Editing our final sequence

Editng our title sequence

I was so lucky to be back from South Africa in time for the editing afer being stuck there for so long. In order to make up for my time away I tried to get very invloved in the editing process. 

Otto already had experience in editing and he helped teach me how to get efficient with the editing tools. Bea kind of took the role of director giving her opinion and direction of how our editing looked. Otto acted as a tutor for Mia and I and helped us learn how to use everything.

I had experience with editing from the previous editing workshops so I was able to get stuck in straight away as I knew my way around the bin and rushes. First we changed the names of some of the rushes so they were easily found for when we needed them. Otto taught me shortcuts for certain tools like to cut clips you could use comd. c on the Macbook Pro. I also learned how to stretch the timeline to be more accurate when cutting and moving clips together. This esspecially helped when it came to lining up some of the shots to the beat of the music.  

At the start of the sequence I cut the clips of the romantic scene and the exorcism one quite close together so the editing was relatively fast paced which helps the audience get sucked into the narrative straight away. Whereas right at the end I put the longer shots of the girls all together which creates a sense of suspension that works well with the sudden cut to the last shot of the girl looking terrified.

Our final sequence differed quite a lot to our original shot by shot and story board because we had to work with the material we could obtain from the shoot day and equally as we experiemented with the editing we found that some things didn't work well such as the 'I love you' we were planning to have at the end didn't look right and we couldn't get the sound to how we had pictured it so we adapted our plan. We also took out the flicker of shots because Tom and Adam suggested that it would make it look too much like a trailer and we wanted to avoid that and stick to the brief of an opening title sequence. I think I still would have liked to add the flicker of lots of shots really quickly editied together becuase it would have provided a challenge that I would have liked to undertake but that isn't how things turned out and I am still very happy with how it turned out.

When it came to the titles I wanted something simple that didn't distract from the actual sequence. For the title of the film I picked a font that resembles that of an old fashioned cinema from the 80s to make that connection to the time our sequence is set in. I never placed any of the titles in the centre apart from the 'directed by tom moore' and the title of the film because I as mentioned I didn't want to distract from the narrative, so the only ones that went in the centre were the important ones. We all agreed that it would be best to put the titles in any place that had empty space in so they didn't interfere. 

Research into titles

The order and placement of titles:

Opening film credits order and how we plan to follow it:

Production Company presents (distributer) - Midnight pictures presents

a production company production - a russel company producion

a filmmaker film - a Tom Moore film

lead cast - Saskia Davis and Gracie Roberts

supporting cast - Bobbie Walton, Zoe Montaldo and Nicholas Cross

casting director - Adam Calow and Ben Elkinton

music composer - Rose Jovanovich

costume designer - Aimee Cooper

editors - Beth Parker

production designer - Olijtde Rughani

director of photography - Caleb Louise

executive producer - Emma Jackson

producer - Necati Yesilcay

writers - Ian Carter

director - Tom Moore

film title - In the way

Me Before You

Me Before You is a roamnce drama so I thought that it would be a good idea to look at how they present their credits. At the start they have a blank green screen that has the production company titles on it, there is also a voice over. I understand that the blank screen draws more attention to the production company but I prefer it when they are subtly in the corner. I really like the voice over and at first we wanted there to be a voice over at the end that says 'I love you' but it didn't work when we put it together because of how the original shot turned out. It then cuts to scenes of two characters in bed talking with music in the background. The rest of the credits are in the lower or upper corners of the screen in subtle writing that doesn't distract from what is going on in the scene. I really like this idea because I don't want the audience to focus on the titles but more on the relationship of the characters on the screen so they can get a taste of what the atmosphere of the film is going to be.

Fear (1996)

Fear has a plain black screen for the production companies which is followed quickly by the title of the film. I don't really like how quickly it comes in so for our project I would prefer to have the title later on in the film. The scene is a pan of a landscape and city with the credits in the corner of the screen in clear white text. I like that it is simple and easy to read so the audience doesn't have to try figure out what they are saying. Despite the titles taking up a large amount of the screen the audience member is still able to see what is going on and they don't distract from the colour and music of the scene which is what builds the atmosphere and mood. In our project we decided that we want the action to build up to a climax before the title comes in whereas in 'fear' the action of the running builds the atmosphere and then drops when it cuts to the kitchen. I would definatley prefer to have smaller credits in a clearer text.

Saul and Elaine Bass

The life and work of Saul and Elaine Bass

• "In a sense all modern opening title sequences that introduce the mood or theme of a film are a legacy of the Basses' work"

• "I want to make beautiful things, even if nobody cares, as opposed to ugly things. That's my intent."

• Saul Bass was born May 8th 1920 and died April 25th 1966 aged 75 from non-Hodgkin's lymohoma.

• He was an American graphic designer and an Oscar-winning filmmaker. 

• He mainly designed film posters, logos and opening title sequences of films.

• Bass worked with some of the most famous filmmakers of all time including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger and Stanley Kubrick to name a few.

