Post Production

When we started the final part of our production sequence, we needed to start editing the shots we had taken. This required us to re-establish ourselves with such programs as, Final Cut Pro and Final Cut server.

We needed to load up our shots from the server, just like with our prelim task, and to do this we ‘checked’ out the shots from the server and opened them on Final Cut Pro. In Final Cut Pro we started to select the shots and make them into sub clips, which would be most useful for us in our thriller sequence and then, slowly but surely, started to put the shots together to make the first part of our thriller.

Considering the complicity of the thriller sequence we needed to create log bins for certain shots, for example we had one bin for point of view shots and another for the killers’ shots. We needed to find the ‘flow’ of our thriller, on a basic level it was going to fragmented and quite quick to capture the intensity and the panic of the moment.

It took awhile for us to get acquainted with the programs, like I previously stated, it was simply a matter of time until we managed to get to work like usual. After we had few lessons we can now see how the sequence should play out.

Considering how the prelim task was created the thriller sequence was a lot more complicated. The prelim task simply consisted of a few shots from different angles which were cut into a video which told the story very simply. I cannot stress how simple the prelim task was compared to the thriller sequence.

We had no non digenetic sound, no special effects, no truly complex shots were taken and there was no deeper meaning to the story either. With the thriller however, we were using complicated Point of view shots and different angled shots. We have incorporated how our actor climbed up on hill and down another yet they were not the same hill but the way we cut the shots together made them seem to be the same hill.

Even though there were no lighting features we did have to think about how the light of the sun changed during the day and how we needed to incorporate the passing of time correctly in the sequence. We have also begun to use after effects to have the same person appear in one shot. The complexity of the thriller sequence compared to the prelim task is immense.

As we have moved on with the post-production we have come deadly close to finishing. To improve the jagged and fast paced quality of the sequence we have begun using whip pans from the running sequences of the dying man to the slow paced walking killer.

The whip pans are PoV shots we took during the shooting days with trees speeding by from left to right or vice versa. As we needed to make the running sequences appear as volatile as possible we had increased the speed of some of the shots from 100% (normal speed) to about 110% or even 200% in some PoV shots. We also reversed the play motion of some of the PoV shots so that it looks like the trees are going from right to left rather than left to right, or vice versa.

When we had finished with the placing the shots together we had to begin working with sound. This meant listening to the sequence and deleting any sound files which had unwanted sound within them, such as wind noise or speaking.

However, even though that sounds simple enough we did experience a few issues as every time we deleted a part of the sound there would be a few rogue film sequences which would jump back on the time line and become out of place. Even though the job was tedious and time wasting we finally managed to move past it.

We then found ourselves with fitting music to the sequence and we found very useful pieces of music on Soundtrack Pro which supported the visual sequence with even more tension and impact. After we deleted the sounds which did have people speaking within it, or so on, we placed copies of other sound files from our original shooting into the empty spaces and we then found that we had finished with the sound.

At this time we had two things left to do, titles and After Effects. We took care of the titles first. With the titles we created black title cards with Final Cut Pro and placed two layers of text onto it. We used two layers of text so that we could have a smaller font for the less important text, for example “…presents” or “A…film”. We did this so that the important text stood out. “L I O N S G A T E presents” for example (Look at the photo below for visual example). The black background was used to create a more significant impact and not detract from the action of the film sequence.
With After Effects we needed to create the illusion that the same person was actually two people so we used the cutting tool to cut the two shots together and then the feathering tool and blending tool to blend the sky in the background together to make it appear it was all taking place at the same time and place.

Effectiveness of the pre-production

Through out the planning process I thought the group and I had control over what would be a quick few hours of shooting in a forest which then could be turned into a thriller sequence. However, it turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had assumed. Having developed a scripted list of shots as well as a storyboard we thought this would be enough to not worry about the actual shooting, which turned out to be very naïve of us. In any case, being director I had to personally make sure that the scripted list of shots was what I wanted it to be and that the storyboard was accurate. This did on some events end up with me doing parts of the storyboard, as well as doing the entire scripted list of shots by myself. After the pre-production I learned that if I was ever going to actually make a movie I would have to be able to work with a team more effectively unless I wanted to do the entire thing myself, but then again I always liked doing things my way.

Account of props and costumes required

Our use of props and costumes, though limited, provided a substantial backing to support the realism of the situation. The costumes in question weren’t exceedingly dramatic, it was only a collection of dark jumpers, t-shirts and jeans, so that the actor could be see in the forest. However, we did use a knife in the sequence and we needed to be sure that the knife we used communicated the right message to the audience. We had a selection of kitchen knives, hunter knives and Arabian knives.
The kitchen knives communicated the message that the killer simply is striking out at the victim with anything they can get their hands on. The killer would have probably gotten the knife while attacking the victim at their own home.
The Arabian knives communicated the message that the killer is a ritualistic killer who kills for a reason where as the psycho killer with a kitchen knife might not have a reason.
The hunting knives, which were the ones we decided to use, communicated that the killer has a clear and distinct purpose for killing the victim. Be it for game or for thrill the killer is hunting his/her prey.

