I'm a student at Enfield County who is currently studying AS Media. My other A-level subjects are Maths and Psychology. I enjoy playing piano and watching comedy and mystery films.
Last lesson this popped up on our screens and we didn't know what to do so we just ignored it. On the 25th we went back to edit, and everything we had done had disappeared. It was so disappointing, but thankfully Morgan wrote down everything we did while we were doing it, so she read through that while I edited it, following her instructions.
After re-doing our work, Morgan and I went to record our voiceovers. It is a verbal witness statement taken by the police when we reported the incident. We previously recorded it before but Morgan had the idea of me speaking, then Morgan, then me, then Morgan etc. instead of me saying a paragraph and then Morgan saying a paragraph. Therefore, we had to record our witness statements again.
We learnt how to use the recorded Miss Foster provided. There was a setting that allows it to record from both sides which is what we needed because we were sitting opposite from each other with the recorded in the middle of the table.
We uploaded the clips of us in the park and worked out what clip goes where. We had a lot of footage as we recorded about 15minutes overall, but we only needed 10-30 seconds of park footage. The first park clip we put after the detective has pinned up a picture of me, about 10 seconds into the clip. We didn't want to start the clip with a park clip as we wanted to introduce the detective first. I edited those clips to last a maximum of 3 seconds as we wanted them to be short, like a quick glimpse of the past. Sound wise, we kept the audio on those clips. If we got rid of the audio, the clips wouldn't show the full picture. Even though they only last 2 or 3 seconds, the audio is a huge part of it as it shows the girls having fun as if everything is normal.
Then we started editing the detective clips. The panning of the pin board was quite long so we broke it up and placed other clips in between. Also, some of the pictures on the onboard were too dark so we cut that part of the clip out. We also did this when it panned over a plain part of the pin board.
Although we had reached 1:55 minutes of footage, there is one scene where the detective is just looking at a paper, flips it and then eventually pins it up. We didn't like that part as it looked unnatural and the shot was too long, so we cut out 7 seconds of that clip.
When we watched our clip again, I realised that the transition between the first and second clip sounded funny. The natural sounds of both clips didn't fit well together and it sounded choppy. In the trial opening sequence Morgan made, hers didn't sound choppy as she used a different clip of the detective sitting at his desk in the beginning. However, we didn't want to change our clip as in the one we had he moved restlessly which shows that he is working late at night. Morgan and I attempted to fix this problem many times but it didn't work, until I realised that if I cut of 1 second of the end of the first clip and the start of the second clip then it sounds natural and not choppy.
There is a shot where the detective underlines a part Yasmin's information sheet, he moves a little and the line is not straight, which makes it look weird. Also we couldn't re-record that part as he wrote it in pen. What we did is cut it so it only shows him underlining before he moves.
After all our editing we only reached 1:43minutes. We tried to add more par clips but Morgan said that they didn't make sense where they were placed, and that if we added more they would be overused. Therefore, I had the idea to slow down some of the clips. I changed all the panning videos to 85% speed and the rest of them to 90%. The reason why i only did 90% for the rest of the videos was because it was natural movement and it would look off slowed down. As the clips were only slowed down by 10% or 15% it didn't make much difference to the way they looked. I asked Yasmin after I did this as she wasn't involved in this decision and she saw no difference. After we had finished the opening sequence went up to 1:51minutes
'The Call' is an orchestral piece that Morgan found for our opening sequence. It is Royalty Free which means we can use it without the owners consent.
It starts off quiet and crescendos until it reaches the peak at about 1:13 and then at 1:30 it goes quiet again. My favourite thing about this song is that it starts off with a quiet piano which gives a sense of calm. As the crescendo builds up, violins are added which slightly makes it more intense. Then a cello is introduced which is a deep, rich instrument that makes the intensity rise and helps crescendo and build up the piece.
All of this will help bring suspense to our piece and engage the audience. I want the tension to rise as the audience is watching our opening sequence as it fills their minds with many questions. Who is he? Who are those girls?
