Thursday 29 March 2012
The Woods Still(title sequence)
These are the still of the title sequence, presented to show how images and credits are used together.
Wednesday 28 March 2012
Finished Editing
28Th March, Finally finished editing
We have to cut some scenes because some were to long, removed the clips that were not relevant, and repair some sounds and scenes because it didn't flow.
This was a great success as today was our deadline and we only had until 4:00 to finish off our work. However with our hard work we have edited by putting all scenes together and exported the Film on Blogger.
Creating an opening soundtrack
we have created a soundtrack for our films opening scene using the software 'GarageBand' for Mac. To create the music we used three instruments; Deep round synth bass, Floating embers, Shimmering flute and nature sounds to add effect.
Costume shop
When were working on the story to the film 'Slaughter night' we needed to find a shop in which we could purchase props and costumes from. We found a shop in the Victoria center, Nottingham that supplied a wide range of different outfits and fake weapons. From this shop we bought a rubber army dagger which was used as our main killer weapon for slaughter shadow. We stopped using this for the filming of the woods as we didnt think it was original enough.
The website of the store is http://www.luvyababes.co.uk/
The website of the store is http://www.luvyababes.co.uk/
Tuesday 27 March 2012
How to use GarageBand and I Movie
Introduction and techniques to use I Movie
Introduction and techniques to use GanrageBand
The Three Point Lighting RESEARCH
Three-point lighting is a standard method containing three types of lighting used in the three point light, by using three different positions. First key light, it is used to shine directly right upon the object. It focuses mainly on the strength, color and angle of the object and makes it stand out. Second fill light,also shines on the subject, but from a side angle relative to the key and mainly used to create shadow. Third back light, (hair, shoulder etc ) shines on the subject from behind, often to one side or the other. It makes parts of the body look sharper then the other. It is mostly used in visual media such as video, film, still photography and computer-generated imagery. However we wont be using it as its not relent to out film. Our light will be already provided and it wont be needing any extra lighting.
Equipment damage
During the filming of 'Slaughter shadow' (our second project) we noticed a screw was missing on the tripod which caused it to collapse. This was a danger to the camera as it nearly hit the ground twice during the filming. This has been reported to the media equipment department.
During the filming of 'The Woods' one of our actors hit the camera unintentionally whilst performing a stunt. The camera was perfectly fine afterwards but the footage created a white noise effect for a split second.
weather whilst filming
The weather whilst filming 'The Woods' was very dull during most of the footage which was great for the effect of the horror film. Towards the end of the filming during the punch scene the sun starting shine ruining our our footage with continuity. We recently discovered this scene was not needed at the end when it was cut out to make the film shorter.
YouTube help for using Imovie HD
Imovie HD was a very intimidating program to me at first. I used the website http://www.youtube.com/ to my advantage by searching for some guides on the basics of the software
Slasher film research
I have researched a couple slasher films to find the best techniques to make a film connect effectively with the audience.
Saw
The film saw connects with the audience by telling a background story behind the main character, this make touches this audience making them want the character to survive and by feeling the emotional pain of the main character when one of his/loved ones has died. The saw films all use dark lighting in almost every scene to show negativity to link with the killing and gore. Saw also has a very clever traps and torture techniques that are explained well to the audience that may interest people that like that sort of thing
Friday the 13th (remake)
The friday the 13th remake used younger adolescent characters so the audience can connect with as they have so much in their lives to live for. Teenagers can have less courage than adults and can make dumb decisions which also help to connect with the audience giving them less hope for the characters survival.
Nightmare on elm street
This film uses a very interesting way of killing characters as they are killed in their dreams. This makes the characters seem more vulnerable as a dream is a fantasy world meaning anything can happen. The idea of Freddie being in a dream scares the audience which could keep them awake at night. This is a very clever idea but could have not been accomplished without the menacing characteristics of Freddie Kruger himself.
Saw
The film saw connects with the audience by telling a background story behind the main character, this make touches this audience making them want the character to survive and by feeling the emotional pain of the main character when one of his/loved ones has died. The saw films all use dark lighting in almost every scene to show negativity to link with the killing and gore. Saw also has a very clever traps and torture techniques that are explained well to the audience that may interest people that like that sort of thing
Friday the 13th (remake)
The friday the 13th remake used younger adolescent characters so the audience can connect with as they have so much in their lives to live for. Teenagers can have less courage than adults and can make dumb decisions which also help to connect with the audience giving them less hope for the characters survival.
Nightmare on elm street
This film uses a very interesting way of killing characters as they are killed in their dreams. This makes the characters seem more vulnerable as a dream is a fantasy world meaning anything can happen. The idea of Freddie being in a dream scares the audience which could keep them awake at night. This is a very clever idea but could have not been accomplished without the menacing characteristics of Freddie Kruger himself.
Actors Input
The actors used in our horror film were good friends of mine which made it easy to get in touch with and communicate. They were also happy to help me in my project as they knew i was struggling and that it was important to me. There was a disadvantage to this as they fooled around a lot during the filming making it hard to direct especially as i was the only one to direct as it was quite awkward for Sadia being the only one in the group that didn't really know the crew.
