THE FINAL OPENING SEQUENCE!

'UNORTHODOX FINAL EDIT'

Final editing stage

Finishing off our opening title sequence

After re-filming the establishing shot at lunch time, we returned back to college in time for our final editing lesson. In this lesson we aimed to download the new footage, make the necessary alterations and then double-check over the whole video to ensure that the extract was appropriate and had no faults. Firstly, we transferred the footage from the camera and onto the computer. We then viewed all of the recorded shots and then decided to choose the best footage and fortunately they were clear and flowed nicely, which was a relief! Following this, we imported the clip into the software, cropped it down, applied the black and white filter and re-added the titles. Next we inserted the new nursery rhyme on top of Evan's singing scene and removed a few seconds from the beginning and end of the audio that was insignificant. It took us a few minutes to get the audio in-sync with the movement of Evan's mouth, but eventually it was completed. During the end of the lesson, we made the news reports slightly quieter as we felt that they were too loud and could be distracting and then finally, we viewed the whole opening thriller sequence and was happy with what we had produced, so we then uploaded the extract onto YouTube, ready for others to view. 

Re-filming

More re-filming!

Today at lunch time we went down to our filming location and re-filmed more establishing shots of the antagonist's home. We hoped that we could record some footage which would be suitable enough to use in our opening sequence. 

After collecting the required tripod and Cannon 700D camera from our media classroom, we walked down to the location and set up our equipment ,  bearing in mind of the possible safety hazards. Fortunately the weather was fairly dull and cloudy today, meaning that we didn't have an issue with the lighting or exposure from the sun, also another advantage of the weather was that we were aiming for the footage to have a dark, sinister feel and this was what were given. We firstly started to take a few shots using the same upwards tilt technique like we had done previously, however we felt that we should take some other various shots in case the tilt was un-successful again. So therefore we used a downwards tilt, and simple panning shots from both the left and right. Once we had recorded these shots we played back the footage on the camera and ensured that we had at least one suitable clip, and then following this we returned to College to continue editing. 

Voice Recording

More Recording

After discovering that the audio didn't match with the scene we had to re-record the nursery rhyme again with the help of our main actor, Evan. However once we had collected the micro-phone we noticed that batteries had died, and couldn't find another one for a while. So as a result we unfortunately wasted a little bit of time. Although, we did eventually manage to record Evan singing the song again and now aim to download this audio onto the computer and re-film the establishing shot tomorrow in our media lesson, weather pending. 

Adding in the new footage & sound

More editing

In yesterday's media lesson, we continued to make our extract more complete. This was done by adding the audio of Evan singing the nursery rhyme onto Adobe Premier Pro as well as the establishing shot of the antagonist's home. During the start of the lesson, Emma added the nursery rhyme into the extract, but we were faced with an important issue. The new audio didn't match the scene and you could tell that the audio had been voiced over. This then meant that we were going to be slightly behind, however this issue can easily be solved by recording Evan again, as it was the timing that was the problem. So therefore we have now arranged to record Evan within the next following days. 

 Furthermore, myself and Izzy then began to edit the establishing shot by cropping the duration of the clip down and applying a black and white filter over the top, so that it matched the rest of our opening sequence. However whilst we were making these alterations, a black border surrounded the footage and we were unsure as to what it meant or how it appeared. So therefore we though that zooming in on the clip may remove the boarder, but this then didn't seem to work as the footage became slower, blurred and looked too bright and over exposed. Furthermore, we then had to decide on what to do and this was an issue due to the deadline getting closer and closer. So, we thought about cropping the clip even more, so that it missed out the slower and un-focused tilt. But then this would result in us losing a unique camera technique and we feared that this may affect our overall grade if we used a more generic camera shot. After discussing the problem we eventually decided to re-film the establishing shot the next day during lunch, meaning that we could edit the footage in the next media lesson. Also, towards the end of the lesson Izzy and Emma recorded the last few news reports and then uploaded the audio onto the opening sequence, meaning that this section was done and no longer required improvements.

