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.

Backing Tracks

Firstly, I decided to look at common types of instruments/sounds which are used in supernatural horror.
I particularly liked this sound as its echo effect is effective for supernatural horror as it gives the impression of distortion. As well as this, the whisper is also effective as it helps to add a mysterious and sinister atmosphere. I also liked the low pitched piano keys as it creates a harsh sounds and further adds to the sinister atmoshpere. Whilst the symphonies help to create an innocent child-like impression, I feel as though the singing takes away from the suspisious atmosphere which we are trying to create in out opening.

Religious Backing Tracks-Church Scene

As we want a song for the church scene, I decided to look for a backing sound which could be used for this.

I feel as though, if played at a low volume, this could be effective in our Church scene as the low pitched chant gives a more sinister portrayal. Also, this alongside our location and priest, further subverts common conventions and would be more effective for our audience when they discover that the priest is the antagonist.

I feel as though with is clip, we could manipulated this to make it seem more sinister. For example, similarity to the above, we could add an effect to make this more echo-y and slowed down in order to make it sound more distorted, which would therefore allow us to conform to supernatural stereotypes.

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.

Finding background music

My task was to find and manipulate background music to our film opening originally we found a child singing and when we put it to the footage that we had edited it did not fit very well. Another idea that we had was to find s child singing hymns as it would be appropriate for the genre and work well as we have a priest in our film opening. But we could not find any legal free background sounds like this so I then looked for background music that was eerie and would work well with the visuals that we had. 


I found a website which provided this. I then downloaded the sound and layered it over our footage. 

The music did not need any manipulation as  it seemed to fit the footage very well. I also found another sound effect from the same website to add to the flashbacks. The sounds work well together. 

Editing Footage

We have edited a large chunk of our footage so far as a group, however, the following is some of the remaining footage left to add.

Cutting clips

As some of the clips had parts which needed to be cut out, there were two ways in which I did this. One way was to select the arrow icon before selecting blade tool. Next, I would blade the area before simply selecting the section which I had cut and delete it. Another way would be to simply select the clip and drag the highlighted parts at the end of the clip.

Transitions and Effects

At the beginning of the opening, we used the 'Flash' transition in order to make it clear to the audience that the next clip would be a flashback, therefore, I decided to use this a few more times in order to re-enforce to our audience of the flashbacks.

In addition to this, I decided to use effects on the close up of the priests eyes, which were similar to that of the possessed girl. To do this, I selected the highlighted clip before clicking on the right hand side tool-bar and selecting "reverse". After this, I also selected the same tool-bar and selected "re-timing". As I wanted to increase the speed, I dragged the re-timing handle to the left to create a fast motion effect.

Sound

In one of our flashback clips, there is a short scene of a close up shot of the priests feet as he circles the little girl. To heighten the suspense, I wanted to layer a non-diegetic sound of footsteps. To do this, I selected the music note icon on the left and searched for the effect of footsteps. The one which I found was slightly faster than that of our priest. Therefore, I decided to try to use the same method when increasing the speed of a clip, but in terms of slowing down the speed. Prior to this, I made sure to select the clip and drag the sound like to a mute in order to remove any diegetic sound.

Evaluation

Positives

• I was able to cut out unnecessary parts of our clips (e.g. talking and laughing)
• I think that the 'Flash' effectively allows our audience to identify our flashbacks
• The 'Cross Dissolve' transition creates a smooth transition from one clip to another

Negatives

• I was unable to put the non-diegetic sound of footsteps and the walking clip in sync
• I could have experimented with more transitions

Opening: Context

Many horror movies give information/context to the audience at the very start of the opening (after production company titles etc.) This gives the audience more background and knowledge before the film begins, such as dates, events and sometimes characters. This would be effective as it is fairly typical of supernatural horror movies, and sets the scene for the audience whilst adding depth through background information. Here are some examples:


Paranormal Activity 4
0.09- Location, date
0.37- Date, event
1.54- Key information


The Devil Inside
0.06- Date, Location
0.07- 911 call dialogue (audio and visual)


'The film which you are about to see is an account of the tragedy which befell a group of five youths, in particular Sally Hardesty and her invalid brother, Franklin. It is all the more tragic in that they were young. But, had they lived very, very long lives, they could not have expected nor would they have wished to see as much of the mad and macabre as they were to see that day. For them an idyllic summer afternoon drive became a nightmare. The events of that day were to lead to the discovery of one of the most bizarre crimes in the annals of American history, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.'

This is the dialogue said by the narrator at the very start of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (slasher.) As you can see it hints at what the movie will entail (tragedy which befell a group of five youths,) and introduces some of the characters (e.g Sally and Franklin.) The 'facts' told at the start also allows the film to appear more realistic, making it more distressing for the audience.