The Editing Process

This is a picture of what the editing process looked like. In all, I thought that this was the most stressful part of the whole course. Being a perfectionist, I wanted all the bits of the film look great and each shot of the montage to create a feeliing in the audience. But, I realised that it was quite improbable that all of the shots would be perfect, so I didn't worry about it as much. For instance, the shot of The Stalker stroking the picture of Rachel wasn't done perfectly. I applied a flash filter that made it zoom in closer to the board. However, it would zoom and move too quickly for my liking. This is where I decided to remove the flashes and make the actual shot size bigger to make the apperance of it getting smaller. Then I key framed the shot so it would move appropriately to the music. We then thought that it'd be for the stroking part to be slow after the fast movement. This turned out to be a really effective shot, in my opinion.
I think that if I were to edit this again I would be a lot more capable of putting shot and effect on videos as now I have familiarised myslef with the software (final cut pro) & understand that editing takes a lot longer to get right, so to give myself more time to edit the final shots.

First Draft of Film

This is our first attempt at editing. For a start, I think this look good. The shots are creepy and mysterious (exactly what I wanted when I talked about the mystery box theory) & it's a solid foundation to build on further. I think after this we will go into the title sequence with music and industrial sounds. However, the colour of the shots are way too bright for the effect we're going for, so this needs to change. In addition,  I think the music is way too loud. What would be more effective here is subtle background noise that's not noticable but audible.

Character Profiles

DANIEL

RACHEL

These are the main characters in our film. As you can see their costume is very similar in both colour and style. We deliberately decided to do this to show that the two characters are linked together. In addition, it implies that Daniel has been following Rachel for some time and has replicated her style as a potential talking point or to feel part of her world. The fact that Rachel is unaware of this adds to the ominous atmosphere of the film an could represent the idea that the stalkees have no idea how much they are being thought about & idolised by people they haven't met yet (stalkers).

Shed Scene - Call Sheet

Here is our call sheet for the shed scene. We wanted to make our shoot a bit more professional looking so we found a template online that real films use in order to achieve this.

Main Storyboard

This is the storyboard we decided with. It incorporates all of the elements of our script into pictures that show what our opening sequence will look like. We decided on using a variety of shots in order create the mysterious atmosphere that will follow the antagonist throughout our film. An example of a shot like this is when we have the camera in Rachel's bag and we see her open it and take out her lipstick. The mystery comes in as the shot of Racheal comes after the stalker placing a picture over the lens as if it were a pinboard. This is one example of how we want to intertwine the two characters without one of them know the other exists

Change of Plan

Flashback Analysis

VideoEssay - "Flashbacks in Films" from Hauke Sterner on Vimeo.


This video, in a nutshell, explains the meaning behind, when and how to use flashbacks. This was helpful to me as it gave me a good idea of how professional films create flashbacks for their films. The biggest lesson I learnt was that flashback have to have meaning behind them, whether it'd be to show the struggles of the person's young life or to show information from a witness about a murder that could lead to a conviction. I think with our opening sequence, our flashback don't have a real meaning behind them. If you were to take out the flashbacks we have then it would have no overall effect on the outcome of the titles.  With that in mind, I think a change idea might be appropriate, even if it means eliminating the idea altogether.

Evaluation of First Shoot

After having completed our first shoot, we realise that the idea we had in our heads doesn't match up with the way it looks actually. This is frustrating as it means we have to think of a new way to create the effect we are looking for.

One of the ways the shoot failed is when we tried to create the first time our two characters meet (bump into each other), it didn't look realistic enough as to how the Stalker would start to become obsessively infatuated with her. It felt as though it lacked common sense from the characters, which is not the way we wanted them to be portrayed. So, now we have to find a way for both of the characters to meet without making it seem like they are immature (since they are both young adults).

Another thing that didn't go to plan is that the battery ran out after 10 minutes of filming. This made us rush the shoot to try and fit as much of the scene as possible, as a result, this reduced the quality of the shots. It's annoying since the battery was checked at the start and it said it was full. So in order to combat anything like this happening again, we will make sure our battery's are fully charged and that we have a spare, just in case the main battery decides to run out quickly again.

Finished Script

https://docs.google.com/document/d/153kbfZXmniS4jevmet_JoyVGdf9Q1lPbF_rWFeAKOKA/edit?usp=sharing - Link to the script online.

This is our finished script. Overall, we are pleased with how the story has turned out because (as mentioned before) we like the idea of creating a mystery with the opening to make the viewer want to continue watching the film. We feel as though specific things like the water dripping at the beginning the red lighting can turn out to be really effective in evoking interest into our opening.

Shed Scene - Vlog

Shed Scene - Risk Assessment

Due to the limited head room, it is quite easy for someone to hit and injure their head. To avoid this, we will take extra care in walking around the shed. Also, removing any hanging or pointy objects from the walls pre-shoot will severely decrease chances of injury.
RISK - MEDIUM

Since we're in a shed, there are bound to be work tools lying around. This mean we must take extra care with where we sit, walk and stand. It would be smart to check the surrounding upon entering to ensure there aren't any harardous objects lying around.
RISK - LOW

After consideration, there isn't anything else that might be a danger to us.

Shed Scene - Filming

A scene we have in our opening sequence is our main antagonist's lair. The location was filmed at my group member's shed (Grace). The shed has very limited space and has stairs leading to a little level that can be used for storage. We liked the fact that it was tight and had restricted space as it could symbolise that the stalker himself is like that, that he is creepily taking pictures of the woman instead of going up and talking to her. We thought he could have a wall of pictures he has been collecting, almost like a shrine, to reinforce the fact that he is obsessed with her.

We wanted to make our setting look authentic, so we spent a good amount of time trying cut, stick and arrange all of the photos. But to be more effiecient, Danni & Grace set up the first level while I filmed Cameron coming in through the door and walking up the stairs. We first of began to shoot him coming in with the camera straight on. Then, I thought it would be more creepy if I did a dutch angle shot, which was true. I think the way I did this was subtle but effective in sub-consciously letting the audience know that something is not quite right with the character.

If we were to film this scene again, we would have taken certain objects out of the background that don't quite fit in with the scene (such as a paddling pool and vacuum cleaner box). However, the filming was successful and we all did a good job of making the setting and video look creepy.