Editing and Alternative Final Shot

This afternoon I was editing the footage that we had on the computer already and we realised as a group that we were very much over the allowed time for the film. At that point we had only loaded around half of our footage on to the computer and we were still well over the time limit. This meant that I had to do some quite extreme editing. To begin with I loaded all of the footage that we had on the computer on to the software and then we knew how much we had to cut out. The total time came to around 4 minutes.

The task of cutting out 2 minutes was not one that was appealing. Eventually I came up with the idea of adding a new ending and changing the film so that we cut out a lot of the time when it is just of Charles walking to the silent walk. This lost us around 1 minute 30 seconds. We felt that this was a very good start and we then went out and filmed the alternative ending that would make our film more exciting and keep the time down.

This final scene starts when Charles is looking in the woods as he is positive that he has heard something in there. The camera is still showing a point of view shot. When that shot finishes it is followed by the camera swiftly approaching Charles' face in the same motion of someone's head while running. This shot, when edited, will be put in black and white which will match it with the other point of view shots from the follower including the high angle shot and the shot looking through the branches.

This gave us the opportunity to make our film under the 2 minute margin.

Written by Gregor Sharp

Problems Faced With Our Videos

After collecting our videos and sorting them accordingly into the sequences we require, our group encountered a problem with the length of our video and compiling it all together. After adding the videos into the timeline we discovered to our horror that the length was exceeding the time limit of our coursework. The maximum time we could get to was 2 minutes and 20 seconds. With all our videos we were around 4 minutes into the video and hadnt even reached to the climax of the opening.

The idea of cutting many walking parts to get to the explosive ending had to be edit down to 1 minute 30 seconds. We decided as a group to change the ending from Charles entering the michael kirk to Charles actually getting attacked by the Demon, Monster or ghost. This made the opening to 2 minutes excellent.

Here we have the shot of Charles falling to the ground. And then the main title would creep up slowly.

Written By Vidur Bharatram

Cutting and Editing

Today we have finished our filming which was a struggle but a great experience and also it was a great learning experience, it was a great experience for me because I learnt how to use the camera probaly and I also found out about some different kinds of shots that i hadn't heard of before which will help in the exam later on this year, also im not the only on to have benefited from this experience but I'm sure the other two people in my group Vidur and Gregor have also benefited from doing this film beginning.


But now that we have finished filming this now means that we have now really got to get on with our editing and make our film even better with some cool transitions. So for the rest of term and the next we will be sending some long hours in front of the computer cutting and adding.


Written By Charlie Lambourne

December 3rd Filming

Today we got a few more shots in our silent walk area near the Michael Kirk. Greg climbed up a tree to get a few shots from the tree to get the high angles of the ghostly effects that we need!

These shots will be presented on our video in the final task. we are going to use black and white to represent the ghosts percpective on the whole shot.

A few more shots are required to coomplete our task.

Written by Vidur Bharatram

Oceans Productions Logo

Finally having completed the logo, our group decided to call it the Oceans Productions. Using Photoshop again we could create a logo with a wave from an ocean. Textures such as outer glow and drop shodow gave the stylised effect.

There is a touch of fonts of an old school writing. This will be our first step to editing.

Written by Vidur Bharatram

Opening Scene Re-Shoot

This afternoon the group was looking through the footage on the computer and comparing it to other people's blogs. We realised that there were many techniques in both filming and editing that could help to make our opening 2 minutes better.
One of these techniques is to film something and then put it in fast forward when editing. We felt that this would help bring more of a panicy feel to the point of view shot.
Unfortunately we were unable to film this shot today as the actress in our film was unable to do it today.
Instead we re-shot the opening scene of Charles Lambourne waking up. The reason for re-shooting was that later on he meets his girlfriend but in no point in filming do we see him arrange this so we had him wake up and use the phone to arrange the meet. This just connects the parts of the story line, meaning the audience cannot get lost.

Written by Gregor Sharp

Paramount

Paramount Productions is our basis for our production company that we will design ours on. With the help of this we will be successful in desgining a good graphic using photoshop.

Written by Vidur Bharatram

Few More Photos of Locations

These pictures were taken on the Eve of our third round of shooting!

The last picture of the trees certainly gives the feeling of horror.

Written by Vidur Bharatram

In The Shadows.

This is the Photoshop Title which i created in our class today. Using Textures such as Satin and drop shodow gave the effect of a spooky horror look.

I layered three different layers to make it work. Aother techniques I learnt was to make the text look realistic with the tools given.



