Final Cut

In this post I am going to be showing you our final cut. This is the finished product after we have re-filmed and re-edited and after all of our hard work here it is;

My next post will be the Evaluation question 1

Re-shoots and Re-edits

In this post I am going to be talking you through the re-editing process that we went through to improve our rough cut I am also going to include images of the process.

In this shot, the first thing that we did was added the idents, we originally decided on having a wolf as our ident to go with our production team name which was Primal Embassy, however, after consideration we didn't think it would look very professional and so therefore decided to get rid of the idea. After getting rid of this idea we decided to add an ident that represented our production team, which was a very strong, hard working and motivated, so we decided to add the earth ident to represent the strong aspect of our team and then the nile studios ident was to represent the motivated aspect of our team. After deciding on the idents we then had to decide on the underscore that we were going to use. The nile studios underscore was an egyptian style of music, which we thought fit very well with the name and sounded like a very strong underscore. The primal embassy underscore was the same it was very dramatic which again represents the hard working group. The first scene that we started to improve was the dog scene. To improve this we cut some of the shots out of this scene as it was too long and we found that we broke the 30 degree rule so we got rid of some of the shots which reduced the amount of continuity errors that occurred. We also added some text over the top of this scene, the text was of the actors names and which character they would be playing. We thought it would create a better effect as the text would appear over the live action. We then added an underscore of some happy music to represent the good times that Carly and Jack have together and the fact that the times they did spend together were happy memories. We also added ambience sounds underneath the clip because the original sound on the clip had taking in the background so we decided to use some ambience sounds of birds to make the scene look more realistic. To improve the title of the film we added a underscore which acted as a stinger to give it a more dramatic effect instead of it just being silent. 

The next scene we re-edited was the library scene. This scene was originally the Cannock scene, however, after we decided to get rid of it, we had to replace it with a different scene altogether. That is when we come up with the library scene. This part of the film was very easy to edit because it was a completely new scene, so it was like starting from scratch. There were no jump cuts through the scene as we only had one pan and then an insert. However, the scene was a bit boring at first so we added an underscore to make the scene a little bit more interesting, we again added some happy music to represent the happy times Carly and Jack had together. We didn't record any dialogue using the sound recording kits so we had to use the original dialogue from the scene. This presented us with some difficulties due to the fact that there was a lot of white noise in the background so we had to get the balance of the ambience sound and the dialogue perfect to get rid of any background noise which i thought we did perfectly with the use of key framing.

The next scene we re-editied was the cinema scene. This scene was particularly difficult to edit because we had to get the ambience sound perfect. We had to make the ambience sound fit with the shot and make the ambience sound loud enough that you could hear it and make it sound like they are actually in a cinema. We also had to add some ambience sound when Carly was eating the popcorn. This was particularly difficult to do because the popcorn sound effects that we found were all un realistic and sounded like it was from a cartoon so we had to do a lot of searching to find a popcorn sound effect that was realistic but also was in time with the live action. In the end we managed to find one and with a lot of cutting the sound up we managed to match up the sound with the clip of Carly eating the popcorn. We also had to re-edit the insert of the teddy bear dropping. The scene was very shaky due to the fact that it was filmed hand-held so we had to add a stabiliser to the scene to reduce the shakiness, which worked very well especially with the lighting which also covered up the shakiness of the camera.

The next scene we re-editied was the brook scene where we see Carly and Jack walking and having a laugh together. This scene was very easy to re-edit as it was juts one continuous scene. The reason we had to re-edit the scene was because when Marc (Jack) walks through the camera and comes out the other side on his own he was on the incorrect side so it looked like a very big continuity error. When we re-filmed the scene Marc was on the correct side which got rid of the continuity error.

The next scene we re-editied was the swing scene where Marc and Ellie are talking and having a laugh together. The one main thing that we had to do in editing for this scene was to make the point of view scene where Jack is videoing Carly on his phone look more realistic because the first time we edited it didn't look like a realistic phone the shot was the same as all the others. In the re-editing we had to make it look more like Marc was filming from his phone so we added an image over the live action to make it look more realistic. We also added added an underscore to the scene which gave meaning to the situation because originally we had the same underscore throughout the whole of the film which got boring so we added a different underscore underneath this scene to give it its own meaning and break it up a bit more. We also added some ambience sounds of some birds chirping which made the scene much more realistic as they were in a park. 

