I asked a few people what they thought about "Out Of Focus" final edit. I asked them for one positive and one negative point about it and the answers are below.
Samantha Milne (Age 15)
Positive: Ending – out of focus blurry bit awesome Negative: Tom and Sophie shot bit long
Lauren Farmer (Aged 16)
Positive:Music is great Negative: Ending carried suspense
Henna Mistry (Aged 16)
Positive: Music very good – really sets the mood Negative: The stalker should make it more obvious he is there by enhancing the ambient sound – twigs snapping?
Louise Pearson (Aged 17)
Positive:really like the dark atmosphere created through the mixture of black and white scenes and the music played. I also like the contrast between the action shots and the pans across the photos because it adds more background to the introduction; it looks more like an obsession with the photos added in Negative: in one of the shots cutting from Sophie and Tom, to Josh through the camera, Sophie changes position from cuddling Tom to looking at the camera, then back in the next shot. This disrupts the flow of the action because it's a little distracting. Also, in the last shot, it isn't totally clear Josh is running towards the 'couple' as the first few times I thought he was running away from them
Laura Knighton (Aged 17)
Positive:The music was awesome, the effects were very atmospheric and the end kept me in suspense Negative: a bit repetitive of the walking around
For future questioning I need to make sure I ask same amount of males and females to eliminate bias.
In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? The opening titles of a film are the most important features, this is due to the fact that this is what the audience see first, therefore giving them vital first impression of the proceeding thriller. These features of films are the most important not only because they hint at the storyline but also they are the pivotal decision whether the audience continue to watch.
My opening titles conform to the codes the conventions of a typical thriller by: • Creating the narrative and introducing the themes associated with it • Establishing the genre – Detective Thriller • Gaining audiences’ interest by having the clip shift towards the end – from the stalkers perception and from the invisible cameras view. The incongruous sound of the innocent ambient track of birds tweeting overlays this clip making it seem uncomfortable, abstract and strange. This creates jux-ta position and makes the audience feel at ease. This hopefully engages their interest and builds up dramatic tension. • Having opening credits (below)
• Creating enigmas – like wondering why the photographer runs towards the couple
Our thriller tried to adopt some of the features of the detective/ crime thriller.
However, we also didn’t conform to some of the generic techniques such as:
• Making our opening, stalker like, where it's cliche for the camera to just follow the back of the person throughout the whole of it • Making the audience jump (sometimes used in thrillers to gain audience attention from the start • Having dialogue in the opening sequence • Giving away a lot of information about one character •Introducing the antagonist / protagonist (s) – Who are the two past victims and the stalker (who you only see at the ending – but only the back of him in a medium blurry shot, this is to add to the mystery of the thriller and enhance our sub-genre)
EXAMPLES:
Phone Booth (2003): Joel Schumacher
These opening titles (above) are from Phone Booth (Joel Schumacher, 2003). I like the base tone in these titles, however the opening theme and modern layout wouldn't suit our piece. Our piece is mainly a detective thriller, although it perhaps could come across as a hybrid of a crime and detective thriller. The opening titles above have a gripping opening title sequence backing track (incidental music), which engages the audience towards their film, therefore encouraging them to watch more. This sequence is heavily reliant on text, where as ours scans images and uses the pictures as a tyrant over text. I think it is important to know who is in the film, however to increase the audience's engagement I would also include some camera live movement or action (but not too distracting).
This clip conforms to the typical conventions of a thriller by having an opening titles, like ours, and introducing the themes which are crime, action and mystery. As an audience member during these opening titles you feel a bit on edge, due to the high graphic of the "3 dimensional" effect and fast pace electronic construction work. This was done to introduce the themes initially from the beginning of the film.
