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Last Post !

This is my last post. I have throughly enjoyed every aspect of the filming and editing for our thhriller genre film opening. I hope to continue Media at A2 and I am looking forward to embarking on the music video project.This blog is now closed.

Film is finished !

Yesterday, we were allocated the whole of our morning media lesson for our final editing session to finish our film opening before the deadline at 11:45. We only had a few finishing touches to make but it was quite pressurising.

At first, it was all rather nerve racking and we felt quite pressured, especially with Ms Foster shouting '2 hours remaining!' But, we actually surprised ourselves as everything just fell into place and we managed to finish and upload our film into high definition onto youtube before the deadline time !

Filming and Editing coming towards an end

After our recent editing sessions, Miss Foster and me and my group thought that it would be a good idea if we filmed a final part to end our film. So during Wednesday's lunchtime we went to Elle's house and filmed the final scene.

Seeing as we added the new ending of "24 hours earlier" in white writing on a plain black screen with an alarm clock sound we used from imovie playing over it, we thought it would make the noise more significant and the idea more authentic if the audience actually saw an alarm clock.

So we went to Elle's, she got changed in her pyjama's and got into bed and we started filming.We set the alarm for 7:30 and filmed a close up shot of her turning it off while missing it. We then filmed loads of different shots; an ariel shot of her waking up,canted angles and long shots of her in her bed.We also filmed a shot of her stretching and taking off her sleep mask and waking up then moving to the side of the bed, and putting her head in her hands which is where we hope to end the film opening with the aim to leave the audience wanting to know what is going to happen next.

When we editted this scene, we used the sound of the alarm clock going off and dragged it so that it started when the black screen-"24 hours earlier" appears on the screen so that it created a sound bridge to the next scene of Elle missing the alarm clock and then stopping it, which is when the sound stops. Then, we used the original sound from the pan shot across to Elle in her bed where she wakes up and then gets out of bed and the scene fades to white.

We also changed the video style into 'dream' because the effect reflects her innocence and we also used the same effect in her dancing scenes, so we included it to reinforce this idea so that it runs throughout the film opening.

However, after uploading and editing these scenes we decided not to include it in our film opening as it gave it too much of an ending. We also realised that it allowed the audience to calm down after the fast paced chase which is what we did not want to happen. So, to leave the audience hanging we deleted all them clips and ended it on "The Music Box" with the overlapped clip of Elle.

Adding a professional look

To make our film stand out and to make it look like a professional film after researching other films, we have seen that before the film starts there is a green screen with writing on it to say that the film as been approved for certain audiences.

We decided to imitate this, but although this green screen appears on American films, we had to reword it to make it suitable for the United Kingdom. We also created a website at the bottom to make it sound believable.

The Music Box Evaluation

The music box evaluation [autosaved] [autosaved]

View more presentations from guested59de.

Completely changing the beginning

Yesterday, me, Elle, Emma and Soph all went to Ms Foster's office to borrow a netbook and as we were there me and Emma wanted to show her what we had edited recently on Monday.

She liked the black screens we entered at the start spelling, 'MURDER IS LIKE MUSIC TO MY EARS', and particularly liked the overlapped clip at the end. She also agreed with the fact that we decided to delete the blood scene as she had told us to this a long time ago but we never listened.

However, from watching it several times she thought that the montage at the beginning consisting of fast clips made our '2 minute film opening' appear more like a 'film trailer'. This would be going against the specification and could lower our grade.

The five of us disagreed on whether we should delete the whole montage or not as me and Emma felt that this was the most effective part of the film opening whereas Miss, Soph and Elle all thought it looked more like a trailer.

From this split decision, Ms Foster tried to convince us to agree with her and played our film opening with her hand covering up the montage and telling us to imagine black screens instead with text about the production etc. and the film starting with the shot of the music box spinning and then zooming out onto Elle spinning.

After this, I was convinced that the montage did look too much like a film trailer and so we headed up to the media room to edit the beginning.

The montage itself lasted about 20 seconds so we had to make up this time and fill up the spaces where the montage was with black screens lasting the exact same time so that it did not affect the music.

So from ideas from other films, we inserted about 3 screens reading;
1. A S.E.E.N Production- The name 'seen' being an acronym-the first letters of the four of our names. I also spotted this as being quite ironic as the word 'seen' is associated with films because we watch films.

2. Jackel Presents-Initially we had 'Fox Presents' but we thought that Jackel would look less copyrighted.
3.We also decided to have the title at the beginning.
All these clips lasted about 6-7 seconds each to fit in with the music perfectly.

