P8: TITLE - Produce and edit footage in line with the production plan applying any final effects
Justifying Product
Strengths
I found production easy because I had a very simple sequence planned out and good actors to work with and the shots were not to hard to do.
I found post-production easier because it was more of a learning process (I just kept on fiddling with the effects to see which looked the best.) It was somewhat frustrating finding the right background music but it ended up fine.
Coming up with an idea was easy because I got told I could to any idea I could think of as long as it was feasible.
It was easy to follow my script and storyboard.
I also had the ability to do my sequence because it was simple.
Weakness
I found think of a script hard because I kept changing my ideas
I found doing the storyboard hard because getting the order of the shots correct so that it looks as real and scary as possible is hard. I also added different shots and had taken away shots that were not needed.
The budget plan was difficult because finding the right websites and prices were really hard but I just need to find the right website
Quality of Piece
The quality of my piece I feel is really and could possibly be used in a short film if it was a longer sequence and maybe a little more tweaking.
Visual and Special effects that I used
For my visual effect I used CGI on the killers face
For my Special effects I used makeup on the girl being chased (she has a black eye)
My original Idea compared to the finished product
The concept never changed, meaning that there was always going to be a chase and she was always going to die. The location is what keep changing because it was first going to be at the chalk pit, then I changed it to the Recreational centre but finally it ended up being in the school hallways and stairs. I wanted the killer to twist his head 360 but it was hard just having his head look scary so I just stuck with the scary face. I also wanted to use a baseball bat but I couldn’t get any. I also wanted the killer to have a mask but then I wouldn’t have had any visual effects. In my opinion I feel as if my movie sequence came out extremely well and it wasn’t difficult at all.
M2: TITLE - Export the final footage into the planned or final format
The reason I decided to upload my video on Youtube was so that I could reach a wider audience as YouTube is a greater known social media platform. Using Youtube would help reach my target audience because most of my target audience use Youtube and this would therefore help promote the film, as viewers would be able to comment on the video, like the video and even share the video onto different social media platforms which would reach a wider audience.
What format are you using for the video? H.2640 Why are you using that format? It compresses the video so therefore there is more storage. It is also more compatible with other computers meaning it doesn't matter if you have a mac or PC and it could easily be uploaded on different media platforms like youtube or Vimeo. What happens if you use a different format? Discuss at least two other formats. An uncompressed format means that the video is not compressed therefore it will take up more storage an your computer. Apple profiles format is not a good format to use because if you were to use it then it would use more GB. How will this format allow the client to easily distribute your product? Because it could easier to upload on different media platforms like youtube or Vimeo therefore my client could distribute it easier.
Offline Edit
My offline edit looks good, I feel like the video flows well. The special and visual effects look real.
Focus group Hannah Nightingale- "The sequence flows together nicely but it needs darker tint to the hole sequence and also add background music like chase music to emphasise that she is being chased and that it is a scary situation." Chessie Sharman- " Each transition is good for the genre of film because the transitions are fast. But what you need is just a glimpse of the killers face and like Hannah said make his face distorted."
Importing footage and labelling shots
I found the process of importing my shots and labelling them quite easy. In my opinion I feel that it is necessary to label my shots, mainly because it made it easier for me to identify what shots are useful and which aren't. It also help me edit my final product because I knew which shot should go where.
Adding Audio
D2: TITLE - Justify the creation process against the original production concept plans
Quality of finished piece I think the quality of my finished piece is very good for my skills, as a person who has never done visual and special effects before I think this looks professional and very believable.I think it looks professional mainly because of the editing, this had a huge part in my final piece. The editing gave a realistic tone to the piece as it was very dark and dirty and the sequence felt like a horror chase scene, and the slight mystery of the story ( why is he chasing her? Who is he?) really made the audience engage in the sequence. The things I would have liked to change was the length of the sequence now that I think back I could have elaborated on the story and make the audience attached to the audience I would have also liked to change the camera quality as unfortunately the camera quality wasn't amazing which let down the final product. I believe that my sequence could be played on TV and could be up to standards and the audience would buy it. However If I'm totally honest I would again like to include more to my final product.
