Technical audit of Bait tutorial

We experimented with the editing software 'Bait' We will be using this software to edit our thriller opening. This tutorial allowed us to explore this software, which will make it easier for us when we have to edit our footage for our thriller opening. We were given several different clips, our task was to make a sequence that made sense and runs smoothly.

On the screen of the MACS there was two windows, the window on the left allowed you to cut the clips and the window on the right allowed you to watch your sequence. Under the two windows there was a time line which allowed you to see the duration of your footage, you could also edit the footage by adding different clips and using sound effects.

In this tutorial we learnt several things; 'Input' and 'output', this allows you to chose what section of the clips you wanted to use to put n your final clip. To do this you had to tap 'I' at the beginning of the part you wanted and an 'O' at the end of it. You are then able do drag this clip to the time like and add other clips to create a sequence. This allowed you to get rid of any footage that you don't want to include in your film. Another tool we used was the 'Razor' this tool allowed you to cut a clip in half and insert another clip. This tools can help you create tension in you footage as you are able to cut from one thing to another than go back to the previous clip.

Overall i found this tutorial informative. It gave me a chance to experiment with the software and become confident with it , so when I have to edit my sequence i will be prepared. This tutorial has also prepared
me for any difficulties that may arise while I am editing my sequence.

Skills Audit: Live type & sound track pro

Type and Sound Track Pro is a software that we are going to use after the editing our film. Live Type will be used for the titles of our film. In this tutorial we were shown how to use this software. On the left hand side there is a box where you can preview your titles and on the right side there is a box with different effects to use for the text and the backgrounds. We were able to experiment with the different effects this software had to offer. My favourite effect was dirt bike, this caused to text move up and down in a ridged way. There was a wide range of fonts and backgrounds to choose from. We were also able to alter the direction and size of the different letters by changing the angle of the line the letters are on. Exploring this software allowed us to think about the possible fonts, transitions and backgrounds we could use for our thriller openings. At first I found this software difficult to use, but as I used it I got use to it I found it east to use.


We also looked at the software sound track pro. This sound software has a large range of sounds and music to choose from which included beats, vocals and instrumental. We were able to place the sound on a time line and then we could adjust the length, the volume and extend the sound. We were also able to overlap the sound so they play at the same time. I liked this software because I found it easy to use. I also found the end result rewarding as you were able to create a unique soundtrack.

Suspense is a feeling caused by uncertainty,

This means that you are unsure of what is going to happen, the uncertainty that links to suspense is a fast growing of tension and excitement.

In our media lesson, we watched a number of thriller title sequences, we were asked to see how suspense was created thought out the clip using mise-en scene, camera work, sound and editing.
The one that I have chosen is a movie directed by David Fincher called Seven. I chose seven because I enjoyed watching the clip and also wanted to continue watching the film.

From what I have seen in the title sequence of Seven. Although we are unsure of exactly what he is doing I think it is a man making a scrap book, I think this is because we see open a ‘album like’ book which he begins to write in. Later on in the clip we see the man cutting things out such as parts of newspapers and photographs. Because Seven is a thriller movie, it made me think it may have been a scrap book of his victims that he is be keeping a record of.

During the clip, we see a man shaving the skin on his fingers, we wonder why he is doing this as we later on with plasters on almost every finger, This continues our thought of him being a murderer of slightly disturbed. This builds tension, as we are now feeling unsure of the character. The colour red is used soon after we see him cutting his fingers this creates an atmosphere as we associate the colour red with blood and danger.

Later on in the clip, we see the man cleaning a bloody needle before he threads it and begins to sew, he sews papers together in a calm and inventive way, witch is unexpected. He sews as if he is ‘mending’ something this makes us think is he trying to make things better, which is unexpected and suggests he is unstable.

All of the shots in this clip are extreme close-ups, of his hands we never see his face or are introduced to him as a character. Some of the shots over lap, this again builds tension and the unique camera angles and edits make us feel uneasy but also intrigued as it used all the way through the title sequence.

Between clips of the man creating the book, there are short clips showing names of Directors and main actors in ‘scratchy writing’ which is slightly blurry and jumps around the screen a bit, This is all in front of a black background. This creates tension as it is not how directors and actors are usually introduced, and the black and white suggest simplicity but also a sense of darkness.

The music though out the clip was deep, dark and interesting, almost rhythmic, this build tension as the viewers picked up on the uneasiness of the music leaving us wanting to watch more but also feeling on edge.

Cameras & Health and Safety

In this session we was given a tutorial on how to use a camera safely. Our task was to film someone reading a newspaper, but we had to use different camera techniques to create suspense and tension.

