Final film- Opening 2 minutes for our film "Stockholm Syndrome"

 This is my final film. Overall i am very pleased with how the footage has turned out. I feel its professional and leaves the audience in suspense making a perfect opening. From the survey i did, i believe i have taken into account what was said which has influenced my film. Additionally all the planning and research has really helped with my film and i have put together a stereotypical thriller however with out own twist. 

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Diary Editing (3)

For this session we experimented with putting together all of the running shots, we had different angles to play with. Furthermore the shots need to be fast paced, to give the idea of panic. We achieved this by putting together lots of different shots, each one consisted of maximum of 3 seconds; which allowed us to fit in a lot of different techniques. Additionally each of us in the group went through the footage so far which is about 1min and 30 seconds and gave our honest opinion of what we should cut out and what we need to improve. Each of us has similar thoughts on that we should speed up some of the shots to make the effect of the video more effective. Also I had the idea to cut a few running scenes as they didn't flow smoothly with the other shots. In this editing time we also planned when we were going to shoot the flashback scene as its a key element of our opening scene and it will expand the narrative to make the audience more engaged. We decided to film the flashback scene at the weekend in a small confined space that gives the idea that the environment is dangerous, and the audience is more intrigued to where the narrative goes.

Diary of Editing (2)

For this editing session we mainly focused on the falling of the character, as it is a crucial part of the 2 minute opening. We started by looking at all of the footage based around the fall. We then started by experimenting with trimming and rearranging shots to see what worked the best. Furthermore for this session we had to really focus on the timing of the footage, as the main element is different angles put together to make the fall seem more realistic. The timing of how rearrange the footage is extremely important as well, as everything needs to flow smoothly. We focused on the trimming of the video, and experimented with several clips to construct a creative video. Additionally for one part of the fall, it has to be in slow motion so we used the slow motion tool to decrease the speed. After slowing the footage down we had to make sure the sound was muted on the original video, otherwise the diegetic sound would have been warped(this applies to all of the footage.) I believe we came out with a successful image, due to the timing fitted well to make the footage seemless. 

Diary of editing- (1)

For the first editing session, me and Ellie decided to go through all the footage we had captured. We then picked the pieces of footage that were the most important elements of the film e.g Me falling to the ground, the car scenes and me running into the road. Furthermore we then looked on Youtube for the opening production company footage, downloaded it and then trimmed it to the correct length we want. Overall the opening institution clip is about 5 seconds long, this makes our opening 2 mins seem more professional and sleek. We then trimmed the opening scene, which was shots of a peaceful forest which creates suspense and drama. We went through all of the long shots of the scenery and clipped and rearranged them according to our plan. Furthermore we then edited an effect on the footage we had just edited, as we came to the conclusion that the natural lighting was too bright which contradicted with the narrative of the film. We used the edit effects on iMovie to create a dark hue, which tinted the footage to grey and dark; which is complements the narrative.

Diary post- The Filming

On the day of filming the weather was bright and sunny, which allowed us to experiment with lighting. We were originally going to film in Richmond Park, but we decided to change to a more local area of Nonsuch Park; which is more a less exactly the same scenery to Richmond Park. Furthermore we started filming at 11:30 then finished at 3, the majority of our day was spent in the woods. At the beginning we stared at quiet roads to capture the car scene, the roads were ideal because they quiet and wide so we had enough freedom to do whatever we wanted. Additionally Nonsuch Park was ideal as the woods were exactly what we visualised, it was muddy with lots of trees which formed an creative visual element.

For the costume, I wore exactly what we planned. White t-shirt, Hoddie, leggings and converse, I covered myself in mud and leaves to create the effect that I was being followed in the environment I was running in. Additionally Ellenia and Ellie filmed with two different HD camera's, to make sure we had more than enough footage to experiment with when it comes to editing. I believe we have many different shots that will help us create a professional looking film.

Generic Conventions of a Thriller

Generic Conventions of a thriller from Anna Lambert

Behind the scenes of filming

These are some photo's of behind the scenes shooting for our opening film. We shot in Richmond Park and a quiet road that allowed us to do a key running scene. Furthermore the main character has to rub mud all over her clothes and face,( the bottom picture shows this.) Additionally it took us 4 hours to film the whole of the scenes, the whether was sunny which allowed us to experiment with lighting and different techniques to make the visual element more creative. The whole day i believe was a success, there was no restrictions on how we wanted to take the footage. There was also almost no people around which makes the clip seem more professional, as our clip is based on running and the girl being frightened of a specific character. We had two people taking the footage, so we could get the same action but from different angles, which allows us to have more than enough footage to experiment with and see what works the best.