My Final Opening Sequence

 

CCR TASK 4 - How did you integrate technologies (hardware, software and online) into this project

 

Technology was a crucial part of our final product, we used different hardware, software and online websites, through pre production, production and post production to create and improve our final opening sequence.

Hardware - what you can physically touch, a MacBook, camera, microphones ect. we used many different hardware devices in all three aspects of production, and it was vital to our final product

Software - the applications running on your hardware device, in our post production we used Adobe Premier to edit the final product. 

Online technologies - websites, such as google and youtube, these were used through our researching and planning as well as communicating with the group.

Pre Production - 

The majority of pre production was done online, through communicating with group members, researching and planning - however we did use certain hardware and software. Hardware was used in pre production assisting the websites we were using to research, and we used iPhones to record the test shoot. We used software such as iMovie to edit the test shoot we did in preparation for the final shoot, as well as using Adobe Premier to complete editing practise and workshops. 

Online technologies were the most significant part of pre production, we used google (& google docs), YouTube, iMessage, Snapchat to research and plan as well as communicating with other group members, purchase props, look at different locations and make blog posts – all making the final product more achievable and producing the best project that we could. 

Communications were important, we created group chats within our group to sort out who was responsible for each part of the project, to sort out the costs when buying props, sharing ideas and organising the shoot day. We sent websites and links to each other that may improve our product and this helped us work more effectively as a group. We used Google Docs to make shared documents with each other, such as the step by step outline of the
sequence, the shoot day schedule and other various ideas and improvements towards our sequence. 

 

We used YouTube to watch videos, mainly on how to make a horror film but also to compare other horror film opening sequences to see patterns and stereotypes (costume, lighting ect) within the genre, this was helpful to us as we could then look at other products and see what we were doing right and also see what we could improve on. Again using YouTube for research purposes, we looked at a case study of a satanic cult in the woods, this allowed us to gain a more realistic and accurate picture of how the set would look. We also used YouTube to watch videos on how to make props we were planning to use, such as fake blood, fake guts and the best way to create the symbols we used – this was all very useful to us coming up to the shoot day as we had a better understanding of what we were creating. 

Blogger was a space for us to write down our ideas and organise what we were planning, we wrote blog posts from the very beginning of pre production all the way to the end of editing and this was extremely helpful as we could easily develop our ideas. 

 

Production -

During production, we only used hardware as there was no need for other areas of technology. 

While shooting our final sequence, we used Black Magic 4k Mini URSA cameras, we learnt how to use these through a number of camera workshops as well as test shoots and practise – during the shoot we had an assigned camera operator that did most of the camera work but as it was raining during our shoot day we all helped protecting the camera and also all contributed to the filming. The entirety of the sequence was filmed on the same camera so learning how to use it properly was essential.

 

 Along with the camera we used a Lexar Pro memory card – this all of the clips from the footage of the day and made it so we were able to bring the clips back and edit them into a sequence. We had used this same memory card before when doing our practise shoots so we were able to work with this and were confident when transferring the footage onto a MacBook to edit

 

We used the Vinten tripod to hold the camera, this was essential for keeping the shots straight as well as pan and tilt shots. We learnt the right way to slide the camera onto the tripod and operate it in the correct way to produce the appropriate shot. We didn’t have any handheld or tracking shots in our sequence so we used the tripod in every shot

The microphone we used was the Sennheiser Shotgun mic, while this helped with certain sound and the limited dialogue we had – on our shoot day it was windy so it was helpful that we could plug and unplug the microphone when needed. With us on our shoot day, we took a portable reflected portable light so as to get the best lighting we could while on location

 

We took our iPhones onto our location so we could take pictures and eventually record and edit a behind the scenes video, this was also useful when reflecting on our final project. 

Post Production -

During our post production, the main focus was Adobe Premier Pro - an editing software used on Mac Books. Although we also used certain hardware and online sites – hardware was used when transferring the footage from the memory card onto the computer and we used online websites to find soundtracks to add to our sequence.

 

Our whole editing process was done on Adobe Premier Pro, we made most changes to our original idea during the production of the sequence so our editing job was easier and more efficient. When we first watched over our footage we deleted clips we didn’t like, then organised the ones we were going to keep and named them so they would be easier to put into the correct order, we then started putting the clips together, cutting at the appropriate moments and editing the audio to keep synchrony between the audio and the visuals. At the very end of the sequence we made a choice to cut after an over the shoulder shot and quickly cut to a black screen, the editing in this helped us to end on a cliff hanger and this adhered to out genre better.

