The Deadline

Finally our film opening was complete!
Fatma and Yarohey had arrived earlier and had already begun creating the soundtrack as Carel and I was in lessons. At lunch when I arrived I saw that they had worked through most of it, they had created music, added Yarohey's voiceover and put sound effects in places. We then added in the sound of the footsteps, filled in some of the silences before the flashback and started to adjust the volume on some sound effects so they would fade out but by then lunch had ended and Fatma and Yarohey had to go to their lesson, however Carel had arrived and so we continued on without them. We made a few changes to what they had done, such as changing the sound effect when the title comes up to a more deep pitch sound, fading out the 'dreamy sync' noise because it was a monotone sound, so when it finished it ended suddenly and sounded weird. We also changed the last sentence of Yarohey's voiceover recording with another recording she had done because we thought that her voice sounded more stronger and effective than in the one we originally used. Then to fill in the gap at the beginning where there was silence we added in the sound of a piano playing that was same sound effect Fatma and Yarohey had used in the flashback.

It then felt like we had truly finished, so then we call over the teacher to watch through our opening. Just like us, she was very pleased with it and then told us to save it back in Final Cut Pro with the music added on, as we did this we also put in a small black block of colour before the opening with a addictive dissolve transition on it so when our opening begins, it slowly fades in. Then we saved it on our hard drive so then the teachers would then render it for us and upload it onto the blog. Having put it away and ticked off our group, we then left feeling extremely proud of our great film opening.

Thiller Final - The Deadline!

The Deadline
With two days before the deadline we had no time to be indecisive about things. Our mission was to finish putting everything in order on the timeline as quick as we could. And with minor doubts in mind we completed that quite quickly after rearranging some clips too. After this we weren’t sure whether to add in the sound or the credits. We took a few minutes to decide which one to do first, then with the constant reminder of the soon to come deadline, we decided to do the credits/titles. We all agreed on the way the opening credits were going to appear. Then we needed to think of what you would expect from the opening credits rather than the ending one. We also didn’t want to keep repeating our names in the credits to we decided to mention our names in the one area that we specialised in most and of course which was relevant for an opening. Eventually after a very long time on browsing through the text software (separate from Final Cut) we also named our production F.N.C.Y after each of our initials on a play on the word FANCY. Nicole’s creative mind came up with that. We had the text scroll onto the screen from the side and pause, using a basic font to not complicate things. The credits appeared over the “flashback” scene whereas most people created a cut for each credit/title. Because it was over a desaturated clip we added in a flash effect so it was noticeable. The credits were placed in a different section of the screen each time, the only reason for this was so it didn’t overlay or interfere with the clip. But it looked good; there was a pattern to how the text was ordered. The most annoying thing was transferring the text from one software to the other and then redoing them every time we weren’t happy with it. We had to also render the clips before uploading it to Final Cut and then render it again so it worked. The last text added in was our film title “Psycle.” We used a background for this one so all focus was on the title, also as an introduction to the film. We also had issues on agreeing to what the background was actually going to be, but in the end we agreed on a smoky "vapour" effect, to represent the mysterious ways of the thriller genre. We managed to complete the titles by the end of the lesson but never managed to move on to sound. And considering it was our last lesson it was down to us to finish off the opening during our own time. We agreed to meet later that day and the next day just before the deadline. Unfortunately we were never all available at the same time so we all worked on it when we could. I, Carel and Nicole manage to reunite later into the day. We got very little done in this time due to having to switch Macs and being kicked out so the others got a chance to edit. We did manage to add some sound though such as bone cracking and the voice over. I also deleted all the diegetic sound except Nicole’s scream. Everything else was non diegetic. We waited about 40 minutes to access to another Mac but by then me and Nicole had to return to lesson leaving Carel to add sound.

The following day I and Yarohey planned to meet to finish off whatever it was that Carel had done. As she was running late I decided to start alone. I made a few changes to Carels sound and added in a few of my own, Yarohey then walked in and was very happy with the progress. From what Carel had done I added in the sound affect for the title at the end, whooshing noises for the flashback scene and lowered the breathing. While I was with her we tried to add more sound to the silent bits. Nicole soon then walked in and the three of us adjusted the volume control over most of the sounds. We were all browsing the sound to fill empty dull parts and to create more suspense or set a mood to experience the thrill of our film. Carel then walked in and took over, she was proud of us as we were of her. I and Yarohey had to leave to get to lesson but from what Carel has told me, we still manage to finish it before the deadline and they made minor adjustments with an excellent ending result.