• Saul started his career in Hollywood in the 1940s designing print adverts for films, and then moved on to opening title sewuences when he impressed Preminger with his work.

• Saul takes an abstract approach to his opening title seuqences making them engaging and exciting to thne audience. In the opening to "the man with the golden arm" he focused on the arm of a paper cut out man to relate to the films theme of heroin addiction. It was highly successful and earned him a large amount of attention that propelled him into the rest of his career.

• Bass described his main goal form his work to be trying "to reach for a simple, visual phrase that tells you what the picture is all about and evokes the esscence of the story". He wanted the audience to see familiar parts of their world in an unfamiliar way.

• In 1955 Elain came to work with him on the title sequence to "Sparticus" and in 1961 they married which was the start of 30 years of close collaboration together.

• In the 1980s to the 1990s the Basses moved away from the optical techniques that saul had previously developed to the use of computerised effect feauturing new innovative methods of production.

• The majority of their opening title sequences and film posters are animated and visually stimulating with simplified, symbolic designs that comunicate the key elements of the film.

• During the 60s he was asked to expand to not only opening sequences but also storyboards and kew scenes. For "west side story" Bass filmed the prologue, storyboarded the opening dance sequence and created the ending title sequence.

• Bass introduced using montages of fast cuts and tight framing on the film "vertigo" to create violent, bloody murder scenes as an impressionistic and nearly bloodless scene. Hitchcokc was concerned that audience members wouldn't respond well to the extremely stylised scene. In the end it was given the ok and was recieved well by the public.

Saul and Elaine Bass created the opening title sequence to 'Cape Fear'

Martin Scorsese directed Cape Fear and is said to have a great admiration for Saul Bass, according to the article on Art of the Title saying “Before I ever met Saul Bass, before we worked together, he was a legend in my eyes”. Saul and Elain Bass created the title sequence for Cape Fear and used it to set the atmosphere for the rest of the film through the colour palette and ambiguous, ominous visuals. The actual titles are in a font that makes them jagged and wavy to match the rippling water in the background. They are easy to read due to the bold white colour against the darkness behind. The words are rarely in the centre of the screen until the end of the sequence where they are positioned more in the centre for the more 'important' names. The title 'cape fear' is only in the same font size as the rest of the titles which creates a sense of unease as if there is something dangerous approaching but it isn't immediatley obvious. The dark colours and tint of red and blues create a sinister tone with red and black connoting death or violence and blue combined with the water suggests somehting later in the film will have an element of water and that whatever and whenever this occurs the audience would be apprehensive because it has been suggested that it could be a warning of something happening.

Art of the Title says that the titles blend symbols and metaphors relating to the films main themes:

• liquid — as a physical setting and a moral quicksand
• eyes and eye-lines — surveillance, judgement, but also human connection
• the colour red or blood — rage, sacrifice, and collateral damage, and
• predatory alpha behaviour — manifested as a hawk in the sequence, and as Cady in the film.

The above bullet points are taken straight from the article on Art of the Title.

Websites used for research: 

The Title Design of Saul and Elaine Bass — Art of the Title

Saul Bass - Wikipedia

cape fear - art of the title

Shoot day reflection

 The group made an pretend interview video to answer some reflection questions on the shoot day:

Shoot Day

For the shoot day I was stranded in South Africa with an e.coli related illness so I was forced to miss it which I was devistated about. I was able to face time the group which made me feel more included and they all took loads of pictures to document the day which helped make me feel like I was progressing through the day with them. 

We did however plan the shoot day before I went to South Africa and it looked like this:

March 3rd

9am: arrive at Beatrice Webb boarding house, set up the fort in the common room - cast needed: Saskia and Gracie

10am - 12:30pm: Film the romantic scenes in the fort

12:30 - 1:30pm: lunch

1:30: set up for exorcism - places crosses around, ensure bed is in correct position etc

2:00pm: film exorcism scenes

Aim to finish before or by 6pm

We all stayed in contact throughout the whole day and the group were sending me updates about what was going on. Mia told us that she made the fort the night before so that all that needed to be done was positioning and adding the details such as fairy lights etc. This made the day run more smoothly with one less thing to worry about.

From the footage that I saw when I got back and from the many photos I had recieved I think we were able to capture our image that we wanted quite successfully. Bea told me that they finished ahead of schedule and had time to take more unplanned experimental shots so we had more material to edit with so I take it that things went well with little issues.

I decided that I would focus my contribution in the editing stage and do as much as I could there which I hope my group felt that I achieve this. From what I could see I think my gorup worked very well together as they were so efficient. I learned that when filming it is possible to incorporate people who aren't even in the country! And that the preparation is vital because me not being able to be there was an unexpected hurdle and so my group will have relied heavily on the previous planning we had done.

The technology/hardware they used included:

Black Magic 4K mini Ursa camera with a DZO film pictor zoom lens of 20mm-55mm and 50mm-125mm. It had a Lexar Pro memory card and they used a Viten tripod. They decided not to use the Sennheiser Shotgun mic because everything was inside so it was possible to get the set silent ready to film.