Before we started filming our scene we had to learn how to safely use a camera. I found it relatively easy as in the past I have done some armature filming on holidays and at family parties. We learnt how to insert the memory cards and the battery, these things are vital as if they are not done properly you will not be able to record your footage. We also learnt how to put the camera on the tripod. Using the tripod allows you to hold the camera in one place which allows you to record footage without the camera shaking. It also allows you to pan and tilt the camera in a way that loos professional. The camera and the tripod are kept in a padded bag which makes it easy to travail with them when your
filming in different locations, it also protects the equipment.

Once we was given the tutorial on how to use a camera safely, we had to create a story board for the sequence we was going to create.Story boards allow you to know whats happening and the order of your sequence, it also allows you to note the type of camera shots and to produce and when working on a longer film it allows you quickly to see what you have done and what still needs to be done.

Skills Audit: Livetype and Sound

In this tutorial we were taught about the software that we would use after editing the clips of our film, this included: Live type and Sound

Live type will be used for the titles of our film. We were shown where to type what we wanted to be displayed and was given a preview of how it would come along as you added different effects to it - on the left handside was a window which showed a preview of your title. There were many different effects , transitions and backgrounds to choose from. My favourite effect was 'Dirty Bike' which moved the font in a rigid way. The backgrounds were very imaginative, aswell, some moved asif it was experiencing an earthquake and others rippled asif it were under water. We were taught how to change the font type, size and colour which would be useful when trying to select the perfect type to suit our thriller opening. We could also change the direction, angle and the way the font layout by adjusting the arrows around the font, when selected, in the preview box.

The Sound software was very fun to explore as it had many components and attributes in which we could experiment on. There was a wide range of choice of music and sounds which included beats, vocals, instrumentals and etc. We could then select our chosen music and place it on the timeline where we could adjust the volume, pitch and length of it. We could also play music over eachother, by placing them underneath eachother on the timeline, to create an original piece. My favourite sounds were the beats as it gave us a simple rhythm to work with and allowed us to place others on top to compose our own piece of music.

I feel that this tutorial allowed us to experiment and prepare us for the last piece of editing that we will do for our opening title sequence. It has shown us what to do so that when it comes to it we will be easily able to create some 'thrilleristic' titles and sounds to match our film.

News and current affairs

The giant salamanders of Japan and China are the world's biggest amphibians, by far. The species is virtually unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs.

'Man's body found on country road'

Police have launched an inquiry after a man's body was found on a main road in rural Stirlingshire.
An unidentified body has been found on the A811 Drymen-Gartocharn road by a member of the public. The man is thought to be in his 20's and had suffered head injuries. His death is unexplsined.



Connecticut power plant blast 'causes many casualties'

A huge explosion has rocked a power plant in the US state of Connecticut, killing at least two people and reportedly leaving many more injured.

People living several miles from the plant reported that their homes were shaken by the blast at the Kleen Energy plant, being built outside Middletown.
Black smoke could be seen pouring out of the plant site shortly afterwards.
There are reports of people trapped under the remains of a plant building, and a rescue operation is under way.

ID cards
London is about to see the roll-out of the latest stage of the government ID scheme.
All 16 to 24-year-olds in the city will be invited to take up the option of carrying a national identity card.
The card can also be used as proof of age and identity in shops, pubs and clubs.
A voluntary scheme for British citizens has already been introduced in Greater Manchester. Launched in November 2009, so far only 3,500 have signed up.

Technical audit of Bait tutorial

In this lesson we were given a short tutorial of how to use the programme ' Bait' in the media suite. The programme will be used for editing our final thriller film opening and the tutorial has given us a preview of the what to expect when editting the film.

We were asked to experiment on several ready-made clips and to create our own film sequence which did not jump but run smoothly and made sense. We were shown that the two windows showing the film were completely different; the one the left was the film in which we could cut and edit; whilst the one of the left was demonstrating our final piece where we could preview what we had done so far. There was also a timeline underneath the windows which allowed us to see the times of how long each clip was and place them accordingly.

Skills which I found useful were the 'input' and 'output' method. This allowed us to choose which sections of the clip that we wanted to include in our timeline. We did this by pressing the key 'I', when it was the start of what we wanted to include, and 'O' when the last bit of what we wanted to include in our film finished. Then, having selected the key moment, we could drag it onto our timeline and preview our selected clip. I found this useful as it allowed me to get rid of any unnessary or unwanted parts within the clip and allowed the clips, altogether, run smoothly. I also found the 'razor tool' very useful. The tool allowed us to cut a certain clip in half so that we could then slip in another clip between the two halves. This meant that where the clip would cut, another would then continue and then when finished, resume where it had left off. This was very effective when the man reached out to grab the sandwich and the razor tool was used to include a close up of his hand picking up the sandwich then resumed to a mid-shot of him picking up the sandwich.

I feel that this tutorial has prepared me when editting my film as now I have experience what it will be like when editting my film. I also ran through a couple of difficulties whilst editing my practice-flm which has allowed me to understand where i went wrong inorder for me not to do the same on the real film.

