Research into title and opening sequences

   To edit our opening sequence we need had to carry out research into other products opening and title sequences, this allows us to see what techniques are used and whether or not they have used conventions of thrillers.

   We also looked into opening sequences from other genres of film, this is because if we decide to go against conventions we can make it clear as to what we have done and allows different ideas of how we put the title sequence together.

Red Lights (2012)

   The opening sequence in Red Lights uses white text on a black background, each name is positioned in different places on screen, during the title sequence there is images that relate to the plot oft he film with short clips that are only a small sequence of images. To match the white text the images are all in black and white.

The Shining (1980)

   The Shining uses common conventions for its opening sequence, an example of this is the sequence of establishing shots which introduce the setting and track a car from an aerial position. The sound track contrast the colours in the shot and is very eerie to create enigma.

Zombieland (2009)

   Although Zombieland isn't a thriller film  the opening sequence is very effective. The lead character uses a voiceover to explain the background of the storyline and introduce the narrative. The title sequence doesn't come into the opening until  a few minutes in, the titles have slow motion clips in the background behind the text. the opening is also very hectic to introduce the common them of the film.

Dawn Of The Dead

   The titles are in the form of an old TV style when there is disruption to the frequency with the lines going across the screen. the clips show disruption to the equilibrium of the film and the introduce the genre of the film, this to is a horror film but the title sequence shares conventions with a thriller.

Vantage Point (2008)

   The music is the standout of the title sequence of Vantage Point where the music is very eerie and slow paced, this creates enigma and again introduces the genre of the film but it can also put the viewer on edge. the images are very fragmented and fractured in the title sequence to only give small insight into the plot.

Resubmitting

I have decided to re-submit my AS coursework, and due to time constraints as well as having to complete my A2 work, all my AS work will be completed within the next month.

We were given a list of improvements we can make:

Post for our Film

This is our embedded film

Evaluation

Here is the link to my Prezi presentation

 http://prezi.com/ovx-1b-kaghe/mark-northcott-media-studies-as-evaluation/

These are the links to trailers stated in my evaluation

Also the following link is to my 'Preliminary task blog'- http://marknorthcottas.blogspot.com/

blog update- editing changes due to audience feedback

The jump cuts we have during the flashback scene have been cut down because each shot was to long, as well as this we have 8 jump cuts instead of 4 to make them longer and have more of an effect. The jumps keep the audience's attention this is why fast paced editing is used.

 The heartbeat has been put on all the flashback scenes to help the audience recognise the change in time in the film. Also it subtle creates enigma because anything could happen during the flashback. Also we changed the volume of the heartbeat. Now it is quieter to stop it taking the attention away from what is on screen.

The audio from the start of the first flashback has been put on top of the jump cuts and slowed down by 50%. We felt that the jumps were missing something because the sound can create different emotions for the viewer.

 Also the audio from the end of the flashback scene has been put on the second flashback ending and faded out into the next shot, again this helps the viewer recognise the difference between the films real time and the flashback.

 We have blurred the shots in the time frame between 57 seconds and 63seconds. As well as that we slowed them down, we did this because the previous shot was when Arthur had been hit and that shot was blurred so for continuity we had to blur the shots after.

 The final edit we have done recently is the shot on 60seconds has been zoomed in because positioning of Tom Riley kept changing on the before and after shot. Also the borders on the shot before and after the shot on 60 seconds is larger so we had to edit the shot to make the borders look the same.

 These edits were done on the same day.

blog update- editing changes due to audience feedback

After the class watched the rough cut of our film we received feedback from, the other groups, the feedback was about editing and whether or not it was typical to that of a conventional thriller film.

 From the feedback we decided to change a lot of the editing in our opening sequence. To start with we deleted all the video transitions throughout due to that fact they appeared rushed, as well as this the majority of them were cross fades, with some of the later clips having 'fade in, fade out' transitions.

 we have now decided to use more cuts to each shot to help the film run smoothly and keep the viewer wanting more, because 'fade in fade outs' don't create excitement and tension.

We have changed the volume levels on the heartbeat soundtrack during the flashbacks because they were to loud and over powering. we found this out from our audience feedback, we know now that the sound levels were to high taking attention away from what was going on, on screen. We lowered the sound levels, we did this by double clicking on the audio and dragging the decibel down to minus 28.

We have currently only re edited the first 40 seconds of footage, but it is still a great improvement. We have an extreme close up on Arthur's eye, which have edited by changing the colour slightly to a light red which brings out the centre of his eye. As well as this we edited a glow on to it to help it stand out. The audio for this clip is now linked to the video transitions and is very effective.

Changes we are still going to make are definitely to re-record the speech, we can do this because the majority of the shots where the actors are talking is them not facing the camera, this makes it easy to do. we are rerecording the sound because the actors aren't speaking as if they are actually in that situation.

We have also cut down certain clips because they dragged on far to long meaning the audience can lose interest. For example the first flashback where there is a point of view from Arthur's perspective we have cut down by 4 seconds to help the film flow.

Other edits we have done are getting a sound effect to make the punches seem more realistic. This also makes it seem more professional. the way we filmed the punches means we can put on a punching sound effect, we are however having problems with finding a realistic sound effect. An idea i had was to use a punching effect from another film because they are already realistic.this could have copyright related issues.

Blog update

We have completed the rough cut and the film is on disc, we are now ready to show the class the rough cut and receive feedback on what we can change to suit the target audience.