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Researched Thriller
We researched the Thriller genre by watching films and their opening title sequences, and also using websites such as IMDB and Wikipedia to spot patterns and conventions. This helped us familiarise ourselves with the genre, and also help us know how to use mise-en-scene and character types in opening title sequences, so our opening title sequence is better. -
Formed Groups for Preliminary Exercise
We then formed groups to make our preliminary exercise video, which was to produce and edit a video of a character walking, opening a door, sitting down and exhchanging dialouge with another character. Before we did this we had to spend somet ime researching things like camera angles/cuts/techniques, delegating roles to our members in the team and also planning. -
Filmed and Edited our Preliminary Exercise
Once our planning was finished we began filming. We did this in the first hour of a lesson, and used the hallways and a classroom in our college. We stuck to filming conventions such as the 180 degree rule, match on action and shot reverse shot. -
Prelim Evaluation
We then evaluated our preliminary exercise, discussing how we replicated the conventions of the thriller genre, and also how we learnt new concepts such as how to use the cameras and editing software effectively. We talked about how well the video went overall, and also mentioned any mistake we made, identifying them so we woudn't make the same mistakes again. -
Opening Title Sequence - Initial Ideas
Next we had to start thinking about the actual coursework piece, the opening title sequence. Although ours remained the same (with the addition of one person), the groups were reshuffled and the process was restarted. Each person came up with some initial ideas of a film, and together we pooled ideas and picked the best ones. We thought of setting, character types, mise-en-scene, names, plots, etc. keeping in with the Thriller conventions. -
Filming Day - Planning
With our ideas selected, we began to plan filming. We completed a shotlist so we knew what we were filming more precisely and also rough storyboard so we knew which shots were vital in this shotlist. We also planned what costumes the characters would wear in order to represent the characters' personalities. This was important especially as we have no dialogue. We also completed a recce, taking photos of all our locations, to show we knew where we were filming and that it was planned/ -
Filming Day
We then began filming our opening title sequence. We filmed in several locations, mainly near the college in case we had any problems. The process went fairly smoothly as we knew what we were filming and didn't have to think of new ideas on the spot. There were however some problems with tape memory and battery, meaning we had to extend our filming over a few days. The end product was fine, as we remembered to keep checking the white balance, exposure and focus so the shots all looked the same. -
Filming Day Evaluation
The filming came out fine, and all the shots worked together. As we had to do various days, the weather was inevitably different but with a bit of colour correction in the edit, it isn't noticable. There were a few shots we had to get rid of due to continuity errors, but not enough to restrict us. -
Editing Suite
I then went into the edit suite for a few weeks. All using Adobe Premiere, I captured the films from the tapes onto the computer and began cutting them up and sticking them in place. We found fitting music, font for titles, fitting sound effects and also recorded foley sounds. These were all layered on top of the video and placed to seem within the film world. Many special effects were used such as synthetic camera flashes, text movement and fades to black or white. -
Final Piece Evaluation
Overall I think the piece was rather succesful. Any ambitious shots we were going to try, we soon realised would make the piece look tacky, so we got rid of them, leaving us with footage that all looks good, in my opinion. I think I edited it to the standard we wanted, and was particularly pleased with the sound side; being able to make the fairly simple sounds of music, camera flashes and whispers sound sinister and mysterious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOR7_K-Mgdw