Editing 3 (adding credits)

This lesson was our last so we set off working straight away. We added in the rest of the clips to the timeline and all was left was to do was to edit the desaturated flashback, we needed to have the amount of saturation we decreased by the same in each clip so there wouldn't be a obvious noticeable change in colour. To do this we added up the total number of clips used in the flashback, divided 100 by that amount and took down the desaturation level by this for each clip. This took some time because we had some problems, at first we clicked onto each clip and changed the levels like we had planned but then halfway through we played through what we had done and realized that when we changed the settings for a clip, it changed the desaturation levels for all the clips we had previously done, so then we had to go through them again changing the settings but this time double clicking on each clip to make sure that it only selected the one at a time. We watched the flashback again but we didn't like it because it changed into colour too fast, so when it came out the flashback there was hardly a colour difference, so then we had to go through each clip again to change the levels. When this was done we moved on to adding the credits.

To add credits we had to use Live Type, we chose the font, colour, size, effects and positioned the credits within the frame, it was important that we done this right so that the credits were noticeable and readable but also didn't attract attention away from what is happening in the shot or block the view. We then created the title frame, this took longer than the credits because we looked through all the backgrounds and we couldn't decide which one was suited to our film opening. At the end of the lesson we finally chose a smokey grey background called 'Vapour', put the same effect on the title 'PHYSCLE' that we used on the credits and then added it to the end of our opening.

Me, Carel and Fatma had a spare hour free after lunch and we re-grouped to start creating sound. We opened Sound Track Pro and began looking through sound effects and was about to get started trying out different sounds when the teacher came in and made all the groups that were working in the room leave to make space other groups who needed to edit too. After 40mins of waiting for them to finish we finally were let into a different room but due to the amount of noise people were making we couldn't hear the sound coming from the Mac's and there wasn't enough headphones holes for the us three to plug in headphones instead, so then we had to move rooms again. When we finally got everything set up and open Sound Track Pro again, Fatma and I had go to our lesson and left Carel to go through sounds by herself.

Last lessons

Next lesson-Monday

We worked on trying to add the clips we logged and captured after half term onto the timeline. The idea was to complete as much as we could, because we only had a few lesson left. We put on transitions between clips to mark the passing of time. we spent the remainder of the lesson trying to put as much on the timeline as possible.


Thursday- On this day we worked out how to apply more effects onto the timeline. We used additive dissolves rather than fades, as we thought it would look better. We used saturation in the flashback to mark how far/close we were in the flashback towards getting back to the future. Also, we cropped areas in a clip that were irrelevant, and only appeared due to mistakes. We spent our 3 hour lesson completing what was left for logging and capturing. Once everything was on the timeline we then started including credits. We used image wire to complete the text on, deciding on size, font, colour, positioning, the background and effect. We finished the credits just before the lesson was finished. Carel, and Fatma used their 1 hour of their 3 hour break to complete more work. They added sound, and the narrative voice over.

Friday- Fatma, and I came in early to complete what was left. We finished off the sound, adding more background sound and footsteps. Nicole and Carel soon joined us at lunch where we completed the rest and finished the opening title sequence. Fatma, and I left for our next lessons, and left the rest of our group to add finishing touches, and present it to the teacher.

