Editing

 Editing

When we were editing our final sequence,  we decided to start with the scene of operation and all the actions. The reason we started with that is because that there are no effects or music we need to edit with, so the action scene is just easier to edit. All the footages we filmed were focused and the continuity was good. There was one scene, the clones face was shown on the screen when the doctor bend down to get the bucket. We zoomed in the frame so the audiences won't be able to see the clone's face. 

Then we started with the montage and editing the montage took us a lot of time because we tried out many different effects while we edit the montage scene. At first, our concept idea for the montage scene is slow duration, so we put in many slow motion effect. There are flushes in between the montage scene, which for making the sequence more intense. After finished the first version of the montage, I have found a soundtrack that I think link to our sequence very well because there are flushes sounds in the soundtrack. After added in the audio, we think the whole sequence is too slow and chill. This is because that the action scene is very slow because we are suggesting many messages in the action scene. The slow duration help to increase the intense atmosphere because the audiences don't know what the operation is about and also slow duration can help to increase the impact at the end where the clone reveals his face. We decided that the action scene has to stay slow duration so we can only change the montage scene also the montage scene needs to match with the music. We looked at the opening montage scene for American Horror Story, in their montage scene, most of the shots flushes very quickly. We decided to make the montage more messy and it was easier to edit with the audio. We removed some footages such as jars and the pan shot of the clone, this is because most of the shots we did are very still but the pan shots and jars were shot as hand held so we decided not to use those shots. My favourite shot is definitely the beginning of the opening scene, because the blood dissolve in water matches with the music. For flushes, we added some colour filters on top of shots so visually the shots are stronger.  

Our concept idea was the montage scene before the action scene. We are having a black out with film title in between two scenes, but after a discussion and watching the sequence, we think the title sequence (montage) would be better if it is after the action scene. After the montage cut into the action scene just seems very sudden and not make sense, but if we put the action scene first, the audiences will understand that that is the beginning of the story and the reveal should has a shocking impact on the audiences and make them want to keep watching.

Shot Day Reflection

 Shoot Day Reflection

In the morning 8:30, the whole crew gathered in the studio. When Amanda and Millie were preparing the props, I was talking to our two actors about the storyline and the schedule. I asked them to change costumes before we start to do make up. We spent about 15 minutes to do the make up, because we needed to let the fake blood dry. 

Before we started shooting we came up with an idea about using the small monitor for revealing the face of the clone. The reason we thought about using the monitor is because we think using the monitor is more closer to Sci-fi genre and cooler than using mirror. Using the monitor also helped us on timing, because if we have the clone's face on the monitor all the time, then those two actors don't need to change their costumes again and again. Lighting wise, we want to keep the studio as dark as possible but still be able to see the setting. We had three different lightings, on the sides we had purple and blue neon lights. At the back we have an orange strobe light but we covered it up with the small door so it didn't shine straight on the table where the clone lies. We changed the schedule, we started with a high angle shot nearly bird eye's shot of the clone (Freddie) lying on the table for 10 minutes. We set up the camera and placed on the table, then we asked Freddie to lie under the tripod. We did close up to his face, so the audiences will be able to see his face.

Matt helped us exported the footage in to the monitor, so we have the monitor on all the time playing the video. Then we asked the actors to swapped their costumes, so Fred can be the replace body on the back. Freddie who just act the clone changed into doctor's costumes. By the time they went to change, me and my team members went through the schedule, and we decided to went back to the original schedule and follow the schedule so we won't miss any shots. We did the exactly same make up on Fred so they have the same cuts on their body. The first shot we did with doctor is him walking down the stairs and walks up to the clone. We did wide and mid shots with his scene. When we were filming the mid shots we asked Freddie who act the doctor to stand in front of the table so we can focus the camera. We used a prop to be the floor mark so we can make sure the actor walks to the same point. We then filmed the scene where he does the operation, we moved the camera to the side so we can film what he is doing. I asked the doctor to bend down so he can hide his hands, because he was not actually cutting or doing the operation. 

When we were shooting the close up of operation tools, I was in charge of the camera and this was my first time trying focus pull and changing depth of field. I learnt about finding the focus point and how to control the camera stay on focus on one object. 