Also on Wednesday, we wanted to hook our audience at the end and keep them 'hanging off the edge of their seats' as one would say, so we inserted a quick flash of a shot of Billy appearing behind Elle in the car park so they would want to know what is going to happen next so will continue to watch the film.

Editing in free period

Today in our free period, me and Emma spent the whole of our free afternoon editing our film opening.

From what we watched on credits in last Wednesday's lesson, me and Emma saw that for the film 'Angels and Demons' in the dvd opening before the main menu came up, there were quick shots of black screens appearing spelling words for example; 'MURDER'. This idea really appealed to us and we thought it would be relevant to our film.

So in our editing session, we came up with the phrase; 'MURDER IS LIKE MUSIC TO MY EARS' which is also relevant to the title of our film opening. We inserted black screens at the beginnning lasting for about 6-7 seconds with white text over the top using an online horror font.

Me and Emma spent ages trying to get the timing correct of the black screens together with our montage to fit with the music. It was particularly difficult to fit the music with it as before the film opening begins, there is a black and white shot of the typewriter reading 'The Music Box' and there is a part in the music where a heavy beat drops and we wanted that sound on exactly at the point when they typewriter slides up.

This took a lot of teamwork and me and Emma timed them, we got out our calculators and took into account the seconds from right at the beginning to the beat drop shot and divided it by the number of black screens there were so we could be precise in the black screen duration times. After all this, we managed to time it perfectly and were completely satisfied with it.

Following from this, we needed to include our credits as we realised from watching opening credits from other films that the credits are a lot more effective over a black screen. So, to break up the 3 minutes of footage we have, we inserted black screens with our names. Also, we realised that each person needs a specific role, so I took filming, Emma was allocated editing, Elle director and Sophie music and lighting.

We used the colour white and adjusted the contrast of it to create a silver/grey colour which really stood out against the black background. We also used the 'drifting' type so when it appears on the screen our names are drifting sideways away from each other. Also from watching opening credits in films, we realised that our first names are bigger than our surnames so we mimicked this idea.

As well as adding to the film opening, we finally came to the decision of deleting the blood scene. We realised that at the point where it occurs in the film, it is not relevant and does not make sense and just adds an element of confusion. However, we still thought it was a good shot and cut it down to 0.2 seconds and inserted it into our montage at the beginning.

We also altered the ending. Following from the shot of Elle in the car park, this fades into a new shot of the music box and we zoomed into the ballet dancer spinnning and overlapped a clip of Elle spinning. So the shot goes from the ballet dancer spinning-to an overlapped clip of Elle spinning and back again to the dancer in the music box. This again reinforces the idea that Elle and the ballet dancer are similar.

Following from this overlapped shot, we changed our minds about the title and wanted to include it at the end of our film opening. So, we chose a new and different shot of the music box as we did not quite like the close up of the one we already had. We managed to find one I filmed in the garage which shows the whole music box and we cropped it and adjusted the contrast and darkened it, then we inserted the title using a basic font and changed the colour to white.

This shot also fits in with the music as when this shot comes up, the sound playing is music box music. The shot also begins sharp and blurs when the title comes up so it appears more prominent and then it focuses back to normal again and then fades to a plain white screen.

Below is the finshed version of everything we edited on Monday:

Credits Research and Analysis

Yesterday in our media lesson, we watched the opening credits of many different films as a helping idea of the type to include in our film opening, as most of our class were finding difficulty with this part of the editing.

We watched the opening credits of; Babel, Derailed, The Bourne Identity, In Bruges, The life of David Gale, The Mexican and Angels and Demons.

The ones that particularly stood out to me were: Babel, The Bourne Identity and The Mexican, although they are all of different genres from Action to Rom-Com.

The opening credits to 'Babel' started with text over a black screen reading information like, 'A ....Film' and 'A...Production'. This was the basic information which is essential so the audience immediately know that it is the film opening. But the part that particularly interested me was the part where there was a plain black screen which lasted about 5-10 seconds with sound over the top and the opening credits appearing on the screen.

As an audience, I found this particularly gripping as I just wanted to know what was going to appear on the screen next as the black screen allowed the audience to pause to think but still kept them engaged with the sound.

The opening credits to 'The Bourne Identity' were completely different which is why it stood out amongst the rest. It started with a piece of footage which lasted for a long duration, with text in the corner informing us of the location.

