Question 7

Q7: Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Personally I believe I have developed a full range of skills as a filmmaker, primarily in the departments of camerawork, sound and editing. Due to myself already studying a technology course in music I already have a skill in sound production and editing but this is only relative to the music industry, so this has helped develop these skills and apply them to sound production in media and film. This has resulted in me being recognized in terms of my skills and ear in sound editing, though I am still not the best in terms of technical talent it has been a big step and assisted me in my knowledge of sound production relative to media.

I have always been interested in editing and have edited small clips on minor software, but not until I purchased a Mac with reasonable editing software like IMovie. Nonetheless I instantly took charge of editing for our preliminary since editing was the one thing I took immediate interest in, and showed natural ability in doing so too. I researched editing techniques and the mechanics of IMovie learning basic, and then more advanced features of it. Again my editing isn’t the best but it was most certainly good enough for the preliminary and has since improved after having filmed Vox Pops and then after observing the editing of our final Thriller piece. I learned how to review individual clips frame by frame, attach and detach sound, add filters and themes and even attach and alter the screen dimensions of an image to match that of the film.

Finally, for our Thriller I was the cameraman so I had a hand in suggesting shots (most of which were controlled by the executive producer, Jack) but for the more complex shots such as the out of focus shot of the victim in the distance was by my hand. Many of the tracking shots, used or unused were suggested and filmed by myself. I took test shots and three takes of each shot we did so that we could either collaborate takes of shots or select the best quality one to unsure we had quality as well as quantity to our work.

There are many strengths and faults to our preliminary but nonetheless it turned out as a success. The strengths were that we held continuity well in our preliminary ensuring we took multiple takes of each shot and making sure each actor does not move, especially when doing the shot of Jordan walking through the door to ensure continuity is held. We ensured the door, Jordan’s position and Jordan’s stature all didn’t change.

Also, we held the 180-degree rule and didn’t break it once, we noticed we had broken it when filming a shot of Jordan placing the phone on the floor so we had to of course return and re-film. It was myself who had spotted this mistake so my constructive critique of our preliminary and attention to minor detail helped us remove any mistakes in continuity and breaks in the 180-degree rule.

On top of that the editing was effective, we managed to use clips and cut out outtakes and still use them successfully. We managed to watch each clip frame by frame, remove loss of words, laughs at the end of clips and even remove the sound of one of the filming crew talking during shooting.

I noticed these strengths and built upon these during the filming of our thriller to make the quality of it better. I applied my critical view on shots and even the editing to a degree making sure that the executive producer agreed with what I pushed forward. I often said after filming a shot that it wasn’t good enough and that it had to be redone or done in a different way using a different angle or distance.

I mainly built off my camerawork skills from the preliminary and decided to look at and play with the Panasonic HD camera we used to get a grip with its features. After gaining many ideas from the preliminary and knowledge of camerawork and filming I delved deeper into the actual settings that can be used for filming, and began to grow picky with how the camera was calibrated during shots. Though my abilities in using the camera weren’t the best, I can pick out which shots I was picky with over some of the others in which I didn’t edit the camera settings with.

On the other hand, there were weaknesses of our preliminary. One weakness was that we had to resort to using a Ken Baker shot because of a continuity break. A Ken Baker shot is where part of the image is cropped and it zooms out over a set period and amount, I used this to remove continuity. Though technically a strength it is also a weakness for good reason. This is since we had to reduce the quality of a small part of the film to cover for a continuity error that was hidden in plain sight. Jack’s stature hadn’t changed a bit to the previous shot but since he’d lifted his arm using multiple takes, his shirt had un-tucked and we didn’t notice until after the filming deadline so I quickly came up with such a solution.

We cut shots off and changed the angle too often when we didn’t need to. We could have left some shots going and not stopped the filming, or recorded off two separate devices to capture the moment twice and evaluate different angles. Or even better collaborate the same shot, from two different places to capture two angles without having to move or possibly break continuity.

In our thriller we avoided zooming in too much but only focused on what we wanted in the framing, and made sure not to crop or Ken Baker any of the clips we used for our Thriller. On top of that we captured shots from both our iPhones and the HD camera to get many angles and takes for each clip. We used the iPhones for POV shots while filming over the shoulder with the Panasonic to capture a first and third person view of the action. We also carried shots on and didn’t stop them unnecessarily.

Discuss specific skills that you have developed filming, editing, etc

you MUST mention continuity, 180˚ rule, shot reverse-shot, match on action, etc How were they useful when shooting/ editing your thriller?