Inserting audio & more editing

Today we decided to take advantage of our free period and continue with our editing. Due to the deadline being just around the corner, we have to utilise our time and try to make more alterations whenever we can. Our main aim today was to import the footage that we re-filmed yesterday onto the computer and into Adobe Premier Pro and to also insert the audio which again was recorded yesterday, into Evan's singing scene. 

After the audio and footage was downloaded onto the computer, we added the new voice over of Evan to the ending of the extract, which is where the antagonist says 'Daisy'. However this was more difficult as we thought, as it was hard to match the audio with the movement of his mouth and for the dialogue to sound realistic and clear. Once this was done we adjusted the sound level and made the audio louder. The reason for this was because we wanted the ending to be dramatic and having loud audio would more likely to engage the audience. Following this, we inserted the establishing shot  and the pressing of the doorbell into the software, in addition we had to remove the old footage and then crop the new footage down to an appropriate duration. This was because we don't want the opening sequence to be even longer, as it only just gets away being the time that it was. Later on in the lesson, Izzy went into the studio and recorded more audio for the news report scene.  We felt that this was significant as this scene doesn't flow like we wanted it to and agreed that more over-lapping audio will sound better. However after downloading the new audio onto Adobe Premier Pro, me and Emma found that the audio didn't sound disorientated enough, but after making alterations to the sound and moving the audio into another folder, we managed to make the audio sound how we would like. 

Re-filming & recording

Thursday's media lesson 

Last Thursday we decided to re-record all of Evan's dialogue , such as when he is singing the nursery rhyme and when he says 'Daisy' at the end of the extract. The reason for this was because, the audio was too quiet and slightly muffled and we understand that sound is very important in the opening sequence, so in order to get the best grade that we can, the audio must sound more professional and clearer. At first Evan was struggling to get the dialogue in sync with the footage, but after a few recordings we managed to get an appropriate recording, which was then uploaded onto the computer and into our editing software. 

During our afternoon media lesson we decided to create more voice recordings of News reports with the help of our friends. We originally started to record a few days ago, but after playing back the audio, we discovered that more recordings had to be made in order for the dialogue to overlap each other and flow. In addition, we then decided to disorientate the dialogue as this would create a more realistic and eerie effect and again this would be appropriate for the thriller genre. Later on in the lesson we went to go and re-film the establishing shot of the victim's house and the pressing of the doorbell. The reason for this was because the original footage of the house was lagging and jumped whilst being played , and this made the scene look poorer quality and slower and in the original footage of pressing the doorbell, you could see our reflection in the door's window, and clearly this was un-professional.

Once we arrived at the filming location, we were faced with a problem which was the weather. Due to it being a bright, sunny day and the house being exposed to the sun, I found it hard to not have my shadow appear on the door frame whilst pressing the doorbell. However, we finally managed to find an appropriate camera and hand angle in which the sun couldn't interfere, and fortunately we were able to avoid the shadows. Next we re-filmed the panning shot of the house, but decided to set the camera at 50 frames per second, rather than the original 24 frames per second. This was significant as it slowed the footage down and flow better.  Furthermore, after taking a few recordings we were confident that the footage would be better quality and flow more smoothly, so we headed back to our media lesson and uploaded the footage onto Adobe Premier Pro. 

Second version of the opening sequence

'UNORTHODOX'

Here is the most recent version of our opening title sequence. Compared to our first initial edit, many alterations and improvements have been made. However, we are still aware that more work needs to be done , to ensure that we can get the best level that we can. Furthermore, by uploading the extract onto YouTube, we are able to record the audience responses and take into consideration of any comments made. 

Improvements and titles

Today's lesson

By following our 'to do' list we were able to make more progress during today's media lesson. We found that creating the list has benefited us hugely, as we now feel much more organised and aware of what jobs need to be taken place before the editing deadline.

