Final Film Opening

Full Evaluation

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

a. Character + Narrative

i. Public & Private

ii. Se7en shows the characters getting ready to go to work (private), then shows him at work (public). However we put a twist on this and showed the character going home (public), and at home (private). I followed the convention of introducing the public and private self, however I have done it in the reverse order. I have left the narrative fairly open, only introducing the idea of a ghost. This is done so that an audience want to know what happens next.





b. Location

i. We have taken somewhere very ordinary and turned it into something creepy. This is done through only filming the character walking. This is similar to “Don’t Look Now”, where the characters or often seen roaming the streets with very bleak color grading. I have not used the same bleak color grading but have instead made it very ghostly, much like the grading used in “Black Swan”.


c. Fonts & Titles

i. I chose the font based on the color grading. I used a piercing style in the color grading and wanted the font to project the same. I therefore chose a font with lots of Hard edges and points. I used the same font for the Credits and the title. I only added the title at the end of the opening which does not follow conventions, as shown in Panic Room, where the movie title is shown in the middle of the opening credits sequence.

d. Sub-Genre

i. After an initial viewing of the opening sequence many people thought that it was going to be a super natural thriller. However, I filmed it in a voyeuristic manner which allowed me to convey it as more of a psychological thriller. It followed the convention of an extended shot of the protagonist that is shown in “The Place Beyond the Pines”. The voyeuristic style of filming follows conventions shown in the opening of “Lights Out”.

2. How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as…

a. My film opening was designed to appeal to multiple audiences. Firstly, the face appeal was made to fit that of a supernatural thriller. We chose the name “Friend.”, because it fit in with the theme of simplistic titles found in supernatural thrillers such as “Lights Out”, “Sinister”, “Paranormal Activity”, ETC. This allowed us to appeal to the younger teenage audience. However I chose shots that were filmed in a more voyeuristic manner throughout my opening. This allowed me to appeal to an older audience who watch more psychological thrillers.

b. My product fits the frame of a artsy film, therefore I would advertise it as such. I would release it at a film festival such as the Sundance film festival. I would then hope for the product to receive some high-profile awards. Following this the film would be shown to individual cinema’s in the hopes that they will show the film. We would target cinema’s that are known for there appeal to niche audiences, this is because a distributor would get the film into cinemas where our product would be outshone by high budget action films or film franchises. I would choose to release the film at the start of August as it is long enough past the early year blockbuster phase and has no large franchise movies released within the same time. This will allow us to gain exposure as there will be no major film releases that will eclipse my product.

3. How did your production skills develop throughout this project?

a. Codes and Conventions

i. At the beginning of the project I did not understand how to use codes. I would design scenes solely to further the plot line. Although this in itself isn’t wrong, without using codes to convey my thoughts the scenes would be bland, and generally were not very interesting. Proof of my improvement is the shot of the clock and the picture frame. The clock is ticking away at a normal speed, this shows that her life is very controlled and that she has nothing to look forward to. The picture frame foreshadows that something is going to go wrong later on in the film, as she is the only character to be introduced so far.

b. Planning & Organization

i. When we first went location scouting we did not set a schedule, this meant that we ended up taking 3 hours longer than we wanted. This meant that we could not look at all the locations we wanted too. We made sure this would not happen again by making a timetable to follow during the filming. We allocated time for each scene and included lunch breaks and travel time. By following the schedule we were able to complete the filming process early.

c. Camera Work

i. Before filming I only knew about certain types of shots, and had no knowledge of how to actually use them to convey a message. This resulted in many shots being scrapped. The shot that best shows my development of camera work is the first shot in the product. I realized that I did not need to use a complex shot to show emotion. I instead chose an obscure object to film in a drawn out still shot, this set the mood for the product.

d. Visual FX

i. My first film company Ident looked extremely bad, It was made in 30 minutes and resembled the work of a child. I had never used after effects prior to this and I had no clue how effects worked. Unsatisfied with the result I spent the entire weekend learning about the different effects and how to control them. In the end I was able to create a very professional looking Ident that fit with the genre of film I had produced. The polished result clearly shows the progression of my skill.

e. Editing

i. My first rendering of the product looked very unprofessional and poorly made. This was due to a lack of color grading. I had never heard of color grading before until I stumbled upon a YouTube video. After learning about how color grading can make a product look more professional I quickly started editing my product. First I started making the product look more realistic, however I quickly realized that color grading was an important method to convey meaning. Taking this into account, I started to sap the color out of shots with an emphasis on blue and white. I did this to fit in with conventions of psychological thrillers (Black Swan).

f. Creative confidence

i. In the early stages of filming I was extremely cautious with the types of shots I used. Being new to filming I was very afraid to deviate from the storyboard. However as filming progressed I realized that filming is a fluid process that aids itself to a director’s creativity. With this new found confidence I started finding strange ways to film. What I am most proud of is the shot where I filmed a wall made of reflective marble as the protagonist walked past. This scene in itself can be interpreted in many ways and shows the development of my confidence as a director.

