Evaluation Questions

Question 1:

Question 2:

Question 3:

Question 4+5:

Question 6:

Question 7:

Opening scene feedback and improvements

What went well

Our stab match on action scene was especially commented on, complimented by a lot of the audience. Many people said it looked very realistic and looked very professional. They also said they liked the look of the blood on the knife from the stab wound, which they also liked, and the blood in the water. A lot of people also liked our use of sound, particularly the distorted music and ringtone. They also liked the sound editing when the headphones fell out and the music cut out but was still playing very quietly. Overall, I think our sound was especially effective. People also positively commented on the location, saying it was suitable for the genre and concept and worked well.

Improvements

A common improvement we were given was overuse of the waterfall shot. The feedback suggested we remove a couple so give the same effect but not as overwhelming, so Josh did this. We were also told our title screen was too short for the audience to read, so Josh made this longer to make it easier to read. Another criticism made was on the lighting, saying that it was too bright and needed to be dimmer to give the effect that the scene is set in the early evening, and also they said the blood on the jumper was too pink. Both of these were fixed by Eve adjusting the exposure and saturation of the clips. There were some comments saying that the Blumhouse production company was unsuitable for our genre, and also that the logo that we did use was out of date. Chloe was given the job to research more into this, by looking at her blogs and also doing extra research. Finally, we were told to remove the wind sound in our opening to create a more professional finish, as well as to add in a sinister typical horror movie sound when the killer is shown to add drama and suspense to the scene for the audience, both of which I did. We were also told to add in a sound when the killer is scraping the knife on the fence to mimic whats happening on screen, again which I did. 

Shooting script 21/12/2016

Date of Filming:

• Wednesday 21st December 2016

Meeting Place:

• Loose Valley at 8 am

Who is attending: 

• Eve Grundy- Bringing camera and spare batteries, un-smashed phone, cushion.
• Lucy Armstrong- Bringing tripod, acting clothes, microphone, spare top, knife.
• Chloe Biggs- Bringing fake blood, stick, smashed phone.
• Josh Kamara- Bringing acting clothes, blood pouches, real blood. 

Location 1: 

• Loose Valley Stream

Shots to do:

• Establishing shot x1
• Long shot x5
• Close-Up shot x2
• Extreme Close-Up shot x2
• High-angle x1
• Low-angle x1
• Over-The-Shoulder shot x1
• Point-Of-View shot x3
• Medium shot x3
• Tracking shot x2
• Tilt x1

Location 2: 

• Loose Valley Alleyway

Shots to do:

• Long shot x1
• Close-Up shot x2
• Extreme Close-Up shot x1
• High-angle x1
• Over-The-Shoulder shot x1
• Medium shot x1
• Tracking shot x1

Voice-over

Using GarageBand, I recorded a voiceover of me humming the song we use in our film opening for when I'm walking whilst dragging my hand along the bush. I did this as in our storyboard our original plan was to include this, as it creates a creepy,  sinister effect. I hummed the first 20 seconds of the song, and in the recording there was no background noise. 

In our editing process and after watching our film opening, we collectively decided not to include the humming as it didn't quite sound right in the clip. We instead used the sound of a heartbeat which we think sounded better as it created more tension and when we showed it to an audience they said "It made them feel very unsettled and uncomfortable".

Editing

I sped up the clip we re filmed of the stabbing as it fitted better with the speed of the other clips. 

I then bladed the beginning of the next clip as we didn't need it.

I also bladed a bit of the clip before the stabbing and sped it up as well to make the match on action flow better.

I bladed a bit of the end of the dragging clip as it was unnecessary.

I also bladed the beginning of the clip where we see the blood in the water as it was also unnecessary and we could cut down our time if we cut the clip so the blood came on screen straight away.

Next I slightly altered the fades on my voice over as I felt it was still slightly harsh.

I cut the beginning of the distorted song so that it began where the other one ended. I then moved it so it was parallel to the other, and parallel to where it needed to begin.

I next bladed the song to the same lengths as the other ones so I could edit it in the same way. I made the volumes the same and put the same fades in so it was exactly the same, just with the right song. I made sure it was exactly precise.

I added in the distorted ringtone sound I made and added it where the phone begins to ring - jus before I take out my earphones to answer the call. I also cut it so that the sound clip began when the audio did.

I edited the sound of this by removing the background noise and adjusting the volume.

I copied and pasted the sound of the knife scraping on the metal fence and slowed it down to fit the clip. However we later decided we didn't like it.

I moved the scream sound so it overlapped the stabbing. I also added in nature sounds over the top.

Editing

I put in the voiceover of me saying 'Hello' and matched it with me saying hello in the clip. I then cropped the voiceover to just the dialogue and put in a fade at the beginning and ending, so it didn't begin too harshly.

I put in the song with the Phone effect on it.

I next cut the song so the silence which was at the beginning was cut out.

I moved the music so it correlated with the beginning of the clip. I then bladed the music to fit in with this clip, as I was going to turn the volume up slightly each time I got closer to the camera. I bladed the music each time a clip began so that the volume could increase slightly each time. I also moved the music for the waterfall as we wanted the music to be broken up by the sound of the waterfall.

I then added a fade into the beginning of the song as in the clip I walk towards the camera, so by doing this it correlates.

I continued to cut the music to fit the different clips.

I detached the sound from the clip where he is dragging his knife up the metal chain link fence as we wanted this sound in it but we tried to remove the sound of the traffic in the background. However we later realised this wouldn't wrk, so deleted the sound altogether.

I turned down the music and moved it so that just after I turn round and drop my phone when my earphones come out, the music goes quiet.

I also added the natural sounds into it as this way it is clear that I can no longer hear the music.

I added another soundtrack of natural sounds - like the stream, birds and wind, and also added a fade to the beginning so that it is more realistic when the earphones come out. I also turned the music up slightly so that it can still be heard as if it's still playing through the earphones.

I added more natural sounds for all the time my earphones are not in to again reinforce the idea that I don't have earphones in. I also moved it slightly so it overlapped with the previous sound to make it sound more natural so it faded into the other.

I cut the music to fit the clips again so that I could add appropriate fades and adjust the volumes of when I'm putting the earphones in. As I'm putting it near my ear it goes slightly louder, and when I put it in my ear it gets louder and the fades represent me putting it up towards and then in my ear so it correlated.

I cut the natural sounds when I put the earphones in as I wouldn't be able to hear it anymore.

I then pasted in the distorted song as I realised after I put the earphones back in it went to this song, so I pasted it in to edit another time.

Song manipulation - phone

Using iMovie, I added the effect of 'Telephone' over the song My Muse by Dropout to created a muffled effect. This will be perfect to use in our film opening when the victim is listening to music through headphones, as it sounds like it is playing through headphones.

Song manipulation - multi-tune

Using iMovie, I added the effect of 'Multi-Tune' over the song My Muse by Dropout to created an eerie, disconcerting effect. This will be perfect to use in our film opening when the victim's phone is broken and the music is glitching on the phone screen, as it reinforces the idea of the phone and music being broken. 

Recording a voice over to edit into the film opening

Seeing as we recorded some of the footage on a different camera, the sound in it wasn't quite the same and you could't hear the one line of dialogue in the piece, in which I answer my phone and say 'Hello'. I therefore recorded the voice over seperately and will edit it in later.