Here are some screenshots of the editing process, I am using Final Cut Pro X.
Wednesday, 29 October 2014
Rough Edit
So I've been doing a rough edit of our film. I've actually decided to make it into a whole film and then take the best bits and put them into the trailer as it is easier to sort it that way.
Here are some screenshots of the editing process, I am using Final Cut Pro X.
Here are some screenshots of the editing process, I am using Final Cut Pro X.
Friday, 17 October 2014
Script /dialogue
Readers,
For our trailer we needed to decide on a script/dialogue for the scenes to make the footage look as real and believable as possible. Beth and I have decided to script the drive in scene (coming into the school for the first time) and then have the interviews (with the girls) improvised while we asked them about their own experiences. We found this worked really well as they expressed themselves better.
The hardest part of the dialogue was to not sound too rehearsed and actually sounding shocked. (I am no actress so this was very hard for me...)
Hope this explains what we have done or are doing.
Phoebe
For our trailer we needed to decide on a script/dialogue for the scenes to make the footage look as real and believable as possible. Beth and I have decided to script the drive in scene (coming into the school for the first time) and then have the interviews (with the girls) improvised while we asked them about their own experiences. We found this worked really well as they expressed themselves better.
For the other dialogue that was between myself and Beth we decided that we wanted it to be improvised but the convocation had to have a point of moving forward the story onto the next scene. Example of this is when we both go into the bathroom to discover that the taps are on full force with no one around. Beth- "We heard a loud bang from upstairs" Me (Phoebe)- "What the hell, these weren't on before." Beth- "They definitely weren't". This leads us to go and investigate the noises coming from upstairs.
The hardest part of the dialogue was to not sound too rehearsed and actually sounding shocked. (I am no actress so this was very hard for me...)
Hope this explains what we have done or are doing.
Phoebe
Tuesday, 14 October 2014
Making the logo for our company
I have been making our logo for our company; Psychotic Pictures using Photoshop.
I started off with a simple film strip because I wanted the logo to be relevant to the film industry without being obvious.
I then put the film strip into the P of the logo but the lines on the film strip were too short and made it look like a double white line on a road!
So I made the film strip again and made the white blocks bigger again and then filled out the P. I firstly filled the whole P but decided that the bend of the letter looked weird filled out.
Instead I filled the bend with black and added white to the logo so didn't blend it.
Lastly I tested out if the P looked best in white or black and after a few trails I decided that black looked more effective and to have the second part of the logo in white.
Beth
Saturday, 4 October 2014
Update on filming for our trailer
Readers,
On 28th and 29th September Beth and I started filming our horror trailer. We first started by filming on Sunday (28th Sept) evening. We decided as the night was dark we should star with the evening/night scenes with our actress Keira as the dark entity.
In the first scene we decided to do the bedroom scene where Beth and I are asleep and the bathroom door opens on its own. The next shot is of a dark figure standing at the end of the bed. The door slams and we both wake. We had difficulties with this scene as the camcorder wouldn't film in such low light. To counter this we had to face a lamp the in another direction so shed enough light on the set so that the filming would be successful.
After a few false starts and being interrupted we finally filmed the whole scene from two different directions. One of which was filming with the camera pointed at our bed and the other was filming the bathroom door.
The second scene we did was the bathroom scene where Beth and I walk in using dialogue and find that the taps are on full stream but there is no one there. This scene was quite easy to film as we only had to use our improvised speech wondering why, how and who had done this.
After we did these two scenes we walked all the way up to the top of the school tower to film the "north tower scene". This scene consisted of seeing the dark entity in the mirror and also walking to the tower store rooms. All three of us found this scene quite hard to film as we all started to jump at shadows. We filmed the tower rooms by just walking and film around them without anything happening to us in the scene. The last scene we did of the night was walking down the stairs but then something happens to Beth and I and we drop the camera to only have it picked up and turned off by a back hand. This scene was the hardest as we didn't want to damage the camera but still wanted the effect to look like it was being dropped. We had to film this scene several times before we were happy with the final out come.
The whole nights footage was a success and we are happy with the quality of acting and cinematography.
The next morning we decided to film four scenes that revolved around the main house and also outside in the grounds. The first scene we wanted to film was Lady Holfords room which we look around but then get trapped in the cupboard by something.... We filmed this a couple of times so that the dialogue sounded realistic for the viewer.
