This is my final version of my thriller opening Furor:
Monday, 25 March 2013
Sunday, 24 March 2013
Evaluation Question 7
'Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel that you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?'
Evaluation Question 6
'What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?'
At the beginning of the media course, I knew absolutely nothing about filming, editing, or even Mac computers. Over the course of the past few months, I have acquired the skills needed to produce my own piece which I am proud of.
The strengths of the camera equipment used were that they allowed us to do everything we needed to get our footage filmed. This also enabled me to learn how to use new equipment and put it into practise straight away. In order to produce steady shots as well as hand held shots, I used a tripod for the majority of my shots. For example, when filming the panning scene, my teacher and the Media technician advised me of a trick with a rubber band that allows the tripod to move more freely but still smoothly. This resulted in a great panning shot, that beforehand I was having difficulties filming. Weaknesses of the camera equipment were trivial, but prolonged the editing process. On one of the cameras used, the footage had to be converted before t could be imported into Final Cut which was a waste of time but had to be done else the footage was wasted.
The filming process was a great experience. I have never done anything like it before, other then my preliminary which in comparison, I now realise was shockingly bad. The first problems to arise was with Nikita not being able to stay in character and keep a straight face which resulted to many takes having to be filmed of the same shot which turned out to be very time consuming. In the end, we took the shot for a lot longer then needed so if she laughed or moved when she was not supposed to, we could cut the shot to the length we needed. Other problems included some of the initial footage being of poor quality, resulting in us having to go back to the set and recreate it so that we could re do some of the shots. Although, as we already knew how to use the equipment this did not take as long the second time round.
The editing software I used was Final Cut Express. For starters, I realised just how long it takes to edit together the footage. Considering it was only two minutes long, it made me realise how long the procedure must be for an entire film. I learnt so many things on Final Cut, from how to import my footage and cut it down to the required length, to putting it together on the timeline in sequence whilst slicing my titles in between shots. I then added in my soundtrack onto the audio timeline to see if it fitted with the footage which it did. Then I was in the media pod by myself and I wanted to know how to turn the footage black and white so I started searching the internet for tutorials and taught myself how to do it. It involved going though the effects to 'desaturate' and dragging this over the clip I wanted to turn black and white. After this I had to learn how to enhance the colours of the lipstick and the dress. This is something I did not even realise was possible on the software so I was really happy when I realised it was achievable. This was a long and frustrating process using 'Colour Correction' and 'Chromer Key'. It involved highlighting the section I wanted to enhance which was difficult because if I went to enhance the red lipstick, it would pick up all the other red fragments in the scene, so I had to find the right settings and keep going over it till it was perfect.
This picture shows me using Final Cut Express to finalise parts of my footage. Here, I was faking a Pan to give the shot some movement. You can also see my soundtrack and footage on the timeline, and the 'bin' that has all of my footage in it.
Finally came the extension of the soundtrack. I went onto Garageband to create a sharp and suspenseful piece for the introduction titles before the original piece started playing a few seconds into the film. I had used Garageband before in the lower school for music but had no recollection of how to use it so it was essentially starting again from scratch. Considering the piece of music I was using had been made by my friend especially for my film, and recorded in the music studio, I did not use Garageband that much. But when I did use it, it allowed be to create a separate piece of music taken from the existing piece. Finally, the non diegetic sound at the end was recorded in school with a metal hanger swinging from a door, so it literally emphasised the sound the hanger in the footage would make.
This picture shows me on Adobe soundbooth converting the music I made on Garageband, ready to import into Final Cut Express.
Even the little things like screen grabbing on a Mac are things I could not do before but now find really helpful for taking pictures to include in blog work. Lastly, by having a blog, it has opened my eyes into the capabilities of YouTube, as before this evaluation work, I did not know how to make voice overs or add annotations to YouTube clips.
This picture shows me working with the camera and the tripod, setting up for the next shot. I had never filmed with a tripod before so it was very different, but the finishing results were great, it's so much easier then handheld.
This picture shows me holding a light above the camera for the scene about to be shot, and the board we used to make sure we could organise our shots chronologically, and also so we could keep track of how many times we had re done each take.
