Sections of Editing - Evalutaion

The section of the sequence which I edited was also the section that I filmed, the murder scene. As well as this, I also dealt with all of the non-diegetic sound and sound effects. The editing of this section was more difficult than it could have been, as the software we were using to edit the film was slightly outdated, and I was used to the more recent software - Adobe Premiere Pro CS4. This older software had far fewer features, and was less user friendly, but my familiarity with the software's basic workings meant I was able to cope better than some.

The first bit of editing I did was putting in a title at the start of my section which shows the scriptwriter. This was done by using the "Title" menu, and a still title was chosen. Our group chose this as a standard for all our titles, as we felt a moving title looked novice. The title was used as an ellipsis as it bridges together the previous scene with this one without feeling a jarring effect of the gap of lost time. This effect is also used earlier on, between the establishing shots and the inside of the pub.

After this, I then went on to edit the murder scene. The entire murder scene had a visual effect on it named "Lighting Effects" which enabled me to make the section darker by having a subsection of the effect which allowed me to simulate no key lighting by setting it to "none" This was a little too dark, so I had to change the level of "opacity" from a low 20 (out of 100) to a slightly higher 30. This then changed the mood of the entire scene, as beforehand, the lightness made the eeriness that was wanted from the scene to be absent.

The first shot I edited was used to bring a continuity feel between the victim (Ezra) entering the Toilet and the tap being used. A straight cut was used for this, as no effects were needed. After this, a straight cut was used again to cut back to the over the shoulder shot of Ezra.

When Ezra sees the killer (Sam) in the mirror, there was no good take of him turning round to react to the shock. This meant that I had to try and transpose two shots over the top of one another, to try and make it so that Ezra was turning whilst Sam was still in the mirror. When doing this I tried to use a video effect that allowed me to lay two shots over one another called "transparent." As a result, the shot did have Sam in the mirror, but it meant that there were now two images of Ezra in the shot, one with him turning and one with him remaining still, giving it an after image which looks very poor. This could not be changed as if I lowered the transparency level, Sam would not be seen.

This problem was not resorted, so I tried to find another solution by using a take with the shot of when Ezra turns back towards the mirror and reversed the speed. This was done by right-clicking the clip after cutting it with the razor tool either side of the section needed and then clicking on "speed/duration." Under this menu, it was possible to not only reverse the clip (play the clip backwards) but also to alter its speed. In order to deal with the turning issue, both of these features were utilised. First reversing the clip, then speeding it up, to make the turn happen quicker, so that the absence of Sam's presence is not very noticeable. This took a large amount of time to find the correct speed, but after a large amount of trial and error, I used -133% the speed of the original clip in order to get the clip as it is now. After this there is a "dip to black" which leads to a new title. The dip to black is used very often throughout the sequence in order to bring in and remove titles.

Finally for visuals, at the end there was initially (in the rough cut version) a section at the end showing the wall behind Ezra, as if the killer was looking over him, but not looking down at him. Due to a problem in filming (a lack of a spreader or dolly) this shot was very wobbly. In editing, I tackled this by cutting a very short section, about one tenth of a second, which was still and then cut and paste about 20 times. This lead to the illusion that the camera was still, but in reality, the same shot is being played over and over again.

After finishing off this section of editing, the visuals for the rough cut version were finished, so I then moved on to put on the extra audio tracks. First of all, I went online to a website called www.royaltyfreemusic.com which contains a substantial amount of music, some of which is free of charge, as long as the creator is credited. After finding this website, I downloaded some tracks for a thriller soundscape called "Ghostocalypse" by "Kevin MacLeod" these clips of music were very ambient and gave a good backing track to the sequence, but after putting it into the sequence; we all felt there was still something missing. After this, I then tried once again to look for a backing track, but couldn't find any that I thought we would use, so using my computer and my experience of music, I recorded and created my own eerie track using the programme "Logic Pro 9" (below is a screenshot of that track)

When I added this track to the mix, the subtle sounds had a large effect, which were then used throughout the piece, such as some small effects just before the killer lunges. Throughout the sequence, the volume of all the sound is plays an important role, as if the music is too overpowering, or something is too loud within the mix, then the diegesis is lost, or the sequence just suffers. The levels of each section of sound can be changed in two ways, but before changing the volume, it is important to cut the sound tracks into sections, using the razor tool, so that each section can be at a different volume, and each can be controlled independently.