4. Use of Technology

a. Cameras

i. To film our product we used 2 cameras. One was a DSLR and the other was a digital camera. We used the DSLR to film set shots and set tracking shots. This was done because the DSLR did not have OIS, meaning that it could not be used in regular tracking shots. The DSLR was mounted on a tripod to ensure steadiness. The digital camera was used in tracking shots and any other shots where a tripod was not feasible. This ensured that we had the steadiest shot possible.

ii. Both cameras had different file outputs. This meant that I had to download a MTS converter on my computer. The reason this was a problem was because I have a custom built PC that had no manufacturer. I therefor did not have any pre installed software that could read MTS files.

b. Editing

i. I put the video files into Adobe Premier Pro CC to edit the product. Asside from this I used Adobe After Effects to create my own film company IDENT and to edit the Lionsgate IDENT to better fit my genre of film. I rendered the film with Adobe Media Encoder and exported it as an MP4 file.

ii. I downloaded MP3 files off of YouTube and off of freesound.org

Opening Drafts

Version 1

Version 2

Version 3

Version 5

Version 6

Ident's into Film Opening

I put the two ident's together in premier so that i could have a rough copy of what i would be adding to my final product.
I added the sound from the Lionsgate Horror Ident and also used sound from https://freesound.org/people/dobroide/sounds/109373/ to create a more sinister effect.

Film Company Ident's

Original Concept
This took around an hour to create after all of the editing and changing, however I had pushed myself into a corner with the amount of editing I could do due to the shapes. It also looked very low rent and although with some major editing and man hours put in the project could be salvaged, I decided to start a new with the cinematic.

I was not satisfied with the preinstalled fonts so I download a font from http://www.dafont.com/optimusprinceps.font?text=Cinemata&back=theme. I then adjusted the font size and used the alignment tool to centre the text.

I then adjusted the metrics to bring the letters closer together, creating a more flush look to the title.

I then wrote in the next line of text in the alternative version of the same font(less bold), and, repeated the same steps as the previous line of text. 

Here I created a rectangle with no fill, and selected the trim path tool. This allowed me to edit the outline, which I put in 10 point.

Here I duplicated the first rectangle and added an offset which reversed the side which it was on.

I then added an adjustment layer which allowed me to add simulation effects.

Star Burst created the particle effect.

Mr. Mercury was the blodgy effect that smoothed out towards the end.

Drizzle added rain

Premiere

I used premiere to add sounds which I downloaded from, https://freesound.org/people/waveplay/sounds/183889/ and https://freesound.org/people/a23spyro/sounds/344749/. I then edited the volume levels to craete an echoey effect that fit with the theme of the film opening.

Debating whether to cut out a few seconds, unsure whether the collapsing title is nice or not.

*EDIT*

Added a fade to remove the flop at the end. Done to look more professional

Lionsgate Ident

I started with the original Ident and cut the sound.

I then found the ident shown before a horror film and converted it so i had only the audio file. (Added in premiere)

I did this because i did not like how tacky the ident looked after their own editing.

I decided to edit the original ident to fit with my own concepts. 

I added an adjustment layer, then 2 masks, the first was just used as a background mask.

I then added the Curves effects to the second mask to change the tint red.

I had to key frame every few frames so that it was a clear gradual tint increase

I then added a second adjustment layer, which i used to add the snowfall effect. I then changed it to a yellow/orange colour to make it look like tiny embers. I also changed the size, speed and wind to create the desired effects.

The key framing used to keep the embers in frame (not clip through the doors), and also to fade out and stop production.

Credits

-Studio name: Lionsgate

- Production companies - Cinemata Productions

- Main actors - Tan Wongbenjarat  / Dee Temcharoen

- Movie title - F R I E N D .

- Supporting actors - Enid Wu, Bamm Putimart

- Casting manager - Tailia Boonkul

- Costume designer - David Foster

- Music - George Healey

- Film Editors - Jasper Brooke, Ethan Southgate

- Production Designer - Nicha Pailin

- Director of Photography - Bew Kulpetchpraisithi

- Producers - Georgina Martin, Michael Dean

- Writer - Sam Crakers

- Director - David Harrison

Bus List