At the beginning of the media course, I knew absolutely nothing about filming, editing, or even Mac computers. Over the course of the past few months, I have acquired the skills needed to produce my own piece which I am proud of.
The strengths of the camera equipment used were that they allowed us to do everything we needed to get our footage filmed. This also enabled me to learn how to use new equipment and put it into practise straight away. In order to produce steady shots as well as hand held shots, I used a tripod for the majority of my shots. For example, when filming the panning scene, my teacher and the Media technician advised me of a trick with a rubber band that allows the tripod to move more freely but still smoothly. This resulted in a great panning shot, that beforehand I was having difficulties filming. Weaknesses of the camera equipment were trivial, but prolonged the editing process. On one of the cameras used, the footage had to be converted before t could be imported into Final Cut which was a waste of time but had to be done else the footage was wasted.
The filming process was a great experience. I have never done anything like it before, other then my preliminary which in comparison, I now realise was shockingly bad. The first problems to arise was with Nikita not being able to stay in character and keep a straight face which resulted to many takes having to be filmed of the same shot which turned out to be very time consuming. In the end, we took the shot for a lot longer then needed so if she laughed or moved when she was not supposed to, we could cut the shot to the length we needed. Other problems included some of the initial footage being of poor quality, resulting in us having to go back to the set and recreate it so that we could re do some of the shots. Although, as we already knew how to use the equipment this did not take as long the second time round.
The editing software I used was Final Cut Express. For starters, I realised just how long it takes to edit together the footage. Considering it was only two minutes long, it made me realise how long the procedure must be for an entire film. I learnt so many things on Final Cut, from how to import my footage and cut it down to the required length, to putting it together on the timeline in sequence whilst slicing my titles in between shots. I then added in my soundtrack onto the audio timeline to see if it fitted with the footage which it did. Then I was in the media pod by myself and I wanted to know how to turn the footage black and white so I started searching the internet for tutorials and taught myself how to do it. It involved going though the effects to 'desaturate' and dragging this over the clip I wanted to turn black and white. After this I had to learn how to enhance the colours of the lipstick and the dress. This is something I did not even realise was possible on the software so I was really happy when I realised it was achievable. This was a long and frustrating process using 'Colour Correction' and 'Chromer Key'. It involved highlighting the section I wanted to enhance which was difficult because if I went to enhance the red lipstick, it would pick up all the other red fragments in the scene, so I had to find the right settings and keep going over it till it was perfect.
This picture shows me using Final Cut Express to finalise parts of my footage. Here, I was faking a Pan to give the shot some movement. You can also see my soundtrack and footage on the timeline, and the 'bin' that has all of my footage in it.
Finally came the extension of the soundtrack. I went onto Garageband to create a sharp and suspenseful piece for the introduction titles before the original piece started playing a few seconds into the film. I had used Garageband before in the lower school for music but had no recollection of how to use it so it was essentially starting again from scratch. Considering the piece of music I was using had been made by my friend especially for my film, and recorded in the music studio, I did not use Garageband that much. But when I did use it, it allowed be to create a separate piece of music taken from the existing piece. Finally, the non diegetic sound at the end was recorded in school with a metal hanger swinging from a door, so it literally emphasised the sound the hanger in the footage would make.
This picture shows me on Adobe soundbooth converting the music I made on Garageband, ready to import into Final Cut Express.
Even the little things like screen grabbing on a Mac are things I could not do before but now find really helpful for taking pictures to include in blog work. Lastly, by having a blog, it has opened my eyes into the capabilities of YouTube, as before this evaluation work, I did not know how to make voice overs or add annotations to YouTube clips.
This picture shows me holding a light above the camera for the scene about to be shot, and the board we used to make sure we could organise our shots chronologically, and also so we could keep track of how many times we had re done each take.
Evaluation Question 5
'How did you attract/address your audience?'
Door scene has been removed
Door scene has been removed
Here is a recording I made of myself responding to the feedback I received:
Saturday, 23 March 2013
Evaluation Question 3
'What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?'