The first method of changing the sound level is by going to the left-hand side of track-bar and clicking on the arrow next to the Audio track number that contains the clip. This widens the audio clip out, making a yellow line which controls the initial volume compared to the original in decibels. To change the volume one must left-click and hold the yellow bar and then drag the mouse up to increase the volume or down to decrease it.

The second method has two sections, both are simpler than method one, but have a level limit. This method is also a more accurate way to alter the volume. This method involves just right-clicking on the audio clip that needs the volume changing and then going to "Audio Gain" after this a small box appears with numbers in blue which start at 0.0 which show the changed decibel level. This is independent from the yellow bar, and the volume change is more subtle that the yellow bar method. By left-clicking and holding the mouse over the numbers, one can then drag the mouse up to increase the volume or down to decrease it, similar to that of the 1st method, but to a smaller scale. The more accurate section can be done by double-clicking the blue numbers and then inputting the exactly value of the volume change wanted, negative numbers being a lower level than the original clip volume.

Importantly, after each effect, or set of effects were added, or if parameters of any clips were altered, we had to render the film. This was done by pressing the "return" key on the keyboard. We knew when we had to render something when there was a red bar above the clip, after rendering, this bar changed to green.

Where and Why Did You Place Your Titles? - Planning/Evaluation

Title Name:

REFLECTION - The title of this film started off as a working title, as we were calling it that due to the murder scene being associated with a mirror and the killer's reflection. After a while, we thought that it would be appropriate to call the actual film Reflection as well, because the entire story would be based around the main murder, and the film would also reflect the views of a common day society and show people that sexism, racism and sexual abuse is still a part of our society even in 2010.

Title Font:

After using many different fonts to see which seem to look best, we had it come down to two:

Pussycat:

The interesting aesthetic of this font attracted our attention and we then liked how certain letters were always lower case, but when capitalised, were just in a slightly different font. We used this font initially as we felt that it would mirror the story of the film, as although two things may actually look the same, they were slightly different, but it would take someone with a keen eye to discover the differences. This font was used throughout the development of the project, but towards the end, we felt that there were certain letters that seemed indistinctive or just ugly, so we decided to use another font.

Mesquite Standard:

This font had a slightly different effect, as all the letters were capitalised. This lack of lower case made everything seem bigger and more outstanding than that of the "pussycat" font. This made the titles have more of a strong impact, which we felt made a big difference, so we switched to this for our final version.

Title Position:

All but 2 of our titles are positioned on the screen in exactly the same way; the top of the letters starting just above two thirds of the way up the screen. The reason for this is that people are said to may more attention to something that is in that area of the screen than to something that is dead in the centre. the stated reason for this is that as people, we often look for horizons to find distance, which is often found 2/3 up from our line of site. (source - wikipedia)

The 2 that we decided not to have in this position were the names of the actors. The reason for this was twofold, one is that we felt that their names should stand out and be different from the other titles' placement, and two, that it would look good if it faded from one name in the top left and the next name in the bottom right:

Title Placement:

We have placed our titles throughout the sequence so that the longest time between any two titles is 20 seconds, and this long gap only happens twice, other than that there is only about 5 seconds between each title. We have done this to ensure that we can place as many titles as possible without interrupting the narrative. This was very important, as a strong narrative is needed in almost any thriller, but a 'Whodunit' needs to have a very strong base, in order to build up the potential suspects. This spacing also allowed for the non-diegetic music to build up the suspense and tension whilst the visuals were limited by the black background. This building of tension is key, and it is very important that the placement of titles doesn't effect it, therefore, if they come too often, they will undoubtable ruin the sequence, but if they are too spread out, then not enough information about the film is revealed, making it a poor title sequence.

Sections of Filming - Evaluation

The section of the sequence that I filmed was the entire murder scene, from the entrance to the toilet until the end. The manner in which I filmed this section was slightly different to what one would expect, as the dolly was unable to fit into the narrow toilet, so I had to use a shoulder cradle to capture the sequence to ensure it was not tilted. The entire section used natural lighting, which was high key when in the main section of the toilet, but was no key light when focusing onto a specific stall, as we turned off the light in that stall to give it a more eerie feel, so that the killer appeared almost as a shadow in the darkness, which made it far more scary than when it was light. This vast and quick contrast between light and dark highlights the differences between life and death, and how white light connotes life as well as how darkness connotes death, giving it a more ominous look.

Also, other than the entrance to the toilet, I didn't film the sequence in the order that the storyboard would dictate as chronologically correct. This was done because I felt that the hardest section to film would be the stabbing and then the initial appearance of the killer.

