Behind the scenes - Sourcing my special effects:
In the behind the scenes video you can see me reapplying the special effects to my actor which of course is the fake blood. I decided to apply the fake blood to the top left of his forehead, on his right cheek, his knuckles as well as applying some to his hand. I wanted to put the fake blood on his face too show that the character has obviously been in a serious accident which allows the audience to start questioning what actually happened. When putting the fake blood on the actor I tried to make it blotchy and not as perfect, as I really wanted to show it had smudged and the blood had almost started to dry. I did this effect by dabbing the fake blood on the parts of his face where I wanted it. I think this looked really effective especially the blood on his hand dripping down.
I then go on to start filming the first shot I had planned which was a moving shot into the car towards the actor ‘Passed out’, I did this several times; A – Because the first shot I messed up as the camera jolted and B- Because I wanted as many shots as I can so when it comes to editing I have more of a choice in the editing sweat. I go onto filming the rest of the shots all as planned and in the order of easiest first so time management wouldn’t be an issue. All the shots where easy to do as my storyboard was easy to follow and allowed me to create a perfect image of what I wanted and when I was on the car park it all came to life and allowed me to understand exactly which shot went where and for how long. Later on in the time-lapse behind the scenes a cambridge county council office came to talk to both me and the actor in the car, we where both calm and explained that we where creating a short film sequence for my sixth form, I even showed him the email I was sent as proof we where allowed to film, and he was completely fine with it. I then went on to proceed that I will be only 15 minutes finishing the shots, he was completely fine with this. I then finished my shots and packed up.
I then go on to start filming the first shot I had planned which was a moving shot into the car towards the actor ‘Passed out’, I did this several times; A – Because the first shot I messed up as the camera jolted and B- Because I wanted as many shots as I can so when it comes to editing I have more of a choice in the editing sweat. I go onto filming the rest of the shots all as planned and in the order of easiest first so time management wouldn’t be an issue. All the shots where easy to do as my storyboard was easy to follow and allowed me to create a perfect image of what I wanted and when I was on the car park it all came to life and allowed me to understand exactly which shot went where and for how long. Later on in the time-lapse behind the scenes a cambridge county council office came to talk to both me and the actor in the car, we where both calm and explained that we where creating a short film sequence for my sixth form, I even showed him the email I was sent as proof we where allowed to film, and he was completely fine with it. I then went on to proceed that I will be only 15 minutes finishing the shots, he was completely fine with this. I then finished my shots and packed up.
Behind the scenes for applying the special effects:
Reviewing and editing my source footage:
Rushes:
This shot will work for my special and visual effects, as you can see the special effects on my actor which allows the audience to think what has happened to the character. This shot will help the narrative as it shows the character is injured and is in a lot of pain, the character also shows expressions of fear which again helps the narrative as it builds a back story to the plot, as well as giving background information of the character. I intend to use a cut from each shot as I don't think any other transition would be as effective, also it wouldn't cut well together as this is a very serious piece and needs a serious pace and transitions involved. However there is one downfall to this scene and that being the camera movement towards the end of the shot for example when there is a close up of the actors face it does go a little shaky when panning upwards to his face, however I was still able to maintain the rule of thirds even though some of the actors face was cut out if the shot. I think personally this shot was very effective as it showed so much of the actor and how his body reacted from the explosion that had happened, saying that, this shot however was very difficult to film even though I had planned it out on my storyboard and had it planned out in my head I still had to get what I pictured onto the camera. This shot I had to do a few times as well as trying new methods to get the shot. I also had to instruct my actor of precisely what I wanted, for example how slow or fast I wanted him to move or how I wanted his facial expressions to be like. To help me get this shot I used my 2 axis gimbal to get a fluid movement of when the actor is walking towards the edge of the car park as well as getting a fluid movement upwards towards the actors face. I think what could have made this shot more special would have been to get my actor to clench his fist with the blood on, so we could see that he is angry/scared this would also look good as the blood would start dripping. This would help establish to the audience something very serious has happened. I think the shot went on for a perfect amount of time as towards the end of the shot we had a good period of screen time where we could actually see the special effect on the actor which really helped the audience visually see what had happened to my actor.
This shot is a long shot of the car in the car park. I think this shot will work in my special and visual effects sequence as this shot is the establishing shot meaning it allows the audience to see where the sequence is set, what kind of atmosphere there is, as well as what kind weather there is as a light blue sky could really change the whole tone of the piece, all of this really helps to build a story for the audience and help the narrative of the piece. When cutting from this piece, again I would have a simple cut from each shot as I want it to be as simplistic as possible as this is a very dark toned piece and needs a quick cut from each shot to keep the dark tone otherwise if I added a sweep cut it wouldn't flow as well and wouldn't go with the the theme of the piece. I think this shot will be very effective as it is a establishing shot and will allow the audience to see what kind of piece the sequence will be. However if I want this in my final piece I will have to change the colours on this shot as I want much more of dark grey tone as this sequence is going to be a bit of a thriller/drama. For this shot my directing skills where good even though there weren't actors on the set at the point, I still understood what I should be doing and I understood how I planned out the short meaning I could quickly get the shot this meant time management was good.
