Prelim Group 13 Ivo Bella Luka Olivia Alicia

There are two differently edited versions of our prelim. We split off into to groups in our group. This is the version that I, Luca and Bella edited together using final cut pro. When filming this we had to keep on reminding ourselves of the 180 degree rule. I think that we got some good angles in the prelim and it was quite successful, i think that we got some really interesting shots. I wasn’t so happy about the fact that we were shooting in the editing sweep when trying to shoot a western but the whole point of the exercise was to test our skills and knowledge on the camera continuity, angles of the shot and editing.   

Kyle Cooper Demo Reel

Kyle Coopers demo real was very interesting as a lot of his work our in films and adverts that I am really fond off. The way that he combines digital animation with film is really interesting. You can depict by watching Kyle Coopers work that he creates each sequence title he does in a very detailed manner.  You can see that he likes to mind map and study every aspect of the subject he is creating. He experiments with allot of his work.” I like finding the Hand made things, there something imperfect about it”. Some of his most genius sequence are Experiments and the product of successful accidents. “Some of my favourite title sequences encapsulate the main characters obsession”, for example Coopers title sequence for seven, coopers obsesses over the detail of the serial killers own obsession to get a better sight of the killers way of life. I found seven a really good and inspiring sequence. The way that the close up shots glitch into one another with robot stereo music in the back.

In our media presentation we discussed the prison break idea and we all decided that this was probably the best idea we have amongst all of our ideas. As it has never been done before the media technicians enjoyed the idea because they believed it would be more interesting for us to film. But also very simple in a way to film for us which makes it easier. The thought that it could be very stylized but could also have an element of super hero in the sequence. Or equally it could be very unexpected with a fat man with food in his beard. Which would be interesting, as you wouldn’t be expecting it.

Presenting our ideas to the media staff

We presented our ideas to the media staff yesterday and after discussing our group ideas we came up with some conclusions of what ideas would tick the most boxes.

Our first idea which was about the paranormal creature. After discussing the idea we thought that it would be a bit cliche and unoriginal

The second idea was about the prison break,  The staff really enjoyed this idea. They found it very interesting and they thought if we could expand on it a little more that it would work really well. They proposed the idea that the idea could involve some sort of super being. They thought this idea had so many branches to work from.

The third idea was about the kidnapping from a carnival

They did like this idea as it was very different from any other ideas they have had before. They told us that it would be an entertaining sequence but very difficult to pull off in the short space of time we have. As the filming would be done in the winter and not many carnival take place in the winter. We did try to think of other ways we could pull of the carnival effect such as filming on a green screen. It is still an option but would be very hard to film.

The fourth idea we decided not to discuss as Adam had told us that it was far to cliche and as it is a very well known story that it might not be as good as we would have liked.

Conclusion.

We got a lot of useful information to reflect on about the ideas. It was also good to get more opinions on the ideas as they would be part of the audience for our prelim sequence and we are aiming to pitch our ideas to them.

First Production

Our Group

- Alicia

- Alexandra

- Ivo

- After Adam sat us together in our groups, we began to brainstorm and rearrange our individual ideas and narrow these down to our final three thriller opening sequences. This is what we came up with in our group.

Idea 1: There is a couple driving through the forest around Hurtwood. Suddenly an unknown, paranormal creature flies, in a blur, across the road. Though confused, the couple believes it best to keep driving. When the creature appears again, the couple stops their car to investigate. Again nothing occurs so the couple continues on driving. The scene ends when all of a sudden the creature, a female beast, is standing in front of the car. (Alternate option, one never sees the face of the beast, merely the terrified expression of the face of the couple in the car). The creature could in someone hit the car.

