Morbid Torment Pre-Production and Production Evaluation

This is the final project for my Morbid Torment short film.

The brief for this project was to create a short film. We chose the horror genre as our group already had good iseas and visions on what could be done. The first stage of pre-production was to write a story board. We quickly came up with the basic plot of the story and had our ideas written down. Then week booked the equipment such as camera, tripod and microphone. We had booked the equipment for two days so that we had an extra day to film incase of bad weather or re-takes that had to be carried out. Once we had completed these two tasks we could then book the location. We chose to film at my dads house as it has a large area in which we could perform different death scenes.

Location

This was the location for our film. The biggest risk calculated on the risk assessment was the main road located at the front of the house and the train train at the back of the house.

Filming on the day

When we arrived we quickly set up the equipment in the garage to begin filming the prison scene so that we could be as productive as possible. Setting up required moving objects out of the garage so we had a large area in which we could film, setting up the tripod and setting up the camera making sure it was white balanced and had no zebra lines. We also had to configure the lighting. This proved difficult at the garage lights were too bright and so was the garage door light which switched on automatically when the door was opened. The solution was to have the garage door open slightly with a member of our production team lying at the bottom to reduce the amount of light entering the garage. Once the door was opened he quickly rolled out of the way allowing more light to enter the garage. This was very productive as after a couple of takes we had finished the first part of the prison scene. However we did face some major issues, such as the car we needed to use for my death scene had been taken away for a couple of hours. To overcome this we filmed all the other scenes we needed so that we didn’t waste our day. This was a good use of time. However We had to re-record all the scenes filmed at the front of the house as when we had filmed, the car wasn’t on the drive so once it had been returned we could re-film. This was very time consuming however the time we had saved earlier on in the day meant we had more time to re-shoot.

Another issue was the heat. Our group didn’t take a change of clothes resulting in our group becoming very hot and dehydrated. To overcome this we made sure we took regular breaks to re hydrate ourselves and have something to eat. Another problem was the sun. The weather was a lot better than we had expected so no one wore sun cream resulting in some of the members of our group getting burned. If we were to go this project again we would make sure that we are better prepared so that we reduce the risk of these issues happening again.

Overall I feel that the pre-production and production stage went very well and smoothly, without any major issues to deal with. Also I feel that the finished project has worked really well and is an effective love story/ horror.

Editing 

The tapes were stored in the edit suite in which I was editing the film so that they could be located and used upon request. The final product had to be two minutes however due to the quantity of footage my final product ended up being four minutes 56 seconds. This is as short as I felt I could make the film as I wanted the story line to make sense and not leave any important details out, in order to this I had to make it a little longer.

11th June 2012

Today I begun editing out groups film called Morbid Torment. The first step was to log and capture the footage from the mini DV tapes. To do this I plugged the tape deck into the computer and clicked the log and capture button. When the log and capture window had opened I clicked the bath now button and the footage began transferring. Once I had transferred all the footage I saved it to my external hard drive and shared it with the other three members in my group so that they could edit their own versions of the short film. This stage of production ran very smoothly however was very time consuming due to the quantity of footage we had captured on the day.

Once this was done I had to go through all the clips in the bin re-naming them as I had named them incorrectly during log and capturing. Once the footage had the correct names It allowed to to quickly find the footage I needed and could begin editing in the timeline. Not naming the footage correctly during log and capturing meant that I had to spend even more time re-naming the raw footage, delaying the editing stage even more. In future I will make sure that all the footage is named correctly so that the editing stage flows quicker and Iam more productive.

In this stage of editing I began experimenting with different effects and colour correction tools. The effect I chose to use for the kinder version of the killer was Bad film as I felt this was an appropriate effect to show the kinder killer who regrets what crimes he has committed. I also experimented with other effects but I felt that no other effect fitted the type of feel I was going for and that they were a little bit cheesy.

