Second Draft

After taking on board the feedback that I received for my rough draft, I tried my best to incorporate it into my second draft, in order to make an overall better product. I think that the main criticisms that I tried to take on board was the idea that the shots were all too long and it was not filmed from enough angles. Also, the opening credits were not in fitting with the theme. In order to try and rectify these problems I filmed a large chunk of it again, capturing more shot types and angles. I also completely reworked the opening titles. Then as it came to editing, as I had more footage to use, I had a lot more freedom to experiment with different editing techniques.

Below I have embedded my second draft:

Rough Cut Feedback

Questionnaire Feedback

When collecting feedback, like with my animatic, I created a questionnaire for people within the target audience to fill in, however, this time I made the questions a lot more open so that the people filling it in had to give more specific detailed and were not influenced by what suggestions were already on the sheet. Below I have embedded all of the filled in questionnaires using slide share.

  

Teacher Feedback

•holding a shot steady, where appropriate; POVs are jarred for effect and purpose. This area is affected by the limitted number of shot types. Basic/proficient

• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; Components of the mis en scene are framed well on the desk. Once again, this areas is limitted, for the the number of shot types is minimal Basic/proficient

• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate; Very limitted, A number of POV shots. Close ups are not used to develop reveal the emotions of the character and to reveal the atmosphere of the narrative. Basic/Incomplete

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; Narrative is appropriate. Proficient

• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; The setting is good and costume is used for effect and purpose. However, the lighting is below average (this is imparied by the graininess of the video) Basic/Proficient

• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer; Continuty editing is used. However, the creative use of editing is not done. The pace is slow. The audeince is waiting for something to happen. Basic

• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set; Some very good wipes used to blend the two settings. The camera freeze frame was nice. However, this not done enough. Thus, is it done for effect and purpose? Basic/proficient

• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; The use of the non diegetic sound is blended well. However, the use of natural sound or lack of sound is either minimal or non existant. Basic.

• using titles appropriately. Titles are not used appropraitely. Title sequences must include a number of ‘titles’ and the people envolved. This component has not been successfully understood. The end title of the film is very good. The other titles (only a couple), however are not creatively done and do not work together with the manin title (the continuity of these titles is off).

Summative Comment

This is a basic video that lacks the creative use of camera shots for effect and purpose, diegetic sound, effects and titles for effect and purpose. Pace must be developed. However, the elements of a thriller are apparent.

Organisation

Shooting Schedule

 

Date	Time	Action/Scene Number	Location
18/10/2011	6:30	Leave for Location	112 Shenfield Place
‘’	6:50	Arrive	‘’
‘’	6:55	Talk through scenes	‘’
‘’	7:00	Sort up costume/hair/make up	‘’
‘’	7:20	1	112-121 Shenfield Place
‘’	7:30	13	‘’
‘’	7:40	2	Hall Lane
‘’	7:45	4	Hall Lane
‘’	7:50	6	Alleyway
‘’	8:00	11	Hall Lane
‘’	8:10	15	112-121 Shenfield Place
‘’	8:30	16	112 Shenfield Place
‘’	8:50	Wrap Filming	‘’
‘’	8:55	Check Shots	‘’
‘’	9:10	Finish and Leave for home	‘’

 

Date	Time	Action/Scene Number	Location
19/10/2011	6:00	Collect Props and lay out for filming	Bedroom
‘’	6:20	3	‘’
‘’	6:30	5	‘’
‘’	6:35	7	‘’
‘’	6:40	9	‘’
‘’	6:50	12	‘’
‘’	6:55	14	‘’
‘’	7:00	Wrap filming. Take photos for continuity	‘’

 

Date	Time	Action/Scene Number	Location
25/10/2011	6:10	Leave for location	112 Shenfield Place
‘’	6:35	Arrive	‘’
‘’	6:40	Talk through scenes	‘’
‘’	6:45	Check hair/costume/make up for continuity	‘’
‘’	7:00	8	Hall Lane
‘’	7:10	10	Hall Lane
‘’	7:30	Wrap filming	112 Shenfield Place
‘’	7:35	Review Footage	‘’
‘’	7:45	Finish and leave for home	‘’

 

 

Layout/Location Powerpoint

Shot List

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Shooting Script

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Editing Processes

Below are some more detailed screenshots from the editing process on Final Cut Express.

Above is the standard screen that you see when editing in Final Cut Express. There were many advantages to editing in this programme. One of which is the ability to layer sound tracks over each other. This was an important part of my thriller as I needed to overlay the diegetic music over the non-diegetic music. Below is a screenshot of the sound tracks. Overall, there were three layers of tracks. The first featured the diegetic sound, mainly the protagonists dialogue. The second layer was also diegetic sound, but mostly foleys, particularly the camera clicking.