The hardest shot I think was the extreme close up on the chip. That scene was hard for the crew and the actor, Millie was in charge of the camera and I was standing behind Millie to direct the actor. Freddie needed to hold the chip until we focused the camera and because the chip was too small so it the camera was really hard to be focused. I was directing Freddie when to put down and when to stop because he couldn't see the screen so he doesn't know where he should stop moving the chip.

I think we were doing very well on time because we finished all the scenes with Fred who plays the replace body before lunch, just like how we planned. In the afternoon we were mainly filming Freddie and some montage scenes.

When we were filming the montage scenes, I was helping to film the posters and I realized that it is very hard todo zoom in and zoom out. The camera was really hard to do a frequent zoom in and also when I was panning the camera I had to make sure my hands were not shaking.

In the end we tried out a hand held movement, which is we filmed the clone from his feet to his head. I was holding the camera and Amanda was helping me because the camera was pretty heavy. It is hard to do it without any tools helping because we want the shot looks stable but because it was hand held so it was very difficult.

We finished the filming around 2pm which finished earlier than we planned.

Overall the shooting was great because we finished on time and the footages were looking great. I think there are thing we could have done better, such as more planning or research because there were many changes when we were on set. Also, there were many props we didn't even use, we could have been more organized and bought less props. The skills we learnt in the workshop really helped us through out this production, for example how to set up camera and call outs. The call outs helped the crew became more organized. I think we had a great team work because we all know what we want and we helped each other out on setting up cameras, doing make up and set up props. The actors were really helping us getting all the scenes and action we want. My favourite part of the day was when we were filming the montage scenes. There were two scene I really like which are where we filmed the blood dripping down and where we pour blood into water.  The footages look very cool. 

If I can do it again, I would get more special camera movements, such as tilt and pan. Also, I would add few more extreme close up of face and props. The main thing I learnt is that the time passes quicker than I thought, so for the next shoot I will definitely be more prepared. 

Research into roles on set

 Research in to different roles on set

The media production requires a division of labour, we will make the production by having team work. We will be having 3 roles in our production group. Amanda will be the editor, Millie will be the camera woman and I will be the director.

Director - director is mostly directing the casts and crew to create the production. The director is like a leader gather everything together， helping to organize.

Camera operator- in charge of the camera, following the instruction and shot list to create good structure videos. The camera operators are very important because they are the one produce the look of each scenes. It requires a good skill to be the camera operator.

Editor- Editor take the key part in post production process, their job is to manage footages, dialogues, effects and graphics in order to form the final product. They need to understand the story and make the best effect and final product in order to impress the audiences.

As a director, I will be communicating with the actors and therefore they understand what we are trying to present. I will be helping them to find their positions, emotions and the best actions. I will be calling out: stand by, roll camera, action and cut. This is for helping the crew more organize and make sure everyone is in their position in order to make the process effectiveness and quick. Reviewing the footage and make some decisions such as whether we can move on to next scene. Because me and my team members is on the same page on ideas so when I look at the clips I know if the footages are good to be editing. I think director this role is help the crew to gather around together with ideas and decisions, so we won't waste extra time for directing the actors and make decisions. 

Before the shooting I will contact the actors, to double make sure what they need to bring in and what time they should be in the studio. I will help with my team members to check the props and I will print out the shot list and schedules. 

On the shoot day, we might will be nervous and stress so I will double make sure everything the day before our shoot day. What will be challenge for me is to explain the story and each scene to the actors, so I will think about each scene's look the day before and prepare some actions and positions for them. On the shoot day I just show them.

I will direct the actors their facial expression and actions quite violent so it links to the genre of our sequence. I will get the lighting sharp and dark, so the tone looks dark.

I will make sure that the doctor and the clone seems like the same person by using camera angle combining with actors so the audiences won't find out any problems. I will make sure each shots are what we aimed for so when we get to post production, we can make the sequence effective enough in order to target and impress the audiences.

Research into similar products conclusion

 Conclusion

After researching several similar products, the common thing with all the product is the genre, Sci-Fi thriller. 

For Sci-Fi thriller, normally contain sciences elements such as futuristic setting, experimental story line etc. Therefore to make increase the Sci- Fi genre. Thriller is mainly fighting scenes and blood scenes.

Normally would make the tone into darker tone so it adds more tension and thriller into the products. If it simply Sci-Fi, it would be brighter colour tone like white and grey which seems more future like.

