Reconstruction Bloopers

For the reconstruction shoot outtakes I edited these similarly to the film outtakes. Harrison was the only one with all the footage so he compiled all the deleted scenes/bloopers into one video and sent it to me via wetransfer to sort out.

I opened the video in Premiere Pro 2017 and began watching them, deleting any that weren’t very entertaining and trimming clips that felt so long I began to lose interest. Once the footage was ready I made a cold open of sophia then placed an intro next with text saying “CrimeWatch Outtakes”. Once the intro appeared the comedic music started playing called ‘Hyperfun’ which perfectly sums up the video. After the reel stops I put a “Thanks For Watching” message at the end for the audience.

Below you can watch the outtakes of the CrimeWatch Reconstruction video:

Film Outtakes

As part of the marketing content I created a blooper real of all the funniest moments of the film that were cut or not meant to be in the final film.

Firstly I opened Premiere Pro 2017 and uploaded all the footage to the project. In total there was nearly an hour of footage so I placed every clip in order and began watching them. This process took less time than expected because I skimmed each one over with the cursor quickly to play quicker than watch normally. Shots that I knew were perfect were instantly deleted from the project and the ones that were outtakes were left in. Once the only clips left were outtakes I started trimming them or deleting if I thought they weren’t funny enough.

By the end of this cutting and deleting process the remainder of the footage came to roughly 3 minutes which I thought was more than enough as the film is meant to be the same time.

Next I began listening to license free music on Youtube Creator to find a suitable track for the bloopers to give it a more comical tone. It was important that I used a royalty free song because we don’t want the reel to be flagged up with copyright claims by Youtube’s system and have it taken off the internet. Below you can see a picture of the edit in action:

After downloading and applying the track to the edit I watched the clips again to check the levels of them compared to the song, and if any were louder than the other I turned them down for equal volume. Then I added an intro (pink blocks) to the bloopers. This was relatively easy as I already had the logo for the film to placed that on and then added text above it. The slapping sound effect attached to the word “outtakes” is taken from Youtube.

Stylistic I wanted a cold open with one blooper at the start, introduction and then the rest as it just looks nicer and works better visually. Watch the blooper reel below to see the finished product:

CrimeWatch/TV Studio Shoot

After shooting the reconstruction of the vampire attack in the city centre we were able to shoot the newsroom/tv studio part of the CrimeWatch video. I got my acting friend Marcus to help us out again and be our presenter as he’s already helped us out with another news report we did for the film.

Me, Harrison, Bethan and Chloe walked over to the studio with the required equipment then began setting up whilst Marcus brushed up on his lines. We had to work fast and efficiently because we only had an hour to film and pack up. I took control of setting up the lights and TV so that it had the CrimeWatch presentation playing whilst Marcus was talking.

As the sound boom of the camera hardly picked up Marcus’ voice because of his distance from the camera I had to be sat by him holding up a tas-cam so the sound could be put in the edit non-diagetically. Although this was tricky because I had to make sure the levels were alright whilst staying out of frame with aching arms, this method got the job done.

CrimeWatch Reconstruction Scene

Recording the script for the CrimeWatch video was the first thing we set out to do before going out to shoot the video around Cardiff city centre.

To do this, myself and the crew went up to one of the empty radio studios as it was a quiet environment. For this part I was on sound – I booked out a tas-cam as I have used the device multiple times so it’s easy to use and it’s portable so could take it around with me. With this I recorded the audio that was Sophia narrating the attack which was to be filmed later. Before recording I had to make sure the area was quiet so there would be no undesirable noises and make sure the mic was placed next to her at an appropriate distance from her mouth.

Whilst our actress was speaking I had to make sure that the levels were OK and that what she was saying was clear through the headphones.

Once we wrapped up audio recording with the actress we made our way out of the university building and started filming Sophia walking in and around Cardiff’s Saint David’s shopping centre. As the script talks about her coming home from work we got her to go into a restaurant and ask what time they close to make it appear that she is leaving work. Once that was filmed we moved onto the backstreets of Cardiff to make it look like Sophia was taking dodgy shortcuts home.

CCTV Shoot

The last part of footage we needed to finish the whole CrimeWatch video was some CCTV style footage of the vampire in black walking down a dark alley. The camera we wanted to use for this shoot (Canon 600D) was unfortunately all out from the media loans so as a backup we used my Canon 1300D as it works just the same and as it’s mine I got to be camera operator.

Me, Harrison and Chloe walked to the back of the university building and filmed outside opposite gwdihuw facing the camera towards the train bridge as it makes a perfect dodgy scene location. We set up the camera on a set of stairs so that it was tall enough to look like it was a CCTV camera attached to a raised wall. Then got the camera ready to film by using the focus and zoom tools. Once it was all good to go I pressed record and Chloe walked across the street and down an alley in black to make it look like she was the vampire lurking around the crime scene which the CrimeWatch is based off of. Only one take was necessary so once we shot the first one we packed it all away and called it a day.

Social Media

Using social media is an important part of marketing a film as it is able to reach out to a large audience on different platforms. We have three main social media accounts, two of which only I have access to as part of my contribution towards the marketing.

Having Facebook, Instagram and Twitter set up for our vampire film is great for exposure as people from all over the world can see posts with the help of hashtags and boosts. Posting on each particular one has to be scheduled as each social media has different peak times (times of the day where it’s most used). For example, on Facebook people often use this at all times of day but particularly 9am, 1pm, 3pm and 6pm. On Instagram peak times are between 6pm and 8pm and on Twitter that is another site which is active constantly but around 3pm is a good time to post.

All of the social medias have a house style to match one and other so that is the same vampire mouth/fang logo and film title (‘redemption’) cover photo designed by Harrison. Then the way we/I post is different pending on the site.

On Facebook I post a couple of sentences hyping up the audience for the release of the film or a piece of content made to create buzz such as blooper reels and posters. When the logo or cover photo are changed they also become posts to make followers aware of the updates and changes.

Instagram is completely different all game as the social media is predominantly visual. Selecting the best picture and choosing the right hashtags are key to get people to like, share and follow. Here I post images that are mostly behind-the-scenes related to give the audience a sense of exclusivity; the viewer will feel part of the film making due to looking into the BTS posts.

Hashtags are very important when attracting people to our film and content which is why I only choose ones which already have a lot of posts as it means they are very popular and often used. Examples are: woods, littleredridinghood, forest and fairytale.

Twitter is personally my favourite social media out of them all as posts are kept short and sweet (140 characters) which means you wont lose audience interest with them being so short.

Teaser Trailer

Just off the Transylvania Street in a park surrounded by trees outside of Cardiff we shot a teaser trailer for the vampire film. Four of us and our actress for Red, Laura Maggs, arrived at around half 5 and set up as it was the perfect time for lighting and colour temperatures. We shot the trailer with a Sony Fs5 and placed it on a monfrotto tripod when we needed still shots.

In terms of editing, the clips were arranged in a sequence so that there was a shot of Red and then a blacked out interval. The sound was recorded on an iPhone 6 separately and inserted into the trailer non-diegetically.

Once the trailer was complete, we screened it to the rest of the course for the first time during our presentation in Multimedia. We also posted it on our official ‘Redemption’ Facebook page and shared it across our own profiles.

Here is our teaser trailer:

Audio/Sound Design

We have been set a task to create a vampire themed short film, in groups of four or more. We will  take on the rolls of producer, director, audio & design and camera. We will also write our stories and present them in class, then choose from the stories which to work on.

My Story

My story is called the-turn – you can find it at this link.

Oct 13th 2016 – Synopsis 

We have decided to work on Dan’s story. I will take on the roll of audio and sound design. Hear is the synopsis of Dan’s story which we will present in class today.

Red (main character, late teens) reads about disappearances of young women in her village. Her mother leaves to check on her grandmother, says she won’t be long.

Mother doesn’t return, Red gets worried, there’s a knock at the door but Red doesn’t open it. She hears a crash in the kitchen finds a middle aged woman claiming to be her grandmother.

Red cuts her finger and discovers that her grandmother is a vampire and has killed her mother, and the other missing girls, to remain youthful. There is a struggle between them with Red ending up killing her grandmother.

Oct 17th 2016 – Class session and photoshop

Today in university we have met in our groups to discuss further ideas and create social media links to our project. I have created a Logo/Tag for our project Redemption, by sourcing the font online and using photoshop to enhance the font to make it unique.

 

Camera operator- My role.

My role within the production of our film is a camera operator. I wanted to be a camera operator on the film, as it is the role that I am most passionate about, and it is also the field of production that I want to go into when I have finished university.

As a camera operator it will be my job to capture the most impressive shots in order for our film to be successful and effective. To prepare for filming, I will be involved in the creating of the storyboard and the shot list. This will definitely help in the smooth running of our filming day, as we will know what to expect as we will already know the shots that we want to capture.

I am very excited for this production as I am very happy with the team that I am in, and I am also very happy with the storyline that we have created. I have not yet worked with anyone in my group so far at university, so it will be a new experience that will hopefully challenge me and also help me to improve, not just on camera techniques, but also my communication and cooperation skills.Camer