which is a good thing because it doesn’t give a lot away in terms of what the film contains but has enough to intrigue the audience and make them want to watch the film.

Joe Alborough

Thrillers - Codes & Conventions

Prelim Log - Post Production

Post-Production - Prelim Log by Joe Alborough

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot Reverse Shot

Shot reverse shot is a technique used when two characters are talking to one another; face to face. One character is shown looking at the another, then it flips to show the other character looking back at the first. The image below shows this:

This will be a fundamental part of our preliminary video and we will also have to make sure we follow the 180 degree rule too so we do not confuse the audience.

Joe Alborough

180 Degree Rule

180 Degree Rule

The 180 Degree rule basically means that the two people in a scene should always keep the same left/right relationship to one another, so that the audience watching doesn't get disorientated and confused. The image below illustrates the rule in picture form:

We had to make sure we followed this rule in our preliminary video and we will have to do the same if we decided to use this type of shot in our thriller opening.

Joe Alborough