Evaluation

Media Foundation Portfolio Evaluation

View more presentations from leannemokkba

Our finished Horror film Opening

We have burned our horror opening onto a DVD and also uploaded it onto YouTube. We have also asked people to watch our opening and to comment on it.


This is the link to our horror film opening on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RmzD3SekA0

Finishing our horror opening

On Wednesday 27th April, we finished editing our horror opening, making sure the opening runs smoothly and that the music and sounds and all the different effects are in the right place. We also made sure that the music and sounds start and end on the right shots so it would make the opening more effective and dramatic. Our horror opening lasts for about 1minute 58 seconds which is not the actual requirement of the 2minutes horror opening but is ok as it is not over the time limit and is not massively under, only a few seconds. All we need now of the horror opening is the finished copy burned on a DVD.

Putting together the rest of our horror opening

With the downloaded footage of Scarlett's filming, we started editing together the end of our opening and with the many different shots filmed by Scarlett we were able to finish our horror opening. We replaced the shots of Hayley's phone receiving the text with the new filmed shots of Jamie's phone getting the text. We also edited and added the parts of Jamie walking down the stairs into the kitchen and grabbing a knife out the draw. We also included the scenes of Jamie walking out the door with the knife and walking up the street to go meet Scarlett. We decided to make these scenes fade out to create the sense of the end of the opening. We included the title of the film, 'Revenge is Near' using the font called 'cracked' as this made it look like a title of a horror film as the font made the words look scary and creepy. We placed the film title in the middle of the opening after the scenes of Jamie ripping up the photos. We thought that this was a good place to put the title of the film as the music at the start of the opening end at these scenes and would help create the tension and suspense for the dark and horror that the audience would sense coming at the end. We also found and added some sounds of a mobile phone receiving a text to go over the scenes of Jamie getting the message from Scarlett. With the title of the film, we made each of the words appear one at a time and added some sounds with the title to make it quite jumpy and scary due to the loud crashes and beats of the sounds, making it seem like a real horror film title being introduced. With the scenes of Jamie walking down the stairs, taking the knife out the drawer and meeting Scarlett, we added many effects of the cross dissolve to create that blurry and distorted image which would reflect Jamie's state of mind and also would build up the tension and supsence for the audience. To make the scenes of Jamie taking the knife more powerful and interesting, we added the shot of Scarlett texting and merged over the top of these scenes to show to the audience the reminder of Scarlett's fate. I really like this as it adds the horror to the film of not knowing if Jamie would really go meet Scarlett in the park and kill her. We also added some strange sounds but quite creepy to the end parts of the horror opening to keep the audience on edge and gradually building up the tension and suspence.

Continuing with our editing

As we wanted some music over the top of our opening scenes and needed to be not copyrighted, we found a website, http://www.danosongs.com/ where we have permission to use his songs. We found a piece a music called 'Love Letters' where it was perfect to go over the scenes of the sequence of the photos of Jamie and Scarlett showing their happy relationship. This piece of music really went well with these scenes as the lyrics of the song was meaningful and related to the different shots of the photos. We also added the Production and Distribution company names at the start of our opening and using the key frame and different effects we made the names drag into the frame to make it look professional. Also by adding the effect of cross dissolve and some music over the top, it made it seem like an actual opening to a film.

Finishing filming the rest of our opening

As there were still some more filming to do to help create our finish opening, Scarlett decided to finish the filming so she went to Jamie's house and filmed the last part of the opening. She filmed Jamie walking down the stairs into the kitchen, opening the draw and taking out a knife. This would help create the tension and suspence for the audience as they would see the horror coming. She also filmed Jamie leaving the house, ready to go meet Scarlett at the park. Scarlett also filmed a variety shots using different angles and interesting framing which would help make it easier when coming to edit this footage. Scarlett also re-filmed the shots of Jamie receiving the text on his phone as we found out that we made a mistake when looking through the first footage we filmed for the opening. This would make more sense to the audience and would not confuse them of having different names of unfamiliar characters presented in the opening that would not be in the rest of the horror film.

