Above is a tutorial on how to use Final Cut Pro. Kozan talks us through the basics of how to use the razor blade tool and how to import a clip and input the clip in to the timeline etc. We used this program to edit our sequence and add effects and put the clips in the right order.
Above is a tutorial done by Irene teaching us the basics of Soundtrack Pro. Soundtrack Pro is mainly used to add sound effects and a background music. We used this to find out background music and add in effects e.g. the sound of the irn hitting Abdel's head.
Above is a tutorial where I explain the basics of how to use LiveType. I explain how to create titles for a video.
Our main target audience would be females 30+ (espicially those who can relate to domestic violence). It would also appeal to those who are intrested in psychological thrillers or crime thrillers.
Here is an example of the kind of lifestyle our audience may be living:
Jenny is 34 and recently divorced her husband. She has suffered from domestic violence. by day she works to earn money for her children and by evening she looks after her children. She enjoys watching Eatenders, The Bill and other soaps. She is an independent woman who rely's on no one but herself in life.
This is a student video taken from YouTube.com. It has 228 views so far. They used YouTube to upload their video as it is a massive video hosting site and gets many hits a day and so they can reach a wider audience (global). There are many other ways of launching your videos e.g. Vimeo, Facebook, other social networking sites etc.
Our video is avaiable to watch on Vimeo as we were a low budget film and were limited to how much we could promote our film. However, we did watch our Thriller Title Sequence on 'The Screen On the Green' which was viewed by over 200 students from our college. This was a good way to get feedback on our film as we got to see outher peoples reactions to our films (e.g. laughing, scared etc). This also helped because as our Thriller Opening is about domestic violence we assumed that mainly women would enjoy it but we got to see the reactions of the male audience and were given good feedback by them.
Once we had come up with the plot of the film we began to look at other psychological/crime thrillers and we came across 'Memento' and particularly liked the idea of time traveling backwards (rewind effect). Although we did not use this we did however come up with a flashback effect for our Thriller Sequence. In the image of Memento there is a picture within a picture. We took this idea and showed a picture of the 'happy couple' before the traumatic events took place.
We also watched the beggining of 'The Amityville Horror' and were inspired by the phone call that took place in the film which we later decided to use in our film. Even though our film is a thriller and not a horror like 'The Amityville Horror' it was useful for our film and whilst talking to the audience and getting feedback after watching the sequence on the 'Screen On the Green' many people said how they particularly like the idea of the phone call and the police reports (which we also took from 'the Amityville Horror').
The video shown below is our preliminary task that we completed before we started on our thriller title sequence. I think that since we made our preliminary task we have improved a lot. We have learnt a lot and focused more on mise-en-scene, sound, camera shots. We already new the basics of Soundtrack Pro, LiveType and Final Cut Pro but when we started our Thriller Title Sequence we've discovered much more about the programs and have learnt more about effects etc.
In our preliminary task we didn't focus on sound effects or on mise en scene. We were very bsic we everything we did. It isn't hard to see how much we've improved and how much we we've focused more on sound effects, mise en scene etc. because if you get one thing wrong it could mess up the Thriller Opening completely. We found it most difficult to find a place to shoot. We were okay for indoors locations but we first struggled to find an outdoor location as we needed it to busy in the background so that Megan looked more lonely and lost.
When we were doing preliminary task we were still new to the program so we didn't really know what we were doing but when it came to our Thriller Opening we explored the program and tried out new things to see what would look good. We also focused more on camera shots and angles e.g Abdel being hit with the iron. We filmed this from many different angels but none looked as good as the one we chose because you could see his facial expressions. In our preliminary task we didn't worry too much about the camera angles but for our Thriller Opening is was vital that we chose the right camera angle so the audience could understand the storyline more and be more intrested and drawn to it.
In the image of 'The Rich Man's Wife'Halle Berry has a lost look upon her face. She looks dazed as if something traumatic has happened to her. In our thriller sequence Megan (the main character) also has a lost look upon her face. You can tell that something traumatic has also taken place. In both films the husband is murdered and the wife is responsible.
The video below shows our preliminary task done before we started filming. Personally I think me and the rest of the group skills have improved a lot using Final cut pro, live type and soundtrack pro since the start.
