Final cut for the ignotus opening

So we have finaly complted our film opening, in comparison to what we suggested after the 4th cut where we would re-voice over annas's scene we have now finaly completed that and now the final cut is on youtube.
So here is now our final cut for our opening scene.

Audiance feedback

7 evaluation questions

1)      In what ways does your product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real products?

I feel that our product dose follow the traditional genre theme, I say this due to the way that the film have an obvious protagonist who has lost his memory and this is shown clearly in the opening, and we also have a sinister character trying to find out information from him.

The music and locations also use forms and conventions how they both appeal to the genre of the film due to how the location was gloomy and dark and the music was sinister and I feel that it all fitted in well with the film.

•         2) How does your product represent particular social groups?

 I  feel that we did not make our product target any particular audience, in this way we tried to make our target suitable for all people and thus by not targeting a specific type of audience we could make an opening that everyone would enjoy and thus gain maximum appeal.

•         3) What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

  I feel that a media institution such as Columbia pictures would be suitable to distribute our media product... looking at their previous films, such as angels and demons and the da-vinci code and I feel that with our product being similar to these kinds of films, and the way in which it is a mystery thriller involving an artifact that they would have a good line of experience to aid us in the making of the film and for these reasons we feel that Columbia pictures would be a suitable institution to distribute our product.

•         4) Who would be the audience for your product?

I feel that our target audience would be people of around 15+, I have decided this on the basis that the opening starts of the portrayal of the film as quite dark and mysterious, you can see this with the use of blood on the characters t-shirt and  also the violence that is included. I feel this is a reasonable decision due to how there are many 15+ films coming out recently and this way we can still attract a large majority of people to view the film.

•         5) How did you attract/address your audience?

We attracted the audience with the use of sending out surveys 1^st of all to check what type of film that people would be interested in viewing. This also made people interested in the film. Secondly we presented the 1^st draft of our film to the class, this way we gained points from the group in how to improve our opening and from this it allowed us to address the audience’s queries and questions about the opening.

•         6) What have you leant about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

From using the Macs to construct the film opening I have learn to utilize certain technologies for making and editing films, such as final cut express and adobe after effects. With these two programs I feel that I have improved my editing techniques and as a whole the group has utilized them to the best of our ability to finalize our opening.

•         7) Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

 Looking back at the preliminary task I feel that I have learnt that in order to improve a film to the best it can be you must 1stly make sure the music fits in well with the genre of the film thus letting it suit the opening.

Secondly you must make sure that the voicing is clear and if not make sure that you make suitable re-dubs.

Finally instead of just having good acting you also need good editing in order to draw the audience in, by having good editing effects you can make the film seems more enjoyable and believable for the audience.

With these in mind I feel that we as a group and me personally have progressed since the beginning of the project.

Comparison between the first cut and the final cut

1st cut:

Final cut: 

So throught the project some changed were obviously needed,

While watching the 1st cut you can see that the music is different (and although I feel it dose fit in with the whole genre of the film this was later taken out due to us realising that it was not copyright free music).

Also the sound quality was very poor and difficult to hear yet we later aquired a mic and re-dubbed over the voices making them clearer and making them able to be fitted in at other parts of the film.

We felt tht we could cut out the "demonic roar" when he goes out to reach the artifact as feedback form the class when we presented it made us realise that it didnt fit in with the rest of the film and this way we could also add the use of inigma to make the audiance more curious as to what happend to him after he grabs the artifact.

We decided to keep in the smoke text for the credits as once again we felt this went well with the genre of the film, however to make it seem less like a trailer and more like a acctual film opening we decided to split up the text and put it between clips, this way the audiance would be kept interested and not just have to read 30 seconds of text at once.

And finally we added in a second "ignotus" font at the end of the opening, this was due to how, when presenting it to the class we recieved feedback that it was hard to read the "smokey ignotus" and so we added in a second more clearer sign of it, however we still kept the smokey ignotus as we felt it went well with the rest of the smoke text.

So that was the differences between the 1st and final cut of the opening, we hope that the changes were benifital and in all improved the opening.

Ignotus opening 4th cut

With this cut we have changed the credits around to make it seem less like a trailer and more like a film opening.
With this we have nearly prefected our opening and have just one final bit to change where we need to re-do over annas's voice where he gets 'slapped' by robbert.
Hopefully after we have added in the voice we would have fully finished the opening.

3rd version of opening

This si the third version of our film opening.

What differs between the 2nd opening and 3rd opening is we have modified the voices and given a echo effect and added in extra voices.

Audiance feedback from the class

Two weeks before the final deadline we gave a viewing to the calss to find out what we could improve and change.
the feedback we recieved was very positive and it seemed that people were happy with the progress we had made so far.
The film that they were shown was the second cut of our opening.
The suggestions that they gace us were that we needed to improve on the audio and sound effects, along with different background movie.