Thursday 26/02/2009 and Friday 27/02/2009

During Thursday's lesson, we finished editing the clips onto the timeline. We had a minor complication due to the order of the clips, but once we realised that section would work better than it was if we swapped two of the clips around, we could finish it with relative ease. Adding the titles the hardest part of the editing process on Thursday morning, as Final Cut Pro didn't have the effect we wanted, so we had to use another program (Live Type possibly?). It then took us a long time to decide which of the effects on the new program was better for what we wanted, which font we should use, where the writing should be placed, etc. However, once we were all agreed on a font, placing, effect, etc it was a simple matter of writing the right titles and adding them to the timeline. We ran into a little trouble every now-and-then, as something would go slightly wrong with the title and we'd have to redo it, but it basically worked. Adding the main title of the film was the hardest part, although we did it first. It was more difficult than the other titles, because we added an effect to the background, as it wasn't going to be on top of a clip. This meant the extra added choice of what effect to use. Eventually, we agreed on a smokey "vapour" effect, to accentuate the chilling vibe of thrillers. Completing the editing and titles took us to the end of the lesson; however, we all agreed that we had to do more work on it before Friday in order to insure it's completion by the deadline. Each of us had things to do at lunchtime, so we packed up and left for lunch. After lunch, Fatma, Nicole and I met up again in the editing suite to do more work. Yarohey was in a lesson, so she couldn't join us. I arrived a little later than the others, as I had to talk to someone before joining them. By the time I got there (5-10 minutes after the end of lunch break) Nicole and Fatma were in Soundtrack Pro, and flicking through some of the sound effects. We spent about 30-45 minutes in the editing suite before we (amongst other groups) were asked to give up our computers to let some of the other groups have a chance to do some editing. During this time, we found a particularly good "bone cracking" sound, along with a couple of others. 30-45 minutes after we'd left, we were allowed back into the editing suite to continue; however, about 10 minutes in, Fatma and Nicole both realised they had to go to their lessons, so I was left to continue until 4pm, at which point I had to leave for a previous appointment. During my time in the editing suite, I found two eerie ambient sounds, a crow's call, a sound that was very much like the branch straining under the sudden weight being dropped, some rapid breathing, etc. When I finished at 4pm, it was sounding quite good, but still needed a bit of work.

On Friday, both Nicole and I had morning lessons, however Fatma and Yarohey did not, so they came into college in the morning to work on the sound some more while Nicole and I were in our lessons. I had to miss the lunch hour when they were editing the sound, as I had to attend a meeting of sorts to help orgainse something else; however, I went up as soon as I could and found Nicole, Fatma and Yarohey looking pleased with themselves, editing the sound. They'd added a little more to it, and it was sounding a lot better. Nicole and I stayed on while Fatma and Yarohey went to their afternoon lessons. During our 2-ish hours, Nicole and I added an extra sound effect at the end, a piano sound near the beginning and changed a little of Yarohey's voice-over (just the last line). We watched it through a few times, as we could still hear something "wrong" with it, and discovered that it was the "dreamy" effect that they'd added during the morning/lunch hour. It sounded a little odd because of the way it ended, so we faded it out instead and it sounded much better. By 2:25pm, we had finished it, and were almost glowing with pride. Our teacher, Mary, came to watch it, said it was really good, and told us to save it as a file with our names and "Final" in the title, without rendering it to a video file, as they would compress it and add it to our blog for us. So we saved it, ticked off our group on the "Finished" sheet, and left, having finally completed our coursework to the absolute best of all four of our abilities.

Half Term and 23rd Feb

Me Carel and Yarohey came into workshop during the half term to finish filming. We had half the film to record. We thought its best we got straight to the point, film everything regardless and then edited it letter on. We started off by filming Carels bare feet running down the stairs. I instructed her to gently jog down the steps as it was too difficult to keep in time with her feet, also the tripod had restricted movement. We attempted this shot a few times to make sure we had a variety to choose from when editing. Also to avoid public distractions. We also filmed Carel running up the Canal from many different angels, one of which involved me climbing a tree to get a high angel although it didn’t really look that way. We then decided to give Carel the camera to film a POV shot of her running to the tree and examining it. She took a while to do it, but she got a lot of useful footage that we could work with. The last shot we took was of Carel “climbing” a tree. She needed two people to help her up but as there was only three if us in total we had nobody to film. There was no way we could offered to miss this shot, there were too many that we were forced to leave out because of unexpected circumstances. Our only open was to set the tripod up facing what we wanted to record and press record hoping me and Yarohey weren’t in the shot (which we were). We knew straight away that our continuity was going to be poor because Carel was wearing one shoe and one sock because she couldn’t “climb” barefoot. Once we filmed as much as we could we headed back to college ready to log and capture. We had a few issues doing this so we decided to leave, but in the end we got it all uploaded onto the Macs ready for editing next lesson.

The next lesson (23.02.2009) We got to editing just like we planned. Based on our storyboard we arranged the footage onto the timeline. We also added transitions and found out how adjust the desaturation on each clip. We had a flash transition to show a “flashback” and desaturated clips to show the past slowing moving to the present (full saturation). This had to be done correctly next lesson when we have more time. We realised we had one more lesson to add all the effects, transitions, sound, voice over and credits. Next lesson it going to be much stressed.