Along with overlaying the soundtracks, you can also overlay images and videos in the editing suite.

Above is a screenshot of the video timeline, which shows the different tracks and layers. I only used two layers in this thriller. This final effect is seen in the screenshot below. I decided to use this particular effect here because I think it speeds up the pace, building up the tension, as you know that the antagonist is approaching and that her time to escape is limited.

Another important effect that I used was the brightness adjuster in video filters.

This was really important, as where I filmed at the night, the quality of some of the clips was very low and they needed to be lightened, so I used the brightness slider (as seen below) to brighten the clips, and to highlight the protagonist in more detail, specifically in the close ups.

 

Rough Cut Thriller

Above I have embedded the rough cut of my thriller. When filming, I tried to listen to and take on the advice given to me during the storyboarding process, however obviously it is still far from perfect!

I tried to include as many thriller conventions as possible in my video, the main one’s being:

Use of Enigmas- the main enigmas in this video surround the antagonist and who it is. From the shots of the antagonists and lair and the shooting at the end, it is obvious that the antagonist is human. However, it raises the question of who and why he chose her, especially as he obviously knew who she was.

Extraordinary events happening in every day circumstances- The protagonist is walking home alone in the dark, something that a lot of people have to do on a regular basis. Especially around that age, and the age of the target audience, for example having to go home after a night out. I wanted to have this in the video as it could add an extra element of fear for the audience as they could relate to the protagonists situation.

Crime at the centre of the narrative- As this is only the opening to the thriller, the main crime, a shooting, happens at the end of the video just before the opening credits. I did it like this as then it would almost set up the rest of the film narrative, giving the audience an insight into what the film will be about.

A protagonist who is in a compromising position- The protagonist, the girl, is in a compromising position in many ways Firstly, she is walking alone in the dark, and is seemingly completely alone. This isolation, as seen also in An American Werewolf in London, shows the audience that even if something did happen, there would be no one around to see it or stop it. Making them the perfect target.

Mise-en-scene which mirrors the protagonists plight- the mise-en-scene mirrors the protagonists plight mainly through the use of lighting, and also the camera movements. The protagonist is in a lot of danger, and people often relate danger to the dark as stereotypically you can’t see what’s lurking there. Also the jerky camera movements represent how jumpy the girl is also feeling, as seen when she turns around several times, almost registering that somebody is following her.

 

Thriller Shooting Experience

I think that the shooting of the thriller went quite well in regards to organization and time purposes.  I normally visit my cousin’s house every Tuesday night anyway, so I arranged with my cousin to film then. As I was doing the camera work and she was the only actor involved it also made it a lot easier to arrange, as there were less people to organize.

When I got there, I run through the storyboard with my cousin so that she understood the plot and what we would be doing. It also meant that she could also input some ideas, which could improve the thriller. After running through the script we chose which clothes that she would wear for the shoot and then once that was done, we set off to film.

One major problem that I found while filming was getting the right lighting to film in as by the time we got to filming it was very dark outside and the streetlights did not offer as much light as I had originally hoped they would. In order to try and solve this problem I used my cars headlights as a temporary light to shoot some of the scenes, however this was obviously quite limited, firstly because I didn’t want to run the car battery down, and secondly because the car could not be positioned at different angles without blocking the road, which obviously was not a viable option. Fortunately in the end we just worked our way around, sticking to the areas directly below the streetlights.

Once we had finished shooting in the streets, we headed back to the house in order to film the shooting scene. The first technicality that we had with this scene was that we had forgotten the house keys, however this was a very minor problem and we just had to pop inside to get them. Shooting outside of the house proved to be quite useful as we had control of the outside lights, which meant that we could light the scene a lot better without having to use my car!

The scenes shot at the antagonists ‘lair’ were the easiest to film however they needed more preparation. Firstly I needed to wait till the moon was outside my window so I could film it for the graphic match that I wanted to put in. I also needed to make sure that the mise-en-scene was correct and I had all the props that I needed to film. Luckily collecting all the props went well and I was ready to film fairly quickly.  Filming in my room did make it easier in some ways, particularly with the lighting as I have a dimmer switch, which gave me more control over the atmosphere. However, at the same time shooting in my room had some negatives as I had to be very careful not to get other objects in shot, for example, my television is very near my desk and I had to reshoot several scenes as I had caught the edge of it in the shot. In order to correct the problem with the other objects, I mainly just had to persevere and take a lot more care when filming and with trial and error I finally managed to get the shots that I needed.

To conclude, the filming itself I think went quite well, and although there are things that I could improve on, I am happy with how it went. I also think that I have learnt from my mistakes that I made when I first sat my AS coursework with, as now for example, I understand the importance of issues such as continuity and how every little detail counts.