Double Jeopardy (TV - 1996): Deborah Dalton
The clip, above, shows the opening credits from a television series called Double Jeopardy. Although this isn't a thriller movie it has got themes of crime, murder, police, like our opening sequence. The things I like about this opening sequence is the fact that it incorporates the archaic music tones of that era, for example the slow tense music which has the feeling that the action on screen may suddenly become incongruous towards what the audience can see. Also the text font relates to the formal theme of the series - having serif font, which increases the formality of the series right from the start and introduces the audience to this theme from the beginning.
This clip conforms to the conventions of a movie thriller by having opening titles and again introducing themes associated with it, however these are not as evident as "Phone Booth" due to the pan across the cityscape (which could conform to the convention of introducing set and location). This isn't a film, therefore wouldn't be expected to conform as much, however due to its theme it should conform sightly.
How does your media product represent particular social groups?
In our thriller the social groups that are highlighted are middle class teenagers who are doing things conventional to their age, genre and life. The girl in our thriller is aged 17 is wearing brown boots, blue jeans and a grey coat. These pieces of clothing represent an innocent teenager which hopefully will retain audience empathy due to her age and vulnerability. The boy in this scene is similar age; his costume consists of white shoes, black jeans, a shirt and a black jacket. This represents him as a typical teenage boy; this conforms to the conventions and stereotypical aspects of a typical teenage fashion. Also the dark colours represent him as perhaps the stronger character and the fact that he is taller reinforces this. The other boy in this opening sequence is similar age to the other two characters and is wearing red jacket, yellow shirt, blue jeans and white trainers. These items of clothing again represent him as a typical conventional teenager who has a conformist lifestyle.
(left are examples of the clothing the actors are wearing in the thriller)
Also the locations of the shots featured in our opening title sequence represent the social areas in which teenagers stereotypically would be seen in. For example the couple walking through a field towards a fence, near a park. Stereotypically, teenagers appear to be seen around parks and fields, therefore this clip conforms to the stereotypical views of teenagers, which many people have. However we tried to portray innocence in this clip by having a romantic couple walking through the open field. These range of shots suggest this couple have quite a strong, loving relationship, therefore hopefully engaging audiences’ empathy towards them, especially towards the end when the man runs after them.
(left are location shots of the types of ares in our film, which we thought would symbolise youth)
We could have gone for the stereotypical youth places like town centre or high streets but we thought it would just be be cliche and too youth based. I think filming it on an estate and field caters for a wide age range from teens to parents and grandparents, who could be interested in our thriller due to the educational and caution issues. The other boy, his location consisted of a long street near an estate and busy road. This suggests he could be walking to college or a friend’s house. He has a backpack on his back, therefore, adding to the verisimilitude of the teenage boy’s lifestyle These representations of young teenagers affect the young audience because it helps them relate to the characters and have empathy for their position. They will hopefully also gain and increase audience engagement because they can feel the emotions that the characters are going through due to their similar interests and age.
Boyz n the Hood (1991): John Singleton
These opening credits above are from "Boyz n the Hood", which is an American film which represent the "hooded" boys as negative people who always swear, beat up and shoot people. This is a stereotype which only a minor population of this group conform too in real life. These opening titles, although explicitly shown, open with a sound bridge of youths swearing with police sirens and talk. This immediately introduces the theme of the film and creates a negative impression of youths right from the beginning, due to the language and associated sounds they carry with them (like gun shots and police sirens).
In our thriller we tried not to stereotype our youth group but represent them in a natural, realistic way, trying to portray the real life situations that some youths enter.
What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?
