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