Editing Analysis

The process of editing was an exciting challenge, having never used Final Cut Pro before, we were given the chance to learn a new and useful skill. This software is usually only used by industry professionals, it isn't designed to be easy with lots of audio, video and editing transitions. To begin with i made three bins and split our clips into either 'location,interior exterior' shots. This made it easier to decide which clips to use at certain points. I began with using the locations shots to set up our film and let the audience know where our film is set. As our film is of the phycological thriller genre we needed to create a sense of mystery and building tension at the beginning. It also needs to come across that this character isn't normal in terms of fitting in with society. In terms of editing what we did to set up the story was to desaturate the colours of the clips of the inside of the car with Megan looking outside, this is because we are looking at Megan from our perspective (audience perspective) We wanted the audience to see that Megan's whole existence is mundane. We were going to make it black and white, but black and white suggests an air of glamour, that this character does not have. Instead we set the desaturation amount to 38 which means that some colours still come through, there just diluted which is what life is like for Megan. We then change perspective to looking out the window, we are seeing Megan's point of view.  In the editing we had to show that there was a clear difference between what we see and what Megan sees.  We experimented using video transitions such as blur, glow and stylise. However these all seemed too chaotic and took away from what we were seeing. So instead we decided that the best idea was to contrast with the desaturated perspective the audience have of Megan, making everything she sees overly saturated. We wanted her to look outside and see the road withe flats on it like everything is too bright, too harsh. By editing it this way we are showing the audience that Megan will not be able to cope with the outside world, she is not properly equipped to cope with it.

From this we then move on to the exterior shots of the flat where they are meant to live, from this point it began to get sufficiently more difficult. We had to create a flow of movement, its very easy to edit clips together but to make it naturalistic when switching angles/ perspectives is difficult. The first few times we edited the exterior shots together didn't work because the cuts were too quick in between clips which took away from the suspense of the film. The audience had to be taken in slowly. I tried making the clips longer and even that didn't work, it was still too quick. We found a solution to this problem by slowing the clips down by about 60-70 percent. This made a more natural flow, however some shots still looked misplaced. Going from long shots to close ups were a particular issue, as it looked fake and stilted. What we did on shots like this was added in a short cross dissolve which is the most commonly used transition as it looks naturalistic and is just a way to gloss over sharp jolts in between clips. Through editing these clips, we soon discovered how hard it is to stick to your original storyboard. When you plan your storyboard, the images are just still on the page, you just plan what in your mind will make sense. However once these images are on screen and moving, you soon realise that certain shots wont work in relation to others and will not describe the characters psyche explicitly. Some changes had to be made such as adding in more shots of the flats to show more of Megan's perspective, how she feels overwhelmed. In the editing we showed an image of Megan looking up at the flats then cut to a shot of her perspective looking up at them. We also realised we had too many exterior shots, and theres no way we could use them all, as we only have two minutes to set up our story. We decided we had to pick only the most vital shots, setting up our characters and setting up the plot.  For example in the exterior shots we knew that it was important to show the audience Jemma getting the box out the car, with the sticker 'fragile' on it. This is because the box is important, not only does it symbolise Megan's fragile state of mind, its also used later in the film when Megan takes the mirror out of the box. To show that this scene is important we didn't edit it at all, we left the whole clip as it was. It is quite a long clip in comparison with others. This also builds up the tension as it delays the impending action. We then showed Jemma and Megan walking towards the flats, we edited this so we see them from behind, as if someone else is watching them, then cut it to where we see a side shot of them walking to it. By editing it this way we wanted to show how worried Megan is about moving into these flats. She is feeling so many emotions right now and the audience need to be aware of this in order to sympathise with her character.