As you can see from our preliminary exercise we weren't very concerned about our mise en scene as we were just in a plain looking room where as when it came to our film one of our main concerns was mise en scene as it had to fit in perfectly with our story line which was hard to get the perfect setting not so much for the house but when the main character was standing in the centre as we had to get the perfect time of day to film so that it was busy enough to show the loneliness of the character but empty enough so the equipment was safe.
Also in our preliminary exercise we didn't focus on the clothing worn by Kozan and Irene where as when it came to the real project it was a main focus of ours because we needed the characters to look much older than they are and it needed to fit in with the location for example in the house we needed Abdel who played the husband to look like he was just a husband at home so he couldn't be too dressed up like he was out or going out. At first we didn't think that clothing would be as important to the film but as we progressed on with it we found out it was quite an important aspect.
In our preliminary exercise it was our first real time using final cut pro so we weren't as skilled in it as we are now. The above picture shows a screen grab of editing our final project on final cut pro. In our preliminary our editing weren't as smooth or as concentrated on as compared to in our final project. Also our camera shots in the preliminary were very simple close ups, mid shots and long shots where as they were more advanced in our final project as we learnt new shots and were more advanced in our thinking and understanding of filming and shots.
First look at soundtrack i felt so lost not knowing what to do because it looks so advanced and complicated but with the help of my teachers and my group my skills at using soundtrack pro have improved immensely and i find it much easier to work and play and pick songs and effects.
Bellow is the video of our feedback from our classmates who we asked after seeing the film:
I was glad to hear that they enjoyed the phone call and the police report, which is an aspect of a film that I am really proud of. I am also happy to hear that people enjoyed the iron which was a very difficult shot to catch and we also couldn't decide whether to use slow motion or at a fast speed. In the end we went along with fast paced.
Bellow is an image from wordle.net, which I inserted all our written feedback and came up with this:
After our class, watched each others film, each group gave feedback to one another, which we copied and pasted on http://www.wordle.net/, which picks out the most used words written and enlarges them. I was interested to see that, 'young people, audience and eastenders' which many people said our film related to the Little Moe insistent in Eastenders
Thinking back on the whole blogging and media experience, I can easily see that the skills of filming and editing of myself and the rest of my group has improved tramatically.
Looking at our first use of Final Cut Pro at our Preliminary Match Cut excercise, which can be seen bellow:
It easy to see the advances we have made in our progress especially in camera work, as in our final cut we used a variety of shot and different types of editing techniques.
Sound has been a major improvement, for me personally, as it has never been favourite part of editing, however with the help of my group and teacher and with steady progress I believe my sound editing techniques have improved vastly.
(1) Bellow: is a tutorial of Final Cut pro, featuring ME (Kozan) explain the few basics on how to use the software. The only previous experience of video making software for me was 'Windows Movie Maker' and I was very impressed to see the complex effect broken down in a very simplistic way.
(2) Bellow is video of the tutorial of Sound Track Pro featuring Irene Clutario, who also explains the basics, on a software that help produce the soundtrack for our film as well as sound effects.
(3) Bellow is a tutorial video the software LiveType featuring Heena Ahmed, who also explains the easy and basic steps to create titles for any video.
Here is a lifestyle example that fits our MAIN target audience:
Stacey, 32, unemployed and mother of two children. A strong willful woman who is honest and proud. Husband hardly gets time of work. Stacey watches shows such as Desperate Housewives, Sex in the City and other soaps, which show powerful woman. She enjoys having shopping and inviting her other girlfriends over.
The above is a brief example of the type of person we expect to go see our film. Our brief, is a Females, Married or Divorced, Late 20's onwards. Housewife, Perhaps someone who can relate to the circumstance of violence. Enjoys psychological and crime thrillers.
Our film is a low-budget, and can be seen as targeting a niche market. A free way to distribute our media product is via the internet, video hosting websites such as vimeo and youtube.com
Many students have uploaded their video on youtube a website that recieves that has millions of hits a day. This student video can be see below:
This film recieved 2,329 hits which is quiet impressive for a student film. The film has impressive mise en scene and music. This video is one of the successful videos on youtube I could find, so it is clearly difficult to promote a film on a major video hosting website.