Following from this, the footage continued for about 7 minutes until the title came up over a black screen. Then, there was another set of footage for another 5 minutes, and we did not manage to see the opening credits. But judging from what we watched, about 10-15 minutes into the film there were no mention of any names.

The opening credits to 'The Mexican' were also different and relevant to the movie genre. The names of the actors and producers etc were shown through objects on the screen for example, traffic lights.

This reminded me of the closing credits in the classic movie 'Grease' as we also see the names of the actors through objects.

Although we could not take any ideas into account for our credits, it still added to my wider knowledge on film credits.

From watching all these movie opening credits, I will take into account the idea of credits over a black screen with sound in the background and enter it into our own film credits.

Justification for title

We decided to name our film opening, 'The music box'. But our storyline is of a psycho stalker man following a dancer girl on her way home from a dance studio with the motive to kidnap and kill her.

The title 'The music box' is relevant to this storyline as the ballet dancer in the box is similar to the girl victim as they are both dancers. Also, we have incorporated a music box in parts of the film as a kind of alert that the stalker man is lurking and near the dancer girl.

The music box appears at the start of the film opening when the ballet dancer is spinning and we inserted an effect so that it spins into a shot of Elle dancing which shows their similarity.

Also, when Billy slams it shut in the car and following this is a close up shot of Elle falling over which shows that he has some sort of power over her and controls her.

The next time it appears is when Elle is running away from Billy in an underground car park after realising he is following her. The music box is placed on a post and as she runs past it, the camera focuses on it to inform the audience that Billy is lurking.

The reason for our title is portrayed through the props we used and also through our music box style music so it remains evident throughout the film.

Discovering extras on imovie

After watching Jess' group, we realised that there was more advanced things you could do on imovie by going onto "imovie preferences".

This showed us how to overlap to shots, what we've been trying to do for ages when overlapping the typewriter clips onto the actual footage of the walking home trip. It also lets you put a green screen etc. So next time we're all together we will experiment with this and try and incorporate it into our film.

Fifth edit to our film opening

This is the latest edit of our film and hopefully will be the last ! We have decided as a group that we are 100% happy and satisfied with everything and we think that there is nothing else we could change and improve.



In the ending, we added a clip of the music box spinning while it blurs so you can see the writing clearer.We still need to change the writing, as we were just experimenting with the transitions,colours and fonts. Since Elle and me liked the black screen with the scary writing on it better than the music box spinning we used both and added "A Universal Studio Film" on a black screen woth white writing using a downloaded font, which may be changed later to show who's producing the film.

We also noticed as we were watching the film was that we analysed it in depth. For example, as Billy is winding up the music box, the light in the car goes out. This light could symbolise Elle as in she's dying out. Also the music is a cycle music, to show that his killing streak is ongoing.


As a group we think that we have filmed and editted to our maximum potential and now we need to evaluate thoroughly independently, as a group and take into account feedback from our target audience.

Copyrighted Music

We have found a piece on youtube that is not copyrighted that we believe fits our film perfectly. The music is off a music box melody repeated, which shows what our film is about hence the title "The Music Box" and the fact that it keeps repeating on a loop the music represents the fact that the killer will strike again and it's a continous occurence. We also sat and editing this music to show our editing skills. Since this music originally was over 5 minutes long, we needed to cut this down by 2 minutes. But the end of the film was perfect with our visuals, so we had to cut out the middle of the film, which was much harder than I thought it would be, as you have to get the beats right to make it sound continuous.

We also cut it up so that the end of the music box slowly turning would fit in with the end of our film. In order to do this we had to cut out the middle bit of the music and make sure it fitted with our film. Here is a screen shot of how we did it on garageband.

Just another editing session

Today in our media lesson we spent most of the morning editing our film opening. We were trying to edit our credits which I previously mentioned by changing them and using fonts from an online website so that it reflects our content better.

We saw many that we liked and thought they would reflect our film as they looked contemporary, but when we typed in the name of our film for the font we wanted and overlapped it onto our clip it did not look as good as we expected so we decided to stay with the imovie version.




My group are currently undecided between two clips we want to appear after Elle is running in the car park. One of them is an extreme close up shot of the music box with the ballet dancer spinning which we inserted at the beginnning. We edited this shot by changing the effect into 'old world', 'glow', 'dream' and probably every single effect on imovie but me and Elle still felt it was repeating the shot of the music box a bit too much.

We also used an effect where the background was blurred and the dancer was in focus and we slowed the clip down. The slow motion, blurred and glow effect together with the extravagant font I felt looked slightly over the top and rather tacky.