Door scene has been removed
Door scene has been removed
Thursday, 21 March 2013
Evaluation Question 2
'How does your media product represent particular social groups?'
The first character that has similarities with my main character is Betty Grable in the film I Wake Up Screaming. Her character Jill Lynn is the woman whom Frankie (Victor Mature), a man suspected of murder, hides out with and eventually falls for. This coincides with my main character, an attractive woman who receives lots of male attention, but who uses this to her advantage to ultimately take what she wants from them. Appearance wise, they both wear red lipstick which is a common aspect of costume for women portraying a seductive role in films. A noticeable difference between the two characters could be hair colour. Most Femme Fatale actresses have blonde hair which fits into this stereotypical female role. However, our character has dark brown hair. Although, both Grable and the character in my film have curly hair, which is also a common feature amongst Femme Fatale characters.
Another Femme Fatale character that shows signs of similarities to my main female character is Ann Savage who plays Vera in Detour. Similarities include dark hair which is not very usual with Femme Fatale characters, and also smoking cigarettes. This is also a key iconic feature in Film Noir films, which gives an indication of the period in which the film is set. Furthermore, both women manipulate men to get what they want; our character manipulates then kills the millionaire who won the lottery and Vera blackmails Al in Detour when he presents himself as Haskell, the bookie who tried to get too friendly with her when he gives her a ride. This shows that women do not always have to be the powerless victims in thrillers, which is why having a Femme Fatale was interesting to portray.
Finally, there are some similarities with Glenn Close who played Alex Forrest. Various references were made to Glenn Close in my thriller opening, including a scene from Fatal Attraction and the poster on the wall which my character was then seen copying. They are both wearing white dresses which ironically contradicts their characters as both of them are seen to go to extreme lengths and carry out acts of craziness.
Here is a quote from 'Film Noir City' which gives an introduction into Femme Fatale as a character and how they fit into the Film Noir genre.
The first character that has similarities with my main character is Betty Grable in the film I Wake Up Screaming. Her character Jill Lynn is the woman whom Frankie (Victor Mature), a man suspected of murder, hides out with and eventually falls for. This coincides with my main character, an attractive woman who receives lots of male attention, but who uses this to her advantage to ultimately take what she wants from them. Appearance wise, they both wear red lipstick which is a common aspect of costume for women portraying a seductive role in films. A noticeable difference between the two characters could be hair colour. Most Femme Fatale actresses have blonde hair which fits into this stereotypical female role. However, our character has dark brown hair. Although, both Grable and the character in my film have curly hair, which is also a common feature amongst Femme Fatale characters.
Another Femme Fatale character that shows signs of similarities to my main female character is Ann Savage who plays Vera in Detour. Similarities include dark hair which is not very usual with Femme Fatale characters, and also smoking cigarettes. This is also a key iconic feature in Film Noir films, which gives an indication of the period in which the film is set. Furthermore, both women manipulate men to get what they want; our character manipulates then kills the millionaire who won the lottery and Vera blackmails Al in Detour when he presents himself as Haskell, the bookie who tried to get too friendly with her when he gives her a ride. This shows that women do not always have to be the powerless victims in thrillers, which is why having a Femme Fatale was interesting to portray.
Finally, there are some similarities with Glenn Close who played Alex Forrest. Various references were made to Glenn Close in my thriller opening, including a scene from Fatal Attraction and the poster on the wall which my character was then seen copying. They are both wearing white dresses which ironically contradicts their characters as both of them are seen to go to extreme lengths and carry out acts of craziness.
Here is a quote from 'Film Noir City' which gives an introduction into Femme Fatale as a character and how they fit into the Film Noir genre.
''The soft smell of infatuating perfume, blond tresses contrasted with unlit bars, and faint traces of liquor and tobacco; or fresh perms and the smell of a home cooked meal?
Without a doubt, the women in film noir play a central and recurring theme in the genre. Perhaps as a statement of the obsessions that move a man: money, liquor and women. The femme fatale (“ or the deadly woman”) is an ancient and popular character in western (and indeed world) texts. Generally, the femme fatale is shown to be a woman who exploits the weaknesses of men to her own advantage. Perhaps the interpretation that the construction of the femme fatale is ultimately a product of a patriarchal and largely inequitable society is itself an outdated interpretation. The femme fatale has become a movement of fashion and interest in modern society, and is a symbol of class.''
