WELCOME MODERATOR

DEMI COLLINS 

CANDIDATE NUMBER 1290

CLAREMONT FAN COURT SCHOOL 64680

Welcome to my blog!

I worked with Agatha Parry 1150, Kate Bradford 1208 and Sophie Bennett 1289.

I hope you enjoy my blog, which contains work on the G321, the titles and openings of a fictional thriller film which I named 'The Unhinging'.

My preliminary exercise follows immediately underneath. My evaluation questions are above. 

THE UNHINGING FILM OPENING

This is our finial cut of our opening film The Unhinging. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwwXKclrvJA

PRELIMINARY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tF6EXPRItyA

We devise, film and edit a short scene which involved a shot, reverse, shot. As a group me, Kate, Sophie and Agatha decided on doing a scene in a police office, with an officer and her boss discussing a current case. We had to think of many different aspects when filming such as, the camera angle, background noise and location of filming. For example when filming the police offeicer scene we had to wait til the room was empty to limit the amount of background noise. A positive was that we worked well as a team and bounced off each others ideas. However a negative was how long it took us to film due to the room being used at some points. When editing we came across issues such as when we went to record out voice over of "PC Sophie please come to mt office" people were talking in the background. To fix this we waited until it was quite in the room. We also came across an issue with music, finding the right copyrighted free of music for our scene.

Positives

1. We successfully worked together as a team sharing each persons ideas. We bounced off each other well while working as well.
2. We shared the responsibility of holding the camera, directing, setting the props and acting. This made things much quicker than if we were working alone. 
3. We used realistic props, helping convey the idea of a police station.
5. We used a shot reverse shot- which we found easy and useful while filming.
6. We found a variety of music from the internet, especially sound tracks and openings of television programmes such as The Vampire Dairies. As we felt this had the right feel to the atmosphere of our scene.


Negatives

1. While editing we realised the importance of a tripod as some shots we did not use a tripod for, this made the shots uneven. 
2. Our location had a lot of background noise of people opening doors and walking through. This made it extremely difficult while filming.
3. Our police uniform could have looked more realistic. 
4. We could have used a microphone as some of the sound was hard to hear and understand, a mic would have levelled this out.  

What have I learnt? 

1. Working as a team is better than working as an individual as you can complete the task quicker, we could then bounce of each others idea so have a wider range of ideas; such as different locations to film at, shot types as well as plot ideas.
2. A shot, reverse, shot is a great shot to create tension, suspense or fast paced interaction. For example showing direct eye contact and facial expressions to the co-stars face instead of directly to the camera.
3. Using iMovie is an easy software to edit short films and film openings on as it is quick, simple especially when dragging different shots into position and cutting footage.

EXAMINERS UPDATE ON TITLES

OPENING CREDITS 
The order of credits is determined by guild rules -- SAG, the DGA, WGA and other unions. the list that follows is for opening credits. 

The order in which credits are billed generally follows their importance to the film, just not linearly. First is usually the motion picture company, followed by the producer, then the 'a film by' credit. Then we see the Title followed by the cast. from there we reverse gears on the whole "order of importance" guideline and work backwards to the director... 


1. The Production Company presents - In our case 'RAZZLE DAZZLE PRODUCTIONS presents'
2. A .... production - A PARRY PRODUCTION
3. A ...... film - A BENNETT FILM
4. Title
5. Lead Cast

Thereafter, the list of importance is flipped and work backwards to the most important role of the Director.

6. Supporting Cast
7. Casting Director
8. Music Composer
9. Costume Designer
10. Associate Producer
11. Editor
12. Production Designer
13. Director of Photography
14. Executive Producer
15. Producer
16. Writer
17. Director

PRODUCTION LOGO 
If you have an Animated Production Company Logo, place that at the very beginning, before your credits. it's the first thing we see. some studios/production companies will tag the logo on at the very end too. 
We have done this, it being our 'Razzle Rainbows' productions 

TRELLO UPDATE

This shows my organisation and how I have completed everything on my blog.

The Unhinging; Our Progress

I used the site smugmug, to document our journey through photos.
CLICK HERE to view it

We have come very far with our opening film The Unhinging, developing it is loosely based around Amber Alert. Which is a system in America that tells the country if a child has been taken, who they think the suspect is, who the victim is, and where they may be. We developed the idea of The Unhinging around the story of Amber, from Amber Alert, to read the story click here.