We used Adobe Premier to add titles, and we picked black with a gothic font, to go along with the horror conventions – we added all the necessary titles and placed them in the right order within the sequence and then decided on a title and studio name – both going along with the horror element of our sequence. The software we used allowed us to add even more to our final product by adding in more horror conventions, therefore making the overall sequence closer to what we wanted it to be.

 

Adobe Premier also allowed us to put in a soundtrack, and while we found this online it meant we could also edit this audio along with the dialogue in our sequence – combined with the titles this meant we could achieve a sequence closer to the horror conventions. 

CCR TASK 3 - How did your production skills develop throughout this project

 

https://prezi.com/view/5GE7wS7vcyUOUmf9SBhj/

CCR TASK 2

 

"How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text"

Primary target audience

In accordance with the BBFC age certification, I would rate our horror film at a 15, as there is violence and a lot of scenes with blood and hints at murder and showing religious cults and gore. Men generally prefer horror films and engage better with the product, as stereotypically men are more okay with watching violence and sometimes seek more thrill. Depending on what the rest of our film would include, it could potentially be rated an 18, but just for the opening sequence it would be put as a 15. 

Scenes that would engage the target audience

This shot is taken from early on in the sequence, there have been a few establishing shots and the soundtrack has started at this point. The shot alone doesn't engage the audience but along with camera shots & sound this engages the audience by creating expectations for future danger, this immediately targets the specific audience by establishing the genre and setting up a foundation for the rest of the opening sequence.

The next shot is shortly after Ziggy (the dog) has gone missing, this is essentially the beginning of the plot and creates an unanswered question/ mystery - making the audience want to carry on watching to answer the question, we took reference from Bathe's enigma code to ensure full attention from the audience. 

Due to the beginning scenes having some close ups and being centred almost around the dog, the audience would get more concerned about the dog being missing, as it has already been introduced.

The next 2 shots following Ziggy's disappearance is where the religious cult elements start to appear, we see a symbol and some blood on the tree, implying to the audience that the danger has started. We did a pan shot and included depth of field to show that the character was unaware of these dangers, but the audience knew, including dramatic irony in our sequence helps create a sense of naivity within the character and also makes the audience feel on edge because they know some form of danger is coming, this helps to engage the audience as they then feel a sense of urgency and helplessness.

Shortly after the first signs of danger have been shown, the character comes across and notices the signs himself, we see (fake) blood and we then put in a loud sound effect representing the dog being either killed or injured, this not only has an effect on the audience but also starts the action as the character then runs to the final stage of the sequence (the massacre), this is just before the climax of the sequence, where we would hope the tension is at an all time high, 

Finally, the character running through the woods and seeing the display of the pig head, the blood and the dead body, is where the audience would be the most engaged and tense - as this is the moment where the enigma code (unanswered question) from very early on in the sequence has been answered. We also ended on an over the shoulder shot and a loud scream, which then creates another un answered question as to what he's just seen. Overall the ending scene of the sequence has the highest amount of tension and consequentially should be the point where the audience are most afraid and therefore are most engaged. 

Overall, I think we had many moments in our sequence that were very close to horror conventions, and we did them well so they engaged the audience. The first minuet or so was the least engaging but helped to build up tension, and as the sequence carried on it became more fast paced and 'scary'. Blumer and Katz theory of uses and gratifications applies to engaging our audience, around the escapism and social interaction part of this theory.

FILM POSTER

The film poster I created for our sequence heavily hints towards the general theme of the sequence, all in the background I merged together a shot from the establishing shot from the very opening scene, this represented an eerie atmosphere and put the character in an unsafe situation, along with this I put 2 action shots from the end of the sequence - one of the scene from the massacre and the bloody pig head and one of the main character running through the woods. These both help to hint at what the film is going to be like and attract the target audience. 

Large studios such as Netflix, Disney + ect. are large companies who usually invest into films when they know they are going to make money, they do this through seeing if they have any A list actors in the film or who directed it, because of this we don't think that using larger studios would be the best way to distribute our film. Instead we would use a smaller studio specialising in horror, such as Shudderhouse - they have distributed many horror films before and I think they would be interested in our film. 

Social media - As new media is a lot more inexpensive and can reach the target audience more effectively, I would choose to focus on this. As seen in Tucked they got a hashtag going around and released merchandise, this was effective in making a solid audience and allowing the viewers to contribute to consumerism (in essence free marketing) towards promoting and distributing the film. 

 CCR Task 1

Editing 2

 Second half of Editing week !!