Written by Vidur Bharatram

Cutting and Editing

Today with help from Gregor I learnt how to cut and edit and transitions. We also went filming today and re took some of the film as we at first thought that the camera was to wabally.

This was usefull as we have started putting our film into place and cutting it into place as well.

Today also we did some filming of me walking around the lake as we believed it had so more emphasis to the film, we then went and did some more filming in and around the campus.

We as a group believe that the more footage we have the better it is.

Also in the lesson I learnt how to add a transition into our film, which myself and gregor adds more drama into our piece.

Written By Charlie Lambourne

Re-Shooting

Today's filming was to correct one of the shots that we had previously taken that had an error.

In the previous scene there was a slight bit of the screen that showed Vidur's face behind the stairs. We did not realise this until we arrived back to the classroom and had loaded the footage on to the computer, meaning that we could not shoot it again that day due to time restrictions.

When it came to getting the camera in to position again, I found that if it was put on a tripod then it didn't give us such a good shot as we could not get as much in the screen. I tried holding it by hand but even then it wasn't great as it wasnt steady. Finally I decided to lean against the door and crouch down with the camera resting on my knee. This decision was made because it meant that the camera was steady and there was no chance of a wobble as I was steady against the door.

The shot worked well and we have now put the footage on the computer in class and added it to our other footage.

Written by Gregor Sharp

Today's Filming

This afternoon our group went out filming again. The primary reason for this was that when we played back what we had filmed the other day, we realised that there was too big a jump from one scene to another.

The scene of the character (played by Charles Lambourne) waking up and getting out of bed then suddenly jumped from him being in bed to walking briskly down the Silent Walk towards the Michael Kirk.

Some people may say that it isn't that big of a problem but when you are watching the footage from a stranger's point of view it is very easy for them to think that it may be a different day etc.

By shooting some more shots of him leaving the house and approaching the scene where he had been previously filmed we have ensured that the viewer knows exactly what is going on in the story.

Written by Gregor Sharp

Photo Shopping

Today I learnt how to create titles and captions on photoshop.
Editing and making the different styles of titles will help us in our progress of creating our main task. There were various styles and techniques I learnt. Here are a few examples of my techniques which i will describe.

1. Back shadowing- This is when the title has a shadow at the back.
2. Inner Shadow- This style is when the title has a shadow inside the gaps to make the title look bigger.
3. Gradient Overlay- Here the style is of making the title look rugged or smooth for effects.
4. Stroke- This is the outlinning of the title which makes it have a scarier look.

These effects should allow us to have a wider range of effects. This is part of our main title course.

By Vidur Bharatram

Filming Back To Normal

Today we went out and we took some footage of me sleeping and waking up we did this because in our film Im having dreams that someone is following me and so we have to film me imaging that someone is watching me. Also we went to the silent walk and filmed me walking towards the Micheal Kirk, we filmed this to show me in panic, fear and paranoia. I beileve that this adds tension to our film which we need as our film is based on Horror.

After filming today we decided to take some more pictures of our location.




By Charlie Lambourne

Location Problems

This afternoon our group were faced with an issue that prevented us from filming.
The shot that we were hoping to do was one of Charles waking up as if he had just had a bad dream. We intended to do this in Bruce House. Unfortunately we had not taken in to account the challenge of getting permission for people from other houses to come in to the house to film.

When we arrived we asked the matron if this would be possible but she told us that if she were to abide by school rules, then she would not be able to allow people in at that time; but if we wanted to do this then we must get teachers and housemasters to get in touch and give permission.

We intend to do this shot in the near future as we do not need to have weather that matches that of the first day of filming as it is indoors.

Writen by Gregor Sharp

Day 1 of Main Task Filming

This afternoon the group went out filming for the first time for out main task.
The actors in this film and that were filmed today were Charles Lambourne and Lisa Mitchel and the people that were using the camera were Vidur Bharatram and Gregor Sharp.
The roles that the actors play are Lisa as Charles' girlfriend while he is trying to explain something to her that seems unreal and she doesn't believe him at all.
The main reason that they had gone up to the locations that we had chosen (silent walk and Michael kirk) was because Charles wanted to be somewhere peaceful and quiet when he was explaining the problem.
Our first shot was an upwards tilt of the Michael Kirk to show the presence that the building holds.
Next we had a shot of Lisa and Charles approaching the gates of the building holding hands when Charles hears something unusual in the bushes to his right. While filming this we had to remember the 180 degree rule other wise it would make the shot of the Michael Kirk seem random and out of place.
After this we shot the two of them speaking at the door of the Michael Kirk and Charles storms in to the building because he cannot get through to Lisa; She then follows him in.
Between the shots of him entering the building and the shot of him hearing something we will need to film a shot which is of them approaching the building because that is too big a jump to cut out.
Our plan for this particular shot is to have it in black and white to make it look as if it is someone or something else that is stalking them (the person Charles is seeing).
We took this idea from the film Jaws as in that film you do not actually see the shark that is killing everyone. In our film we thought that this method work if we also used point of view shots of the person/being. By doing this we cut down on the complications of having another actor to play the stalker, props including costumes for the stalker and also having to work the dialogue out for another scene to make having another actor worth having.
I feel it keeps things more simple.