We had a lot of interior shots as this is where the main bulk of action takes place. We had already decided at this point in the editing that the whole film was going to be slightly desaturated to create a mundane appearance. This desaturation shows that there is no hope in the film of prosperity. In the interior shots we experimented with showing lots of extreme close up as an intertextuality to Hitchcock films. The first shot you see is a hand turning a door handle, creating suspense, we then see Megan's face and her hand turn on the light switch. Hands are claimed to tell you everything about a person, there past and there future. Megan's past is bleak and her future is looking bleak too.  In our editing we wanted the hands to stand out, to show Megan's cautiousness at opening the door, at turning the lights on and what is to happen. One particular scene that we filmed in the room that was difficult to film was Megan sat on the bed looking at herself in the mirror, then cutting to Jemma talking and finally Megan's reaction to what Jemma's said. This is an important clue into what happens later, the girl who lived theres clothes are still in the wardrobe, which is a key plot point. We couldn't afford to cut or miss any dialogue out. We first show Megan looking in the mirror looking at her reflection, we wanted to show the difference between what we see and what she sees. We added a video transition to this clip of an echo, glow and blur, which creates a disorientation effect. This tells the audience that she is losing grip of herself, she is confused about who she is. Then we see Jemma looking in the wardrobe which has no video transition added, she is opposite to Megan in the way that she is has a normal state of mind, she has a firm grip on reality. When Jemma speaks we then cut to a reaction shot of Megan, she pulls the mirror away from her and is back in reality, forced to now deal with her current situation. Most people would question why those clothes are in the wardrobe but Megan decides to go look out the window, still clutching the mirror like it holds answers to questions. Megan looks out the window and sees the stalker, this was the hardest part to edit because it involved shot reverse shot. We had to show Megan looking out the window, seeing the stalker and then a reaction shot. We first showed a side shot of Megan looking out and then cut to a shot of the stalker. With reaction shots its important that you keep everything at eye level, otherwise it will lose the effect you want to create. These shot reverse shots are meant to be quick and act as a crescendo of tension and panic. We added a video transition onto the clip of the stalker where it begins to go shaky, so it feels like Megan is shaking in panic at what she is seeing (add in what effect you put to achieve this) After this Megan drops the mirror which is significant as it shows that her questions will go unanswered and also that bad luck is around the corner. When we filmed the dropping of the mirror we experimented with lots of angles to try and get it right. We couldn't actually drop the mirror and let it smash, so we improvised. When editing what we did was first show a side shot of Megan holding the mirror and then dropping it, we then unlinked the audio from the clip and added in the audio of a previously recorded sound of the mirror hitting the ground. At no point do you see Megan actually drop the mirror, but you know that she has. 

The final part of the film is Megan showing Jemma that there is someone at the window which again involves a shot reverse shot. We edited so that we first see Megan looking out the window then showed her perspective of the outside which like before is shaky and blurred, however there is no stalker there. We then cut to Jemma looking out the window and her perspective of the outside, which unlike Megan's is not shaky and blurred. Once again we wanted to show the contrast between the twos perspective of life.  The final image we see is the stalker looking up at the window. Showing he was there all along, we didnt add any transitions to this, we wanted it to be still and show the poignancy of it.

awnsers of focus group

These are the questions that we asked our focus group.

1. What genre would you place my movie in and why?
2. Give a brief explanation of your interpretation of the narrative.
3. What did you like and dislike?
4. What would you change?
5. Who do you think the target audience would be?


1. The majority of my focus group (ages ranged from 14-18) felt the first 2 minutes of my thriller, felt that it applied to the conventions of the thriller/horror/mystery genre.  As the colours are desaturated, lighting is low key and the setting is mundane creating a sinister environment. Most of them agreed that they liked the ambiguity of the figure at the window, as it not only makes the audience feel involved by the dramatic irony used in the audience seeing the figure and jemma's character not seeing it. Not only is it haunting but it also makes you want to find out who the figure is. Which is a key part of Thriller genre.


2. The group explained that they thought the narrative was about two girls moving into a new house and then one of them sees a strange stalker outside the window. While this is effectively the plot, underneath it is a subplot of the protagonist Megan suffering from a mental illness which makes her believe she is being stalked. We tried to make this subtly noticeable in the opening by distorting Megan point of view shots. Some of the focus group didn't understand why we had used these shots as the reason for them wont develop till towards the end of the film.


