Production Diary - Entry - Adding titles, treatments and effects to the shots
Titles
We used most of the titles from our draft title sequence in our film opening sequence, however, we cut a few of the actors names due to the length of the piece - it was slightly shorter than we had expected, and we did not want there to be any titles in certain parts of the film, e.g. when the protagonist's head is supposedly spinning with fear and confusion - we want the audience's focus to be entirely on the woman. We also changed the colour of the titles to a whiter, slightly grey colour as it seemed more sinister and appeared clearer on the screen.
Shot MOV002.MOD - the through the trees pan is the first shot in the film, and it includes the first set of titles.
Shot treatments
We added a diffuse glow treatment to all the shots that were in the character's perspective to give it a hazy and slightly unfocused view to emphasise that she has just woken up, that she is confused, and that something is wrong. Moreover, for the shots that weren't in her view we used a half and half grey-scale treatment - this made the shots gloomy which further emphasises the genre of the film; horror. However, of the first shot, the pan through the trees, we did not use a particular treatment, but we did raise the contrast, saturation and shadow intensity to create a brighter image than the rest of the shots to make the first shot look more professional and to lull the audience into a false sense of security which they soon snap our of when they hear the whole of the voiceover and see the unconscious woman. In addition, of the logos we used several treatments to make them seem like unrealistic shots, to emphasise that they are production logos and not technically part of the film. For example, on the first logo we used an 'Old Film' effect and a reddening treatment on a still video shot of the sun shining over the top of a gate; shot . Both logos were appropriate for the type of film genre that we had.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Production Diary - Entry 6 - Sound
Production Diary - Entry 6 - Sound
The Sound in the piece
The sound track of our film includes: blue tit song, this plays at the beginning of the piece - it starts in the shot with the tree and the sun and ends when you see the body on the ground, this is for dramatic effect; there are also violins that play a tense, musical tune over the beginning part of the film - again they stop when the body is seen; the voiceover starts at the beginning of the film too - it is overlapped with the bird song and the violins, it goes on for longer though so that it is only the woman's voice when she says the word 'Indominus' - this is again for dramatic effect; additionally, there is a heartbeat sound effect used when you realise that the woman is alive - this speeds up as she becomes more and more frightened at the situation she is in; there is also some foley sound - such as the rustling of the woman's clothes on the grass, her standing up, and her hair swishing against her clothes when she turns her head; there is also dialogue which goes on inside the character's head - this is when the audience realise that the original narrator is also the main character of the story; moreover, there is more foley sound, it is of the woman character handling the lanyard of the woman she doesn't remember killing, and there is sound for when the lanyard falls; there is also a scream; in addition there is a 'Dummm' sound that occurs when the screen goes black just before the title of the film appears; lastly, when the title of the film appears there is a high pitch frequency noise that breaks of when the title comes into focus. The blue tit song, violins, voiceover, dialogue, heartbeat, and scream are all used as sound bridges. In addition, the first part of the voiceover heard is directly addressed to the audience - the mode of address is as though she is speaking about the past; the character seems to be spewing an inner-monologue.
How the sound was made
All of the sound effects were record at Big Boy Studios, which is my guitar teacher's small studio at his house. I used my guitar lesson times every Saturday for 3 weeks, (starting on the 23rd of January 2016), to get the sound effects right. We recorded my voice as the voiceover and dialogue, we also recorded me handling and dropping the lanyard, however we either created the rest of the sounds with guitars (e.g. scratchy, stringy noise - this was not used in the end), or we recorded some sound effects that we found on YouTube. For example, the scream, blue tit song, a crow caw (which was cut), heavy breathing (which I recorded but was cut as it didn't overlap with the voiceover very well), the high pitch frequency noise, the heartbeat and the rustling foley sound. The violin music was already saved onto Steve's (Steve is my guitar teacher) equipment because his friend had recorded some of his electric violin music at Steve's studio and so we took an extract from that and tweaked it. We digitally adjusted all of the sounds and cut them to the length that we thought was appropriate. One of the things that we digitally adjusted was the 'Dummm' sound which we made sound low and bellowing, however, originally it was a single tick form an electronic pendulum. The last day of recording these sounds took 2 hours. Afterwards we were given a CD with the all of the sounds as individual tracks so as to make it easier for me and Yasmin to download, and adjust any of the sound that we needed to.