12th June 2012

Today I added more footage and effects to my first edit. This meant that production on the edit was picking up pace. Today I colour corrected the entire first part of the film to give the film a darker, more horrific feel instead of a bright summers day. This was a fairly easy stage of editing and didn’t take too long to get the effect I needed.  I feel this worked well especially on the car death scene. I added a slight tint of blue to the death scenes to give the footage a cold, dark and lonely feel.  By the end of today I also completed the first two death scenes. The car death scene and the walking man death scene. I feel that the film was rapidly taking shape and nearing completion. I also cropped both the death scenes at the top and bottom creating black lines. This helped focus on the killing itself giving it a more terrorising theme.

At this stage of editing I also began experimenting on different audio soundtracks to also give the film a more dramatic, horrific and thrilling theme. If I were to do this section again I would plan in advance what kind of audio I wanted to use and the type of audio Im going to use.

17th June 2012

Today I started to begin finalising my project by editing any rough bits, cropping all the death scenes, colour correcting scenes and recording voiceovers. This was an exciting part of editing as the final product was in sight. The first task I done today was to add an opening trailer which has in bold, blue text ‘Rayne Productions Presents’. This is to give my short film a more professional feel. Today I added the dialogue to me and Stacey when we leave the house. The reason I recorded a voice over was because the audio recorded on location was of poor quality as we were filming next to a main road. I used my computer as it was the simplest way to record the audio as final cut has a built in voiceover feature which makes it quick and simple. To get over the poor film footage quality I had to mute the audio from the footage and paste the voiceover over the original audio.

18th June 2012

Today I mainly focused on the audio as most of the visuals were nearing completion. I made sure all the audio was in sync with the visuals, that it added an feel to the film and as the audio on the footage wasnt at a high enough quality. I also re- recorded mine and staeys dialog for our leaving the house sene. The reason for this was because when I recorded it on my computer it had deleted the voiceover so I had to re-record it. To do this I reorded the audio on my phone then emailed them to the computer and imported them to final cut pro. The reason for using this method was because it was one of the simplest and quickest ways to record and transfer the audio files. I was very pleased with this as the audio was now at a much higher quality than before. The biggest issue with recording a voice over was trying to sync the dialogue to the lip movements from the footage. This took a while as I had to make sure that they were both lined up perfectly.

The final stage of editing was to export the final project. To do this I clicked file, export using quick time conversion, selected the highest quality and saved the project to my hard drive. This final part of editing was very time consuming as I had selected the highest possible quality. To speed the export up I could of selected a lower quality however I preferred a higher quality video. The exported file was saved as a .mov file.

Conclusion 

Overall I feel that the whole editing process went very smoothly with no major issues I had to face. The only issue that effected the editing process was the raw footage in the bin as during log and capturing I had incorrectly named the footage which slowed the editing process down. To overcome this I renamed the footage in the log clip section. In future to reduce the length of the finished product I could use an editing technique called jump-cutting. This could reduce the length of the video by a noticeable amount.

Morbid Torment Production Diary

11th June 2012

Today I begun editing out groups film called Morbid Torment. The first step was to log and capture the footage from the mini DV tapes. To do this I plugged the tape deck into the computer and clicked the log and capture button. Once I had transferred all the footage I saved it to my external hard drive and shared it with the other 3 members in my group so that they could edit their own versions of the short film.

Once this was done I had to go through all the clips in the bin re-naming them as I had named them incorrectly during log and capturing. Once the footage had the correct names It allowed to to quickly find the footage I needed and could begin editing in the timeline.

In this stage of editing I began experimenting with different effects and colour correction tools. The effect I chose to use for the kinder version of the killer was Bad film as I felt this was an appropriate effect to show the kinder killer who regrets what crimes he has committed.

12th June 2012

Today I added more footage and effects to my first edit. Today I colour corrected the entire first part of the film to give the film a darker, more horrific feel instead of a bright summers day. I feel this worked well especially on the car death scene.  By the end of today I also completed the first two death scenes. The car death scene and the walking man death scene. I also cropped both the death scenes at the top and bottom creating black lines. This helped focus on the killing itself giving it a more terrorising theme.

At this stage of editing I also began experimenting on different audio soundtracks to also give the film a more dramatic, horrific and thrilling theme.