Editing with the new filmed footage

On Wednesday 30th March, we started to look through the footage and began editing to piece out the start of our opening. We wanted to create the feel of the happy relationship that Jamie and Scalett have to the audience so we edited some of the photos that Hayley and Scarlett filmed and continued the sequence of showing the different photos at the start of the opening to create the sense that it is teen horror movie. We then took the different shots of Scarlett making and sending the text and edited together to show to the audience of what maybe is the end of their relationship. This would make the audience understand the plot of the horror film more. However when looking through the footage filmed, we noticed that we made a mistake as we have used the name, Ellie instead of Scarlett showing on Jamie's phone when he receives the text. This would confuse the audience as they would notice names of characters that are not in the film being introduced to them in the opening so we would have to film these shots again using Jamie's phone to make the opening right and that it would make sense to the audience. We then edited and put together the scenes of Jamie ripping up the photos of him and Scarlett, showing his feelings and reactions to the audience of knowing that their relationship is over. We also added some opening titles following the sequence of the titles of 'Mirror Mask' as I have already looked at the opening of this film. We decided to use small lettering for the different names in our opening titles as this created the feel of a teen film as most teenagers would not care about the right grammar and capitals of the names. We added these titles in different corners of our framing where it was easily seen and was appropriate. Next we are going to find some music from the internet which is not copyright to use over the top of these scenes to create the feel of the horror film opening.

Filmed footage at Scarlett's house

As I was absent on 28th March and that our group had to start re-filming our horror opening, Hayley and Scarlett went out of school in a media lesson and filmed at Scarlett's house where the start of the opening is located. I have been seen this filmed footage on the Mac and the different new shots they have filmed. They have filmed a variety of shots from an establishing shot outside of Scarlett's house as this would give the audience a sense of  location. They then filmed Scarlett making a text saying 'We need to talk. Meet me at 12 at Pleasure Park tomorrow.x' and sending it to Jamie using different angles to provide a variety of shots to edit with. They also filmed Hayley's phone receiving the text as though it is Jamie who is receiving it as the audience would not know that this was not Jamie's phone. They also filmed different shots and close ups of photos of Jamie and Scarlett to show to the audience the happy relationship they have. To make the audience understand the character Jamie's rage of thinking that Scarlett is breaking up with him, Hayley and Scarlett also filmed Jamie ripping up photos of him and Scarlett to show how distraught and heart-broken he is which leads to him being crazy and eventually killing her.

Having a new idea

As I was absent for the next two editing lessons, I have been made aware and updated by my group that after editing the basics of our horror opening and having a chat with our teacher, we have decided to re-film our horror opening, having a more simpler plot and less characters. This would make our opening more effective as it would be more scarier and easier to edit with. We have decided to re-film the opening to get better and more detailed shots, making it more of a scarier opening.

We have now changed our casting as we have a new idea of having less characters and a more simpler and more understanding plot.


From our original cast:

Scarlett Colson ...       Ellie (bubbly, confident and heartless)
Connor Hobbs    ...  Ben (short-tempered, mysterious and twisted)
Jamie Reed      ...              Matt (funny, friendly and smart)
Hayley Bell     ...      Friend #1 (happy, sociable and sensible)
Natatsha Weldon ...         Friend #2 (loud, sociable and bubbly)
Ellie Markie    ...    Friend #3 (trustworthy, honest and caring)

To just having Scarlett and Jamie in the horror opening. We have decided to use their real names as it would make it easier and less confusing.


Our new idea...

Scarlett and Jamie are in what seems like a happy relationship to Jamie but Scarlett then breaks up with Jamie in the park. He then turns crazy, killing Scarlett's friends and then eventually her.

We have not changed much with our original plot but continued with the idea of the boyfriend going pyscho and killing his ex-girlfriend and her friends too.

Starting to edit our Opening (9/03/11 - 16/03/11)

In the first couple of weeks of our Post-Production stages of our horror opening we started to roughly piece out the basic storyline of our opening using the filmed footage on our Mac. We began cutting and editing different shots from the footage we filmed, starting with the footage filmed in town as these scenes are what open our horror film.

In the second week of editing, Hayley had a really good idea of cross-cutting between the scenes in town and the scenes of the character Ben stabbing the photos in the dark. This looked really good for the opening as the audience would sense the horror and tension with the constant cross-cutting between the almost flashbacks of the situation in town and then the quick glimpses of the stabbings, sensing the darkness and horror. We also speeded up some of the cross-cutting to build up the tension and suspense for the audience, making them feel on edge when watching the opening of our horror film. With the scenes of the photos being stabbed, some of the close ups on the photos were not smooth and were quite blurry so we learnt a new technique of using the key frame, helping make the movement of the close up on the photo really steady and smooth. As the shot of the photo was quite blurry, we overcame this problem by adding an effect to try and make it look like it was supposed to be.

