THRILLER TITLE SEQUENCE FINAL EDIT

Animatic - evaluation skills development

'Never Alone' Review

After our premiere screening of 'Never Alone', I asked a number of people who had also watched the film what they had thought of it. This was essential for me to see whether the decisions our group made in terms of camera shots, sound and editing.

Miguel said: "It had a slow effective pace which gaves it tension where the audience was kept in confusion as to what was going on therefore there was a high climax making it fully attracting at the end"

Chino said: "I think that your sequence built up a lot of tension as more of the opening was revealed. The use of cross cutting of both your characters were also effective and i thought that the soundtrack contributed to the thrilling aspect.

Nicole said: "I thought 'Never Alone' was really good in creating tension especially through the cross-cutting. The soundtack worked well because it matched what was going onscreen. the match cuts were really sophisicated.

Tsharna said: "I thought 'Never Alone' was good and created suspense. I liked the music and thought it went well overall with what was going on as the editing really influenced this".

Tania said: " 'Never Alone' had many match cuts in it, where the music helped create tension and the unexpected happens when you least expect it to. The beginning shares normality with the two friends and I think the end cliffhanger was a very good idea".

i think these views helped me to see where i could improve on the sequence if there was any more time available to develop this further.

Evaluation: Progression from it to Full Product

Looking back on the preliminary tasks, I feel that I have improved in terms of capturing camera movement and editing the footage. According to the 'The Sign', our group had to deliver a sequence where we had to use a range of shots, angles and the overall appearance of the footage. Whilst filming, it was very hard to capture the shots in a short amount of time as we had to shoot scenes over mainly because of it being out of focus. Lighting was a bit of an issue as filming in the classroom, the lights were quite low causing for the production to look quite blurry at times. In terms of filming our sequence, we encountered major weather problems where the weather was constantly changing from sunny to raining. This meant that in the car scenes, the lighting would change from quite glaring to showing drizzle of rain on the windows. However, whilst watching the sequence in the premiere allowed us to see that the change of lighting and weather didn't make much of a difference. In a way, it showed that time had changed where in the next scene, it denotes Catherine calling Stephanie. This proved to be successful where it create suspense for the audience as they 'wait' for answers.
I feel that from shooting the 'Never Alone', we had learned more on time management in terms of getting the outside shots filmed in one day. This was very hard for us as we had to film scenes a couple of times. it also encouraged to shoot scenes relevant to the storyline and feature a range of shots and angles. When editing 'The Sign', we were unsure how to edit correctly as we were new users of the software. Whereas now, when editing for 'Never Alone', we were able to execute match cuts and close-ups more evidently.
For example, in Marathon Man, at the beginning of the sequence, a series of close-ups and tracking shots were used to display the lead character jogging which can be linked to the name of the film. It sets the audience to believe that someone may be running from something and the way that this is executed allows the audience to want to watch the whole film.

Rough Cut of 'Never Alone'

The rough cut video shows the planned footage which is going to be featured in the completed title sequence. However, the rough cut shows the alternative production than planned as we were not able to use the underground car park in my area. We have had to create an illusion where Estefanie can be seen going around the corner towards the car park through a series of 2 shots. This worked very well as the audience was able to familiarise themselves with the setting which allowed them to position themselves with the characters. As shown, there is no music or credits added which are yet to be developed. The idea is to make the sounds and titles correspond with the footage making it visually interesting for the audience to watch. The footage was shot over a course of 2 days with one day for the outside footage with the car and another day for the inside shoots. It was very hard to shoot the outside shoots in one day as it was only available during that day. I underestimated the amount of time and effort needed to make a 2 minute clip and by having a back-up plan allowed us to adapt to the change quickly.

Evaluation: Asleep (Student Thriller Sequence)

This sequence recieved moderate success on YouTube with 7,886 hits. As being an American production, this is shown with Mise-En-Scene with establishing shots placing the audience in America. The setting is involved with empty, long-winded roads, different environment from the British culture.