Good:

1. On location
2. Simple
3. Low budget
4. No extras
5. Easy access to actors

Bad:

1. Blur may be difficult
2. Headlights of the other car filming may cause a continuity problem

Idea 2: A Prison Break, the screen starts off black with the camera facing a dark brick wall. One can hear banging and thumping. The opening credit text is displayed in different bricks. A small but strong glimpse of light shines through the cracks of the wall as it begins to crumble. One of the bricks falls out of the wall and one can see a man peer through the gap. Next the thumping gets louder and harder. Suddenly the wall crumbles down and the silhouette of a man appears, created by light in the backdrop of him facing the camera from an angle. The man then walks to the camera and covers the lens, as the screen turns black.

Good:

1. Simple
2. Easily Done
3. Effective
4. Low Budget
5. Only one actor
6. On location

Bad:

1. May be too simple for 4 minutes

Idea 3: The scene starts off at a carnival. There are heightened noises of kids playing and having fun. Interesting camera angles of the different rides add for an intriguing and interesting effect. Through a crowd of people we are made aware of the family the scene will be focusing on. There is a mother with her three children walking around eating cotton candy. Though she is their mother, she still seems quite overwhelmed with having three young children at a carnival. The daughter, roughly 6 years old, decides to take a picture with a huge teddy bear. As the bear huge her, the mother’s view of her daughter is blinded. The scene ends with her camera in the shot. On the picture that she took it is clearly evident that there is hand coming out of the teddy bear costume and when she looks back up, her daughter is gone.

Good:

1. Interesting

Bad:

1. Not location
2. Need extras
3. High Budget
4. Not simple

Idea 4: Female (or male) is driving through a forest when all of a sudden she sees a figure placed in the middle of the road. Believing this figure is a human body; she steps out of the car to take a closer look. What she doesn’t know is that as she got out of the car, another person crept into her car. Upon realizing that the figure was just an old ratty carpet, she resumes her drive through the woods. While the person got in, another car came up and noticed what was happening to this poor girl. As the girl continues on driving, the car behind tries to warn her, by flashing his/her lights and honking. It is too late though because the end shot is of her looking in her headlights and seeing there a dark figure in her car with her.

Good:

1. Interesting
2. Scary
3. On Location

Bad:

1. Not simple

Ideas For Opening Sequences

A Prison Break, the screen starts off black with the camera facing a dark brick wall. You hear banging ands thumping. The opening credit text is displayed on different bricks. A small but strong glimpse of light shines through the cracks of the wall as it begins to crumble. One of the bricks falls out of the wall and you see a man peer through the gap and then Begins to thump harder. Suddenly the wall crumbles down and the silhouette of a man appears, created by light in the back drop of him facing the camera from an angle. The man then walks to the camera and covers the lens, screen turns black

Astronaut on the moon, retrieving samples inside the moons craters. Lowers himself down with harness and cord. Suddenly a defining high pitch roar and the cord is cut. The astronaut plummets the bottom of the wide, deep crater. Breaks good leg and sprains his shoulder. he cannot see around him as it is pitch black. He is stuck in the crater while the dark side of the moon is creeping up on him.

Editing the Prelim.
For editing the prelim we used used final cut pro. this is a very professional software for Apple macs.  we retrieved all our caches from final cut sever, a program that stores all original shots on a shared area which you can retrieve your project from. we use final cut because it is a great software for the projects we are making throughout the year. final cut pro is a phenomenally complicated piece of kit. I use this software regularly and i have it my laptop so i had already got to grips with it. In final cut we made two different boxes to store our clips in different folders. The Original clips, the bin, and the ones we wanted to use out of them. We were shown by Matt and Adam how to select the points of the clip we wanted to use to put forward in the prelims by using the "i" and "o" keys on the keyboard, selecting the in and out points of the clip. W were already cutting down the clips and adjusting them by mid way though the lesson. we got to grips fairly easy with it. we finished the editing process within two lessons.

Video

Preliminary exercise: Continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule.

Main task: the titles and opening of a new fiction film, to last a maximum of two minutes.

All video and audio material must be original, produced by the candidate(s), with the exception of music or audio effects from a copyright-free source. Both preliminary and main tasks may be done individually or as a group. Maximum four members to a group.