Script for film opening

Notes:

 Italic writing is voices

• * indicates sound
• inside brackets indicates text on screen (smoke effect) (clearer text)

Script:

Scene 1:

(Outside from persons view, unfocused)

*Heavy Breathing

Protagonist looks down at hand: noticing symbols on it before falling unconscious.

• Fades to black

*Theme music starts

1^st set of credits:

(Director : sachin Ishmael)

• Voice emitting throughout darkness: “Wake up, tell me now!”

• Protagonist opens eyes and those closes again – falling in and out of reality.

2^nd set of credits:

*Heavy breathing starts up again

(Produced by)

“Im sorry, I don’t know what you want”

(Nathan Larkin)

“Just try and remember!”

  Scene 2:

• Dark room comes into focus.
• Protagonist registers images of artefact

Antagonist: “Where did you find the artefact?”

• Protagonist once again looks at symbol covered hand
• Antagonist slams hand down on table

Antagonist: “Tell me! Now!”

Protagonist: I cant remember everything, everything is a blur”

Antagonist: “TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!”

3^rd set of credits:

(sound editor)

(Robert Kerr)

Protagonist: “the last thing I remember was”

• Screen changes to artefact and protagonist reaching out for it.

4^th set of credits:

(Starring)

*heavy breathing starts again

(Robert Kerr)

Antagonist: “Damn it! Just tell me!”

(Annas Elfarsi)

Scene 3:

• Looking from antagonists eyes onto sub-unconscious protagonist

 Protagonist: “Look please, I really don’t know what you want”

• Antagonist slaps protagonist

Antagonist: “Just try and remember!”

*heavy breathing as theme music starts to fade

5^th set of credits:

(Ignotus)

(Ignotus)

2nd draft of our opening

This is the second draft of our opening, some issues we adressed was the credits of the opening, making them easire to read, we also changed the music, re-arraged the clips and and tried to voice over the sound.

1st draft of the film that we uploaded to youtube

This was the first draft of our opening, obviously there was some changes neede but on the whole for a first draft we were quite happy with the results.

Survey results

1) what is your favorite genre of film:
horror : 2
comedy: 3
thriller: 3
action: 2

2) Would you like the theme tune to play during the opening credits?
100% : Yes
0%: No

3) Would you like the opening credits to play first and then the movie start or have the movie playing whilst the opening credits are popping up?

Credits First		40.0%	4
Movie and credits together		60.0%	6

credits first : 4
movie and credits together : 6

4) Would you prefer the credits to follow the shape and colour scheme of the movie?
yes: 8
no: 2

5)  Do you like when the opening shot is an Aerial shot of the city/town/setting?
yes: 6
no:4

6) Would you prefer the introduction to the movie to keep you guessing?
yes: 8
no: 2


7) Would you prefer diegetic or non-diegetic sounds for the opening scene?
digetic: 1
non digetic: 4
both: 5


8) Do you like long opening scenes or when events progress quickly?
lond opening scenes: 4
progressing quickly: 6


9) Do you like it when text pops up to show the name of the place and time of day?
yes: 9
no: 1

10) do you prefer the credits to simply pop up ir perform some sort of animation as it appears on the screen?
simply appear: 1
animated credits: 9

Survey

1.        What is your favourite genre?

..................................................

2.        Would you like the theme tune to play in the opening credits?

Yes          No

3.        Would you like the opening credits to play first and then the movie start or have the movie playing whilst the opening credits are popping up?

Credits first          

Movie and credits together

4.        Do you prefer the credits follow the colour scheme and shape of the movie?

Yes          No

5.        Do you like when the opening shot is an Aerial shot of the city/town/setting?

Yes          No

6.        Would you prefer the introduction to the movie keeps you guessing?

Yes          No

7.        Do you preferdiegetic or non-diegetic sounds for the opening scene?

Non-diegetic

Diegetic

Both

8.        Do you like long opening scenes or when events progress quickly?

Long opening scenes

Progressing quickly

9.        Do you like it when text pops up to show the name of the place and time of day?

Yes          No

10.     Do you prefer the credits to simply pop up or perform some sort on animation as it appears on the screen?

Simply appear

Treatment

Film Opening Treatment

The film will show how a group of archeologists find an artifact that they have been researching for decades and have gone to look for it after tracking down the location and attempting to take it and study it further. The protagonist is part of the group of archeologists and he is with them as they discover the exact whereabouts of the artifact. The protagonist reaches out to take it but then wakes up tied to a chair with blood stains on his clothes and a bright light on his face. He is being interrogated by another man but he can’t see his face, only his shoes. He is also being forced to look at pictures of the artifact and being made to remember the events leading up to the discovery of the artifact. The majority of the film will be shown through the flashbacks the protagonist has in order to retrace his steps and find out the mysterious power the artifact holds.