Editing 2 ( The flashback)

Because I had been unavailable during a half term extra lesson, my group updated me on what they had done and how far they had got up to, we looked through the shots and started re-filling the gaps in the the timeline and adding on more clips. When it came to creating a flashback transition we struggled on deciding on how we were going to do it, first we tried fade out fade in, but that faded into black and we wanted white so the we tried putting a small white block between two clips and put addictive dissolve transitions on either side of it but we couldn't adjust it properly to get to get the timing right. Then we picked a light rays transition that brightens into a sharp artificial light, we used this on the two clips that showed the change from present day to the flashback and overlapped them, this worked well and we decided to keep it. We then desaturated the clips used in the flashback but we didn't know how to get the level of it to gradually decrease but then with help from one of the teachers, we were showed how to change the opacity scale on the settings, which we will increase a little bit more for each clip to show that scene is getting nearer to present day.

At the end of the lesson we realized that the amount of time shown on our timeline was wrong to the amount of time we have actually used. We timed our opening ourselves and discovered that the time it was showing was a whole minute more than we had done, so it was okay that we hadn't stuck to our time for each shot that we planned on the storyboard because we still had plenty left. However, I do think we need to speed up the time we are using in lessons because next lesson is the last one and we still have to add Yarohey's voice over, create a soundtrack and do some more editing.

Half Term and Monday 23rd

Firstly: Apologies for my absence due to the college production (which went very well).

Fatma, Yarohey and I came in on the monday of half term, as we realised how much we still had to do, and the little amount of time we had to do it in. We started off by filming my feet running down the stairs. However, this was soon slowed to a run-like jog, as Fatma (filming) couldn't keep up with my speed if I ran. We filmed it a number of times to make sure we got the right shots, but were constantly interrupted by various members of the public and their dogs. Once this was done, we filmed my running sequence from a number of different angles, so that we would have more choice during the editing process for this short clip. In order to get a high-angle shot of me running, Fatma dedicatedly climbed a tree, as extending the tripod didn't seem to work properly, and the shot looked a little weird. Then I carried the camera on my shoulder to get a point of view shot, also of my running, and eventually stopping, and looking up at the tree as well. I then did some more POV footage walking around the tree and looking up at it, as if I were inspecting it. Once we had done all the filming, we went back to college to log, capture and edit. However, there were various complications with our log and capture process, during which time I was excused and allowed to go home, as I was sick, and had been in college every day of the week for two weeks straight due to the college production.

On Monday (23.02.2009) I found out that my group had managed to log and capture the remaining footage eventually, and had edited out short clip during my absence. So we set to work editing again, pulling in various sections of the new footage into gaps on the timeline. We also learned how to get the flashback effect we wanted, and how to steadily increase the level of saturation on the clips that we'd desaturated due to them being in the flashback. We also realised that, although they'd recorded Yarohey's voice, they hadn't uploaded it to the Macs, nor had we started thinking about the soundtrack.

Half term extra lesson

Half term lesson

Caz, Fatma and I came in during half term as we realised we had a lot of work to do and not a lot of time. First we started by filming Caz's feet as she was walking down the stairs. It seemed really difficult at first because of her speed, but later got easier. We worked on filming the running scenes, from other angles so there was more options to choose from. Once we did this, Caz filmed a POV shot of when shes running to show what shes looking at. Later we filmed her from the tree, and the shot where the tape recorder drops out of her hands and onto the floor.
Once finished filming, we immediately started editing. But qwe had problems as our tape was scrambled, and the Mac computers did not recognise our camera. With a small amount of help from our teacher, we managed to log and capture the remaining footage.

Recording voice over and Filming 3 (me running)

Carel was still away and there was nothing more we could edit. So we decided to record Yarohey voice, that would be portrayed as Carel's character voice, speaking a monologue that we planned to use as a voice over. She recorded herself various times because sometimes the recorder would pick up noise from people in the corridor outside the room and also to get the right tone in her voice so we had choice of which one sounded more effective.

But after this we still had more time, so we decided to film the shots of that just had me in them back at the canal. I changed my clothes to the ones I was wearing the 1st time we filmed, then Fatma and Yarohey filmed me running away from "Carel's body" from behind, in front and then I held the camera while running to get an angle from my character's point of view. This took us to till the end of lesson.