News and Current Affairs Events

The snowstorm in the US is said to be one of the heaviest snow that they have had in decades. The height reaching approx. 2ft in Washington DC and a record breaking 3ft in Maryland. 300,000 homes remain without power as the snow felled trees and cut the power lines. This is making it hard for emergency workers to restore all power for peoples homes. There have also been reports of blackouts in severals states and workers are struggling to put things back to normal. It is rumoured that it would take a few days for everyones power to be back on. This is due to the heavy snow making transport difficult and unsafe.

Kiera Knightly Story

Keira Knightly has accused a man of harrassing her after a performance at the theatre she was performing in last week. The man accused was a middle-aged Polish man from Enfield and will be tried in court on the 4th June 2010.

More news on this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8501822.stm

China's Dinosaur Footprint Discovery

China's city Zhucheng has discovered, yet again, more dinosaur footprints. They are believed to be more than 100 million years of age and have a range of six dinosaur speicie footprints. The city is so renound for their discovery of dinosaur footprints that it has been renamed "Dinosaur City".

More news on this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8502076.stm

Into to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

In this lesson we were asked to create a short film of someone reading a newspaper, however, it had to create tension and suspense. First we drew out story boards identifying step by step what we were going to film, the type of shot we were going to use and what it was going to be about. This helped when filming our short film as it told us what to do next and how to approach the next step.

However, before using the technical equiptment we were given a short tutorial on how to use the cameras and tripods. First we were shown how to inset the memory card and what it was used for - we were given two memory cards per group so that if one was full then the video would start recording automatically on the second memory card. Also we were taught how to insert the battery - without which the camera would not opperate. We were told not to change any specific settings on the camera and taught that we should wait for the focus to be clear before filming.

Using the camera was quite simple as all the words were written over the buttons as to what they do. The tripod was fairly easy to work, aswell, as the camera slided on to it easily and it was simple to manouvre. All the equipment came in a padded safety bag which made it easy to transport and carry around the college whilst filming.

Livetype & Soundtrack Pro

In our media lesson today we were given a tutorial on Livetype and Soundtrack Pro. Livetype is a way of putting Titles/Credits in to your videos, while doing this we learnt how to add effects, change colours and add backgrounds. Soundtrack Pro is a way of putting music and sound effects into your video, while doing this we looked at different types of music/beats and sound tracks in order to make our own little instrumental.

Livetype

Soundtrack Pro

Thriller Sub-Genres

A thriller sub-genre is where other film types overlaps with the characteristics of a thriller film. Sub-genres include;

Action thrillers Medical thrillers

Conspiracy thrillers Religious thrillers
Crime thrillers Techno thrillers
Disaster thrillers Spy thrillers
Drama thrillers Psychological thrillers
Erotic thrillers Political thrillers
Legal thrillers

Thriller sub-genre’s that inspire me at the moment are:

ð Action Thrillers: which generally feature a race against the clock and will contain lots of violence. Action thrillers usually contain a lot of guns, explosions and large complex set pieces for action to take place. They often have an element of mystery and crime within them too; key examples of action thrillers are ‘James Bond’ films, ‘Miami Vice’ and ‘The Transporter’.

ðPsychological Thrillers: which focus on the main characters mental and emotional side rather than the physical. They often include a large aspect of crimes within in the film, like serial killings; key examples of psychological thrillers are ‘Cannibal’, ‘Donnie Darko’ and ‘Red Dragon’.

ð Crime Thrillers: which feature a large amount of suspense to the audience about a successful or failed crime/s. Crime thrillers usually focus on the criminal/s rather than the police officers/investigator. Crime thrillers are very similar to Psychological thriller except they emphasise more on the action and physicality of the crime rather than the psychological aspect; key example of Crime thrillers include; ‘Seven’ (Se7en), ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ and ‘A History of violence’.

These types of thrillers inspire me at the moment as they have all the key elements I think a good thriller needs. I like to be able to follow the criminal through their mind by the actions of their crimes committed in a film and these help me in order to do so.

The Art Of The Title Sequence

Kung fu Panda

The title of the film 'Kung Fu Panda' is written in big, bold sans serif font, this makes the title stand out to the audience and makes it look more 'friendly' bringing in their target audience - children.

The images within the sequences are bright colourful images attracting the eyes of the audience. The bright colours, help to represent the positivity in the film. They image shots are mostly close-ups bringing your eye in on the action. The main character in this case - the panda, is shown in an extreme shot, close ups and a long shot showing all the different aspects of the character, this could also represent the strength of the character in this scene.

This title sequence appealed to be as it is very eye catching, it shows that the film isn't too serious as its a cartoon, and it looks like a enjoyable film.