The next scene we re-editied was the memorial scene. The only thing that we changed in this shot was the ambience sound and the underscore. Again we added a different underscore to this scene for the same reason that previously we used the same underscore throughout the whole film which became monotonous. So we added this to break the scene up. Also the ambience sound in this scene was completely different to all the other scenes because it was a sad underscore while all the other underscore's were quite happy.

In the editing process we decided that the story line would be better if Carly faded away like she is in his memory, she's dead so she's fading away from human life. We did this by getting a clip of Carly standing by the bench, and then underneath a clip of just the bench with the flowers on. We then changed the opacity of the clip and faded the Carly clip out so all was left was the bench.
The underscore used was edited so it faded the same as the end of the movie by editing the video animation to change the line to a linear line so it faded out more softly.

The final bit we edited was the credits, we got told that the credits weren't long enough an the wrong title was at the top of them. So in reediting we edited the credits, included the extras and the main actors and the production crew. We then also changed the title at the start of the credits. The underscore that was used was dragged from the last scene which was the memorial scene, using the same music makes the constant flow of the music make it more emotional and fluent with what was going on in the last scene of the film.

The next post will be our final cut

Rough Cut Feedback/Evaluation of Feedback

In this post I am going to be taking you through the feedback that we got on our rough cut of our short film Grief.

After producing our film and presenting it to the class, we received some feedback, good and bad. This will help us improve our film so that we are able to get the best grade possible and make the film look professional by using all of the correct techniques.
First, we were given a pre- made marking sheet. This was given to the teachers and students who were watching our film.
Our submission was teacher and peer-assessed using the following criteria;

• There is controlled use of the camera.

• There is close attention to framing.

• A variety of shot sizes are used.

• There is close attention to mise-en-scene.

• It is edited so that the meaning is clear to the audience.

• The soundtrack is appropriate; it supports the visual images.

• The soundtrack mix is well-balanced.

This is the sheet that was used to mark our film and give us feedback. 

As you can see, the table had columns on so the class could mark the film. Level one being the lowest level and level 4 being the highest. The class could then make any comment necessary so we were able to have the feedback written so we were able to go back to it when needed. 
The feedback that was given was as followed...

• We needed to include ambient sound, for example, in the scene where they are in town, there needs to be sounds of cars and people walking past. 

• On the dog scene, we broke the 30 degree angle and the scene was too long making it too tedious and boring.

• The title needed sound effects.

• The underscore of the dialogue needs to be made more clear so it is more obvious what the story line is and that Carly is in fact dead.  

• With the Elephant scene, Jack's head was cut out making it bad framing. 

• Cinema scene - the audience may be able to tell that it is a school theater, we need to frame it so the audience cant see the top of the theater. 

• Cinema scene - The lighting is too low key.

• Cinema scene - too long making it boring.

• Swing scene - for the POV shot, Jack could be holding his phone so it is like he is filming her on the swings. 

• Swing scene - jump shot

• Credits need to be longer. 

With all of this taken into consideration the class gave us an overall grade of a High level 2. I think this is fair as there was a lot of improvements that needs to be made.
Here is the reactions of the class from the first watching our rough cut.


After receiving the feedback off our class mates, we had to discuss how we are going to improve our film and make it better so we are able to get a better grade than what we would. 

Solutions
After getting our feedback we had to try and think of solutions to the problems that were brought to our attention. So after discussing it as a group this is what we came up with. 
Dog scene -  There were a few things wrong with this scene for instance the framing and the length, so we decided to cut the length down completely making it short and sweet so the audience do not get bored of the scene. 
Park scene - Because of the shot being out of focus, we decided to refill the whole scene because of continuity if we just filmed the shot out of focus.  
Memorial - To improve this scene we got told for this one that it looked too much like a school quad and that it didn't look realistic, so we decided to re-film the whole scene and instead we decided it would be better if we were to get a bench and a memorial place and put in in a park to film the memorial scene again. To make the bench look more like a memorial bench we decide to design a plack that had in loving memory of Carly engraved on it. We will see Marc walk in shot, from the left and then sitting down on the bench holding Carley's teddy he will sit the teddy down next to the flowers already on the bench before slowly walking away stroking the plack with his hand as he leaves. 
Cinema Scene - With the cinema scene we descided that in order to improve the scene we are going to use different lighting, we are going to use torches and an LED lighting system to make it look like the two are actually in a cinema. We are also going to make the scene shorter so it doesn't drag too much and in editing we will insert cinema sounds such and an underscore to a film making it more realistic. We also didn't use the teddy so in the improvements we are going to have an insert of the teddy dropping so it is more relevant to what happens which is Carly disappearing. 
Cannock Scene - As a group we found this scene had no relevance to our film. There was no reference to the teddy which was the main part of the film as well as the focus of the scene being grainy and also framing being awful. So as a group we decided that it would be best if we get rid of this scene completely and replace it with a different scene. Instead we are going to have a library scene with Jack Studying with friends and Carly comes along to disturb him, she finally walks away after dialogue and she drops the teddy. We will use this scene because it has more of a relevance to the film, they were both students studying in school and this is a fact that teenagers have to study.  