Moving forward into Post-Production stage

Now that we have completed our Production stage of our horror opening, this means that we can now move forward into the next stage, the Post-Production stage. Altogether, we have about 11 minutes worth of footage that we can edit with to create our 2 minutes horror opening. With the Post-Production stage, we would need to learn the basics of how to edit our horror opening like composing our own music to go over the top and adding different enhanced sound effects to create the tension and suspense in our opening. However, we would move forward into this stage and start editing the next lesson that we have which is on Monday 7th March as we would miss tomorrow's lesson, Wednesday 2nd March due to Skills For Life.

Downloading the footage onto the Mac

Today, me and Scarlett decided to download the footage we filmed of the scene of the stabbing of the photos onto the Mac. The footage downloaded was 7 minutes from 26 clips. This would be more than enough to edit with using that scene and other footage that we also have.

Props we used

These are the props that we used to film the scene of the stabbing of the photos.

These are the photos that Scarlett created and arranged on the noticeboard for Connor to stab into. There are different pictures of the character Ellie (played by Scarlett) for Ben (played by Connor) to stab into to show his anger and the start of his madness and revenge of wanting to kill Ellie.

This is the knife that Connor used to stab into the photos on the noticeboard.



Filming at Scarlett's

On Monday 28th February, me and Connor went to Scarlett's house at 3pm to film the end shots of our horror opening. To create a scary atmosphere, we decided to film the scene of the stabbing of the photos in the dark and using a torchlight to create some light. This worked really well as it made our footage more sinister and frightening which we are trying to create through the character, Ben. I filmed the footage as planned based on our storyboards and also filmed extra shots so we would have more to edit with. I filmed from different angles, from the side and also used over-shoulder shots of Connor stabbing the photos multiple times to have more variety when editing. I also slowly zoomed into the stabbing of the photos to increase the feel of tension and suspense of our opening. By using the torchligh, it created different spotlights and having this scene in the dark made it more scary and on edge as the audience would not be able to see clearly but only shadows, darkness and a bit of light. Scarlett also switched the torchlight on and off when I was filming Connor stabbing the photos. This made our footage look really good as when Scralett switched the light on and off, it created different blurred shadows of the stabbing of the photos and also reflections on the knife which made it look quite dramatic.

After filming these shots, we felt that we had a lot of footage to edit with so we decided to keep the footage we filmed in town. We also decided not to film in town again as some of our cast were busy with other work and might not have a lot of free time for filming.

Arranging time for filming at Scarlett's

We decided to film the end shots of the scene of the stabbing of the photos tomorrow, Monday 28th February. However, Hayley is going to be busy tomorrow so me and Scarlett decided to film these shots at Scarlett's house as we are both free tomorrow. We only asked Connor if he was free tomorrow for filming and he said that he was free. He plays Ben in our horror opening and he is the only character in the end shots of our opening stabbing the photos. These shots are going to be easier to film as there is only one character in it. As these shots are filmed at Scarlett's house, Scarlett has arranged for me and Connor to go to her house at 3pm, giving us enough time to film.

Booking out the Camera

On Friday 18th February, I booked out the camera so we would be able to finish filming our opening in the half term. However, I asked the Librarian, who keeps all the cameras and tripods, first on Thursday 17th February if it was ok to book the camera out for half term as we would be keeping it for a week. She said it was ok which means we could finish all our filming and be able to film more footage and extra shots for our opening in the week. Now that we have a camera and tripod for the half term, all we need to do is arrange an appropriate time that our cast would be free to film in our opening.

Filming in the Half Term

We couldn't finish our filming this week due to some of our cast being busy and also the bad weather. However, we figured out that we could film in the half term and could download the footage on the first day we come back, which would be Tuesday 1st March and have everything ready for editing on the first lesson we have on Wedsnesday 2nd March. The shots that we have left to film are the scenes in town and also the stabbing of the photos at the end of the opening. This means that we don't have much filming left to do and would not take long to finish filming these shots as these scenes especially the shots in town would have to be filmed all on the same day. 

Filming postponed

As we had to film our footage in town again, we decided to try and film it on Sunday 13th February. However we forgot to book the camera out and also the weather was really bad as it was raining heavily so we couldn't film on that day. I decided to try and arrange a different time for filming and thought that Wednesday 16th February was a good day to film. However, when we asked our cast if they could film on that Wednesday, some of our cast were going to busy on that day so we didn't book out the camera.

Downloading footage we filmed at Scarlett's on Mac

On Thursday 10th February, I had a lot of free time so I decided to download the footage we filmed at Scarlett's on the Mac so we would have more time to film and download other footage. The footage downloaded was 2 minutes 10 seconds from 15 clips.This would be enough to edit with as they are the end shots, only one part of our opening and also that we have more shots to film and download for our horror opening. This means that we would have more footage that we could edit with. 

