Thriller Evaluation

For our video unit we had to get ourselves into groups and film and edit an opening scene for a thriller. I chose to work with Priscilla and Toni Leigh as we all work well as individuals and have different strengths in video. In our groups we had to plan, storyboard our idea, and decide on the characters and actors. We decided to base our thriller opening around a young girl and her stalker. In the groups we all contributed to doing the storyboard, Priscilla and I did the drawings and Toni- Leigh filled in the descriptions. We also had to decide who would be taking out the camera and tripod, it was decided that I would as part of the filming was to be done at my home. We decided as a group to name the film Rebecca as the thriller would be based around the main character we see.

The filming was done over a period of three days which went very well. The week after filming we were then able to capture our video footage in Final Cut Pro, which is the non linear editing software that we used to edit. Once we had captured and looked back on all the different shots we were then able to begin the editing process. We felt there was no need for a re- shoot, as the shots we filmed had been done well, although looking back on it some of the shots could have been re done so that it lasted a little bit longer and enabled us to have more to play with in Final cut pro. The inside house shots was one of the poor shots we filmed as the colour balance hadn’t been done properly. Because of us not re- shooting some of our video work it made editing a bit harder as some of the shots ended earlier then we had intended and couldn’t be made longer, such as the bus scene which we wanted to have a longer clip of but couldn’t have because the camera had been stopped too early during filming.

The bus scene wasn’t the only scene we had problems with during the editing process, we also found it difficult to find music which would fit in really well with the type of thriller we were doing and the emotion we were trying to convey to an audience. In the end we found music, a copyright free track from a CD with copy right free music that was perfect for the beginning of the opening sequence. Fitting the music in with the clips however was difficult as we wanted clips of the stalker board to fade to black at certain points in the music to build up suspense. In the end we managed to pull this off but it took a long time and we had to adjust a lot of the clips in a film. Within the group we each took turns at editing in the lesson and contributed our thoughts and ideas on where cross dissolves should be used and how low the music should be dipped. We used music software called Soundtrack pro, which had a pre recorded track that went well with the second part of our opening film sequence and we decided to use.  We also got our sound clips such as the dramatic boom at the end of our opening sequence and the camera sounds used in shots where there were pictures taken of Rebecca from soundtrack pro. Before we had finished our opening for a thriller we were taught by the technician how to de interlace and export in Final cut pro so that when we were finished we knew how to change the file into a smaller file format that could be put on DVD or played on other devices. My role during the editing process was different in each editing session, when I wasn’t on the computer than I would be responsible for making sure that the film sequence was looking smooth. At the end of the film sequence checks were done to see if there were any audio peaks in any of the sound, and to see if any luminance correction was needed in areas of the film sequence. These checks were done to get us into the practice of professional editing and exporting.

The whole editing process went well and there were only a few bumps along the way that we were able to easily resolve. Watching our thriller back I think the music we decided to use worked well and fitted in with the contraventional of music generally used in thrillers and added to the build up of suspense. However during feedback, a member in the class felt that for an opening too much of the thriller’s plot of the story had been given away, although this was what we had intended as a group. I think our thriller was quite conventional as it contained enigmas and built up suspense in areas such as the bus scene were the stalker suddenly disappears. The gloved hands of the stalker also added to the suspense and creepiness of the film sequence. Other feedback we got about our thriller opening was that the ending seemed more trailer like then an opening, we had not intended for the end of film sequence “Rebecca” to come across like this, therefore if I could make a change it would be that the end of the opening doesn’t look trailer like and more like it’s about to carry on. I would have done this by inserting and extra shot after the film title and then fading out to give the illusion of the film carrying on. Other changes I would make to our opening sequence would be to the pictures used at the beginning of the film sequence, so that there’s more of a contrast in the pictures used in the beginning of the opening. Another change would have been to the scene where the victim is in her house, the colour balance had not been done properly which resulted in the shot looking more yellow, Priscilla and Toni Leigh had tried to change this by adjusting the colour balance on Final cut pro but it made the shot look a little washed put. The acting during the phone call slightly made the thriller seems less serious.

The things that worked well and we received positive feedback for were the stalker’s collage which added a lot of suspense. The bus scene which we had experimented with, worked out very well in the end and the feedback received on the shot was very positive. The music complimented the shots and the thriller opening overall was well shot but needed more different camera angle shots. The story line fitted with in with the convention of thriller’s however during feedback one person felt it was a bit “cliché”.

Overall I think the filming and editing of our opening film sequence “Rebecca” went well, and as a group we worked well together. We all contributed our ideas in the unit and distributed the planning and work fairly and evenly.