So me and Elle like it where there was a plain black screen and the credits come up which look very contemporary and it has a hand written effect which is relevant to our film as it is telling a story. We feel that the use of the black background is plain yet far more effective than an over thought clip which Emma and Sophie seem to like better.

We could not agree on one as a group so we decided to gather our media class together and ask them for their views but this did not really help us very much as this resulted in a split decision. We are still currently undecided but hopefully we will choose mine and Elle's option !

Following from 'the undecided clip' we inserted a clip which we all agreed on. It was a clip which we included in the fast transition shots right at the start but seen as they are so fast we felt this powerful clip was not used to its best so we included it right at the end as the last shot.

It is a clip of Billy looking directly at the camera and pulling his hood up, we slowed the clip down and adjusted the conrast and lighting to make it appear scarier to audience as it is the last shot and should leave them feeling slightly scared and on a cliffhanger.

Adding the opening credits

This week during our free periods and media lessons we finally added the opening credits to our film opening. We experimented with different sizes, fonts and colours to decide which one looked best and fitted in with our film genre and also reflected the storyline.After a few disagreements and mixed opinions we all finally decided on one that we all thought hit all the targets we wanted to achieve.

We settled with white credits as it fitted well with the background of the fast shots and the colour white has the connotations of purity which reflects Elle the victim. We did not just leave it as a pure block colour of white we adjusted the contrast of the colour and managed to achieve a translucent effect which we thought looked scarier and fitted in with our genre.

We also typed it in capital letters rather than small caps as it stands out more and appears clearer to the audience when they read it. The way it appears on the screen also plays a major part as it reflect the storyline. We used a type where it appears quickly on the screen and then quickly blurs out off the screen, the quick movement of the credits reflects the rapid chase between the two characters which is a significant part of the film opening.

Changes to the car park scene

In our recent editing sessions we have made a few changes to our film opening to improve it. In the car park scenes towards the end, we changed the style of the scenes to sci-fi so that it appears darker and so appears scarier to the audience. We originally had a glow effect but we changed it to sci-fi and adjusted the brightness and contrasts of all the scenes to the same percentage to show continuity so that the lighting was the same in all the shots.

Another reason why we chose this effect was because when the characters are running their silhouettes appear darker and more prominent in the shot as they are the main focus. It also affects the extreme close up of the music box as the contrast was darker in the background this allowed the music box to stand out more and appear much brighter to show its significance.

Eastenders:Live episode

On 19/02/10 Eastenders was 25 years old and so filmed their first live episode which lasted for 30 minutes. There were around 58 cameras used so that they were able to succeed in doing this as obviously they were unable to edit as it was being aired live. There were talks of the episode lasting an hour but they decided to settle with 30 minutes and I am guessing this is because it would have been extremely difficult to keep the continuity throughout.

The events taking place in the episode were a follow up of Thursday night's episode which lasted an hour as it was pre recorded so was edited. Thursday night's episode continued onto Friday night's episode which was filmed live on the night. Thursday's episode was pre recorded and filmed around 6 weeks ago and the next episode was filmed another 6 weeks later. The cast and crew must have ensured that the continuity remains the same and that the characters do not change in appearance over the 6 weeks like their hair style, figure etc.

As a media student I was trying to spot differences between the two episodes but I did not notice anything different, all the outfits and everything in the mise en scene remained the same which was amazing.

I also watched the aftermath of the live episode and they showed you clips of the cast and crew preparing to film the live episode. The characters had to use a small transporter to move from place to place rapidly as obviously the exterior set of the queen vic is about 2 mins away from the interior set so this transfer had to be done quickly and was timed during rehearsals so that it appears realistic to the viewer.

Towards the end where Bradley had to jump from the top of the queen vic, a stunt man was used instead of the main character. The shots were filmed from Bradley on the roof, then the stunt man jumped and they planned to do a shot of Bradley on the floor. But if this was a pre recorded episode then they would have been able to film it at different times in different shots and edit it.

However, this episode was live and the stunt man had landed on a inflated padding and the crew had 40 seconds to remove the inflated padding and the stunt man from the shot and replace him with Bradley and a pile of blood beneath him. During these busy 40 seconds for the crew, other shots had to be inserted to keep the continuity and all this was done incredibly.

From watching the live episode and the aftermath I realised how difficult it is to keep continuity live without editing with different camera shots and the way Eastenders managed to succeed in doing this was truly fantastic.

This is a presentation I came across on youtube of all the mistakes that occured during the live episode due to the fact that they were unable to edit. This just backs up my previous points regarding the continuity etc.

