Music Research

Music in a film plays a major part as it reflects what is happening and has a huge impact on the audience.For our film opening we need some sort of background music to add to the suspense of the stalker-(Billy) following the dancer(Elle).We have been told we need to create the music ourselves using GarageBand so we have been researching the type of music we want. There are four types that we particular like;






Although this piece of music has a voice over it, it still fitted well with our film opening as it consisted of drums violins and pianos. All these added to the suspense and reflected the happenings in the film opening and we played this piece over our work and it worked really well.







We also discovered the Saw music and found that this fitted even better ! It added suspense like Massive Attack but this piece did not have a voice over so it was more effective. Also, where the chase actually begins and the characters begin to run, the music builds up to add to the tension of this scene.



Rihanna's latest released song really appealed to us as we thought it would make great background music to our film opening. We also played this piece over our work and found that it also created suspense as it consisted of loud heavy beat drums.




Emma came across this song my Eminem and told us all about it. We thought this could be another one of our background music options as you can actually hear a music box being wound up and this reflects one of our scenes. Also, if the lyrics are muted the rest of the song is the sound of a music box which reflects our title.

These four are the first four pieces of music we have come across during our research and I am sure we will discover some more to add to our option list. We are hoping to use aspects of all the music we have researched so far and on GarageBand create a piece of music that will reflect our idea and create suspense successfully.

Fourth edit to our film opening

In the third version we inserted the dance scenes but we did not include them in the fast transition clips but in this one we did. We included one of her feet, her doing the splits and one dancing with the pole. We thought these quick clips should be inserted so it is clear to the viewer that she is a dancer within the first 20 seconds of the film opening.

We also experimented with the imovie effects and whenever Billy spots Elle it turns to a negative/x-ray effect. We added this and thought it would be effective as it adds to the whole idea of the stalker being psychotic. Also, it stands out against the rest of the film so that it becomes clear to the audience that Elle is being followed.

Third edit to our film opening

In our third editing piece we inserted all the dancing scenes and the scenes of Billy in the car winding up the music box. This was the first fully completed piece of work we had as it included all of the scenes needed.We also included the text on the black background which I previously mentioned.

Editing the beginning

After seeing the trailer to Paranormal Activity, Blaire Witch Project and The Fourth Kind our group came up with another idea. Since all of these films are based on real stories and claim to be "true" we researched the start and endings of these films. We've realised that at the start or the end of the screen they have a black screen with white writing saying that the killer is still out there. To make our film opening different and unique we decided to incorperate it into our film.

Since at the end of our opening we cannot have "Billy has still not been found" as it makes a conclusion to the film, so we decided to put at the start, "Thanks to the Metrapolitan Police for allowing us to screen this case". We feel that this will make our film seem as if it is based on true events and make it more scary.

Also we added a zoom then fade to black and another shot came up but this time saying "The case still remains open". We hope that this will scare the viewers in making them think that the killer, "Billy" is still out there and make them think that he may come after them. Hopefully this will trick the viewers into believing that it's real.

Second edit for our film opening

We then after filming on Sunday, uploaded our stuff in our free period and were eager to edit it into our film so it would make sense. We then added in all of the shots of Billy winding up the music box and getting out of the car and walking off. With these shots we put the exposure up, so all the shots of him were grainy which gives the audience an effect, due to the mise en scene that he is "trouble" and this is shown through the grainy effect. In contrast to this we added all the shots of Elle dancing and put them in the effect "Dream". We used this effect as it brightened it up and also due to the mise en scene, it shows that Elle is happiest dancing. This happiness then contrasts at the exact moment she walks out the door. This could show that at the exact moment she walks out the door she's being watched.

We also edited the shots together with some cross blur/zoom transitions which gave the effect of time passing. I think that this makes it look better as you don't have the bore of watching her travel everywhere. We also realised that on imovie you can record sounds. We therefore put the music box up to the computer screen and recorded its melody. We used this over the top of the shot of the music box in the film. However, when the shot of Elle spinning was shown we played the music backwards, which in itself sounded scary, but we thought that this gave an extra effect that she's different and to distort the audience into thinking something is going to happen to them.