I think this sequence is very successful as being a thriller sequence, because it features slides with rhetorical questions leading the audience to want to watch more. The black background with white, bold capital letters allows the audience to focus fully on the words. The twinkling, non-diegetic music in the background gradually increases tension until that final 'bang' which suddenly changes the overall tone.
The use of handheld camera movement makes the audience feel they are part of the action. It also adds to the tension where something bad is bound to happen. I think the credits shown at the end of the sequence provides the illusion that it's going to be shown in cinemas possibly. Overall, I think that the sequence is very successful in grabbing the audience's attention by using the conventions of a thriller to do this. For example, the tProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0

sion builds with the non-diegetic music and the action where the lead character realises that there was no one around apart from him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwcg18UduKg

Evaluation: Media Institution and Attracting the Audience

In our title sequence, we decided to use Working Title 2 to distribute the film because the sequence consists of British-like imagery whcih portrays the British culture. The two main characters in the sequence both represent typical British girls consisting of make-up and high heels. From this, the audience is able to grasp the typical British culture and can try to guess the storyline to fit against this. The sequence is set in an urban environment where the audience is instantly able to see that this is set in Britain.
To gain a larger audience in terms of people viewing the title sequence, I would embed it onto Vimeo where users can view the video and post comments. If we had more time to complete the sequence, we could use these comments to improve. Once gaining moderate success, I would post it onto blogs such as Twitter and Tumblr where the video can be shared amongst others more quickly. Facebook is the most used social network where by posting the sequence can allow people to comment on it. Ideally, I would post the video to 250 friends and if they 'like' it, I would encourage them to post it to their 250 friends and so forth. This makes it easier for people to access it, where in a number of days, a large amount of people have already watched the film. It also makes it easier for the video to become successful, where they can ultimately transfer it onto YouTube gaining a screen viewing from people all around the world.
I would also exhibit the sequence in different film festivals such as the London Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival (in France), Tribeca (in New York) and Sundance (cinema festival in Utah). The new material grabs a great audience for the film because more people can watch it easily.

http://www.facebook.com/index.php?lh=763847c81793d1d2f4e20c70e87c9e5f&eu=ByAhWbRgYRpKwmZ_pGA53g

http://twitter.com/

http://www.tumblr.com/why-tumblr

ASLEEP (example of a thriller film sequence)

STORYBOARD

this animated storyboard was our original plan for our thriller title sequence.

This storyboard was our initial plan with only one character. We developed it by adding another character as we found that it was too short and pretty boring by watching someone walk to their car. It would have worked well if we were able to film inside an underground car park but it was restricted because of the privacy reasons with the plate numbers.

'Never Alone' Thriller Title Sequence

Evaluation: Representation of Media Product to Social Groups

This still is taken from 'Marathon Man' where the main character played by Dustin Hoffman is displayed running. This is used as an establishing shot where the audience is immediately introduced to an urban environment. In contrast, we had used Estefanie walking towards the car as an establishing shot to introduce the audience to the setting.

He is blurrly seen wearing a black tracktop and grey tracksuit bottoms which could represent that he is a keen runner. On the other hand, in our sequence, Estefanie is seen dressed in smart, yet casual clothing. It allows the audience to see what kind of type of character she is as the high heels suggest she may be at university or even working. Linking to the target audience, this allows them to easily reference themselves towards her in terms of the age group and the activities she likes to do. Her presentation could show that she comes from the middle-class as she has a smart-like presence. These two characters can be linked because they both represent the young-adult category where this type of audience can relate to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zp_ESOSRtM

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074860/

EVALUATION: Comparison between 'Never Alone' & Real Media Product

In the first still of the 'Touch of Evil' sequence, a time bomb is used as a key prop which could be a essential part of the plot. in our sequence, the car key was used to open the car which Estefanie had used. in both sequences, they are both seen in a close-up to draw the audience into the character and the prop. This leads her to be seen as a protagonist as she goes about her everyday life.

'Touch of Evil' is set in an urban environment depicting of suburban streets likewise to our sequence, Estefanie is walking from her house to the car showing the audience the type of environment that she lives in. This is used as establishing shots where the audience is immediately introduced to the setting of the film.

In our sequence, close-ups are used to draw the audience to a particular detail. For example, where Catherine is calling Estefanie to see where she is. This leads the audience to simplify with her and possibly work out where she might be. This encourages the audience to be drawn into the storyline. Another close-up which we used in our title sequence was when Estefanie was looking into the rear mirror where it could lead the audience to believe that someone may be behind her that she may not know about. Evidently, this creates suspense allowing the audience to 'want' to see more. It also establishes her mood where close-ups are great for displaying the overall tone of the film. Likewise, in 'Touch of Evil', the last still shows two people looking in the left direction where the lady looks apprehensive and scared as she clings onto the man. This creates suspense as the audience is eager to know why she is looking so scared.

http://www.artofthetitle.com/2009/11/02/single-take-titles-part-1-the-classics/

Whole Evaluation- Never Alone

Question 1

The 9 shots used in the film Touch Of Evil are revelant to our 9 shots in our film. The close up shots of partcular props such as shot 1 on row 1 of the above has an indication a bomb, clarifying something thrilling will happen later on. We used this type of stratedgy too, when we use a close up shot of the mobile phone, and the call doesn’t go through. Creating suspense.

