Group: Titles

Purpose of titles:

• As we were having three parallel lines of action, we decided a good way to cut between them would be using the titles.
• In order to do this our titles would need to be on their own frame - i.e. not integrated into shots
• A black background would be best suited for our intro, as any light colours would not carry the mood from one scene to another, due to the dark colour scheme we are using
• Using the titles as a form of connecting the scenes also avoids the change in lighting in the lines of action being noticeably different, which would lose atmospheric value

Order of titles:
Director
Lead actor
Secondary actor
Director of Photography
Titles Designer
Editor
Music
Director
Film Title


Positioning of text on the frames:

We watched multiple openings, and for a wider range of ideas, wed did not limit the genre of film to horror, as we were only looking at the titles. We also looked at images of opening titles.

Before we watched any openings, we already knew that we had to decide between animated titles and still titles.

Although animated titles added to the atmosphere and tension by techniques conveying iconography such as blood splatters, due to our intended purpose of the titles we needed still titles.

Although we had decided that our titles wouldn't be animated, we had to decide whether or not we had pictures with the titles

Some films had pictures that were iconic of the genre, and some had stills taken from the film. We agreed that pictures would ruin the bland look we were going for with our titles.


We found that small text used with big text was effective, as emphasis was created on the larger text, and preserved atmosphere

The next thing we noticed was the colour of the titles.
We found that a black background with white titles was the most common, and most effective for an opening.
Certain openings had this format, but with one word or phrase in a different colour (also light to stand out from the background)
This was a good technique, as it (literally) highlighted points of desired attention.
However, we found that keeping al of the text one colour was better as we wanted the titles to be bland.

 

Most films had large, centred titles.
We did not want the titles to take up the whole frame, however, we did want to use the small and large title technique.

Titles that take up the whole frame can easily take away an audience's focus.
A good technique we saw was having the titles off-centre.

We have decided that our titles will be:

• Off centre (To the left)
• White with a black background
• A plain yet iconic font
• Simple
• Subtle

Here is a rough design of what we want our titles to look like (font sourced from MyFonts.com, everything else is original)

HS - Shoot reflection - 16/01/16

When and where was the shoot?

Date: 16th January 2016
Location: Southborough common.

What scenes were you focusing on?

We focused on the final shots of the sequence for example the lead protagonist dying and the final shots of him running away.

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?

I was the leading camera operator, and was responsible for operating the camera and tripod in the majority of the shots we filmed. I also helped to direct some of the shots and set up the track and other equipment.

To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?

Although we brought the storyboards along, we did not use them particularly because we had a strong idea of what we wanted the shots to look like.

What do you think worked particularly well? (+ visual evidence)

We got some very good close up shots of the protagonist's face and some shots with some very good lighting.

What were the challenges of this particular shoot? (+visual evidence)

The shoot was very muddy as we filmed after a period of rainy weather. This made is very slippery and put us and the equipment at risk of being damaged.

How will you use this experience to inform your next shoot?

We will make sure we only film in suitable conditions to make our shoot easier and let us focus on creating better shots instead of having to combat with the conditions.

EC: Editing - Progress

Steps taken in lesson

• We saved the shots we did on the shoot from the SD card to the computer
• We cut the shots down to their maximum length
• We implemented the shots into editing software
• We made a rough cut of the footage we had
• We colour graded some shots in order to establish continuity (with other colour graded shots)
• We sourced sound effects and background noises/music (source: www.freesound.org)
• We experimented with the cutting rate
• Edited the lightness/ contrast
• Researched title styles and compared them to our footage
• We experimented with a prototype font for titles with different colours and background colours

Challenges

• Continuity editing was challenging for the variety of shots we had

• Matching the light, contrast and colour grading to the other shots was fairly challenging due to the slightly different lighting that the shots were filmed in (one shot was filmed earlier in the day/ was brighter)

