Evaluation 1

Evaluation 2

Evaluation 3

Evaluation 4 and 5

Evaluation of Final Film

Evaluation Question 6

Evaluation Question 7

The Final Opening Sequence

The final film.

After having to make loads of further edits working with what we had over having to go back and reshoot some things, we have managed to make some changes to our film that we feel are very beneficial to the film as a whole. We have managed to use the shots we had to create a shot reverse shot between the Stalker and Mandy as she approaches the scene of the murder. We found this quite difficult as we had to edit perfectly to make the continuity of the film work and keep the belief of our film there. This was a major problem as it was very time consuming and we hadn't got the titles or sound onto the film yet therefore we were slightly starting to panic as we knew we were running out of time. I also found it very boring as it was watching the same section of the film over and over and over again and it became very laborious. However, due to the fact we didn't have loads of shot reverse shots we didn't have to do much editing in that sense. For me, it was more time consuming getting to know Final Cut Express by myself and working out how to do different things on my own over actually editing the film together.

We had to spend an hour learning how to get the titles onto each clip by using tutorials on Youtube to help, one of which can be seen below:

We found this to be a good way to learn as it was something we had no idea about and due to the fact we didn't have it told to us exactly what it was we were meant to do, we had the freedom to play around a bit with the different texts and transitions of each. This too was time consuming but it was worth doing as it means we have learnt something new we can use in the future on Final Cut Express. I learnt how to do this fully which was quite hard as there is a lot of different buttons on the computers to use which is quite different to a PC and the symbols for each thing are different to that on a PC which was hard to get used to.

Feedback Recieved.

I found the peer assessment activity really useful as it helped me to notice faults in the sequence that I had not noticed before. Likewise, having a teacher look at our sequence also helped me as through the criticism we got there, I was able to form new better ideas to improve our sequence.

The positive comments we recieved is as follows:

1. Lighting very good
2. Shots very good
3. Daylight good - easy to see
4. Close up of eyes good
5. Good costume 
6. Good location 
7. Simple but effective
8. Good costumes/shots
9. Good mis-en-scene
10. Good acting and characters
11. Good quality 
12. Good range of shots 
13. Good cuts 
14. Close ups good
15. Narrative liked
16. Continuity good

From the criticisms we got about our opening squence, I was able to see things in the sequence that weren't as positive and I may not have noticed had it not been for recieving that feedback.

1. Some bits jumpy - this is down to the fact that the editing is not yet compeleted. Once it has been it will be a lot clearer and not as noticeable if at all where the editing is.
2. Audio is confusing - the audio captured in the film shots is going to be muted completely hence why we aren't too bothered about it just yet. Instead we are hoping to use a Phil Colins song called Sussudio to make it more of a cheesy film over something that is trying to look too serious which I think is a good route to go down being that we have never done this before.
3. Storyline a bit confusing - it was not explained how so we don't understand how it is confusing in order to modify it. I intend to ask some of the people how they found it confusing so that as a group we can try to make it clearer even though I think its pretty straightforward.
4. Editing wasn't smooth - editing isn't finished.
5. Some shots out of focus - this was meant to happen as it creates a certain mysterious atmosphere around Anna. I did this on purpose.
6. Could be more suspensful (when Anna is following Lucy) - once again will be rectified in final editing. The shots are going to be made shorter, there will possibly be more shot reverse shots etc.
7. Sound could be used before Lucy is on the floor - is going to be added when we get to editing that last little bit; the kind of thing we had in mind was to do like a blackout when the title of the film appears, with a scream then you see the final shot with Lucy on the floor.
8. Add more shots whilst walking  - once again, a problem that will be solved during last edits. The more suspense we build up by using these shots, the better it will be. The only reason it was so basic for this viewing was because we knew we were running out of time to get it done. 

What we have left to do

We still have a fair amount left to do although I don't think it's something that is unmanageable.
We need to finish editing in the sense that we need to put titles onto our opening and make sure there are no problems with continuity or the way the shots run and that the editing of the shots together is seamless so as not to destroy the illusion of reality for the viewer. We also need to organize our peer evaluation questionaire and get that filled out by our target audience when we first screen our opening sequence so that we can go back to editing and respond to the criticism. Lastly we need to add the audio to our sequence by removing the voices and noise from the clips and adding in the song chosen over the top of all of it to make a more of a mime film over something where you can hear each word said. We decided to do this to leave more to the viewers imagination. I think this is a very good idea as it doesn't make the film as straightforward which links into our thriller genre as often thrillers are more psychological over outright horror.

