Friday, 21 March 2014

Question 6

Throughout this project, we used professional equipment which we had not used before. One of these is the video camera, we had to take time in getting use to how to work it as the settings and buttons can change how it looks when imported onto the screen. When using the tripod we found it easy to get to grips with it, and soon enough had the skills to film in different angles and use techniques like panning.




We used garage band when putting together the foley we recorded, and editing some of them. We had to learn to use this as we had not used it to the professional standard. While using this we had to balance the volumes as they had all been recorded with different sounds and so some were louder than others. When creating the soundtrack I used loops and cut them together. 

The title sequence was made on after effects. We converted the dripping blood video from YouTube which had a green background then using After Effects we used our studio name to replace the green. This took us a long time as we had not done this before, we used tutorials on YouTube although these were not that helpful.



This screenshot shows the software we used to cut and edit our footage together. Before this task we had not used Final Cut, so it was difficult to get to grips with the advanced tools we needed to create effects and transitions. However we are both now confident on using the basic tools on it.




This is an example of us using Final Cut. It is showing how we added some of the filters to the video like the earthquake effect.






Thursday, 20 March 2014

Question 5



This is our final video with annotations of how it is presented to the audience.
We posted our video to Facebook and asked for people to comment or send us some feedback, here are some examples.

The majority of the feedback was good and it showed that our soundtrack was enjoyable and created a creepy atmosphere. It was apparent that using a different location would have improved the whole feel of the look and make it look to a higher standard. The other general feedback was that the child did not fit into the scene but it would be hard working with any young child that is untrained and we felt that shooting her naturally would be the best way to go about it. so in response to this feedback we would improve the location we set the opening in a choose characters that fit into the surroundings. 

Monday, 17 March 2014

Evaluation Question 2: Screen capture















Our character is similar to Dolores from Shutter Island. She is similar because they both are women and they have both have murdered their children. They are also similar because they have a physiological disorder and are not mentally stable. They are however different because our character, Catherine, is the protagonist of out film. She is the main character and the whole film is based on her struggle, as she believes her child is still alive and is always with her where as in Shutter Island Dolores is killed by her Husband, Teddy. Teddy is the protagonist in Shutter Island and it is about him struggling to except that his wife killed his 3 children and down to this he was charged for arson and killing her. He was then put into a mental asylum. It is unusual to have a women protagonist that is shown to murder and harm her children and be a danger to society. We have challenged this stereotype in order to show that women can be as dangerous as a male protagonist but this isn’t really shown in the film industry and this is why it was hard to find a similar character to base this part of the evaluation on. They are different in relation to their costume as Dolores is not shown to be mentally ill by what she is wearing where as our character is wearing a white shirt dress which is related to a mental asylum. Dolores wears make up and colourful clothing and our character is shown to be minimalistic and plain to reinforce the fact that she is not stable. 

Monday, 3 March 2014

Evaluation- question 1



This is the title shot, of the film. We put this at the end of our opening sequence, because it builds up to it creating suspense. This also influences the thriller genre. We used a type writer font transition, as this is slow and therefore suggests the mood of the film is low.






The location is a typical home, as this makes the film realistic to the audience and allows them to relate. This will make the film more eery.







 The costume which we placed the main character in is plain white, something that patients in hospitals would wear. This implies she is out of place or somewhere that she shouldn't be. Her hair is dirty and messy, to show she is not mentally stable and is not in a comfortable living situation.
     



This shot shows that we have used rule of three because it is in the centre of the shot. By using this it makes the clock look isolated and gives a feeling of the film and character. We used close ups on her face to show she is distressed, and a shot reverse shot to show what she is looking at. This also shows who the main character is as its from her point of view.


We used continuity, when using match on action as she opens the door to reveal her child. We have broken continuity for effect so that the child disappears, making it look like she is not actually there and just in the main characters mind.






Our soundtrack is constant throughout the opening. We also recorded foley for different parts. Examples of this are the scratching nails, her breathing, footsteps, the clock, the door latch and opening.





The story is set up with the child's toys, it suggests what the story is about. The opening is slow paced and dim to also set the mood of the film. Shows it is dark and distressing.




 The thriller genre is shown with the props in the scene and also the effects we used. The shake effect influences the genre as well. It creates a scary feel and therefore creates the tension included in a thriller.





We used video filters to colorise the scenes. We reduced the brightness and changed the colours to a slight black and white effect, to bring the mood of the film down.