I think optimum distribution company (http://www.optimumreleasing.com/) may distribute our film with the help from EM Media who would provide set, locations, costumes, props etc. I have chosen this because I think our film is aimed at a niche specific target audience who are teen aged or parents, due to the age and location in which the actors are from. Whereas if our film was to be distributed by a major distribution company like Universal it wouldn’t get popularity due to the fact that our actors aren’t well known and it isn’t conventional to the big blockbuster movies which Universal help (in con-junction with others) distribute, such as Bridget Jones’s Diary (Shannon McGuire, 2001), Love Actually (Richard Curtis, 2004) and Notting Hill (Roger Mitchell, 1999). EM Media help produce films by providing them with certain things at a low cost, due to the fact that the films that EM Media aid usually have low budget, for example This Is England (Shane Meadows, 2004). I think our thriller would be appreciated more in local Broadway cinemas across the UK rather than the multiplexes, this is again due to the fact that it would be a low budget film, therefore limiting the familiar cast members or using conventions which majority audiences want to watch. I would advertise using the inspiration from Universal’s advertising in Bridget Jones’s Diary, 2001. This film used synergy, the mutual benefit of both companies, as an advertising tool to gain the audience’s interest and make the film more popular. For example they marketed with Body Shop, Coke, Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Megastore by having promotions on “diet” coke, which fitting in with the narrative of the story, having offers on flights and body shop products, which again does connect to the narrative of the story. They also used Geri Halliwell, who sang (covered) main song in the film, as a familiar face and pop star at the time, to promote their film and engage audience’s interest.
(examples from romantic comedy advertisement strategy)
Although our film would be aimed at niche audience, and is a different genre, I think synergy is a really engaging way to advertise and promote the film. We could collaborate with certain brand which interest teenagers but also fit in with the narrative of the story like, Sony, Apple, Toshiba – who all could advertise Internet and general safety hazards which could prevent these horrible events from happening.
(synergy possible collaboration logo and online advertisement)
I would also advertise, seeing as though our thriller is aimed at teenagers using the internet and put trailers and sneak peaks on YouTube and certain movie websites. http://www.youtube.com/
(Above are two examples of film posters, (which are the films I analysed at the start of this project)
(Above are two Shane Meadows film posters - This Is England and Dead Man's Shoes. These films are what our thriller would be budgeted at)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBpJ4ZuFP8E - this is the website link to "This Is England" opening title sequence(unfortunately the embed code wasn't available). Although this isn't a thriller it gives the impression of low budget title sequences.
Who would be the audience for your media product?
The audience for our media product would be working/middle class teenagers and parents who want to know about the dangers of stalkers. This could be on the internet or just verbally. Our initial audience was this, however as we progressed on through filming I started to wonder whether males would prefer this film due to the thriller, fast paced genre with unsolved crime and mystery. I think this would appeal more to a male teenage audience because of the action, however also educational wise I think it’s important that female teenagers engage and watch this as well because the majority of victims sadly are female. I think showing this controversial issue in a modern way in which teenagers and parents can be involved and engage with it is very important to this film and due to the unfortunate real life stories that happen within this topic of “abduction” it has to be filmed, planned and processed carefully. These audiences therefore will have a knock on effect towards our idea of marketing. As I stated above I think synergy is a very important tool, especially if it’s online, therefore can attract teenagers. Also, due to the fact that it is also aimed at parents, advertising could be leaflets in community centres or posters up in parent centres. Also email advertising could work towards parents and teenagers because most people are up to date with the latest technology. Perhaps offers in cinemas, collaboration with Broadway cinema’s in the UK, offering deals on tickets and food, due to the fact that, especially at this time, everyone wants to save money where they can.
How did you attract/address your audience?
We tried to involve modern fashion, set and props to add to the verisimilitude of the film being modern day, this would hopefully appeal to current and attract their interest because they can feel involved and can relate to certain parts of the film. This would hopefully mean that more teenagers would come and see our film therefore hopefully use different convergence methods to increase the films popularity. We also used typical conventions of thrillers to engage audience such as atmospheric music, tension and enhanced ambient sound. Also we introduced certain characters, including the stalker at the end to create a sense of mystery and confusion.
What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?