As it happens, I was correct in my assumptions, as I had to film the stabbing section EIGHT times, as each time, felt that the motion did not seem real or menacing enough, or the focus on the camera was lost during part of the movement, or the actor who played the murderer (Sam) felt he should slightly deviate from the script in which he had no dialogue or sound, as he decided to grunt or scream. Eventually, I got a take which I felt captured a menacing, scary and quick lift and stab. This shot used a low angle

After this one shot, I moved onto the next shot, which was the shot that had the victim look up into the mirror to see only his reflection, then to look back down to wipe his face, and then to look back up again to find there was a person behind him. All of this one long section was an "over the shoulder" shot which incorporated both a medium close-up and a Two-shot, which also had elements of reference to one of our main influences, Mirrors and other influences with the generic trigger, such as Halloween II (2009), The Omen (2006), Orphan (2009) and Candyman (1992) were also referenced in this pastiche section. This shot was repeated four times, as the correct timing and focus had to be rehearsed and then shot, which was hard with the amount of movement that was needed without a dolly. This shot was also mostly a mirror shot, which the correct angle must be obtained to get both of the characters in the shot, as well as ensure the camera is not seen in the mirror.

After these two more difficult shots, the remaining shots were concluded without many issues, but the fact that the dolly was unable to be used did lead to a few more takes being filmed than would have been filmed otherwise. Examples of this are the shot in which the victim turns back around to find that he is the only person now reflected after having turned back around. This shot was filmed three times. The first two times I filmed it, I was unable to keep the camera straight for the entire shot so a third take was needed.

The match on action shot that was used between the victim moving his arm and the tap being turned on was filmed by 1st using the over the shoulder shot of him moving and actually turning on the tap from behind, and then re-recording the same action at eye-level from the side, as a mid-shot

This was the section that I shot, and I feel that there could have been some major improvements made, if we had more time and space. Firstly, the space issue played a large factor in diminishing the amount of time that I was able to shoot the other shots. In addition, the time that we had until the pub opened (making the toilets out of bounds for filming) was short, this meant that some of the later shots, which were later taken out of the sequence, were of a worse quality and that one shot that is still in the sequence was not filmed correctly. Due to the editing of the sequence, the transition looks less poor, but when the victim (Ezra) turns to try to see his attacker (Sam) the first time, Sam disappears from the mirror as Ezra is turning. This happened as the entire turn was not filmed, which lead to me having to splice in a separate shot of Ezra turning around, which didn't have Sam in the mirror, meaning that it looks far more novice than I would have liked.

What Technologies Were Used to Create the Product - Evaluation

The collaborative nature of the project meant that during the process of creating the coursework, we had to keep communications running smoothly constantly. The use of multiple technologies helped with this. Facebook, Phones, MSN as well as meetings in person were all used in order to ensure that our work was being completed by the correct people at the right times. At the start of the project, we had a small vote as to who would be in charge of organising meetings, and after a majority vote, I was the designated organiser. After this, I made sure that we had a meeting in person every Wednesday and every other Thursday plus any other meetings that would be made when appropriate. This, combined with online meetings which would occur when needed, gave us the means to attain a high quality of long lasting and constant communication.

When it came to actually filming the sequence, we made a shooting schedule and a script and told all the actors when and where they would need to be at least 2 weeks in advance, but reminders were give the day before, and on the day of filming, further phone calls were made in order to ensure all the actors knew when and where they had to be, and what was required of them.

The equipment that we used to film was rented from the school. We had to organise and sign release forms in order to get out the more expensive pieces of equipment such as the camera and dolly. The camera was a Canon XL L5. As I was the designated organiser, I took the main responsibility for taking out the equipment and ensuring its safe usage and return. The deadline for shooting the film was Monday the 22nd of February, which would give us just enough time to edit it and finish our blogs, but we decided to ensure we finished filming the main section of the film at least 1 week before this, as we felt that if we left it as late as the deadline, there would not be enough time to finish the editing and receive feedback on the film.

Below are pictures of the filming equipment used:

Who Was Our Target Audience? - Evaluation

As young film-makers, we want to have others our age to be able to relate to the film, as well as those who are older. This will expand our possible audience and will change the focus somewhat from an intense adult based thriller to a young adult's film in which everybody from the age of 15 to 30 can enjoy.

We chose this age-range as the content would mean the film would most likely end up with a certificate 15 for a minimum age, and we chose the upper band because those who are older than that may not be able to relate to the youth based concepts of the film.