Exporting on Fianal cut pro

There are three different types of exporting. The first way is to export as a self contained movie, this way allows the file to only be opened with final cut pro and other Macs with final cut pro. The second and third way allows a choice in the files format, however there is a difference between the second and third ways of exporting. The second way allows a choice in the file format so that it can be played on any computer and the third way of exporting allows you to customise and can also be made into a disc format.

Before exporting you should mark in the begining of the sequence and out at the end of the sequence this is so the computer doesn't export anymore of the file than is needed. You should also check for any audio peaks and check the brightness of your video work, you should do this so that you are aware of the fact that here are broadcasting regulations given when working in broadcating professionally and also so that your work doesn't look bad. Once all the above is ok, you have to de interlace your work, this should only be done if you know that the work is definetely finished and no re- touches are going to be done. However before you de interlace your work you should copy your work just in case. You can deinterlace your work by highlighting create a filter and then selecting de interlace or by going into effects and then favourites, option one is for if you can not find the de interlcae copy in your favourites file.

Once the de interlace has been done you can proceed with the next step of exporting your file, by going to file qick time conversion (for the second way of exporting) choosing the file type, selecting on all frames and choosing the size, once this is all done your file will then be exported.

Filming Evaluation

Our thriller was filmed over a period of three days and various locations. The first day of filming was done on a Sunday around my house, were we filmed a majority of the stalker shots. The shots in the opening scene of the thriller were filmed in my Mum’s bedroom, where I had created a collage of pictures of my friend whom was playing the part of the victim. We didn’t have lighting equipment and instead used a lamp to light the area we were filming, which made the shot more effective and better than if we had used professional lighting equipment. We each took turns to film the shots of the stalker adding to the pictures he had already collected and stuck on the stalker board of the victim, doing this enabled us to be able to choose from a variety of different shots in Final Cut Pro.

Day two of filming was done around Rebecca’s house; Rebecca played the part of the victim in our thriller. Priscilla and I did the filming. Priscilla filmed the shots of Rebecca quickly opening the door to where the character in the film lives, and I filmed the close ups and extreme close ups of the character getting to the house phone and dialling out the police. An extra camera would have been beneficial for us if we had been allowed extra equipment, as it would have helped with the continuity shots, but instead we had to keep redoing shots from different angles to maintain the continuity.

Day three of filming was done in two different locations. The first location being the cafe by Selhurst train station. We were missing a team member on that day but managed ok still. Toni Leigh had to do all the filming by the cafe, as I had to direct and signal to the actor in the thriller when to run, for a special shot in the thriller we were doing, where the victim in the thriller is in the cafe and looks up to see her stalker but then a bus passes and he disappears. The actor and Actress who agreed to play the characters in our thriller worked professionally and took any directions giving to them well. The next few shots were filmed by Norwood Junction train station. The shots were done in a way that would portray the camera as the eyes of the stalker watching Rebecca’s every move, which later in the scene audiences would realise that not only was he stalking her he had taken pictures to add to his stalker board of the victim.

I feel that the filming for our thriller went well, as there were no major problems that caused us to have to re film and we had a lot of footage which we were able to upload. However we didn’t use the camera to its full potential by doing using different filters on the camera or any fancy techniques. If I had a chance to re film I would just do a few more continuity shots to make transitions in the thriller smoother, but overall I’m happy with the amount and quality of the footage we filmed.

3D and Internet TV

Story Boards

Thriller Synopsis

My opening for the thriller video pieces is about a 16 year old girl called Rebecca who is a self conscious girl whom realises that she is being stalked. Scared and Frightened she turns to the police, who are unable to help her. Rebecca realises that she will need to action into her own hands. unbeknownst to Rebecca is the fact that the man stalking her is a family man from a nice home, who believes that Rebecca is his soul mate from a previous life.Who is this stalker and what are his plans for the Rebecca? What will Rebecca uncover in her quest to find out who her stalker is?

My opening film will start with the stalker putting up pictures of rebecca on his wall in a closed of room in his house, which is always kept locked. I will build suspense by keeping the identity of the stalker hidden in the opening sequences of the thriller, and the audience will only be able to see the stalkers hands in a pair of see through gloves. The music will be carefully selected to ensure that it builds up tension and creates suspense, the music will most likely be slow and have an airy feel to it. The lighting in the film willl be well lit, especially the scenes in the dark where the stalker is putting up the pictures.