I have learnt that you cannot take any shortcuts when producing your film and need to check everything, especially with camcorders and make sure you have the correct screen in all shots. Also consistency throughout your opening sequence needs to be present and continuity errors need to be verified and checked before end of filming session. Also filming sessions take longer than I thought they would take, for a 2 minute opening sequence we spend 5 hours, throughout the whole process filming. During our preliminary task we used YouTube and found out that it took a while to upload, this is a time consuming process because the internet, during the afternoon in a college environment is being used is very slow and the broadband is being over used. However once it is up to YouTube, it is very easy and fast to transfer it to your blog. When we completed our first draft of “out of focus” we uploaded it over lunchtime, therefore the internet wasn’t overly busy, and therefore it was faster and took just under 10minutes to upload. The editing process took a while, due to the complexity of Adobe Premier, however I have learnt what effects can be added to enhance the ending product and how different colour modes changed the whole feel of the opening titles. Also I learnt how different tracks enhanced certain parts of the opening titles.
(Above are evidence of Josh filming the field scenes, we all filmed sections, but we didn't always remember to take pictures)
Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?
In my preliminary task, we rushed certain parts therefore I learnt not to rush filming in the final product. This aim was achievable and we planned our time effectively, however towards the deadline after the first draft, we had quite a lot to re-film due to technical problems (wide screen issues) therefore we had to rush some of the filming, losing certain effects and natural scenery, because some bits had to be filmed in college. I have also learnt the importance of filming certain shots more than once to prevent last minute filming or editing if one shot has the wrong type of ambient sound or is unevenly filmed. Also the varied angles and movements of shots is important because, the more varied it is the more interesting it looks and will increase audience engagement. In my preliminary task I broke the 180 degree rule, however I couldn’t fix this in our final product because we didn’t have many obvious conversational scenes but I have learnt so film within 180 degrees of the person opposite and how unprofessional it looks if you break this rule, unless you are going for abstract and confusing effect. However in the last half of the thriller (more evident in the draft) we have two shots from Sophie’s back showing Tom’s face (1) and vice versa (2) which could be classed as a shot-reverse –shot, Which doesn’t break the 180 degree rule.
(above are the examples in my preliminary task where the 180 degree rule was broken)
The video above shows the handheld stalker following sequence filmed on the 5th March by Josh. This shot shows him behind me following me up Brookhill Street. This wasn't a successful shot, due to the fact that it was quite inconsistent, movement wise, and may confuse audience. Also it didn't fit with the other footage we had, which was simple pans and shot- reverse shots. These had perfect stability therefore it would have looked extremely unprofessional to switch between the two. Also, in a real situation a stalker wouldn't obviously be filming and following a teenager in view of cars, houses, pedestrians, he would do it when no one is a right or if not, do it discretely making it less obvious.
This shot is footage from behind some leaves, this was an experimental shot, aimed to try and disguise the stalker's perception, as if he was hiding behind the tree through the leaves. This shot wasn't so successful due to the fact that we found out later on in the process that the wrong actor was used, it should have been me, but also that again the camera was hand held - taken by me and it isn't always easy to keep a balanced grip. Furthermore, as stated before a stalker wouldn't be filming a teenager in broad daylight with big camera, and a teenager wouldn't be sat on his own at a play park.
This piece of footage (above) is very similar to the one behind the leaves, however this time we included the tree in the shot. This again, was an experimental shot and I thought worked better than the leaves shot. This is because it showed the idea of "hiding" more evidently, this is because of the thick trunk of the tree and having half the trunk in the shot most the time, gave the impression that he was actually "stalking" him. However this piece of footage was still not in the final film, this is due to the fact that it was again, hand held cam and also wrong actor.