Written by Gregor Sharp

Pictures Of Locations

By Vidur Bharatram, Charles Lambourne and Gregor Sharp

Main Task Storyboard.

By Vidur Bharatram

Major Task : Mood Look and Feel

The mood in our film will be a sombre, sad and terrified and we show this through many different ways, For example we use close up and extreme close up shots to add tension and fear into the movie and this something we need.

Some of the film will be done in black and white and some wont be this because we want the change of colour to add darkness to the film and keep the audience on there toes and alert to what is around them.

We want our watching audience to be feel nervous and to worried that someone might also be following them.

Written By Charlie Lambourne

Locations, Mise en Scene, Actors and Props

The locations that the group have chosen to use in the film are the Michael Kirk, including its graveyard, and the top of the Silent Walk. The reasons for choosing these particular locations for the film is because the graveyard gives an added creepy effect to the chapel. Also the top of the Silent Walk is leading up to a gateway that is in to the Michael Kirk. From this point you can see a big window which covers the majority of the wall. if there were candles lit in the window then it would give off a glow from the window.



The amount of props needed in the film is not on a high level by any means. We will just be using people in their casual clothes therefore ruling out the need for some costumes.



The mise en scene in the film is going to include candles in the window of the Michael Kirk, gravestones which are already there, and the trees around the area. One other thing that will give added effect is the time of the year that we are shooting. It is going to be in the beginning of winter meaning the trees will not be lush and green, but cold and hard.



The actors in the 2 minutes will be Charles Lambourne and Lisa Mitchel. The reason that we have chosen this is because they are all drama students and feel confident in front of the camera and I (Gregor Sharp) will then take up the job of filming.


Written by Gregor Sharp

Major Task : synopsis

Our story is about a High school boy going through problems in his local school. He has visions of a man in a hooded figure trying to kill him most of the time. He cant cope much and wants to fix his problem.

His problems get worse when the visions turn into reality when others see the hooded terror around campus and home.

The Story will take many twists and turns as it progresses towards the final showdown of the horror faced now by the entire campus.


By Vidur Bharatram.

Major Task : Planning

The genre of our two minute film is Teen Horror. We have based our film on this after watching films such as Donnie Darko and Final Destination. We believe that we can create a film along similar lines.

By Charlie Lambourne

Here is our finished video!

Staring Vidur and Charlie and filmed by Gregor

Upload by Charlie Lambourne

The Making of Preliminary Task

In the making of this film Vidur Bharatram and Charles Lambourne were the actors for it and the I, Gregor Sharp, did the filming for the majority of the shots.

While making the preliminary task the group found that the filming part was on the easier side of the task. I personally found this side of the task the best and most interesting. One thing that we did actually manage to make a mistake on is the continuity of the filming. For example, on one shot Vidur had his sleeves down on his jumper, but on the next on he had his sleeves up and we didn't see this action of pulling his sleeves up on camera and there fore had to shoot a scene of him rolling up his sleeves to make it seem normal as the rest of the film is with him with his sleeves up. By shooting this small scene and inserting it into the media that we already had allowed us to keep going without having to film all of the rest of the scenes again with his sleeves in a different position.

I also felt that we managed to capture the dialogue in shot reaction shot very well. To do this, we made sure that we took our time with the shots and if they weren't quite right we wouldn't shoot until we had got the camera in to a position where it would be OK to film. The shot changes i felt were pretty good as well. Due to having the group having a whole decision on when to change from one shot to another we had a more agreed final result.

One other problem that we did encounter was not being able to fully use the tripod efficiently. I found that the functions of the tripod allowing a pan shot or a tilt were sometimes not as we wanted them to be. For example there was one point that we wanted to do a pan shot and the camera was not sitting exactly straight on the top of the tripod. This was not a major problem but we did waste some time trying to find out which screws tightened which function. Thankfully Vidur was more confident on using the tripod and was therefore able to help us find out which screw was the particular problem.