The Sound in the piece
The sound track of our film includes: blue tit song, this plays at the beginning of the piece - it starts in the shot with the tree and the sun and ends when you see the body on the ground, this is for dramatic effect; there are also violins that play a tense, musical tune over the beginning part of the film - again they stop when the body is seen; the voiceover starts at the beginning of the film too - it is overlapped with the bird song and the violins, it goes on for longer though so that it is only the woman's voice when she says the word 'Indominus' - this is again for dramatic effect; additionally, there is a heartbeat sound effect used when you realise that the woman is alive - this speeds up as she becomes more and more frightened at the situation she is in; there is also some foley sound - such as the rustling of the woman's clothes on the grass, her standing up, and her hair swishing against her clothes when she turns her head; there is also dialogue which goes on inside the character's head - this is when the audience realise that the original narrator is also the main character of the story; moreover, there is more foley sound, it is of the woman character handling the lanyard of the woman she doesn't remember killing, and there is sound for when the lanyard falls; there is also a scream; in addition there is a 'Dummm' sound that occurs when the screen goes black just before the title of the film appears; lastly, when the title of the film appears there is a high pitch frequency noise that breaks of when the title comes into focus. The blue tit song, violins, voiceover, dialogue, heartbeat, and scream are all used as sound bridges. In addition, the first part of the voiceover heard is directly addressed to the audience - the mode of address is as though she is speaking about the past; the character seems to be spewing an inner-monologue.
How the sound was made
All of the sound effects were record at Big Boy Studios, which is my guitar teacher's small studio at his house. I used my guitar lesson times every Saturday for 3 weeks, (starting on the 23rd of January 2016), to get the sound effects right. We recorded my voice as the voiceover and dialogue, we also recorded me handling and dropping the lanyard, however we either created the rest of the sounds with guitars (e.g. scratchy, stringy noise - this was not used in the end), or we recorded some sound effects that we found on YouTube. For example, the scream, blue tit song, a crow caw (which was cut), heavy breathing (which I recorded but was cut as it didn't overlap with the voiceover very well), the high pitch frequency noise, the heartbeat and the rustling foley sound. The violin music was already saved onto Steve's (Steve is my guitar teacher) equipment because his friend had recorded some of his electric violin music at Steve's studio and so we took an extract from that and tweaked it. We digitally adjusted all of the sounds and cut them to the length that we thought was appropriate. One of the things that we digitally adjusted was the 'Dummm' sound which we made sound low and bellowing, however, originally it was a single tick form an electronic pendulum. The last day of recording these sounds took 2 hours. Afterwards we were given a CD with the all of the sounds as individual tracks so as to make it easier for me and Yasmin to download, and adjust any of the sound that we needed to.
Production Diary- Entry 5 - Filming
Production Diary - Entry 5 - Filming
Filming
Filming dates: January the 16th and January the 30th 2016
On the first day of filming we were there for approximately 40 minutes - we had good, sunny weather (which especially good for our actress, and for the definition on our camera - however, it meant that we would have to add an effective and gloomy treatment to the piece to allow it to fit to the theme of horror). Filming was extremely fun! It was quite cold but we brought hot chocolate, wellies, hats and gloves on set to keep us warm. We filmed all of the shots we thought we need, as well as some extras shots that we liked, e.g. I shot one that became the 'Lyonstone Pictures' logo. However, after uploading the videos we found that some of them did not work and that our film would be too short without more shots. For example, one of the shots that did not work was the pan where I move the camera along from Saskia's character's feet to her head - so that the audience see the unconscious woman. I slightly moved the camera upwards suddenly a few times, making the pan seem unsubtle. Also, we had not filmed two versions of each of our shots - we had for most of them but we forgot about a few because we began to feel rushed due to the dying camera battery. In addition, some of the shots took more than two takes anyway, either due to pedestrians walking their dogs getting in the frame of the shot by accident, or due to camera movement issues, or because of an acting or directorial mistake.
On the second day of filming we were there for about an hour because we had more battery time to work with, so we became more experimental. (On the first day of filming the battery was on 12% when we arrived - we made sure to check the battery power percentage the second time). we filmed the remaining shots, and took at least two takes of each shot - we also made sure that we had a good buffer before and after each shot as to not cut any piece of action short.
After the second day of filming we uploaded the rest of the shots onto the school computer and began to string them into a final order - as we did so we added in any scene transitions that we found appropriate - e.g. dissolves and straight cuts.
Filming
Filming dates: January the 16th and January the 30th 2016
On the first day of filming we were there for approximately 40 minutes - we had good, sunny weather (which especially good for our actress, and for the definition on our camera - however, it meant that we would have to add an effective and gloomy treatment to the piece to allow it to fit to the theme of horror). Filming was extremely fun! It was quite cold but we brought hot chocolate, wellies, hats and gloves on set to keep us warm. We filmed all of the shots we thought we need, as well as some extras shots that we liked, e.g. I shot one that became the 'Lyonstone Pictures' logo. However, after uploading the videos we found that some of them did not work and that our film would be too short without more shots. For example, one of the shots that did not work was the pan where I move the camera along from Saskia's character's feet to her head - so that the audience see the unconscious woman. I slightly moved the camera upwards suddenly a few times, making the pan seem unsubtle. Also, we had not filmed two versions of each of our shots - we had for most of them but we forgot about a few because we began to feel rushed due to the dying camera battery. In addition, some of the shots took more than two takes anyway, either due to pedestrians walking their dogs getting in the frame of the shot by accident, or due to camera movement issues, or because of an acting or directorial mistake.