Filming 2 ( post-it note)

Carel had planned to be away this week but as main character we could not really film with out her so we planned just to do some more editing this lesson. As we played through what we had done so far, we were still not sure about the layered shot we had edited, so we decided go out film it again, then it would be a shot- reverse- shot from my blinking to the post-it note on the tape but this time with the text written on and not using effects. The shot we were going to re-film was a close up, so we didn't need to go back to the canal again as you wouldn't see the setting and so we decided to use some soil in a plant pot to recreate the soil that was on the ledge at the canal the last time we filmed, but the plant around college were to small and didn't have enough soil inside to get the shot right. We then decided to go just go outside our college where there lots of plants with plenty of soil around, however it was raining a bit and so we brought out a umbrella too and filmed my hand picking up the tape recorder twice, once with post-it note saying 'PHYSCLE' and again with it saying 'PLAY' and then we went back inside to upload and edit it.

When we were editing I realized that each time when my hand lifted up the recorder it was placed it a different position in camera, we instead should of filmed my hand holding the recorder just the one time and then pulled of the post-it note that said 'PHYSCLE' to have the post it note that 'PLAY' on it underneath so then my hand would be in the exact same position and then on the computers we could of cut out the part with us pulling off the post-it. However with good editing we managed to get the shots that we did of the hand as close to being the same position as we could to make it less noticeable and then placed it on the timeline.

We played through what we had of our opening again, there are still some gaps that we needed to refill for the flash back of how Carel's character go to be hanged, but I realized looking at the amount of time we had used on the timeline, that we didn't have as much time left to film as we thought, which meant that we hadn't stuck to the duration of time we planned to use for each scene, so the next time we film we need to be aware on how long we spending on shots.

12.01.09

Carels absence meant that the editing process continued. Due to the gap on the timeline from the previous lesson, we didn’t have much that we could have done, we couldn’t film anything involving the main character (Carel) as she was absent.

We decided to continue the storyboard and film the last three shots, trying to make use of Nicole’s role. After she changed her appearance to match the previous footage we filmed her running up the Canal from several different angles and one POV shot of her running. Before the end of the lesson we also recorded the voiceover which we plan to narrate our film. We requested and empty room so nobody could interfere with the voice recording.

09.01.09

Carel warned us that she weren’t going to turn up this week which only meant that we could edit. We continued editing our opening sequence. All we really did this lesson was re film the post-it note. This was because it needed to be seen in a hand and not on the ground, also because we thought it was best that we actually wrote on it this time. So we used a marker to write on the post-it and then taped it on.

We had 2 take an umbrella outside to protect the recorder and camera from the rain. The rain managed to make its way on the lens but it wasn’t very noticeable. We only went outside the college to film this as all we needed was soil in the background, im just hoping no one can tell that its wet because then it bad continuity.

We just edited what we could from here on and then lefts gaps in the areas that needed to be filmed and filled.

Last 2 lessons

On mondays lesson due to Caz not being present we could not film, therefore we had to edit. We started editing the rest of our opening sequence, and found some of it did not work. For instance the part where Nicole blinks, at the sight of the post- it note is not a shot reverse shot- as we hoped. We had to find a way to change it into one. The remainder of the group and I went out to film again the post-it note part. Even though it was raining we still set out to film, we filmed and returned to the editing suite. Once there, we edited the new piece, and successfully made it into a shot reverese shot. In the remainder of the lesson we continued editing the parts we could.

Next lesson (Thursday), as Caz was absent again due to being in the college production we continued editing. We started editing, and found it unsucessful with most footage missing, due to not being able to film. We soon moved on to recording the voice over. We went into a empty room where I read the script into the recorder. Once finished, we decided to film the rest of what we needed Nicole in. Therefore, we went out filming to the Canal again. We filmed her running away from the scene from many angles. We also had footage of a POV shot of her running. Once finished we returned to the class, as we worked through break and the lesson was over. The lesson outcome was more postive, as we worked together harder to get more done.

Editing 1

Today, due to it being a rainy and snow still around we couldn't film because of it would bad continuity, so instead we decided to edit what we had already done. We uploaded the footage on the computers and separated them into different shots. We then arranged them in order on the timeline using our storyboard. Then we realized that some of the shots we had done did not match what we had drawn up and changed 180 degrees side we had planned to film on, limiting the angles of shots we could have done. Also there was bad continuity in a match shot that we had planned as one shot was just of the dummy hanging by itself and the other shot was me in the same scene but I had already entered the shot and was halfway down the path, so we had added a fading transition to show that time had passed. Although it was best we could do to fix this, I did not like it because the shots were from two different angles and looked awkward when placed after each other and needed to be filmed again.