What we have in common is in 3 of the products I have researched have a scientist/ doctor, which relate to our product's character. The lighting are quite cold in all the products I researched. They used strobe lighting, LED white lights to create the cold atmosphere. 

What is not in common is that all the products have different story line and theme. For "Level 16" and "Black Box" they have similar concept as they both have characters been experimented. Their characters settings are pretty different, most of them are pretty violence apart from "Black Box".

Posters are the first thing I see for each products. What they have in common for posters is that they all have close up of main characters' half of a face on their posters. These give me an impact of they are close to me and right in front of me. The facial expression on their face is very serious and scary which give me a thriller vibe. The colour of the poster are dark and have high contrast and shadow on the posters. High contrast and shadow can make the characters and the tone darker. The font also suggested the genre of the products. For example, the texts are designed vertically for "Level 16". This suggests coding like feeling, which link to the genre Sci-Fi. The colour they used are grey and white which represent prison like colours and the setting of the film is prison like. They also used red in the poster in order to highlight out the title of the film. The red suggests blood so by looking at the poster make me think that these conventions are all in my genre. The filming technique also suggest the genre. I see many close ups in those products. Close up makes the audiences feel more close and more terrify because of they couldn't see the whole frame. They use many slow durations in their products, that is another common thing they have. They like to edit as slow duration when something about to come up therefore to increase the tension for the audiences. The slow duration and close up help to keep the audiences' attention. The audiences would get bored if everything is in the same tempo. 

In these similar products there are many thing inspire me. The underground basement in "YOU" really inspired me of setting and the lighting. In the space, there are tools on the walls and pictures of victims. In our group we decided that we will make have a wall of tools and a board with pictures on top. The lighting in "Level 16" has inspired me， in the movie inside their room is very dark but on the side they have some strobe light. When is time for them to get on bed, the room got darker, and there are only some neon light on the side. I would like to have little strobe light to light up the clone, and the doctor. The audiences shouldn't see the doctor's face at all. "The last of us Part 2" inspired me on costume and setting. The costumes in "The last of us Part 2" are very dirty and bloody, so when I was making the apron, I put dirts and paints on the apron in order to make it look more old and the doctor in our sequence has wore the apron for a long time. I want to create the dirty and feeling because the setting of our character （doctor）is a rich man or a professional doctor， he is more like using everything he can get to make the experiment success. Just like how in the 'The last of us Part 2' the character find knifes and everything they could find in the abandoned city. In the video game, there are many rooms they can go in and when I was watching some clips on YouTube, I saw there is a dirty mirror and sink which I think could be linked to the reveal scene in the end of our sequence. If the doctor reveal him in the end in front of the mirror would be better and also make sense that he revealing in front of the mirror. Just before he reveal himself he could be washing his hands because there would be blood on his hands after doing the operation. In "Black Box" next to the doctor there is a table where she puts tools on, also in real life when we go to dentist or hospital, there are silver trays or table where they put tools on. This inspired me that it would be nice if we can get a shot of the doctor picking up the tools and this is also for the audiences to see the tools he is using are not professional. 

After researching all the similar products I think the main thing is to keep our sequence dark because this is what the audiences are expecting. Audiences who would watch our sequence are people who is interested in triller or horror this kind of films so dark and nervous intension are the things they would definitely expecting.  

Research into similar products

The opening sequence we are doing is thriller genre and the sub genre is more Sci-Fi thriller

I have research one TV show, one video game and two films.

Dialogue Workshop

 Dialogue Workshop 

For this dialogue workshop, me and my team member filmed a normal conversation between me and Amanda talking about exams week. In this workshop, we had about an hour to finish a one minute long clip. We decided that me and Amanda are going to be the actors in front of the camera, Millie is in charge of the camera and Perdy is going to be in charge of the audio/ sound. The first thing we did is find the best place to film the sequence. We tried to find a clean background place, and then we all helped with setting up camera. This helped us to get more used to setting up the camera so on the actual filming day we can be able to set up the camera quicker. On set we used all the call outs such as 'stand by', 'rolling camera' etc. Therefore to help us understanding more who should be saying what and what we should say on set. After me and Amanda sat down, Millie and Perdy started with filming the wide angle (master shot) and mid shot. From those two shots, Amanda is on the left side and I was on the right side, so then they followed the 180 degrees rule. 