The title of the film has been set up on top of the footage whereas in our film we decided to have the title on a black background as we thought this would be much more effective on creating suspense.

The shots above are used well, such as the establishing shot the 1^st one on the 2^nd row, we also used this shot to indicate the audience where setting was, allowing them to be less confused.

The clothing the characters are dressed in Touch of Evil show the business adults, however in our film, we decided the characters should dress in new modern fashion, and this would enable to attract a young audience. The props used in Touch of Evil also indicate the type of class the characters may come from, the brief case, car showing they most likely to be middle or upper class, especially since at that point in time. We have used a car as well however; we use props such as make-up, bags to indicate their youthfulness.



Question 2

Our group decided to base the characters on the main character in Marathon Man (1976) Thomas Levy “Babe”, Dustin Hoffman. As the image shows he is a passive character, to

which the audience feel sypathetic throught out the film.

We show this through the way the characters actions are, as they are any girls minding their own business, when something bad happens. The shots we used to allow the audience to be sympathetic towards the characters is by using Close-up shots as they would give a view of the emotions the characters have. We also used an ariel shot to shot the originality of these characters.


Question 3 + 4

This video, which I found on you tube a popular video-networking site, has been seen by a lot of viewers. As I watched the film I found it was very thrilling and the way it had been composed was particularly well.
The non-diegetic sound as very helpful creating suspense and horror, the way the titles are laid out matches the type of thriller film, what was also very effective. The video doesn’t include too much footage yet it has a similar effect to the student films I have watched. Less is more. I wasn't unable to upload the video as blogger was not allowing to do so the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh8CmtGDfuI

As our film has a low budget, the better and most effective way to enable our footage to be aware and popular is to post the video on as much social networking sites as possible, such as

These social networking sites will enable us to have as much as publicity without having the need to pay only by a subscription that will take no longer than 20 min for each. We will also be able to see if people like the video, some people may contribute to comments helping us to have an overview of what people think of our film. Many low budget productions companies also look on the net for inspiration on what to base their up-coming film, they may have a look at our film, and if we’re lucky they may contact us.

We could also ask the cinema Rio situated in Dalston Kingsland - http://www.riocinema.ndirect.co.uk/general/information.htm the contact is situated below for the Private Hire. - The cinema is an independent cinema in London if we could have a special screening. where they could charge people coming to the viewing. If we were granted the opportunity in doing this, we could advertise the screening by putting posters in our college, family members could give leaflets, add an event on Facebook , Twitter etc. Awareing friends of this occasion asking them for the support.

Another way into which our film could get recognized is by attending film festivals in the UK and USA.

Such as:

This would be a great way to exhibit the film.

Question 5


The type of audience I think our film would attract is:

Jennifer, 18 years old studying, is currently studying. Understands the plots of stories in many films, Her hobbies would be going to the cinema with friends. Likes the adrenalin of being thrilled, is into fashion. Her ideal saturday would be to go shopping in the morning -Topshop-, then she'll meet with friends to go cinema, go home and out to party during the evening.

As our film is more of a modern film. It is based in London therefore much of the Londoners watching the film would recognize the streets we have based our film on. The misc en scene also shows the type of audience we want to attract the “Paul’s Boutique” and clothing the characters show how fashionable the movie is. However, on the last scene of the title sequence, as the character is walking down the stairs, an arm reaches out to grab her. The clothing used shows a masculine figure, the leather to show aggression, and the colour of being black indicates danger.


Question 6

Question 7

Looking back at my preliminary tasks, i can see we have improved dramaitically; especially the editing.

When setting our storyboard we limited our barriers, as to where we we should set the location and what camera shots we should use. the camera shots we used in the match cut, were establishing, close up and ariel shots that worked well with the footage.

While filming we didn't take as much notice on focusing the footage. When looking back at the filming of the match-cut we realised some of the footage was blurry that really messed the footage. We only used an a classroom for the set making the footage dull. looking back we could have used ariel shots of the building etc. Making the footage much more interesting.

When filming Never Alone, we took in mind the problems we had encountered when filming, making sure we pressed 'User 1' to assure the footage was as clear as crystal. We wanted to make the audience aware of where the location was by using establishing; estates in London.

The editing of our match-cut excercise, was good, but some scenes didn't look as if the footage was continued on. We worked well when editing the film, we divided the group into 3, so each person had a big role in editing. we changed every lesson assuring the aims were done, compared to our preliminary excercise we used titles and sound matching the theme of the film.



Question 8

This word cloud is some of the things said by other members who watched our piece.

