Evaluation

Here's the link to my website: http://bilgybuts.wix.com/2015asmedia

Here's the final edit of our OTS: 

Here's our Continuity task:

Making The Music Sound Track - Editing (DRAFT)

In the editing process of the music, it started off quite difficult as I had no previous experience but I got the hang of it quite quickly by just exploring the program. I started by creating a Loop Project which meant that I had a

vast library of loops from a range of instruments.
As the genre for the OTS was Film Noir I thought that the Piano would be a good instrument to start off with but to make it have that jazz feel I added a drum kit loop to keep the music moving forward. After this I added more texture to the piece by
having another piano layer and a bass guitar.

As the OTS got more and more intense as it went on I felt like it needed more than just piano, drums and bass. I added two string layers. Both were playing the same loop but I wanted to have half panned to the left and the other half panned to the right. So I cut one loop in half and put the two halfs in different layers.

To increase the tension, I increased the pitch on the strings, bass and piano. I did this by going into the settings for that layer and increasing the pitch slider. I increased it at regular intervals building tension up more and more.

When I felt that the tension had increased enough, I added a big warp effect to end the tension and bring in the actual film. After this being shown a couple of times to the class they commented on the fact that it wasn't in time.

Making The Music Sound Track - Syncing

Aidan created a timeline on Google Docs with times of important actions highlighted in bold. I used this to sync up the music very precisely, to the millisecond. Before then we were visually watching the movie while playing the music at the same time to try and sync it up. This was obviously very inaccurate which is why we resorted to using the timeline. 

The whole gang using the visual method of syncing.

• 0:00:00 - OTS begins
• 0:08:21 - Adam sits down
• 0:12:11 - cross dissolve to second shot begins
• 0:14:04 - Cross dissolve to second shot ends
• 0:15:15 - cross dissolve to third shot begins
• 0:16:15 - cross dissolve to third shot ends
• 0:17:24 - cigarette is placed in ash tray
• 0:19:06 - cross dissolve to fourth shot begins
• 0:19:22 - cross dissolve to fourth shot ends
• 0:23:22 - cross dissolve to fifth shot begins
• 0:24:09 - cross dissolve to fifth shot ends
• 0:25:10 - cross dissolve to sixth shot begins
• 0:26:07 - cross dissolve to sixth shot ends
• 0:30:01 - cross dissolve to seventh shot begins
• 0:31:01 - cross dissolve to seventh shot ends
• 0:33:24 - cross dissolve to eighth shot begins
• 0:34:14 - cross dissolve to eighth shot ends
• 0:34:24 - cross dissolve to ninth shot begins
• 0:36:06 - cross dissolve to tenth shot ends
• 0:38:04 - cross dissolve to eleventh shot begins
• 0:38:13 - cross dissolve to eleventh shot ends
• 0:38:24 - folder blocks screen
• 0:40:01 - twelfth shot
• 0:40:05 - blue tac ripped
• 0:40:18 - thirteenth shot
• 0:42:16 - cross dissolve to fourteenth shot begins
• 0:44:04 - cross dissolve to fourteenth shot ends
• 0:46:06 - fifteenth shot
• 0:46:12 - first flash in fifteenth shot
• 0:46:23 - second flash in fifteenth shot
• 0:47:07 - third flash in fifteenth shot
• 0:49:17 - cross dissolve to sixteenth shot begins
• 0:50:11 - cross dissolve to sixteenth shot ends
• 0:52:13 - cross dissolve to seventeenth shot begins
• 0:53:07 - cross dissolve to seventeenth shot ends
• 0:57:02 - eighteenth shot
• 1:00:05 - nineteenth shot
• 1:02:16 - twentieth shot
• 1:03:18 - twenty-first shot
• 1:04:09 - sticky note placed on board
• 1:04:16 - twenty-second shot
• 1:05:01 - picture placed on board
• 1:05:21 - cross dissolve to twenty-third shot begins
• 1:06:17 - cross dissolve to twenty-third shot ends
• 1:10:03 - cross dissolve to twenty-fourth shot begins
• 1:11:01 - cross dissolve to twenty-fourth shot ends
• 1:11:10 - Adam stands off chair
• 1:15:05 - twenty-fifth shot
• 1:28:16 - flash dissolve to twenty-sixth shot
• 1:29:03 - twenty sixth shot
• 1:57:01 - OTS ends