As mentioned before there many other ways to promote a video such as vimeo. As the budget for our film is extremly limited so adverts in on TV, and Posters are very unlikely.
Our film, has been posted on VIMEO.COM and was shown on 'Screen on the Greens' Which was viewed by over 200 students in City and Islingtion organised by City and Islington. Less mainstream cinemas can also be way to show low budget films, whereas major high street cinemas such as 'VUE' and 'CineWorld' are unlikely
Looking at the MAIN character who is played by Megan Stacey:
She is a strong independent woman, who had the tragedy of having an abusive husband. Comparing this image to the dvd cover of 'The Rich Man's Wife' with Halle Berry both films are very similar in plot.
Looking at Halle Berry, she has a gaze of emptyness and sadness, which tried to copy and implemented in our title sequence, which can be seen the image of Megan. Also the dvd cover has give an aspect of loniness to Halle Berry which we also tried to replicate which is why Megan is standing in the N1 centre, with no one approaching her.
Whilst planning and designing the ideas for our storyboard after coming up with the idea of the plot of our film, we looked at the idea of Memento, which, manipulates time in a unique way to draw effect and attention from the audience.. We as a group liked the idea of manipulating time, although we didn't set to copy Mementos rewind effect, we came upon the idea of using Flashbacks to tell our story.
Memento is a psychological thriller, which surrounds the memory loss of the main character, our film is also a psychological/crime thriller. as well as being a film on domestic violence, it also focus on the main characters mental ability and how she continues to murder those she feels are to close to the truth.
Also the phone call and the police report which I am really proud of was an idea taken from 'The Amitiville Horror' which despite being a Horror and not a Thriller, I felt it was important to take aspect of Horror which is also good at grabbing the attention of the audience very quickly, and the phone conversation and police report we implemented is the only aspect taken from 'The Amitiville Horror' so our film doesn't have any horror aspects to it, which we tried to avoid and I believe done successfully.
The storyline of our film is based on domestic violence which is similar to 'The Rich Man's Wife' film, starring Halle Berry, which involves a husband being murdered because of the wife after serious violence. Bellow is a link to see a preview of the film
The target audience for our project would be, housewives 30+ who may or may not have expierenced domestic violence.
Also it would appeal to an audience that likes crime and psychological thrillers. Females who have been a victim to violence would also appeal to this.
Lifestyles:
"Linda, 35, housewife with 3 kids, previous victim to domestic violence, volunteer helper to stop domestic violence, loves to shop" This what the contents of her bag would include:
"Jack, 20, currently training for the poilce, interested in psychology and the human mind, likes to visit museums and go out with friends" This is what the contents of his wallet would include:
I Found this student film on youtube. These students have used the website, www.youtube.com to launch there movie to a wider audience, this is shown in the hits they have recieved from people viewing there film. There is many other ways to lanch your film to a wider audience including social networking sites like www.facebook.com through links to the film or uploading the film itself on the site and even through there own blog.
Another way to get your film shown to a wider audience which we oursleves have been a witness of is through cinema. We were a witness of this on the 22nd of April when we and other media students got to see our films in a real cinema 'Screen On the green' and see peoples reactions to our work and show our reactioning to their work. This is a very rewarding way to see who your film can appeal to.
In the still image of our film above we showed a flash back photo of the husband and wife before the killing to show the 'happy couple' before the tragic events. We got this idea from the film 'memento' (pictured below) which shows pictures within pictures like a flashback, the film memento starts like a rewind of the events that happened where our film starts like a flashback of the events which happened. This is where we got our inspiration from.
The image below shows our openeing title of the name of our film, 'The Final Straw'the opening title of our film is shown over the main female character which you can see clearly in the image below.
We thought the name of film would look good here as we already shown flashbacks of what happened and it fits in with the the lonely stare in the characters eyes as it shows the feelings and emotions through look and the name of the film thats it was a last resort and reflects the opeing of the film and the story line of the film.
This was another technique that is shown in the film 'Memento' pictured below.
As you can see in the image of 'The Rich Man's Wife' (picture above) Halle Berry has a dazed look on her face into nothing just as we have done in our film with a dazed look on my face (picture below) in both films the husband gets killed because of his wife. the idea of the look we got from this film because they are similar stories of a wife with a plan.
