Editing

Editing

We are now nearing the end of editing our film opening so I decided to finish some final editing sections to help improve both the quality of the opening and of my editing skills.  

 First of all I had the job to insert a title screen to inform the audience that the opening is now reverting back to a week earlier.  To do this I selected the T tab on the right hand side of final cut and inserted a black screen with the same text font as the named titles.  I chose a black screen rather than a picture in the background to put emphasis on the words and to create a caesura to build the tension.

 I then inserted a clip transition after the "1 week earlier" to create a smooth change before the last section of the opening.  I chose a blur transition because it ran the same time as the church bell sound.

 After reviewing the opening I decided that the second church bell did not sound completely right for the situation.  After listening to the final cut sounds of church bells I found a better noise layered it in.  After watching it a few times I decided to take off the increased speed of the girl turning around so it was back to normal pace.


We needed something to trigger the girl to turn around.  So to continue the story line we added in diegetic sounds  to make it seem as though she was being followed by the priest who is to exorcise her.
After listening to the sounds available on final cut I inserted male breathing and footsteps to seem as though he is following her.  The a snapping of a twig then triggers her to turn around, I then inserted a clip of the priest's eyes to inform the audience that it is him that is following her.  This looks quite effective as it helps to build up the tension and varies the camera angles.

Title Sequence

Title Sequence 

In order to conform to the components of a film opening, our opening would have to include opening credits; the titles.  I have previously completed many blog posts on deconstructions of supernatural horror openings so I used this research as a starting point for our titles.  A particular film that I liked for their titles was Insidious.

 

As I wasn't sure what exact titles to put into the sequence I watched the Insidious opening again and took down all the vital credits they used to apply them to our opening.  

To add in a title on final cut I went onto the right side bar and selected the capital T to view the selection of titles. After going through all the examples I found a title which faded out slowly which reminded me of smoke.  This was very appropriate for the genre and our opening as we used candles to reflect the religious aspects of the film.  The smoke affect also created a mysterious and ominous atmosphere which I feel adds depth and interest to the credits.  

 After putting in the main production company name that we created, I then inserted the associated production companies.  The font I chose for the titles was optima as it had a slight gothic look about it because of the slimness and points of the letters.









To manipulate the text further I decided to change the colour of the text to make it more genre appropriate.  After using the colour wheel and trying different combinations I finally decided on black text with a hite glow because mixed together they made a light grey.  This colour fit in with the smoke effect and the dark atmosphere of the genre.

 This is a section of the timeline with the titles fitted above the footage.  It includes the production companies, members of the group with a main film role and the two actors we used.

In conclusion I feel that the title sequence is fitting with the genre of supernatural horror and our specific opening themes.  They look professional and interesting which are two qualities vital for the success of our opening.  One thing I would improve on is the timing of the titles in correlation with the changing of the shots to make it look effective and smooth.

Editing

Editing

 Alongside editing with the group we have also decided to do individual editing to make sure we all participate equally.  On top of the already existing editing I started with getting rid of any background sound on the clips.  I did this by going onto audio enhancement, sound board, then reduce background noise to 100%.

 I then wanted to add in some diegetic sound to increase the realism of the piece.  For the forest section I went through the already existing sounds on final cut to find a foot step sound.  After testing out all the footstep sounds next to the clip I decided on Footsteps bare running.  I then adjusted the volume of the running on the sound board to make sure they were not too loud and would drown out any other sounds.

 I also found Footsteps Mud run which was very appropriate for parts of the clips so I layered it under the heavy breathing of the victim.  The combination of sounds makes the clip seem very realistic and fits well in conjunction with the running clips.

 To make this ending clip as effective as possible I wanted to find a non-diegetic sound which would make the audience jump.  After testing a lot of the sounds I decided on a thunder noise as it sounded very ominous and dramatic, in parallel to the scene and genre.

 I also wanted to increase the brightness of some of the clips to make sure the audience can see the possession scene properly.  To do this I went onto the colour board then exposure.  I only increased the brightness by a little bit to make sure it was still shadowy and dark.

To make the possession seem more supernatural and creepy I decided to make the clip run backwards to make the movements more unnatural and disjointed.  This looked very effective so I used the blade tool to break up the different camera angles then rearranged them so the possession was even more disjointed.

The Possession Deconstruction

The Possession Deconstruction

 The opening begins with the production company logos of Lionsgate and Ghost House.  These are typical for a horror film as ghost house is a company which specifies is horror film production.  The use of a large company and smaller company is typical in all films and the use of dark colours in the logos are genre appropriate.