In the start of the lesson we all agreed that the titles that we had made were not engaging enough or liked by all members of the group. So as a result,  we decided to make changes and alter the name 'TIE PRODUCTIONS' to a more appropriate name which shared the same theme as the image (the eye) and therefore came up with 'VISION PRODUCTIONS' instead as we believed that this matched the image of the eye more than 'TIE'. However, the original title wasn't abandoned as we decided to replace 'WOODFIRE IMAGES' with 'TIE IMAGES' as we felt that this re-arrangement of titles was more appropriate and fitted in with the images/ extract better.

Following this, we began to create the titles which would appear throughout the opening title sequence. We all agreed that the titles should look almost like they have been handwritten, as this is a common technique in which thriller movies use. However this was more of an issue than expected due to us all having different opinions of what colour, size and font the titles should be in. After having a discussion, we managed to negotiate and agree on one particular text, which was in a white sans-serif and hand written effect and that would suit the thriller genre well. We then just had to decided about where on the footage the titles would appear and which corner of the screen they will be presented. 

                             

Furthermore, towards the end of the lesson we decided to make adjustments to our audio/dialogue. The reason for this was because the recordings of the News reports needed to be added and the fade in and out transitions needed to be placed before and after the non-diegetic music. As this would ensure that the audio would flow and sound more professional. However, after downloading the audio onto the editing program we discovered that the news reports didn't sound how we wanted them to , which was to have a deep fussy effect, as it would sound like the audio had come off an old-fashioned television. Therefore we had a 2nd attempt and fortunately managed to alter the audio in a software called 'Adobe Sound Booth'. 

Editing plan for the upcoming week

To do list

In order to be more organised and use our time efficiently in the next couple of weeks, we have produced a plan of the things that still needed to be done before the deadline. 

• Upload current video onto YouTube 
• Record Audience responses 
• Discuss the duration of our extract at remove at least an additional 10 secondsof footage , if completely necessary 
• Re-film the doorbell scene, as you can see the reflection from the film crew
• Make alterations to the flash back and add transitions
• Create/finish the production and main compnay titles eithe within adobe editing programeor with adobe after effects
• Create a title list and add the titles to the opening sequence
• Make final changes and small alterations
• Upload the final draft to YouTube

continuing editing and Initial Titles

More progress

Last Friday we carried on editing in our free period, despite not having a media lesson that day. We decided to make alterations and improvements to our sound , however Emma is most confident in this field, therefore she made the changes. Firstly, she ensured that the dialogue could easily be heard and understood by adjusting the sound levels. She then added transitions in front and behind the sound effects, so that when the audio is heard, it sounds professional and to a higher standard. 

We then later decided that the eye opening title needed to be re-filmed. This was because due to not using a tripod, the video was shaky and we all agreed that the poor filming may affect our final grade and loose us marks. Therefore Emma suggested that we got rid of the original footage and re-filmed using the Canon 700D camera instead of a smartphone as this would produce a higher quality video, that wouldn't be shaky due to the camera sitting on the tripod. Furthermore, after filming our friend's eye, we uploaded the footage onto the editing software, Adobe Premiere Pro and re-added the titles. In addition, in our original footage we attempted to use a graphic match of the 'o' in 'production' with the eye pupil. However, the text didn't look appropriate and was out of place, so we decided that the text should be presented on the left hand side, next to the eye. 

In the second hour, we viewed the whole extract from the beginning and decided that the ' In association with Woodfire Images' didn't really match our extract, so we then removed the image of the gravestone and trees and then re-added the text onto where the establishing shot of the house is presented. The reason for this was because we felt that the introduction of the extract would come across as more professional, and also by adding the title here, the duration of the sequence was shortened, and this was something in which we wanted to achieve anyway due to the duration being too long.  

Towards the end of our media lesson, Izzy added the main title 'UNORTHODOX', which is the name of our opening sequence at the end of the extract. As mentioned earlier, we were inspire by another students opening sequence and use a similar title style to theirs. Whilst Izzy created the title, myself and Emma had an input on what the colour should be of the text and the size of the font. We also added a ' boom' sound effect for when the title appears, as we found that this made the ending more dramatic and engaging.

 Furthermore, we plan to make a title list in our next media lesson, and chose the size and font of the text before adding the actual titles. And if we have any spare time, then we plan to add the newspaper reports over the footage as again this will be effective and create tension. 