Our group wanted to have as much feedback as possible. We recorded some feedback asking what was good about the film, what was bad and what could have been improved. These questions were essential as they enabled us to have a view on what people thought on our piece.

From the feedback from the audience, I can see our film was a success as the comments are positive, however the constructive critism given we would work on this, so our film is compleately good.

Overall, i think the work we have done is great, we worked efficiantly in a froup helping each other whenever the was a problem. As we came up with the setting and plot of the film on our own. we also tried to use less help from teachers as we wanted to prove we could do very well on our own. As we looked at other work from other students we could see they came up with originality in their work like our group did.

Evaluation

EVALUATION.

final blog.

Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

http://www.artofthetitle.com

In the first still shot of Touch of Evil, they used close up image of a key prop. Similarly, we had a close up shot of our key prop which was when Estephanie put the car key into the car lock.

Another close up shot we used was inside the house when I was getting ready, for example when I reach for my phone when replying to a text message. With the use of a text message, it helps to get across the story without the use of dialogue. Furthermore, it is more easier and quicker as it takes only one shot to know what is going on.

Another shot we used in a similar way was the establishing tracking shot when Estephanie was walking along the road, but with Touch of Evil, they had two characters in the scene. This establishing and tracking shot, it helped to set the scene so the audience have a feel of what the scene is like. I have noticed that most thriller movies open with the setting the scene, and most scenes are set in the city or in a suburban house. This is how we opened our title sequence.
The title, Touch of Evil is shown over the shots instead of separating the titles from the film itself. For our movie, we put the titles (such as Directed by and Edited by) over the film. But we used a black background with white font for our title just as the title sequence had finished.

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Dustin Hoffman, the star of the

thriller movie, Marathon Man is similar to the victim in our title sequence because the c

haracter of Hoffman is one of the main characters and the first character we see in the movie. In the same way, we filmed our main character first who ends up as the victim.

They are both represented as independent characters. We can see this through the mise-en-scene such as the character of Catherine putting waking up to an alarm instead of someone else waking her up, and also through the way she dresses with a nice dress and heels. The character of Hoffman seems independent as he is jogging around the park by himself. The only difference we see is that Catherine is planning to meet her friend whereas Hoffman does his own thing by himself.

The characters from the movie Marathon Man has inspired us all as they are all independent. There is an antagonist and a protagonist in every movie. In our title sequence, we do not actually see the protagonist, only the hand with the black glove as we didn't

want to give everything away just from the title sequence.

Marathon Man opening scene

Question 3 & 4: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why? How will you attract/address your audience?

I have an online marketing strategy and this is a step by step account of how I am going to construct that strategy.

Firstly, I will upload my video up onto facebook which will be seen by my friends online. There is automatically a comment box underneath for anyone of my online friends to write down their comments about it and there is also a 'like' button which is clicked by whoever likes it. After collecting their comments and views on my video, I will then make necessary changes and then upload it up on youtube which is then seen by a wider audience instead of just my online friends viewing it. For my video to be viewed by a large number of people, I will advertise it onto my personal blog on tumblr which allows my blog followers to view it. The advantage of posting it up onto my personal tumblr page (catherinevalentina.tumblr.com) are able to re-blog so their followers can see it, and their follower's follwers can see it etc. I can also make a facebook fan page (Shawn of the Dead) for updates about the film and the behind the scenes part on it.

For a more advanced way to advertise 'Never Alone', I will make a poster and advertise it in college on the public student billboard. And I can also design flyers which has the details of the facebook fan page, email address, youtube link and a personal tumblr blogging page. This will hopefully attract our main target audience who are typical teenagers, mainly focusing on the females because it will be advertised at college where students from the age of 16 - 19.

And hopefully, once the word has got around, there would be a link up at the screen on the green cinemas to view the rest of the movie once it is done. And if it is successful with great feedback, I would then publish it in cinemas such as the Vue or Cineworld. And maybe after 2 weeks in the cinema, I will then ask Film 4 to sponsor our movie by showing it on TV for everyone to watch in their own home and in their own time.

Question 5: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Meet Chelsea. 19 year old college or university student who loves to go out and have fun on a friday night. She's been living in London her whole life until she moved off to university in Sussex. She would be the typical teenager who I would personally target for my target audience for 'Never Alone'. The reason for this is because she likes to go out and have fun, which is very similar to the character who we see waking up in the morning and getting ready to meet her friend on an ordinary friday.