CONSTRUCTION; FINISHING EDITING

Today I finished editing the opening film The Unhinging. I added the titles in the font Century Gothic which my group and I decided on.

I then added the titles in a place which had a lot of space in and would not look crowded with the actors and anything going on in the shot. I tried to make the titles appear as naturally as possible and disappear if anyone touched them.

For some last minute editing, in order to make the flashback shots look more flashback like and distorted by India's memory. I added the same clip in, just a few seconds behind. I added the clip on top of the original clip that was used. I also added the effects bleach bypass on both clips and on the original clip I turned the exposure, brightness and contrast in order for a difference to be recognisable. I then turned the opacity down on the second clip in order for them both to be seen. This showed the same scene twice, on top of each other but one at a slightly different time and having a brighter effect. The clip with the brighter effect is meant to represent what really happened and the harsh memories, the other clip is there to show India's confusion. 

Here is a picture of me editing with Agatha's help and discussing ideas. 

At one section we show in the bottom right hand corner, 'dialling 999' to do this we were inspired by many TV shows and films that used a text on screen method, this meant we did not have to use a close-up of a phone, which is sometimes very boring and hard to read. 

CLICK HERE to see the video that introduced me to text on screen

Our opening film, has turned out well, and just as we liked. The shots are jumpy to show India's distorted mind and her confusion and worry to what has just happened to her.

Finalising Edit and Sound

Today Agatha and I finished the Editing and sound for our opening film The Unhining. We have finished organising the edit and scene changes and added in the sound we were going to use. For the sound I created the soundscape for our opening film by using a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds and copyright free music I found then edited and change to make unique. I created a mash-up using music and diegetic sounds, therefore having an original soundtrack. I changed the sound with Agatha's ideas and help.
The next stage is to add the titles.

I also added in the distributor logo for Warp.

Evaluation 1; Forms and conventions

The hands leading into a flashback scene:
This point-of-view shot from India's perspective, the camera is off a tripod, creating a shaky cam. This symbolises India's unstable mental condition as she runs for her life. The shot of her hands brushing through the trees is followed by a flashback of her hands being tied up. Close-ups normally engage the audience who can experience at first hand the protagonist's emotions. Here, the close up makes the audience experience how frantic India is when trying to free her bound hands.

News reporter scene:
This scene was filmed by using the rule of thirds, we placed both news reporters onto the two gridlines. Using the rule of thirds carefully allows for the creation of visual interest in more than one part of the frame. This also made the two characters be in one half of the shot each, making the scene aesthetically pleasing. This shot was a midi-shot as we tried to get the scene as professional looking as we could, the miss-en-scene was a road that lead to her house, as this creates a closeness to the character. We took inspiration from the news as many news reporters film in out of studio locations.

Eye close up:
We started with a 1 person shot of India raising her head, as she has just woken up. We did a close-up shot of India's eyes, this created mystery as we are unable to see her whole face. The close up shows the fear of being taken and confusion as to why in her eyes. We see her scan the room as she looks left and right, when she looks it leads to a flashback. India is the first character we see showing how she will be important in the plot line.

India goes out of the door:
This is a midi-shot of India opening the front door and running out of the house, signalising her escape.

Jack chases after India:
We have the same shot as we did for India's escape to show Jack running out of the house, noticing India has escaped and therefore going after her.

Jack going up the stairs:
This is a close up shot of Jack's feet as he walks up the stairs, this leads into a worms eye shot from the top of the stairs. These shots symbolises Jack leaving India, as he goes to a different room in the house.

PLANNING; STORYBOARDS

These are my story boards my group and I made at the beginning of the project. I have scanned them in using a printer and uploaded them.

I created these collages, using the website Fotor.com

CONSTRUCTION; Editing The Unhinging

Today we started editing The Unhinging. Due to me doing the least amount of filming and work before, I took lead while editing scenes today. We had re-viewed our footage as we went along, but today as a group chose what shots look best and where.
We found out today that we had developed our shot list quite a fair bit while filming, as while filming we found ourselves in a creative flow. We have noticed this editing and have tried to follow the shot list as well as we can. An example is, Agatha and I decided to try and film a match-on-action cut where India walks into the camera and towards the stairs, making the screen black. The camera angle then changes, as she walks away from the camera and goes up the stairs. As a team we all decided what scenes and clips are best and what would look best in our opening film.