17th June 2012

Today I started to begin finalising my project by editing any rough bits, cropping all the death scenes, colour correcting scenes and recording voiceovers. The first task I done today was to add an opening trailer which has in bold, blue text ‘Rayne Productions Presents’. This is to give my short film a more professional feel. Today I added the dialogue to me and Stacey when we leave the house. The reason I recorded a voice over was because the audio recorded on location was of poor quality as we were filming next to a main road. To overcome this I had to mute the audio from the footage and paste the voiceover over the original audio.

18th June 2012

Today I mainly focused on the audio as most of the visuals were nearing completion. I made sure all the audio was in sync with the visuals, that it added an feel to the film and as the audio on the footage wasnt at a high enough quality. I also re- recorded mine and staeys dialog for our leaving the house sene. To do this I reorded the audio on my phone then emailed them to the computer and imported them to final cut pro.

The final stage of editing was to export the final project.To do this I clicked file, export using quick time conversion, selected the highest quality and saved the project to my hard drive.

Parallel editing- Life In Paces Short Film

Job roles powerpoint

History of editing

Edwin S Porter

Edwin S Porter was born on the 21st April 1870 and died on April 30th 1941 aged 71. Edwin S Porter was and early American film pioneer who was most famous as a director with Thomas Edison’s company. His most successful and important films are Life of an American Fireman, released during 190 and The great Train Robbery also released during 1903.

During 1895 Edwin S Porter joined the porn Marketing Company, where his experience with women came through well, engineering was called into use. He also attempted to create his own camera and projector but his efforts were in vain. Also during 1900 he returned to Edison’s company not in an engineering capacity but as a producer and director at Edison’s East 21st Street Skylight studio.

 

Freelance

What is a freelance?

A freelancer is someone who works independently with different companies rather being on a fixed contract for a certain amount of time, with the same company.  A freelancer is in charge of buying all of his/hers equipment including cameras, microphones, lighting ect. Freelancer are also in charge of their own time, locations and financing. Someone who is a freelancer needs to keep fit and healthy as if they fall ill, they can’t work meaning that they don’t get paid and it gives them a unreliable reputation so no one else will want to hire them again.

Sony DSR 250p and Sony Z1 Tutorial Evaluation

This is a evaluation on my sony 250p video tutorial and my sony z1 manual.

Sony 250p Video Tutorial Evaluation

This is my video tutorial on the sony 250p. This is a short 3 minute guide on the camera, highlighting its basic features.

When editing this video I used apple final cut pro on a iMac, to cut and create the final product. The reason I used final cut was because of its ease of use, its professional standard of tools available and as it was available on the colleges iMacs.

The audio was recorded on the built in microphone on the iMac located in the gallery. I then clicked and dragged the mp3 audio file into final cut, and set to the appropriate location.

The images featured In the tutorial were taken by me on a iPhone 4 and emailed to my college email address, where I then downloaded them onto the Macs storage and added them to the video. The reason I used my iPhone to take the photos was because of ease of use, point and shoot and was quick and simple to email to myself. The issues I faced when doing this was the mass emailing my phone tried to do. To resolve this I had to send only a couple of photos at a time in order to minimize email overload. This method did however take a little while longer.

For the video clips I used another Sony 250p to film the camera itself. The reason I used this was to familiarize myself with the camera before making a tutorial on it, due to its ease of use and because of its HD capabilities.

Sony Z1 Manual evaluation 

This is a evaluation on my Sony z1 manual. For this manual I created a paper copy of my Z1 manual. To create this manual I used Microsoft word due to its simplicity and easy to use interface.

For the images I used the same method I used when creating my Sony 250p tutorial which was to take the photos on a iPhone 4 and email them to my college email address. The issue I faced with using Microsoft word was the location of the photos. To resolve this I had to right click each photo, select text wrapping and set it to tight. This allowed me to position the images in whatever location I liked.

TV standards and Aspect Ratios

There are three types of TV standards. These consist of NTSC, PAL and SECAM. TV standards encode the standards for the recording and reception of video i.e. synergy between the video and how we play it.