Paranormal Activity

Yesterday on 07/12/09 me and about 10 other girls from my media class and Ms Foster all went to the cinema to watch Paranormal Activity. I wanted to watch this film anyway and seen as though Ms Foster had suggested we all go as part of our research I thought I would go along.

Once the film had started the first 10 minutes which are supposed to grab my attention did the completely opposite as I was beginning to lose interest and found it quite boring. It was in high key lighting so did not scare me at all and I was quite disappointed. But as I had seen the trailer beforehand, there was the bedroom shot which was evident throughout the film and as this shot came on screen I instantly became scared as I knew something scary was going to happen.

Most of the scary scenes happened in the bedroom shot at night and as it was in nightmode it added to the whole scary effect. The thrillers began mildly and gradually built up night after night until it reached the end that was so scary I was screaming out loud and jumped out my seat !

The first few bedroom shots were just the couple sleeping but no scary action, the reason for this was that they wanted to build the suspense so that when something does happen it appears shocking. The first scare was when the bedroom door shut slowly. Then it gradually built up with faster door slamming, heavy breathing, footsteps and shadows. The ones that I found the scariest were when Katie was dragged out of bed by the demon, when the footprints were seen in the powder and when Katie was standing watching Mika for hours and hours. I found this creepy as it made me think why she was doing it as it was really strange ! The footsteps were effective as it was revealed slowly by the use of a light. When Katie was dragged out of the bed I found it really scary but as Sophie was already laughing I ended up laughing as well!

The build up and suspense as to what was going to happen next was effective as whenever the bedroom shot came up I was guessing what was going to happen next as I had gathered that the scary action was going to increase night after night.

However, the camera angles were shaky and unsteady to show a real life home made video and although it portrayed this idea well it was annoying and uncomfortable to watch. The editing was also appalling as I mentioned to Ms Foster and she said it was meant to be like that but it annoyed me as I am currently in the process of editing our two minute film and we want it to perfection but there editing was terrible.

Everything the audience sees on screen is what is being filmed by Mika so if he is not holding the camera filming then we do not see what is happening. During one of the night scenes, Mika and Katie hear a noise and go downstairs as they are curious as to what it is. When Mika was heading downstairs trying to find the demon or some trace of it everything is seen through the video camera and the camera is used as a light source. I was constantly shouting 'Put the light on!' as it made it increasingly scary as we did not know what was to appear on screen next as we relied on the light source.

The end was the scariest as it was jumpy and I definitely found it jumpy as I jumped out my seat, screamed out loud and even scratched Ms Foster ! It also left us on a cliff hanger as the text appeared on the screen at the end with 'Katie's whereabouts still remain unknown' , this sent shivers up my spine...and then the lights came on ! The whole group had mixed opinions about it, some girls were saying ' That was so rubbish! ' whereas the likes of me and Trisha were still shocked by the end and Ms Foster was frozen !

I suppose it is the type of film that you either love or hate-I definitely loved it. For a low budget film that only took $10,000 dollars to make it is one of the scariest films I have ever watched.From watching this film I have learnt that buliding suspense throughout a film then ending with a shocking ending and a cliffhanger has such an effect on the audience.

Final day of filming !

After re arranging the date many times, we finally decided a date and time where we could film the dance scenes at Bodens studio. Yesterday, we all went to Bodens studio to film Elle dancing so it could be inserted into the rest of our film. These dance scenes are important as it makes the audience more aware of Elle's character-that she is a dancer and this adds to the idea of a music box being incorporated as it has a dancer inside. Although this scene is amongst one of the first scenes in our film opening we ended up filming it last !