Below are some of the many pictures and videos my group took - they appeared to have lots of fun and I am so sad to have missed it but I know that I will get other opportunities in the future.

Comfirmed cast list

All our cast members have now been confirmed for our shoot date on the 3rd of March

We have come up with names for our characters even though the audio is muted throughout. Religious girl is called Evelyn and conservative girl is named Jane.

Priest - Nick Larkin (music teacher)

                                                 

Dad  - Adam Grant (media teacher)

Mum - Nicola Jones (english teacher)

Jane (conservative girl) - Gracie Lupton (student)

Evelyn (religious girl) - Saskia Pattinson (student)

Research into similar genre conventions and films to the title sequence we plan to make

Genre Conventions and Similar Films

The film we want to make is a romance drama so it will of course have conventions of both genres woven through it. Concentions of films cover a large variety of different things from camera, editing, sound and mise en scene such as costume, lighting, casting/character etc

Most romance dramas follow the same layout of the following stages:

• The opening where characters and their day to day lives are introduced
• A disruption for example a character not being accepting of other characters (our film), conflict of interest, a disaster or something out of control happening.
• The realisation that there is a problem 
• The resolution - this doesn't mean that the disruption gets mended but it is how the main characters have dealt with the problem and usually ends in a way that suggests their lives will never be the same but they will carry on.

The film we plan to make pretty much adheres entirely to the conventions above, which is good because otherwise it wouldn't be an imediatley obvious romance drama. The opening of our film woluld consist of scenes of each girls individual lives and then scenes of their relationship forming. The disruption is their parents not accepting them. The realisation is when the confrontation between the parents and the girls happen because they realise they can't hide anymore and they will have to face the problem. The resolution is the girls deciding to run away so that they can live their lives the way thay they want to. 

Conventions with camera technique mainly includes a lot of close up and mid-shots of characters so the audience can see their emotions clearly and the relationship between the characters can be established. The most common convention is the camera position leading up to characters kissing. First there tends to be two over-the-shoulder shots of each charcter looking at each other which builds tension in anticipation for the kiss and then a mid shot that usually move in closer when they actually kiss. . An example of this is in The Notebook where they kiss in the rain. 

Editing in romance dramas tends to be slow paced so there is time to build relationships between characters and build tension and suspense at different points in the film. The only time fast paced editing may be used is in either a very tense moment of action or at a reunion scene when characters are getting closer and closer to seeing each other again. 

Sound in this genre tends to be songs from the period that the fim is set and can cover a wide genre of songs depending on the context of the scene. Quite often songs with lyrics are used but equally dramatic soundtracks are used throughout. An example of this is in the last scene of A Fault in our Stars. In this scene there is also a voice over of the letter being read. This is common in romance dramas because love letters are often involved and having the sound of the other persons voice as the letter is read makes the scene more emotional because most of the time it will be because that character is distant from their love interest.

The mise en scene in romance dramas covers a very wide range of aspects. The lighting used is usually naturalistic and it combines the use of low-key lighting associated with dramas for the tense, sad, angry or grief stricken scenes (however it can equally be used to show the intensity of love)  and the use of high-key lighting associated with romance films for the joyful moments, early stages of a relationship, love in general throughout the film. For example the low-key lighting in Age of Adeline is showing the intensity of their feelings for each other but because of the darkness you get the sense that something isn't right which is where the tension is created. The other shot is from when he first saw her and it uses a more naturalistic lighting it is high-key but it isn't warm so you get the sense that perhaps it was a time where there was less troubles but the coldness of the image suggests they wouldn't be happy until they met each other.

When it comes to the casting and character types for romance dramas the commonly used convention is to have a contrast between the two love interests which often ends up leading to dramatic arguments but also a very intense passionate love. This is shown in looks, costume and the personality and background of the character. For example in the Titanic Jack is from a lower class as shown by his simple brown top and suspenders while Rose is high class in a variety of gorgeous silky dresses. Jack has a carefree personality whereas Rose is careful and reserved until she meets Jack and loosens up. We want our film to follow this convention partially becuase we want to have contrasting characters in the way of looks by having one blonde more shelterd girl and one dark haired girl who also comes from a homophobic family but has had more freedom in her life that the other girl.

Our past meetings

Over our past meetings we have all been disscussing our blog posts and finalising our idea and shot by shot sequence. Our communication has been really good and we have successfully worked through any misunderstandings or disagreements. We have all been happy to make compromises for example we changed our final shot by shot because we decided we didn't want any shots of after the exorcism and no screaming shots because it made the opening too dramatic and it didn't feel like an actual title sequence. I am really proud of our group because we have managed our time really well and are ahead of our work. This allows us to do extra development and Otto is going to start the final story board. 

Final Storyboard

Our final story board is as follows, it was drawn by Otto and discussed by us all.