3. Everyone liked the slow moving pace of the introduction, they didn't feel as if they were being rushed into any of the action. They said that the beginning of the film set up the narrative of for the rest of the film with lucidity. However they thought that perhaps there could have been more dialogue to set up characters and character relationships.


4.  The general response to our opening was positive, the focus group suggested it might have been interesting if we explored the stalkers point of view, perhaps film it from his perspective spying on the girls. As this would create even more suspense and tension as to his identity, which is critical to any thriller film.


5. Our target audience for this film is boys and girls ages 15-24. Who are one of the largest consumer groups of films. The film has a wide appeal with its young cast, exciting storyline and relatable locations to people in the UK. As an independent film filmed locally, it is likely to have a better response from a British audience but with the right marketing, distributor and buzz it could transcend to America and other countries. 

Music Analysis

For our opening to fully take the viewer into this world and to set up the impending action, it was critical that we found the appropriate music. We searched through a lot of music, all of it instrumental as music with singing in it, would distract from our images. However we soon discovered how difficult it was to find the right piece of music that fitted our film. However we did choose Christophe Beck's Main Titles a soundtrack from the well known thriller named the Sentinel we used the soundtrack named "Main Titles" we thought this was the perfect choice for our movie because it is quite slow however quickens up its pace halfway.The music is exciting ,thrilling and slightly eerie. The piece of music is instrumental ,"Main Titles" is the perfect piece for our film because it creates a good amount of tension.The music helped our film to run smoothly and created atmoshpere for our scenes. We used the music mainly at the begining of the film when Megan is looking out of the window and you can see the world from her perspective ,the music helped to makeher perception of the world more distorted and blurred.The music helped to make the establishing shots more  exciting and interesting for the viewer.The music used was conventional for our thriller it created suspensce and was fast in the right moments. Christophe Beckc created a long list of soundtracks for the film the "Sentinel" but what attracted us to "Main titles" was that it was a good fit to Megan's character and her personality. Overall when we watched the film back the music fit perfectly and helped to make the film more viewable and interesting.

The changed Storyboard.

This our changed storyboard after we finished completeing our film.We noticed we had to make some changes to our story during the filming so we re-did the storyboard after we had finished filming.

Title Brainstorm

Title Brainstorm

 Before anyone sees a film, the first thing they look at is the title of it. On the title alone you can make your script go from the bottom of the reading pile to the top. Your title could make someone want to see your film over another. However when it comes to choosing your title it should be short, simple and sum up what the film is about. To inspire us to come up with the title of our film we looked at current movie titles.

 All of these titles are short and simple but also enigmatic. They make you want to find out more, such as     who is 'Number Four' ??? What is being referred to in 'Unknown' ??? However 'Hall Pass' has the tagline 'Good for one week' which tells you that is is probably being aimed at a less sophisticated audience.
Our film is being aimed at 15-24 year olds, this is quite a wide market, our film has to appeal to late teens  to early adults. Our film has to get the attention of these significantly different stages of life. A title is a good place to begin, we need something that not only summarises what our film is about but also catches the eye. So we made a brainstorm of titles.....

The Boundary

                  Boundaries

                               Who's There?

                                               The Stalker

                                                            False Suspect

                                                                           The Border

                                                                                        Borderlines

We did a survey with people within our target ages of which title they thought worked best in terms of our storyline, characters and location. Here is what they had to say....

Blaine Fleet  Age 15 " I like 'The Boundary' because its catchy and sounds specific, the other tittles sound too general. They could relate to anything. I like the idea that the title could relate not just to the road name but also to the boundary between normal and crazy..."

Georgia Legg Age  18 "False Suspect is my favourite out of the group because it is the most intriguing, it makes me want to watch more and find out who the suspect is..."    