What I need to do next

• The titles need to be fully planned out and finished
• All of the shots need to be colour graded
• We need to implement all audio

HS - Editing Progress

Steps taken in lesson:

• Began to cut in various places to alter the cutting rate to create continuity.
• Placed shots in timeline/ cut the shots down
• Added in special effects and colour effects.
• Put the shots in order/ edited in order to establish continuity with other shots
• Created a missing person poster, focusing on creating a realistic looking poster through using effective media texts.
• Edited the lightness/ contrast
• Placed diegetic SFX/ non- diegetic Soundtrack (found on www.freesound.org) over footage onto the audio timeline/ edited volume and balance

Challenges:

• As we filmed on different days, the colour and lighting of some of the shots is different so we needed to colour grade in order to make the scenes look realistic and promote continuity.

What I need to do next:

• Create and insert the titles.
• Some colour grading/ lightness and contrast still necessary in order to make all of the shots fit in/ establish continuity
• Add in more sound effects.
• Get all of our shots into elements and finish our rough cut.

DC: Shoot Reflection

Date: 16/01/16
Location: Southborough Common

On this shoot we focused on the final scenes of the short as one of the cast members wasn't available. The final scenes only need one cast member who was present so we were able to film those scenes. We also filmed several establishing shots that can be used in the short to reveal the location to the audience.

My individual contribution in the shoot was to act as the main protagonist and once again set up some of the shots that we had previously planned on our storyboards.

Once again we used the shot framing from our storyboard (Close up, long shot etc.) however, due to changes since we storyboarded we did deviate away from the storyboards during a few of the shots filmed due to unavoidable changes in the location since we drew up the storyboards.

I believe that the shots we filmed were all of a very high quality and the framing in our shots was particularly good (using the location itself to frame shots proved very effective, e.g, trees and bushes at the location)

The challenges of the shoot included the fact that several people were walking through the area at the time of filming. Something that disrupted the theme of isolation. This meant that filming took slightly longer than necessary as we had to keep stopping to allow people to walk through the location.

HS - 09/01/16 - Film shoot refelction

When and where was the shoot?

Date: 9th January 2016
Location: Southborough common.

What scenes were you focusing on?

We focused on the running/chase scenes using the track and the scenes featuring the girl as this date was a convenient time for her to film.

What was your individual contribution to the shoot?

I was the leading camera operator, and was responsible for operating the camera and tripod in the majority of the shots we filmed. I also helped to direct some of the shots and set up the track and other equipment.

To what extent did your storyboard affect your use of camera and framing?

We brought the storyboards with us on the shoot to allow us to frame and set-up our shots accurately. So they significantly affected our use of framing and camera.

What do you think worked particularly well? (+ visual evidence)

 I believe our tracking shots worked particularly well, especially the shots featuring the little girl. They are very effective at creating tension and they fit well into our narrative and vary the types of shots used.

What were the challenges of this particular shoot? (+visual evidence)

The shoot was very muddy as we filmed after a period of rainy weather. This made is very slippery and put us and the equipment at risk of being damaged.

How will you use this experience to inform your next shoot?

We will make sure we only film in suitable conditions to make our shoot easier and let us focus on creating better shots instead of having to combat with the conditions.

EC: Reflection on shoot

My Role:

• I brought a camera and took pictures for the risk assessment
• I came up with shot ideas and helped set up the framing for them
• I was in some scenes as a secondary actor

What went well:

• Most of our shots came out looking exactly how we wanted
• The location supplied a good variety of terrain and background
• We had picked a good time of day for lighting, as it was the darkness we wanted and had planned

What didn't go well:

• The lighting changed quickly throughout our filming, and so we had to colour grade some shots in editing for them to match up with the others
• Although the time of day was good in the sense that the lighting was perfect, there was little daylight hours and so we didn't complete all of our shots

What to do next time:

• Go to the location in the morning and plan in extreme detail each shot, so we can film quickly and efficiently later in the day when time is limited