If i was going to do this task again, then I would make sure that all members of the group were 100% confident with using all the equipment and that we took some more footage than we did to give ourselves an easier job at the editing stage of the task as there would be more footage to choose from, making deciding on which shot to use more simple.


Written by Gregor Sharp

Preliminary Task Complete.

After finishing and editing of preliminary task we have to write up about what we did and how we went about achieving success in our editing and camera skills.

The Filming we started of successfully as the weather was good and we finally understood the use of the Tripod. The nest task was to keep the continuity of the shots and flow of the movie. We also had to keep a plain and simple story board about a student and teacher having a meeting about what went wrong in there Probation meeting. We had a variety of shots that made the meeting look believably real. Shot-reaction-shot of the teacher and student comparing charts and the mid shots of the exchange of the shots.

As filming together we made few mistakes. These mistakes were keeping the camera balanced and having a continuity of a person keeping his sleeves up or down. At one point we had his sleeves rolled down and then suddenly the scene changed having his sleeves rolled up. This caused problems for our editing and continuity. We rectified this by a simple shit that we did. Adding another shot of the teacher rolling up his sleeves, made the continuity problem perfectly acceptable.

If we had to do the task again, we would shoot on the same day because of the light purposes. This would allow the continuity to remain in one flow. Also manage our camera handling skills to perfect the balance of the camera for certain shots.

Written By Vidur Bharatram.

Finished Preliminary Task

In our Preliminary task we found a lot out about filming and this will help us with our main task.





We had a problem with "match on action" as during one shot Vidur had his sleeves down and in another shot his sleeves where rolled up meaning we had to shoot that scene again with him rolling them up as he sat down. We also didn't have continuity in our film either as we just went from shot to shot. When exchanging dialogue in the classroom we did a shot reaction shot and we did this over the opposites persons shoulder to look at the person speaking.



The camera on tripod was difficult, as it was the first time we had used it and we all struggled for a while and then we got used to using it.



If we where to do the task again the thing I would do is to use different camera angles and more dialogue to make more realistic.





We edited the film by cutting Vidur entering the building to him closing the door from the inside which makes it more realsitic then we cut to the Me in the classroom we had only the one problem was with vidur having his sleeves up in one shot and down in the other meaning we had to go film another piece and edit it in between the pieces where he has his sleeves up and his sleeves down.


Written Charlie Lambourne

Preliminary Task Filming

These are a few pictures of the group at work on the preliminary task.

Uploaded by Gregor Sharp

The Film That Inspired Genre Choice For Main Task

The film that I watched and that made me decide that making a teen thriller movie for my coursework would be good was The Blair Witch Project. The film is about a group of teenagers that head off in to the woods to make a film about the legend of Blair Witch. They can only drive so far and they do the rest of the journey by foot. When they get deeper in to the forest they start having problems and things start to go wrong. They eventually get attacked every night in the woods by something that they can not see or every find. One member of the group gets taken and they set off looking for him. They find the deserted house that he is shouting from and when they get in there they have a panic and they are murdered.

This genre lends itself to Gordonstoun very well as the school grounds can become creepy if you are on your own, in certain lights etc. There are many locations that we could use to make the film but the ones that we have chosen to use are the church and graveyard, which is very spooky as it is surrounded by trees and gravestones give the added effect, The Silent Walk, which is a long path with trees on both sides which leads up to the graveyard and is very spooky if you are there on your own and you think someone else is there but you cannot see them. This is something that the group thought that could very easily be added in to the story. As in the Blair Witch Project this is the fear of not knowing what is out there. In this movie we were thinking of adding the fear of not quite knowing who or what is out there. The last location that we were thinking of using was a bedrooms in of the boarding houses.

One of the main reasons that helped us decide on making a teen thriller is that the teen part of it is already here because it is a school. There wouldn't need to be any props etc as it is just usual life.

I personally think that it is the shots and the locations are the elements that can really make the film special. Luckily we have the locations at hand therefore allowing us to focus on getting some really good angles and shots.

Written by Gregor Sharp

Charlie Lambourne

We also wanted to look at the ring as its beginning is rather scary






Here is the beginning of another scary movie one we all agreed



The Blairwitch Project is another scary film that inspired us
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Here is a really scary film called Requiem

TASK 1 Teen Horror/ Thriller

The movie that inspired me and my group was the film House Of Wax.This is a film based on teenage life that gets dramaticaly changed when they head into a ghost town and go into a Wax museum, where they are met by two brothers who are specialist at making wax figurines, but after realising that they is no one in the the town except these two brothers and seeing the waxfigurines that look excatly like humans things being to change. The genre appealed to us because it is all about teenagers looking for help when no one is around.



