Doing The Voice Over

The Voice Over

In our film, we realised there was a problem. When the Stalker found Sarah's phone, he then offered her to pick it up in 20 minutes. So this would be sometime in the evening later, but because we had filmed all the scenes needed for that day we stopped. So the next day we continued to film and obviously it was a new day so when we filmed it, it was day time rather than night time when the stalker said 20 minutes. This was a problem because it then looked very unrealistic and just didn't work. Fortunately we where able to modify this and re record my part again using the application Final Cut Express on the Apple Mac. I recorded myself saying "come over to 24 Oxlow Lane" and then inserted the voice recording over the error and this is how we where able to overcome this problem.

The Second Day of Filming

Day 2 of Filming

The second day of filming was very strange and I will explain why. This day happened to be a school day and it was a Thursday and we had almost a 2 hour break before our media lesson so we decided to take advantage of this and film. We all met up at my house again because this is where we filmed before and we continued on from where we had left off. So to continue we filmed Sarah actually entering the Stalker's house with the door wide open. She was curious and decided to walk through the house because this was the address that the Stalker gave her. She walked through the house saying "hello" and is then taken by the Stalker and his friend. Now the reason I said this was strange is because this was supposed to be the part where the film starts to get interesting. Unfortunately the rest of what we filmed had poor handling of the camera and we where ultimately forced to cut our film short so we couldn't see what happened to Sarah after she was captured. Nevertheless, the product still looks good even though in reality it was not finished.

The First Day of Filming

Day 1 of Filming

Today we filmed the first part to our Thriller. We met up at my house as it was the ideal location for my group to meet as no one had to really travel far. It was very exciting to be able to get straight in to making our thriller. The first scene we did was just on my road and this is the scene where Sarah drops her phone. We did this scene three or four times because we wanted to get a variety of shots. We had to film quickly because we met up around 5:30pm and it was getting rapidly dark. As Sarah walked down the road we took lots of different shots and angles such as a P.O.V but we decided not to use it because the audience would not be able to see that Sarah drpped the phone. We also took a shot of the camera that was directly behind her, in front of her and above her so that the camera was looking down. Perhaps if we had used the shot of the camera looking down on her, it might have been more effective because when the camera is looking down on someone, it puts them in a position of inferiority and this could perhaps foreshadow that something bas might happn to her. After shooting this scene numerous times till we got it nearly to perfection we then progressed to my scene where I am the Stalker and I will be picking up Sarah's phone that she dropped. For this scene I was not sure what type of shot we could use for this scene. I was rather reluctant to use the same shots that we used for Sarah's scene where she drops the phone but having taken many differents shots and angles, I thought that that was the only appropriate shot I could have used. However having reflected and watched the film many times, I can see that a shot from behind me wouild have worked really well. By not seeing my face when I pick up Sarah's phone it creates a sense of ambiguity and a mysterious feel to the film. Then we had finished the scene and moved on into the scenes inside the house. The first scene in the house was the one where I called Sarah and offered for her to pick up her phone from my house. These scenes where done using the close shot. When we did this scene of our conversation, a problem occured. I said to Sarah 'meet me at oxlow lane in like 20 minutes' however after doing that scene Sarah had to go home because it was getting late. Our group did not realise that it was late so when I told her to meet me in 20 minutes we did not change this so when it came to editing the film on Final Cut Express we had to somehow change this and this is how we made the voice over.

The Stalker Trial

The Stalker Trial

This was a quick test run of how the shots we did looked, by doing this we where able to pick out and see the best shots and the ones that where perhaps unsuccessful. We took a variety of shots and angles as you can see below.

Mood Board

Mood Board

Here is our Mood Board for our Thriller 'The Stalker'. This Mood Board should help you understand the type of Thriller we are going for and what will be in it.

Order Of Title Sequence

Order of the Title Sequence

After the IDENT use a FADE IN. The titles should then be in the following order:

(1) 'Your Production Company' Presents

(2) A Film by 'One name - usually the director'

(3) Starring or With

(4) Male star

(5) Female star or other way round

(6) Title of film - or could be at the end

(7) Also starring - 2/3/names - each on seperate title

(8) Then 3/4/5 of the following - you choose - each on seperate title

Editing

Music

Cinematography or Director of Photography

Casting

Set Designer

Costume Designer

Script

(9) Then Producer(s) - can be more than one

(10) Always finish with Director - one name, usually the same as A Film By ...

(11) Could put title here

Remember to use LiveType and try to make titles interesting. They can be either over black or superimposed over your film. Space them out over the two minutes of the film.Give the audience plenty of time to read the titles. 

(12) Finish with a fade out & fade music out

Title Sequence

Title Sequence

In order to make a good title sequence, I have analysed the opening title sequence to the recent film Skyfall. I decided to analyse Skyfall because it is quite modern and very popular so I strongly believe that I can take inspiration from it. As the title sequence begins, its not very typical. It begins with a man falling in the sky which relates back to the name of the film, this is effective as it reiterates to the viewers what they are watching. The screen then goes to black and a hand is grabbed and the first title appears of the director. It then reveals the name everyone wants to see, the famous Daniel Craig. The man that is one of the greatest and well known British actors in the world. By having him in the film, it automatically brings in his fan base which increases the people who watch the film  I noticed that his name came up before the actual name of the film 'Skyfall' and this may be because he is very well known and and takes the lead in the film. The title sequence is very still and almost surreal, it seems as though not a lot is going on which consequently causes us to focus more. It's very dark and Gothic which builds up tension. The music in the background is from Grammy award winner Adele. To have Adele singing 'skyfall' in the background also brings in her fan base which is millions so this is how the film attracts it's audience. The font of the names are rather ordinary but it is what is happening in the sequence that is really captivating. 

Our Own Studio Ident

Our Studio Ident

 

Today in my media lesson, we made our own Studio Ident for our film. We made a studio ident for our thriller that we are going to film. A Studio Ident is necessary as it adds originality to films. In process of making the Ident, we went on Final Cut Express, Sarah and I took a picture from the internet of the London Skyline, this is good as London is a very big and popular city, so this gives our Ident respect and significance. We did this because after all the Idents we looked at we could see that most of them show significance and power. For example if you look at Universal Studios, it's Ident consists of the globe, showing power so we took inspiration from this. We then imported the picture onto Final Cut and added all of our initials and here is the end product: