Final Cut

Our Final Cut of Film Opening

Evaluation: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?

 Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in progression from it to the full product?

I feel that I have progressed dramatically from the preliminary task to the main task, I honestly think it is because I have a clearer understanding of how important the pre production actually was. Before when we were doing our preliminary task we prepared our pre production but we did not stand by it this then meant that we became unaware of what was happening in the production of the film. By using this as a starting point for a new beginning I think we did better when it came to sticking by the story board and developing our ideas but also learning to come together as one.


Pre Production
As I said before in our preliminary task we did not focus on what was important and led us to start again. To avoid this in terms of the new task we divided the work load up between the group, once everyone had completed what they were meant to we then came back and discussed what we like and what we didn't like. This was good as this allowed us to take things we liked into consideration but also we took these forward. Once doing this we were able to create a pack this helped us plan out the different shots that needed to be done but also helped us so we can set out the props and prep the location.


Production
In the preliminary task we used to get really distracted because we used our friends as the cast members but we then decided that was a bad idea as it prolonged our filming time and 'wasted daylight'. For the man task we decided to hire actors that we did not know personally so this would keep everything on a professional level.


Post Production
When it came to us using the technology it was different because in the preliminary task we just focused on match on action, shot, reverse shot, continuity and not breaking the 180 degree. when doing the main task yes we focused on these aspects but it was also about creating a narrative and telling as story. We used the same soft ware but used different settings. So before in the preliminary task we did not do any colour grading as it was not needed, so taking this in mind we were very inexperienced when it came colour grading but with help we succeeded.


At the end of the preliminary task we decided to write down a few questions that we swore we would learn to answer in the near future and I can now say that I can answer these questions if asked.
The questions are below:
How to colour grade a film?How to create a voice over onto final cut pro?
How to add music onto final cut pro?
What is the main production of a film?
How do you get special effects on final cut pro?
How to get a split screen effect on final cut pro?
How to make a realistic script?

Evaluation: What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

 

Throughout the process of creating this product I have learnt many things about the way technology has evolved. At first I was not very familiar with the many things that we used during the production process but I think as time went on and by allowing my self to get involved and experimenting with the given equipment I learnt how the 'new' world of tech actually works.

 

In the production process we were given DSLR cameras to film our film openings, with this camera we were then given a microphone, tri pod and steady cam. As I had never used one of these cameras before I was not aware of how it worked. By doing some research and getting to grips with the camera my self I was able to use the camera and film. Using the DSLR meant that we could capture all the shots that we needed and more but this also meant that we could capture not images but motion picture in high definition (HD). An example of this would be seen in our final cut when the doctor is cutting into the girls body. For this shot we wanted the resolution to be really high as we wanted the audience to feel as if it is from a first hand and they are actually watching this happening before there eyes.

 

The Image above does not look HD because when we converted it for YouTube it was then supressed and became very pixelated but you could still view what is going on just not the way we would like it to be shown.
Another thing that using a DSLR allowed us to do was to change the focus of the camera this meant we could either make our images/videos soft or make them sharp. This was also another way of focusing the camera on one thing so it would be come the new dominate figure in the image/video. This was used very often throughout our film opening as we wanted to build on the tension but also create enigma for the audience as we did not want them know what was going on. An example of this would be seen in the beginning of our opening where they was a soft image of a tray with medical equipment gradually came into a sharp image this created enigma for the audience as they did not know want the image was and why it was needed in the moving sequence.

This image is of the soft image in the opening.

 

I also think using the Mac's in the media suite was different because before this was the ordinary stationary laptops that we all used before but as time went on we were gifted with the brand new hardware of today that allows us to access different software's to help us complete various tasks. I had never use a Mac computer before this course and it was very confusing to be as I was not use to this type of technology but as I played around a bit I learnt quite a lot about how the computer works. This was a very key thing to learn about as we used the Mac's soft ware (Final Cut Pro X) to help us edit out film. Without this software I don't believe we would have achieved what we did this time around as this enabled us to try different things and leave our comfort zone which we are normally too scared to leave.