How suspense is created in 'No Country For Old Men'

No Country For Old Men
Joel & Ethan Coen

The film 'No Country For Old men' was produced, directed and written by the Coen brother. The film is a very well devised thriller; it created tension from start to finish. it left the audience with a remarkable sense of anxiety and uncertainty for the character and what was going to happen next.

From the beggining the credits of the film helped to create suspense, as they were introduced in silence leading into a voice over, with shots of different locations of where the film was set in the background. The voice over was a narrative, it introduces a mysterious unexplained plot.

From this it leads into the first murder, the suspense in this scene is created as the camera focused on the police officer in the foreground as he spoke on the phone, and as the criminal in handcuffs sat in the background - this image is slightly blurred, the camera then slowly starts to focus on the criminal as he manipulates his handcuffs to the front of his body in order to kill the officer. This image is still not fully focused so the audience doesn't pay too much attention to the actions happening in the background. The police officers is then strangled to death and the murderer departs with a clear conscience, without anyone knowing about the crime he had just committed, this also helps to create tension as it shows just how sly this character is and puts the audience at an unease for the other characters in the film. this suspense is continued through the rest of the murders, each one leaves the audience in shock and gripping onto their seats. After each killing the murderer disappears leaving the audience unaware of when he will reappear again.

Other ways suspense was created in the Coen brother's film is the build up to event which happen in the film. For instance, when Llewelyn - the 'Goody' in the film played by Josh Brolin, is about to open the truck door the windows are hidden by dust. This creates tension as the audience does not know what will be awaiting him inside the truck, additional tension is created by the truck being surrounded by dead bodies who have been murdered, and therfore the audience wonders whether the muderer or more bodies could be inside.

Parallel editing is used to show events in two locations both reaching for the same point, at the same moment in time within the film. This type of editing creates a very dramatic suspense, it puts the audience at the edge of their seat, questioning if the 'Hero' or the 'Villian' will win.

Overall the Coen brothers created a very successful thriller, it left me on the edge of my seat, and anxious for the charaters.

The Art Of The Title Sequence

TO KILL A MOCKING BIRD



I think the opening of ‘To Kill A Mocking bird’ is innocent and it has a lot of depth to it. I like this opening title because there is a lot more to it than what meets the eye; it also gets my mind going as I think about the significance of the objects that I have been shown.

This title sequence is also in black and white. The title of the film is over a crayon scribble. This makes it stand out from the other titles shown in this sequence as they are all the same font size and colour.

Serif Fonts have been used in this title sequences, I think this suggests that the film is serious and it has a deep context that involves important people e.g. Government officials. The titles are placed above the images and they fade in and out of each other. I like the subtle transition because it doesn’t overshadow the other things that are going on in the title sequence.

There are a lot of close ups and extreme close-ups in this title sequence. This allows us to focus on the objects shown. I like this title sequence because it makes me think about what is going to happen in the film. The objects involved in this title sequence Marbles, crayons, and stopwatch are innocent but I think they have a big impact. The drawing of a bird is done with a crayon this suggests that the film has something to do with children, this already makes me feel attached to the film.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP5MutuPVxk

Arlington road

In this session we watched the opening of several thriller films, such a 'Se7en' and deja vu. I preferred the opening of 'Arlington Road'.

‘Arlington Road’ is Psychological thriller directed by Mark Pellington I watched the opening clip of this film. It didn’t give me a lot of information about the film, but I think it helped to set the scene. The opening scene consisted of different clips of a deserted neighbourhood. The clips used were innocent and quite normal; the clips included empty swings that was swinging, a road sign, children playing, a dog and a white fence.


The eerie sound track used in this clip changes the atmosphere of it makes it seem sinister and it creates tension and fear. Along with the sound track there is the sound of children playing and laughing, there is also a dog barking.

This sound is slow and it sounds distorted this makes it feel and seem sinister. The sound track and the images shown contradict each other, as the images shown are quite normal whilst the sound has been distorted which makes the audience think that something is not right.


Along with the distorted and eerie sound used in this clip, it is also a negative edit has been used. This emphasises the fact that something is not right. I think this helps to build up tension as the audience will be wondering what is going on and who is going to be effected. Innocent things are used in the opening clip; this evokes emotions from the audience. There is a close up of a dog playing with a toy and a middle shot of children playing.

The font of the opening titles is Bold and white, and some of the titles is in black. I think this is effective because there is already a lot of peculiar things going on in the clip and if fancy titles were used they might distract the audience from what’s going on in the clip. The majority of the writing was in the bottom third of the screen.

This opening didn’t have any dialogue and it didn’t have much description of what the film was about, but I still think it was an effective opening, it reminds me of a montage as it gives you a feel for the neighbourhood and it lets you see the local area. It also suggests that the neighbourhood is important in the film.