Coursework; editing

When editing our thriller opening everybody in the group contributed to aspects of it for example the sound, what camera shots go where etc. To start of we inputed all the shots onto iMovie, we tried to put all the clips in first (in order), so that the opening would flow and therefore we could edit things such as sound afterwards. This worked because we were able to make the film opening better as we went along. 

To start with, we downloaded a film production company for the opening sequence, before we made the film opening we had chosen to use 21st Century Fox, however we have now chosen Lionsgate, we did this because we found that it suited the film better. (I will make a blog post about why we did this, including information about Lionsgate). 

One thing that I really like about our coursework is the continuity and match on action. One of our first real continuity challenges was when the boy goes to open the door, we had to take two shots and therefore it was a task to get the continuity a perfect match, however we did manage to achieve this. This scene is good because it shows the fact that the boy is inside the house and that someone is trying to get in, however they do not want to be seen. 

The shots in the kitchen represent the boy looking in the fridge, he hears a sound from upstairs and the cooker turns on unexpectedly. Due to all these events we needed to take many shots. This took a long time however when editing we were able to put them together well. However we did experience some problems during editing at first we did not take a shot of the cooker turning on, e.g. a close up/ eye line cut however we did take a shot of it from the fridge, when it came to editing this was not right and therefore we had to go back another day and film this clip again, this is because the continuity in the scene would not have been right. 

We had continuity in a scene where the boy goes to look upstairs after hearing a sound, we took many shots for this scene because we wanted them to have match on action, we decided to use two shots one of him going up the stairs and one of him from another angle whilst he was still going up the stairs. 

When editing these together it was awkward, it was also hard to film this scene, due to the angles of the camera and the tight space we had to film it. However I am happy with the finished effect of these shots. I especially like the shot on the stairs and how it follows on to the boy going into the kitchen to a phone scene.

We have also included some transitions in our film opening for example fade to black e.g. from the film production to the beginning of the film and from the last shot to the ending. I also suggested to use some transitions such as dissolve and cuts. Towards the end of the film opening we all decided that the cuts should speed up and get faster, this is because in movies when something is going to happen you usually speed up the shots to increase tension and anxiety within the audience. 

Sound 
When editing, we left the sound till last. This was so that we knew what we wanted and could try out different things. To create sound we used Garage band. At first we were unsure if we were going to have any non diegetic sound, this is because we wanted the film to be silent to create tension. However we did add sound effects that in real life the character would hear however they were necessary to add in due to the lack of sound. 

When adding in sound effects we wanted them to seem realistic, we already had a good range of sounds all ready in the clips (diegetic sound) however we decided to add things in such as a doorbell, footsteps and the dial tone on the phone. 

The doorbell sound was realistic and fitted in with the clip e.g. match on action and the sound of the doorbell. 

When filming we already knew that we can add sound effects so I suggested to include a sound effect from upstairs in the house, we chose a scary knocking sound, and afterwards included an expression shot of the boys face to show that he is scared. The sound is loud, but it is clear that it is coming from upstairs. 



Finally, we included a telephone sound when he uses the phone, this is because the scene felt too quiet e.g. like nothing was happening. The long tone of the phone shows that nobody was there to help him and that he was vulnerable. It also shows that he is alone.