Evaluation Question 1
'In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?'
I have included 12 frames from my final edit of 'Furor' to support my explanations of how and why the thriller opening uses, develops or challenges conventions from existing media. I carefully chose frames that showed an array of aspects from the opening, including; titles, mise - en - scene, lighting and characters.
Frame one - How characters are introduced:
Excluding the titles, Nikita standing with her eyes closed is the first shot to appear in my thriller opening. Not only does this establish the main character, but it creates a sense of ambiguity as it is uncertain as to why she has her eyes closed, or even who she is. This is a close up shot so only her head is seen which stops the audience from knowing much else about her surroundings. In later shots she is seen opening her eyes and then applying red lipstick. This shows her getting ready, as she puts her lipstick on neatly, before unexpectedly smearing it up her face. This immediately raises questions as to why she would purposely smear her lipstick. The colour of the lipstick is also important, as the colour red has connotations of danger, passion, seduction and death. This links further into themes of seduction and provocativeness, and it could be suggested she is a woman who uses this to get what she wants. The panning shot used then reveals a great deal more about the woman as she is seen imitating a poster of Glenn Close holding a knife in Fatal Attraction. The shots creates the effect that there is something different, and almost peculiar about this woman as she is standing in her room with lipstick up her face, holding a large knife. The main character was purposely a woman, to undercut the conventions in thrillers that the protagonist is always a strong man, and that the victim is usually a vulnerable woman. Here, our main character is a woman and her victims are in fact men, giving the narrative a role reversal that plays with the representation of women in media products.
Frame two - The title of the film/Title font and style:
The second frame, reveals the title of the thriller; 'Furor'. We chose to call it Furor which means fury, rage or madness. This is because people asked did not know the meaning of the word in the context I am using it and this misinterpretation reflects the personality of the main character who's actions will defy narrative expectations of her. The font and style of my film titles were heavily influenced by those of the film 'Se7en'. This idea of having them hover on the screen before disappearing really appealed to me, as again it reflected the unstable character I am portraying. However, the titles of 'Se7en' sometimes appear on a black background, but then also appear over the footage. I chose to insert all of my titles over a black background to create a sense of consistency. Below I have inserted a screen grab from the title sequence of'Se7en' for comparison.
Frame three/Four/Six - Genre and how the opening suggests it:
My thriller opening shows the genre used, being Film Noir, in many different ways. Firstly, the soundtrack used was inspired by jazz instrumentals that I researched on YouTube. I then went to the music department in school and sat in on their rehearsals and asked if they could recreate a piece of music I found. One of my friends listened to the jazz piece and wrote his own interpretation of it, before recruiting two boys; one who plays the saxophone and one who plays the drums, to play the song for us. My friend then played the piano parts and we recorded it in the school's recording studio.
This allowed us to have a soundtrack that perfectly fitted our Film Noir genre, and even better, it was made specifically for my media work. In addition to the soundtrack, the first shot notably reveals that our opening is in black and white. This is a generic convention of Film Noir and also allowed us to creatively add in special effects. Finally, the mise-en-scene played a huge part in establishing the genre. There was particular iconography of Film Noir movies such as trench coats, alcohol and cigarettes, but then I also used many forms of homage in reference to existing Femme Fatale/Film Noir media products. There were three posters used; 1. Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction, 2,.Lana Turner - The Postman Always Rings Twice 3.Barbara Stanwyck Double Indemnity, and also the shot of Fatal Attraction paused at 12:12.
Frame five - Special effects/Camera work and editing:
This frame explicitly shows the emphasis on colour that I focused on. Right from the word go, my group and I decided that our opening would be in black and white to reflect the Film Noir genre, and that the significant colours would be emphasised. The purpose of enhancing the red lipstick and the purple dress, aimed to reveal more about the woman's character and the powerful colours she wears. The significance of the white dress was to completely contradict the character we created. This undermined conventions as the colour white is usually associated with purity and innocence, two things that our character is not. The camera work was relatively simple, everything was filmed in colour with a light used to create effect in certain shots. The editing process was very long but the finished result was what I had pictured. The footage had to be 'desaturated' in Final Cut and then effects such as 'Colour Correction' were used to highlight particular colours and also brighten or darken shots.
