Feed Back

Today in lesson we showed our progress of our film opening to the class. They then all filled out a sheet which had comment on about it, from these comments we are able to know what the audience liked and didn't helping us to create a better piece of work.
Some comments made were things such as the beginning of the opening dragged, they felt it was quite slow and hard to really get into. However the shot after the cigarette hits the floor was much more entertaining as it was quicker and more to look at. They understood the flashback which was very important, this was because it sets the whole film and if the audience did not understand it then the rest of the film would be very complicated and difficult to enjoy.
Overall there were positive points with a few negatives which we are now working on to create an entertaining and dramatic opening sequence.

Finished Filming

We have now completed all of our filming so can start on the editing of it using Final Cut Express. There has been difficulties during this process such as key props such as the lamppost getting removed. However we got through these by working around it by finding a lamppost future up the road, luckly it still looked like the first located. So this was very useful, because then we would not have to film it all again.
We have changed parts of the story board, the last flashback has changed from the original idea of the man purposing to the lady, it is now both of them saying ' I Love You'. We have decided to put all of the flashback scenes in black and white so they stand out and the audience know it is a flashback, making it clearer to understand. For the last flashback I thought it would be a good idea to make the ladies red lips be the only colour shown. This shows the audience that it is a female talking as well as the red colour links into the title and sums up the themes of the opening these being love and death.
There were problems on the editing of these flashbacks, the computer we were using did not have the software that was needed for this special effect, so we then had to do it on one computer and transfer it to ours. Also the editing on the black and white was a difficult process as we had to make sure the colour composition for each clips was the same, but this was also time consuming. As well as at first we had to research on how to do this effect.

Film Title

After many options such as 'I Love You Too’, ‘Betrayal’ and ‘Deception’ we final came to a group decision to use ‘Possession’ as our film title. The reason for picking this is that it is short and sweet. The title is quick and easy to remember making it affective and a film name which is memorable. Possession is a good name to use as it links in well into the film, it explains the way the main character feels towards the lady, as if he owns her; Giving the audience an insight into the mental health of the man just by the title.
After many options we finally picked a rough and ragged text for the title. This was because it links into the themes of the opening and gives off the correct vibe. It shows the mental health of the main character as it looks insane like. The writing looks as if it could have been written by the killer.
Red font was used as it shows the themes of love and death, but also links into the red lips of the lady talking. The colour fades starting from a faint red to a full dark red, this effect was used as if it’s the man who was stabbed blood running.

Final Editing.

We have filmed all of our shots needed for our opening, so now we are editing it all. To make one part of our opening dramatic we chose to take the ‘I love you’ scene said by the girl into black and white, but only having her red lips in colour. The reason for this is to make sure the audience know that it is a female who is saying it. Also it is to symbolise the themes running throughout the opening; love and death.  The red lips also link into the red writing at the end of the opening. We found some problems when making this edit because the computer we were using did not have the correct software to do this effect, so we used misses computer, made the effect and transferred it over to our computer, where we then added that scene into our opening.
We have added all the cuts and now have made each one flow nicely into the next by using some black fades and blurs. For the flashbacks we have decided to use white fades so the audience knows that this is a flashback. These flashbacks occur when the cigarette falls to the ground, to add drama and empathise this we have slowed down the falling of the cigarette.

Final Filming.

We filmed our finally scenes for our opening sequences on Wednesday 8^th of March.
The last shots that we had to film were the stabbings, cigarette falling on the floor and max being stabbed and then falling on the floor as well as the touch on the shoulder. The filming was quite complicated this time due to the fact that we had to find another setting that was similar to the last because the lamppost was removed. This caused several problems. Firstly the fact that we could no longer use the same filming spot as before, so we then had to find another place which was very similar but also had a lamppost. By the lamppost being removed the lighting was effected, it is a huge part of our opening and getting the correct lighting is key. However we found an area to film just up the road which had a lamppost which we could use and the setting looked very similar to the first place.
After our filming we will then edit it all to make the opening flow and makes the right effect on it to give off the correct vibe we are hoping for, for our opening.

Changes made to sequence

We have chosen to change the sequence to our opening. When shooting we came across difficulties such as hard weather to work in and difficulties on finding the correct place to get a good shadow that can be seen clearly. So somebody suggested being able to see the stabbing physically instead of on the wall from the shadow first planned. This is a better idea as the audience are now able to see clearly what is happening, but also because it works well with our flashbacks. We chose to  make the cigarette drop, this then going to a flashback, the man falls to the ground creating another flashback. This part of the opening is very fast but effective and gets the audience excited and interested in what is happening. So I think a positive has come from this, and made our opening much more dramatic.

Editing

Today as a group we edited our work that we have done so far. We have already got 1 mintue and 30 seconds completed, however this will all need to be cut to make sure the opening is not to long. To make sure the shots ran smoothly from one another I made sure that i spotted when there were pauses and cut them, I also added fades and dissolves to make each cut run smoothly.
As we shot the film in the dark we have had to adjust the lighting and colour contrast to make sure that each shot is bright enough to make sure the audience can see what is happening clearly. I had to also make sure that each shot had similar brightness to the last.