The title of the film is displayed on a black background with a simple white font which resembles old style type machine lettering.  Underneath the title there is a Spanish subtitle meaning "the origin of evil".  This relates to the traditional Catholic church which is conventional for extremist exorcisms and so is made more realistic.  The typewriter style lettering looks quite official so again makes it look more realistic.  

 After the titles there is a crane, establishing shot of a normal, everyday house.  This makes the film seem realistic as though it could happen to anyone which makes it more scary for the audience.  Non-diegetic, soft piano music accompanies the shot which has a slightly creepy feel to it as it is contrapuntal to the horror genre.

 A panning shot shows a wall full of framed photographs which look quite old fashioned, something commonly used in horror.  Diegetic sound is layered with the piano music of a woman whispering in a foreign language, it sounds like chanting a spell or prayer which denotes the religious aspects.

A close up shot of an old woman looking very upset and scared raises the tension as the audience wonder what could have caused her this much distress.  This is followed by a close up of an old wooden box which appears to be the source of the strange whispering.

A long shot of the woman leaning to touch the box
increases the tension and suspence as the audience
wonder what the box is and why human sounds
are coming out of it.  But as she gets close to the box, a diegetic sound of knocking wood makes the audience jump and ends the piano music, causing silence.  Silence is used in horror films commonly to increase the tension considerably.

A close up shot of the woman turning on a music tape accompanies the start of diegetic jazz style music, which is contrapuntal to the scene.  The music is used by the woman to drown out the sound of the box, implying she is scared by it.  A close up shot of her pulling out a clump of hair connotes her stress and anxiety at the situation, causing the box to be of worry to the audience.  The woman then picks up a

hammer and a close up shot of her strained hand
around it also connotes her stress and fear of the box.  Straight cuts between the woman approaching and the zooming in frame of the box increases the suspense as the audience wonder how the box will react to the impending destruction.


As the woman goes to strike the box, there is diegetic sound of the same whispering but increased in volume to represent the box's anger at the woman.  Straight cuts up until now have been slow with long shots but now they begin to speed up in parallel to
the speeding up tension.  As the whispers get more angry there is a  non-diegetic, high pitched screeching, often used in horror films to make the scene more scary and tension filled.  There are close-up shots of the woman's face as it begins to deform and start to shake.  This is a typical start to an possession as she begins to lose control over her body. Diegetic sound of her skin deforming also adds a auditory aid to the visual shot.

  A mid-shot framing the woman falling over backwards shows her body contorting into strange positions, often as possessed people do in horror films.  Quick straight cuts jump between her being thrown across the room as she is possessed.  Building up deep bass and high pitched non-diegetic sounds build the tension as she gets closer to her death.  Diegetic sounds of her gasping and screaming and the sounds of her bones snapping and furniture being hit increases the terror factors in the scene as it becomes more realistic and gruesome.          

 Straight cuts switch between the main action and the woman's son on the doorstep, obviously confused at the noises from inside.  Long shots and close ups show his concerned facial expressions and efforts to get inside.  These provide a contrast to the normal world and the supernatural inside the house.            

A mixture of long, mid and close-up shots show the woman being possesed.  They are meant to scare and shock the audience as there are strange body contortions, screaming facial expressions and blood.  A build up of orchestral non-diegetic music increases the tension until the crescendo just as she dies.          

   Only diegetic sound remains of the tape playing and the son entering the house, which creates a sharp contrast to what has happened and a normal day. A long shot is used as you hear off screen diegetic sounds of the man shouting as he finds his dead mother.  The use of the scene happening off screen is very effective because it puts the audience in someone else's position so they can sympathies with the man.                                                    

Garage location mise-en scene

Garage Location Mise-en Scene

Carrying on from my last blog post on location, we used my garage for our latest day of filming.  It fitted our supernatural horror really well as it was very dirty and dingy.  The bare walls and dark colours made the scene look very effective and scary.  

 To fit with the religious, exorcism theme we used burnt down candles to mimic candles used in churches and exorcism scenes from other films.

 The costumes for the scene was a priest's outfit and the young girl victim.  For the priest we used a plain black suit and priests front and dog collar.  This looked very effective and realistic which made the scene look very realistic for an exorcism.

 We chose a position in the garage which would look the best on film of the background.  The wooden and metal brown wall looked the best as it was dirty and broken in places to make it look run down and unused.  We organised the candles into a semi circle around our victim to mimic a ritual like situation which looked very effective for the genre.