We tried out over the shoulder shots, mid shots and close up on both of us.

Because this workshop is the first time we did with the audio/sound so when we were on set filming we didn't quite know where to put the microphone in order to get the best clearest sound. We put the microphone in the middle when we were shooting the wide shot and shots which have both of us in. For single shot such as over the shoulder shot facing me and my mid shot we put the microphone facing towards me so we could be able to collect my voices. We did the same with filming Amanda.

The thing we need to do better next time is to think about having more special shots, because this time due to time condition we only filmed some basic shots and the footages look good but next time I think we need to consider more about how to create a better image and angle. Maybe next time before we use the actors, we can rehearsal or practice between us to find the best angle so when the actors are ready we won't waste much time.

When we were editing, we realized the the audios' volume are different, because the distance between the microphone to us is different every time we film. We tried different ways to edit the clip, such as sound bridge, when me saying my script but we have Amanda's face on screen and shot reverse shot. This is for to practice how to make the sequence more interesting. 

Test shoot (Reflection)

 Reflection on Test Shoot

Making this test shoot really helped us to see some problems we have. 

Starting with time management, we did finish on time in the lesson but we were rushing at the end. I feel like we wasted too much time at the beginning on discussing where should we start and where should we put the table. Before the actual filming, me and my team members need to go to the studio again to just make sure that we are clear where to put table and where tHe clone would be. Over all our time management was pretty well.

Moving on to team work, three of us work very well with each other. We all know what we should do and where we can support each other. During the test shoot shooting, we all had ideas and solutions how can we improve and how to solve the problems.

The shot list is the problem we found out we need to improve it. When I edited the video, I realized that we have got the in transition but not the out. For example, we filmed the doctor doing operation but we didn't film anything such as him walking out. The scene straight after is when the clone walking towards the table and wash his hands. We missed out the whole part where the doctor leave the room and the clone seat up and get down the table. Now, we need to improve the shot list and shooting schedule. 

（This is the shots we added on)

Camera wise, we followed the shot list to do wide angle, mid shot and close up. While we were filming, by looking at the set and actually acting out, we discovered many special shots, such as tracking, tilt and bird angle etc. We need to think more detail, so we can actually stick with the shot list and shooting schedule.  The close ups are building the tensions and also when we edit the video, we combine the long duration of close ups and some flashes therefore to create the thriller feelings.

When we watch the test shoot, we think the concept of a man doing operation is very clear, but we need to add shots such as the clone getting up and make clear for the audiences that the guy who reveal at the end is the clone. 

Test Shoot

 During the lesson time, we went to studio and first we talked about which area in the studio we will be using. In the actual shooting day we will need two black walls to clear the background. On the actual filming day, we will get more props from photography department and theatre department. 

(Picture of us filming the test shoot)

The total length of the test shoot video is 1 minute 26 seconds, this is not including part of the montage scenes we didn't film because of our props are not there. When we include all the close up of props we will be able to reach 2 minutes and maybe even over 2 minutes.

In total we had 57 rushes.

During editing the video, we have change the colour and tone of the video. I have made the tone darker, because during filming, we didn't have any lightings ready.

For transitions, we added some white flashes and overlapped images.

Therefore to increase the thriller and horror feelings. 

This is the final video of our test shoot:

Amanda has also done another montage part for our sequences because we think for the montage part we can be more creative so we did two versions.

She has used green and dark tone colours and also flashes.

We will combine the creative montage and normal edited storyline to form the actual opening sequence.

 Test Shoot Plan

For the test shoot, we decided that Amanda will be the one to hold the camera. Me and Millie will be the two cast, she will be the Clone (Freddie's part) and I will be the doctor (Fred's part). On that day morning we will be bring in all the props we have and keep it in school so on the actual shooting day, we won't forget any props. Millie will be mainly in charge of setting and checking props. I will be in charge of editing the test shoot.  We will be filming in the studio where is our actual filming location so we can get used to the location and get the images of actual filming. 

For shooting, we will be following the shooting schedule just to see if the schedule works and is there anything we need to change. We will be using iPhone to film the test shoot. 

We are using the pen to be the knife in the test shoot.