Filming at Scarlett's house

On Wednesday 9th February, we all met at Scarlett's house at 5:30 with all the cast dressed as though the characters in the horror opening are ready to go to a party. We decided to film at 5:30 as it would be quite dark which would set the scene of our end shots of our opening of the characters going to a party.We decided to film them coming out of Scarlett's house and walking to the party. I decided to film the shots of the characters coming downstairs as though they have gotten ready at the house. I filmed them from the top of the stairs walking down and then from the bottoms of the stairs. This would help with the editing of our opening as we would have a range of camera angles and shots to edit with. We also decided to use some props and gave each of our cast a can of beer or bottle of alcohol to show that the party they are going to would involve alcohol and maybe drugs. I also filmed them opening the front door inside the house and filmed the characters from the outside coming out the door. I also filmed them from the front and back and also panned them walking down the street as though they are walking to the party. I tried filming their feet walking down the street but it was not clear enough as it was quite dark. However, with all the different shots and angles we filmed would help make our opening more interesting when we edit it.

Arranging time for filming

As we wanted to finish our filming in a week, I decided that Wednesday was a good day to film as Hayley and Scarlett was also free on that day. We then asked our cast if they were free on Wednesday 9th February for filming and they all said yes. However, we needed Scarlett's permission as we were going to film at her house for the end shots of our horror opening. When me and Hayley asked Scarlett about filming she said it was ok to do some filming at her house so we booked out the camera on Wednesday and decided for everyone to meet and start filming at 5:30 at Scarlett's house. We also told our cast to dress like they are going to a party as the characters near the end of the opening are ready to go to a party.

Filming postponed

On Friday 4th February, we were going to book out the camera so we could film our footage that we needed in town today. We decided that Sunday was a good day to film in town as it is usually not busy and our cast were normally free on that day. However, when we asked our cast if they could film on Sunday, all of them said yes except one of our main actor, Connor who plays Ben in our opening, was going to be busy on Sunday. This meant that we couldn't film in town today. We have decided to try and finish all our filming for our opening next week so it gives us time to download the footage on the Mac as there are only 2 more weeks to finish the Production stage of our opening which is the filming of it, and would also need the footage downloaded. After having all the footage we need downaloaded on the Mac, we would be ready to move forward into the Post-Production stage which is the editing of our opening.

Downloading footage we filmed in town on Mac

Today, we downloaded the footage we filmed at town on the Mac. The footage downloaded was 2 minutes 29 seconds from 31 clips. We realised that we needed more footage if we are going to edit our opening. However, we then noticed that it would be unlikely to film more footage in town as when we filmed in town it was raining and there were cars in our shots. If we had to film some more footage, it would mean that it would have to be raining on the day we film and that the same cars would need to be in our footage so the opening would make sense. However, this would be impossible as the surroundings in town would be different everytime we go and film. This means that we would need to film everything again on the same day and would need to film as much as we can and extra shots so that we would have more than enough to edit with.

Filming in Town

On Sunday 16th January, we went to film in town for the opening shots of our horror film. However, it was raining a little on that day but we still filmed as it adds to the atmosphere and sets the mood of our opening. Everyone met at the clock tower in town at 3pm, where we filmed nearby with the shots of the opening of the characters walking into town and when Ellie breaks up with Ben. There were also difficulties with filming the footage as people were in the shots and were walking in front of the camera which made it harder to get the shot we wanted. There were also noises from cars when they drove by which made it difficult for us to film as we were distracted by the noise and would also make the filming of the footage harder to capture. This made it longer for us to film. However, the good things were that it was not as busy or as many people in town which made it a little bit easier for us to film but the weather was quite miserble and cold, making us want to film the footage more quicker and accurate. After all these difficulties, we finished all the shots located in town and also filmed extra shots so we would have a range of shots to edit with.

Ready for Filming

We collected our memory card last week on Thursday 13th January so we could store all our footage on the card and that no one could delete or film over our footage. Today we booked out a camera so we could start filming our horror opening in town on Sunday. As we have our card and camera- this means we are ready to film.
We told our cast to dress in a certain way, a more casual look as the characters at the start of the opening are going out to town.

Filming

As our filming is due in at the end of February, we would need to plan on when it would be a good time for everyone to film. However, we were not able to film our opening over the Christmas holidays due to the snow and icy conditions. Also with all the Christmas decorations up in town, we could not film our footage as most of the shots are located in town and would not look right with the decorations in the opening. 

Although we were not able to complete our filming, we are going to start and be finished over the next couple of weeks.