Progress in editing

Editing and initial titles 

Yesterday my group and I continued to make alterations to our video and began creating titles for the extract. However due to us being off college over Christmas, we haven't been able to make any more improvements, so now we are having to use our time wisely and try to do as much as we can within our media lessons. Firstly we decided to cut down parts of the opening sequence due to the duration being too long and lasting over 3 minutes, and the extract is only meant to last between 1-2. However, we struggled to remove any scenes, as we felt that every clip was relevant, therefore we decided to remove a few seconds off each scene that we believed weren't significant and managed to have a shorter duration of 2 minutes and 47 seconds. Although, we feel that this duration is still too long and aim to at least remove another 10 seconds just to be safe and make the duration

more appropriate. We later decided that the image of an eye was too simplistic and not engaging enough, so we then came up with the idea to have a video of the eye opening rather than a still image , so therefore Izzy went into the photo studio and recorded our friends eye using an extreme close up. Whilst Izzy was recording, Emma and myself continued to cut down the extract and started to make another title. We came up with the idea of having a black background and presenting the text 'In association with...' and  ' Wood-fire images' in white and orange, sans-serif font. In addition, we decided to look on the internet and find an appropriate image that could be used to represent the company/title, however we decided that this would be an act of copy right, but luckily Emma had taken an image of a sunset and graveyard the previous weekend , so we decided to use this instead as it wasn't copied and made the title more original. Furthermore we believed that this image

related to the thriller theme and looked fairly sinister, due to the use of dark colours and the silhouettes of the trees and grave stone. When Izzy returned we uploaded and saved the footage onto the computer and downloaded the video onto the editing software. Again we believed that the footage was appropriate and related to the thriller theme as the lighting was fairly dark and dull, and therefore this made our friends skin look paler and her eyes brighter and more noticeable. 

Editing and initial Titles

Today's lesson

Today In our two hour media lesson, we managed to make more alterations to our extract and add more audio and titles. Throughout the lesson, me and Emma researched for copyright free audio which would be appropriate for the extract and add to the verisimilitude.

For example, we found audio for the shower scene , which was the water from the shower, a door bell, for when the victim arrives at the front door, and classical and mysterious music which will be played throughout the whole duration of the opening sequence, to add effect and create an tension. Whilst we were doing this, Izzy was transferring the audio onto the editing software and made changes to some of the flashbacks, in which we created last Tuesday. In addition, she deleted the last scene in our extract, which was when the victim and antagonist were sharing dialogue. The reason for this was due to our extract's duration being too long and we thought that this particular scene wasn't necessary due to us having other sound alternatives throughout the extract.

In the second hour, we started to create titles for our opening sequence. After researching giff's of black and white eyes, we were informed that we are more likely to gain more marks if we didn't copy and paste images from the internet. Therefore we went into the studio room next door and decided to take a extreme close up of our friends eye. In addition the titles will appear over the eye and will make the titles look more professional and to a higher standard.  

Todays lesson- Editing

Today's lesson 

We continued to add effects and edit our footage in today's lesson. Firstly we separated the sound from the shots and removed the audio from the scenes that didn't require the sound. In addition this ensured that all background noise and dialogue from myself and group members was removed and therefore made the extract more appropriate and intense. As already mentioned, the footage was too long , lasting over 5 minutes , therefore we cut down the extract and deleted irrelevant shots that made the clip a more acceptable duration.  Another point to note is that we started to crop the shots in which the antagonist crosses out his victim's faces and added them over the other footage. This then created a 'flash back' effect due to the footage quickly appearing and then disappearing throughout. We personally believe that a flash back is common within thrillers and adds to the tension, therefore may benefit our extract. 

Towards the end of the lesson we started to look for copyright free classical/sinister music. Even though we already found music and added it to our first initial edit last Thursday, we found that some members disliked the audio we chose and therefore we found another copyright free song which was much preferred and more appropriate. 

