FILM MAKING

 PREP Write about the film making that you have done over the last two weeks. Add photos to support and illustrate your post.

Paragraph 1: Your production company logo

Write about how you made it, explaining the process and referring to the equipment - the Hue camera, the Mac,  the name of your Production Company, the sound effects.

Paragraph 2: Your table top filming

Write about the filming. Explain some of the items that you had on the table and how you handled the camera. Explain what you wanted the audience to focus on (if you paused to make them look at anything in particular).

Paragraph 3: Your 'live action' filming

Explain what you filmed here and how you wanted the film opening to develop in this bit.

Paragraph 4: Editing

• What sound effects did you add to the Production Company logo?
• What track did you put down under the rest of the film?
• What was your FILM TITLE?
• What credits did you add (like actor names)?

Paragraph 5: Your views

How did you think that your production went? Were there any challenges, disasters or triumphs?

For our production company logo, we chose to take a picture of the red beret and the gloves that feature in our live action clip. Firstly, we connected the Hue camera to the mac and arranged the camera into the correct position to give a birds eye view. Once we were satisfied with the arrangement, we took a few pictures and transferred it onto photo booth so that we could add a filter to it. The filter we chose accentuated the atmosphere of the photo and created more of a mysterious image. The  name of our production company was "Indigo Studios" and this appeared in writing over our company logo. We also created stop motion animation by using the Hue camera and the prop of a toy car. Our company name was Speed Media and this was written on a white piece of paper and we moved the car bit by bit and took multiple pictures. This was then put together to create a clip of stop motion animation, introducing our production. When we began to edit, we added the sound effect of a screeching car to bring the stop motion animation to life.

To add to our film making, we experimented with table top filming in which we laid out various objects over black cloth and hovered the camera above to create a moving sequence. The array of object sparked our imagination as we began to create a possible story for our film. The theme that stood out to us was a murder story with an essence of thriller and mystery. Knowing this, we decided to zoom in on particular objects throughout the sequence in order to foreshadow the events of the storyline. At one point, the camera zooms in on The Times newspaper front cover, the headline being “gone missing”. This was in order to focus the audience’s attention on those words to hint at the story to come. Not only is the camera moving throughout the sequence, so are some of the objects. A hand comes into the frame and opens the briefcase revealing money and a mysterious passport, creating a sense of unease as the audience is unaware of who the person is moving the objects, Furthermore, towards the end of the filming I lay out blood covered money and blow out the flickering candle as the camera then zooms in on the rising smoke. This could have a menacing effect and draw the audience into wanting to continue to watch the film as it suggests a dark turn could be on the way. The whirling smoke also suggests the unravelling of a mystery.

Our next challenge was to produce some live action film making to add to the opening. With the film storyline in mind, we discussed what characters would appear in the filming and how we wanted them to be portrayed. Our main character was the murderer, so we knew that she would have to feature in the snippet of live action. Emily played the murderer and she wore a red beret, gloves and a scarf to allow her to fully immerse herself into the character and Eloise played the victim. Next, we had to think through the best places to film, where would be the most atmospheric? In the end we decided to film the first scene in the tunnel because we thought it had a real sense of eeriness and mystery. We positioned the camera in front of the white, heavy doors and the actresses stood on the other side. They were visible through the oval shaped window which framed them in a dramatic way because you could only see them from their shoulders up. The camera then zooms in on Emily as she gives a significant look straight to into the lens before it zooms out and we no longer see Eloise, we can presume she was killed. Our imaginations work more powerfully when we don’t always see the full story played out which was the aim of our opening. Another scene we filmed took place in some woodland we discovered. I wore a long cape and walked alone (or so I thought) up a leafy path when Emily walked into frame and followed me, the suggested next victim. The sun is shining through the trees directly in front of the camera which creates lots of rays of light against the lens. The scene cuts out so the audience don’t know if I survive or not which would hopefully make them want to discover what happens in the rest of the film.

Once we had all the footage we needed, it was time to edit! We transferred the filming onto the mac and used iMovie to edit. The table top film and our live action film were put together and they effectively flowed into each other. We chose the song “We’ll Meet Again” to layer over the film because we felt like it suited the tone of it. The song has a minor key however it is most commonly used in association with the war and hope and so placing it in a creepy story gives it an unusual twist in the meaning of the words “we’ll meet again”. As well as that, we edited the film name into the table top film, the title appears as the smoke whirls into the lens. The title is “Lady in Red”. We thought it really suited the film seeing as red has connotations of blood and murder. However, it also worked well because Emily (the murderer) wears red throughout the live action meaning the title works of a few levels and is open to interpretation. We also edited in the credits and had our names appear while the camera moved along the table

Personally, I think the production was a success, I really enjoyed the process of creating it and how open the concept was to our imagination. I found the editing side of it more challenging because some of it was quite tricky to work out like fading out the song and adding in sound effects. Although I was pleased with the final result and I think it looked like a professional opening to a film.