Classification for our film

Our film opening has the main storyline of a stalker male following a young teenage girl, and from my research I found that the thriller film 'Prom night' has a similar plot of a male stalking a teenage girl.

From my research, I found that the classification for this film was a 15 due to the explicit horror scenes. However, we have chosen to give our film a 12/12A certificate as there are no explicit horror scenes and most of the horror is implied. Also, by having it as a 12/12A it will broaden our audience and make it more recognised as having it as a 15 certificate will limit the audience.

Below are the classification guidelines for the 12/12A certificate:

Suitable for 12 years and over
Exactly the same criteria are
used to classify works at ‘12A’
and ‘12’. These categories are
awarded where the material is
suitable, in general, only for
those aged 12 and over.

Works classified at these categories
may upset children under 12
or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.

The ‘12A’ category exists only
for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a
cinema unless accompanied by
an adult, and films classified
‘12A’ are not recommended for a
child below 12.



An adult may take a younger child if,
in their judgement, the film is suitable
for that particular child. In such
circumstances, responsibility for
allowing a child under 12 to view
lies with the accompanying adult.
The ‘12’ category exists only for
video works. No one younger than
12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated
video work.

Discrimination
Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be
endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive
discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely
to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs
Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should
not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror
Moderate physical and psychological threat may be
permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not
frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and
self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be
copied, or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible
weapons should not be glamorised.

Language
Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong
language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.

Nudity
Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief
and discreet.

Sex
Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed.
Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for
young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely
to be acceptable.

Theme
Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must
be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence
Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on
detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood,
but occasional gory moments may be permitted if
justified by the context.
Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and
discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification.

Classification research

Classification Guidelines

Above are the official film classification guidelines from the bbfc website.

Also from the bbfc website is a students guide to film certificates. This guide includes information about the history of film certificates and how the rating system works.

Student Guide to Bbfc

GarageBand visit

Earlier in the week our whole media group visited the city learning centre for a lesson on how to use garageband. Ms Foster had previously introduced us to a video on how to use it but I found it very unhelpful and me and my group tried working it out independently but we failed miserable. So I was quite looking forward to this session to learn how to use it properly and so that we could finally start making the real music for our film opening.

We were taught how to find different sounds ranging from dark and intense to electro and rock. As our film genre is thriller/horror I found that the sounds under the dark and intense categories were suitable for our film opening.

Me and my group all began to start our own soundtracks as we all wanted to experiment a little and we were talking about which ones to use. But we were then told that we could produce a soundtrack on the macs at the clc so we all gathered on one mac and worked together.

We were also told that as well as using the sounds already on the software we could plug in real instruments and add to them so we decided to plug in a keyboard and start recording. We used the massive attack music as a guideline and tried to create something similar by carefully listening to each instrument played and repeating it on GarageBand.

Towards the end of the session we had really become familiar with the use of GarageBand and managed to record around 10 seconds of the soundtrack but we did not save it as we did not feel it was worth saving. I am really looking forward to friday's lesson where we will be able to start recording our own soundtrack especially as I now know how to use GarageBand.

What lies beneath

Over the christmas holidays I watched many films one being the thriller movie-What lies beneath. It is quite an old movie but seen as it was on one of the Sky movies channels I thought i'd watch it especially as I love thriller movies.

The film is basically about Harrison Ford who plays the main character of a lecturer and is married to his wife. But he embarks on an affair with one of his students which leads to him murdering her and he disposes of her body in the lake next to his house.The student then comes back to haunt him and his wife in the house and the clues that she leaves leads to the wife eventually realising that the lake contains something important. Soon, everything is revealed and Harrison Ford then attempts to kill his wife but it all backfires when the ghost of the student comes back for revenge...

The film is definitely a thriller full of suspense and kept me on the edge of my sofa! There is a specific scene that is repetitive just like in Paranormal activity where the bed scene foreshadows that something scary is about to occur. In this case, it is a bath scene where every night the wife sees the bathroom door open with steam coming from it and she hesitantly approaches the bath which is filled with water. One time, she saw the reflection of a ghost another time she saw a message on the mirror and at times nothing happened.This is what kept me hooked as I did not know whether something scary was about to happen or not.

The ending is implicit rather than explicit as it does not explicitly show you how Harrison Ford dies, it is left down to the audience to come to their own conclusion about his death. I think this technique is far more effective as it leaves the viewer questioning the event and allows them to interpret it as they wish. Also it is still left open so it could continue onto a follow up.