New Generation Technology

Old Generation Technology

 

 



 

Throughout the process of setting up our film on the internet I learnt about digital distribution, this meant that if we were to put our film on the internet it would be open to a global audience because it was distributed digitally. We also decided as a group that because digitisation has taken over the media world, Big global institutions would have the upper hand as they have the money to use this to there advantage and considering the storyline of our opening we believe that our opening will be distributed digitally to gain a wider audience. In comparison with the small independent institutions I have learnt that because they work on a small budget they do not have much to work with so having digitisation at there disposal is what they need. I say this because for a company like 'Warp Films' they are given a certain amount of money to spend on the production of film and they only have a small amount left for marketing I believe that the 'evolution' of technology; digitisation is slowly bringing the independent film companies in existence.

 

Refection

When creating our opening we learnt how things was done before we had the DSLR camera and I honestly believe that we as the 'teenagers of today' have it better off and I can definitely say that digitisation has not fully developed as yet. 

Evaluation: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

The video below is us as a group discussing and developing the evaluation question.

From left to right:
Desiree - 9022, Lauren - 9180, Naomi - 9053, Sophie - 9118

Evaluation: how does your media product represent particular social groups?

For this question we decided to have a audio clip and it was showing a range of different media's.

Evalution: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Who would be the audience for your media product?

-       We decided as a group that this film would be targeted to both genders and mainly teen as we don’t think that anyone over the age of 40 would be mildly interested in the type of film that we have created. I personally believe that our film would definitely raise some issues with women who class there selves as feminists. I say this because a feminist is woman who politically believes that men and women are equal and they must dress a certain way to protect their modesty. In our film we have slightly disobeyed the way they think. We choose to dress our victim in a short black and lacy dress because it would appeal to the opposite sex making her a prime target for interaction or even on a serious note abduction. Also by having the victim strapped down and her not trying to escape and being very defensive less this would infuriate the feminists as she was not trying to protect herself or even try and stand up for what she knows is right.    

-       As we said a while back the film opening is a 100% British but follows the storyline of an American film our initial target audience would be the British and the American hopefully reaching a global scale.

Evaluation: What kind of media insitution might distribute your media product and why?

What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

-       Based on the story line of our film opening we thought it would be distributed by a conglomerate (big institution i.e. Warner Bros.). Our film is 100% British as it included a British cast, British crew, British director and British location but as our film follows the ‘traditional’ American horror story line we believe that this would appeal to a lot of viewers hence being distributed by a big institution.

-       Being that is it would be distributed by a conglomerate this will give them the large budget to market our film and distribute it using different media’s. I say this because currently our film opening is on YouTube, this is accessible to billions of people around the world. By using this source of networking we have transformed our film opening to what you could say started off as a ‘niche’ product to a ‘hit’ product gaining us a global audience.  

Below is a voice clip of the group discussing the question:

Evaluation: How did you attract/address your audience?

How did you attract/address your audience?

-       As a group we decided to make our victim a teenager, this meant by having the stereotypical ‘female teenage’ victim our audience would be able to relate to the matter as if it was their selves in the situation. This then lead them to feel sympathy for her as it allows them to feel the way she feels in the film.

-       We decided to give our film a certification of an 18 as it displayed some explicit; and I say that term loosely, images. Being that it was very ‘gory’ and would be classed as ‘slasher’ film we thought it would only be appropriate to have a target market of demographics ranging from 18 to 30 years of age.

-       Another thing we did was, making the film genre horror this allowed the audience to believe that we had followed convention i.e. blonde victim. Instead we added modern day crimes i.e. kidnapping as this will make the audience think it can happen to anyone therefore creating enigma. Not only that we represented the female victim as the typical ‘girl next door’ type.

Below is a video of us discussing the question:

Main Task: The Organ Player Final Cut

Final Cut

                

Overall we were very happy with our final cut this was because our sequence was not congested it was set out perfectly and was easy maneuver things. As we were creeping up on our deadline we decided that it was best to fix the music and start that from scratch so instead of trying to bring life to our old music sequence we decided it was time to make a new tab, with the photo from the previous post we knew that we had to keep everything tidy and completed our music which pieced together well with the visuals. Now before we colour graded we checked through the opening to see if it made sense and we checked to see all sound levels were even but also we wanted to check if our non diegetic and diegetic sounds matched up but there was a problem with the sound as if you listened closely you could hear blipping and as we confronted our teacher we knew there was nothing that we could have done as it was a technical problem throughout all the Macs. 

Colour Grading

We as a group decided it was best to make visuals cold as it would appeal to audience better but also because in other horror movies there is very dull and dark colours so with discussion we knew it was best to add a lot of blues and blacks and so it was as we found out from the people who watched our opening. 

