Session 5 Team 2 Production Project

film

film” by popturfdotcom is marked with CC BY 2.0.

SUMMARY

Role

Editor

Intention (SMART Goal)

By May 6th, as part of team 2, I will create a found footage film with no visible edits by using a tutorial on hiding cuts.

PRE-PRODUCTION – INQUIRY

Leader(s) in the Field / Exemplary Work(s)

Brenna Rangott

Brenna Rangott is known for Host (2020), Run Fatboy Run (2007) and One of Those Days (2008). 

Excerpt from Host (2020)

Uses camera movements and changes in fullscreen to hide cuts.

Possible hidden cut fade to black

Possible hidden cut whip transition

Training Source(s)

CuesNotes
1917movie looks like one long take, has iconic one shot scene
Useful
camera turns off, hide cut
Dip to black/white: camera passes over very dark of light spot, same exposure tricks human eye.

Doesn’t need huge set up, can be done on iPhone.
Not useful. would require moving cameraFrameblock transition: subject passes very close to camera, use mask on one side of frame to hide cut.
Not useful. Necessary movement too fastWhip pan transition: Hide cut in fast pan shot
Conclusion: Film one take as much as possible. Use the cameras turning off or empty screens to hide cuts.

Project Timeline

March 21st – April 26th pre production

March 23rd pitch #1

March 30th pitch #2

April 26th be done with pre production

practice shoot 27th and 28th

Start filming by 29th

Be done filming by May 4th

May 5th record necessary sounds

May 5th – 9th editing

May 9th check everything

May 10th present

Proposed Budget

NA

PRODUCTION – ACTION

The (FILM, SOUND, or GAME Creation)

Film

Skills Commentary

Slideshow

In this session, I focused on creating a cohesive story through hidden edits. I used transitions to and from full screen to hide the cuts between takes and make it seem like one take. I did not accomplish this as well as I had hoped, as I was out with Covid for a week and a half and had never worked with premiere pro before. But I achieved the minimum viable product, which I consider a success given the circumstances. A way I could have improved the storytelling is by having the camera turning on/off in the fullscreen rather than in between full and normal screen.

POST-PRODUCTION – REFLECTION

21st Century Skills

Ways of Thinking (Creativity, Innovation, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving)

Wow was there some problem solving in this session. I got Covid about three days into production, with only one take of one shot filmed. I was then home for the next week and a half. All of my preparation was on my computer at school, unable to be accessed from home. The way I problem solved this is using the group chat my group created at the beginning of the session, having Mr. Le Duc send my editing prep to me, and editing from home on my own computer.

Ways of Working (Communication & Collaboration)

My group and I had to collaborate a lot to pull this film off. I communicated my needs to them, and they sent me what they filmed so I could edit. Then I would tell them what I need to be changed, and so on. We created a group chat at the beginning of the session, which proved to be incredibly useful. We were able to communicate clearly and efficiently.

Tools for Working (Info & Media Literacy)

I have never used premiere pro before. This was an extremely ambitious project. I used a lot of youtube tutorials to figure out even the first thing about editing. I was able to use those tutorials to create a film mimicking a zoom call with no prior experience.

Ways of Living in the World (Life & Career)

I had to improvise for this project a lot. The final version did not match our storyboard, as I could only work with what my group filmed. However I managed to create a cohesive story with what I was given.

Reactions to the Final Version

You could have built the suspense more. It felt like it moved really fast. -Jaden

The concept was very creative and original. -James

You should clarify the intended killer. One option is to use a reflection in glasses worn by one of the characters. -Tim

Self-Evaluation of Final Version

This film is not what I hoped it would be. We experienced a lot of setbacks and unexpected roadblocks. However, i am pleased with what we produced given the circumstances. My goal was to create a film that accurately resembled a zoom meeting and hid cuts between shots, and I believed I accomplished this quite well.

Simple: The concept is very simple, a zoom class where an unknown force takes out the attendees one by one. It was perhaps too simple, leaving too much room for speculation.

Unexpected: We attempted to make the occurrences unexpected. However, they did not feel unexpected because of the lack of pacing and sound effects.

Credible: It looks remarkably like a zoom meeting, which adds to the believability of the story.

Stories: We had a cohesive story in the storyboard. It was lost in production due to the aforementioned setbacks. There was no thread that tied the various occurrences together, there were just a lot of things happening after one another.

Grammar and Spelling

Grammarly

Editor

Orion

Untitled

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUscbH7EbeE

I chose this scene because it is pretty similar to some parts of our film. Like our film, it starts out very innocent and slowly becomes more and more sinister. Then it ends with a jump scare of a character being dragged off screen and presumably killed. This matches up with several moments in our film, but most specifically the scene where the arm is dragged off screen.

CuesNotes
How does the atmosphere contribute to the jumpscare of being dragged off screen?

How does being dragged off to the side differ from being dragged towards the background?

Should it be more startling or subtle?


Should the hand move or be still? (person awake/alive or no)

How would having Georgie just disappear into the sewer with no build up compare to the original scene?

Should there be music in our film? honestly leaning towards no having seen this scene. it just takes away from the tension
Everything seems pretty normal at first

Actually not that much of a jump scare. Maybe such an iconic scene it’s too predictable?

Slow drag off almost makes it scarier. Like it’s inevitable

the music is too loud. takes away from the scare.

Let the viewer sit in the aftermath. the still shot of the drain is just as scary as the other parts

we can’t see what drags him off. We know, but it is obscured. we only see his face and upper body.
This scene wasn’t super applicable to our film, but it was the closest I could find on YouTube. The most important parts are the limiting of what the viewer can see and letting the moment sit and the tension just hang. Also we either should not use music or should make it very quiet.