Chelsea loves to dress up to make herself look older to grab the attention of teen boys her age. She cares about how she dresses and also how she looks. She is also into fashion magazines such as 'Vogue' for updates and tips for fashion and make up. This magazine is what you'd find in her bag. You'd also find an iPod, make up bag, her blackberry phone, purse, keys, a packet of ready salted crisps and cigarettes and a bottle of water. She is not likely to shop at Primark but she is likely to shop at Topshop and New Look.

People such as Chelsea is targeted because their sense of personality is very similar to the personalities of the characters in our film.

Question 6: What have you learned about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

>voice over on a separate post. "Question 6"<

The internet in general was essential for our course. ‘Google.com’ was one of the main search engines we used to collect still images from. We also used websites such as

à Youtube.com

à Art of the tiles.com

These websites was used for researching the main aspects of a thriller movie which helped us with our own title sequence. We compared our ideas with popular movies on art of the titles.com which helped us in a way that we could make sure we had everything needed in our title sequence. These websites was used for our research planning part.

We were then introduced to a blogging site which is called ‘blogger.com’. Some already knew about this site and how blogging works, but to us three, we didn’t know much about it. We learnt that a blog was similar to an online diary entry. You could post pictures, videos, links, documents, and written work such as what we had learnt that day or what we had created. We also discovered how to change the layout of our blog to make it look creative.

A Video Camera was essential for this course as our final outcome is a short 2minute thriller title sequence. We learnt about the camera itself and it’s health and safety rules and regulations. With only a short amount of time using the cameras, we made sure we had to plan out a ‘storyboard’ first before actually filming. When filming, we used additional equipment such as the tripod to hold the camera steady in place rather than having a hand-held camera all the time. The tripod allowed us to hold the camera steady in place from different angles and heights such as an aerial shot.

Once we had recorded all what we needed. We used a program called Final Cut Pro. This program was used for editing our title sequence (cropping a recorded clip and matching it up with another recorded clip). We also learnt how to use effects on between two recoded clips such as a fade or dissolve which made the sequence play smoothly.

Once the sound and the tiles were sorted, everything was transferred onto Final Cut Pro. For the final time. These types of technologies is what we used to reach our goal in making a quick 2minute thriller opening sequence.

Question 7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learned in the progression from it to the full product?

When we started filming the preliminary film of the 'bag swap' we didn't really know how to accomplish a successful match cut. But with further practice with the 'match cut' preliminary film, we learnt how to tackle that problem. This became very easy for us to film our short title sequence.

Another difference I found with the preliminary film with our final film was that we were able to use a range of shots such as long shots and close up shots. With the preliminary, we were afraid to use an extreme close up as we had a time limit of only an hour to film it, whereas with our final film, we had a couple of weeks to plan, film and edit.

I have also learnt more about making a good soundtrack and mixing sound elements together to make one track and also with I also noticed that our team work improved as we were able to sit down and talk about the plan over a weekend to make sure our storyboard was spot on.

Question 8: Audience feedback and comment

Our group created a 'word cloud' of our class's feedback. This was before viewing it in the cinema with the rest of the media department.

After the screening in Angel's Screen on the Green, on Thursday 22nd April 2010, I filmed people's initial feedback on my short title sequence.

1. Kim and Chino

2. Erry and Irene

3. Christel and Erry

4. Tamara

5. Jorge

6. Jasmine

7. Nicole

Personal Note.

Overall, I personally think myself, Whitey and Estefanie done well in planning, filming and editing. If anything, if we had a bit more time, I would change the music to make it more appropriate to fit in with the title sequence and also develop the plan a bit more to make it less 'cheesy'. Also, we had the disadvantage of having 3 members in our group but that didn't stop us from filming a 2minute title sequence with a soundtrack added and titles added. The only thing I found hard with this course was that I lived quite far from the other 2 members so we found it hard to find a suitable location. We initially planned to film it in an underground car park but it was restricted due to privacy reasons with the number plates. So instead, we used the park car on the main road, this is the reason why we decided to add on an extra character as the filming of the character getting in the car was too short and boring.

Other than the travel, the restriction of the car park and the confusing british weather, I thought it went very well.

Evaluation: MONTAGE!!

Chanel is your typical 17 year old girl who loves shoppieng especially designers. She ifnds any opportunity to have a night out through clubbing or house parties.She regularly shops in high-street brands such as TopShop and Miss Selfridge. However, she does have a mature side to her where she is currently in college studying A-Levels in English, Media and Sociology. She spends most of her time at home on the Internet, studying or watching American sitcoms.
She likes going to the cinema to watch romantic comedies, horror and thriller movies because she likes to understand the plot. Like any other teenage girl, she enjoys putting on make-up to make herself feel good and this clarifies her class as the products she goes for are pricey.
Our thriller sequence for 'Never Alone' would suit to her as she can relate to the lead characters of the sequence making it easily for her to attract herself to the plot. Suspense and tension can be built easily towards her because she is already interested with the storyline, she would want to know what is happening next.