This is the first timeline that Aidan made. After I synced it all up and I exported it and we got it into Final Cut Pro and added to our OTS. We then exported the film and showed it to the class for feedback, the video is here: Class Feedback
After the feedback, Aidan went to work and tried to address everything the class had talked about: making clips shorter and longer etc. The audio was then obviously out of sync so Aidan created a second timeline with updated times:

• 0:00:00 - OTS begins
• 0:02:03 - first credit
• 0:06:04 - second credit
• 0:11:09 - Adam sits down
• 0:15:11 - cross dissolve to second shot begins
• 0:16:04 - cross dissolve to second shot ends
• 0:16:07 - third credit
• 0:18:02 - cross dissolve to third shot begins
• 0:19:02 - cross dissolve to third shot ends
• 0:19:07 - fourth credit
• 0:20:09 - cigarette is put on ash tray
• 0:21:18 - cross dissolve to fourth shot begins
• 0:22:09 - cross dissolve to fourth shot ends
• 0:22:14 - fifth credit
• 0:26:09 - cross dissolve to sixth shot begins
• 0:26:21 - cross dissolve to sixth shot ends
• 0:27:22 - cross dissolve to seventh shot begins
• 0:28:19 - cross dissolve to seventh shot ends
• 0:28:23 - sixth credit
• 0:32:13 - cross dissolve to eighth shot begins
• 0:33:13 - cross dissolve to eighth shot ends
• 0:36:11 - cross dissolve to ninth shot begins
• 0:37:01 - cross dissolve to ninth shot ends
• 0:37:11 - cross dissolve to tenth shot begins
• 0:38:18 - cross dissolve to tenth shot ends
• 0:40:16 - cross dissolve to eleventh shot begins
• 0:41:00 - cross dissolve to eleventh shot ends
• 0:41:00 - seventh credit
• 0:41:03 - folder covers screen
• 0:43:02 - twelfth shot
• 0:43:06 - Adam rips blu tac
• 0:43:19 - thirteenth shot
• 0:45:17 - cross dissolve to fourteenth shot begins
• 0:47:05 - cross dissolve to fifteenth shot ends
• 0:47:05 - eighth credit
• 0:50:02 - sixteenth shot
• 0:53:13 - cross dissolve to seventeenth shot begins
• 0:54:07 - cross dissolve to seventeenth shot ends
• 0:54:07 - ninth credit
• 0:57:03 - tenth credit
• 1:00:00 - cross dissolve to eighteenth shot begins
• 1:00:08 - cross dissolve to eighteenth shot ends
• 1:04:08 - nineteenth shot
• 1:07:11 - twentieth shot
• 1:07:11 - eleventh credit
• 1:09:22 - twenty-first shot
• 1:10:07 - adam places news clipping on board
• 1:10:24 - twenty-second shot
• 1:11:14 - adam places note on board
• 1:11:22 - twenty-third shot
• 1:12:07 - adam places picture on board
• 1:13:02 - cross dissolve to twenty-fourth shot begins
• 1:13:23 - cross dissolve to twenty-fourth shot ends
• 1:14:01 - twelfth credit
• 1:17:09 - cross dissolve to twenty-fifth shot begins
• 1:18:07 - cross dissolve to twenty-fifth shot ends
• 1:18:10 - thirteenth credit
• 1:18:15 - adam sits up
• 1:22:11 - twenty-sixth shot
• 1:22:23 - fourteenth credit
• 1:35:20 - flash to twenty-seventh shot
• 1:37:04 - “Three weeks earlier” subtitle

The times highlighted in red are important times where the main actions happen. My job was to make the audio react to those actions for example if someone gets shot the music would turn very dramatic.

Class Feedback

Because watching our OTS has the effect of bias of the work we've done we decided to show a rough cut to our class for audience feedback. Here is the feedback video:

Making The Music Sound Track - Introduction

We had many ideas when it came to the sound track of the OTS. One was to have a self-written, performed and recorded song, performed by some people at school. This felt like a good idea because I took Music GCSE and got an A* for one of my compositions and a B for the other, so I could write a piece for this OTS but we had constraints of time and of performer availability.
Another idea was to use royalty free music but we all felt that was cheating and we wouldn't be able to achieve the right sound for our OTS. We had to meet somewhere in the middle and seeing as we were using the macs in our Media Studies classroom to do research and just general work and editing, I thought of using Garage band. With that we could actually make a sound that we liked using loops of different instruments and it didn't feel like cheating too much because we actually created that music using samples.

