PAPILLON // AS Media Film Opening Coursework - Final Cut

02:57




This is the final cut of our coursework and there are quite a few things that changed after the rough cut. The most important thing we needed to change was to get the time down to just 2 minutes. Due to an inconvenience of deleting the rough cut from premiere pro, we had to start editing the video from the beginning which made it possible to be more restricted with the footage. We shortened the opening clips showing bits of the house from 29sec to 12sec and got rid of the black slides between the clips. We then tried to cut out unnecessary bits out of the conversation and soon got down to 2:08. 
The video needed a bit of colour correction to make it look more airy and to fit the old house and the location. We put an effect of an old broken tv on top of the scene of the moving horse and looked for a fitting sound effect to create a mysterious vibe. The created distortion at the end of the opening scene is done by putting the same footage twice on top of each other with one of them slightly moved to the right, and a greenish filter on top, which makes it look more mysterious. 
We then searched for some old music to cover the scenes that don't have any dialogue, used two different typewriter fonts for the credits and used the same font for the title at the end.
(PA)

Preliminary task - Video

02:13

How did it go?

I really enjoyed the preliminary exercise because it was a great start into the subject. I personally did not know the two boys who were kind enough to be part of our task, but as we got to the sauna and explained what they had to do, we were all laughing and enjoying the exercise. At first it was weird because there was someone else in the room and no one really knew how to start and what to say. We started with a match-on-action where Matt opened the door which was a good way to start because no one had to say anything and we all warmed up a bit. We did not think of a possible plot or conversation the lessons before and just wanted to get a normal conversation between two boys, so one of them started talking about dropping one of his subjects and this way we had a great and real plot. I brought my own camera, we got given a tripod and luckily I had some experience with filming so I took over the filming whilst Milly did the directing and told the boys what to do. It did take us a few shots until no one was laughing but in the end we had all we needed.
Using the editing program was a bit harder. At some point we had to restart our project because we cut some clips wrong and it was all just a mess. After leaving it for a few days I finished it really quick and it was a lot easier after getting used to the program.

What would I do better/change if I had the chance to do the task again:

 If I had the chance to do the task again I would have thought of a better conversation. This way it would have been easier to convince the boys of participating in our task. Also we broke the 180-degree rule which I would take care of the next time.

Evaluation Question 1

02:16

Evaluation

EVALUATION QU. 1

FEBRUARY 06, 2017


In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?




  1. The first frame represents the title of our opening scene which is shown at the end of the opening scene to separate the 2 opening minutes from the actual film which would be following.
  2. The second frame shows the setting we chose to film at. Even though the story is set inside the building, we chose to give an overview of the building so the viewer has a better imagination of where the story is taking part.
  3. The third frame shows the chosen costume and most of the used probs. We kept the costume very simple, partly because it fitted best with the characters and their role but also because it set the scene and did not distract too much from the happenings of the opening scene.
  4. In the fourth frame we tried to represent the camerawork and editing we used, our video however has quite a range of camera shots and angles so we thought the shot of the young boy Jack is a good representation for our filming style. We mostly show close ups of the characters talking or filmed subjects from a closer view point instead of filming from a wider point of view to make the viewer feel like they were involved in the storyline. The editing focuses on shot-reverse-shot to make the scenes more interesting and again make the viewer feel like they are part of the plot, so that all shots are kept under a max. of 3 seconds.
  5. The fifth frame is an example for the font we used. We were looking for a typewriter font to fit the plot which is about a journalist researching for one of her articles. Instead of looking for computer writing or a neat typewriter font, we wanted a washed out and older looking style to fit the setting of the old house and the mysterious atmosphere.
  6. The genre and how the opening scene suggests it, is represented in the sixth frame. We tried to create a mystery drama so the chosen scene as the sixth frame seemed quite fitting.
  7. The seventh frame represents the story which is the mystery of an old house and makes the viewer question what is going on, so the scene of the house owner holding back the journalist from entering a locked room felt like it best describes the mystery behind the old house.
  8. The 8th frame shows how characters are introduced which is by letting the viewer observe their behaviour and letting them follow a conversation between the characters, slowly showing characteristics and personality.
  9. Special effects occur in the last seconds of the opening scene and some of them are shown in the 9th frame. By overlapping the same footage and putting a green and grain filter on top we created a vintage looking scene which should look intriguing and mysterious.  
(PA)