Beth and I decided that as we were in this room we would quickly do the outside filming that showed something dark move towards the window and then move away again. We had to do this several times as we had to have a phone on speaker so that Keira (dark entity) could hear her prompt to get into position and when to move again.
The next scene was of the mirror on the balcony which we could see the reflection of something dark standing by the entrance to Lady Holford's room. This scene took a couple of tries as we kept on being interrupted by people moving around the school or walking straight into our shoot.
We moved downstairs and into the Library where we decided that we wanted Keira to be more in the shot so that it shows her ever there presence. We decided to film ourselves by putting down the camera on a table while looking at something. This gave Keira time to walk very close to the camera without either of us noticing. We had to test which direction Keira was going to walk from as her looking like an "alive human" would ruin the plot of the story.
Over all, the two days footage was well filmed and now needs to be edited for meaning. We are planning on filing more this week with our other actress who takes the role of our guide for the school.
Phoebe
On 28th and 29th September Beth and I started filming our horror trailer. We first started by filming on Sunday (28th Sept) evening. We decided as the night was dark we should star with the evening/night scenes with our actress Keira as the dark entity.
In the first scene we decided to do the bedroom scene where Beth and I are asleep and the bathroom door opens on its own. The next shot is of a dark figure standing at the end of the bed. The door slams and we both wake. We had difficulties with this scene as the camcorder wouldn't film in such low light. To counter this we had to face a lamp the in another direction so shed enough light on the set so that the filming would be successful.
After a few false starts and being interrupted we finally filmed the whole scene from two different directions. One of which was filming with the camera pointed at our bed and the other was filming the bathroom door.
The second scene we did was the bathroom scene where Beth and I walk in using dialogue and find that the taps are on full stream but there is no one there. This scene was quite easy to film as we only had to use our improvised speech wondering why, how and who had done this.
After we did these two scenes we walked all the way up to the top of the school tower to film the "north tower scene". This scene consisted of seeing the dark entity in the mirror and also walking to the tower store rooms. All three of us found this scene quite hard to film as we all started to jump at shadows. We filmed the tower rooms by just walking and film around them without anything happening to us in the scene. The last scene we did of the night was walking down the stairs but then something happens to Beth and I and we drop the camera to only have it picked up and turned off by a back hand. This scene was the hardest as we didn't want to damage the camera but still wanted the effect to look like it was being dropped. We had to film this scene several times before we were happy with the final out come.
The whole nights footage was a success and we are happy with the quality of acting and cinematography.
The next morning we decided to film four scenes that revolved around the main house and also outside in the grounds. The first scene we wanted to film was Lady Holfords room which we look around but then get trapped in the cupboard by something.... We filmed this a couple of times so that the dialogue sounded realistic for the viewer.
The next scene was of the mirror on the balcony which we could see the reflection of something dark standing by the entrance to Lady Holford's room. This scene took a couple of tries as we kept on being interrupted by people moving around the school or walking straight into our shoot.
We moved downstairs and into the Library where we decided that we wanted Keira to be more in the shot so that it shows her ever there presence. We decided to film ourselves by putting down the camera on a table while looking at something. This gave Keira time to walk very close to the camera without either of us noticing. We had to test which direction Keira was going to walk from as her looking like an "alive human" would ruin the plot of the story.
Over all, the two days footage was well filmed and now needs to be edited for meaning. We are planning on filing more this week with our other actress who takes the role of our guide for the school.
Phoebe
Friday, 3 October 2014
The beginning of filming
Readers,
Phoebe and I began to film our coursework today. As you know, we are making a horror film trailer and so we have done the previous research on trailers, we planned out our trailer scene by scene and began to film the footage. We are actually making it into a short film then cutting out the best bits, that way we have enough footage to edit.
We started off with a few night shots around the school, we want to make the trailer look like its been filmed by amateurs so we have the "handheld" effect. However, we do want use a tripod so not all the footage is shaky. Some of the night shots ended up too dark and so we had to put a light behind the camera. We had to be careful not to make the room too light and take away the element of vulnerability in the darkness. We had to be really careful not too speed up our dialogue and give our actor time to move from one place to the next.
We decided that a really good shot was one where we filmed the door slowly opening but no one was behind it. The shot worked really well because the room was dark but a dim light was focused on the door so when it opened, the whole door disappeared into darkness which was incredibly effective.
We then started day shots but found out that when we filmed the outside of the building and tried to show a figure in the window, it didn't work as well as we planned. We had to co-ordinate so that the figure moved backwards slowly and zoom in on the camera and capture her face but not too obviously so that it ruins the effect.