The clip is 4:19 minutes but obviously we won't use the whole clip, so we will cut it at around 1:50 as thats a quiet part containing only piano. We plan to time the music to our opening sequence so that it goes quiet when there is a non-diegetic sound of a phone ringing, so that the audience can hear the phone ringing. Also, the fact that it goes quiet makes the audience wonder what is going to happen, and then the opening sequence ends, which makes the audience want to watch more to find out what happened.
Along with this, we will be playing voice recording by Morgan and I. They are voice recordings which were taken at the police station, a few days after Yasmin went missing. This is all the non-diegetic music we will use as if we have more it may become distracting and also sound messy.
We showed the class our opening sequence they responded to what they thought went well and what could be improved.
Phoebe raised the question of having two titles at the beginning and the end, and we cleared it up by saying that the two titles show different dates and the end one is the name of the film.
Sophie questioned the phone ringtone and so we looked at ringtones on youtube but none of them fitted what we wanted, so we cut the diegetic ringtone we already had out into its own sound clip, made it louder and placed it slightly later in out clip to make it more realistic.
Katie questioned one of our titles and we knew exactly what she meant. We tried to put in funny titles but we obviously changed them afterwards.
Serine made the point that the titles were misleading as to who was playing who, so we changed some of the names and moved where the titles were placed to make it less confusing.
Ms Foster raised the question of the poster slipping but we wanted that as it shows how he rushed to answer the phone call, which tells the audience that it is urgent.
Wednesday 18th January was our first time editing our 'detective title sequence' on the mac. We went through the footage and picked the scenes that were needed. We also added music which was found by Morgan. We still have to put the park footage onto the Mac, but we will do that next lesson, so we left gaps where we needed to put them by splitting the clip.
The Mystery Genre often relates to crime and murder mystery, and that is sort of what our film genre is. Yasmin goes missing is all you receive from the opening sequence, so it is unsure whether murder is involved. Location can be anywhere, but the majority are either in large cities or rural towns with a low population. Our one is a large city as it is based in London. Settings can be police stations; big cities (typically London); big country houses; small countyside houses; deserted areas; isolated areas; forests; Heros home; city streets; forensic labs; hospitals; warehouses; docks; lakes; fields. In our opening sequence there are clips of us in a park, and the other setting is the detectives office/bedroom. The majority themes that appear in the mystery genre are: Good vs Bad Justice Confusion Persistance Mystery Interrogation
Mistaken identity
Our one has Mystery, where did Yasmin go? Also slightly mistaken identity as in the rest of the film the detective has to juggle his private life with his public one.
Also dark lighting is used in certain situations and we did this when filming the opening sequence. The shot of the open folder is quite dark so you can't quite see the picture pinned at the top, so it makes the audience question what it is. Later on you see him pin the picture up and there is enough light to see that it is a picture of me or Morgan.
Looking at all the possible conventions of the Mystery Genre it is clear that we have followed them while keeping our originality.
The Stranger Things opening sequence is very original to the programme. As it had such a huge success, many people associate the font of the title sequence to this show. This shows how such a simple title sequence of only words has dominated this font.
It starts off with a black screen with the theme music playing. Then it shows close up of red lines which are actually the letters of stranger things. The letters are moving around and then move closer together to form the title. This is almost like a foreshadowing of what happens in the programme, as Eleven can move things with her mind, the way these letters are just floating around.
As this is happening, the names of the cast, producers, director etc. appear on screen in white, using a different font. The titles stand out as the background is black with red letters making the white titles stand out.
The whole title is then seen saying 'Stranger Things' and it soon disappears and 'created by the Duffer Brothers' appears in a red font. It soon turns white, then red again and fades out. This is the only title that does this and it shows that it is an important one.
This title sequence is one of my favourites as it is simple, just words, yet engaging as the theme music draws he audience in.
As a group we have been thinking of possible storylines as to what the film would be about. Our film is in the genre of Mystery and Crime Films.