Kate Townsend Age 22 " They are all good titles however False Suspect relates best to the thriller genre. This is because it implies that their is a red herring involved. Red herrings are often used in Thriller films to create suspense and intensify the mystery"

....And the tittle of our thriller is

False Suspect                                                                                                                    

                                                                                                                                                         

Second Day of Filming Analysis

On Sunday the 6th of February we re-filmed our exterior shots as well as added in our car shots. We started at 12 and were finished by 3. We began the day by filming the car scenes, since none of us can legally drive i got my mum to drive the car while we filmed Reanna in the back of the car. We drove up and down the road multiple times, as the speed bumps kept messing up our shots. We only had a short amount of time to get this right. We also filmed Reanna's character Megan with her face up against the window as we drove into the Ainsworth Estate part of the road. Switching between the cameras perspective filming Megan looking out the window, and her perspective of what she is seeing. This is the roughest area of the road, the reason we filmed there was to show the contrast between Megan and the concrete jungle of flats. These flats not only create mise en scene but are iconographic of London. Our audience has to establish that we are in London, because if we were to market this film we want it to appeal to a vast audience. Which could include america, they need to identify that this is London, but instead of going for the typical tourist sights we wanted to create a more realistic portrait of London. By having these council owned flats and also the nicer houses of London, we are showing the divide in current North West London. Megan herself has probably only visited London two or three times before this on day trips, and now she is been thrown into this environment. Its not the London you see in Richard Curtis film, its gritty and you need to be tough to survive. Megan isn't tough, she has been brought up in the countryside and she has already suffered from episodes of depression, this move could send her off the edge.

The divide on Boundary Road between lower class and upper class

Boundary road's Ainsworth Estate

An example of an upper class house on the road

Megans Flat block

Once we had got all the car shots we the re-filmed the exterior shots of Megan and Jemma that we had done the day before. This time i still stayed close as possible with the storyboard, but also experimented with different angles to capture the story such as side angles and high angles, to make the viewer see the different statuses not just between the two characters but also between Megan and the flats shes moving into. I wanted the audience to see the power struggle between the two.

High angle of Jemma and Reanna our actresses makes them look vulnerable

Long shot shows there tense body language

 Extreme mid-shot from a side perspective shows there eyeline and also the location

Low angle of the flat makes it appear large and daunting.

After a successful shoot, we went back and re watched the footage. Thankfully this time the exterior shots were composed and not as shaky or blurred. The establish shots filmed in the car though shaky, gave it a realistic effect, one of the actresses said it had a very 'paranormal activity' vibe to it. Though our film is a thriller and has a script, we do want it to be believable, the storyline has elements that everyone can relate to. Its important that this believability is conveyed in our filming style, otherwise the audience wont be probably immersed in Megan's struggle between sanity and insanity, reality and the hypothetical. 

With all our shots done, its now time to edit it, and turn it into a proper film opening.

-Holly

First day of filming analysis

On Saturday the fifth of February we filmed our interior shots and and some exterior shots.We began filming at twelve o'clock and continued filming until five o'clock when it started getting dark. The scenes we filmed that day were Megan and Jemma arriving outside Megan's new flat. Also Megan and Jemma inside the flat.
We avoided filming any establishing shots and it was a very windy day with low visibility. Because of this it was hard to keep the camera still even when using a tri-pod. However the darkness of the sky and gloomy atmosphere worked to our advantage, as this is a psychological thriller and we want our audience to feel nervous.

The inside shots also proved a challenge, because the room we used for Megan's bedroom proved too small to be able to film the long shots on our storyboard. So we changed these shots to mid shots and also used tricks such as standing on a chair to film the main actresses. By doing this we created high angle shots that made Megan appear overwhelmed by the room, even though the viewer can see its not that big. Using high angles shows the viewer how different Megan's perspective is to a normal persons.

Another challenge was filming Megan drop the mirror when she sees the man outside the flat. We couldn't actually drop a mirror, otherwise it would just smash and not be able to be re-used again. So instead we filmed her hands drop the mirror at a side angle, so you see her hands drop it but you don't see the mirror touch the floor. We placed a mirror under our actress's feet so that when she dropped the mirror it didn't smash.