Overall, I think we are doing quite well and don't see that we are running out of time or should be under a huge amount of pressure to complete everything. I am very pleased with the rate at which we are working.

Editing on my own for the first time.

Today, I was the only member of my group present and so I took it upon myself to try and get the rest of the film put together. I struggled a little bit to start off with as I had never used Final Cut Express before and had only watched Anna edit. However, once I got used to it I found the putting together of the clips really easy. Toward the end, I really struggled with getting a title on the film and it took me about 20 minutes however I did it on my own and managed to get it on there in the end just by playing around with the program. There is still a bit of work to go but I think what I did today helped a lot and saved a lot of time for the group as a whole.

Editing our sequence

We began editing our sequence last week and have already encountered some problems with the continuity of the film and attempting to edit shots together. Some of the shots are good in places and then bad in others however we took a few different shots of the same thing so trying to edit them together has been quite difficult. Overall, editing so far has been good although the time we have is running short and I'm a bit worried we might not finish on time.

My main role in the production of the film

I didn't do any of the acting as I don't like being on film. Instead I did the filming and helped out with the production especially when it came to establishing different ways to get a shot if we had encountered some kind of problem such as Anna becoming visible as the Stalker in the shot or a certain angle not allowing the action to be captured due to the blocking of the people in the scene.

I was most happy doing the filming for the opening sequence and felt I did a good job of it making the most of the situation we had. Also, I feel the people I was filming made it a lot more easier as they were really easy to work with and although they enjoyed messing around, at the same time they were always willing to listen to both myself and each other and eager to take on board any criticisms or changes anyone wanted to make. Further to this, the person who played Ted, Perry, despite not gaining anything from being in our film or letting us use his house, he was really eager to help and a lovely person which made the experience feel a lot more like fun rather than work. We got all the shots we needed and completely captured the essence we wanted for our film very quickly.

Group filming - personal response

Today we filmed our opening sequence. I feel it went really well and we got all the shots we needed. Also, we managed to do it in just an hour and a half - being that it was very cold this was great!
However, when filming we encountered a few problems. I felt maybe we could have done it even quicker with more concentration which may have ensured we got more shots of different things just in case we decide we don't like one of the ones we have. Also, we got into some trouble with a man who didn't like us filming around his area and began shouting swear words and threatening to call the police on us. This made me quite nervous and kind of put me off wanting to film anywhere around that area although thankfully, we had got all the shots we needed to create our sequence.

Overall though, I think it was a really good day and I'm really pleased with the footage we got as I think it went exactly as we planned. I'm looking forward to putting it all together and seeing what my peers think of it as I am really proud of it and the work that went into it.

 Above you can see a photo of the house that we used for the main body of the film. 

 This is a photo of me and Lucy setting up the camera before filming the establishing shot of Perry's (Ted) house.

 Lucy teaching me how to use her camera - I did the main amount of filming whilst Anna, Lucy and Perry did the acting. Anna and Lucy between them took most of the photos.

 Anna (the Stalker) looking in from the window. This was one of our problems - how to conceal her from Mandy and Ted whilst making her obvious to the audience.

 The room in which the date was taking place in with Anna already on watch.

 The camera set up for a tracking shot of Ted and Mandy going into the living room. I found it quite difficult manouvering a tripod whilst keeping the camera steady.

 Filming set up of the main date section - an attempt at catching a view from Anna's eyeline whilst portraying the happy emotions in the date.

 Perry Vazquez (Ted) and Lucy Findlater (Mandy) in character as a couple.