Working on a Macintosh
Although it was a good experience, this year was the first time i had ever touched a Mac and felt as though i had been dropped in the deep end. A lot of features and programs we had to use on the Mac were extremely hard to use and left me confused and frustrated and at points. Imovie HD seemed very basic and limited and i felt as though i could have made the same movie using Windows movie maker on a PC which i would have know my way around well. I also struggled using Adobe Photoshop on the Macs as i have learned to use it on a PC and some minor changes on the mac version made it difficult to use at times. I think i would have performed better overall if we were given the option to create our movie using a PC with video editing software such as Sony Vegas pro to make things fair.
Group
I think this project has been very hard mainly due to group issues. This big problem was the fact that my original work partner had decided to drop the subject during December with short notice. This made it harder for us to work more work had to be done by each member. Another issue was that the two members in the group (Me and Sadia) weren't too well acquainted which lead to lack of conversation and disagreement in the group. A disadvantage of the group was that my partner Sadia wasn't a very big horror fan which hindered our group as she had lack of experience on the genre. I feel as though this has been a bad year for my AS media and i am expecting a poor grade.
Where i got 'The Woods' idea
Over the past couple of years i have watched many horror films. Not many of which were slashers though. When thinking of the idea for the film i tried to think of my favourite slasher horror films for inspiration. The main one that came to my mind was Friday the 13th which is set in the woods with a murderous man in a hockey mask killing teenagers. This film gave me the idea of the woods as a setting. The idea of the killer being a ghost came from just watching horror films general as this makes the film seem more spooky and paranormal. I needed to give the characters a reason to enter the woods and thought that the idea of entering as a dare or just curiosity would make the plot seem believable.
Film company logo
I originally created this logo to go on the title screen of the film but it is a very nice logo therefore i have adopted it as my logo for the group.
Creation of the heart beat sound
I created the heart beat sound FX using a program called Fruityloops studio 10. The heart beat sound was created using a bass drum found in the default libary. I selected an area low down on the keyboard and repeated a low sound quickly followed by a slightly higher bass sound every second. I then exported the music file as an mp3.
Soundtrack problem
Our group was unaware about the soundtrack being our own work. We have used a few copyright free soundtracks found from various places on the web. However we didn't really have a lot of time to create the soundtrack and lack of experience made this much harder. The special effects are our material created by me using the software 'Garageband'.
Inspirational posters
The cabin fever poster is an inspiration because it shows a tree in black and white which represents a forest/woods which is the setting used for our film. The Friday the 13th poster is also set in the woods but also shows a picture of the killer in the center of the poster.
Day 3 editing
Todays editing was during my lunch break. I have added titles to the opening sequence and also added a sound track. The final scene could not be added as some shots have been lost but i solved this by ending the film after the first victim had been killed leaving the audience in suspense. i also added a few sound FX for hits and paranormal activities.
Soundtrack Problems
27Th March Lunch time
Because we only have until tomorrow to finish our editing, so we have decided to use the same music but just recreate it different of our own.
Monday 26 March 2012
Film Stills: Slaughter Night(SCENE 4)
These are some of the stills for the ending sequence, scene 4 where the killer kills one of his first victim but the second victim runns away.
Editing Problems
26th March continuing afternoon in the Computer room......
While i was continuing with my editing i identified some problems.
According Lean our teacher, the opening of the film is supposed to about 2 to maximum 3 minutes long. However the opening for our film is about 5 minute long, knowing we cant do anything now we have decided to leave it and just cut some scenes short if we can.
Another problem we are facing is the ending. At the end the scene supposed to finish with the killer trying to attack his second victim but the victim running away. However a close up punch scene is missing and without that clip the scene doesn't flow. So either we may have to go with that scene or change the ending
One day left, and we still have ending, title and soundtrack to finish......
While i was continuing with my editing i identified some problems.
According Lean our teacher, the opening of the film is supposed to about 2 to maximum 3 minutes long. However the opening for our film is about 5 minute long, knowing we cant do anything now we have decided to leave it and just cut some scenes short if we can.
Another problem we are facing is the ending. At the end the scene supposed to finish with the killer trying to attack his second victim but the victim running away. However a close up punch scene is missing and without that clip the scene doesn't flow. So either we may have to go with that scene or change the ending
One day left, and we still have ending, title and soundtrack to finish......
Creating Soundtrack
We have created our soundtrack by using GaradeBand. To create this music we used different instrument, Deep round synth bass, Floating embers, Shimmering flute and nature sounds.
This music will be used for the opening and some sequence of the scenes. It will give an effect of tense and nervousness, hint that something is about or going to happen.
Editing Continue....
26th March, continuing editing....
Today we have put togather almost all the scenes, just the ending that needs to be done. We know what scene will go where and we have an idea of what need to be cut and shorten.
We have made our title sequcene 30 to 40 second long and other different scene maximum 20 second longest.
We have until this Wednesday to finish of the editing with sound track and put it on the blog.
Today we have put togather almost all the scenes, just the ending that needs to be done. We know what scene will go where and we have an idea of what need to be cut and shorten.
We have made our title sequcene 30 to 40 second long and other different scene maximum 20 second longest.
We have until this Wednesday to finish of the editing with sound track and put it on the blog.
Reseaching LIGHTING
The main sources of lighting used within slasher films were darkness and bright but sharp lighting.
However daylight was used within two of the films, Halloween and Misery suggesting that these films started like any other day for these characters allowing the film seem realistic and that the characters live normal life's. Darkness was used in Saw, Creep and Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which was used to capture the fact that these will be scary/horror films with a connotation of darkness which is danger and evil.
Costume
This costume is for the killer within the film. He will be wearing this and appearing in the film.
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