In our opening there is a lot of focus on mirrors, we see Megan holding a mirror and looking at herself, clearly not comfortable with her reflection. We filmed this at a side angle, to show her split personality, there is Megan and then what she sees of herself. Megan has low self esteem, she is not comfortable in her own skin. We wanted the audience to see her inner struggle to accept herself. However the tragedy of our film is that she cant achieve happiness because of her mental instability. This is shown when she drops the mirror, smashing a mirror symbolises bad luck, in the case of our film it foretells that bad things are about to happen to our main protagonist Megan. Many recent horror films have used the technique of using mirrors to create tension , this is the same technique we used in our film even though it is a thriller.

We finished the day filming the stalker outside the window, which required a lot of shot reverse shot. It was difficult because there was only one camera. So we had to keep switching perspective, which required whoever was filming Megan's perspective from the window to then go outside and film the stalkers perspective. Hopefully once its edited it will look better though.

After this we were finished for the day, i went home and looked through the footage on the laptop. When i re played the footage on the camera i discovered that some of our exterior shots were shaky and blurred. We also noticed that in some shots certain items disrupted the continuity of the film. In order to correct these minor faults we will re-film these on tomorrow on Sunday the sixth of February.

Analysis of Jemmas Car and Car Scene

When we decided that we wanted to film Megan sat in a car with Jemma driving. We had to pick a car that portrayed Jemmas lifestyle, she's 18, middle class and probably been only driving a year. We decided that a fiat 500 would be most practical, they are chic, feminine and easy to drive. Jemma is from a family that pamper her and would have got the car for her, unlike Megan who are middle class but don't splash out on lavish gifts. They spend a lot of time telling her the value of money, most of there money has gone on saving up for Megan to go to university and for her to live in london. Another reason we had Jemma drive it and not Megan is because, we wanted to be able to film Megan looking out the window, the windows in the back are small and its going to be hard filming Megan looking out of them. Especially since we cant fit a tripod in the back to stand the camera on, keeping my hand still while holding the camera is going to be a real difficulty. Its important we get these shots though as we want to show the viewer Megans initial perspective of her new home. We are taking the audience gradually into Megans world. They need to feel like there on the journey with her

Before we filmed the car scene properly we did some test shots of our actress Reanna sat in the back of the car being driven up and down the road. i liked the way her face was just a dark outline compared to the outside of the car. This way the focus was more on the setting then on Megan, however the audience were still aware of her presence and that this was her journey not just physically but mentally. The whole film is essentially about Megan's journey from slightly stable to extremely unstable. The scene with her in the car represents this is a more physical form, that is more obvious for the audience to pick up and take on board.  However just as i suspected it was difficult to keep the camera still, especially since the road is covered in speed humps, which shook the camera every time we went over them.
After the test shoot, we went back and looked at the footage, i was nervous that that it wouldn't come out well and that we may well have to change beginning of the storyboard all together.  Lucky enough the shots wernt too bad, sure they went completely smooth, but surprisingly the stiltedness of them gave them a more realistic edge. Suddenly these images wernt part of a film, they were what Megan was actually seeing. Though when we actually film it we will have to make some alterations to lighting, as Megans face is far too dark. This can be solved by using a torch or when editing, lightening up the images more.

Location Shot Analysis

We chose to film our exterior scenes in an urban environment we decided that London was the perfect place to film ,this is because it has a large range of diverse areas.We chose to film in North West London towards Kilburn. Our film took place on Boundary road which is in between St.Johns Wood and Kilburn. This was an interesting street to film on one side of the street there were gritty flats privately owned and owned by the council. On the other side of the street there were large five bedroom houses with gardens which made an interesting contrast , we also felt it represented Megan's personality on some days she appears to be normal and on other days she is damaged.

Here is a photo of Boundary Road on one side of the street you can see iron gates and security protecting sumptuous houses  and on the other side you can see blocks of flats.The road appears to be busy environment, this could be overwhelming for someone like Megan who is not used to a big city. The traffic and cars would make her feel out of place and vulnerable, making her condition worse.  This photo was taken around sundown and as you can see it creates quite a haunting image. The bright light of the sky contrasting with the lifelessness of the trees, and grey colours of houses on the street. When filming these would be ideal conditions, we should aim to film establishing shots around this time. In order to set the appropriate mood.