 The mallet used by the Stalker to murder Mandy

 The Cast
Perry Vazquez - Ted
Lucy Findlater - Mandy
Anna Wylde - the Stalker

Meetings 1 - 3 (Pre filming)

When we first discussed the ideas for our opening sequence, I really liked the idea of creating a thriller and setting it in the Victorian era, however when we did some research and looked at cost of getting the costume and props the idea of doing something set in the Victorian era lost its appeal. Then we came up with the idea of 70s/80s and that sounded slightly unusual to fit with a thriller genre so when the idea of having a stalker who may or may not kill the girlfriend of the boy she's in love with it sounded very unusual but like something that could work and would be interesting. It's also not something that is done very often and therefore would appeal to people more as its something new and unique.

When we eventually decided on doing the 80s for our era, I was really pleased with that as we could have a lot more fun with the costume, background music, make up and props of our group. The film could be  made to look like something its not to start off with and therefore really intrigue the audience.

We then began storyboarding our opening sequence and deciding what settings and props we would need. As of now, we are all set to film and have arranged to do so on Sunday 29th January. This will mean that as of next Monday we will be ready to begin editing our film together. I am slightly worried that we only have 3 weeks left and no footage although we have a very clear idea of where we're going and what we need to do.

Preliminary Sequence - Did you feed the fish?

Harry Potter soundclip

Before we begun our opening sequence, we created a soundclip to go with Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince's opening sequence.

We did this using Garageband in preparation for when we had to add sound to our opening sequence so we could get used to fitting sound to action. Also, we did this to help us to get to know our way around GarageBand and all the different things that it can do and how we can use these to our advantage.

Opening Sequence Idea

To decide what to do for our opening sequence was a very difficult task as we found it hard to select what to do from our ideas of modern day, Victorian and the last century. However, we decided very quickly what genre we wanted to do and have stuck to that throughout the brainstorming of our ideas. AEventually we decided that we want to base our sequence in the 70s/80s and that it is going to be a horror. We came to this decision through thinking of the practical elements of creating a different time and how much money each would cost to create. However we always wanted to be original and set it in a different time and through looking through our wardrobes and researching the time, we realised that this idea would be cost free and easy to do as we had asked a friend from outside of our group to help us by acting and letting us use his house.

We have 3 people acting in our sequence and one of the group filming it. We are going to use props of 70s/80s clothing and someone's house as our scene. The story is a couple (girlfriend and boyfriend) at his house watching a film together, getting very close. However, there is a girl, his stalker, watching from outside through the window who is infatuated with the boy. She is so obsessed with him that she takes it upon herself to get rid of his girlfriend altogether by attacking her as she makes her way home. The stalker is carrying an axe and as the girl leaves she begins to follow her down an alley. When they are definitely completely isolated, the stalker pulls out the axe, the screen goes black and you hear a scream. The next thing the audience will see is the axe and the girl on the floor and a smile from the stalker before she calmly walks away leaving the dramatic scene behind her including the murder weapon.

We are going to use a few different locations in order to reflect the girl's journey home as well as a lot of different camera shots including shot reverse shot, extreme close ups, long shots and establishing shots.

Preliminary Excercise - Did You Feed The Fish?

When the group (Myself, Anna, Lucy and Madihah) were given the sequence, we immediately decided that we wanted to incorperate some comedy. 

We started on making our story board and planning - writing down the props that were to be used, who would be what character, the clothing and location. We came up with an idea that we thought would work well. We thought the camera shots we decided to use fit with the slightly satirical feeling we were going for and would effectively capture the moment and the emotions we were trying to get across. We decided how we were going to film it, and wrote down what we were going to film first and where and how
However, when it came to the day we were filming, the location we had decided on was not open.

So we thought fast and decided to use the rooftops of a department store in New Malden, kept safe and watched by a member of staff, we filmed from the end of the sequence to the start as we found this was easier. While filming we did come across some problems as my camera went out of battery but luckily we had two other cameras with us so we could continue filming.

We tried the same shot a few times but changed them each time so they looked as good as we could make them. I believe the editing went well and we produced a good piece of work, although we could of planned better by checking the opening and closing date of our building of choice. Our original storyboard was not used entirely; we did keep most of the clips and shots we wanted to use, but had to change a few because of the change of building. Also, the weather was, although aesthetically right, the wind was very loud therefore making the audible sound of the actress's voices harder to make out. 
Overall, I was really pleased with the group and with our sequence and felt it as very good for a first attempt at creating a proper sequence.