As building up suspense and tension is the main priority to our sequence, we did our best to include this within our sequence - we tried to do this with the font and colour of the titles  (using only black) and the establishing shots at the beginning. As we were shooting on location this was easier for us and we didn't need to edit much. We also put in sound effects to emphasise the dog getting hurt, which immediately sped up the pace of the sequence. The music we added, was slow and somewhat 'creepy' at the beginning but towards the end it became faster and more thriller genre, and this also added tension and suspense all the way through - this combined with the fact we had very little dialogue meant that we could play into the soundtrack more. 

Based on our editing choices, I think that our audience would want to keep watching as we decided to end the sequence differently. Our first idea was going to end up with the actor getting killed and attacked from a point of view camera shot, however we realised this would be difficult and so decided on a popcorn editing ending where the camera turns around and ends on a loud scream. We cut this off so it sounded like to was interrupted, I think this was effective in captivating the audience as they would want to see who/ what had created this massacre and keep on watching to find out if he was going to survive or not.

Choosing our title name, we had a little big of trouble with - we were going to go with 'Over your shoulder' but as we then changed our ending shot to be an over the shoulder shot we didn't think it was appropriate. We decided on 'Gathering' when we were all fully decided to make the 'creature' a satanic cult. We had other varying choices such as the 'Awakening' and also explored some titles that were translated into Latin but we decided on 'Gathering' to keep it simple and short. With the titles, we had a lot of time to fill up at the beginning, as for just under a minuet at the beginning its mainly establishing shots and the actor walking with his dog, some added in a few other titles with made up names to make it more realistic that it would turn into a full movie. Our 'funder' and 'studio' were also both under fake names but we tried to incorporate them into the theme and genre of the. film - naming them "The Panic Foundation' and 'Exorcist studio's' as these both have dark and negative connotations. For the appearance of the titles we just put them all in the same size and in black - as we didn't want to distract from the film but also keeping in with the dark theme. 

Editing the sound, we didn't really have a problem - we found all the sound effects and soundtrack easily and none of them had been copywrited. Although due to some absences in the group there were only 2 of us deciding the sound track and audio - but we managed to compromise well.

Overall I think we did a good job on filming and editing our sequence - the conditions we were filming in were rough but it ended up paying off for us when it came to the editing. We all worked really well as a group and all had a similar idea of what we wanted the final product to look like, if we could reshoot I would have tried to make the display of the massacre more dramatic and longer so it felt like more of a climax.

Editing 1

 

First half of editing week!!

As we were filming, the conditions were awful so we didn't get a chance to watch any of the clips back - so the first day of editing was watching through the footage we recorded - and naming all of these so it was easier to organise and would make the editing process quicker and more efficient. We carefully selected and deleted the clips that we didn't feel were good enough for our sequence. Going through our footage was a positive and reassuring experience knowing that we had more than enough clips to put together a good sequence - however near the ending we could have added some more shots before and after the massacre clip. 

When we had organised all the footage into the right order we used some techniques we learnt in the editing workshop such as blending the sound together to make it sound more natural, using popcorn editing and we started to think about how we could use sound effects to emphasise and tune in on the horror aspect of our sequence. Popcorn editing was especially helpful for us, as we could effectively put together different shots to blend together - so the audience can see both the characters point of view and also what was going on in the sequence. We realised the establishing shots we took at the beginning were very useful to add titles over - which is what we did next. 

All 4 of our group members were here for the first 2 days of editing, however due to various trips and illness we didn't all get to work together after this - although we found our way around this as we had all taken part in the editing workshop so even though Olly (lead editor) was absent the rest of us could still continue editing. 

Most of the changed we made to the original idea were made in the actual filming of the sequence, so this didn't change much in the editing, although we were still unclear about what the villain was portrayed as (whether it was a satanic cult or a supernatural monster) but
because of the symbols and props within the sequence we found it was easier to base it on the satanic cult. 

Some of the choices we made earlier on was to make it more of a title opening sequence, as we had a lot of establishing shots that we thought worked really well with the theme so we added more titles than we were expecting, this included actors/ director/ music producer ect. We were able to use this to our advantage as the location we were shooting at, combined with the foggy and rainy weather made a very gloomy effect, allowing us to set the scene well. Another choice we made while filming and editing was to play more into the dog aspect - the original idea was just to have the dog to give the character an excuse to be walking through the woods but we realised if we played more into it, then it would be able to act as a catalyst for the actor to find the massacre scene. In post production, we added sound effect to make it seem like the dog had been hurt/ killed so we could speed up the pace of the sequence.