My next post will be about re-shooting and re-editing 

Rough Cut

In this post I am going to be showing you mine and my production groups rough cut of our short film Grief. Below I am going to embed the rough cut of our short film;

My next post is going to be the rough cut feedback.

Editing the Footage

In this post I am going to be talking about the editing process that we went through for our film including images of the process.

The first thing we did in the edition process was added the idents. The first ident that we added was the nile studios ident. We originally decided on having a wolf as our ident to go with our production team name which was Primal Embassy, however, after consideration we didn't think it would look very professional and so therefore decided to get rid of the idea. After getting rid of this idea we decided to add an ident that represented our production team, which was a very strong, hard working and motivated, so we decided to add the earth ident to represent the strong aspect of our team and then the nile studios ident was to represent the motivated aspect of our team. After deciding on the idents we then had to decide on the underscore that we were going to use. The nile studios underscore was an Egyptian style of music, which we thought fit very well with the name and sounded like a very strong underscore. The primal embassy underscore was the same it was very dramatic which again represents the hard working group. The next shot was the dog scene, this scene was fairly easy to edit because it was just one continuous shot with just a few inserts, we had to match the scenes in the editing when we did the inserts , however, it was fairly easy to do. We also added a few ambiance sounds underneath the clip just to make it look more realistic, if we used the original sound from the original clip there would have been background noise which would have been unrealistic. 

The next scene we edited was the Cannock scene. This scene was very easy to edit due to the fact that there was only a few scenes. All we had to do in this scene to edit the footage was put the shots together one after the other and then add a cross dissolve to make it look like time has passed which was very easy to do. We then had to add the dialogue that we recorded after we filmed the scene. We then added the dialogue in and reduced the sound of the original clip to make the dialogue more noticeable and easy to hear for anyone watching. We also reduce the sound of the original clip due to the fact that it was a public space so there was a lot of loud background noise. 

The next scene we had to edit was the park scene where Marc (Jack) and Ellie (Carly) are laughing and joking playing on the swings. This scene was very difficult to edit due to the fact that the swings were a variable that was very hard to control. We couldn't control how fast they go or couldn't control which way they go. This means that it made it even more difficult for us to match up the shots together without the risk of causing any continuity errors or jump cuts. We then added the insert shot that matched up with the shot of Marc getting off the swings to pick the teddy bear up, the scene that we matched it to was of Marc bending down to pick the teddy bear up. This was quite hard to do because we had to make it look like one smooth shot instead of a jumpy shot that we have just inserted into the scene. The other thing we did in this scene is add the dialogue of Marc (Jack) talking about his friendship with Ellie (Carly) and how much he misses her. We did this to add meaning to the scene and to make the audience feel empathy towards Jack. We also added a happy/sad underscore and matched it up with the scene. We wanted to the happy part of the music to match up with the happy part of the scene where Carly and Jack are together on the swings and we wanted the sad part of the music to match up with the sad part of the scene where Jack is on his own so the audience feel empathy towards him and also shows the lonely isolation that Jack is feeling. 

The memorial scene was edited at a fast pace between the phone and a close up of Jacks face to show emotion. But the rest of the scene was slow pace to show the emotion and remorse he was feeling toward Carly. The underscore used was called "happy/sad ambiance" to show the emotion of the character. We edited is so it faded out when there was dialogue so the audience could hear it clearly.  

The last thing we edited was the credits, we edited it so it was at a fast pace. The only problem with the credits was that we only put the production team names on and didn't mention the actors or extras.

The next post is the rough cut.

Shooting on Location

In this post I am going to be sharing my shooting on location diary. This is going to show you behind the scenes images of us shooting our film. It will display all of the equipment we were using for each of the scenes. I will also be discussing how I feel the shooting process was and how I felt it went. Whether it was a successful shooting day or not.