Video Project Location, Equipment and Prop List

Location:
• Norwood Junction in the Alley near train station
• Nikita’s house
• Cafe by Selhurst
Rebecca's house
Equipment and resources list:
• Booking Form
• HD camera
• Tripod
• Boom Mic
Tapes
Props: 
Mug, ripped pictures, digital SLR camera, blue tack
Pictures are to be done in black and white.
Location shots for blog
Filming Schedule:
Sunday night around Nikita's house
Monday around Rebecca's house
Tuesday by cafe selhurst

Thriller Conventions

• Black and White text in a plain font- adds to the simplicity of the film and makes sure attention from the shots in a scene doesn't draw the attention of the audience.
• Static- to focus on detail in what's going on in the film
• Fast cuts - often confuses the audience to build on suspense and tension
• Suspense- Often in thrillers peoples identities are kept hidden for a certain period of time in the film
• Mystery-Thrillers create mystery by not revealing the full story of the film e.g. twists in films, were the person who we thought was the killer in a film turns out to be different character
• Tension - Tension is built in thrillers through the low key lighting, minimal dialogue and suspenseful music.
  
• Low key Lighting- This lets the audience not see everything clearly in frame and leaves more to the mind.

3D and Internet TV

Camera Test

What are the two effects of increasing video gain?
allowing the camera to let in more light, and making the picture quality look grainy.

What should the shutter speed usually be set to?
50


When should you increase shutter speed and what is the side effect of doing this?
when you want to be able to create a slow motion picture, but the side effect is that the lighting quality will be poor unless shot in bright lighting.


What is the purpose of doing a white balance?
to make sure the colour of the motion picture is correctly lit.

What is the effect of increasing audio gain?
the volume is increased.


Describe the stages of focusing a camera?
press the focus button, and then to make sure the focusing has been properly done, press the expand focus and adjust if needed.

Why would you use the ND  filter?
you would use it when you wanted more definition in your picture when filming outside, for example you would use it if you wanted to film the clouds.

If you are shooting in a dark location, would the exposure better at F1 or F8?
F1

The impact of the digital signal

Digital television signals allow files to be compressed, and because of this it has changed broadcasting radically. It has made things such as editing, television, and storing files better. The allowance of being able to compress files means that media files can now be put on smaller devices such as phones e.g. Files such as movies can be compressed and put on 8GB IPods, phones and portable MP4 devices. TV has changed for the better as well, as we are now able to receive more than the 5 standard terrestrial channels on TV, which is transmitted on one bandwidth which uses a multiplex. The quality of picture and sound has improved significantly, although some may argue that point. Sound and picture quality has been enhanced due to files not loosing there quality when compressed so that it can be put on other devices such as DVD’s. Blue ray discs have more storage capacity and so can store a higher quality of video.
Digital television signals has created a long path for more and better technology to come out, which is beneficial for audiences and consumers. It has allowed broadband which has lead to internet TV, we can pause and record live TV when it suits us, and we can have media on our phones.

Aspect Ratio and TV motion

What is aspect ratio?
Aspect ratio is the different screen sizes, videos are shot in. The common sizes are 4:3 and 16:9. For the last 50 years films have been shot in 16:9 wide-screen, but viewers had only been able to watch it in slandered 4:3 screen, but in the last decade or so wide-screen screen TV has become available, Improving Peoples television viewing.


 

Pan and Scan
Pan and scan is the method adjusting a wide-screen shot to a standard 4:3 shot used for stranded televisions. The method involves cropping the film in a way that the important aspects from the scenes in the shot are not affected. Normally the insignificant parts in a shot are cropped out. The picture to the right is a good example or pan and scan. (Picture from





Pillar-box

Pillar boxing is the opposite method of pan and scan. It’s a screen shot that wasn’t shot in wide-screen but is then formatted to play in wide-screen.





TV motion and Pixels
Pixels – pixels are tiny colourful squares that form together to form a still picture. When a still image is divided into a collection of little dots, our brains take in the arrangement of the dots to form a still image. The more pixels in a picture the better quality the turn out of the picture is. There are 25 frames per a second in films in the UK.

The TV screen
A video camera divides up an image into horizontal scan line, which makes up every single frame; this is then transmitted to our televisions. Different countries have different standards or systems of lines per a second and different numbers of frames per second.

Broasdcast Systems

Broadcasting means sending out media to a large amount of people or a whole area. TV has a long broadcasting history dating all the way back to the 1920s.The late John Baird, whom was born in 1888, was the first to broadcast televised moving pictures in 1927, and became BBC’s (BBC was the world’s first national broadcasting company) first televised programme in 1928. Naturally as time passed, technology improved, especially after World War Two when broadcasting had stopped for 6 years. The first colour TV broadcast was in 1953, and by 1968 there were around 15 million TV’s in the UK which was a big difference compared to the 1.4 owned in 1952. From there TV broadcasting expanded and two channels were added onto terrestrial TV, and different forms of broadcasting were introduced, such as satellite, cable, terrestrial, digital and most recently internet streaming.

