Thursday/Friday Editing

 During the Thursday Editing session I continued with my group helping to clean up any transitions or cuts we were not happy with at this point in time however we did have all the shots lined up in the order we had wished to use them and had either left out or cut out shots that we felt did not add much more to the opening sequence. Amy had done quite a bit of the actual cutting and placing of the footage while myself, Tatum and Mimi had advised which shots would work best in their placement and we had often switched around when it had come to certain sections of editing such as cutting down, colour correcting etc. Alongside just cutting and placing the footage we also used part of this editing session to pick music for our opening sequence as we came to realise that the song we originally planned to have would most likely become copyrighted so we had then searched for royalty free 70's music but had a hard time deciding which type would best fit our opening sequence. While watching our footage through we did spot a few continuity errors which we had trouble with at first but we were able to the iron some of them out by either using different shots we had for that scene or close ups to cut the mistake out of frame or make it so that the audience focuses on something else. 

Editing Workshop

 In this workshop we had used the camera shots we had gotten from the previous camera workshop and were taught the fundamentals of editing the raw footage into a scene like structure. The software that we will be using to edit our opening sequences will be Adobe Premiere Pro which is used a lot within the film industry alongside other professional editing programmes such as AVID and Final Cut Pro.

Key elements of Editing:

Saving regularly and backing up your work is essential so that you do not lose it so that if there were any corruption or problem with the programme. Additionally it is important to save a different file for each version of the cut so that if while developing and actioning feedback something no longer works in the story telling it is easy to go back to a previous version of the cut. 

Dailies and Rushes:

These are key features in editing as they are parts of the raw unedited footage that is captured from the shoot day Graphic matches, or match cuts, are useful in relating two otherwise disconnected scenes, or in helping to establish a relationship between two scenes.  By ending one shot with a frame containing the same compositional elements (shape, colour, size, etc.) as the beginning frame of the next shot, a connection is drawn between the two shots with a smooth transition.

Rhythm 

Rhythm in editing describes an assembling of shots and/or sequences according to a rhythmic pattern of some kind, usually dictated by music.  It can be narrative, as in the clip from Woody Allen’s Bananas below, or, a music video type collage, as in the second clip from Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette.  In either case, dialogue is suppressed and the musical relationship between shots takes centre stage

Shoot Day Blog Post

 Our groups shoot day was on Monday the 3rd of May we started shooting our opening sequence at 8:50am before we started shooting however we gathered all the props we needed for filming and camera equipment and then gathered together at our shooting location which as in the main house of Hurtwood in the basement near the boys bathroom this was the only location we had used throughout or shoot though we did change directions and angles inside the basement. Amy did the majority of the make up and costumes for our group while Mimi and Tatum were the main directors, I had focused on camera and helping Matt with the lighting. We had to use certain unconventional methods to get the lighting the way we wanted such as using extension cables and propping the doors open to reflect the light off them on to our main actors etc. During the shoot we either had to add a couple more shots than expected or change

some of the shots we had originally in the storyboard this was not a problem though as we were guided through the changes by Matt who helped us find the best solutions when trying to figure out a certain shot or trying to get the best angle when filming a complicated take.

Low Budget Films

 I am going to explain the marketing techniques used in three different low budget films produced in the UK the films are Tank 432, Tucked and Tyrannosaur. 

Tank 432

Tank 432 was a low budget film produced in the UK by a small independent British studio known as Belstone Pictures, the budget for Tank 432 was estimated at around 150,000 pounds. They used a few marketing strategies such as trailers, posters and they had entered a film festival. When Belstone Pictures was advertising through using poster they only had three different designs as they did not have a high enough budget to create and distribute posters by themselves. They had distributed their posters mainly on social media as it is a free platform and a app which is used widely by many different people. Belstone had chosen marketing methods such as posters, social media etc. cause it was the cheapest option they could afford with their budget so they had to use free platforms such as twitter and instagram to spread notice about Tank 432 without additional costs.

Tucked

Tucked was another film released by Belstone Pictures and produced in the UK this film had a much smaller budget than Tank 432 this meant that they had to be even smarter with their marketing than they were with Tank 432. This means that they had to tighten down on the posters that they could make and distribute and also how they decided to distribute their trailers which were mainly done through social media and other free social platforms such as YouTube. Releasing trailers on social media and using /specific hashtags that relate to your film can reach a wide audience with Tucked being a drama/comedy it can find fans of both genre and could get some of those fans to engage with the film.