Today we re-filmed the photo panning sequence because last time it was in the wrong screen format. This time we decided to film in the media office, which had quite a big floor and had was near to our editing classroom. We choose to do it here because we never reveal where we are in the shots, because they are only panning over the pictures, therefore it doesn't matter where the shots are filmed as long as there is enough space to place pin board down. This time we decided to place black cloth (which we got from drama) underneath the pin board so we could place other photos around it. Sophie filmed this with help from Tom later on who filmed other sections. We had two people filming this section because, seeing as though we are doing it with a hand-held camera and its a hand held panning shot the hand needs to be very steady, avoiding limited, if any shaking sections. Also we shut the blinds in the room and used the film lights to create a dark shadow effect on the images. I kept flicking the light during the pans to create tension and potentially give the effect that a candle is in the room blowing and flickering. This prop would give the impression that something needs to be uncovered, and there are hidden messages amongst the pictures. Also this effect is commonly found in most detective thrillers like Sherlock Homes.
(above is the black cloth which we used in this sequence, underneath the pin board)
Today we focused on the ending of the clip and tried to add tension to the ending by switching between views, from stalkers view (2) and from invisible camera view (1). I thought that this definitely helped engage the audience more and I was hooked towards the end, even though I knew what was happening. Josh was in charge of the editing today, however for big discussions he would also ask all of us to see several bits and changed areas so that we could comment and help improve it. This was our strategy all the way thought the editing process due to the fact that only one person could be round the computer, and also to make efficient use of time me, Sophie and Tom carried on with other group activities which needed doing. We were always near Josh so that, as stated, he could check with us before rendering the effects and transitions and we could speak to him about our tasks too.
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(photo above was the computer in which we were editing on - using Adobe Premier and stills from preview screen)
The second half of this lesson was spent allocating certain jobs to all four or us so that the process, especially later on in the process can run efficiently and smooth. Today I searched for more tense and suspense tracks with could go underneath the action towards the end of the clip to build up the tension and hopefully make it sound less like a TV drama.
I carried out my research on the website above and gained 5 possible tracks, which i saved on to our shared (T) Drive so that Josh could access them whilst he was editing the footage in Adobe Premier on a separate computer.
Below are the titles of the tracks which i thought appropriate:
Figures Taking Shape
Freeze In Place
Secrets Told
The Dark Side
Victim Pileup
These tracks had the detective themed edge to them but also carried an undertone of suspense and thrill.
Today we watched our peers' opening sequences and gave constructive comments to help them improve. We had to think individually what we thought the plot was and then two points of feedback, one positive comment and one improvement.
Our feedback points were:
Unusual approach
Good camera work
Good music choices - tension built at points
Out of focus shot at the end - good ending
Music - at points makes it sound like Television Drama
Re-film shots in wide screen (that weren't)
Length of shots need to be edited and cut down
"Tom" and "Sophie" romantic section, looks too "happy" and focused around them
Cuts more from "stalkers" point of view so that it build up tension
These points will be taken in to consideration when we re-edit next lesson.
Today we continued with editing together our opening sequence. We decided as a group that we definitely wouldn't re-film my scene (due to the screen size) and just leave it out, unless asked to in feedback after first draft hand in date. Today we got the main edited block completed, this meant we could get started on the time consuming effects of brightness, saturation and transitions and titles.
Firstly, we had a discussion whether our opening sequence should be in black and white and colour, just black and white or just colour. We finally decided that the whole opening sequence should be in black and white. This will hopefully give the impression of a sinister detective genre format. The black and white footage also gives this opening sequence a unusual and unpredictable nature, therefore hopefully gaining its originality.
Unfortunately Sophie Neil and Thomas Adcock had to spend the last hour just catching up on their blogs, however they were still all included in executive decisions made by Josh who was editing with my support with audio files and effect decisions. Next lesson we need to finish editing process by adding titles and making it look professional.
Today, in lesson we captured the videos which we shot earlier and then started the editing process. Firstly we looked at all of the clips which we had taken throughout filming process which were accessible through the (T) Drive. Whilst watching the clips all of us had a discussion about which bits of that can be used and which bits we can crop slightly. We filmed more so that in the editing process we had enough footage, rather than having to go out and shoot at the last minuted. We decided that the hand held cam (taken by Sophie) for the pan worked better than the tripod pan (taken by Josh). This was due to the fact that, due to the bird eye view shot of this shot, the tripod pan was fairly rigid and inconsistent. This obviously, wasn't the effect we wanted to achieve. Therefore we decided to use the hand held camera footage. We then placed the clips of me walking (using fade transition) after pan sequence, then faded back into the panning of the photos. We played around with the saturation and brightness levels, because, due to the fact that the panning sequence was in black and white, it was quite a contrasting change to go from black and white to colour.