We also had a lot of difficulty when we filmed the last scene where the camera drops on the floor and a hand picks it up. We couldn't just drop the camera on the floor because it would break but when we dropped it on clothes it would snap shut and turn off, resulting in the footage being cut off. After lots of tries of dropping it at different heights and onto clothes, we ended up filming it falling then cutting and filming it hitting the ground separately, so we didn't break the camera.
We still have a few scenes to shot before we are finished, then we will edit it in Final Cut Pro X before editing the footage again and cutting the best bits and putting them together for the trailer along with music, titling and credits.
Here are some stills of the shots we are using:
Beth
Phoebe and I began to film our coursework today. As you know, we are making a horror film trailer and so we have done the previous research on trailers, we planned out our trailer scene by scene and began to film the footage. We are actually making it into a short film then cutting out the best bits, that way we have enough footage to edit.
We started off with a few night shots around the school, we want to make the trailer look like its been filmed by amateurs so we have the "handheld" effect. However, we do want use a tripod so not all the footage is shaky. Some of the night shots ended up too dark and so we had to put a light behind the camera. We had to be careful not to make the room too light and take away the element of vulnerability in the darkness. We had to be really careful not too speed up our dialogue and give our actor time to move from one place to the next.
We decided that a really good shot was one where we filmed the door slowly opening but no one was behind it. The shot worked really well because the room was dark but a dim light was focused on the door so when it opened, the whole door disappeared into darkness which was incredibly effective.
We then started day shots but found out that when we filmed the outside of the building and tried to show a figure in the window, it didn't work as well as we planned. We had to co-ordinate so that the figure moved backwards slowly and zoom in on the camera and capture her face but not too obviously so that it ruins the effect.
We also had a lot of difficulty when we filmed the last scene where the camera drops on the floor and a hand picks it up. We couldn't just drop the camera on the floor because it would break but when we dropped it on clothes it would snap shut and turn off, resulting in the footage being cut off. After lots of tries of dropping it at different heights and onto clothes, we ended up filming it falling then cutting and filming it hitting the ground separately, so we didn't break the camera.
We still have a few scenes to shot before we are finished, then we will edit it in Final Cut Pro X before editing the footage again and cutting the best bits and putting them together for the trailer along with music, titling and credits.
Here are some stills of the shots we are using:
In the Great Hall
The Library
Mirror shot, Phoebe represents the figure that will appear at the glass
These shots are very similar but another mirror shot. Phoebe is at the back but just enough so that you can't see her face
Beth
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
Trailer story board
Readers,
Here is the story board of our trailer. I have drawn the screens and described them using shot names and description.
Enjoy!
PS sorry about the terrible drawing..... ;)
Phoebe
Here is the story board of our trailer. I have drawn the screens and described them using shot names and description.
Enjoy!
PS sorry about the terrible drawing..... ;)
Phoebe
Target audience
Our target audience has to tie in with our genre. Obviously we aren't going to target children with a horror genre so our main target audience is teenagers to adults.
We decided this by looking at the ratings on most horror movies and none were under a 12 just because of the premise of the film. We aimed our product at teenagers because they'd be able to relate to the girls at the school.
We also chose to film at a boarding school because we were very limited for our locations as we had no budget. The setting was perfect, as you can see from our location shots as it is a gothic stately home.
We found out that the usual age for someone to watch a horror movie is between 15 - 25, this is because horror movies give teenagers the rush they're looking for in their teen years.
Overall horror films are aimed at the working class community. This is because you can gain the level of thrill and excitement for a relatively cheap price. Paranormal Activity (2007) is a prime example of this. If the higher class watch horror films they are usually a sub genre in another film such as a romance genre.
We decided this by looking at the ratings on most horror movies and none were under a 12 just because of the premise of the film. We aimed our product at teenagers because they'd be able to relate to the girls at the school.
We also chose to film at a boarding school because we were very limited for our locations as we had no budget. The setting was perfect, as you can see from our location shots as it is a gothic stately home.
We found out that the usual age for someone to watch a horror movie is between 15 - 25, this is because horror movies give teenagers the rush they're looking for in their teen years.
Overall horror films are aimed at the working class community. This is because you can gain the level of thrill and excitement for a relatively cheap price. Paranormal Activity (2007) is a prime example of this. If the higher class watch horror films they are usually a sub genre in another film such as a romance genre.
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