Completed!

Today, we finally competed our opening sequence! We are so glad to have finally finished all of the editing, sound and credits! We took a selfie to celebrate:

We have exported our sequence and it will be uploaded shortly! Overall we are very pleased with the end result and we will now focus on our evaluation.

Update - Credits

Update + Screenshots

After re-shooting and editing the packing scene in our opening sequence we now have to re-shoot the ending and sound. We are hoping to improve our music and maybe even create a tense atmosphere through sound effects. Our sequence is still around 3 minutes which we will need to cut down to 2. This will mean that certain scenes will have to be cut out and replaced with shorter shots.

These are some screenshots of the packing scene that we re-filmed and edited. The shots were taken in different camera angles such as a low angle, medium close-up and one shot taken from inside the protagonist's backpack which we thought was different and interesting to watch. The shorter shots are a lot better to watch rather than one continuous shot.

New Ending

Ben Drowned

As our previous ending went against our genre we had to plan out and film a new one. Our new ending is:



Girl runs into the static room and looks around, the static then turns off on every computer except one. She walks over to the screen and turns it off. She turns around to walk back and in the background of the shot a silhouette however when the girl passes the shadow the figure is gone. Her name is suddenly whispered out and she turns around to see the computer has turned back on and says "You Shouldn't Have Done That". We might add some sound effects to this part to make the tense atmosphere. When she turns back around there is a close up of her gasping and then she will wake up back in the science room where the whole experience is repeated.

We got the inspiration for this from the videogame Silent Hills P.T as it is a psychological horror game. We will also use similar sounds from the game to create a tense atmosphere. We also got the "You Shouldn't Have Done That" from the creepypasta "Ben Drowned".

Silent Hills P.T - Corridor

Our Opening Sequence





Finishing the First Draft

After re-shooting some scenes and filming the last murder scene there were only a few things left to be done. The rest of the editing, the sound (including the voice-over) and the credits. After spending 3 hours touching up the editing and adding the new scene, the editing stage was complete. There are some problems that will have to be dealt with such as missing shots making the character look like she's teleported from one spot to another and the lighting as some shots were filmed at day and the others when it was darker. The music will be made next to out over the top of the music.

Bloopers 10/02/15

Filming isn't all fun and games... But when you mess up a scene, or when things don't quite go as planned, it can be! Here is a compilation of short clips we gathered from today's shooting that we consider to be bloopers!

Snapshots from YouTube clip:

 

UPDATE - Re-Filming

After viewing the footage, we have decided to re-film certain scenes. This time we will be using different camera angles and showing the location more. This will make for a more interesting film opening. We will be re-filming certain scenes on Thursday, 29th January.

Starting to Export & Edit Footage, and Using Garage Band.

Now that we have filming out of the way, this lesson we are able to start rendering, exporting and editing the footage, and actually create the opening sequence.

What we are using:
We are using Garage Band to create our own music (in order to avoid copyright) and we are using Premier Pro to edit.

What we are learning:
In order to export the footage, we have to export the videos clip-by-clip, which makes the process time consuming.
Garage Band doesn't have the most creepy music in the world, and what we've learnt about psychological horror is that the non-diegetic music has to set the scene. If it's the wrong type of music, it completely destroys the effect of the scene, hence making the opening sequence a failure.

UPDATE - Filming Complete

All of the footage has been taken and now all we need to do is check through all of the clips and decide which ones we want to be in our final piece. We spent over 2 hours filming all of the scenes in several different shots. After we have decided which clips to use the editing process will begin.

UPDATE - Filming

Today is the 19/01/15 and we will be beginning to film. We have finalised all of our locations and have fixed all problems. Our actor has been changed as the person we originally wanted to do it was busy on filming days. We plan to film over today and tomorrow and edit the footage later in the week.

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

Name:

Age:

1)   What is your favourite movie genre?

2)   How do you watch films? (Cinema? Netflix? Sky+?)

3)   What is your favourite film?

4)   What do you like most about your favourite film?

5)   What do you think psychological horror films should involve?

6)   How would you feel if you were the main character of our film plot?

Meeting 1: Storyboarding and Scheduling

In order to determine what excatly we are filming, it is compulsory for us to create a story board. This gives us an outline on the actual day what to film, in order for the production to be more structured. The storyboard includes what type of shot to shoot, the duration the shot and what the shot contains.

Scheduling the dates and times of shooting!