Production scheduling

Production scheduling:

We met every Monday, Thursday and Friday for an hour and a half during our media lessons.

That will total to at least four and a half hours of planning, filming and editing.

We also organised to have skype meeting for one hour every Friday evening adding the time to five and a half hours a week, and also we would have production meetings every Thursday during our study period for fifty minutes.

In total that meant that we was working on our coursework for six hours and twenty minutes every week.

We also later on made a video of how we would organise our production meetings, so here it is:

Mood board

Ideas For The Artefact

We discussed different shapes of what the artefact would look like and if there would be any writing on it or symbols. We would like it to be placed on a type of plaque of some sort to show it’s special.

 

Ideas For Costume

 

Ideas For Locations

We were thinking of having a white room to make the protagonist look crazy after coming into contact with the artefact or just a normal interrogation with a dark room and a bright light shining onto the protagonist’s face.




Mood board video

Digital Storyboard

At the start of the opening we will find the protagonist waking up to find himself captured and in an interigation scenario.




The character should have a beaten look to him and will be portrayed through a blood stained t-shirt and bruises to signify a struggle/ confrontation.



We will use the credits to split up the scenes in order to make it seem like time is skipping in order to add a scense of enigma to the opening.



It can them be seen that the interrigator is becoming annoyed and violent due to the lack of infomation avaliable to him.


The character will start being forced to look at pictures of the object, in order to try and jolt his memory for the interrigator to get more infomation out of him.

 

the credits will then once again split up the action of the opening



there will then be a flashback where the character starts to rember obtaining the artifact but suddenly his mind going blank leaving mystery behind the idea of what happend after he obtained it



there will then be more credits to symbolise the sudden forgetting of events

 

the interrigator will then continue to attack the protagonist, which here shows how important it is for him to get the infomation he needs.

 

Finally as the opening is comming to an end, the title of the film will be shown.

Production equipment list

This is the equipment we will use while making our opening scene:
1) Sony Ericsson digital camera (can also video record):
We used this to film and take pictures during filming and during planning. All videos were already put into an AV format.

2) Adobe After Effects:
Using to edit special effects.

3) Final Cut Express:
Using to edit the opening scene and rearrange clips.

4) Tripod:
To hold up the camera when needed.

5) Voice Recorder:
We plan to mute all the clips and redo the audio to have a better effect and this way you only hear the voices. it will be clearer and there will be no background noise.

6) White Board for plans and meetings:
We want a place to have meetings with chairs and a whiteboard and a computer if needed.

7) Food colouring (used for blood on the main characters shirt)

Props:
1) Chair (Interrogation scene):
This chair will be used to place the main character during interrogation.

2) Egyptian Pyramid:
Using as a pretend 'mysterious artefact'.

3) Bright light:
To make the interrogation scene more believable.

4) Pictures of artefact:
We want the interrogater to be shown as forcing the main character to remember previous events by looking at pictures of the 'mysterious artefact'.

5) Small Table:
To place the pictures and pyramid on.

6) Dark coloured blankets:
To cover up as many noticable things as possible to make the room look as dark as possible.

Production meetings (based on second treatment)

Ok so here is the recordings for our production meeting that we had after we came up with a second treatment for our opening.
Please not that the sound quality isnt that great and so you mite want to turn your volume up


location:

Actors:

Costume:

Sound:

Credits:

Editing/Special effects: 

Why Annas was not in any of the second meetings:



Preliminary Task

At the start of this project we were asked to complete a preliminary task. In this preliminary task we had to include such camera techniques as 'shot/reverse shot', '180 degree rule' and 'match on action'. We also had to include someone walking into a room, talking to someone and walking back out.

We decided to use a crime thriller for our preliminary task and so this way it can slightly link in with our film idea due to the use of detectives.

The task starred me and Robert acting out the scene.

We tried to add a sense of enigma to the task so that way, like how were hoping our film will be, it will make the viewers curious about what is going on. We done this by not specifically giving details of the task that “went wrong” and this way it can make the viewers curious.

 

Preliminary task script:

*= directions

Italics: speech

*walks through entrance

*Enters room with Robert waiting

*sits down opposite Robert

Nathan : hello boss

Robert: Nathan, welcome

Nathan: Im sorry but… there were complications with the job… it didn’t, exactly go to plan

*Robert sighs

Robert: Nathan, Nathan, Nathan. In this organisation, we do not tolerate failure!

*pause

Robert: do you understand?

Nathan: Im sorry, it wont happen again! I promise you!

*Robert leans forward

Robert: I know you wont, NOW GET OUT!

Nathan: Yes sir

*gets up and leaves





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