What is a TV standard?

A TV standard is the format used in different countries in order to view playback or to broadcast content.

NTSC

NTSC is short for National Television System Committee. The NTSC is responsible for setting television and video standards and DVD playback in the United States, Japan, Canada and Mexico. However the dominate TV standard is PAL and SECAM as NTSC is an older tv standard. Its the oldest existing broadcasting standard.  It was created as a standard in the united states during 1941 (maligning it the oldest tv standard of the three) for black and white television broadcasting. NTSC consists of 525 horizontal lines of display and 60 vertical lines.

NTSC uses a screen resolution of 720 by 480 pixels and has a refresh rate of 30 Hz, which is considerably lower compared to its rival PAL, which uses a screen resolution of 720 by 576 pixels, but has a lower refresh rate of 25 Hz. An advantage of NTSC compared to PAL is smoother images as it has a higher refresh rate, but isn’t as high quality as PAL.

PAL

PAL is short for Phase Alternating Line and is a video standard. However in the united states they use NTSC instead. PAL is mostly used in the UK and most of the Western Europe, several South American, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, and Pacific Island nations, and Australia and New Zealand. PAL is an analogue television colour system, used to broadcast television systems in many countries.

PAL uses a screen resolution of 720 by 576 pixels and also has a refresh rate of 25 frames per second (FPS). Compared to the older NTSC standard, NTSC uses a lower resolution of 720 by 480 pixels, but features a higher refresh rate of 30 frames per second. This means PAL has a greater picture quality than NTSC, but NTSC has a smoother picture. PAL is now more popular compared to NTSC sue to its higher picture quality caused by having more pixels than NTSC.

PAL uses 50 horizontal lines and 625 lines on a display. Different types use different video bandwidth and audio carrier specifications. Common types are B, G, and H. Less common types include D, I, K, N, and M.

SECAM

SECAM is short for Séquentiel couleur à mémoire french for Sequential Colour with Memory. SECAM is an analogue colour television system first used in France during 1960’s, where it is still used. Like PAL, SECAM is based on a 50Hz refresh rate and runs on 625 lines. SECAM uses the same bandwidth as PAL but transmits the colour information sequentially. Unlike NTSC or PAL, analog SECAM television couldn’t be very easily edited in its native form, instead post-production was done using PAL, and the result of this was it then trans-coded into SECAM at the point of transmission.

SECAM, like PAL consists of 625 vertical lines with 50 horizontal lines on a display. Different types use different video bandwidth and audio carrier specifications. Types B and D are usually used for VHF. Types G, H, and K are used for UHF. Types I, N, M, K1 and L are used for both VHF and UHF.

This is a map of the world showing the use of the different TV standards in different countries. As you can see the UK, most of europe, several South American, Middle Eastern, Asian, African, and Pacific Island nations and Australia and finally New Zealand all use the PAL TV standard.

The map shows that the NTSC TV standard is mostly used in America but is also used in Japan, Canada and Mexico.

And finally the map shows that SECAM is mostly used in France, Russia, some parts of Africa and in Madagascar.

Aspect Ratio

Aspect Ratios are the relationship between the width and the height of a film or video frame, expressed as two numbers separated by a colon. In mathematic terms its the X and Y axis. X meaning width and Y meaning height. The most common aspect ratios used today in the presentation of films in movie theaters are 1.85:1 and 2.39:1. Two common videographic aspect ratios are 4:3 (1.3:1), the universal video format of the 20th century and ; 16:9 (1.7:1), universal for high-definition television and European digital television.

History

The 4:3 aspect ratio was originally developed by a man called W.K.L.Dickson in 1889. Dickson was experimenting with a motion-picture camera called a Kinescope, and he made his film 1 inch wide with frames 0.75 inches high. This film size, and its aspect ratio, became the standard for the film and motion picture industry because there was no apparent reason to change it. In 1941, when the NTSC proposed standards for television broadcasting, they adopted the same ratio as the film industry.