Main Task: The Organ Player Second Cut

Second Cut 

With the first cut we noticed the cuts weren't shot enough so we could not create tension or suspense, so this was then fixed in our second cut but as you can see throughout the opening some of the cuts did not work to together and we could definitely see why. After showing the second cut to some of our teacher we were then presented with some feedback that really helped. With this feedback two drawings was given to us down below is where they can be viewed.

What our opening sequence was like 

What our opening sequence should look like

 As you can see by the photo on the left that is what our sequence was described as and I personally agree it was very to understand and very hard to edit without deleting the important parts of the opening so we decided to start fresh and make a new sequence where everything was separated and placed properly, hopefully looking like the photo on the right. With sorting out sequence to look like the photo on the right we were able to fix our music as that was a very vital part in the opening, the music was much better for at the beginning it was soft suddenly got heavier and darker. Another thing sorting out our sequence helped us do was sort out the visual sounds as you can hear in the second cut some of breathing was over played and he screams were out sync with he mouth/ what was going on. Lastly we also told that our titles were not yet perfect and we had to fix them so we decided that they should be all equal and closer together as they were spread out quite a bit and it just through off the balance of the opening.

Main Task: The Organ Player First Cut

First Cut 

After we all had finished filming it was then time to edit our footage but as a group we thought it would be best to put everything in order in one sequence so we would be able to see what works and what doesn't. At this point in time we knew that we had to get rid of all the white noise because it muffled and it did not sound right. In the beginning there is a few shots that we did not much as they was not filmed with a steady cam so this made them look amateurish and we knew we could have done better. Nearer the middle of the opening the speed of the shots were a bit off and we did not know what had happened but this was something that needed to change if we were going to progress. Another thing that needed changing is we thought the music should start from the beginning and then build up gradually so it creates tension, to do this we came up with a tension chart that would help us. Below is and image of the chart that was created.

Tension Chart

Horror Movie Inspiration

Horror Movie Inspiration

As we were spit balling ideas as a group we went through different gory slasher movies and one TV episode trailer. At first we wanted to make our opening very scary but did not want to give away too much; enigma. We took it upon our selves to fins ways of inputting this in our opening so we came across the opening of 'Seven' - below.

Seven - When watching seven yes it was scary but we knew why because as the audience we were unaware of what was going to happen next. The background music also had us very scared as it was dark but mainly white nose and atmospheric sounds. 

Hostel - Considering that we were doing film openings it was very strange to be watching trailers but these trailers helped us with all the types of quick cuts we would like to have in our opening but also what colours we wanted to incorporate as we wanted the audience to believe what is going on.

Criminal Minds Season 8 'God Complex' - This trailer for a episode was very key as we wanted to see a real life psycho doctor in the works and by watching this trailer we got to witness how he acts and how we would coach our actor to be just like him. With the character research that was done earlier I believe this also helped us see how he should interact with others but also look appearance wise.

Reflection

Even though they may not be film openings they definitely helped us with our queries and without these videos I don't think we would yet get to grabs with want a real horror movie is like and our opening would not be to it full potential. 

Analysis On Director #1 Martin Scorsese

Name: Martin Scorsese

Born: November 17th 1942

Martin Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor and film historian. Being said he has been rewarded as one of the most significant and influential film makers in cinema history.

Scorsese has many themes that run throughout of his films such as Italian American, Roman Catholic concepts of guilt and redemption, machismo, modern crime and gang conflict. Examples of these themes can be seen in 'Taxi Driver' and 'Goodfellas'.

A snapshot from Taxi Driver

A snapshot from Goodfellas

Reflection

  At first I was analysing film directors that work very closely to the horror and gory genre but then I came across Scorsese and decided I would like to find out a bit more about him. Yes he is a great director and I have seen 'Goodfellas' so I can greatly agree with the critics but in no way possible does the theme of Roman Catholic and gang conflict link with our organ trafficking opening. The only theme that can be loosely linked is if you consider the doctor kidnapping the young girl on her way to club as a modern crime.

