Generic Music Video Conventions

Editing Process/Programs

To edit our film we used Serif. We used this as it was the first editing program we were introduced to. We used various tools on the program such as the panning and volume, the cutting tool to split and rearrange the footage, the rippling tool that shifts the the linked footage and audio along when you cut a section.

To create our titles we used Adobe After effects. As on this program we were working from scratch rather than with prerecorded footage, we were able to give it a much more professional effect.

Our work on Adobe After effects turned out to be very successful. However, we came across many technical problems using Serif, as it would constantly freeze and we would not be able to view what we were editing. The program would not let us export the footage either, so unfortunately we had to pursue in trying to edit our film with inadequate software. We feel our film could have been a lot better had we edited it with a working program.

Final Powerpoint Evaluation

final thriller evaluation

Rough Powerpoint

Rough Powerpoint Evaluation

Changes to rough cut

The first thing we changed in our rough cut was a tiny blip of sound at the very start of our peice that wasn’t meant to be there, but due to our crappy editing software we had never heard it before.

We then added titles inbetween and over video footage to give the feel of an introduction to the story. We did this using After effects, bringing in the text with a sweeping effect and making the background transparent, then adding it to our film.

We removed our first shot of an odd gardening tool with blood dripping from it, as it was unclear exactly what it was. We also reintroduced the fast editing effect of the photos before. We however did not remove the slower editing, as suggested in our feedback, as we wanted the viewer to focus in on Annabelle’s face.

We added another sweeping sound effect when Annabelle opens her eyes. We got all our sounds off freesound.org by searching the kinds of sounds we wanted and trying our different ones along side our video footage. We made all the non diegatic sound, such as the tremolo of violins and an echoing sound, more continuous and less jumpy and distracting. When Annabelle is looking at the pictures we added the camera shutter noise to give it more of an edge. I repeated this one sound and added reverb to make it more echoing, representing the memories of the photos. We sorted out the sound recorded with the video as it includes lots of different chunks which needed to sound continuous. I also added another side view shot of Aaron taking the photo that can hardly be seen, but creates a flickering effect to match the camera shutter sound.

‘Captured’ Final Cut

Thriller Opening Rough Cut and Thriller Shooting Experience

This is our rough cut for our thriller opening

Thriller Shooting experience

We arranged the date and location for our thriller that our group and our actors could attend, making sure we were organised so we could get straight into filming as soon as we were there.

During our filming, we used two cameras. One we used mainly for handheld capturing, and the other we put on a tripod for more steady framing of shots. This worked well as we needed to take less shots of one piece of action, and the continuity was spot on as it was filmed together.

Annabelle who was playing the protagonist started to get cold halfway through us filming her section where she is taped up on the floor, so we didn’t get as much footage as we would have hoped to. We overcame this problem, however, later on in the editing process by using closeups within the same shot to extend the action.

We came across the problem of clutter within the garage, but having a look at it we felt that it added to the mise en scene of a disused garage where the antagonist hides away.

During our filming, we thought of a wider range of camera angles to use than originally in our story board, such as the point of view shot of the protagonist looking down on the desk, which I achieved by standing on a chair and keeping the camera at a level angle directly above the able, also creating the effect of a close, ariel view.

Overall, our filming experince was successful, with no major problems to overcome, due to planning in advance and organisation.

Storyline/Setting/Title/Roles

Roles;

Acting-

• Annabelle will be playing a girl, who is awoken in a room surrounded by pictures of herself.
• Aaron will be playing the stalker, never seen facially but ‘capturing’ a picture of Annabelle at the end.

Camera work-

Both me and Joanne will be filming it all.

Editing-

Me and Joanne will both edit the video when we can, and share ideas together.

Soundtrack-

There will be some piano, classical music written for the piece, we will also use Freesound.org and other sound effects and music sites.

Story Title;

We didn’t spent too long decided the name of our thriller, after the story was developed it was very easy. The girl was captured and a camera is involved so we chose the title our thriller as ‘Captured,’ it has a double entendre of capturing a photo and the kidnapping of the protagonist.

Setting;

The main setting of our thriller opening will be mainly in the garage as this is where Anabelle wakes up.  The whole scene is mainly Anabelle discovering she is in a garage and the only outside shot is Aaron walking towards the garage and opening the door.

Thriller Costume/ Props/ Setting/ Mise en scene

Costume

I have done some research into costumes used in psychological thrillers, and I also have my own opinions on what works well with the genre.

Here is an example from the movie ‘Gothika’

As you can see, her clothes are quite plain. You can see where she has struggled and the trauma she has been through by the distressed look to her clothes. We plan to use quite plain clothing for the main scene of our thriller, as labels, words, pictures and sometimes patterns can detract from the main plot of the thriller.

In this case however, we will be using one distinctive piece of costume to link the first scene in the park to the scene in the garage, to allow the viewer to realise that these events probably happened within a short period of time and to know that this is the same character in the two scenes.

The above picture shows the gloves we are using for the antagonist in our Thriller. We felt they would increase the mystery as the skin cannot be seen. No stereotypes are reinforced, it could be a man or a woman of any ethnicity, but from the manly clothing a viewer may create there own image of what the antagonist may look like, which is what we intended. If this continued to be a whole film, the range of characters the antagonist could be is wider, creating a more interesting plot.

Props

The above photo show the photographs that are the basis of the main narrative of our thriller opening. They are to show the obsessive nature of the antagonist, as every picture is of the protagonist and all other peoples faces are scribbled out.

This next photo shows the power drill the antagonist starts up in the first part of our thriller. This prop creates the mystery and suspense of what the antagonist might do with that drill, and creates malicious images in the audiences mind of what he might do.

The mirror was a planned prop so the protagonist was able to look at her face and see the blood, and it was also to create opportunities for interesting camera angles. The blood and the picture on it were for the mise on scene of the trapped feeling and disturbing nature of the blood seeping through the picture, as if this was an indication of events to come.

We decided to use the camera so the protagonist could look through recent photos of herself, as everything she discovers becomes more disturbing as she realises she has been stalked. We used a professional looking camera, as we felt this fitted the obsessive nature of the antagonist, the quality of the photos being of importance to him.

We also used a desk lamp to light the setting, as it lit the room interesting with alot of contrast. It also created a work type of setting, to reinforce the mise en scene of the antagonists hideaway workspace.

Setting

We chose a garage for our setting as we felt the dark space would be unrecognisable until the garage door was opened, and it seems like a hideaway, a dark place where nobody can find you or you could escape from. The contrast between the normal, comfortable nature of outside the garage and the trapped feeling inside was also a reason we chose to use this setting.

Mise en Scene

The aim of our attention to detail with costume, props and setting created the mise en scene of a secret place, with a obvious familiarity to the antagonist, and a scary, nightmare experience for the protagonist. The dusty random objects create a scene which gives the scary impression that no ones ever goes in there, so it is an unlikely place to be found.

Storyboard and storyline feedback

After showing this idea to Mr Dunford, he seemed very excited with the concept of our thriller. He suggested we researched the film ‘Se7en.’

 

 

 From this opening, we were inspired by the idea of introducing the antagonist first. The close up shots of his hands and what he was working with was very effective in creating questions for the viewer, asking who he was and was he a killler? We thought this could We also asked individual people their opinion on After looking at this we decided to change our opening