Wednesday 26 March 2014

Delayed (final copy)

Final Editing

Tuesday 25th, March:
The last bit of editing needing to be done so me and Hayley decided to stay after school and finish it off, the first thing we needed to do was to complete the ending, after talking about it we decided to use some of the old clips we had of me crossing the road, Hayley then sped this up so that it looks like the bus is about to hit me, she then cut it to my face in a surprised and shock expression which is to show me about to get hit as the realisation hits me. After this we then had to put the sound we found of the crash in time with clip so that the sound happens just after I am hit to create a dramatic effect. Also the last thing we needed to do was add the black and white effect to the scene so that it fit in with the rest of the title sequence.


Monday 24 March 2014

Disaster

Monday 24th, March:
In this lesson we went back onto final cut pro to finish the editing of our title sequence only to discover because we was logged on when the system crashed on Friday, all our work from the title sequence had been wiped and deleted. Fortunately the technicians were able to get some of the older files back however most of the files are unusable and had been mixed up. So we tried to use our first draft which we had already exported onto a memory stick and import it back into final cut pro, this worked but we still had a problem that now certain things could not be edited such as the titles in the title sequence have to stay as they were when we exported the 1st draft as every part of it is added together. Because of the crash we had to re-edit all the stuff which had been done after the first screening such as the black and white effect on my scenes. We stayed longer after school so that we could get back to where about we was before.  


Friday 21 March 2014

Editing

In this time we started to change my scenes, by changing the colour filter to black and white we did this because it was suggested in the feedback we got from our screening, and helped to suggest to the audience the influence of colour and difference between the lives our two main characters live. We also finished off all the transitions we needed to finish so that the whole title sequence ran more smoothly, the only thing left to do now was to change a few of the titles to make them bigger, also to finish off the ending so that it fit the genre of a rom-com at the end. Lastly I also needed to finish off putting in our production company's logo.
This all should be able to be done in the next hour we spend editing, and the title sequence should then be complete.

Feedback sheets

These are the feedback sheets which were filled out after watching our title sequence when it was screened to the class:









Thursday 20 March 2014

Feedback from the screening

After the screening of our first draft of the title sequence to our class we received lots of positive feedback but also 3 main points on which we can improve on, the main things in which they like about it was the split screens and also the colours within the split screens, they said it worked well with the genre that we are using and helped to create an atmosphere, they also said the music helped to do this as well because it is happy and uplifting which a rom-com normally is.

The first main improvement which was suggested was the colour of the males clip, they said that we could make them all in black and white so that it contrasts to the woman's colourful scenes also it shows his life is dull compared to hers.

The second improvement which was suggested is the speeding up of some of the clips as some of them go on for a little to long.

The last improvement that was suggested is to change the ending as it does not work compared to the rest of the title sequence, we can change this by using lots of the clips from me crossing the road making it quicker and cleaner than before.

We started editing theses straight away and we was able to change the ending so that it looked better:


Wednesday 19 March 2014

1st Draft

This is our first draft which we will be screening to the rest of our class:


Last editing before the 1st screening

In this lesson we was told that we would have an hour to complete a 1st draft for the first screening of the title sequence so in this hour we was able to complete all the transition between the clips so that the whole thing ran a little more smoothly, we also made sure all the titles had been imputed into the sequence correctly and then we insured the brightness of all the clips were similar so that the continuity of the title sequence looks better.




The last thing we did before exporting the clip out of final cut pro into an Mp4 was add in one of the production company's logos which was universal studios.







When gaining this clip of the production company's logo the sound was not in time so we had to slow down the clip slightly so that it fits perfectly.








Monday 17 March 2014

Editing and an idea

In my time at home I have been thinking about different effects which could make the title sequence feel more like a  rom-com and after remembering a title sequence I have seen before I thought about a type of an effect that was used which was a screen split into 3 of 4 parts showing the same clip either staggered or at the same time in different colours or tints.
During the lesson I explained my idea to the group to see if they liked it and thought it would be a good idea, from this both Hayley and Laxmi both said they though it was a great idea. We started putting it on some of the clips of Hayley when she is walking through a crowd of people so that it makes her stand out and look colourful we have also tried to add it to the shot where Hayley is walking along with her bright pink bag. Using final cut pro we was able to split the screen into three and change the colour of each individual one however we had difficulty trying to get the timing right for each split screen.

Here are some screenshots which were taken to show the effect:


    

Friday 14 March 2014

Filming Take 3

Thursday 13th, March:
In this lesson we was going through what we had so far and also let Leanne have a little look at what we had. After discussing what was good about it we also spoke about what it was missing and the main thing happened to be the cinematography there was not enough shots of the same thing which meant that the shots we had were to long. The way of changing this and improving was by going back out and filming however none of the shots required the landmarks up London, this meant that we did not have to go all the way up to London to film again. So during some free lessons me and Hayley went out to film some shots from different angles to add to the cinematography the shots were mostly of the two of us walking in different places. The last shot we got before heading back to school was me walking out into the road then another shot, a close up of my face as I see a car or bus coming towards me.
When me and Hayley got back to school, Hayley converted the files and uploaded them straight to final cut pro where she started to cut them down and put them into the title sequence.     

Wednesday 12 March 2014

Titles done by Laxmi

Laxmi was in charge of creating all of the titles for the title sequence she did so mainly by using the programme Photoshop. The first thing Laxmi done was find out what titles we was going to need and use and also in which order they will go in after researching this, Laxmi started creating the titles but first she had to put Photoshop into a film and video template so that she could be sure that the titles fit properly.