I used the site Fotor to create this.

IDENT

Today, we finished our Ident for our opening film. We named it Razzle Rainbows and used a software called istopmotion.
We all worked together to finish it doing odd tasks such as; cutting out the rainbows and letters, setting them up for the images, taking the images and adding the music. I took the photos of the rainbows and words once they were in place, I also added the music, once we exported it into iMovie.
Using Fotor i made this collage.

This is used with the song 'Razzle Dazzle' from Chicago.

Filming; Basement scene

Today we finished filming all the basement scenes for our opening film The Unhinging. In which, we tried all new techniques to get good tracking shots and keeping the camera as steady as possible. To do this we decided on using roller blades. Agatha had on rollerblades as she followed me holding the tripod, creating a smooth tracking shot. I used Emaze to show this presentation.

I recorded this short 10 second clip on snapchat and added it to my story, much like youtuber Casey Neistat does.

This was the last section of filming we had, therefore we can now move on to editing our opening movie.

Filming; forest scene

Today we finished the last bits that needed filming in the forest scene. This means we are almost completed our filming, we have once section left to film for the escape scene and then we are done. These are some images showing our progress, i created this using ThisLife. We did a lot of running and close up shots today, and really widened our range of shots, using panning, tracking, close up, point of view and 360 shots.
Click here to see photos showing our progression

I used ThisLife to show our progression

We did a close up shot of me breathing as I have been on the run from Jack, the kidnapper. To prepare for this scene I ran around a lot and did 50 jumping jacks twice between the runs. This helped get my heart rate going so I could feel more in character and the breaths could be more realistic.

Filming; News Reporter Scene

Today me and my group went back and re-filmed the News Reporter scene as the wind and ambient sounds.
We found the filming at lot more smoother this time due to the different time in the day where the road was less busy, and also using last time as a practice we knew what to do.
I filmed this section as I am playing India in The Unhinging so do not get the opportunity to film often. When filming this scene I used both the rule of thirds and quadrants while filming. For the rule of thirds I made sure both news reporters where on a gridlock point that crossed on the rule of thirds, making it more pleasing to the eye. I also imagined the screen in half and made sure that one news reporter was in one half and the other news reporter on the other half. This was inspired by a video I had watched in class that focused on the film drive. To see that video, click here.
I used an app called 'papelook' to show the images below. This is what the app looked like when I first opened it;

And this is what i created using the app; On the bottom left picture I used snapchat to create the writing on the image. 

FILMING; NEWS REPORT AND OPERATOR SCENE

Today my group and I continued filming for our opening film 'The Unhinging'
Today we worked on the News Reporter scene which I wrote a script for. The news reporter scene explains how India has been captured and how long it has been.
We also filmed the female operator scene, this is at the end of our opening film, it is after India phones 911 and tells them how she needs help before the line goes dead. The operator then says 'That was India'
We used Agatha as the operator, and had Sophie in the background to make it look more realistic as it would be a business environment. Agatha was wearing a plan suit, and a headset with a microphone on it to look professional.
We also tried filming the News Report scene, however due to the time of the day the our location was extremely busy, with lots of background noise which made the News Reporters, Kate and Sophie hard to hear on camera. This being sad we decided that we should come back to the News Reporter scene on another day, when the area is more quite.
As I play India, the girl who gets kidnapped in the opening film, I am unable to film a lot of the opening film as I am in it. This being said my group let my film these sections of the opening film in order for me to have a diverse part in the movie, and learn more about filming.

Click Here to see my Animoto 

Trello

This shows my progression during my opening film.

