Evaluation 7: Looking back at your preliminary task what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the final product.
As shown here I have answered this evaluation by using ‘go animate’ to produce a brief animation of the question in which was asked. I have also shown to explore the makings of a preliminary film and how we used the different techniques we learnt.
The preliminary task which we done a few months back aloud us to start the process of making our thriller opening, when doing this we had to go through stages in which were vital for making a good preliminary film. The skills in which we learnt from this preliminary task were then used to create our own title sequence.
Pre production; this is the thought process which happens before the film is made which mostly includes planning and storyboarding. As we know from research this is important to give us the bases of what we now about the things we are going to film.
The planning for our prelim was doe as a group, we made sure that we discussed all the views and ideas we had to create the best, we then jotted down the information and put our ideas together as a group. We came up with the idea of a mother telling her daughter that she is re marrying someone else which doesn’t go down to well. Once we decided the story board for our prelim we then did a storyboard to present it making our ideas clear when we were going to start filming.
Once we had created our prelim we then went on to make the prelim itself. When filming the prelim we had to keep in mind all the aspects of mise en scene lightening and the camera position skills to make it as effective as possible. To do this we experimented and used different camera angles to create effect as listed
-Match cuts
-Close ups (medium close up)
-Over the shoulder shots
-Two shot
The use of mise en scene and lightening in our prelim film was set in a kitchen featuring elements you would see in a kitchen. We decided to film the location of the scene in the kitchen to represent a normal day. The lightening featured normal lightening but our prelim film mostly focused on the props and characters, this was more visible to see the time of day in which we had filmed.
Once we had finished filming our prelim it was then time to start editing using the software final cut. The editing process was the most crucial part of the whole production. In the editing we selected the scenes which were useful deleting the scene that were not needed then adding effects to those we had filmed such as cross dissolves, filters, fade in / out.
The 180-degree rule was something we needed to stick with when filming each film; this was also something we needed to remember when making our opening. It was a basic guideline that states that two characters (or other elements) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other. If the camera passes over the imaginary axis connecting the two subjects, it is called crossing the line. The new shot, from the opposite side, is known as a reverse angle. Passing the 180-degree rule would destroy the appearance of our film and therefore wouldn’t look as effective.
Using the prelim helped us when we created our film opening ‘The Voice Behind’. We learnt various skills such as how to apply our own title sequence with effect such as over moving images. When doing our opening for our thriller we then did the same process production planning and storyboarding.
Pre production of ‘The Voice Behind’
We first started of with a story line, which was put forward by the group. We decided as a group to do a supernatural thriller, which was based on a disturbed girl who has been troubled by the ghost from the Tudor era Thomas Culpepper who provokes her to murder innocent people.
The name of the disturbed girl was named Ethel and the name of the ghost Thomas Culpepper, the location of our film was based in Culpepper park and we used this as a base of our story basing it in the place the Tudor we presumed had died in.
Once we had used and challenged all the camera shots in the preliminary film we then used some of the same shots in our opening, as we liked the effect in which it generated. We also made sure we remembered the 180-degree rule when doing this. Below are some shots shown. When doing this created different effects the high angle shot at some stages when used showed the importance of the two characters and the low angle shot show how dominant the character is compared to the innocent girl who dies.
Mise en scene and lightening used in ‘The Voice Behind’
In our film opening we filmed in the location of Culpepper Park and the window scene. Mise en scene included the characters clothing’s and props in which they had used. Ethel wears a long black dress with a black had covered with a long black top. Culpepper on the other hand wears a cloak, which covers the head that is featured with yellow mysterious eyes. Whilst the girl is wearing casual cloths to symbolise her living a normal UN troubled life. The clothing is shown to clearly set the different in the personality of the characters. The props that are used is a murder weapon which is a baseball bat and a mobile phone which is seen when the murder takes place.
The lightening of the opening was different and varied as we filed it at two different times to show the character going back to the park to find the girl she was told to by the ghost. Most of the footage was shown and filmed during the day with slight rain to give the connotations of a moody and grey touch to the setting.
Editing our film.
The editing stage was hard however interesting to do. Once we finished filming we then started editing the scenes we needed for our opening. The main keys we use was the ‘I’ and ‘O’ button which symbolised the in and out this enabled us to shorten the clips at the right moment cutting out excess bits we didn’t need. The transition from one scene to the next we fade in fade-outs as it was most common in supernatural thrillers. When using final cut we had also learnt how to layer clips onto one another to give the ghost a cold feeling and how dominate the character is as shown.
Adding titles:
When we did the prelim it had no sound or titles this is because we ran out of time. Once we put the scenes in order we then added titles to the clips in the order we wanted it to play in. we went back and viewed the normal sequence and looked at it to see if it matched it in any way. When we did this we were then able to add various amounts of effects.
Adding sound.
When creating the sound we had experimented a lot to see the types of software’s that were easy to use. We used garage band to get different sounds to generate a mood, which we put together to play throughout our opening. The sound was a success and people felt the tension build when the victim was getting killed.
Here is a brief animation i have made using go animate
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
What I have learnt across both productions.
I have learnt a variety of skills from both the preliminary and the creating of our film opening. When doing these tasks I have learnt how to use the JVC camera and how to set up a tripod successfully. I have also learnt about the rules and conventions of how to use the camera from the prelim exercise and applied the knowledge learnt to adding titles and text to the sequence. Throughout these exercises I have also learnt the impotence of mise en scene, editing, lightening and editing in film openings and how effective they can be. I have also learnt how to add special effects when editing as well as adding sound to the sequence once finished. Doing the prelim before creating our film opening was very helpful as it was used as a practice round to test every thing we knew and experiment with the different shots so that when we created our own we would feel more confident and do it better.
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