Conventions of visual/special effects My final piece includes both visual and special effects. The special effects used in my sequence was the makeup on my actress to make it seem as she had a bruised eye from some sort of earlier encounter , I also had props for the killer, he had 2 bats to kill the person he was chasing. My visual effect was using CGI to deform my killers face so he would look disfigured and scary to the audience to add to the horror genre.
To talk about the visual and special effects in the film sequence, I will have to go over the conventions of a thriller genre as well as going through the strength and weaknesses.
High production values
I think this was a weakness as the visual effects weren't as realistic and professional enough for my sequence. If I wanted a high standard visual effect within my sequence I would need to hire someone who has good software to make my character look as if he was rally disfigured and therefore you would see more of the killer, If I where to do this again I would need to research someone who does it professionally.
Older target audience
I think this is definitely a strength as my actor falls into the older demographic audience which is perfect for a thriller, this also helps the audience to relate to the character as that is one of the conventions of a thriller. The thriller aspects of a sequence also intrigues an older audience.
Horror themes
I think I definitely followed the horror themes, as I had intense music. This then gets the audience on the edge of their seat as they are wanting to know why she is being chased and who is the killer and why is his face disfigured.
Colours
Colours played a big part in my sequence as I wanted a dark grey tone to the whole video thats why the saturation level on all the clips are very low, so I could get that grey tone that a lot of thrillers have. I also chose to have a grey coloured car on set to keep with the theme of grey
Low key lighting
I think tis is very important and also a strength of mine as I used low key lighting light from lights and editing afterwards as well to make it darker to give it an eerie feel.
What could have been done differently in the planning, production and edit? Be honest and extremely critical of your work here.
Pre production: I feel one thing I could have done differently when creating this sequence would have been being more in depth with my storyboard so it was even more clearer when on set what I was picturing. This is because when I was on the permission stage I found it to be a hassle to ask for all this permission therefore I had to change my script and storyboard to fit the new set I had decided to use. When planning I should have taken my risk assessment when shooting on set, even though there no accidents it would have made the experience more realistic.
Production: I feel during production was the easiest for me because more shots were simple and I gave clear instructions and my actors followed them well.
Post production: I think when editing the piece together it all looked really good and flowed well together, the only thing that was really difficult was finding out away of applying the visual effects to his face and finding the right music to fit the genre and engage the audience.
If you had to do something like this again in the future with a totally different brief - What would you do differently and why? I think if I where to do this again there would be many things I would change. If this was a high budget production I would change a lot, but as this was a low budget production I do think it looks good. If this was a high budget production I would...
I would definitely hire a filming crew, as they would have experience within the industry and would have worked on multiple productions, so they would know what they are doing. This then would help with time management because it wouldn't just be me doing the whole production. I think if it was a high budget production I would also hire an actor who has been in many production so they would understand what they are meant to be doing and they would then know specifically what I want them to do. Also hiring an editor who is experienced with visual effects because my visual effects weren't the best and the y could easily be 10 times better. Hiring experts would mean the quality of the piece would be a lot better as they know what they are doing.
Having better equipment, that they use to film real high budget film sequences this would mean that the piece would be better quality as the equipment would be at a higher standard. Having multiple cameras which are industry standard on set would allow the quality and it would be better to get lots more different variations of shots which would improve the sequence a lot. I would also get industry standard lighting to make the sequence as professional as possible and have the right type of lighting I ned, as well as a professional suite; this would allow me not to be editing on one computer.
Spending more time on the pre-production, making sure everything I needed was ready for production because when it was time for production it was a bit of rush to make sure I had everything and if I didn't I would panic and I would have to find a quick solution which is not a good thing to do.
Having a bigger budget would have made it a lot easier as we could hire equipment and crew to make this whole production smooth and quick. I could of expanded on my sequences by going back and explaining how my characters got in to that situation.