This shot is another establishing shot of Cambridge as it is a wide shot. I think this shot will work for my special and visual effects as it is a clear and stable shot of Cambridge. This means I can easily CGI the fire and the smoke to the buildings. This shot will help the narrative because as it shows what my character is so scared of, this then allows the audience to start creating stories in there heads and to start questioning the sequence as they want to know more. I will want to use a simple cut to my actor looking scared and aghast, the is because I want the audience to feel the characters emotions. This shot will be very effective in my final piece as it shows a clear shot if Cambridge burning down and exploding, this means I can easily CGI the explosions and smoke in and make it look as realistic as possible. My directing skills went well here as I only took this shot twice, the second shot was a lot more stable and was in focus all of the time which meant there was a clear picture and the shot didn't need to have stabilisation put on it during post production.
This shot is an extreme close up of my actor. This shot will work with my visual and special effects sequence as you can see my actor is obviously injured as he has blood coming out from his nose, cheek and forehead. This shot will help the narrative as it allows the audience to see the facial expressions of my character. Seeing the facial expression of my character will help the narrative as it will give information and back story of what has happened to my character, as we see he is in shock and scared. I hope to use simple cuts when editing this together as it will really work with my story, I believe having complex transitions wouldn't fit the genre of this piece as this will be a thriller and would need simple cuts. I will be using this shot in my sequence as it gives so much information to my audience as well as being visually pleasing . However I do wish i had got several more shots of this scene as a lot of them focused mainly onto the actors ear. I think this shot is very effective as it shows my visual and special effects but also it shows what I pictured when drawing the storyboard. I did have to take this shot a couple of times so I could get the best quality picture as the lighting wasn't very good that morning. However I did have to experiment a couple to times on which angle I wanted the shot to be at, for example I was contemplating on having it face onwards however I felt this wasn't as realistic and didn't look as professional enough, I also felt it didn't allow the audience to really see his true expressions. In this shot my actor improvised this first piece (which is the shot I will be using), as my actor has done a lot of plays and has done several TV shows my actor understood what being on set would be, as he has experience his acting skills really came into play and he made this piece very believable even though it was improvised. I felt the timing of the shot was perfect as it allowed enough time for the audience to see the actors facial expressions as well as the special effects on his face, so this meant the audience would notice it instead of skipping over it. This then helps to show that I clearly had special effects in my visual and special effects sequence.
This shot will work for my visual and special effects as you can see my special effects falling onto the ground, this helps the audience believe that glass has shattered all over the actors laps and something bad has happened. This helps the narrative as shows the actor is obviously been either in a car crash or something worse this then allows the audience to start creating a softy and wanting to know more. I am hoping to use a simple cut as simple cuts will fit the genre of this piece and anything to overt complicated wouldn't fit as well as this is more of a serious piece. I think this hot will be very effective in my final piece as the broken glass smashing onto the floor then the actor stepping over it makes it very realistic and it looks very effective. The was one downfall to this shot and that was the number of times we could do it as the sugar glass was very fragile and could break easy especially when it hits the floor, I only had a certain amount of sugar glass so this meant we could only do the shot twice. However I practiced a couple of times to see what angle I wanted and when I figured out what angle I wanted and went on to using the special effects glass. Think this shot is very effective as it shows how the actor walks and this can suggest a lot of thing to the audience especially if the actor is stumbling as this suggest he is either in a lot of pain or just woken up and in shock. For this shot there was a lot of directing skills for the actor as I wanted him to walk a certain way and get out of the car a certain way. I think I could have made this shot more special if I panned with his feet and slowly panned up so it merges well with the next shot which is a close up of his hand and the acting walking close to the edge of the car park. This would then help establish to the audience something very serious has happened. I think the shot went on for a good amount of time as the shot showed the special effect glass hitting the floor, and this then when help the audience visually see the special effects and make it as effective as possible.
behind the scenes - Sourcing my visual effects:
Before the visual effects -
I am wanting to rub out the kings chapel towers as to make it look like they have crumbled or exploded I am hoping to do this In Adobe photoshop, I am also wanting to add several holes into the main bottom roof, all the way along it as to make it seem it has collapsed from underneath and fire is till burning from it. I am wanting to add smoke on top of the fire to make it as realistic as possible. I will also replacing two explosions on two of the building further back into the shot to create depth in the piece, meaning its more realistic and that the explosions aren't just on one building so the audience really believe this sequence.
As you can see I rubbed out the towers on the kings chapel and I think this does look very effect, I also added the holes into the roof which again is very effective as I think I blended the holes in really well and you couldn't tell this is off Google Images. I then carried on to adding the fire into the holes, the fires I got offline as there ere many online website that allows you to use visual effect fire for free, so all I had to do was download several and I think this looks really professional and realistic. I also added the two explosions in the background which again look really professional as the colour of the fire really complements the grey sky and doesn't make it seem obvious that I added a fake explosions from off the internet and just placed it on top of the my clip. I also placed smoke on a lot of the fires and explosions as the smoke give the fire and explosions a more natural and grey look which again goes well with the background and doesn't make it look fake and give it a realistic feel.