Filming: Day Two

On Sunday 4th January we continued filming our Opening Title Sequence. All the set up was the same: The set, the camera, the layout of props. This day was for doing the shots involving the board. We got more items to go on our board since the first day and also we were going to use a cork board to make it have that traditional look but we didn't want it to look traditional so we modernised it by using the whiteboard that was already in the office and that way we could use marker pens instead of strings and pins which also gives it that modern feel. It's also very handy that Aidan's mum had a laminated map of Norfolk in the office: a) to give the audience a sense of location and where they are and b) we could draw on it with marker pens without ruining it.

Filming: Day One

We started filming on Saturday 3rd January at Aidan's Mum's Office. The set up for filming consisted Aidan's camera on a tripod with an external microphone attached. We also had my camera on site as a back up. In that day we filmed the first few scenes that didn't involve the board and map very much due to having insufficient props to make it look as realistic and full as we wanted. Using that type of camera (DSLR @ 1080p) meant that we could control the lighting of our shot much more than physically covering up windows and doors, which is also what we did. To make sure that we had a structure we constantly consulted our storyboard which we had on set. To see Aidan's Blog post about the story board, Click Here

Pre-Production: The Set

In a production log, Aidan directed our attention to his Flickr account. On said Flickr account were many pictures of his Mum's Workplace, an office.



These are pictures of two offices and we decided to only use his Mum's office which are pictures: 1, 2, 3 and 4. We chose this one as it looked like a more typical office.

Production Log #6

Production Log #5

Sound Research

Music for this project is very important for an opening title sequence as in any part of a film we ely on music to tell us how to feel and act. For example slow string music might tell us that the scene is sad or if its an upbeat, fast paced pop song it could tell us this is a happy scene.




This is a very good song to fit in with the Film Noir genre. It has jazz elements like the drum beat but instead of having saxaphone

Production Company Logo Development

This is my first version of our Production Company logo. Our company name was AWA which stood for Aidan, Will, Adam, our names. So I wrote out the name and then mirrored it. The pattern looked good because the shape of the letters made triangles so they fitted together well. I then thought about adding an image as most big production companies have an image that easily identifies them. I picked a lamp. I edited a shape on top of the lamps bulb and put an Outer Glow on it to make it look like the lamp is on. To make it look semi-realistic, I put a drop shadow on the letters to simulate shadows created by the light. After all this editing I realised that the lamp is too associated with Disney Pixar.

Production Log #3

This time we have video and Adam! We are basically recapping Production Log #2 but adding Adam's input too.

Production Log #2

Disclaimer! This video is just audio

Analysis of "Priest Intro" - Sound (Draft)

Last lesson we analysed a 5 minute extract near to the beginning of the film "Priest". From that extract, I believe it is a Sci-Fi film but with classical western and religious themes and settings. I believe this as the three characters we see are all wearing typical 18th Century "Old West" clothing, they live in a old rickety wooden house with a little veranda which is quite typical of western houses. But we mainly focused on sound in the lesson so this is what this post is all about.

The first sound we hear is dialogue between the Father and Mother characters. Nothing else can be heard apart from distant wind sound.

Conventions of an Opening Title Sequence (Draft)

The opening title sequence of a film is used by film creators to credit the cast and crew of the film. It obviously involves titles while maybe involving live action scenes. Normally, the order of the credits goes:

• Name of production companies
• Director
• Producer
• Other key crew
• Executive producer
• Top billing actors
• The Movie Title

All movies do not stick to this format though as seen in the Watchmen OTS which is on my blog, here is the link

Experimental Titles

As we are having our film title at the end of our OTS, I spent the lesson on Photoshop coming up with different titles using our working title "Dog Eat Dog". We went through lots of fonts and designs, trying to find a suitable look for our OTS. These are the best ones out of that session. The third one is the one that we actually edited. We increased the letter spacing to space it out a bit.

Typical Film Noir Narratives

Production Log #1: Team Roles

Captain America: The Winter Soldier OTS Deconstruction (Comparison) (Draft)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a Action, Sci-Fi Film about the Comic Book character, Captain America. Here is the OTS:


This too also includes the main features of an OTS: Credits of cast and crew, in this one the director comes first like in most OTSs whereas in the Watchmen OTS, the director comes last.