Analysis On Film Genre Director #3 Wesley Earl Craven

Name: Wesley Earl Craven

Born: August 2nd 1939

Wesley Earl Craven is an American film director, writer, producer and actor. Craven is known for his work on horror films and very much so slasher films. He is the creator of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', 'Wes Craven's New Nightmare'. and also co-wrote 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors with Bruce Wagner as it included his character Freddy Kruger. Other famous movies that he is known for are listed below:

- Scream (Series)

- The Hills Have Eyes

- The Last House on the Left

- The Serpent and the Rainbow

- The People Under the Stairs 

- Vampire in Brooklyn

- Cursed

- Red Eye

- My soul to take
Crave's work tends to border line the nature of reality, for example 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' showed sequences of dreams in real life. Where as 'New Nightmare' does not show any signs of this at all.

Craven on set 

Analysis On Film Genre Director #2 William Tobe Hooper

Name: William Tobe Hooper

Born: January 25th 1943

Tobe Hooper is an American film director, screen writer and producer. He is best known for his work in the horror genre; one of the most famous films directed by Hooper is 'The Texas Chain Massacre'. This movie then went on to be voted no.1 by many critics and the general public. It was also ranked No.1 by the guardian with a comment along side saying "One of the most influential films ever made!"

Below is the chart that was displayed on the Guardians website:

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Hooper on set of 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

Reflection

As I have seen this movie I believe it is a truly horrifying movie knowing the fact it is based on a true story (so I have been told). This movie exhibits a lot of gore considering 'Leather face' is cutting off the skin of his victims and eating them. This more links to our film opening as we decided to incorporate a physco doctor cutting up a young girl and removing her organs (similar themes are portrayed throughout both).    

Analysis On Film Genre Director #1 : Eli Roth

Name: Eli Roth

Born: April 18th 1972

Eli Roth is an American film director, producer, writer and actor. He is widely known for directing the horror film 'Hostel' and its sequel: 'Hostel II'. He also starred in Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' as Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz. 

Eli first began shooting films when he was inspired after watching Ridley Scott's 'Alien'. This then led to Roth creating over 100 short films with his siblings before attending film school at New York University. 

The Photo's below are snap shots of a few scenes in the 'Hostel' 

This photo shows Roth portraying the directors role; guiding actors. (Graphic Image)

Reflection
I personally enjoy the thrill behind gory horror movies and I believe that Roth is an amazing director hence creating the 'Hostel'.
Considering our film that was created during class time was gory, I believe we were all inspired by the way Roth portrays this throughout some of his films.

Main Task: Logistics

Logistics

The dictionary defines logistics to be the management of the flow of goods between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet requirements. The resources managed in logistics can include physical item such as food, materials, animals, equipment, and liquids as well as time and information.

In our case it would be wardrobe, props, make up and equipment. In the table below you can see how it has been separated and how different things have been assigned to different people, this enabled everyone to feel involved but also let everyone help in their own way.

Logistics

The table that has been shown below is a list of what is needed to complete a successful day of filming. There will also be blank spaces in case of added information and extra items.

No.	Wardrobe	Managed By:
1	Scrubs	Naomi
2	Evening dress	Naomi
3	Heels/Pumps	Naomi
4
5
6
7

No.	Make Up Set	Managed By:
1	Foundation (Ivory)	Desiree
2	Blush
3	Lipstick
4	Lip Gloss
5	Lip Liner
6	Eye Liner
7	Mascara
8	Concealer
9	Eye Shadow
10	Vicks

No.	Props	Managed By:
1	Raw Kidney|Meat	Everyone
2	Fake Blood	Desiree
3	Honey	Desiree
4	Food Dye	Desiree
5	Table	Lauren
6	Medical Equipment	Everyone
7	Tweezers
8	Scissors
9	Stethoscope
10	Probes
11	Measurement Devices
12	Suction tips and tubes
13	Rope/Straps	Lauren and Sophie
14	Scalpel	Desiree
15	Knives	Everyone
16	Water	Everyone

Equipment

The table shown below lists the equipment required to film the opening sequence.

No.	Equipment	Managed By
1	Camera	Naomi
2	Tripod	Naomi
3	Steady Cam	Lauren
4	LED Video Light	Lauren
5	Gorilla Pod	Lauren
6	Memory Card	Naomi
7	Different Lenses	Naomi
8	Battery	Naomi

 Reflection

I think logistics is a very important part of the pre-production as it basically lays out a structure for the group to follow, because I personally believe that without the logistics we would not be very organised and being so it would delay the filming of our opening.