Unfortunately, towards the end of the lesson we we were about to insert the video that we captured earlier, we found out that we hadn't put them in wide screen, when all our other shots are on wide screen. These pieces of footage obviously couldn't be used because, even when edited looked extremely smaller than the others. This was very unfortunate, although we decided as a group that next Monday we would edit what we had, and if we needed the footage then we would re-film it (in the correct screen size).
Today in period 3, we went to the field, where we filmed our last scenes. These scenes were shots, like the ones of Tom and Sophie on Monday, but shots of Me. Due to the fact I am in the picture pan at the start too and it wouldn't make sense if the stalker is just focusing on one victim, when there's two in the pictures. It was raining during filming and very cold, therefore we tried to get these scenes shot efficiently with a high level of focus. (These shots were taken by Thomas Adcock with Sophie Neil's input on shot type, shot distance and second viewing. Sophie Neil was taking location shots and camera stills (below) whilst the footage was being taken). The first shot was of Me approaching a swing park and sitting down on the swing, like Thomas did the other week. This was filmed from different angles, like Thomas's shots. However we did forget to shoot this from a high angle (with tripod and camera up on the slide platform) We then shot footage of me walking out the park, with the camera hidden behind a tree (unfortunately Sophie didn't take a picture of this shot). We then filmed me walking out of the park, and down a paved path across a field down towards a twitchel. During this footage, Josh (the stalker) walks in to the shot. We tried Josh walking from in front of the camera (few seconds after me), however this shot looked as if Josh had deliberately walked in this shot and it didn't look natural. As an actor you always have to a purpose to what you are doing, if you are portraying naturalism(Stanislavski's theory), therefore we attempted Josh walking in from behind the camera. This worked a lot better and actually looked as if the camera was more "invisible". After these shots, we filmed, from the front, Me walking towards the camera, with Josh following me. This shot was purely taken, due to the fact that where the camera was before, the end of the path couldn't been seen, due to its location. This shot was filmed twice, in case in editing one of the shots are wrong. We did this with every shot will took today. Finally we filmed (from the bottom of the twitchel), Me walking up the twitchel with Josh following me from behind, this shot continued until I got to the top of the twitchel and turned the corner on to the main road. This shot was interrupted several times, due to members of the public using this walkway as footpath. This delayed our timing, however the shot was still filmed twice. The weather today, was much preferable weather for the theme of our thriller and gained the pathetic fallacy that we needed it too, rather than the sunny day when my walking shots where filmed the other week.
These pictures above are location shots and camera stills of our footage today
Today we carried on with the final scenes of our opening sequence. We clarified again at the start of the lesson that our opening sequence would be arranged like a montage of scenes which fade in and out of the photograph title pan sequence we filmed last week.
Firstly we started filming panning scenes of Tom and Sophie as they walked along a fence. This is again, an invisible camera shot rather than a perception of stalker shot, which are used later on in the sequence. We chose this location due to its normality and the fact that is near a forest with trees and bushes, these objects will help us when filming stalker perception shots, due to the foreground of the shot which will hopefully include trees so it will increase the verisimilitude because it will give the impression that the stalker is hiding.
Above are location shots of the first scene we filmed today.
We filmed Tom and Sophie walking along the fence just talking normally, we filmed this shot using an invisible camera and just panned. (This shot was filmed by Josh Curran). We again wanted various camera shot types and angles to be Incorporated in this opening titles to show our skills but more importantly make it interesting for the audience to watch.