We then tested the lighting by switching off the over head lights.  Through the
camera the candle lighting lit up the victim very effectively as the low lighting
was very specific for the genre.









In evaluation I feel that the mise-en scene was very effective for the supernatural horror genre and fitted our exorcism theme very well.  The candles worked well as low-lighting and gave a religious feel to the scene.  The costumes looked very realistic which is good for the scene as horror is usually more effective at being scary by using realism.

Location Mise en scene

Location Mise en Scene

Unfortunately one of our planned locations for filming the flash back shots was not able for us to use.  We decided to find a different location so I thought that my garage would be a good location to use.  The garage is mainly dark colours and is messy and dirty, which fits with our supernatural horror genre.


The first video is showing the garage before I moved some of the objects that would not fit in with our film opening.  I took away the ladder, BBQ, bikes and plastic bags to create a better atmosphere for the opening.

The second video is the garage from the POV of the victim.  We plan to have her on a chair or sitting on the floor against the brown wall.  From her POV you will see the priest and some of the garage.  I feel that this location is suitable for the opening because it is bare and dirty which goes with the conventional horror location.  

Evil Dead Deconstruction

Evil Dead Deconstruction

The opening begins with the production companies, as usual the main large company goes first, in this case TriStar.  Next is the smaller companies of Film District and Ghost House Pictures.  Ghost House obviously specialises in horror films as it features a skull in the title.  The companies are shown again on a black screen with blood red, bold and worn out font, which is conventional for a horror film.

An establishing shot of the woods is in low-key lighting with silhouettes of the trees and thick fog. All together this creates a creepy, ominous atmosphere as the trees look very menacing and as there is limited light, the fear of the unknown is very apparent. There is a slight build up of non-diegetic, low, string music which cuts off when the opening begins which helps to build tension and suspense.   

A mid-shot framing the back of the woman's head is also silhouetted which creates a sense of mystery and the dark colours are typical of a supernatural horror.  There is silence for most of the beginning of the opening which is successful in conveying the emptiness of the woods and builds suspense.  

 A close up shot of the woman's feet walking increases the tension as the audience begin to wonder who she is and why she is walking through such a scary, strange woods.  The grass is dead and dark which connotes death and decay, synonymous with the horror genre.  Diegetic sound of the crisping grass under foot breaks the silence but makes the scene seem more realistic to the audience.

A close up shot of her hand, dripping with blood, is very ominous as it suggests previous violence and danger, key themes in supernatural horror.  The continual use of back lighting keeps the sense of mystery going throughout.

A mid shot frames the woman in the distance whilst a black figure rushes past the camera.  The speed and surprise of the shot makes the audience jump and increases the suspense and feeling of danger.  A parallel non-diegetic sound of something rushing past, almost like a quick, strong wind makes the audience jump and the tension rises. An accompanying diegetic sound of the woman gasping conveys realism within the scene to the audience.

An over the shoulder shot of the woman and a mysterious, silhouetted figure in the distance makes the tension rise dramatically as you still cannot see much due to the low key lighting and fog.  Diegetic sound of the woman breathing heavily conveys her feeling scared and threatened.  Non-diegetic high pitches string sound increases in volume and tempo as the figure comes into view.   

 A series of mixed close-ups and mid-shots framing the woman trying to run away are used using fast straight cuts and a sense of disorientation is conveyed using a shaking hand held camera.  A mid shot of the woman framed against a tree with a scared expression on her face increases the tension as the straight cuts slow down to lead up to a jump.  

 The straight cuts then speed up again as she is attacked by a rabid looking man wearing cut off dirty clothing to which shows he lives in the forest and is maybe not as evolved as the woman.  A mid-shot of the two of them struggling on the floor shows his dominance and violence. A loud, sudden non-diegetic sound of strings is made when the attack begins to make the audience jump and become scared.  Loud orchestral non-diegetic sound is played 

throughout the attack to convey the danger as the 

strings are very fast which is in parallel to what is happening

on screen. Diegetic sounds accompany this of chocking from the woman and grunting from the man to show there positions in the attack.

 The opening ends on a long shot of the two men hitting the woman on the floor.  The location is still scary and ominous with the dark trees and fog.  As the second man hits the woman to knock her out, a loud non-diegetic sound of high pitched string music plays to accompany the diegetic sound of the woman being hit to put more emphasis on the moment.

I feel that this deconstruction has inspired me with our own film opening as it takes place in the same location as part of our opening.  In the editing process of our film I will look back on this film and use ideas from both the diegetic and non-diegetic sound to put the best effects on our opening.