Today I did two different things. I worked on using the Layer website to practice making templates. It went well but I had a hard time getting the work to analyse properly. It still hasn’t finished doing that yet and even the tutors don’t now why but I hope I’ll be able to publish it soon.

I also continued to work on a music video were I made my own sound for it. That was very fun. I did the sound a few weeks ago and did more editing today.

Our next college project is to work on a music video.

This started every one of looking up music videos that had a plot and a narrative told through music and imagery.

We were then set a task for planning our own music video. Like with the film with a message, we all worked came up with our own ideas individually. The idea was that we would each pitch our idea to the whole class and the best ideas would be chosen for different groups to work on. The plan for the final music video is to download the original song and add our own footage and lip syncing to the song. I came up with the idea of using an anime opening for the music video. My idea ended up not being chosen but I’m completely cool with that. We were each put into groups of three or four and discussed the agreed ideas.

As well as this, I continued to do some research for my own idea. I looked into the band, the artist, the music type, what the song was about, other songs written by the same band, the target audience and I typed all of this up in a google doc.

Below is the storyboard for my short horror film about a doll that’s alive. You can see my evaluation of the film in the previous post. 

 

 

 

 

I am happy with the finished product. I like the soundtrack because this creates a feeling of suspense. I like the way the camera angles were used to create tension and different perspectives. There were a few points where the image was slightly out of focus and grainy for example it wasn’t clear that the girl was using a torch on the camera to see, I showed the film to someone else and the thought she was filming the scene. I created a storyboard but I really struggle to think ahead and for-see everything that could go wrong. For example I didn’t realise the room would be too dark without a torch until the actual filming. I struggle to focus on everything at once, I think I would work better if another person was focusing on getting clear images while I was thinking about the scene. The film was not as scary as I pictured it in my mind, this is because the ending where the doll opens its eyes didn’t work how I wanted it to. I planned to use stop motion pro for it, but couldn’t keep the camera still. I have however thought of other ways to make this work, which is put the doll in an upright position and the camera could be help on the tripod. I did think of this approach shortly before the filming, but once I started filming I forgot about it. I need add ideas into the storyboard in future.

 

Here is a film I made about a very horrifying room. It was my idea for the film with narrative project from Unit 6.

Below you can see the film no dialogue that I worked  on, which is about doors. Sorry that it’s late.

We were all asked to work on editing a music video with our own choice of sound. I worked on Green Day: “Boulevard Of Broken Dreams”. I turned it on mute and added my own sound to it. I recorded drums and the electric guitar being played badly and the drums being played. The aim wasn’t to make it sound good but it was to get creative and add in sounds that do genuinely fit with what we see on screen. I also downloaded a few sound effects online: like a wind sound effect along with a footstep sound effect. I also found sound effects for kicking the car door. I haven’t yet finished it but I have enjoyed working on it so far.

 

Below you can see my own thoughts on the film with no dialogue I made. I think about the best ways it can improve.

Name of project	Skills gained with evidence	Reflection	Skills to be developed	How you will implement new skills
The mysterious doors	I developed the skills of thinking about different camera angles & story planning. The evidence is in the film.	I think overall the film was good but could maybe do with some improvement in terms of making it clear the doors were meant to be pulled.	I need to develop my storyboard skills as well as my ability to think ahead.	I will probably just look back at my older stuff and think about the best ways to improve.

Here is some feedback for a film sketch I made about opening doors. I hope I’ll be able to upload it online tomorrow. The project title is ‘The mysterious doors”.

The Name of person peer assessing below is Benjamin

 

Footage/editing	Strengths	Weaknesses
1: The start of the film is well shot and the footage has not had to be increased. It also allows us to see what is going on without being too close to the main character.	We can get the idea of what the person is trying to achieve and we then understand the comedy of it.
2: Another character gets introduced and also tries to open the door. We can clearly see them struggling to open it.		There could of been someone walking through to show that the people who are trying to open it still don’t understand.
3: The second character has an idea and walks off. He comes back out of the lift with a hammer. This shows us what he’s going to do next, or at least an inclining.	This is to add comedy again, which it does because we know that they could just open the door, but it is funny to see what they think will work.
4: We see the second character come out of the lift carrying a hammer, which shows us that he’ll use it in someway.	It adds comedic effect, as we know that they could simply open the door properly, but they decide to use a hammer to break the door.
5: We see the second character got to break the door, then we see a black screen and hear the smashing of glass.	This is effective, as it does not allow us to see the action, but we can hear it and so we know what has happened.

The name of this next person peer assessing is Frankie Griffiths

Footage/editing	Strengths	Weaknesses
Music	Great use of background music as fits well with the genre of the film.	Music can overtake the video but this because of less sound effects.
Sound Effects	Sound effects match the theme of the short film. Use of sound glass smashing with black screen gives us a indication of what happens to the doors.	Use footsteps for when Ryan and Ben walk up to the doors. You could also have a noise of Ryan and Ben straining/groaning when they are trying to open the door.
Editing Techniques	Good use of camera shots Mid Shot Close-Up	Maybe use an establishing shot or try and use different angle shots such as POV, high angle and low angle for example.
Narrative	The narrative was simple to follow as we see 2 people trying to get the doors open.

 

Below you can see a video full of photos using low key lighting methods in a way that looks sinister. We used the smoke machines for these pictures. I feel like the use of the smoke machine and the low key lighting, along with the choice of music add a lot of atmosphere to the film and make it feel much more dramatic. The lights used over people with certain shots make it feel exciting and spooky: in a way that photos with normal lighting would not.