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.