Neo Noir - A Genre (Draft)

Neo Noir is practically the same as Film Noir but the main differences are that the themes, settings, visual elements, props are all updated to the modern day. The main principles are still there:

• Main Protagonist is a detective or police officer or an Anti-Hero, does good but not in the law's good books.
• Main Antagonist is a drug dealer, black market arms dealer, anything related to illegal activity to contrast with detective/police.
• Femme Fatale, is a very beautiful sexual woman normally used by the Antagonist or for herself to lure the protagonist and break him down using love and lust.

These are all updated like a more modern style of dress, modern guns, modern settings. It started to happen with directors in the 1970s when they felt like the genre would appeal to audiences more if they made it more believable by updating to the current generation.

Watchmen OTS Deconstruction

Watchmen is a Mystery, Neo-Noir, Comic Book movie. It follows many typical conventions of the Film Noir genre but also adds new ones as this incorporates politics and superheroes. Here is the OTS:


This OTS follows an alternative timeline of American history, where superheroes are a part of everyday life. It incorporates many conventions of an Opening Title Sequence such as credits of the cast and crew, Footage, giving the audience a brief understanding of the film without spoiling any of the film. Every mini-scene, has very smooth camera movement because its all in slow-motion. They follow the lives of superheroes, past ones and the heroes that are the main characters of the film. Each one almost has its own story behind it and they're very understandable as it shows very iconic scenes in American history such as the assassination of J.F.K but then each one has its own twist such as one of the superheroes were responsible for the killing. This is relatable because at the time there were conspiracies going around that the CIA hired someone to assassinate J.F.K. Each scene lets the audience know what period of time. Such as when a TV is playing news, it is about the Vietnam War you know its around 1965 - 1968.

Influences on my own ideas:

• The audience easily pick out different characters through the use of visual semiotics - The use of masks and capes, guns, suitable clothing to their profession.
• I am interested in the way the titles are positioned and angled to look like they're physically interacting with the environment of the shot
• I like the way attention is drawn to key characters by use of depth of field/pull focus / colour and other characters pointing

  

  Example of, a) How the titles interact with the background - shadows, depth of field
  b) How other characters have a different depth of field to  
  others, and how pointing focuses our attention.

• The references of iconic scenes from global events e.g. nurse and soldier kiss, J.F.K assassination

In my Opening Title Sequence I intend to have titles positioned in such a way that it looks like they're interacting with the background. This'll thicken the texture of the OTS, hopefully immersing the audience much more than just plain straight text over the top of the clips. I also want to use props to help the audience know what the time period is or what the current situation is, like a TV or a Newspaper, also positioning the actors in a way that emphasises who the audience should be focusing on most like have some actors looking in the direction of the main characters or directly at them. Using colour to emphasise key objects or characters is another way of drawing audiences focus and increasing their immersion.

Film Noir Photoshoot

We were assigned to create a Film Noir style photo-shoot based on a children's film. We chose to do Harry Potter but unfortunately it turned into a normal Film Noir shoot. After taking the photos using proper studio lighting and also natural outdoor lighting, Me and Aidan got working on the editing process. Here are the finished products:

1. I tried to give the illusion that Aidan that was going into the wall so I darkened the entire picture so his jacket merged with the wall. I then photoshopped a cigarette into his hands as we posed his hands to look like he was.
2. Using studio lighting we managed to create a good shot with lots of shadows but the lighting brought it out enough to be able to tell what it is. I then cut the background out and replaced it with a scenic city background.
3. This is my favourite edit because the angle at which it was taken gives the subject a sense of power over the viewer as it simulates the viewer as the person who's about to be shot. Also I made the background of the shot look very cartoon like. I made it very obscure by using Photoshop to make it look like he has chunks flying off of him. This highlights the fact that he is like a shadow, very mysterious.

Continuity Task

Adam, Aidan and I grouped together to make a Continuity Task. The brief that was given to us was that it needs to show someone walking up to and going into a door, sitting down and exchanging dialogue with another person already in the room. We accomplished the task and met the brief. Here it is:

We achieved continuity by counting my steps, remembering where i was positioned on the stairs, and remembering which foot i started on. By looking back at footage we already filmed we could see where my feet were so continuity was present in the raw footage as well as fixing a few bits in the editing process. We only used one camera so we couldn't use the 180 degree rule.

The 180 degree rule is a basic rule of filmmaking which regards the on-screen relationship between two objects or people in a scene. The cameras can't be on opposite sides of the two objects in question. They must be on the same side of an imaginary line going through the center of the two objects to make sure you can't see the other camera.