Using editing techniques
Final product
Importing and renaming clips
I felt this was really easy but also really important as it makes it so much easier to edit when the shots are labeled.
Editing process
Offline edit
This is my offline edit, and in my opinion I think it looks very good and the visual effect look really effect as well the cuts from one scene to another.
Focus group:
Oscar Carter - "I really like it, however I feel some scenes need to be darker"
Hannah Nightingale - "I thought it was good, but I think maybe you should put the music louder to really make the audience on edge"
When I showed the offline edit to my focus group, the both said the same which was some of the shots need to be darker swells the music needs to be louder as this would put the audience on edge and make them feel uncomfortable.
Focus group:
Oscar Carter - "I really like it, however I feel some scenes need to be darker"
Hannah Nightingale - "I thought it was good, but I think maybe you should put the music louder to really make the audience on edge"
When I showed the offline edit to my focus group, the both said the same which was some of the shots need to be darker swells the music needs to be louder as this would put the audience on edge and make them feel uncomfortable.
Adding audio
Final adjustments
Exporting the final edit
Within the video I have answered these 4 questions:
What format are using for this video? - 0:10
Why are you using that format? - 0:13
What happens if you use a different format? - 0:50
How will this format allow the client to easily distribute the product? - 1:03
What format are using for this video? - 0:10
Why are you using that format? - 0:13
What happens if you use a different format? - 0:50
How will this format allow the client to easily distribute the product? - 1:03
Justify product:
Strengths -
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Weaknesses -
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Quality of finished piece
I think the quality of my finished piece is very good for my skills, as a person who has never done visual and special effects before I think this looks professional and very believable. I think the main reason for this was because of my editing and the story behind it. The editing gave a realistic tone to the piece as it was very grey and the sequence gave a feel of a thriller style TV show, and the story allowed the audience to really connect and think about the story which helped make it believable. The is one thing I would have liked to change and that would have been the camera quality as unfortunately the camera quality wasn't amazing which let down the final product, as well as the explosions not looking as realistic enough; a way I could have made the fire and explosions look realistic was by blending them and layering them over again so it gives it more of a 3D look. However, I think adding the smashed sugar glass as one of my special effects did look really realistic and made it really believable for the audience. I believe parts of this sequence could be played on TV and could be up to standards and the audience would buy it. However If I'm totally honest I don't think my visual effects where up to standards and weren't that believable and professional for a paying audience, this would then mean they could easily tell that it is CGI'd and they wouldn't want to pay to see it.
Conventions of visual/special effects
My final piece includes both visual and special effects. The special effects used in my sequence was the fake blood on my actor which shows he's obviously been badly hurt as the blood is all over his face, as well as the smashed sugar glassed which falls on my captors lap so when he gets out the car we can see that the window smashed onto his lap. My visual effect was using CGI explosions and fire and then layering them over my video clip to give a realistic feel to the video. The reason why I added CGI fire and explosions was because I was trying to make it a thriller and I was trying to create an atmosphere where the audience feel like this could happen to them, and I think the visual effects where shown for a perfect amount of time as the audience could easily see what was happening and what it looks like.
To talk about the visual and special effects in the film sequence, I will have to go over the conventions of a thriller genre as well as going through the strength and weaknesses.
To talk about the visual and special effects in the film sequence, I will have to go over the conventions of a thriller genre as well as going through the strength and weaknesses.
- High production values
- Older target audience
- Thriller themes
- Colours
- High key lighting
- Character
Compare to the original idea you had in your head - How is it different?
I think my regional idea was very similar to my final sequence as they both follow the same plot as the actor is badly hurt and wakes up to this explosions which is happening in front of him. Saying that there are some big difference as my original idea was to have a motorway in the background and see the explosions go off on the motorway through his back window, and then the actor wakes up and see this. The reason why I didn't do this was because it wouldn't have been feasible finding a place above a motorway where there would be a place to park and then film. So I then decided to change my idea to on top of a car park as this was was more feasible. For my original Idea I was thinking of having dialogue where you can hear the actor groan and then wake up and start to talk to himself in disbelief. However in my final sequence I didn't add dialogue as I didn't think it would work as well, instead I added juxtaposing music so it would make the audience feel uncomfortable and wanting to know more, I also believe the music actually told the story which really helped the atmosphere and the narrative. The main reason why I don't add the groaning of the actor waking up and the dialogue was because I felt this would take the audiences attention away from the visual effect which was the main part of the whole sequence. One big difference between the finished sequence and my first idea was time length as my idea would have been 2 minutes long where as my finished sequence is only 1 minute 14 seconds which is considerably shorter. I did this so the audience would keep interest and wouldn't get bored.
Gain audience feedback - what do they think are the strengths and weaknesses of the piece? What do you learn from these comments?
Ive taken these comments into account and have learnt I have to practice on doing visual effects and making them as realistic as possible. My target audience also commented on the continuity errors within the piece which makes them feel the story doesn't flow as well, which then make my audience not commit to the plot as there are already errors within the piece. I believe this would also not make the audience not fully engaged. I think If I had spent more time looking out for the continuity errors and corrected them the sequence would have flown better which then would allow the audience to get into the story more. As I said earlier my target audience feedback also picked up on my visual effects saying that it wasn't as realistic and there where some of the same explosions within the same shot and so this didn't make it look as professional, In the future to change this I will spend more time on it, blending in the visual effects so it looks as realistic as possible and making sure the colours match with the piece. I will also source loads of different explosions d fires online so they are all different. This then would make it more visually pleasing as well as looking very professional for the audience. However my audience did like the colour scheme within the sequence as well as the storyline, so in the future I will make sure I have these things as it makes is visually pleasing and exciting for the audience. It also leaves the viewer asking questions and wanting to know more.