After having filmed our preliminary we kept the 180-degree rule in mind more than most things, since we filmed in two separate locations and not only that but we had a lot of character movement so we had to keep a track of which direction they were moving and which side we did and didn’t want to show. We didn’t want to show the houses but we wanted to show the fields, but the difficulty stood that facing away from the house would result in not showing any fields. We decided to zoom a little and wait for the people’s noise to subside before filming and it completely removed the house from the framing. This allowed us to show the fields without confusing the viewer about which direction the victim was travelling in.

When filming in the garage we didn’t wish to show the door or the boxes of trampolines and pink bicycles at the end of the garage, so we didn’t show many shots from behind Ronan and no shots of the wall to his right. We primarily focused on capturing the torture table and victim reactions.

Keeping the 180-degree rule in mind was very useful; this allowed us to hold continuity all the way through filming since we had no worry of character and prop placement since we told them to stay still, or not look or face a different direction. All we had to do was move the camera, set the settings and zoom and then continue the filming. Thanks to the 180-degree rule we struggled less for positioning for both camera and actors than we did during our preliminary.

As I stated my camerawork and editing skills have increased massively since filming and editing the preliminary. I have done further research and playing around with software to hone my abilities in the meantime, since after filming I want to better my knowledge of filming and editing and make it a skill that I can confidently hold. I can split clips frame by frame much more accurately and I can edit confidently and quickly within minutes rather than hours now, simple Vox Pops, music and titles aren’t an issue nor do they take up much time. I assisted with a small part of the editing for our Thriller since it is only fair that someone else got a shot but I had a part in bending, altering and cropping the sound to match the action of the film. However I had the lead part in filming, I had never used a proper HD video camera before filming our Thriller, so I sat while we were taking a break from filming looking at all of the settings and seeing the impact they had on the image. That is the most effective and rapid way for me to learn since I will know what each setting does. The setting I favored most was the manual focus and the manual lighting adjustment. I turned off the autofocus on everything including the lighting adjustment and came to terms with the manual adjustments and captured a very effective shot of Ronan out of focus with a very traditional, cliché yet conventional shot of the antagonist watching the victim from a darker and more concealed area.

We planned all of the work on our blogs, through heavy research of other thrillers primarily. We read through and worked through our research and planning and centered focus on a small collection of movies. We believed the movies Casino Royale (torture scene), Hostel and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. However we also approached the public by creating a couple of Vox Pops and common answers that sprang up were Casino Royale, the opening of Se7en and Fast and Furious 7. According to the audiences, conventional movies that open up with the creation of enigmas, intense atmosphere and action all make the viewer want more. We captured those ideas using our own plans and ideas.

Furthermore, gaining the opinions of other people we created and filmed a production pitch specifically for audience response and opinions.  We believed if we offered and pitched our ideas we could gain an idea of what our peers wanted from that and if they saw potential in our ideas, the audience we intended, and the way we wished to promote it.

In the regard of editing we understood that it was conventional for it to be very fast paced during scenes of action. We watched numerous films and reviewed films with synchronous and asynchronous sound and found that our film fit in better with the style of having dramatic, fast paced music to match the severity of the action. Though the most popular choice of editing and sound medium paced cuts with diegetic sound or a low hum edited in. Django: Unchained is an excellent example of this. The editing isn’t fast paced at all and there is nothing but diegetic sound, the same goes for Casino Royale’s torture scene. The slow editing infers a prolonged pain or torture leading to the audience empathizing for the victim and wanting it over and done with. We nearly captured this idea and adopted it but we wanted to steer clear since it was risky and may not have worked. Instead we took inspiration from films like Hostel that had fast-paced torture scenes that have the audience squirming in their seats.

In my opinion our thriller opening was very successful and I believe, personally, that it had many strengths behind it. We used a massive range of shots though the majority were close-ups to highlight props and the victim’s reactions to particular actions for example having a gun put to his head. We believed it was a strong use of thriller conventions and it formed a tense account that made the viewer empathize for the victim.

Also, our quick cuts for editing that match the pace and sound of our music creates further effect, more so towards the end of our thriller. Screeches that ring out as the antagonist grabs the chain, out of tune piano chords play as he slides the bat through his grip as the film cuts off. The sound and editing of clips were indefinitely the biggest strength of our Thriller in my opinion.

For sound I simply used the song Days of Chaos by Kevin Mcleod and converted it into an mp3 file, doing that I took it across to Logic X and used a pitch bend on it, and changed the cents a little so that the song sounded more ominous and sinister.

