When our group began to edit all the footage from our thriller, we realised that when editing this we would have to be a lot more precise and edit a lot more carefully than we had when we edited our prelim task at the begging of the year, because the entire project was much bigger and it was part of our exam, we also were creating the whole thriller from the camera angles to the dialogue to the sound and we had to make sure we knew what we were doing at all times, not like in our preliminary task where we were given a script and had a lot of help from the teachers. We also needed to find our own pace throughout our sequence that kept our audience intrigued.As our thriller involves one person playing two completely different personalities we had create a big difference when filming each of the characters. So we had to log all our shots into a ‘good Dan’ a ‘bad Dan’ and a P.O.V bin, this took us some time but once it was all organised it made the next step of our editing much easier. As we now had all the footage of the other character in a separate log bin we then began to put our footage together.
When will were using a shot of ‘good Dan’ we reflected his state of mind in our camera work, all of the shots of him were rushed and panicked much like he was, the camera was never still and all of the filming was moving and confused, which was then a huge contrast to when we used shots of ‘bad Dan’ as all of the footage of bad Dan we filmed at a very slow, steady speed and this built up a lot of tension and helps the audience to differentiate between the two characters. We also sped up using final cut pro, many of the P.O.V shots as this also helped to create a feel of panic and rushing through, ‘good Dan s’ eyes. Then we slowed down even more some of the ‘bad Dan’ shots. We also cut down all of the shots of ‘good Dan’ running and the P.O.V s so that they were short and fast which contributed to the film and helped build up suspense. And that although the footage was sharp and quick it made sense and was able to link up with the rest of the thriller.
When editing this footage it showed me how much we have all learnt from the first time we went up to the edit suite to learn how to edit. We were all filming and editing footage which a lot was more complicated than out preliminary task and even though it took us all a while to get back into editing we soon understood and continued. This time we all really concentrated and paid a lot more attention to the camera angles and what they all mean. For example toward the end of our thriller we do some high angled shots of good Dan as he is about to die, and this makes him look inferior and helpless. Throughout the thriller we also always seen good Dan bleeding and we see his face in pain, yet we only see bad Dan’s at the end, not only because this is the twist in the story but because it creates a sense of mystery and terror about him and the low angle shots of him make him look superior and in control.
This time we all really concentrated and paid a lot more attention to the camera angles and what they all mean. For example toward the end of our thriller we do some high angled shots of good Dan as he is about to die, and this makes him look inferior and helpless. Throughout the thriller we also always seen good Dan bleeding and we see his face in pain, yet we only see bad Dan’s at the end, not only because this is the twist in the story but because it creates a sense of mystery and terror about him and the low angle shots of him make him look superior and in control.
For our Thriller we didn’t have any dialogue and this made our editing process a lot easier although we needed to use some of the sound effects from running through the forest, so we will have to do some Foley work because the sound that we recorded on the day is not necessarily the right type as the twigs and rustling through the forest are not what we wanted there is also a lot of on set sound, so recording separate sound will help to make our thriller perfect. We will also use some non-digetic sound, which is sound that the audience can here but not the actors. The music will help to create atmosphere and a mood for our thriller as the sound is almost just as important as the picture. We are getting the best bits of sound and using them throughout the sequence to help create tension and pace. We are also creating our own music using the Soundtrack Pro program to create the music for our thriller, are music will be made up of many string instruments as they can be used to create many different moods and tension. You can create a sad atmosphere, an atmosphere of panic, terror or even happiness using most of the string instruments. We will also be using some piano as it is another instrument that can create many moods.
Our opening titles are on a black screen before the film starts, then it goes straight into Dan running in the forest then at the end of the sequence it black out and we have the title of our movie. We have decided to do our titles like this so as they don’t detract from the sequence and the titles are just as clear as the film.
Making this thriller has been an amazing experience. Although there have been some times when things were not working and our group was struggling to work together and be organised we did it in the end and our thriller did not suffer as we have created a thriller that we all enjoy and our proud of. It has quite a wide target audience which is good too. It has been amazing to learn how to use all the editing technology and to create a sequence from just an idea in your head. I now have a much bigger appreciation for people who make films, from the producers to the directors to the cinematographers as I now know how much work goes into make a film. I now also notice so much more when watching a movie, things that would have gone unnoticed before I now appreciate and pay attention too, film making is a form of art and it takes a lot of talent, creativity and patients.