Firstly we started off by filming some shots of Elle's feet, going on point. These shots were either long shots or extreme close ups of her feet. We decided to do loads of different ballet techniques and movements as we thought that more would be better than less and somehow, either at the start of our film, with the quick transitions or with the help of fading transitions can show how she got from each shot.

We then filmed some long shots of Elle spinning. We started zoomed in and then slowly zoomed out to reveal Elle. The reason why we did this was because since inside the music box there is a ballet dancer spinning, with a zoom transition Elle will mimic what the ballet dancer inside the box is doing. This is to help show the audience that the box is sort of like a voodoo doll and it controls Elle.

Following on from this shot, we did a extreme close up/canted angle of Elle falling. This shot would come after the shot we previously filmed of Billy slamming the box down. This also proves that the box is a "voodoo doll" and that Billy has some kind of control or power over her. We got this idea from the film "Save the last dance" but we changed it so it was unique for our film.

We also filmed a lot of split jumps through the air. We may not include these shots but we thought if we had more time left over it would make sense to have more footage that shows that she's a ballet dancer. These shots were pan shot follows across the whole room. You could also see Elle through the mirror. This shot was difficult to film because there was no way we could pan across the whole room in the mirrors without the camera and tripod being seen. Luckily in the room there was a pole in the middle which was just big enough for one of us to stand behind with the camera and pan across without being seen. Also as seen in the picture, we filmed some "bar work" which where she completed various ballet moves. We may not have time to put these in our film but we thought we might aswell, as we may end up using some in the fast transition start.

Then we filmed again from behind the pole but of Elle spinning and doing loads of stretches. We then zoomed into her in the mirror to show a closer long shot of her. I like this shot as the audience is not looking at her directly, they are looking at her through the mirror which also gives the audience a sense that she is being watched. I think that this shot makes up for the fact that we couldn't get hold of Billy so we could, unfortunatly, not use the amazing shot of when Elle bends down Billy will appear in the mirror.

Finally we realised that our next shot after this was Elle walking out of Esporta, so we needed some kind of real life transition to show that she's left one place and entering another one. We then panned her picking up her bags and leaving the room. We filmed extreme close up's of her turning the lights off and grabbing the doors. What we have realised though is that we can only use one extreme close up, either the switching off of the lights or the lift, from previous filming, as her nails are black in one and fake in the other. But this would not be a problem as we already have too much footage to deal with.

We had filmed all the shots we wanted and more so decided to call it a day. Today was the end of our filming altogether and I am both disappointed that it has all come to an end as I have thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I am also very excited as we can now finally upload all of our raw footage and start editting properly as we have filmed everything we need.

Altering the ending

During one of our editing sessions Ms Foster wanted to see what we had edited so far and give us some feedback as to how to improve it. We showed her everything we had edited and she made us realise that we have done what is closer to a two minute film as a whole instead of just simply an opening to a film.

Following this realisation, we went through the brief and it clearly stated a two minute film opening. Referring back to our research, the first two minutes should introuduce the basic storyline and leave you on a cliffhanger. As we had tied all the ends to our film we had to delete the ending so that it ended with a cliffhanger.

We also had a split decision on how our film opening should end-implicit or explicit. Elle and Sophie wanted the clip where Billy and Elle run into each other and Billy grabs Elle which is explicit. Whereas, me and Emma thought this resembled a romcance film and so prefered the clip where Elle bangs against Billy and he appears from behind her which is implicit.After discussing it with Ms Foster we decided that implicit is more effective as it leaves the audience guessing and wanting to see the rest of the film.

GarageBand

This is a short clip on how to use GarageBand-a music creating software exclusive to the imacs. I watched this clip and did not find it helpful at all. It is really bad quality, the man has an annoying accent which I could not really understand and the whole concept looks really confusing and difficult to use.

We experimented and tried to grasp the way of using it during one of our lessons but we found it really difficult. Ms Foster then advised us to watch this clip to help us but this still has not enhanced my understanding on how to use the software.