What could have been done differently in the planning, production and edit? Be honest and extremely critical of your work here.
Pre production: I feel one thing I could have done differently when creating this sequence would have been being more in depth with my storyboard so it was even more clearer when on set what I was picturing. This is because when I was on set and directing I found it hard to follow my storyboards and script as they weren't In depth enough which then made it hard to direct. When planning I should have taken my risk assessment when shooting on set, this would have made the whole thing more realistic. I also think when doing pre production I could have looked more into the conventions of a thriller so when it came to the writing of the script I could have used all the conventions of a thriller, this then would mean I could have used it within the sequence to make it as accurate to a thriller as possible.
Production: When doing the production I think that I could have tried out more shots to make it as intriguing as possible. Though I stuck to the storyboard perfectly, having a couple new shots would have added to the piece making it as visually pleasing as possible. I also think when on set I should have spent more time doing the makeup so it would look really realist especially as I was using fake blood, this is a very hard thing to master to make it look like the person has actually cut himself; so if I had spent a bit longer and put more effort into the make up It would have looked really good. I also think my directing skills could have been better even though I did give good instructions I felt at some points they where poor, however having a actor who has been on sets before and on stage he knew what he was doing and at some point he did his own thing as he knew what he was doing. And this did work out as a lot of the shots I used, were the scene where he had improvised them and they still looked very effective. I feel that a couple of the shots I did whilst on set where either a bit shaky or a bit out of focus, however when in post production the shaky shots I could easily stabilise, however the unfocused shots I had to leave. I think to prevent this next time I should watch my shots back over once I've taken them and then considered If I should re-shoot, This would have taken more time during the production, but would have saved time in post production.
Post production: I think when editing the piece together it all looked really good and flowed well together, however I feel that if I had spent more time on editing the visual effects It would have made it really realistic. For example if I had blended the explosions and fire in more it would have given it more of a 3D look and felt really real, I also think if I matched the colours of the fire and explosions to the whole sequence of it would have looked more visually pleasing for the audience.
Production: When doing the production I think that I could have tried out more shots to make it as intriguing as possible. Though I stuck to the storyboard perfectly, having a couple new shots would have added to the piece making it as visually pleasing as possible. I also think when on set I should have spent more time doing the makeup so it would look really realist especially as I was using fake blood, this is a very hard thing to master to make it look like the person has actually cut himself; so if I had spent a bit longer and put more effort into the make up It would have looked really good. I also think my directing skills could have been better even though I did give good instructions I felt at some points they where poor, however having a actor who has been on sets before and on stage he knew what he was doing and at some point he did his own thing as he knew what he was doing. And this did work out as a lot of the shots I used, were the scene where he had improvised them and they still looked very effective. I feel that a couple of the shots I did whilst on set where either a bit shaky or a bit out of focus, however when in post production the shaky shots I could easily stabilise, however the unfocused shots I had to leave. I think to prevent this next time I should watch my shots back over once I've taken them and then considered If I should re-shoot, This would have taken more time during the production, but would have saved time in post production.
Post production: I think when editing the piece together it all looked really good and flowed well together, however I feel that if I had spent more time on editing the visual effects It would have made it really realistic. For example if I had blended the explosions and fire in more it would have given it more of a 3D look and felt really real, I also think if I matched the colours of the fire and explosions to the whole sequence of it would have looked more visually pleasing for the audience.
If you had to do something like this again in the future with a totally different brief - What would you do differently and why?
I think if I where to do this again there would be many things I would change. If this was a high budget production I would change a lot, but as this was a low budget production it didn't look as professional and as real as a high budget production. If this was a high budget production I would...
- I would definitely hire a filming crew, as they would have experience within the industry and would have worked on stuff like this before so they would know what they are doing. This then would help with time management as it wouldn't just be me doing it. I would also hire someone who is able to do professional prosthetics makeup so it looks as realistic as possible and people would believe it. I think if it was a high budget production I would also hire an actor who has been in many production so they would understand what they are meant to be doing. also hiring an editor who is experienced with visual effects and a DOP. Having an editor who is experienced in visual effects would make it easier when it come to editing and would also mean time management wouldn't be a problem, also having a DOP means it would be easy to find good places to film as well as getting permission to film. Hiring experts would mean the quality of the piece would be a lot better as they know what they are doing.
- Having good equipment, from a high budget production would mean that the piece would be better quality as the equipment would be at a higher standard. Having multiple cameras which are industry standard on set would allow the quality to be better as well as timing as we would have multiple cameras to allows us to film all of the time. I would also get industry standard lighting to make the sequence as professional as possible, as well as a professional suite; this would allow me not to be editing on one computer.
- Spending more time on the production would have made it a lot easier as the time frame we had for the production wasn't long enough, this would also allows us to spend more times on the shot and more time with the actor which would have been better as we could have got higher quality shots, and we wouldn't be getting any bad shots as we would have longer.
- Having a bigger budget would have made it a lot easier as we could hire equipment and crew to make this whole production smooth and quick. This means not just one person is doing this all.