Editing: Day 3

Editing was a crucial part to making our shots all go together and flow perfectly to create a good outcome. Once again we all took it in turns to do some editing on a particular scene or shot. To have an effective outcome we needed to make sure we looked at diffferent aspects of editing, including:

• Transitions from one shot/scene to another
• Continuity editing
• Sound

The scene that I edited was the 'Night scene'. As a group we started of by looking at the shots individually and making sure it was framed well. We then placed the shots together to create one scene. The key point in this was the continuity of the scene. If something wasn't working well then I would shorten a shot as well as adding a cut or fade to the shot.

One problem we had with the night scene was that the lighting - it was too dark and it was hard to see what was going on. With the editing software we managed to adjust the lighting and add a tone to the scene to make it more visible for the audience.

There was also a problem with sound as there was a part in the scene that had a sound that was very irritating and we would assume would have disrupted our audience. We adjusted the sound level in that particular shot and eventually we added our instrumental music to the scene. The instrumental music added more tension and created a more realistic opening scene.

The night scene came just after the production sign and so we added a 'fade in' transition so it didn't look like we jumped from one scene to the next and so it showed good continuity.

Over view of Filming: Day 2

The next day we all sat down and had a look at all the shots/scenes we captured on camera. My personal response:

What went well?

I think that team work was our high point during the filming of our media product. We all took it in turns to film a scene or shot and we managed to keep up with timing well. I also think that we were able to communicate well with each other when there were issues with filming or any other technical problems.

What could have been better? Were there any problems?

I don't think that there were many problems but I think we could have prepared things a lot better, especially with the props we were using, but apart from that I think everything ran really well and now that we are moving on to editing, I think that with the variety of shots we have taken, all will fall into place well.

Filming: Day 1

Today was our first day of filming. As a group we wanted to film as much as we could, especially because it was quite hard getting our main actress (Tegan) to come into school an act for us during our specific time schedules. I can definitely say that it was a very productive and successful day. Our day started of shooting the classroom scene*.

*Classroom scene: Hannah (Tegan Little) surrounded by her fellow class mates and a teacher (Mr.Unterhaulter) attempting to teach the misbehaving students.

Mergime and Louise decided to take it in turns to film this scene and we made sure we captured as many shots as possible so that when it came to editing we could then see which shot was best. We were able to capture a variety of shots including: Shot reverse shot, Match on action and an establishing shot. Once this scene was complete, we decided to film the 'friends confrontation' scene*.

*Friends confrontation scene: Two of Hannah' friends confront and question her about why she acts so strange.

This particular scene was quite simple to film but it involved steady camera work as we used a pan shot to film Hannah run out of the room. I think that this scene was overall very successful and I hope that when it comes to editing, we will be able to make it an effective scene in our media product.

Our final scene that we filmed was the 'night scene'*

*Night Scene: Hannah running away from police and her problems.

Me and Louise filmed the night scene together and found it very interesting. We used our storyboards to help us with the shots we used (Long shot, Birds eye shot etc). The only issue we had was the lighting - it was too dark and not all was visible in the shot. We decided that we would try and fix this issue when we started to edit and if it didn't work we would re-shot the scene.

Equipment (Planning)

The main equipment needed for this project is:

• Camera
• Mini DV tape
• Tripod - this will allow us to have steady and accurate shots.
• Laptop (This will be needed when we upload all the footage we filmed and when we start editing all the shots).

Since there isn't a lot of dialogue in our script/Media product we will not be needing to use a microphone. If lighting becomes a problem we will use artificial lighting to make a shot more visible!

Organising the shoot (Planning)

Organising the shoot involved making a lot of serious decisions that would end up helping us make our final opening sequence.

As a group we all organised the following:

Actors: Tegan Little as Hannah

Locations: Sydenham school (a classroom)

Kirkdale road (For the night scene)

Props: A fake knife, chairs and tables (classroom scene) etc.

Costume: casual teenage clothing to set up the story line.

Lighting: We will be using low key lighting mostly - reasons for this are because it suits the genre and the mood of the opening sequence. During the night scene we will use natural lighting to set the scene and if extra lighting is required, we will use some sort of artificial lighting to make the scene more visible.

Although these are rather brief details of us organising the shoot, I think it provides myself and my group with the key elements needed to make out final media product have a good outcome.

Shooting script (Planning)

Here is our shooting script. Using a shooting script will allow us to be organised as well as keeping up with timing and locations. I think that it will really help us understand what we are doing and keep us on track with filming.

Soundtrack (Planning)

Before producing our media product we made sure we planned out what sounds we were going to use and in what shots/scenes we would use them in.

We will be using both Diegetic and Non diegetic sound. We will be using most of the non diegetic sound in opening scene and this non diegetic sound will consist of instrumental music in the background - it will help build up tension and excitement for the audience. The instrumental music will then continue into the next scene creating a sound bridge (this will be done when we start editing). We will also make sure that the instrumental music suits our chosen genre - Psychological thriller.

Another sound that is required is the sound of a heartbeat. This will be added during the flashback scenes, and once again it will help build up tension and add a sense of a thriller movie. Hopefully this will help attract the audience and keep them focused on the situation as well as creating enigmas throughout the scene.

Although there isn't a lot of dialogue in our media product, we do have a particular scene where Hannah (main character) is being beaten up by her class mates and they are shouting at her and swearing too. As a group we decided it would be best to let the actors improvise this scene to add a more realistic touch to the scene.