Laxmi then used DaFont to gain different fonts for the titles and started to put them in to the template, she used the grid to align the titles in the correct place, then made sure they what the right size. Laxmi then took the backgrounds away so that she could save the titles as a PNG so that they could be placed easily into Final Cut Pro.

While doing this Laxmi took some screenshots to help show what she did and in which order:




Another quick editing + a review

12/03/14
In this time we have added some more split screens in to gain some comparisons between the two characters of the film. We have also made sure each and every clip has the same or similar lighting to assure the continuity of the clip. After this we had a little discussion within the group and felt we was missing little shots throughout the sequence, we decided to ask the opinion of Leanne after watching what we had she spoke to us telling us that there was not enough cinematography in the title sequence to which we all agreed so after this as a group we wanted to film some more clips just to add to what we already had as well as coming up with a better ending that what we have at the moment. So in our free lessons tomorrow me and Hayley planned to go shoot some more clips of the walking by me and Hayley and the ending of the title sequence.

After discussing this we had some time left over at the end to start putting in some transition for at the  beginning of the sequence to help make it feel more clean cut.

Friday 7 March 2014

Editing again and sound

Friday 7th march
Finally decided on which music we will be using after short-listing a few, the group decided that we was going to use Racing Heart as it has a good tempo and is very upbeat so fits the genre perfectly. I then had to try and record the voice-overs which I was able to do in the 2 hours we had, I recorded 2 so that we could choose which one would be better for the title sequence. In this 2 hour lesson we was also able to talk to jack the technician so that he could give us a quick tutorial on how create split screens in final cut pro. Also in this lesson Hayley and Laxmi was able to change the brightness from some of the clips so that they all matched up.

1st Editing after re-shooting up London

After filming Hayley had all the files on the DSLR so she had to put them onto the Mac and them convert them into DV. so that they can be used on final cut pro. After filming on a different day we realised the lighting was completely different on the 2nd day up there so we took away most of the shots from the 1st day and replaced them with shots from the 2nd day. We went through them seeing which bits needed to be cut down or edited after doing this we finished creating a first rough cut with all the new clips. After creating it, as a group we sat and watched it together and discussed how much better it was and how more happy we are with it. A massive improvement from the other rough cut. Leanne and Sinead's advice really helped improve our title sequence as now it has a lot more conventions of a rom-com genre.






Thursday 6 March 2014

Title- The finished design

For the main title of our film, Laxmi created a mini question or questionnaire to decide and narrow down what font we will actually use. The fonts are all from a programme called "DaFont" and have been downloaded. As a group we narrowed it down to 8 options that we think are good enough
for the title.




















We gave the little questionnaire's out to 22 different people, Laxmi then took all the results in and added it all up from this she created a graph so that she could present her findings in a graph so that it is easy to understand.


Theses results show that the most people like the font of title number 7 and then title number 2 as a close second, it also shows that no one who completed this question liked title 4 and 5. I believe font number 7 was chosen as it is very simplistic and works well with the genre of rom-com.

So the final title which was chosen is:

It will be white and the biggest title throughout the title sequence, it will also be central as it will stand out more.
 



Filming Take 2

We decided Wednesday would be the best time to film and all three of us had a double media lesson and a free lesson last, so we could leave school early to go up London and film, we got permission from Leanne and headed straight up to London to get the shots that we needed. We went back to Waterloo station and got some shots of me almost falling down the stairs on the way out, we then filmed me walking/dancing to music and then checking myself out in the reflection of some office windows these are all shots we need because they are comedic and light hearted, after getting some more shots of the London Eye we walked up Southbank  towards a McDonald's so that I could get a burger for a extreme close up shot where I get all ketchup down me to show the clumsiness of the character I am playing, we then use an extreme close up on Hayley to show her putting lip gloss on so that then we can use a split screen to show contrast between the two.

We then filmed some different walking shots, one being Hayley walking through a crowd and others just the camera following the legs. Another shot we got was me walking along and then suddenly dropping my umbrella and having to pick it up this was also quite a comedic shot. The very last shot of the day that we got was me walking out into the road as a bus is coming, to try and show me getting hit by the bus, we got a few different shots of this as it was very difficult to get a good shot.    

Tuesday 4 March 2014

Our Typography and Titles

The Typography and the titles are really important in the title sequence as it lets the audience know who created the film and who is in it. Also it gives key information about the film such as the genre just from the typography because of the font. Different fonts make you think differently about the title sequence and what it is about. This means that the font we use for our title sequence has to personify the genre of our film which is rom-com so we will look at lots of different fonts for the titles and pick the ones that best show our genre in the way we think also we might ask some class members and other students which ones they prefer.

This is the short-list of the fonts that we like and feel could be used for our titles:

Monday 3 March 2014

Journal- Review of filming

03/03/14
In this lesson with Sinead we looked over and reviewed our almost complete rough cut, we asked Sinead if she would watch it and give us her opinion on what she thought about it. After watching it Sinead told us that she felt it was not comedic enough for a rom-com and felt a bit to serious and the main reason for this was that the voice over is quite melancholic and serious as well as their being not being enough comedy involved within it. Her suggestion was to re-shoot some of the scenes making it more funny with some comedy moments which in turn should create a light hearted atmosphere to portray the genre of rom-com properly.