iWatch

Evaluation Plan

We have selected a couple questions each to tackle and we will then combine them into Prezi as this will ensure our presentation is media rich and will keep the audience interested.

Another advantage of using Prezi as our presentation tool is that all 3 of us can access the same account at once therefore this will be time efficient.

Evaluation Questions

1. In what ways does your film opening use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real film openings?

2. How does your film opening represent particular social groups?

3. What kind of media institution might distribute your film opening and why?

4. Who would be the audience for your film opening?

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

7. Looking back at your preliminary task (the continuity editing task), what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to full product?

Post Production: Sound

Music and sound effects is vital in horror films as I found out in my earlier research. We have found a copyright free track from http://www.purple-planet.com/  This track is effective in our opening as it has a childlike ring to it, suggesting connotations such as the victim being to young to die. Also we have matched the beginning of the ringing with the start of the clips of the woods which proved to work very well. Below is the sound track we used for the beginning of our opening.




The next music clip we use is from http://incompetech.com for the rest of the planned storyboard.It has a slow, eerie, electronic feel to it which is great for the sequence of clips of them walking and coming across confusing and suspicious things. Much more of an impact is made in terms of the events occurring and the suspense is built.


We put the audio from the video of the iPhone over the top so that it is clearer to hear the sound also it makes it clearer to the audience why they are startled. The laughter in the background makes the scene a lot more creepy, also it allows the audience to establish the character as 'Josh' and the person who is a victim.

Sound effects we used include a typewriter, a bang and a rustle in the bushes. This enhances things that occur in our opening and make everything more dramatic.

Post Production: Adding Titles

To ensure our opening looks like an opening, it is essential to include titles. To help with this, I looked back at my my previous blog post about Art of the Title. In that blog post I had incorporated images from footage which reminded me how I liked the style of Se7ens opening titles.

Finding the right font is important. At first, this was proving a difficult task as on Final Cut to look at each font you have to individually click on each one to preview it. Fortunately we found an application called 'Font Book' in which we could look through all the fonts quickly and easily until we found one we thought would fit in with our opening. We chose 'Courier New' as it reflects a technological feel which fits in with our film as it revolves around an iPhone.

To make a title, go into the 'Effects' tab then go into 'Video generators' and then 'Text' you will then be able to type in your title and alter the font. Here is a preview of one of our titles. If you then want to reposition your title, click a box in the canvas area and select 'Image+Wireframe' this allows you to drag your title to wherever you desire it to be.

Also I feel it is important to get the right duration of each title so that the audience don't become uninterested. Therefore to change the duration, right click on the clip you would like to change and click on duration. A box will pop up, as show below which will allow you to then decide how long you want the clip to be.

Some titles were placed over the top of other clips. This is done by simply dragging your title above the selected clip.

We chose to add some effects to the text so that not all of them were completely static as with added effects our titles looked a lot more effective and interesting. To do so, firstly go into the 'Effects' tab, then into 'Video Filters' and then look through what style you would like to add. We chose to go into 'Distort' and then selected 'Earthquake' to add a disorientated feel.

To add this to your selected title drag it on top of the clip in the sequence below.

For our final title of 'iWatch', we thought that having the simple effect that the other titles wasn't effective enough in communicating to the audience what the rest of the film has in store for them. Therefore we linked in the theme of being watched and recorded into the title. As you can see below, this looks a lot more interesting. Plus we then added an effect to make the background shake.

Post Production: Editing Extra Footage

Next we added in some extra footage that was not initially planned in the first stages of planning our opening. This included clips of running through the woods and even seeing a dark figure. I added these clips at the beginning to convey to the audience that this is a horror film and to create suspense. 

Then we decided that to make the scenes more horrifying we would change them from colour to black and white. To do this scroll across the top to 'Effects' then to 'Video Filters' next to 'Image Control' and finally click 'Desaturate' make sure to do this for each clip you desire to be altered.

The other clips were of a hand crossing out the victims face in pictures with his friends. We included jigsaw pieces around the area and a swaying light as an effective part of mise en scene. Some examples of these clips are below. We added these in between three similar clips of extreme close ups involving facial features  This would signify to the audience that these are previous events that have occurred and reflection of these character may be occurring due to their friends death.

Post Producion: Editing Main Footage

We have now begun our editing process. To begin we created a rough edit of our main footage by simply, cutting and placing the clips in the right order according to our storyboard. Below is the result of this.

Whilst editing red lines will appear above your sequence, this means you need to render your footage.

To do so, scroll over the 'Sequence' tab at the the top and then click 'Render'

Footage needs to be rendered when it is altered therefore it is usually best if you render after a few steps as otherwise rendering may take quite a while.

A technique I used in some clips was altering the speed to slow it down. This can create a more dramatic and emotional feel. Also if it is cut next to another clip which is much faster, a comparison is made and tension can be created. First of all, scroll over 'Modify' up the top and the click on 'Speed...'.

Next this box will appear, in which you can reduce the speed from 100 percent to a lower number for it to be slower or increase the number for it to become faster. Also here you can reverse a clip by ticking the tick box next to 'Reverse' this can give a disorientating feel if put back to back with the original clip, like we have done in the start of our opening with the trees. 

Post Production: Importing Footage

To import footage, first of all remove the SD card from the camera and place it into the Mac. Then iPhoto will pop up showing the clips. Select the clips you would like to import and click 'Import Selected' or if you want all the clips then simply click 'Import All'. Below is our footage in the process of being imported.

Once the footage has imported it will ask if you want to keep the photos. It is best to click 'Keep Photos' so that you can see more clearly what is involved in each clip when editing. As shown below.

Next drag the imported footage from iPhoto onto the desktop. This ensures that your footage is saved. I then made the decision to make a folder with all the footage in to keep the desktop tidier. 

After that, open up Final Cut Express and drag the footage into the browser window. The footage is now ready to be edited. Remember to save your project at this point.