DISTRIBUTION; PROMOTIONAL POSTER

Today I worked on making a promotional poster for our opening film The Unhinging. To do this Agatha, was working on a font for the movie title, she gave me this and i edited the picture, I blurred the background of the image using Photoshop and the tool Gaussian Blur I found under the filter tab. I then darkened the background of the image, making the girl, India, stand out in the darkness. I then added the names of the people in the movie, when the movie comes out, and the age 15 mark. I also used the smudge tool over the font for the names and the 'October 2015' to give the poster a more eerie look. There were many different stages of creating this poster, we changed things as we went, deciding as a team what looked the best. For example the names of people in the movie started being at the top of the poster, and the title next to the girls face. As we developed the idea of the poster we deiced we needed a caption or quote for the poster. We looked at other movies captions such as Red Riding Hood 'Believe the legend. Beware the wolf' Nightmare on Elm Street 'He knows where you sleep' The Last House on the Left 'If bad people hurt someone you love. How far would you go to get them back?' Sinister 'Once you see him nothing can save you.' One Missed Call 'What will it sound like when you die?'  The Hunger Games 'The world will be watching' Inception 'Your mind is the scene of the crime' We went through many ideas on what to use for our caption, trying to gain inspiration without copying other movies. I came up with ideas such as 'Danger is inevitable, fear is an option.' 'It's not the dark thats scares her, its what lurks in it' 'She learnt what fear really is' 'Its easy to fear someone when they fear there self' 'From her fear she gained power' 'From her fear she gained strength' It took us ages to find the right font for the title 'The Unhinging' we finally found one on a site called 1001Fonts, after lots of discussion we found one we all thought sorted the opening movie.

Filming

For the last few lessons my group has worked on progressing filming. We have almost finished the forest sequence, as shown above, and the capture/escape section of our opening film, shown below.

The collage of the escape scene can also be seen here. I made the collage on Collage.com, i added a texture and text.

Through filming we have learnt that some of our shots in the shot list do not add up and have had to make decisions while filming to decide what will be best for our opening film.

DISTRIBUTION; Twitter

I am in charge of my groups Twitter page for our opening movie. The Twitter will help promote and distribute our opening film as it will create a buzz for the movie. The Twitter will also benefit as we can then received feedback from it.

EXPLORE FILM MAKING: FUTURE LEARN

I signed up for the Explore Film Making course that I was told about by my teacher on the website Future Learn. This will help me have a better understanding of film making and will benefit my opening film.

I WATCH TRAILERS ON..

Today in class we looked at trailers. We went on youtube which is where I normally watch trailers. Today we watched The Kingsman trailer. View Here.


I could also watch trailers on Apple TV, amazon prime wire, the cinema trailers.

Filming; MAKEUP

India's makeup has to show the fact that she has been kidnapped. To do this we used eyeshadow for the bruising. We used a variety of different colours ranging from purples and blues to yellows and greens. This gave us a realistic looking bruise to shown how she had struggled with escaping and had been injured in the process. This also made the film opening more realistic than if she had no marks, making it look like it was easy to escape her kidnappers home.
The bruising was on the left side of India's face, by her eye and the corner of her lip showing her Kidnapper, Jack had physically abused her on her left side.
The fake blood was added as we see in a flashback how Jack uses the side of a mirror he broke to cut India's face. We used two different types of fake blood to get the cut to look as realistic as possible. India also had a cut on her leg showing once again her struggle.

Using PhotoSnack I made a slideshow on the photos to show India's cuts and bruises, along with our filming in the forest that day.

PLANNING; LOCATION REECE AND COSTUME

Today my group and I did a full costume practice for India, and looked for any more locations. The full costume gave us more of a feel about how our opening film will turn out.
I made this college using FotorCreated

We looked in a abandoned shed. The makeup features various cuts and bruises. 

Filming; gym scene

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY POWTOON ON FILMING 

DISTRIBUTION; USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR MY FILM-MAKING

Twitter:
I created a Twitter page for my group, as Twitter has 250mill different visits per month. I named our twitter @TheUnhinging. I will use it to post short (140 or less characters) posts that are linked to our film. I will also use this to talk to people that might like and see our film, also using it for networking, such as distributors and journalist. See Twitter page here

Facebook: 
My group has created a Facebook page for our opening film. Facebook has 750mill different visits per month. And we will use it to start and maintain an ongoing relationship with our audience for the film. We can talk with them, getting feedback and creating buzz for the film. See Facebook page here

Instagram:
My group has also created an Instagram page for our opening film. Instagram has 50mill different visits per month. And my group will use it to talk to our audience and create buzz for our film. We will do this by uploading pictures and short 15 second video clips. See Instagram page here

Website:
My group created a website for our opening film. This would help raise excitement, as we can post short teaser clips and photos.

TRELLO

This is an update of my trello, showing my progress.

PLANNING; MIRROR SHOT

Today in class Kate, Sophie, Agatha and I discussed how we would successfully film a shoot with a mirror reflection without getting the reflection of the camera in it. This scene is when Jack in looking into the mirror just before he punches it in rage as he remembers a memory of his mother.