Then it came to the shot that had text changing from 'PHYSCLE' to 'PLAY' on the post-it note, we had filmed the post-it note blank and planned to use the Mac's to create the effect. Carel spent ages trying to get the right text, colour, position and get it to move with the tape recorder, even with help from the teacher, but the camera was shaking when we filmed it so the text that we added in didn't exactly move in time with the shot and when we left it still, it didn't look right either so we decided to move on and decide what to do later.

We played through what we had on the timeline and the shot that we just edited did not fit in because it was suppose to be a match shot from me picking up the tape but in that shot I had just picked up and listened to the tape straight away and didn't stop to look at the post-it note, so me and Fatma decided to film just a close up of my eyes looking down blinking to add in to show that I acknowledge the text. We filmed this in class due to the bad weather but next to window in case you could see any of the setting so it seemed like I was still outside and then when were done we uploaded it with our other footage. Carel then layered this shot on top the one that we had previously edited, but in my opinion this looked bad and unusal because it didn't follow the conventions of real films but we were running out time and so we decided to leave it place on the timeline for now.

I think that next lesson we really need to stick to storyboard and perhaps re-film the shots that we missed out due to using the wrong side of the 180 degree rule, we should also do another shot of me walking into scene from the same angle of when the dummy was hanging itself to make a better match shot and to get complete perfection we should film some shots with the dummy again, if we could borrow it again, because some angles showed the whole wig which when filming we tried to cover up because it was very short compared to Carel long hair and so it made bad continuity.

05.02.09 Editing

In this lesson, we decided to edit, as we could not film due to bad weather conditions. We uploaded our footage to the Macs “Capture now” and split them according to the various shots we filmed. After it was all loaded up on the Mac we looked at our storyboard to see what shots went where and for how long. Our first shot was of Carel’s feet hanging for 3 second. Second shot was of her hanging from her hanging (mid shot). Third shot was a long shot of her hanging from a tree. This is where our first minor problem occurred. We noticed that we did not entirely think it through, in the long shot Nicole is nowhere to be seen and in the next she was suddenly almost approaching the hanging figure. But to fix this we decided to add a fade transition to show that time has passed by. Then we added a few more shots to the sequence such as match cuts until things became a little difficult to trim on point. When we were filming because silly me did not do the 5 second rule. But with our confident editing we managed to work our way around it.

As we continued to edit we came to a point where perfectionism was necessary! We didn’t cut to the next clip until we were happy with the previous one. Also we had the issue of not completing the filming process which meant we had gaps. Carel was obsessed with adding the title/text to one of the shots before continuing. She preferred to complete that shot until moving to the next. I told her it was best to add the title/credits and effects in after completing the timeline.

Eventually we all got a little carried away with the title. Us being us would never take no for and answer, and refused to fail to do something when editing. The issue that occurred was adding the text in the right position. After playing around with it about I managed to figure out how to rotate it. Now we needed to actually move the text to position, (in order to make it look hand written on the image.) I accidentally did it and Carel spotted it so that was another problem solved. Now as we picked a font and colour we played it back to see that it looked very poor. The text remained still while our footage wasn’t this was because it was a handheld camera shot. We were advised to use a still image instead so we did. This also looked very poor. I found a way to steady the camera movement as another alternative but the film footage needed rendering, which I did not want to risk doing. We eventually used the still image and noticed on the storyboard that we didn’t get to film and important extreme close up. We thought that we could film it there and then considering the background wouldn’t be seen. We did it but found it was hard to hold a camera steady when doing an extreme close up. We had no choice but to go and get a tripod. I set up the tripod and filmed the close up of her eyes with her in front of a window and then we uploaded it on the mac. Nicole was unhappy with the shot and insisted that we remove it, for that moment we had no other choice but to leave it there until we could replace it.

