Planning

Location:
• Brit Schools Court Yard
• Brit School Shed
• Photography Dark Room
Equipment and resources list:
• Booking Form
• Sony HVR-A1E
• Tripod
• Tapes 
Props: 
SLR Camera + Film

Evaluation

In this unit we were given a brief, to make a two – three minute opening of a thriller film. We looked at different clips in lessons to understand what to do and what not to do, and had a couple lessons understanding thriller conventions. We then got put into groups, I was in a pair with Shiarone. We had to come up with a film idea, make a storyboard for our film and draw up pictures and scan them into our blogs. It wasn’t easy trying to come up with an idea, we would think of something than change our minds, most of the time it was me not liking it or finding errors.

We had a couple lessons in the schools edit suit, learning to use the software, and how de-interlace and export using quicktime, quicktime conversion and compressor. We also looked at ‘soundtrack’ and how to export music files from the software into our films.

We did the first filming for our thriller opening near to the filming deadline, where we were given a 'Sony V1E' high definition camera, tripod and boom mics. On the shoot we didn’t have a plan or storyboard of what we were going to shoot, so we wasted time finding locations, and figuring out a storyline. We started to film, but I did not understand the storyline and was not liking the shoot so I called it a day.

The following week was the deadline for filming, so we all had to capture our footage into 'Final cut pro' we ended up with 30 seconds worth of footage when edited which was not good. And was given the opportunity to have an extra day of filming, so we spent the lesson planning and found our first storyboard, and stuck to that storyline.

Our final idea was about a guy who was a student photographer and was taking pictures for his portfolio when he came across a ghost figure of himself in the final photos, the film was shot on the Sony HVR-A1E and our location for the shoot was around Brit school using the court (where the old building is) and the shed, which looks like an abandoned building. For our thriller my partner Shiarone was the actor and my role was camera man and director, as well as Shiarone sharing his visual skills. The shoot went well, but we wanted to film more in a different location but the location was not available and because of how long we had with the camera.


Editing the film was the best part of this project because not only did we get to used 'Final Cut Pro' i learnt how to use 'Soundtrack' as well. We both contributed to the final edit, using effects such as colour corrector, which allowed us to change the colour of our film and de-satuate it which gave it more of a dull look, which worked really well, also cropping tools and flashing tools. We used photoshop to make a SLR overlay for different pieces of footage, and used text and keyframes for our titles. We also used 'Soundtrack' which my partner knew allot about for our background music and looked out for audio peaks to avoid distortion.


Before exporting out final edit we were taught the three different ways of exporting (Self-Contained, Quicktime conversion and Compressor) and de-interlasing. As well as exporting our sequence into soundtrack so we can sync the non-diegetic sound with our sequence and then export it back into final cut pro.


Feedback from classmates was good, they said it looked professional, they liked the continuity, they thought the music worked well, but didn't understand the people that there were people in the open credits but was not shown in the opening, which i understood, but as its an opening we don't really need to show all the characters.
If I could do this project again, I would spend more time planning and plan an shooting schedule so we have more than enough footage, because we didn't plan properly and rushed it, so it did not show everything we wanted it to.


Overall i think our thriller opening looks very good and received good comments from our piers, I think we could of made it better if we spent that little time longer planning and filming instead of complaining, but i am happy with the final edit, and what i contributed to this project. And we worked well together on the editing but not the planning.

Film Synopsis

'The Photographer' is about a boy who out taking photos, for his college work. He then develops his photos in a dark room and finds a ghost in some of his photos, he starts to be haunted by this ghost which ends up to be his unborn twin.

exporting a video

self contained - biggest file but the quickest way to export a video (You can only view the video on a Mac with Final Cut installed).

quick time conversion - this will allow you to convert your video to several different files.

compressor - this will convert your video into anything, from a mobile device to DVD to even a BluRay DVD

when your video is finish:
- mark the in and our points of your video
-check for audio peaks
-check the lighting of your video
-apply deinterlace but only if your sure you have finished your video then select the clip in browser - file - export - quick time conversion or compressor

Thriller Conventions

Thrillers usually tend to consist of :

• Black and white titles
• Not much dialogue
• Low key lighting
• Quick Cuts
• Plain font titles
• Static to focus on detail
• Suspense
•  Loads of Fades/fades to black

Digital Technology/Television

Digital is the more newer technology of today. It is used in TV, internet, computers, portable devices and more.
It allows us to compress files which means that media files can now be used on portable devices such as iPods and even mobile phones. Digital TV allows us to receive much more than the 5 terrestrial channels on our TV, it allows us to receive more than one because it is transmitted on one bandwidth which uses a multiplex, so the picture and sound quality is much better, also with digital TV we can can pause, rewind and record live TV. Digital technology has allowed broadband which has lead to internet TV, which allows us to watch TV online.

More To Be Added

Internet Television

Internet Television