WELCOME, MODERATOR

Frederick Howe 1210

Claremont Fan Court School 64680

Welcome, moderator!

I am Frederick Howe 1210 and I worked with Oliver Macnaughton 1243 and Marcus Couling 1291.
I hope you enjoy my blog, which contains my work on my G321 Foundation Portfolio. The titles and openings of a fictional thriller film which we named Lights Out!. My preliminary exercise follows immediately underneath. 

Film Opening - Lights Out!

Here is the final draft of our movie opening. Enjoy!

Preliminary Task

We planned and filmed a Preliminary Movie in which Ollie is a son being told of by Marcus, his father and then things take a turn for the worse:

When filming our preliminary we used a tripod to ensure a stable camera and to stop the camera shaking when filming. Whilst filming we made sure we were following the guidelines (shown above), demonstrating an understanding of the new and different terms like shot reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. When we had finished filming we carefully picked out the clips that we wanted to use and edited them together to complete the film. We used a few sound effects and a bit of music at the end but we didn't need to modify the sound because when the sounds played there was no speaking. 

What I learned:

By doing this preliminary exercise I learnt many things. The first thing I learnt is that to make a steady film you need to use a tripod. If you don't use a tripod you get a very unstable recording and it looks really bad. I also leant about the effects of different camera angles. For example a low angled shot could connote sadness or doubt but then a high angled shot could connote happiness or heroism.

I didn't really learn anything new when it came to the editing side of things because I already know how to use iMovie but not very effectively. The one thing I did learn about iMovie is the ability to cancel out background noise and stabilise the unstable shots.

Editing

I spent a lot of time planning the order of the our scenes and the various different clips that we shot. As there were a lot of different clips the selection process was very lengthy. This is because when we were filming our movie we thought it to be a good idea to capture as many, almost too many, takes of each scene to make sure that we captured at least one good take.

I started the editing process using iMovie which proved very useful and effective. Unfortunately for me I have an obsession with perfection when it comes to editing movies and images. Therefore I decided to upgrade to Final Cut Pro X. It is a very similar software that offers a lot more to the editing process. I only downloaded a trial version of the software because I wanted to make sure that it was worth the £200 price tag, it is. I then transferred everything I had done on iMovie to my Final Cut Pro. I started by gathering every single clip we had filmed onto the software and cutting away the ones that I didn't want to use. Once I had done this I then put them into the correct order and started editing. 

As we didn't have any microphones or anything to record sound with precision the sound in the movie opening is very bad as all we had was the microphone on the camera. This proved the hardest thing with the editing as it was almost impossible to separate the background noise from the dialogue as it was all part the the recording. But I did the best that I could with what I had. I tried my best to reduce the background noise and enhance the dialogue but it was incredibly difficult. 

I added transitions and sound effects to create a more cinematic effect. I used a variety of transitions as our film opening was comprised of a lot of different clips in many locations. This proved very difficult as I am not an experienced editor so I found it very difficult to create smooth transitions. At the time of editing there were still a few things that hadn't been done that needed to be. For example recording voiceovers and sound effects. These hadn't been completed because of a lack of time before our deadline.  

I also used a variety of colour/film filters to create differentiate between different times. I used a darkened filter for certain flashbacks, a custom filter I made myself for the scenes within the detectives office and many others.

I faced many difficulties with the editing process for my movie opening mainly because of my inexperience when it comes to movie editing. I think that the hardest thing was the transitions. I found it incredibly tough to create smooth transitions between the different clips/scenes within the movie. The other main difficulty was a lack of content. When I had reached the final editing stages I realised a lack of sound and action within the opening. Therefore we decided to remove the initial audio of the detective and the wife having a conversation and completely replaced it with a single voiceover from the perspective of the detective. This worked really well to describe to the audience what was happening and gives an insight the the inner thoughts of the detective. It also helped us with the poor audio quality of the original dialouge as it gave us a chance to add in good audio that the audience can hear well and easily understand.

Filming

The filming of our movie opening was a very difficult process as our plot idea required an abandoned building which for some reasons we tried to created in our very busy school. Therefore most of our filming had to be done in the late evening after school hours.

Another challenge was the time period we decided to set it in. We decided to set our movie opening in the 1950s. This was very hard to create as our school is old but with many advancements to it, such as bright electric lights, fire alarms, modern fire extinguishers etc.

We filmed i tin many different locations within our school. As the cameraman I spent most of my days at school when walking from lessons looking around and noting in my head possible filming locations.

The first scene in the opening was filmed in a corridor just on the inside of our main school building. We planned the timing of this scene to perfection as there was almost no noise and no interruptions so this scene was very easy to film. The second scene was filmed in an office through the door and the end of the corridor which we see in the first scene. This second scene was very easy to film as I decided on a single position for the camera to stay in. Unfortunately the camera got knocked a bit in between filming two separate parts of the same scene and so there is a strange jump cut within the scene where the camera position has obviously changed.

Within the second scene there is a flashback showing two men walking down a set of stairs. This set of stairs is at the front of our schools main building. We got lucky when filming this scene as there is usually a steady flow of people coming in and out of the doors at the top of the stairs. I decided to put the camera in a central position to try and frame the shot at the same time as showing off the grandeur of the building.

The next scene is of the detective coming to the entrance of the asylum

Filming: Office Scene

Link for Office Scene Pinterest

As this was an integral scene in our movie opening we spent a lot of time working on dressing the set. We gathered all the props we needed and spent a good deal of time transporting them to our location and setting them up in the way that we wanted. As the lighting in the room wasn't amazing we used two sets of studio lights to help brighten the set. I think this worked really well, although it looks a bit unnatural, we were very lucky to have these lights at our disposal. Without them this scene would have been ruined by poor lighting.

Future Learn: Online Media Course

After being introduced to this amazing online course by my teacher in a lesson I thought that it would be a very good idea. It is a six week course that teaches you the ins and outs of filmmaking. I was very intrigued by this because I am still very new to this movie making stuff. I have always been interested in making movies but I have never given it a go until now and this online course is really helping me come to grips with all the news concepts that I am learning and how to become and great filmmaker.

Talk about how mike figgis provided several ideas about adapting ordinary things that a production team might have around the house to fit the film set when budgets were very limited. 

The most memorable part of the course that I did was 'The Mass of Men' short film. It was a short about an unemployed man whose kindness betrays him. From this I learned that it is very important to do as much of any outside filming you need to do first as you never know if the weather will get better or worse.

Mike Figgis also talks about how to deal with limitations to your budget and that it is important to choose locations wisely. For example find a location where there is enough space for the actors to act, the camera to film, the sound guys to capture the sound etc. 

Gabriel Gauchet talks about how a limited budget helps filmmakers create a more in depth film and helps them to focus on the minute details instead of big expensive sequences.

Turning a budget constraint in an advantage (the bus closing on him)