Our opening sequence indicates that three friends go out to the park after school, and one friend, Yasmin, goes missing on her way home from school. The two other friends go to her mums house after she does not turn up for school in the next two days, and then go to the police to give their witness reports to the police, but all this happened on the 10th December 2015. So the person in our opening sequence is a private detective, as police wouldn't work on a case for so long.
One idea is that Yasmins mum was tired with the lack of effort the police put into finding her daughter, so she hired a private investigator to find her daughter. This explains why the investigator is just now putting up pictures and posters on the pin board even though she went missing over a year ago. She found the investigator online and he was one of the most expensive ones, but also the mot successful.
The audience follows the private investigator throughout the film in his search for Yasmin. The investigator is actually a 17 year old boy, and there is a sense of dramatic irony as only the investigator and the audience know his age and the rest of the characters don't.
So throughout the film it shows him juggling with his double life, trying to keep his 17 year old life separate to his online identity.
The ending of the film has not yet been chosen, but in the opening sequence there is a hint that Yasmin had problems with her father and he could be related to her disappearance.
After we finished filming Morgan made a rough version of our opening sequence to make sure we had good shots. If we didn't then we would've re-filmed but this wasn't the case.
Now we need to import all the footage onto the schools computer to edit in iMovie.
When editing we plan to add more clips and take some out, but this is the rough version we will base our work on.
This clip starts off with Sherlock getting a text, and the message appears next to him so the audience know what the text says. This is a technique used a lot in this show and makes it original. As soon as the text appears dramatic, suspenseful music plays which tells us that something big is going to happen.
The next shot is Sherlocks feet up on the table and as he gets up and walks away the camera pans to show his upper body. The camera is behind test tubes so a depth of field technique is used to focus the audiences attention towards Sherlock, even though the main thing in view is the test tubes.
The transition to the next scene is the old scene sliding across the screen to reveal Moriarty sitting on the roof. There is a pan across the roof showing London in the background. In this pan, Moriarty is still, almost lifeless, which is a juxtaposition to the upbeat song 'Staying Alive' which is playing in the meantime. The camera pans until the roof door can be seen on the right showing Sherlock entering, while Moriarty's leg is still in view.
An over the shoulder shot, along with tracking behind him, gives the audience Sherlocks point of view as he walks towards Moriarty, who still has not moved. He finally moves when the camera is on him, giving him all of the audiences attention. Shot reverse shot is used to show Sherlocks reaction to Moriarty. He turns of the music, and the only sound is diegetic sounds.
Later on, we see Moriarty, still sitting on the edge of the roof, talking, and this shot comes from behind Sherlock so we can see his shaky hands move behind his back. This shows that he doesn't want to be seen as vulnerable and let Moriarty know that he is slightly nervous as to what he will do.
After that, we see Sherlock standing but Moriarty's shoulder covers him as he covers his face, so the handheld camera moves to the side. The use of the handheld camera makes the shot uneven, which is reflected in the unpredictable and dangerous scene.
Moriarty stands up and the camera tilts upwards to keep his face in the scene. "Oh well" is what he says and for the first time on the roof non diegetic music plays. This tells us something will happen as he has been complaining for so long, but he brushes it off with "oh well".
A low angle shot has Sherlocks face in focus, with sunlight covering his face. The camera circles him, and Moriarty is seen in the background, walking around him. This technique makes it feel as if Sherlock is trapped, with Moriarty circling him, and even us, the audience, circling him on the other side.
There is then another shot of Sherlocks hands, and a handheld camera is used, still circling him, to show that it is Moriartys point of view.
Then we have a different scene, but with the voiceover of Sherlock talking to Moriarty. Everytime he taps his knee, the number one goes from right to left along the zeros. This technique shows the binary code and reminds us of just how smart Sherlock is. The cup of tea in his other hand, which is out of focus, tells us that he is relaxed, and that this is a habit that he has, not something he is made to do. He does it in his spare time, showed by the tea cup, and in tense situations, up on the roof.