Casting requirements

We had planned to have two characters in our thriller, one as the main character and the other as a body double. However, due to complications they both withdrew from the production on the last second. This is why we, in a hurried rush, sought out any actor to play the role of the doppelganger and the victim for our shoot. With an excessive amount of luck we found Dan Ash, who was not only an available student for our shoot but was also a drama student. This turned out to be very useful as a lot of the scenes depend on the seriousness of the situation being communicated as effectively as possible to the audience; Dan Ash’s performance aided this communication.

Account of location requirements

We shot our entire sequence on the Hurtwood viewpoint, which was quite useful as the viewpoint is only 5 minutes away from our school. As for finding viewpoint, several teachers had recommended that we should shoot there because of the viewpoints beautiful view, heavy forest, and proximity to the school. The forest in question provided a several locations to shoot our thriller, not only did the forest have a vast amount of heavy trees but also had an extensive collection of intense bushes.
As we came up with the location to shoot our sequence just before we actually started shooting we did not have time to go and investigate the area before hand. So we were in a sense going into the filming blind. Without any prior knowledge about the area we would have to make it up as we went along.
Due to the distance the viewpoint was from the school it was impossible to have an artificial light used to help create atmosphere, because of this we had to rely on sun light for the entire production. As we were shooting in the day time this was not really an issue expect for the times when we were shooting the actor in a very heavy bush which restricted the light from entering into it. Another issue with using sunlight is the inconsistence of the light. There were a few shots that we had to film exceedingly quickly as the difference in light could cause incongruities in the thriller sequence.

Shooting Day

A few days before our actual shoot I thought we had most of our things organised, we had located props, actors/actresses, make up, and location. However as soon as we started our shoot day we ran into a few problems. We started off our shooting day without a main actor for our thriller sequence. Our previous choices had informed us that they would be unable to be in the thriller the day before the actual shoot. So in a hurried fashion we found an actor. Luckily, it had only taken an hour to find an actor and we were able to continue with the shoot. We had decided to shoot our sequence in Lithe hill. However, on the last second we decided to shoot in the woods nearby, which meant we would waste less time getting to the location and more on shooting. Other than that though we were good to go.
We had decided that we would film the actor chasing ‘himself’ from the right of the screen to the left. This would make the audience feel uncomfortable about the sequence as we usually witness movement in movies from the right to the left. This meant we needed to film all the shots twice, once with the chaser running and then with the victim running. However, as the chaser and victim were the same person we filmed all of the chaser shots first and then changed the chasers clothing so he looked like the victim with blood sprayed on him and then redid the shots so we could edit the shots into a horrific sequence of cat and mouse between a dying man and his doppelganger.
We began with a series of pans which shot the ‘chasers’ feet, then legs, then torso, and eventually his hooded head. We film some shots with the camera in our hands and not a fixed position to make the shot look shaky. We did this so that shot can communicate the distress and panic of the situation. After the pan shots we moved onto a few close ups of the actor emerging from a heavy bush and walking coolly past the camera. We took two shots from this location. The first was just a simple shot. However, with the second shot we shook the camera on the tripod to keep the distressed and panicky feel to the sequence intact. Before we started shooting again after lunch it began to rain for a short while. However, luckily it ended with a short amount of time but if it hadn’t we might have lost a quite large amount of time due to the weather conditions.
We had decided to set the sequence in a forest in England, and as it was winter when we shot the sequence we had the good fortune of having a forest with a very gloomy and grey mood to it to shoot in. This meant we could relate the mood of the forest to the actual shot making the mise en scene ever more interesting. Nevertheless, being able to manoeuvre through the forest was quite difficult, especially while filming.
We decided to use mostly dark clothing for our actor to wear. The reason was mainly to have him very visible in comparison with the dim background. We used a black t-shirt, dark grey sweater, and black jeans. The clothes also translated the darkness of the event taking place which was also useful.
Though our actor was picked at the last second he is a drama student so he knew what he was doing in any case. As for appearance the actor had full control of what he wished to look like so fortunately he was able to not only act like a stone cold killer but also a panicking victim.
We had to use natural lighting due to the location in which we were shooting. For most of the shooting this was not an issue. However, once in awhile the sun would appear from the clouds and make some shots look inconsistent with others simply due to lighting. Nonetheless, this wasn’t a major issue so we managed to barrel through it.
We are going to record our sound in the post-production so I cannot discuss sound issues at this time.
In the production I managed to involve myself as thoroughly as possible in the actual setting and shooting of shots. As it was my thriller sequence we were working with, a lot of the shooting required me to see where each shot would be placed in the overall sequence. The rest of my group were all given time to use the camera for their own imaginative desires.
As a team I found that we worked quite well. There was no one in particular which influenced the group in a negative way, and none of the members provided a negative energy which brought the rest of the group down. However, sometimes I did get a feeling that I was pulling more than my own weight. Yet, as I am quite accustomed to do so I never really bothered by it.
By the end of the day I was really happy with the work we had done. The footage we had captured will provide a profusion of materials to work into a thriller sequence we can be proud of. Even though the storyboard requirements did change in some aspects I am also pleased about how close the shots actually were to the original idea. The only major difference between the storyboards and the captured shots was the ending. We had originally intended to have the victim killed in a pov shot. However, we changed the ending so that there is more of a climax with both the victims face together with the chasers face being in the same shot before the chaser kills the victim.
Even though we started off on a very bad note, we managed to turn it all around and accomplish our goal for the day. We managed to capture good footage which will enable us to produce a excellent thriller sequence.