Evaluation Q1

Q1. In what ways does your media product use forms and conventions of professional media products?

In my thriller project, I used a variety of methods and ideas in the process of filming and editing. I wanted to create intrigue. So for example I used sound to create atmosphere. There are many areas in my thriller opening sequence where I used low toned notes and percussion, e.g. the distant boom sound to build tension. I was inspired to add this in when I took note on the boom noise at the beginning of "The Dark Night", when the titles end and it cuts to the city establishing shot (on the top left). Also the noise as the scene changes to the villain waiting for the car, (picture on the left) inspired me.
In the opening credits, I used font style to get across the message that this is a thriller. I incorporated a similar style of font to Seven to use in my titles. It takes a handwritten style font called 'chiller' on Adobe Premier Pro.
The titles effects for Seven tie in well with the movement of the camera, music and the changing shots.
However, I didn't use as many unusual effects as the ones used in Seven, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2gsEI34CE) because my thriller wasn't as fast paced throughout and because there isn't as much movement in the camera and close up shots. The suspense in my thriller opening was slow moving up until near the end where we hear the worrying sound of the caller 'Hello, Mr Andrews?' and the crackling white noise that follows before a bang to finish. This creates more intrigue (the clip below)...

I think the titles for my thriller tie in better with the long white noise that goes on through the clip, because they are subtle  and not as lively; they have a spooky feel instead, whereas Seven has a mechanical feel of movement and intimidation for the audience...

My thriller has aspects of conveying intimidation which I included from watching thriller scenes, such as the Bourne Identity fight scene, which I posted on my blog. This is one aspect most thrillers have in common, the ability to intimidate, sometimes the audience or sometimes a character in the scene. My thriller showed this aspect when the "villain" (Ian) banged on the window as if appearing to frighten the driver. This isn't necessarily intimidating to the audience, but creates a sense of concern and people are inclined to question what happened to the "driver".




Another convention I tried using in my thriller was the camera angles which were low down or had a limited view of a particular character, e.g. the villain walking up to the car. I managed to get a clear shot of his legs as he walked and I think was enough to make the audience wonder who it was. This type of camera angle is used commonly in thrillers, e.g. The Usual Suspects in the beginning scene.

See here the low camera angle not showing the villain's face

Feedback On Editing and Filming

When I had posted myt first draft of the thriller project up to my blog, my teacher gave me feedback on what I could improve to make the clip better.
First off, she pointed out that I needed to export my clip as HD, which wasn't too difficult, just simply change the format in Adobe encoder for the exportation of the clip once finished.
The next thing I could improve on was the sound: There were a couple of areas where the wind was too loud and distracting, at the begining in the establishing shot and when the driver is peeing in the bushes. I lowered the volume in thece scenes where the wind noise was. My teacher also pointed out that I could do with some music or white sound to hold it all together more and buld more tenshion over a longer time. I imported a file from Freesound with the appropriate tone and cut it up into particular scenes in the clip rather than as one sound all the way through, because some areas of acting wouldn't tie in with the music/whitesound.
My teacher said that there was a long gap where there was no speach which could help me cut the clip down even further (2.40) if I placed the following speech over the shot. I also cut the shot of the driver peeing down to a reasonable length, but I kept the scene because I decided it conveyed vulnerability and suspense, but too long and the shot would be almost typical of a comedy, not a thriller.
I also added more repetition in the phone call when my friend David says 'Hello, Mr. Andrews?' so that shows more panic and worry, and covers the black space in the clip where I intended for it to create intrigue and unsurity as to what is happening, so that it grasps to viewer.
Finally I was advised to change the titles to a more 'thriller like' font and make them smaller and put them to one side so that they were more subtle. I added more effects and transitions as well to give it a creepy effect.

Final Edit

Screenshots of the Editing Process

Putting the clips in order one after the other, adding
cross-fades  and de-crackler for audio etc.

Run-through of the clip to watch for imperfections,
cutting clips and shortening them etc .

Adding sound effects, e.g. low occasional beat, phone
 ringing, ambience of the office call centre.

Going back over audio and refining it with Adobe
 Soundbooth, adding transitions to make the sound more
phone-like in dialogue

Choice site for sound effects which I downloaded.

The whole sequence run through for the first draft.

Thriller (Draft Edit)

Editing

In my clip, the first part of editing was fairly easy and I enjoyed it, because it was fascinating to be able to put things in order and be creative in making it.
All the effects I added:
Cross-dissolve
Dissolve (dip to white)
Audio fade
I used the dissolves and fades  to demonstrate time passing by, even just a short period of time and also to move from one scene to the next, e.g. the car to the office.
The audio fades I used, e.g. in the cut from the second establishing shot of the car to Jo in the car, were to reduce the sudden change of volume between cuts and to not be such a distraction in sound bridges.
The general editing skills I included were:
Sound bridge
Ellipsis of Time
Continuity Editing
Shot/Reverse Shot
Dissolve
Fade-in
Superimposition
Short Take




However what was difficult was the fact I too much film so I had to shorten more than half the clips.
The clip was originally 4 minutes, but I managed to shorten it to about 2.44 minutes.
It turned out to be more time that I could have used for creating titles, but instead I sat down in lesson and finished it as quickly as I could.

Blogger FM (Filming and Editing Summery)