Frame seven - Location/Costumes and props:
This panning shot establishes the setting of the thriller opening, as it becomes clear that the woman is in her bedroom. We used a friend's bedroom as we required a double bed and a windowsill where we could place our intended props. Furthermore, our friend did not have anything extravagant in her room such as a plasma tv, which worked really well as our character was intended to be poor, which feeds into the narrative of her manipulating people and rein-acting what she see's in thrillers to kill people and take their money. For props, empty photo frames were used to raise questions and begin to draw attention to the character's unusual mental state, also we included an upside down clock stopped at 12:12 to mirror the time on the Fatal Attraction clip that was included. Moreover, there was a large kitchen knife used to 'copy' the poster of Glenn Close on the wall(Frame 6), again to evoke the image that the woman is crazy. Finally, there was a shot of a whiskey bottle and glass, and a cigarette(Frame 10). This was part of the iconography that we researched for the genre. There were only two costumes used in the opening of Furor, one was the white dress worn and the other was the purple dress in the wardrobe. It was decided to have just one dress in the wardrobe for two reasons; one being it emphasised the economic situation the woman was in as she has minimal clothing, and two because it drew more attention to the dress that was then gone at the end of the opening, which shows she took it to change into before finding and killing the man. The editing also included fitting in the soundtrack which we had made specifically for our film opening.
Frame nine - Story and how the opening sets it up:
The equilibrium of my film is shown through the shot of the newspaper, which is primarily used to set up the narrative.The story is that a poor but manipulative woman see's a millionaire in the newspaper who has just won millions on the lottery. As she has so little and he has more then he needs, she sets out to kill him and steal his money. Hints of this can be seen when she circles his face in the newspaper which in effect makes him look like her target, as well as the dress missing at the end which is supposedly showing she has got up and gone to find this man.The scenes of her cautiously applying her red lipstick before smearing it up her face, in addition to the upside down clock, empty photo frames, words and rope on the door and her imitation of the knife pose all hint that something is going to happen and that she is potentially crazy, and this is where questions are raised by the audience. The references to various other Femme Fatale, Film Noir films are supposed to imply that she carries out acts of violence that she see's in these films, on people that she is targeting. This use of micro elements to build up suspense through camera work, mise - en - scene, lighting and costumes all contribute to revealing the narrative.
I have included 12 frames from my final edit of 'Furor' to support my explanations of how and why the thriller opening uses, develops or challenges conventions from existing media. I carefully chose frames that showed an array of aspects from the opening, including; titles, mise - en - scene, lighting and characters.
Frame one - How characters are introduced:
Excluding the titles, Nikita standing with her eyes closed is the first shot to appear in my thriller opening. Not only does this establish the main character, but it creates a sense of ambiguity as it is uncertain as to why she has her eyes closed, or even who she is. This is a close up shot so only her head is seen which stops the audience from knowing much else about her surroundings. In later shots she is seen opening her eyes and then applying red lipstick. This shows her getting ready, as she puts her lipstick on neatly, before unexpectedly smearing it up her face. This immediately raises questions as to why she would purposely smear her lipstick. The colour of the lipstick is also important, as the colour red has connotations of danger, passion, seduction and death. This links further into themes of seduction and provocativeness, and it could be suggested she is a woman who uses this to get what she wants. The panning shot used then reveals a great deal more about the woman as she is seen imitating a poster of Glenn Close holding a knife in Fatal Attraction. The shots creates the effect that there is something different, and almost peculiar about this woman as she is standing in her room with lipstick up her face, holding a large knife. The main character was purposely a woman, to undercut the conventions in thrillers that the protagonist is always a strong man, and that the victim is usually a vulnerable woman. Here, our main character is a woman and her victims are in fact men, giving the narrative a role reversal that plays with the representation of women in media products.