Evaluation: Thriller Title Sequence- Word Cloud

I had a private screening between me and my colleagues where they were able to evaluate and judge my title sequence. This gave me a chnace to be able to hear opinions from other people who werent invoved in the production process. Some of the questions that were asked: 'Describe in 5 words that links you to the film?' and 'What do you think could have been improved in the sequence?'

Words that stood out to me was: Suspenseful, Spooky, Dangerous and Tense. This is because I feel that these components (which are used effectively) can make a successful thriller film which aims to shock and stun the audience. This word cloud sums up the key factors of the title sequence and allows me to see how the audience had understood the plot.

Thriller Title Sequence Feedback

Prelim Task: Bag Swap

The aim of this task was to portray a bag swap swiftly using a range of shots and angles to incorporate this and with the added knowledge of Final Cut Pro, Soundtrack Pro and LiveType to make a all-rounded extract.
At the beginning of the clip, the credits highlighting the productions of the film is displayed in purple writing across a black background. At this point, we can hear non-diegetic sound of piano keys playing. This sets in place the mood for the scene where it could suggest something sombre is going to happen. Two shots show the two characters bump into each other from two different angles. The audience can reinforce the sudden change in mood of the scene where they are seen to have swapped bags as they bump into each other. A mid close up shot of the characters' feet are shown moving into a long shot as they walk into the distance unaware of the bag change. The sequence ends with a black background where the background music can still be heard.
All in all, the clip used a range of shots to portray a simple sequence of a bag swap. I think that in terms of the filming, we should have filmed the scenes a couple of times so that when it came to editing, no changes in lighting would have been seen. As in the middle of the clip, during the bag swap, the lighting changes to a lighter tone which could suggest that time has passed at a rapid rate. In circumstances of this, the weather had lit up as the sun appeared as before it was slightly cloudy. Also, the credits should have been more visible so the audience are able to see it clearly.

Skill Audit: Live Type & Sound

Live type is a programme on which we can type texts added in films, used mostly credits and titles.

We can use effects to create more suspense by changing colour and font.

We save the document, then importing it on to Final Cut Pro then rendering it.

Sound Type is also a programme where you can compose music. There are different type of sounds, the sound is also what a makes films create different emotions, in this case more Thrilling.

* Instruments * Technology

* SFX * House hold

* Human Sounds * Enviroment

PITCH for our title sequence

'NEVER ALONE' Location Shots

The shots show the image of one of the co-stars who feature in “Never Alone”. These images show the area surrounding the underground car park. The idea was a woman becoming vulnerable in a dark, underground environment as she and the audience, are unable to find out the person who is lurking in the background. The underground car park was originally used in our storyboard but this became unavailable due to our time to film the sequence. Showing an urban setting, this could leave the audience to suggest the type of plots which could be associated with the woman featured in the images.The first image denotes a close-up of a woman walking down stairs looking straight ahead. She is wearing smart yet casual clothing consisting of a grey blazer jacket, navy floral top, navy jeans and black heels accompanied with a black bag. This suggests the status if the woman as it deprives a common stereotype of women being able to spend time on their appearance. The second and third image denotes close-ups of the woman’s feet establishing the movement towards the car park. This acts as establishing shots as it leaves the audience settled to the environment and displays the overall mood of the scene. The last image denotes the woman walking down the stairs which could connote her vulnerability towards her surroundings. This would have been portrayed in the car park where both images would have been linked leading for tension to occur as the audience would wonder about the cause of her innocence and how this would be portrayed.

Planning Preliminary Match Cut exercise with Storyboard

THE SIGN

This exercise was used to successfully create match cuts which were delusional to the human eye to make a simple situation become more suspicious and suspenseful. In this clip, we chose to use the idea of a teacher and pupil conversation to show this. By using match cuts in a thriller, it allows the audience to follow every step of each character in terms of expressions, emotions as well as in some cases, hear their opinion on a particular topic. This, therefore enables the audience to connect with the plot and engage with the character.

The clip begins with a woman typing on the computer taken from a high angle shot to position the audience with the setting followed by a close-up of her nails to reinforce this. A cut is used to display a pupil outside the door knocking for permision to be let in. From this scenes, the audience is aware that the woman is a teacher where the audience is left waiting to see what happens.

