First Cut and Feedback

On the 13th December we had to produce a first final cut to show the class, we orgianlly had doubts about our opening being able to work properly when put together, however Dan and Beth spent their time after school editing the rest of the shots so that we had a final cut to show. Dan also found a non copy right sound track of a voice of a women reporter speaking about a number of murders which had gone on which he then edited into our production where we had the TV playing at the start. Previously we had thought about getting rid of the shots with the TV because we were unable to find a way to represent a news report, and having the TV on a random channel made it irrelevant to our production, but by having Dan record this sound we found that the shots then work once again meaning we were going to keep these shots.

When showing our final cut we already knew that it wasn't totally finished for a number of reasons, for example we hadn't yet inserted our titles which were going to go at the end of the scenes inside the house, so there was a break in our piece where they are going to go. We also need to take a few more shots of the house to get some establishing shots to make sure we set the scene in our opening sequence.

                                                   

Feedback

After watching our first final cut we recieved a number of feedback about how we could improve our work. Firstly it was noted that the thriller music which came in each time the killer appeared (twice) came in to strong, and sounding a little unprofessional, to change this we are going to try and find a more understated thriller music with a lower tone to it as this will create a build up in our production and also build tension.

Next some people commented on our use of POV shots for the killer. The feedback suggested that we did use the shots well, however we let them run for too long, to adapt this we are going to cut down these POV shots so they are of a shorter length, because at the moment they perhaps seem like too much at the time they run for. Another comment was that we should add in some establishing shots to show the audience the kind of setting and genre of the film, as at the moment it goes straight into her storyline. We had already noted that we wanted to do this so we were aware that we needed to do this. We have thought about having shots which show the killer walking towards the house so that we see the location and also the time of day etc. which will all combine to create successful establishing shots. Our missing titles were brought up in our feedback which again we were already aware of. Another suggestion made to us was the fact that would go potentially increased intense moments to build suspense in our opening. This could be done either in the river shots or when the girl is going up her stairs etc. Lastly it was said that we perhaps should either cut down the river shots as some of the shots don't actually need to be there and instead just make the section drag on for too long, mostly the shots which show Dan running after Beth as we did a number of these and combined them all together. Although, as a team we have thought about getting rid of the running scene altogether as it shows Dan again which can be too much after already seeing him killing a girl at the start and will look to repetitive, and possibly replacing it with a montage of shots showing newspaper clippings about girls he has killed, which would mean less dialogue and more shots which set the scene.

To Do:

• Change music to a less intense track
• Add in film titles
• Cut down POV shots
• Add in establishing shots
• Increase intense moments

Filming Day Two

Here are some shots of where the filming took place on the second day of filming. We got most of our shots done for a sequence done last night as it was the main place where out sequence takes place. We had a friend of mine act in our shots as the girl who is drowned in the bath. She does A level drama so we thought it would be a good to use her as our actor. The shots include myself and ellie and dan in the photographs as we wanted to show how we filmed and what the setting was like. We orginally planned to film on the 30th November but we had sturggled to find free time for everyone in our group and we wanted to make sure that the standard of our work was a high standard was not rushed. I feel our gorup worked very well together as myself filmed the shots with help from the others. Dan acted in the actual film as well as him helping cristi with the mise en scene and beth will be doing the editing of our shots on the computer with the help of me. However, the camera ran of battery and we needed to film a few more shots but it wont take long as we filmed most of the shots we needed to do last night. 

Editing




Dan and Cristi recording sound



Mollie (Me) and Beth Editing the clips

Dan editing the sound

 Here are some photograph's of our group doing some work on our sequence. The first shot is of myself and Beth editing our clips. Beth and i were cutting the clips we had and making sure they flowed continuously so that there were no jump cuts in our sequence. This took me and Beth nearly two hours as we wanted it to be to a good standard. We left out shots we didn't really like and put in the ones that worked well. At first we had a beginning shot of Beth running of the bridge and then we continued into another shot that was a point of view shot, however, the shots were to similar so we decided to change the beginning and use a different shot that was a lot different so it flowed better. While we were doing the editing however, Dan and Cristi were filming sound effects we could add into our sequence for example: Footsteps, breathing ect. After we had done the editing of that part of our sequence, Dan worked on the sound. He added quite scary music to our sequence which worked well with the shot.  

First Shot Of Filming

Today we started filming for our production piece, we decided to begin with the outdoor running section as the weather hasn't been great but today was predicted no rain, also we wanted to get the outdoor filming finished before it got even colder.
We were lucky as the weather, although extremely cold, was dry and there was sunshine which made our shots look a lot better. We used the 2 hour media lesson to go down to the river by the library to begin filming.
The original outfit for Beth was a running skirt, trainers and jacket (provided by Beth) and also high knee socks and a vest top (provided by me). However, due to the cold weather I bought in a pair of leggings to give Beth the option, so we went ahead with the leggings. Also, Beth bought in a short sleeved top which was more suitable than the little vest top I had. We used her water bottle and iPhone as planned. Dan provided his outfit as planned, with a black coat and trousers, he also bought a black apron in which we tied around his head, which created a hood effect which made him appear a lot more mysterious and anonymous.
The first shots I needed to capture were of Beth running, to make it more fluid so it didn't cut from her leaving her house straight to being at the river, we decided to have Beth running towards the bridge to come alongside the river. I was in charge of filming, so Dan and Cristi helped me decide on the best angles I also in a way took charge on saying what wasn't right with the shots as well as Beth's outfit for example if Beth's iPod headphone weren't visible.
We captured several shots of Beth running towards and over the bridge so that we would have a selection to choose from when we began editing.
After helping Dan tied an apron around his head we then had to include him in the shots, so  I chose the best camera angle to have so that it would appear mysterious when Dan came into the shots. 
We had the issue of there being several people walking/running/walking dogs along the river so at times we had to wait until the path was clear again.
We did several POV shots which I did whilst I sped up behind Beth as this was easiest to keep to his same speed etc. 

Cristi (Holding the equipment)

Cristi, Mollie (Me) and Beth

Dan (In his outfit)

Here are some shots of us filming for our opening sequence. What we have done is film the last part of the sequence first as its easier and it wouldn't take as long as the first sequence. I am the one who is holding and filming Beth running. Cristi, who is next to me is showing me the story board to help me get the right shot what we planned to do. Dan who you cannot see in this photograph took this photograph as he was acting in last part of the sequence but for this shot he wasn't in the shot. For this ending bit of our opening sequence we filmed a girl (Beth) jogging and she is being followed by the crazy man, we did all different shots such as: Point of View shot, Handheld shot, long shot ect. Our team worked well together as we listened to each others ideas. Cristi was in one of the last parts of the sequence but because she felt like she wasn't doing much she helped doing the camera work with me and came up with better shots to get scary effects in our sequence. Dan was acting as the scary man in our sequence and he had a all black outfit with a black hood which kind of hid his face from side views shots which has a mysterious effect.