Before shooting on location

This video shows us practicing with the lighting for the cinema scene. We felt that this would be the best approach when filming this scene because we found it quite hard to get the lighting right especially because it was a mock cinema and they wouldn't be watching an actual film on the big screen, so therefore there was no natural lighting when we were filming the footage so we practiced with the lighting beforehand to make sure we had the perfect lighting so we knew what we were doing on the day of filming the footage. If we were to just do the footage on the day the lighting might have been all wrong and we would have wasted time sorting it out whereas this way we already knew what we were doing. 

Shooting on Location - Day 1

The first scene that we filmed was the Cannock scene. This scene would see Carly and Jack having a day out together as friends. This scene was a very difficult one to film because we were trying to work in the rain, this came with many difficulties such as trying to keep the camera dry, trying not to get any rain droplets on the lens, trying to film the scene as quickly as possible so the actors wouldn't get wet. It was also a very difficult scene to film because it was in a public area so we didn't know whether members of the public would object to being filmed which was always an obvious worry, because then it meant we would have had to come back another day or juts thought of a completely different idea for that scene which would have taken a lot more time. However, no one objected to being filmed so it was overall a very good filming session apart from the weather.

On this day of filming there were only two shots to film. The first shot was of Carly and Jack walking through Cannock town center talking and having a laugh as friends do. It was just a shot of their day together. This shot went very well, it didn't take us long to film at all, however, we did have to re-film the shot a few times to get the proportion and camera technique perfect. The only difficulty we faced with this scene was the weather condition. Due to the weather, it felt like we were rushing to film the shot because we didn't want the camera to get wet and we didn't want the actors to either. Due to the fact that we were filming in a public place it was very difficult to hear sometimes due to how noisy it was so the actors sometimes didn't hear our cues to start filming, which was a little bit difficult but after a few attempts we got the perfect shot in the end.

The next shot we had to film in that scene was the pan of Carly and Jack running towards the elephant. This again was just showing two friends having a laugh. The same thing happened with this shot. We did have to re-film the shot a few times to get the proportion and camera technique perfect. The only difficulty we faced with this scene was the weather condition. Due to the weather, it felt like we were rushing to film the shot because we didn't want the camera to get wet and we didn't want the actors to either. Due to the fact that we were filming in a public place it was very difficult to hear sometimes due to how noisy it was so the actors sometimes didn't hear our cues to start filming, which was a little bit difficult but after a few attempts we got the perfect shot in the end. 

Shooting on Location - Day 2

The next scene we filmed was the park scene. This scene would be where Carly and Jack are just having a laugh playing on the swings together. It shows them having a laugh and talking. In this scene we also see the aftermath of Carly's death when Jack goes back to the swings where he and Carly used to go, to reminisce about the times him and Carly had together. The scene is supposed to create a sense of sadness for the audience and make them feel empathy towards Jack at the fact that he has lost his best friend. The scene was very hard to film. We had to film the scene at least three times before we could perfect it. The first time we filmed the scene, it was very grainy, there was a few jump cuts and there were a few continuity errors. We also found it very hard to match up some of the shots in this scene due to the fact that they were on swings which is a variable that was very hard to control. We couldn't help the way the swings were going or how fast or slow they were going causing a few continuity errors, especially when we moved the camera to film form different angles. On the third time of filming this scene we came up with an idea that we would film the scene in one continuous shot to reduce the possibility of continuity errors occurring. After we filmed the continuous shot we then filmed the over the shoulder shot of Marc picking up the teddy bear and then filmed the point of view shot of Marc (Jack) looking at Ellie (Carly), which we then inserted into the continuous shot that we filmed of them on the swings. By doing it this was we found that we reduced the amount of continuity errors ad jump cuts that would have otherwise been a possibility. 

Shooting on Location - Day 3

The next scene we filmed was the memorial scene. This scene would show Jack mourning Carly. There is a memorial bench set up on it's own in the middle of nowhere to show the isolation that Jack is feeling. The bench has a couple of props on it that we used for filming. The first prop that was used was a memorial plaque that read "in loving memory of Carly Wilson 1998-2016," and a bunch of flowers that Jack had placed there. These props were used to make it look more like a memorial bench than just a normal everyday bench. Without these props, the audience would have been confused as to what is happening or where Jack is supposed to be. The audience would have probably been confused. The props allowed the audience to make sense of the situation.