A match cut is used here to show the pupil knocking on the door to the audience being placed inside the classroom with a close-up of the door handle turning. This match cut is used to portray the statuses of the two characters, where in thrillers, this could display as suspense. A panning shot is used to show the pupil giving some note to the teacher, where this can be seen in full detail with a close-up of the teacher recieving it. From this, we can see the apprehension of the pupil giving the note which could suggest to the audience that something bad is going to happen. There are a series of match-cuts to address the conversation where the audience is able to see the overall mood and the feelings they have. At the end of the clip, we can hear the diegetic sound of a door knock where the audience is left wanting to see the teacher's reaction. This creates suspense as the door knock is placed in the same time as the teacher waits to hear a response. This idea could be used in thrillers to create tension where it leads the viewer to think that something is going to happen and could change the mood of the scene.

In general, I think 'The Sign' captured the match-cut shots carefully to where the clip has a gradual flow in terms of the feelings of the characters. It creates suspense and tension easily and allows the audience to grasp onto the storyline.

Prelim Task: Bag Swap

Prelim Task: Match Cut (The Sign)

Rough Cut

Intro to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

In this tutorial, I was introduced to the JVC video camera and its equipment and was shown how to use and preserve the equipment safely. The battery had to be installed in the bottom half of the camera underneath the eyepiece and the memory cards had to be inserted into the slots marked A and B. For a short piece of footage, one memory card is needed. To turn on the camera, the dial on the right hand side near to the eyepiece needs to be pressed and facing 'On'. This allows the camera to load in shooting mode where the symbol of the memory card can be seen at the top of the screen. This enables the user to know where the data is going to be saved when viewing the footage on the computer. To be able to shoot footage with good picture quality, the camera needs to be functioned to auto-focus. This allows the subject to be easily captured and highlighting the location however, using auto-focus can create a blurred effect which could be used to make the characters feel paranoid in terms of a psychological thriller. 'User 1' is used to create this effect and in the viewing screen, it allows you to see whether the objects are in focus where the audience is supposed to focus on. This is shown in red outlines and by clicking off 'User 1', you can see your image in full colour.
Above the eyepiece, on the right hand side, the zoom function is placed in order for the user to zoom in and out. The viewing screen allows the user to view the footage that had been filmed as well as showing the footage as it is being filmed. To change from the shooting mode to the video library, the 'Media' library function can be pressed.
The tripod is an equipment which can be used to keep the camera in place where the footage needs to be kept steady. This can be used to shoot scenes where the subject is far away and can also be featured to create tracking and panning shots. This is used because the movement is made swiftly and clean to provide a smooth effect. However, when using this equipment, it's essential for users to make sure that the tripod is placed away from the public so that people can't trip over it.

When handling with the camera, the lens should never be touched and when not in use, the lens cover should used. While raining, an umbrella should be used to protect the camera as it can protect the quality of the image.

Match cut prelim estefanie

News and Current Affairs events

'TSUNAMI' kills two off France

Two passengers were killed as 30ft water crashed on board of the Louis Majesty cruise. Sailing from Barcelona to Genoa with 1,350 passengers and crew, the tsunami struck whilst they were in the Mediterranean Sea. This idea could have been used to create a thriller film because as in the winter, France is meant to be looking spectacular with the landscapes covered in snow. Tsunamis create panic and tension as they are abrupt and unknown to its environment and being featured in a thriller plot allows the audience to communicate with the character as their safety is in caution. Suspense and tension are built very quickly here and this is successful to the plot, because the audience are able to quickly grasp the plot.

Volcanic ash CHAOS

For the first time ever in Britain, flying abroad has been brought to a standstill whcih doesnt include maintenance difficulties or weather problems. The answer to this- VOLCANIC ASH! Small grey-like powder which injected by fumes can provide a deadly experience for passengers. The tourism industry has hit a downturn as we reach the summer months where profits are made. This can be used as a background story in a thriller because the idea of being 'grounded' in Britain provides suspense for victims trying to escape from villains. A common source of transport used to get out of a country is by plane so when this escape is is suddenly out of use, the audience is stuck to the storyline as panic uses them to react to the plot. It can also be used to maximise of the idea someone being physically trapped in their mind to a larger scale. This makes the audience want to offer help to the character in danger which effectively means they are 'glued' to the storyline.

Skills Audit: LiveType and Sound

LiveType is a program which allows people to create and manipulate text to insert into their film or to use as credits. The Inspector is the place where you type to change the text which is displayed in the middle section of the page. The Alignment function is used to manipulate the text on how it looks. For example, the Attributes section allows you to physically change the text like the font. Media Browser enables you to put efforts onto the text. For example, ‘Textures’ which changes the background of where the text is in. ‘Effects’ features the transition of each character individually which can be used to create tension if used in the actual film footage (not on the credits).