 

First Initial edit

First initial edit of our footage 

Editing- Construction

The first edits of our opening sequence

Last Thursday we started to edit our filming footage. We decided that we wanted to at least upload the footage onto the software and organised each individual shot and place them in the correct order, however we completed the target fairly quickly, meaning that we had extra time to edit. Therefore we managed to turn the footage into black and white as we all thought that this makes the extract more sinister and dark. We added 2 title sequences, the production and title feature and downloaded some classical , eery music which we found appropriate for our extract. In addition, the music chosen is fairly common in thriller movies and we thought that this genre of music would particularly be effective. Our first edits were successful and we managed our time well,however we are aware that a lot still needs to be done and removing background voices from the footage and sorting out the other ambient sounds is very time consuming. Another issue is that the duration of the footage is around 5 minutes and this clearly is too long for an opening sequence. Therefore we need to cut down the clips and decide which shots are relevant and which can be deleted to ensure that the extract has an appropriate duration. Furthermore we hope to continue making alterations later on this week. 

Filming day

Day of Filming 

All members of the group and our actor met up at approximately 10:30am at the filming location. We chose this time as we were unsure as to how long it would take to capture our

footage as well as extra shots. Once we arrived myself and Izzy ( a group member) decided to set up our props. We stuck all of our images of victims, newspaper clippings and murder case posters up on the antagonists bedroom wall and set up the bedroom by re-organising the furniture and making the environment look clean and tidy, due to this reflecting the antagonists'  mental illness, OCD. We also removed items out of the bathroom cupboard and placed the pills and medication on the shelves. In addition we ensured that there was no possible hazards, by referring back to our risk assessment sheet and making the environment safe for us to use. Furthermore, whilst me and Izzy were doing this, Emma set up the camera , assembled the tripod and set up the correct lighting in the bathroom, due to this being the first room to film in. In addition Emma made sure that the white balance was appropriate by taking a few test shots. 

However we also faced a few issues whilst recording our extract. For example Evan, our actor didn't own a dark coloured shirt, therefore he wore a striped blue one instead. But this wasn't a major issue as it didn't affect his presentation and still managed to come across as sinister. In addition Evan misplaced his watch and this was important as time plays a fairly large focal point within the narrative, However, luckily Frankie's dad allowed us to use his watch which therefore solved the issue. Another issue was that both of our lights blew whilst recording our first scene, and this was unfortunate as we had to depend on natural lighting and in some scenes, the lighting was fairly dark because of this issue. Although after viewing our footage the lighting isn't really an issue and the editing will again improve the lighting to a higher standard, by altering the exposure and contrast.

Overall, we managed to stick to our filming schedule and finished packing up the equipment around 3:45pm.

 

Pre-filiming preparation

Preparation for Filming 

Last Friday we visited our filming location and took recce shots of the location and inside the household. This then enabled us to decide which rooms we were going to film in, and whether all the equipment could fit in the provided space or not. In addition, one of our group members, Emma went to college in the afternoon and collected our equipment. This included; the camera, case&charger, microphone for the sound, the studio lights and stands, the light reflectors and tripod. Even though we were provided with a presentation from one of the technicians from school on how to use the equipment appropriately and safely, Emma and her father decided to test all of the equipment the following day, just to double check that everything worked and reminded herself how to use the lights etc. 
Another point to note is that I went to the local supermarket the day before filming and purchased a few items from our prop list. For example the medication and bottles. I then stuck labels onto the medication, which ensured that we were organised for the next day (filming). 

Planning journal-Audience feedback idea1

Audience feedback- First initial idea  

Our group I discussed the idea with the group, we found that the idea was too common and I personally didn't like the idea myself .We therefore then decieded to ask our peers on what they thought about our first initial idea. The reason for this is because we wanted to make sure that the audience would find the extract engaging and whether they would want to watch this opening sequence again. After collecting the responses, they showed that the idea was disliked, due to the setting and story line being comonly used in thrilers. In addition we spoke to our media teacher and she also advised us to avoid woods as a setting and the idea of a stalker character due to them being too common and she wanted us to be more unique.