Frame two - The title of the film/Title font and style:
The second frame, reveals the title of the thriller; 'Furor'. We chose to call it Furor which means fury, rage or madness. This is because people asked did not know the meaning of the word in the context I am using it and this misinterpretation reflects the personality of the main character who's actions will defy narrative expectations of her. The font and style of my film titles were heavily influenced by those of the film 'Se7en'. This idea of having them hover on the screen before disappearing really appealed to me, as again it reflected the unstable character I am portraying. However, the titles of 'Se7en' sometimes appear on a black background, but then also appear over the footage. I chose to insert all of my titles over a black background to create a sense of consistency. Below I have inserted a screen grab from the title sequence of'Se7en' for comparison.
Frame three/Four/Six - Genre and how the opening suggests it:
My thriller opening shows the genre used, being Film Noir, in many different ways. Firstly, the soundtrack used was inspired by jazz instrumentals that I researched on YouTube. I then went to the music department in school and sat in on their rehearsals and asked if they could recreate a piece of music I found. One of my friends listened to the jazz piece and wrote his own interpretation of it, before recruiting two boys; one who plays the saxophone and one who plays the drums, to play the song for us. My friend then played the piano parts and we recorded it in the school's recording studio.
This allowed us to have a soundtrack that perfectly fitted our Film Noir genre, and even better, it was made specifically for my media work. In addition to the soundtrack, the first shot notably reveals that our opening is in black and white. This is a generic convention of Film Noir and also allowed us to creatively add in special effects. Finally, the mise-en-scene played a huge part in establishing the genre. There was particular iconography of Film Noir movies such as trench coats, alcohol and cigarettes, but then I also used many forms of homage in reference to existing Femme Fatale/Film Noir media products. There were three posters used; 1. Glenn Close - Fatal Attraction, 2,.Lana Turner - The Postman Always Rings Twice 3.Barbara Stanwyck Double Indemnity, and also the shot of Fatal Attraction paused at 12:12.
Frame five - Special effects/Camera work and editing:
This frame explicitly shows the emphasis on colour that I focused on. Right from the word go, my group and I decided that our opening would be in black and white to reflect the Film Noir genre, and that the significant colours would be emphasised. The purpose of enhancing the red lipstick and the purple dress, aimed to reveal more about the woman's character and the powerful colours she wears. The significance of the white dress was to completely contradict the character we created. This undermined conventions as the colour white is usually associated with purity and innocence, two things that our character is not. The camera work was relatively simple, everything was filmed in colour with a light used to create effect in certain shots. The editing process was very long but the finished result was what I had pictured. The footage had to be 'desaturated' in Final Cut and then effects such as 'Colour Correction' were used to highlight particular colours and also brighten or darken shots.
Frame seven - Location/Costumes and props:
This panning shot establishes the setting of the thriller opening, as it becomes clear that the woman is in her bedroom. We used a friend's bedroom as we required a double bed and a windowsill where we could place our intended props. Furthermore, our friend did not have anything extravagant in her room such as a plasma tv, which worked really well as our character was intended to be poor, which feeds into the narrative of her manipulating people and rein-acting what she see's in thrillers to kill people and take their money. For props, empty photo frames were used to raise questions and begin to draw attention to the character's unusual mental state, also we included an upside down clock stopped at 12:12 to mirror the time on the Fatal Attraction clip that was included. Moreover, there was a large kitchen knife used to 'copy' the poster of Glenn Close on the wall(Frame 6), again to evoke the image that the woman is crazy. Finally, there was a shot of a whiskey bottle and glass, and a cigarette(Frame 10). This was part of the iconography that we researched for the genre. There were only two costumes used in the opening of Furor, one was the white dress worn and the other was the purple dress in the wardrobe. It was decided to have just one dress in the wardrobe for two reasons; one being it emphasised the economic situation the woman was in as she has minimal clothing, and two because it drew more attention to the dress that was then gone at the end of the opening, which shows she took it to change into before finding and killing the man. The editing also included fitting in the soundtrack which we had made specifically for our film opening.