So after a while we decided to do our own Teen/Horror movie. On our school grounds which are useful because some parts are actually like walking through a ghost town.

we will be able to show this through some scary camera work, dark rooms and people wearing dark clothing.

The locations we have choosen to use are the school church graveyard, a long walk called the silent walk and a dark room in a boarding house.

The main characteristics of such Teen horror would be set up usually be done in either a school or college. this means we can show normal teenage life, love, smoking, parting and other things. The horror part comes in if something goes wrong or a mass murderer suddenly shows up.


We would also to add more horror into our use woods and basements, places that are consantly dark and have people scared and worried which is perfect for a horror.


Written By Charlie Lambourne

Task 1 Thriller/ Teen movie

TASK 1
A movie that I saw a few days ago that has inspired our work to be a Teenage Horror movie was "Donny Darko". This movie inspired our movie that my group and me are doing. A movie where the main character is in high school and because he is trying to control his psychological problems he is confined to a medicine which makes him hallucinate the devil in the form of a Big Black Bunny Rabbit. This genre appealed to us because being in a boarding school we can have a teen movie which relates to us in the best way possible.

Also we chose to do a thriller/horror because our school grounds have a lot place for shots that involve scary camera work and also plots that have the thriller scenes of set up. From old churches to graveyards to dark and dingy boarding houses we can create a thriller easily requiring not to much of effort to find a good location.

What are the main characteristics of such a thriller slash horror movie would be a set up which involve a school or a university. This makes it easier for people to show teens at the prime with relationships , sports,parties and such things. The horror factor comes into the equations when one adds a serial killer or a rapper. Or when the group go on a road trip and get lost just to find out that they are getting chase by a mad man with a chainsaw.

There are many ways in which we would represent horror and teen movies in our school. Using boarding houses and many locations which involve old buildings and basements to get the shots right.


Written by Vidur Bharatram

Filming Premilanry Task

Today in our lesson we filmed our premilanry task. In our classroom area.

We started by filming someone walking up a ramp heading into a board meeting, we first started in a extreme close up off his feet to hear the echo of his shoes, then we tilted up to get a full image of his face, then we filmed him walking down the corridor and heading into a classroom.


This was filmed first at mid shot angle then we panned to follow him down the corridor. After this we filmed from inside the classroom of the door handle opening slowly to add a more dramatic effect as the person inside was about to be in trouble.


Then we filmed a person sitting anxeiously and nervous waiting for someone to come in. Then we filmed the teacher come in and sit down through a close up shot, then we decided as a group that we shoot the dialouge from shoulder to shoulder so that we could see both the fear and the thrill.



Vidur acted as the Teacher
Gregor was the main camera man
Charlie acted as the bad student

Written By Charlie Lambourne

Introduction to Main Task.

Today our group got down to planning for our "Main Task". Our project genre is teen horror. We are currently planning our shots and music. The editing will be done simultaneously. The angles that will be shot will comprise of Shot reaction Shot, High angle, Extreme close up and close up also a mid shot.

The Locations that we have found are in and around our school campus in Gordonstoun.
Like for instance the school chapel Michael Kirk and one of the boarding houses called Bruce.

What we learned today was:
Gregor Sharp: How to add media comfortably on a software
Charles Lambourne: He learned how to edit shots and transitions
Vidur Bharatram: I learned how to use a tripod and all its functions which involve filming the best shot



Written by Vidur Bharatram

Preliminary Task

This is our first film in our A/S coursework and we have chosen to give it the plot of a teacher telling off a student who answers back and then storms out of the room in rage. this know as the preliminary task

The preliminary task asks us to make a short film with someone entering a room, crossing the room and some dialog must be crossed between that person and another person sitting across the table. The demonstration should invole match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

The people in the group are Gregor Sharp, Vidur Bharatram and Charles Lambourne.

Shot 1) Close up on feet of teacher approaching the room.
Shot 2) Close up on feet from other angle, moving into a tilt shot from bottom to top.
Shot 3) Mid shot of student awaiting the teacher's arrival to the room.
Shot 4) Close up of the door handle from point of view 0f student as it opens.
Shot 5) First line of dialog.
Shot 6) Second line of dialog.
Shot 7) Third line of dialog.
Shot 8) Fourth line of dialog.
Shot 9) Fifth and final line of dialog.
Shot 10) Student leaves the room in a huff.

(All the lines of dialog are going to be shot recation shot, over the shoulder)

For this task we will be using 2 cameras.

Written by Gregor Sharp