Now we were trying to stick to the storyboard, so we needed to stay with our initial idea which consisted of a shot reverse shot. Carel was exploring the software and managed to use a cross fade effect to change the text that we inserted into the still frame. We were forced to use a still frame because the footage we needed moved so much as the text remained still which looked really stupid because the purpose of adding text was make it look as though it was hand written on the tape recorder. So when we used the that transition I added the shot off Nicole’s eye and turned the opacity lower so you can see what she’s looking it and the reason for her blinking. (Psycle -à “blink” -à Play.) The problem with this is that the effects mean that it goes against being a shot reverse shot. Next lesson we are going to film and maybe think of a better idea, but we all wish to stick to the storyboard.

Editing

In this lesson we were suppose to film the remainder of the last shots, but due to snow was not able. We decided to start editing. We logged and captured the filming footage on to Final cut Pro on the Macs first. Once capturing and logging, we renamed the clips appropriately so it was easy for us to manage when editing. We started adding the clips to the timeline, cutting out unnecessary media, and using the best. Once laid out on the timeline in order of the storyboard, we added transitions. We used transitions such as dissolve, to connote the passing of time in the opening sequence. Whilst editing we found slight error in a shot, and had to re-shoot. We re-shot the close up of Nicole and added it to the timeline. Once added, we edited it so when she blinked the post-it note on the tape recorder would change. It was hard to do, but looked great. We ended the lesson, with a quarter of what we filmed edited.

Next lesson-Filming

In this next lesson, we went out filming. We realised we needed a mannequin to use as a dummy, when filming. We decided to spilt up into two groups, and go to shops looking for mannequins to buy/ use. We spent a period looking, and then retired back to college. Once at college, we found an art teacher that offered to lend us a mannequin. Once, we had the mannequin we went to drama, and used their props. We managed to get some rope, and clothing for the mannequin.

Later, we went straight to the canal in Angel and started filming. We made sure we had our story board, lighting and camera angles just how we wanted and began. We used the remainder of the lesson(double lesson), and our 1 hour lunch break to film. We did not stop in between and kept going. This was great, we were working together and getting work done. At the end of lunch, we finished the majority of the filming which was excellent.

05/02/2009 - Editing

In this lesson, we were originally going to film the rest of the shots we needed; however, due to the heavy snow, this would have made for very bad continuity, and would have been very difficult to get our various shots. So, instead, we began editing the footage that we did have. We followed the storyboard, mostly, however there were a few things we had not decided to do until today. For example, in the storyboard, we were going to use a clip of the tape recorder with the title "PSYCLE" on the postit note, and then Nicole blinking, and then another clip of the tape recorder, but this time with the title "PLAY"; however, we found a transition effect that made it look a lot better, and with Nicole's blinking as a translucent image overlayed on top, it looks much better than what we had initially decided on. In order to to this, we first needed to film Nicole blinking. While Yarohey and I continued editing, Fatma and Nicole filmed that part.
We also had a few other ideas about the editing, and a new clip we could add, once it has been filmed. This new clip would introduce our "villain" during the flashback and voice-over, to re-emphasise certain parts of the dialogue. While editing, we found that the continuity wasn't as good as it could have been, due to changes in the light. Since we were outside, we could not control this. It looked good at the beginning - very cold, grey and damp. However, for certain shots, it is very clear that the Sun had come out, which gave everything a golden glow - not the effect we were hoping for, really. Still, we've got a long way to go yet, and things may get better.

29/01/2009 Filming Day 1

For the first hour of this lesson we split up in pairs, on a hunt for a mannequin in the shopping centre next to college. Unfortunately it was too early for the shops to open, but as I was determined to stick to the storyboard I and Nicole knocked on the doors of the stores until someone came and answered us. Looking at the time me and Nicole texted the other two girls to meet us at college, we thought that we might as well record what we can until we find an alternative. The only other problem was finding a location, we decided to film in a park and during our spare time we looked for one. I remembered the time I first came to the college and explored the area to find a Canal sort of thing with plenty of trees. We all returned to college to pick up the props (as we were already carrying the filming equipment with us. Whilst there, we ran into an art teacher (different one from before) who Nicole once again asked about borrowing a mannequin. And at last we found one! It was difficult to carry with all the other props and equipment but we managed it. In the corridor we tried to fit it together but didn’t succeed. A worker tried to help us but also failed. But it didn’t matter because we could just tie the parts together with the rope we were going use to hang it from the tree with. It was at this point we realised we had no spare cloths so once again it was back to the props room for change of costume for both the main character (Carel) and the mannequin. They needed to wear the same clothes as they played the same character. We found the exact outfit (trousers) twice and a wig too. Another problem solved. We didn't need to find a top, as we were going to use Carel’s long coat which was going to be zipped right up to hide any evidence of a detected mannequin. Finally after an hour and a half, went to film!