On the second day of filming we were there for about an hour because we had more battery time to work with, so we became more experimental. (On the first day of filming the battery was on 12% when we arrived - we made sure to check the battery power percentage the second time). we filmed the remaining shots, and took at least two takes of each shot - we also made sure that we had a good buffer before and after each shot as to not cut any piece of action short.
After the second day of filming we uploaded the rest of the shots onto the school computer and began to string them into a final order - as we did so we added in any scene transitions that we found appropriate - e.g. dissolves and straight cuts.
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| This is a profile close-up of the make-up that Yasmin helped put on Saskia's face to make her look bruised and muddy. |
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| This is Saskia getting ready to film the sitting up shots. |
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| This is a picture of how we are framing one of the shots. |
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| This is Saskia's costume (apart from the snow boots - in the film she wears small black heels but when we were not filming she wore snow boots because it was cold!)! |
Production Diary - Entry 4 - Location
Production Diary - Entry 4 - Location
We filmed all of our shots in Stonesfield. Our first shot is a pan shot in the woods, the rest of the shots, including the second production logo, are all done on our main location; the Stonesfield Common. In addition, the first production logo was shot in Stonesfield by one of the fields near the woods, on a public pathway.
We filmed all of our shots in Stonesfield. Our first shot is a pan shot in the woods, the rest of the shots, including the second production logo, are all done on our main location; the Stonesfield Common. In addition, the first production logo was shot in Stonesfield by one of the fields near the woods, on a public pathway.
Production Diary - Entry 3 - Draft Title Sequence
Production Diary - Entry 3 - Draft Title Sequence
The first piece of practical work that we did in our production process was create a draft title sequence that we will incorporate into our film opening sequence. We did this using MoviePlus.
This is the title sequence: -
We used this font, Viner Hand ITC - (in size 18), because it looks sinister, old and possibly hand written - it's wobbly and scratchy and so emphasises the genre of the film; horror. The colour of the font is an off-white, pale yellow so as to indicate that something isn't right. The credits in-animation in the draft-title sequence is Motion Blur Lines, we used this because it blurs in the credits in a horizontal and distorted way, which helps to creates an uncertain and tense atmosphere. We kept the out-animation the same as the in-animation so as to uphold the sinister continuity. In addition, we used this effect, Motion Blur Vertical, to introduce the title of the film because it concentrates your eyes onto the title while it distorts in to focus. The title of the film is also in a larger font size (size 48) than the credits as they are not the main focus of the film. We named our film 'Indominus' because it is an unusual and interesting sounding word that means evil, savage and unstoppable - therefore the title of the film enhances the piece's genre.
The first piece of practical work that we did in our production process was create a draft title sequence that we will incorporate into our film opening sequence. We did this using MoviePlus.
This is the title sequence: -
We used this font, Viner Hand ITC - (in size 18), because it looks sinister, old and possibly hand written - it's wobbly and scratchy and so emphasises the genre of the film; horror. The colour of the font is an off-white, pale yellow so as to indicate that something isn't right. The credits in-animation in the draft-title sequence is Motion Blur Lines, we used this because it blurs in the credits in a horizontal and distorted way, which helps to creates an uncertain and tense atmosphere. We kept the out-animation the same as the in-animation so as to uphold the sinister continuity. In addition, we used this effect, Motion Blur Vertical, to introduce the title of the film because it concentrates your eyes onto the title while it distorts in to focus. The title of the film is also in a larger font size (size 48) than the credits as they are not the main focus of the film. We named our film 'Indominus' because it is an unusual and interesting sounding word that means evil, savage and unstoppable - therefore the title of the film enhances the piece's genre.
Production Diary - Entry 2 - Live Action Storyboard
Production Diary - Entry 2 - Live Action Storyboard
This is our Live Action Storyboard - we made it in correlation to our pencil-sketch storyboard.
This is our Live Action Storyboard: -
We did not use the real location, or the actress, in this live action storyboard, we merely took pictures and a video of the type of location that we are going to shoot, using the type of camera shots we want to use in the actual film opening sequence. We also focused on the rule of thirds to see how well we frame things in our shots, and to practise this technique.
This is our Live Action Storyboard - we made it in correlation to our pencil-sketch storyboard.
This is our Live Action Storyboard: -
We did not use the real location, or the actress, in this live action storyboard, we merely took pictures and a video of the type of location that we are going to shoot, using the type of camera shots we want to use in the actual film opening sequence. We also focused on the rule of thirds to see how well we frame things in our shots, and to practise this technique.
Production Diary - Entry 1 - Production Schedules
Production Diary - Entry 1 - Production Schedules
Production Schedule
Production Calendar
(PUT PRODUCTION CALENDAR)
Finalised Story Board
Production Schedule
Production Calendar
(PUT PRODUCTION CALENDAR)
Finalised Story Board
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