Evidence of After Effects

The screenshot below shows an image and a timeline for the motion tracking effect for a title.

The motion tracking assistant has created many key frames which enable the text to follow the camera movement, making it seem like the text is laying on the table which gives it a sense of reality. This has been done through the use of transformation option which allowed me to change the position (x and y axis) and the rotation which was 169.8 degrees clockwise. This gave the text the tilted look, making the effect realistic and more suitable for the target audience.

Production Logo first try

The following production company logo was the first try, which we didn't think was good enough to make it to the final opening sequence,

The candle was made purely in photoshop using the gradient tool, shape tools and the paint brush to create the light effect. It was a good way of a production company logo, however it was too unprofessional; the text was coming out of nowhere and the font was unclear and barely readable. Furthermore, the text had nothing to do with the candle itself which meant that it wasn't as pleasant to watch as the improved version. Overall, this try has allowed us to create an improved version making the logo more professional and clear.

Filming techniques

Lighting Technique

From what I've learnt from the course, the lighting emphasises facial expressions, emotions and creates suspense. Members of my group and I chose to put our main light on the right of the characters as this was where there most space to adjust the angle of the lights. This created suspense at the end of the opening sequence as the equilibrium has been broken in the third scene, it also creates an enigma because the audience doesn't know who exactly the inspector is, as he is a mysterious figure. Furthermore, the lighting was strong enough to emphasise the suit of the police inspector, therefore we have broken the convention that is seen in most thriller movies: the inspector is not white and is wearing a suit. 

Furthermore, the facial expression in the close up shot is extremely effective because only half of the character's face is enlightened, therefore the somewhat traumatised expression creates suspense as the darkness signifies the fear of the unknown- the audience will be afraid, however still not aware why.

Overall, the lighting has created much more suspense in the interrogation room and has allowed the audience to clearly see what we want them to see, for example the facial expressions and costumes.

Evidence of editing

In every movie the production phase ends and post production begins. Editing is a part of the post production; it is where people such as Richard Francis Bruce (Editor for the film Se7en) spice up the movie and put everything together in softwares such as Adobe Premier Elements or Adobe After Effects for special effects. I, however, am using Final Cut Pro which has many pros and cons. Most visible is, of course, the simplicity of the program; the simplicity allows new users such as me to learn editing techniques. 

The effect that I used in most of my shots is "Color Correction" as it allows me to change the colours, by increasing or decreasing highlights, shadows and midtones. Also, saturation in my opening sequence is used to create a flashback-like look as the highlights, shadows and midtones are brought down to the lowest(-100%)

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This is what the final editing looks like. The transitions that we used were:"Fade To Color",  "Bloom" and "Flash". Fade to colour is a transition used to create suspense because it gives the audience the feeling that the action is not over, which is exactly what we want to do in the opening sequence. An example of this is the last scene where the killer and main protagonist stand face to face and fade to colour transition is used. It creates an enigma; is the killer still alive? Who will he kill next? 

Some of the audio is disabled as there was a lot of background noise that was unwanted, however the audio clips that we used have key frames in them to take down unwanted noise and keep the wanted sound, such as the scream in audio clip 22.

Production company logo

This is the final production logo for CandleLight Productions.

To begin with, at the very beginning of the clip all that is visible is the burning candle which is a good representation of the name. A candle has a connotation of tension because you might never be sure when it will blow out, therefore it is suitable for the genre of thriller as it foreshadows that something will break the equilibrium of the movie, however the audience will not know when and by what it's broken. 

The text(name) of the production company will appear at the point where the fire from the candle is moving a little bit, making it a bit more smooth to watch. The text fades in from bottom to top which gives the audience the impression that the text somewhat comes out of the candle. It has also been given a blur, however the opacity of it goes down as the text is more visible as it gives it a feeling of it coming out of the unknown. The font is quite professional because I want the production logo to be associated with quality. furthermore the font is symbolic to the thriller genre.

Planning and chat messages

Before we filmed we made sure that everyone is available, otherwise there would be chaos and we wouldn't be able to film at all.

This is a screenshot of the conversation, it was straight forward because there are only three people that we needed for the part of the video at that day. Nevertheless, this kind of organisation and technology made it much easier for us to make sure everyone was on time and ready to film.

Lighting technique

There are a lot of lighting techniques that the members of my group and I can use to make the most suspenseful and yet entertaining scene possible. Three point lighting will be an amazing technique to use in our scene where the victim is interrogated since it allows us to create mystery and enigma. Furthermore, from the video below, I've learnt that three point lighting can be done in various ways which means we can use this kind of technique differently to everyone else to be unique and as effective as possible. On the other hand, this might not be the best idea because it creates so enigmas that it might not fit in with our plotline, the enigmas would be instantly revealed by the flashbacks. Nevertheless, this will be a good thing to have a look at whilst filming.

Meeting Minutes

27th of December

• Khaleem has given us the idea of where we could film.
• We have agreed on the location which is the forest in Crystal Palace.
• We have decided which equipment we will use: the Cannon 100d as well as a suitable tripod.

• The equipment was given to us, therefore we were able to get familiar with it.
• We decided that we will take planning shots on the 3rd of January.

3rd of January

• We have met up near the location with the equipment.
• We went around the location to see for the best places where we could set up the scenes.
• After we found some good locations we took a couple shots so we will remember where they are.
  
  This is a good place to record a thriller because it is quite claustrophobic and might connote to the audience fear.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This shot was quite suitable as there is a quite steep fall which is not dangerous, however we can use it to our advantage to make some over the shoulder shot where someone will fall and disappear off the shot.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  This scenery might not be the best due to the fact that it is very open, however it could also imply that something can jump out of anywhere which creates suspense.
  
  
  
  We've decided to record the scenes where we need the forest scenery on the 7th and 8th of January.