Almost every tree had a good branch that leaned over the pathway perfect for our planned shot. But considering the location boats from the canal occasionally drove through our shots, ruining the sound and could cause bad continuity. The lighting was also poor but gradually got better as the day went on. Another issue to consider when matching shots.

We hung up mannequin with a little difficulty but it looked really good once it was there. We first hung it from its neck, pulled it up and then fed the rope through the legs and over the shoulder to hold it together. Then we put Carels long jacket over which covered up all the excess rope. The mannequin didn't have any arms not that we needed it considering the coat was thick enough to make it seem as though there were arms in the sleeves. We agreed to film any shots involving the mannequin first so we wouldn’t have to borrow it again. As a final touch we added the wig to it head and placed the tape player (with a blank post-it note taped to it) on the ground beside the mannequin hanging from the tree. Finally we were ready.We then filmed the mannequin (long shot) along with Nicole's reaction to the "dead body" swinging from a tree at several varying angles, in order to create a match cut in the editing process. I found the passing peoples reactions very amusing. I couldn’t stop laughing. They looked very concerned but knew it was for the process of filming because our cameras were in there view.

It was extremely cold which made it difficult to film and act.
As we went through the storyboard we managed to complete a lot of shots from a lot of angels. This included Nicole picking up the tape player and “reading the attached note.” A close up of the tape recorder, so that we could add titles to the post-it note in editing. Carel herself “hanging” as if she was struggling by jerking before going still, the rope was very loose for safety reasons. I never let the rope get tight enough to touch her neck. (mid shot.) Carel running towards the camera (long shot zooming out.) Her bare feet hanging and another shot of them jerking (close up) but she was really sitting on a tree. Throwing a rope over the tree and attempting to climb the tree. We filmed at an angle that looked most like how it would have if Carel had been in the right place and two different trees between these shots but hopefully it will not be noticeable.

Once we'd filmed everything we packed up and walked backed to college in the freezing cold and in a lot of pain. Because we wasted the first half of the lesson we filmed through lunch time and returned at the end of it with all the props. I would say a job well done to all of us. We worked so well together and all gave each other opportunities to do what we wanted.

29.01.09 Storyboarding

To start off, firstly we explained what we did in the the previous lesson to a member of our group who was absent. Then we decided it was best to complete our storyboard. We discussed everything we needed for filming. Yarohey and Nicole drew out the storyboards and then passed it over to me to write down the effects, transitions, duration of clip and audio for each frame, including both diagetic and non-diagetic while Carel wrote up the narrative. We agreed that we were either Carel or myself was going the be the main character for the opening. Well finally ass discussed the necessary props that we needed to bring from home.

The big conflict for today was how we were going to achieve the planned long shot which was of a person hanging from a tree. Obviously the best idea was to use a dummy because it’s safer and most resembles a human like figure. Nicole was certain that the Art department had many body parts of mannequins that we could put together to create a whole person. We were advised to make sure that it was possible to use the mannequins before we found out at the last minute is wasn’t possible and be forced to change plans. So for this reason me and Nicole went to the fourth floor to ask permission to borrow a mannequin for our Thursday lesson. Unfortunately the teacher only time we were given permission to borrow it times were at specific times that didn't fit our schedule. We returned with the bad news resulting in our teacher searching the cost of a mannequin while we were forced to think of others possibilities. Everyone said to just exclude the shot from the storyboard but I was not a quitter, I decided to be stubborn and stick to the initial plan. I was going to find a way to do it one way or another. We thought about going to the shops and asking if they had any spare ones that they were going to throw out or just generally stuffing clothes with cushions then attaching a balloon to the top as a head with a wig so it appears human like from afar.

The lesson finished and we had no alternative. Then I remembered that the drama department had props so after lesson I and Carel went on a hunt to find the people in charge of the props. We were told that they did have mannequins and were given keys to check it out. When we got to the props room we discovered parts that belonged to the mannequin but nothing that was actually benefit us. We left with hope that we could work around it. We told each other to do find one in our spare time and even agreed to meet up if necessary.