Josh filmed these shots from different positions as you can see above, to again, make the shots vary and make the scenes more interesting. Josh also filmed several close ups so that the audience can see what the actors look like, therefore can relate to their teenage appearance and more importantly, hopefully link their faces back to the montage of photos playing throughout the opening sequence.
These are all stills showing the different camera angles used in this sequence.
After we filmed this scene we filmed the stalker perception shots from behind the trees in the centre area in the location shot above. This shot consisted of Tom and Sophie just talking, then Sophie looking directly at the camera (stalker) and turning Tom around to look at it. Every time they looked the camera (stalker) got more and more of the tree trunk (which I was stood behind), in the lens, to give the impression he is avoiding being spotted. Then they both look around and see him, the camera falls to the floor, and shows the stalker running after them. (This shot was taken by Andrew Tinley). This shot wasn't easy to film, due to the fact that we had to make it look as if the camera had been dropped by the stalker, in a panic, but still fall in a way where it looks realistic and also land angled, so that the audience can still see the stalker running towards its victims. This was also a tricky shot because we had to make it look as if it is being dropped, however keeping hold of it all the way down, to prevent damage. We had tree trucks surrounding the tree, therefore it was handy that it could fall on one of the trunks, angled so it can still capture the stalker running and Tom and Sophie running away. We filmed two shots of this, due to the fact it was tricky and unpredictable to shoot. The first time, luckily looked quite good, the second time, however when it dropped the camera must have lent on a branch, therefore making the screen fuzz and go all distorted then returning back to the actual footage we intended to take. This looked quite unique and actually added to the fact we intended it to look as if it had been dropped and fallen from quite a height, so when we get to editing we will chose which shot portrays this dramatic climax better.
This was a location shot of the pan shot I took of Tom and Sophie running through woods.
After this we filmed sections in the forest, which was located behind the trees which showed Tom and Sophie running through this, aiming to get away from the stalker. (This shot was taken by Andrew Tinley). This panning shot was just taken twice in different areas throughout the woods to gain a sense of entrapment. I also filmed a pan shot of Josh's (stalker's) shoes to show that he is going to get them, but this isn't shown.
We just need to finish my characters climax, we are arranging to do that on Wednesday morning, period 3 (which we are all off). Then we can start editing on Friday 12th March.
Today we continued filming for our opening sequence. Due to the loss of Sophie, due to other commitments, we only had three members of the group for the majority of the lesson. Firstly we captured the panning video we shot on Monday on the capturing software. This was done now, to save time later on in the process (due to the fact we are slightly behind) and to increase the efficiency of our group. We then got the camera and the tripod and headed out to Toton Lane where we filmed professional and amature shots, depending on the purposes of thee different shots. We filmed me walking down a street and across a road. We did this twice, once using pan, long shot, from the other side of the road (giving the representation of an invisible camera) and one using amature mid, camera shot (representing the stalkers perception) used behind me as I was walking. We used different camera shot types to portray a wide range of camera angles in the opening sequence and portray different perceptions of view and make it interesting to watch.
These are location shots of the streets where I walked whilst being filmed.
We saw in the shot, as we were filming this police operation sign, which we thought would add to the opening sequence and indicate that a police investigation could occur in the film.
After we had filmed these scenes we started filming a scene in a playground which, we thought would add a sinister theme to the sequence and add to the childlike vulnerability. Unfortunately the weather was extremely sunny today, which meant that the atmosphere wasn't as we had hoped, however the sunshine may create an interesting jux-ta position between the clips and the incongruous opening titles and the overall context of the film.
The playground scene consisted of Tom swinging on swing. This shot was taken by the video camera on the tripod on the floor of the playground and the same shot again was taken from the higher slide platform, creating a low angle shot of Tom. We also took these shots using my digital camera on video mode, to create different camera visibilities and focuses, behind several trees of the same footage.
These images are location shots and the different camera angles used to capture tom on swing.
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