Schedule for Shooting

SHOOTING DETAILS

Shooting Date	Duration	Cast	Location
19th January 2015	2.30 – 5.30	Borie Lucy Jasmine (Actor) Isha Asuka (Actor)	School Science room and corridor Outside by the gate English room
20th January 2015	3.30 – 4.30	Borie Lucy Jasmine (Actor) Isha Asuka (Actor)	School Science room and corridor English room
26th January 2015 (if anything needs changing or adding)	3.30 – 5	Borie Lucy Jasmine (Actor) Isha Asuka (Actor)	School Science room and corridor Outside by the gate English room

Characters and Their Story

Creating characters that are going to be in our film opening. They had to suit the genre and help the story progress.
We want to use stereotypes so that the genre can be established in the first few seconds.

Our first character idea is:

A male college student that studies psychology that sometimes hear voices in his head. Losing all his friends after he told them about the voices he is now by himself. The most recent voice told him that he would witness his old friend be hit by a car (vaguely). Not believing it he walks home and sees his friend get hit by a car, EXACTLY WHAT THE VOICE SAID!!!!

Our second character:

A female college student stays late at school to study. She is alone and stays until dark not realising the time. She hears a bang from outside and checks the time. School is shut. Leaving the classroom she goes to the gate to leave but finds that it is locked. She tries to call someone but there is no signal and in the corner of her eyes she thinks that she sees someone but when she looks back there is no one out there. She rushes inside but suddenly someone grabs her. When she frees herself there is no-one there. She runs into a classroom and hides her face in the face in the door and when she turns around there is no one.

We put more prefer and put more thought into the second character and her story so we will be making the plot for this story into more detail.

Research on Psychological Horror (Jasmine)

What is Psycholgical Horror?

Psychological Horror is a sub genre of horror fiction. They are often based around video games (as a narrative; one example of this is 'Silent Hill'). This genre relies on the characters' fears and emotional instability to build tension.
 Some of the greatest psychological horror films include:
- The Silence Of The Lambs
- The Butterfly Effect (One of my personal favourite films)
- Se7en
- American Psycho
- Jacob's Ladder
- The Blair Witch Project
- Dorothy
- The Conjuring
- The Omen

Opening Sequences

Sequence 1: The Butterfly Effect Opening Sequence

How is genre introduced? 
The non-diegetic background music, more than anything else, represents the genre.  However, the music co-notates with the text, even though the opening sequence is just credits. The text does, somehow, indicate part of the genre.

0:00 - 0:07; It tells us who the producers of the film are. The text flickers, which gives the sense that the motive isn't clear. As we find out later on in the film, the flickering is iconic because it gives us an insight of the main character's main problem- He finds it difficult to remember things, so his thoughts are always flickering about- and therefore aren't clear. Furthermore, the opening sequence is representative of the main character.
The music is also very dramatic, and it starts to get intense and creepy, once we get to the 'notepad part' of the credits. The text creates enigma because the first piece of text you see on the notepad is "how do i fix it?!" and "you never lost me." This will make the audience ask questions, which will be answered, eventually, in the film.

0:08 - 0:13; We find out that this is an Ashton Kutcher movie. The music stays the same, giving it the same feel as before.

0:13 - 0:18; The music drastically changes- less dramatic, more creepy! The pace of the text accelerates, as well as it starts to flicker (which, we said before, is using iconography and representation of the main character's mental state.)

0:19 - 0:23; A new transition is used after we get introduced to Amy Smart & Melora Walters' text. The transition changes- it fizzes out. (This is also representative because the main character subconsciously, fizzes out important memories, so he can't remember.) This may imply that they are victims of what happens in the movie- maybe, due to his mental well being?

0:24 - 0:28; We see a new piece of text, "do i have the power to heal them?" which creates more enigma. "Power? Power to control who?"

0:28 - 0:30; More enigma is created- "CUT THE ROPE". (Don't forget, the music is still creepy, it hasn't changed)

0:31 - 0:40; "I WILL COME BACK FOR YOU" is repeated, and then faded. This may give the impression that the character writing the credits is almost psycho-like? "took my shirt off" is repeated too- does that mean that the main character is somewhat desiring love?

0:41 - End; We get the name of the movie.

The reason why this opening sequence is psychological horror, and not just horror is because the music is the main factor messes with your head. You think something is going to happen, when really, nothing actually does. This is why the certificate on this film is 15+.