Target Audience

 Our target audience for our film will aim to reach mature male and female audiences who are interested in mainly horror and murder mystery type films. Our audience do not have to be rich to see our film as we aim to target working and middle class audiences this allows for a wider variety of people to watch our film opening sequence as the tickets will be affordable for almost anyone. We do not aim to target the film opening sequence at a specific gender nor do we have a specific age range though it might be preferred by younger mature adults, we aim to appeal to most races in doing so we were cautious as to what material we should include in the sequence so that it would not disturb or upset any cultures/races.

Camera Workshop 1

 In this media session we had our first camera workshop in preparation for filming for our opening sequences. In the session we covered how to assemble the camera with different components such as the tripod attaching the camera to the tripod and bubbling the camera etc.

Setting up the camera:

• First in setting up the camera you have to set up the tripod you do this by loosening the notches on the sides of the tripod to then extend it to the height of your subject and you can further adjust the height by then turning the upper notches.
  
  
• Next to attach the camera to the top of the tripod you need to check all the grooves to make sure that nothing is protruding out the grooves so that the camera slides smoothly into the top of the tripod. 
  
  
• After this you have to attach the pan handle to the side of the tripod this is used to tilt and pan the the camera side to side and up and down.
  
  
• The finally step to set up the camera is to bubble it to do this you will have to loosen spirit level by a quarter then get the bubble to centre inside the bigger air gap and then tighten it again. This means that the camera has become level.

Type of Camera:

• The types of camera we will all be using to film our opening sequences will be a Blackmagic Arri Alexa film camera these cameras are very high quality are are even used in professional productions.

How to use the camera:

• To focus the camera you should always zoom in on your target fully and then focus this is because it picks up the finer details and then retains them when you zoom back out to your original shot size.
  
  
• You can zoom in with the Alexa by turning the focus pulling  ring around the lens this allows you to zoom in and out.
  
  
• White balancing is essential for filming as it can determine the whole feel of what you film and whether the colour matches the scene. To adjust the white balance on your camera you will turn the switch until you get your preferred lighting which matches the intensity of your scene.

Camera safety:

The "yours and mine rule" is a precaution to make sure that there is less chance of the camera being dropped and damaged when it is being handled by a crew.

When someone is passing the camera they should say "yours" when they know that the person they are passing it to has a firm grip on the camera. The person it is being passed to should then say "mine" when they know they have a firm grip on the camera. This clear communication ensures that the camera is not dropped.

Digipack Conventions

 A digipack is the entire packaging of a CD which is used to attract audience members to buy the CD.

A Digipack consists of: the album artwork, track list, artist, warning, barcode and images.

Whilst CDs are not purchased so frequently anymore elements of the digipack are still vital for digital download and streams such as cover artwork and the track list.

The blog post below will explain the typical conventions of a digipack.

Typical conventions of a digipack

• Digipacks tend to have eye catching pictures or cover art that take over the whole front cover of the pack with the title over the picture.
• The picture illustrated on the front cover tends to have a relationship to either the songs on the album or the overall feel of the album.
• The song title and artist's name are typically shown on the front cover of the digipack.

Track List 

• The track list for an album is very important as it has all the song names and the order they are in on the CD it also gives somewhat of a description of what type of music you're going to be listening to as the names of the songs can often give that away as they are usually intended to.
  
  
• Track lists are also important so fans can know what songs are going to be featured in this album and whether its songs they like or songs they are not really fans of.
  
  

Artist/Band name 

• The artist or band name is usually plastered onto the back and the front of the Digipack, The font in which is done in can vary depending on the vibe and style the artist is trying to convey with the overall design of the digipack.
• The artist/band name could also be what draws in certain audiences and helps them decide whether this is the type of music they want to listen to and whether the band is suited to their tastes.
  

Warning(if applicable)

• Warnings on digipack usually come in the form of a parental advisory sticker plastered on the CD cover usually on both the front and the back, this is mainly used to notify parents if their child is the one buying the CD that there is strong language in many of the songs and that they should just be advised.

Barcode

• The barcode is usually put on the back of a digipack they are used to scan the CD when they are being purchased.

Images 

• The main images used on digipacks are the pictures or artworks used as the front and back covers of the CD these again are used to draw attention to certain audiences based on whether the pictures appeal to them aesthetically or not this can be a deciding factor on whether someone will buy the CD or not.

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