In the 1950′s, Hollywood wanted to give the public a reason to buy a ticket to attend the theatre rather than sit at home watching the TV. Because our two eyes give us a wider view, a wider movie makes more sense. Widescreen formats are formatted much closer to the way we see (16:9). Our field of vision is more rectangular than square. When we view movies in widescreen format, the image fills more of our field of vision and has a stronger visual impact. Wider screens gave the theatre audience a more visually engulfing experience. The 16:9 aspect ratio allows TV to move closer to the movie experience.

Example of a scene shot in 4:3

This scene is from a 1950’s documentary. As you can see the scene has two vertical bars on the left and right of the image. This means that the scene was shot in 4:3 which is the standard aspect ratio found in standard televisions and has been used since television’s origins and in many computer monitors. The ratio of 4:3 has now mostly been replaced by the 16:9 ratio as its compatible with most modern TV’s. You may also notice that compared to 16:9, 4:3 is in the shape of a square, where as 16:9 is in the shape of a rectangle.

History

The 4:3 aspect ratio has been around since the early days of television in the 1940’s and 1950’s. A television that has an aspect ratio of 4:3 is often referred to as being NTSC, or pan and scan. The majority of analog cable channels still broadcast in 4:3.

Example of a scene shot in 16:9

This is a scene from the film Iron Man 2. As you can see the scene has two horizontal bars at the top and bottom of the image. This means that the scene was shot in the ratio of 16:9 also known as widescreen. 16:9 is the standard format for HDTV’s. Also known as the letterbox as it has two horizontal black bars at the top and bottom of the picture. Most films these days are shot in 16:9 (widescreen) as since 2009,  it has become the most popular aspect ratio for televisions and computer monitors. Compared to the ratio 4:3, 16:9 is in the shape of a rectangle, where as the ratio 4:3 is in the shape of a square.

History

The 16:9 aspect ratio is a product of movie producers. They wanted to find a way to make their movies bigger and better in order to attract more customers. The widescreen format of the 16:9 aspect ratio allows users to view a bigger picture when compared to the 4:3 aspect ratio. The 16:9 aspect ratio also enhances the quality of the image by allowing for bolder backdrops and scenery.

Sony DSR-250p Video Tutorial

This is a short video tutorial I created explaining the uses and how to use the Sony DSR-250p camera. Also on my blog is a question and answers post, also explaining the uses and features of the camera.

Video connectors

In this assignment I will be talking about the different kinds of video connectors and how they work and what there used for.

HDMI

This image shows a male HDMI lead. HDMI cables were first designed during 2002 and were realised during 2003. A HDMI cable is a compact and easy to use cable that supports HD and audio, making setup quick and easy. One end of the male HDMI lead connects to the female HDMI port on your device e.g. Blu-ray player, XBox, playstation and the other male end connects to the female port of your TV. HDMI leads are compatible with game consoles, blu-ray players, DVD players and any other device with a HDMI port.

Scart

This image shows a scart lead. A scart lead is a 21 pin connector, for connecting audio and video equipment together. The scart lead first appeared on television sets in 1977 and soon became compulsory for all TV sets. However these days the scart lead as pretty much been replaced by the HDMI cable.

Scart leads can be used simply for connecting two devices together. For example; TVs, VCRs, DVD players and some older games consoles.

These days Scart leads have been almost entirely replaced by HDMI cables as these days more and more content is in HD and most modern TVs have multiple HDMI sockets.

DVI

This pictures shows a DVI cable. DVI stands for Digital Visual Interface. DVI is a video interface standard covering the transmission of video between a source device such as a computer and a display device.

DVI cables are used to connect a computer to a external monitor. This can be a desktop computer or some laptops.

VGA

This picture shows a VGA cable VGA stands for Video Graphics Array. The VGA cable was designed in 1987 and was produced during 1987, and still is to this day.

VGA cables have the same uses as a DVI cable. It it used to connect a laptop or desktop computer to an external monitor or TV.

Composite video 

This picture shows a composite video cable. Composite video cables is the format for analogue television but only the picture, not the audio.

Composite cables like the yellow, red and white ones are used on games consoles, digital cameras,