Frame nine - Story and how the opening sets it up:
The equilibrium of my film is shown through the shot of the newspaper, which is primarily used to set up the narrative.The story is that a poor but manipulative woman see's a millionaire in the newspaper who has just won millions on the lottery. As she has so little and he has more then he needs, she sets out to kill him and steal his money. Hints of this can be seen when she circles his face in the newspaper which in effect makes him look like her target, as well as the dress missing at the end which is supposedly showing she has got up and gone to find this man.The scenes of her cautiously applying her red lipstick before smearing it up her face, in addition to the upside down clock, empty photo frames, words and rope on the door and her imitation of the knife pose all hint that something is going to happen and that she is potentially crazy, and this is where questions are raised by the audience. The references to various other Femme Fatale, Film Noir films are supposed to imply that she carries out acts of violence that she see's in these films, on people that she is targeting. This use of micro elements to build up suspense through camera work, mise - en - scene, lighting and costumes all contribute to revealing the narrative.
Monday, 4 March 2013
Black and white effect
We decided that we would make our thriller opening black and white, to fit in with our chosen sub genre; Film Noir. Additionally, we put a lot of thought into our colours and what they stood for, and then we played on this and changed conventions. Thus, we thought it would look effective if we made these colours stand out against the rest o the footage which would be black and white.
As I am doing a lot of my editing out of lesson time, I found myself with no teacher in the room when I wanted to start planning around with effects, so I decided to teach myself! After having a play around with the effect and seeing what they do, I resorted my footage back to it's default settings and then started looking into tutorials of Final Cut on the web, to see if I could figure out how to alter the colour myself...and I did!
This screen grab shows me going onto effects and then onto image control. I then scrolled down to 'desaturate' and had to drag and drop this effect onto each of the shots that I wanted to turn black and white, which in this case, was every shot other then the titles. On the timeline the shots still appear in colour, but as you can see, when you play it, they appear in black and white. I am happy that I discovered how to do this, as it opened up new doors and I got to see some of the many effects that Final Cut is capable of.
Rough edit complete!
Friday March 1st was the deadline for our rough edit. This meant I had to finish the retakes of shots that did not go so well the first time and then collect a draft of our soundtrack which we recorded at the start of the week. Some of the shots that had to be re done consisted of the pan of the room (where I used the rubber band trick to make it smooth and steady), the shot of the door, and finally shots of the various posters that were used as homage of iconic femme fatale films.
I then uploaded everything back onto the computer and imported it into Final Cut, so I could incorporate it in my draft. I found the draft editing process insightful as it made me fully understand how long it takes to edit roughly 2 minutes of footage!
However, I had some difficulties with my titles as one of them kept appearing minute on the video but regular size when not on Final Cut. Therefore I had to go back on to Live Type, which is the program I used to create my title sequence, and make it larger. I then decided to increase the size of all my titles, as well as change the time span they appeared on screen for.
After about 45 minutes of frustrating titles, I then imported the new ones into Final Cut and replaced the old ones in my sequence.
Finally, I inserted the soundtrack we made and the Foley sound of the hanger swinging to give myself a rough idea of what the opening looked like with the soundtrack included.
I now have to focus all my attention on learning how to make the footage black and white, with the key colours enhanced. I look forward to completing my final edit.
I then uploaded everything back onto the computer and imported it into Final Cut, so I could incorporate it in my draft. I found the draft editing process insightful as it made me fully understand how long it takes to edit roughly 2 minutes of footage!
However, I had some difficulties with my titles as one of them kept appearing minute on the video but regular size when not on Final Cut. Therefore I had to go back on to Live Type, which is the program I used to create my title sequence, and make it larger. I then decided to increase the size of all my titles, as well as change the time span they appeared on screen for.
After about 45 minutes of frustrating titles, I then imported the new ones into Final Cut and replaced the old ones in my sequence.
Finally, I inserted the soundtrack we made and the Foley sound of the hanger swinging to give myself a rough idea of what the opening looked like with the soundtrack included.
I now have to focus all my attention on learning how to make the footage black and white, with the key colours enhanced. I look forward to completing my final edit.
Friday, 1 March 2013
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