Sound Editing

As you can see, our editing was very complex and we took a long time to edit our opening sequence to make sure that it was as accurate and detailed as possible.

Rough Sound Edit

In this lesson, we looked at our rough edit to decised what we needed to make flow better and where the sounds need to go and which sounds would look better.

Here is an rough sound edit that we have place certain sounds where we think they should be roughly put:

From this and the comments from our teacher, we know need to make sure that the sounds aren't too loud or too quiet such as the footsteps are too loud compared with other sounds that are happening in the scene, also when the door slams it is a piercing nose and needs to be quieter. We also need to add some eery wind within the scene to make it seem like the news reporter is isolated and in an unknown place. As well as this we are going to put a soundtrack on top on the book and titles scene to help  build tension, otherwise it is too quiet.

Scripting of Voice Over

After planning what props, costumes and camera shots/angles that we are going to use. We drafted a script of what the voice over at the beginning of our opening sequence is going to sound like. 

Through the sound that we have already thought about/included already, we decided to add a voice over. We thought that this is important to allow the audience to get a clear insight on what the main character is feeling and what is going through her mind whilst she is looking back on the events she has experienced throughout our opening sequence.

We found that this would help to establish our story line and give the audience a more accurate representation of what has happened to the main character. As we plan to put this at the beginning before she enters the barn, this can give the audience an idea of what is going to happen through the voice over and their own imagination.

Here is the script of the voice over:

Sounds

Throughout the editing stage of the opening sequence, we created a range of foley sounds to help emphasise the sounds of the different shots we created such as:

• Footsteps
• Door slamming
• Book pages turning
• Jewellery box music
• Jewellery box being shut
• Air and background noise
• Birds and wind outside
• Clock ticking
• Heart beating
• Chair being pushed in
• Voice Over

Also, sounds we found in various websites such as sound bible:

• Child laughing
• Soundtrack
• Whispering

These are the main sound affects that we have included but may be adjusted through editing or if we find something that may fit better.

Rough Edit

In our third production meeting we started to put all of our footage together and edit the opening sequence to make it flow more easily.

This is a rough edit of our opening sequence:

Throughout the next weeks we need to add a range of sound effects and make sure that all of the footage fits together accurately. This rough edit is important as it shows us where we need to start editing and what kind of sounds we need which, it shows a quick example of what the final opening sequence may look like and how it need to be fitted together to make it the best that it can be. With help from this edit we did find a few shots that didnt work aswell as we had thought such as:

• the close up of the jewellery box.
• looking through the cabnets.
• the dolls face - jumps to quickly and doesn't fit in with the mood of the film.

To help overcome this, we will need to find a replacement for it by filming the different shots again or taking them out completely and editing it accurately so it fits together correctly.

Production: Meeting 2

In the second day of filming we finished filming our opening sequence. We filmed a range of different camera shots, movements and compositions which we tried to fit in with our horror genre of the opening sequence.

Throughout our filming we created a time lapse of the day, which gives a sense of what we did during our second day.

I think that this time lapse is very useful as it shows the different condition that we filmed in using light from the outside (door opening and closing), torches and candles to help create the right atmosphere.We experimented all of the different angles and close ups that we could use to try and make sure that our opening sequence is best that it can be.

Although, next we need to start editing our final piece to make all of the different shots, movements and compositions to flow together but also to allow match on action to happen to show that each shot is linked with eachother and are all happening at the same time. The first editing meeting will be a rough edit which will show an outline of what we want the final product to look like. This will help us to see whether we have enough footage or if we need to go back and film some more to make it flow more easily.

Production: Meeting 1

Due to some difficulties in filming, we had one less person to film with us on our first day of filming so it mean't that we didn't have some of the props that we needed to make the opening sequence work.

We started to film some short shots and close-ups of the different props that we are going to include.

Therefore, we will film in the next couple of days to film the whole thing as we will have all of the props and cast that we need.

Althoguh, we did start to look locations, props and costumes which we have thought about and know how we are going to film our opening sequence.

PROPS

COSTUMES

LOCATION

Time Management

After completing our range of pre-production meetings, we ensured that we made a time management chart to make sure that we stuck to this to make sure that we have enough time left over to see if any adjustments would need to be made. This helped us to meet individual deadlines to help meet the final deadline for our opening sequence in time. This time management gave us a accurate picture of what we need to do and approximately how long it would take us to complete.

This time management was important for our group to stay organised and know how the pre-production, production and post production of our opening sequence is going to work to finish in time of our final deadline.

• Next, we allowed ourselves to have a rarely long amount of time to plan at 5 weeks, to allow us to have a very acccurate idea of how filming is going to work, what props, location and actors we need. We have to do this fairly quickly to allow enough time to edit our opening sequence after filming and planning. This is important to make sure our group has a clear understanding of what is needed for our opening sequence to work effectively.

• As you can see, we have left most of the time to edit our final piece for around 12 weeks, we feel that this would take the longest amount of time due to the accuracy and detail of the editing that we need to do to make it as professional as it can be that we are pleased with. Also, it will allow us to ensure that all of the clips flow effectively together, to make sure that the opening sequence makes sense and ensure the sounds are located in the correct places to allow the film to work.

Storyboard

This is the story board that we have created to go with our opening sequence of how we want it to look with an overview of what we are going to include. This was effective to create a greater understanding of our opening sequence by having a more visual idea of what it is going to look like. Overall, it gave us an idea of what camera shots and angles we are going to use to create the best emotion/atmosphere that we could.

 As you can see from these shots this is an outline of how we expect our final piece to look like and what we are going to include. As this is an outline we may change or adapt some shots so that they work well and contribute to making the final opening sequence tell the correct story and show clearly that it is a horror genre.

From this storyboard we have included:

• Pan/360 degree.
• Close Ups
• Extreme Close Ups
• Point of View
• High Angle
• Over the shoulder shots

We felt that these shots would help emphasis the mystery and horror sense of our opening sequence to create a sense of isolation and worry through the reporters eyes.

Pre-Production: Meeting 5

When we chose to order the book on eBay it didn't work well as the book turned out to be too small and we couldn't use it within our opening sequence.

As we felt like we didn't have enough time to order a new book we started to make our own book with materials that we already had. This included:

• A3 paper which we would fold in half.
• Leather fabric as we liked the look of this from the different books we looked at above.
• String/cotton to hold the book together.
• Coffee (to stain the pages to make the book feel older).

We stuck down the different news paper articles to the pages of our book which we teared to make them look old and used but also that the person who owned the book had done it quickly to create a sense of mystery.

After this had been done we then used the coffee to stain the pages to give a sense of oldness so that they had been created a long time ago but also that the opening sequence was based around 20 years earlier.

This was the finished product of the book:

Through most of the pages, we have included some newspaper articles of missing people and text to exaggerate the fact that someone has been in the room that the main character is reporting on. Throughout these pages, we have incorporated titles into the text as we though that this would be a creative and effective way to show our titles, we blended them into the text to make them look old and used to help create the same effect of the mysterious book.

These are examples of what the pages look like:

Next, we will start the production stage and film our opening sequence, using the book that we have made.

Pre-Production: Meeting 4

In this meeting we started to create props and look at what probs we have and how we could use them

We looked at a range of different books that we could use by looking at different websites such as Amazon, eBay and in different charity shops that we could find to get inspiration of what we could use for our "scrap book."

Amazon: £14

eBay: £4

Due to our low budget, we decided to buy the eBay book as it was the lowest price compared to the rest. Which we would put our newspaper articles in the pages with the coffee stain to make them look old, with the titles inbetween the text.

When the book is ordered then we will start to do this which then we will start our production and film the opening sequence.