Young people are far more likely to buy merchandise of films than people of the older generations. As we are focusing on a young market, it would be wise to also create merchandise for the film. This could include posters T-shirts or even creating a filmic interactive horror-game based on the film which is similar to the concept of the new Playstation 3 game, 'Heavy Rain' which is essentially an interactive thriller, in which you make the decisions. This brings the audience further into the cinematic experience. This concept could be exploited to make a similar game based on the movie.


Below is an in-game picture of Heavy rain:
thanks to IGN.COM for providing the image

How Did We Represent Social Groups? - Evaluation

In our thriller, all the actors are aged between 17 and 19 making them late teenagers/young adults. We have chosen to use this age group as actors because, in our questionnaire, the most common response to our question referring to the actors' ages was '17-18 years old.'


As the main target audience is people in their late teens and early twenties, the content of the story is highly relevant to teenagers and young adults. This combined with the actors' age question responses made it clear that young adults needed to be casted, in order to connect with the target audience.


With all of us being students, the budget for this film was not exactly endless. As a result, we decided that there wouldn't be many special effects and that the film would be based in the present, so as to keep costs down.


The new location of the film was chosen because of the adjoining side-road it has is dark and dreary, and has some elements that give it a film-noir essence. Unfortunately, as all of the directing group were under 18, we were not able to be served alcohol from the bar, so had to use cans purchased by our parents which made the film lose a small amount of authenticity. This meant that the type of drink that we used would have to be taken into great consideration, as we would have to get a drink that would relate to our target audience and have them notice the drink that they had was a common drink within a pub to try and symbolise the alcoholism that is the basis of the into sequence to this film, and is seen as an inherent problem with the youth of today

Moreover, this drink is often associated with consistent overuse. People who are drunk are often more aggressive and can sometimes hallucinate. We take both of these side-effects and use them within our story to convey the problems with abuse of alcohol. Using these hallucinations as a basis, we were able to make a pastiche of one of our main influences "Mirrors"


Another way in which this thriller relates to our audience is the use of both male and female characters. This allows more than one gender to relate to the film, and allows an extra possible suspect for later on in the film which will lead on to be a murder mystery.


This sequence features a male as the victim, which is very different to many thrillers which often feature a female as the main victim, as they are stereotypically seen as the weaker gender, and we tend to care more for them than for males. This change is made in order to reflect the changing stereotypes of the modern society.


The reasons for removing the extras that would have been in the film were threefold.
1. The venue change meant that fewer extras were able to fit or make it to the new filming location and date
2. The legal requirements of getting all real patrons' consent would make it difficult to film if one refused to be filmed, or were in the line of shot.
3. The background noise may have been too loud and would have drowned out part of the Key dialogue that sends us plunging into the disequilibrium of the plot.

Script - Planning

This is the script for our thriller:

part 1

part 2

Filming Pictures and Paperwork - Planning

Below is a video comprised of some pictures of the filming process at the location.










These pictures of filming 'Reflection' show how we created most of the shots that were taken. As it is possible to see, at 29 second into the video, we were not able to fit the tripod into the toilet, in order to film the killing. In addition, even if we were able, using it would have restricted the possible view and would have made the mirror shots nearly impossible to shoot.


As the film was set in the present, we made sure everyone was wearing something that was typical of the 21st century, such as hooded jumpers and jeans. Moreover, The killer was dressed in all black, which is essential, as not only is this a filmic reference to the parody-thriller 'Scream,' but this outfit is often associated with the Grim-reaper, the bringer of death. Black also brings connotations of death, so we made sure we had a large amount of black clothing for the killer to wear, and to cover the majority of his face with this black, firstly to hide the killer's identity and secondly to further coat the killer with an air of menace.


Due to the low budget of the film, we decided that there wouldn't be any extravagant special effects, and we would stick to using old tricks-of-the-trade in order to make the small amount of gore that we need.


Also, when we were filming, it was relatively early, meaning it was light outside. This was a necessity, as we would not have been able to film late at night, when there were too many patrons who would likely be using the facilities, making it impossible, or very hard to film the killing scene. This is not ideal, as the scene was meant to be based at night, so as to make it more eerie. This also doesn't coincide with the filming of the external scene, which we did at a later date, when it was darker. This meant that we would have to edit the interior shots to be darker, as the light is seen to be coming through the windows in a few of the shots.


Whilst filming, we constantly referred back to both our Storyboard and our shooting schedule. This was done in order to ensure that all our shots were done correctly, and on time, so that we didn't take too long to film and run over into when the pub opened.


Below is some of the paperwork that had to be done before filming took place such as the Health And Safety forms, letters of confirmation for filming etc: