Preliminary Film

This is my preliminary film, in which we had to make a guerilla style horror short. We didn't have much planning for the film seeing as we were to see what our abilities were when making a short. For example, what camera shots we can use for effect, what we can do to build tension and our abilities in terms of editing. 

Gif.1

We had to work in a group for the prelim, but within that group we edited our films separately and this is what I have made from what we have filmed. We all filmed different sections and directed at different points, seeing as we were in a 3, we also had to swap roles each time we progressed with the story. I filmed the scene where the protagonist finds the dead body on the floor (Gif.1), I used a pan as a way to gradually expose the body of the girl from the audience's perspective, as if they were looking at the scene themselves.

Gif.2

We have used various shots and angles for our short, for example, mid shots have been used throughout the short in various scenes, close ups on certain props such as the student card, a long shot as the girl walks up to the area where the antagonist was last seen and various pans and tracking shots when required like when our protagonist is walking onto the scene and past the protagonist as shown in Gif.2.




As for sound, we don't have any dialogue in the short seeing as we decided that it wouldn't be needed seeing as we only have one main protagonist and antagonists in horror films rarely talk. For most of the short, I have edited the sound on, this includes the background sounds of the area we were in, the footsteps as the protagonist walks and any other noise, such as whenever the antagonist appears. This is due to the fact that we didn't have any equipment that enables us to reduce background noise when filming, so sounds such as aeroplanes flying past were fairly loud and sounds that includes the protagonist when she's walking were not loud enough to record. Diagram.2 presents some of the sound editing i have done, where most of the work was done on the background noise. "forest day" and "wind 3" are my most used sound extracts.

Diagram.1

Furthermore, I have distorted the sounds of the birds at the end using the effects that was available on Final Cut Pro and diagram.2 shows this. I used a TV static effect to go along with the transition between reality and the "static" as the clip with the birds changes effects, therefore, I felt that the sound should change as well. As if this clip was presented on an old TV.

Gif.3

Diagram.2

In terms of editing, I have made sure that there were no continuity errors within the short, however, when editing the clips to make them look darker, one scene looks more "dull" than the other. Misbalancing the colours and the vibrancy of the scene. This was done because I felt that the scene looked too light seeing as we were filming in daylight, but I also felt that the combat filter was too light as well.

scene with combat filter and keyer filter 

scene with combat filter only





Looking at the cuts and transitions, I have used a simple cut for a majority of the short to illustrate a change of scene, where as, I have used the "static" transition effect as a way to portray the antagonist's entrance and exit, but also of their presence at the end of the film.

 Also, I have made a montage of scenes towards the end of the film as a way to resolve the film, seeing as this is after the protagonist has fallen victim to the antagonist. I have used this montage to show how the antagonist is always present and that they are waiting for their next victim seeing as they have returned to the beginning position they were in when the film began. But also, this raises questions from the audience considering that as the montage ends, it cuts to black, meaning that the audience would wonder what will be the next scene and what has happened to the protagonist.

Overall, I feel that this preliminary short has done fairly well, but it could be improved greatly. For example, for this short I have only used simple shots, so to improve I would use a variation of more complex camera shots such as a dolly track or use different angles. Moreover, as I mentioned earlier, there was a continuity error with the filters, making one scene look darker than the others. I would 've improved this by either using a different filter for the whole film, or keep it constant and use the combat filter by itself. As for sound, I feel that I did well with editing the sound seeing as most of the sound were in sync with the actions and I made sure that it followed the genre.

What I will take from this short, is mainly the sound especially a lack of dialogue and possibly any tracks and anything else that I have missed out from this short, I will plan to use in my final product.