The camerawork and some of the shot techniques we used, for example POV shots, changing the focus, using camera sway where appropriate and a few tilted, high angle and distorted shots. These were all conventional shot techniques in Thrillers that we had researched to capture a better atmosphere. The shot that stood out to us most was the shot from behind the antagonist as he watches an out-of-focus victim walking in the distance. In one shot we captured the tense and unsettling feel that we wanted and it was our strongest shot, as we mutually agreed as a group.

The weaknesses of the film are most probably the mise-en-scene. The chair we used wasn’t as make-do-and-mend as intended. A wicker chair like that of the one from Casino Royale was more fitting in my opinion; it looks more amateur, sinister in a sense. I wanted to capture the amateur farmer style torturer in the shots to make it seem more resourceful.

The fake blood we used on top of white clothing stained and turned pink, so it looked very cheap and fake. On skin it lasted around half an hour before flaking and peeling off, so we had to top it up every now and then. This risked breaks in continuity and resulted in us not showing clothing for too long in shots, so we were forced to use quick cuts and couldn’t leave shots running for too long.

I also felt the lighting could be better to fit the genre, or we could have at least edited the clip to dampen and darken the light with a small filter and vignette. In my opinion the fact the room is so bright and doesn’t have a grizzly, dark atmosphere with a light centered on the character doesn’t capture the full feel of the Thriller. We couldn’t do much about the lighting since they were bright LED bulbs, so of course the room was going to be bright and defined. We wanted to capture the Texas Chainsaw Massacre feel through the use of lighting but couldn’t quite get there since it was so bright.

I’d have improved these weaknesses and to do that I could have pre-planned and organized for the use of good make-up, I even own a wicker chair but was unable to get a hold of it in time for the filming. In future I would map out what props and resources would be needed and costs if necessary. I feel we could have done better with the use of make-up, and we have numerous friends who could easily create bruises and fake blood using a make-up kit.

In terms of improving lighting I could use one of our test shots, and review all the filters and screen effects I own to see what we could have done. I could see if darkening the picture is an available effect on IMovie, or incorporating a yellow tint to the picture and adding vignettes. Adding these are what I believe could improve the filming since visual and edited effects are a fundamental part of modern film.

These images represent the improvement in our camera work since filming our preliminary. Here it is a screenshot of the preliminary highlighting one of the shots that we should have continued, but stopped unnecessarily. Here we filmed Ronan moving until he left the shot, left it three seconds and made him stand completely still just to be sure we captured what we needed in the shot. This meant there were no repeats of unnecessary cuts, or hesitation before movement and we were able to film in one take.

In regard to the editing, in the preliminary there is a moment where Jordan evidently hesitates before moving, so as editor of the preliminary I should have noticed this sooner and shortened the clip so the movement flowed naturally and not mechanically as if Jordan were under instruction. We kept this in mind during the filming of our Thriller, and as seen the victim’s movement and stature look completely natural and that is because we gave a count in after we started recording instead of before. We were able to edit out the countdown and therefore make the movement look natural.

In these images it makes clear the improvement in props and mise-en-scene. In the preliminary we showed the phone and almost threw it into the face of the viewer, which is a very big cliché. It shouldn’t be used really since it makes the film look rather cheesy and tacky. Instead of this we took heed and showed the props at a tense, quick-paced moment and ensured they were directly below the light and clear to the viewer. On the other hand in the preliminary both the camera quality and the lighting are poor since there is a slight glare on the camera at the top of the image. There is slight blur of the focus in the actual Thriller which is a very good touch to a degree since it is distortion of the shot, assisted by a small tilt to the right. However, to improve the shot we could have changed the focus to be completely focused on the tools. Nonetheless the introduction of props and the shots used are much better than that of the preliminary.

Finally, we improved the costume, use of camera zoom and editing more above anything. In the preliminary we used a standard shirt and tie, with formal wear as a costume for our preliminary, which was rather unreliable. Jack’s shirt kept un-tucking and it resulted in breaks in continuity since it was noticeable in the next shot. We decided to incorporate the use of dark clothing for our antagonist and use lighting to our advantage. A dark set of overalls means you can’t see creases in their clothing and this was crucial since we wanted to show off a lot of the antagonist’s costume.

In terms of editing and zoom, we avoided using a Ken Baker shot again because it reduces the quality of the film by a rather significant amount. We built on this in our Thriller and set the focus, zoom and lighting adjustment settings before we took any shots. This would therefore result in no need for cropping some of the shots and reducing their quality. We reviewed our film thoroughly and decided most shots were too quick paced to notice continuity breaks, we couldn’t spot any in the longer shots so it gave us the confidence we took the correct precautions before each shot.