SoundTrack Pro is a program which uses the ability to create music for a piece of footage which can be linked together with the video footage from Final Cut Pro. This makes it easier to transport music onto the footage and make it quicker to do so. On the bottom right-hand side of the page, it allows you to select the instruments that you want. Once clicking on this, you can hear a repetitious melody which is played over. Like Final Cut Pro, in the middle section of the page, it features a timeline so that you can place your sounds onto. Above this, it shows the times so that you can see how long you would want your track to play on for in the background of the footage. You can also layer clips underneath each other so once played, you can hear the sound. This makes it easier to make an extract and insert this where relevant onto your footage in Final Cut.

Technical Audit: Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is a program which is designed to edit footage. To open Final Cut Pro, a video hard drive must be inserted so that you can save your footage, music or text onto. This makes it easier to locate when looking for files when merging clips together. To start editing, a blank canvas is used to display and place your work where you can easily make changes onto the footage. A timeline is used in Final Cut Pro to position your clips where you can rearrange them to piece together how you would want the film to look like. This is positioned on the bottom central half of the page where you can make transitions between the clips. Pressing Command + T allows you to put a transition to swiftly move the audience onto the next scene. On the left hand side of the screen, this displays all your work on the hard drive so when inserting pieces onto the timeline, this saves time and is very easy to use.

To play footage, you can simply press the space bar and press again to stop it. On the top right-hand side of the page, a large screen is shown as a viewer to present the footage that you have edited so far. If the footage is right for the clips, it can be dragged onto the timeline and from this, you can re-arrange the positions on the timeline suited to your desire. A red icon beneath this highlights the ability to overwrite clips and the yellow icon placed near this is the ability to move clips out of the timeline and put the desired clip into place.

When editing footage, watching the clip is necessary to see improvements to be made and also allows you take and place that certain footage onto the place you want on the timeline. By pressing ‘I’ for In to mark out the start of the clip and ‘O’ for Out to mark the end of it and drag the footage onto the timeline. Drag the yellow marker key to the beginning of the footage to view it and it’s the same process if you want to insert more clips. If you want to delete a clip, pressing the delete button will do this. Razor blading is used to delete snippets which is good because it allows you to easily insert other clips into its place.

Skills audit: filming and editing preliminary match cut exercise

During a 3hour lesson with Donna, my group managed to film and edit the match cut sequence. As one member of the group was away, we asked another person from the college to fill in as an actor. Whitney and David were the actors of the sequence while I filmed it. We made sure we got as many interesting shots as we could within the short amount of time, for example, over the shoulder shot, arial shot, close up shot, tracking shot, and also, we made sure we didn't break the 180 degree rule.

We spent the first half of the friday's lesson filming, and the second half editing. Overall, I think the filming and editing went well. The only negative thing I could say about the sequence was that we didn't check that the ND filter was on and this made our sequence seem dark. But other than that, we managed to film and edit smoothly without hardly any struggle.

>insert sequence<

Planning Preliminary Match Cut exercise

Our initial plan is a meeting with a teacher and a later student who needs to explain himself. Scott walks into the room where his teacher is waiting while typing up documents on the computer.

At first, we found it quite challenging because match cuts had to look perfect and play smoothly. But in the space of roughly 30minutes, we found that we had done quite well

Final Edit of Livetype and Sound Filming Practice

Skills Audit: Livetype and Sound

During another lesson of Media, we had another tutorial about how to use two programs called Soundtrack Pro and Live Type on the apple mac computers which is to help us when editing our films.

When learning to use Live Type, we learnt how to insert text but typing in the rop right hand corner box. Then with the text inserted in, you will then see it in the main window. And from here, we could choose a font desired which is found on the right hand side and the colour - these were the basics. Then once we got use to that, we then learnt how to add effects such as textured backgrounds (motionless or with motion), shadows and fades. And to play back, you have to drag the arrow to the beginning of the timeline and press the space bar. First tine viewing, the clip will seem slow, but the second time viewing, it plays at it's normal pace.

With soundtrack pro, we learnt how to browse for sounds, for example, you could either type in a keyword or click on a category you think your desired sound would be under. And by (double) clicking on a sound, you should be able to hear it. Then once you have found our desired sound, you drag and drop it onto the timeline. And from here, you could drag and drop another different sound onto the timeline and this enables you to play two or more sounds at the same time, both overlapping eachother. On the timeline, you could either shorten or lengthen the sounds, duplicate or delete sounds and replay the sounds.