Terrestrial TV- doesn’t involve cables or satellites, and was used in the beginning of TV. It involved using  radio waves to send signals to and from antennas or aerials. It’s not the best way to broadcast nowadays because waves do not bend around obstacles, and so involves playing about with the antenna or aerial to pick up a signal. There are more disadvantages with terrestrial TV than any other form of broadcasting for example:
• Sometimes Signal dips in and out leading to poor quality
• Interference-bad weather has big effect on the signals transmitted
• Terrestrial TV uses a bandwidth, which limits the signals transmitted causing less channels to be broadcast particularly analogue.
Although there are many disadvantages with terrestrial TV, it was the first form of broadcasting and from it; other better forms of broadcasting have been able to evolve, although two of the other forms charge for broadcasting. BBC is well known for its boradcasting Via Terrestrial TV.

Satellite- SKY is a very well known British satellite broadcasting company. Satellite broadcasting uses satellites placed in space to orbit the earth which pick up signals and then send them to satellite dishes placed on the outside of homes. As well as satellite broadcasting covering a mass area it’s also beneficial for audiences in the following ways:
• You don’t have to play around with an antenna trying to pick up signal, but instead is available wherever you are
• They provide a numerous amount of channels including interactive ones

• Television is less limited by bandwidth
• TV quality is much better and high definition is available to make your TV viewing more pleasurable, this is partly due to the useof digital signals.
• Advanced dishes come with the option to record or pause live TV, allowing the audience to watch TV when is convenient for them.TV satellite broadcasting is one of the better forms of broadcasting because subscription prices are fair and is available to all who want it, unlike cable. However satellite TV is not free, although Free sat now exists, which gives the basic channels you would recieve on didgital TV but is recieved via satelites. As well as advantages there are disadvantages too such as weather interference which results in channels freezing and signal lost in bad weather, however it doesn’t happen too often.

Cable- Virgin Media is the best example for cable TV as it is a very well known company for cable. There are many advantages.Cable TV works using signals transmitted through fixed optical fibres or coaxial cables that run in the ground to subscriber’s homes. The advantages with cable are similar to ones with Sky in that the quality of picture is better, provides interactive TV, HD channels are available, there are advanced devices that allow recording and pausing cable boxes, there is no messing around with an antenna, no weather problems and there is possibilty of getting phone services too. However the disadvantages are that if no one on your property’s street has cable then you can’t have it, and if your street does have cable then you have to go with the company who owns it, meaning that you have no choice of providers.

Digital broadcasting- A multiplex is able to transmit several channels together on one band width and is soon to replace all analog TV in the UK. This form of broadcasting comes with a lot of benefits for audiences, as it creates a variety of channels available for other people to watch, which also makes it more appealing. However it disadvantages traditional companies by introducing more competition, resulting in companies having to lower their rates for advertising. Companies also receive lower audience views because the amount of watchers is evened out over the different companies, resulting in companies not having a significantly large audience. Freeview is a form of digital broadcasting and is becoming more popular, as audiences just have to buy the box (cheap and more advanced) and need an antenna or aerial to receive a variety of free appealing channels. The ability to broadcast much more than the standard five channels is one of the remarkable breakthroughs in technology, and has benefited  people much more. However as a result fewer amounts of people have decided to acquire cable or satellite, because they'll have to pay a monthly for a basic package, whereas with a freeview box they'll just have to pay for a box and then will be able to watch all the basic programmes Sky or cable have to offer.

Internet TV- Broadband is what has allowed us to now be able to watch TV on the internet. By us having broadband it allows us to have fast access to the internet, download, and watch things e.g. on YouTube without it taking forever to buffer. However broadband hasn’t been around, and has only become popular in the last five years or so. There are three forms of recieving TV on the internet, which are; buffering, streaming and downloading. Streaming retrieves the signals as you go and used to watch live footage on the internet, where as buffering takes the signals in and briefly stores it as you go to give what your watching a smooth stream.. Internet TV is one of the most recent forms of broadcasting and a great example of convergence, where two previous different technologies such as Televison and internet broadband come together. The benefits for audiences are that they can watch programmes when they want to watch them, and it is free for a majority. However even though TV internet is free, TV companies do not lose out on money and make their money back from advertisements, which is why we are forced to watch their adverts and can’t fast forward whilst watching. Although we can access sites outside Great Britain, we cannot access TV internet outside the country legally. This is because for some programmes such as American programmes, British TV channels have to buy the rights to their programmes before they can air them, once the country has rights, they can then put them on their own country’s TV internet where citizens can access them. Four on demand is well known for its allowance of watching TV on the internet and allows you to watch the programs they broadcast on TV that you might have missed.

Technolgy is changing rapidly and has made things such as televison a lot more convenient for audiences. We no longer have to rush back to watch certain programmes, because we can now catch up with it later, by either recording it or cathcing up with it with ondemand TV. In my opinion the most pleasurable and affordable way of recieving Television is SKY, because its affordable and more convenient for the area I live in.