This scene was filmed in a similar way to the park scene where Jack and Carly are on the swings. We again had to film the memorial scene a few times before we could perfect it due to the fact that there were many continuity errors and jump cuts. On the third time of filming this scene we came up with an idea that we would film the scene in one continuous shot to reduce the possibility of continuity errors occurring. After we filmed the continuous shot we then filmed the close up shot of the plaque and then filmed the close up of Marc putting down the teddy bear by the flowers, which we then inserted into the continuous shot that we filmed of Marc on the bench. By doing it this way we found that we reduced the amount of continuity errors ad jump cuts that would have otherwise been a possibility. 

The close up shot of the plaque was difficult to film because we had to make sure that it matched up with the continuous long shot of Marc. In the long shot when he is about to leave the bench he touches the plaque as a kind of goodbye. We then did an insert of this same shot of Marc touching the plaque so we had to match up his hand movements and we also had to make sure that the position of his hand was the same which was very difficult to do. After watching the clip back we managed to make sure Marc's hand movements and positions were exactly the same or at least similar. 

Shooting on Location - Day 4

The next scene we filmed was the cinema scene. This scene was again showing Carly and Jack having a good time together as friends and having a laugh with each other. The scene is going to be a close up shot of Ellie and Marc's face while they are watching a film. During the filming of this scene we were faced with many possibilities such as lighting and sound issues. The main issue that concerned us with this scene was the lighting. We needed to make it look like they were watching a film without actually having a film playing in the background. The whole time we were filming this shot the lights needed to be off so the room was dark. That is another thing that we struggled with, getting the proportion of light and dark perfect. We didn't want it to be too dark that you couldn't see anyone but we didn't want it too light so it looked like they weren't watching a film. We had many attempts at doing this. The final time we decided to put the torches on our phones and wave them around in front of Marc and Ellie to make it look like the light is reflecting from the "cinema screen." We found that this was the most effective way of making it look like they were in the cinema.

Another shot we filmed in this scene was the establishing shot. We tried a few different angles to see which one would be the most effective and look the best. We filmed the establishing shot straight on and then we filmed the establishing shot at an angle. We finally decided on using the angled shot of the cinema scene because we thought it looked the most effective. In the establishing shot we had all of our extra actors talking as if they were waiting for the film to start to make it look more realistic. We also had Ellie and Marc in the front row, talking to again look more realistic.

We also had a few close up shots and insert shots throughout this scene. For example, the insert shot we filmed was of the teddy bear falling. We did have a few difficulties with this shot because we couldn't get the teddy bear to fall smoothly, without it looking like we were trying to make it fall. We also found it difficult to use the tripod to film this shot because where the teddy bear was it was very awkward to set up the tripod. Therefore we had to film this shot hand held which made it look quite shaky. However, due to the fact that it was quite dark in the shot it wasn't very noticeable. We also had a few close up shots of Ellie and Marc and then Marc on his own to signify the loss of his best friend and how lonely he is feeling.

Shooting on Location - Day 5

Unfortunately for this scene there were no shooting on location pictures taken due to time constraints. The next scene we filmed was the library scene. In this scene we saw Marc (Jack) revising for his upcoming exams. Ellie (Carly) is trying her best to distract him form doing his work because she is bored and wants someone to talk to, however, he insists that he has got lots of work to do.

The first shot we filmed for this scene was a pan. The pan was very easy to film as it was just showing Marc (Jack) and his friends doing revision. We did have to re-film this shot a few times due to the position of the camera not being right or the shot was very blurry when we watched it back. The shot stops on Marc (Jack), we carry on filming when Ellie (Carly) comes into the shot to try and convince Marc (Jack) to read his book and stop doing his work. The scene had to be filmed a few times because we wanted to use the original dialogue that was being said in the scene so the surrounding area had to be really quiet so the camera didn't pick up any noise. However, due to the fact that there was background noise on location we had to film it a few times to make sure you could hear the dialogue perfectly.

The final shot we filmed was an insert shot of the teddy bear on the floor. This shot was fairly easy to film, however, we did face some difficulties. The insert shot was at the end of the scene so there was no risk of continuity errors or jump cuts. In that sense it was a very easy scene to film. However, when Marc (Jack) picked up the teddy bear we had to tilt the camera upwards to follow his movements picking up the bear. Due to the fact that the camera was very close to him and the fact that he was picking up the teddy bear at a normal pace it was very difficult to try and follow his movements perfectly without it looking too quick. However, in the end after telling Marc to slow down his movement it was much easier to do.

My next post is going to be editing the footage.