These are some of the flats that are near Megan's flat. They look menacing and create a feeling of danger. The flats are almost like a prison where you feel trapped and cant get out of, which is how Megan is feeling towards the end of the film. These flats are ideal to be filmed as part of the establish shots at the beginning, setting up the Mise en Scene for our film. Perhaps we could have Megan sitting in the car with her face up against the window looking out at them, making her look vulnerable and scared of her new urban environment. This would foretells the audience that danger is not far around the corner

We chose these flats because the whole row of the flats look the same until you get to the one on the end. Which stands out, like Megan does in comparison to other girls, other girls like her happy go lucky friend Jemma. These flats are also privately owned and represent Megan as coming from a middle class background. Megan would be renting the floor of one of these. She would probably have a small bedroom, kitchen and lounge area. Across from the flats is a mass of decaying trees, that creates a chilling effect on the viewer. The lack of life the trees possess show that there is not much chance of survival on the street this creating fear in the audience. Whenever Megan looks out of her bedroom window she is reminded that life on the street does not grow or prosper, this increases her feelings of depression and panic. The colours of the flats on that side of the road are not particularly colourful and do not give of a warm inviting feeling to the viewers.

This was the set of flats stand out in terms of shape and colour in comparison to the rest of the flats on the street. The flat is a large block of concrete with small windows creating claustrophobic effect. This claustrophobic effect is needed to act as a catalyst for Megan's breakdown. The entrance to the block of the flats a long dark doorway which shows Megan's descent into inner darkness. we would film the flat at a low angle making it appear larger then it is and intimidating. The edges of the windows are black and bold making the flat stand out more ,this drawing more attention to the flat which Megan may not want or like.

Clothing Analysis

We decided right from the very beginning that we wanted Reanna's character Megan to be very simplistic when it comes to clothing. She is a tomboy and doesn't care much about her clothing. Its more about what is easiest to put on and takes the less amount of time. Reanna is a student, she cares more about getting work done and appearing sensible then her appearance. She is a feminist and believes women will be judged on there brains and not there appearance, growing up in a family where emphasis was put on achieving through hard work. This combination of jeans and plain T-shirt, paired with a cardigan is perfect for the character. The colours are all dull which shows how she is feeling numb on the inside. It also makes her appearance congruent with her new setting, which is important because the audience must see the similarities between Megan and the street she is living on. We got these clothes from high street shops like Next and Dorothy Perkins, showing she doesn't have much clue about fashion. She hasn't got an individual sense of style or identity. We kept her make up simple, and her hair down. This shows she doesn't spend time on personal grooming, she is the type of girl who gets out of bed, brushes her teeth and leaves.

The binary opposite of Megan is Jemma, easy going and bold when it comes to clothes. Jemma isn't the type of girl you would find at your normal shops like Topshop, she prefers vintage shopping and would probably be found in places like Spitalfields Market or Alfies on Church Street. However Jemma like Megan is not from London, so her clothes have to represent a realistic depiction of a girl from somewhere like Reading or Oxford where there wouldn't be lots of vintage shops, so she wouldn't be able to dress too crazy like she would probably like to. So we came up with a compromise of red jeans and a black lace jumper paired with black combat boots. Not too crazy but still quite loud and inspired by more 80's fashion. We chose to do this because the 80's were about expressing your own identity, this is something that Megan doesn't have. We needed Jemma to bring light to the shade of the film, otherwise it would no longer be a thriller, it would be too macabre. We made Jemma's make up match her clothes, with winged eyeliner and bright red lipstick. This shows that unlike Megan she cares about her appearance and that she takes pride in it.

Georgia's powerpoint textual analysis

Media thriller presentation

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Holly's powerpoint textual anaylsis

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My analysis of the first 3 minutes of the '39 steps' by Hitchcock

First storyboard

This our storyboard for our film, it includes a number of varying shots. Including but not limited to establish shots, mid-shots and long-shots