Rough Cut Analysis

So far, we have created a rough cut of our final opening. However, it isn't upto the exact standard that we are intending to do as the final one. Some time in this week, we will need to do a little more filming of the shots of the boy sleeping in his bed, i.e. close-up shots of him blinking to get the real feel of sleep/bedtime and also to relate to the title 'Goodnight Sleep Tight'. We also need to add the special effects because we have only put the shots into final cut pro but have not edited it fully with the special effects to add suspense. We started on the soundtrack in Soundtrack Pro which includes erie music and heartbeats to make the mood tense and we will add some sound effects wherever necessary. As from now, we will be meeting up regularly three to four times this week to get the finishing opening ready.

Rough Cut

This is the rough cut version of our thriller opening. This is not the finished piece, of course, and so it is not as good as what we intend our final piece to be. The rough cut does not contain any special effects, nor does it contain a properly finished sound track. We intend to add these effects and complete our sound track in time for the final deadline. Our rough cut contains about fifteen shots that show our main character sitting in his house, watching television etc., but we have been advised to not include these shots as they do not really do much for the opening, nor would they have much f an impact on the audience. I was reluctant to cut the shots out at first because they had taken up a lot of our time and energy to film, but have now decided that the opening would seem a lot more effective if the shots were cut out. In light of this, we have decided to start the opening from the point where our character is getting ready for bed.
It was very difficult for us to get our rough cut ready in time for the deadline. We pushed very hard and managed to get it done in time but the end piece was not up to our standards. As this is the rough cut version, we were fine with it being a little bit, well, 'rough', but we intend to make our final cut the best we possibly can. In order to do this, we will be spending a lot of time editing our opening, adding in effects and titles, making it as appealing as we possibly can to our target audience. We will also be editing our soundtrack to make sure that it is suspenseful, as well as sounding professional. We hope that the final piece will be something that we are all very proud of.

By Sabrina Chowdhury

Storyboard Animatic and PITCH for the opening of our thriller, 'Goodnight, Sleep Tight'

Storyboard animatic for 'Goodnight Sleep Tight'

This is our storyboard. This took us roughly an hour to do with two members of the group working on it. We have attempted to include a range of different shots that will make our opening look as thriller-y as we can. The first fifteen or so shots see to the main character of our film just watching television and going to close an open window. There are many shots that are required to make this look effective - long shots, wide shots, over the shoulder shots, shot-reverse-shots, close ups, medium close-ups, etc. We tried to include as many different ones as we could. One of the shots that I really looked forward to filming was a low angle shot from a high window that included a woman looking up at the main character. The next fifteen or so shots were of a dream sequence that we wanted to include in our opening - this was the main part of it. When we presented our storyboard to our teachers, they really liked it but they did suggest a few things that would improve it, which we tried to then implement.

By Sabrina Chowdhury

PICTH for 'Goodnight Sleep Tight'

'Goodnight Sleep Tight' is a psychological thriller where a young boy is being stalked in his mind by a woman. This may have been a cause of past events when he was a child. We tried to include all of the relevant information in our pitch about the props and location. We presented this pitch to our media class and in front of our teachers. The feedback which we got about our pitch was quite positive as our teachers liked the whole plot of a boy being stalked by an elderly woman against the conventional idea of a girl/woman being stalked by a man; they also like that we chose the sub-genre of psychological thrillers. In our storyboard, as part of our dream shots, we wanted to shoot a shot where there is blood (red paint) dripping from the table, and the camera would be set from a low angle to add suspense. However, our teachers pointed out that thriller films hardly use blood and ding this would make the opening look to much like a horror film and for us to stick to the genre of psychological thrillers, we had to remove this idea. Our teachers also told us to add as much suspense as we possibly can to engage the audience, for example, when our character is watching television, instead of him getting up to shut the window as he is feeling cold, to have the window shut on its own to create suspense.

By Shopna Begum, Sabrina Chowdhury, Nathan Toms and Saadi Rashid

Introduction to Cameras and Health and Safety Tutorial

I learnt how to use the tripod and the JVC camera. There were different buttons that needed to be used for different shots such as the focus button etc. The tutorial also taught me how to fix the camera correctly on the tripod and to wait for a clicking sound to know that the camera is on the tripod correctly. I learnt health and safety rules too and this included holding the camera right and constructing the tripod right. I also learnt to ensure that the camera battery is fully charged and not to leave the camera on if we are not recording as this can reduce battery time. The tutorial made me feel much more confident about filming because I felt I had a much clearer idea of using the cameras and I found out about many different things I can do on the camera which I never knew before, like making a shot's lighting darker if I wished to.

Cameras &Health and Safety Tutorial

For this tutorial we got a introduction to all the equipment, that we will be using. We learnt how to put the cameras memory card and battery on, they made us put in and take out the battery and memory card in order for them to know that each of us can do it safely. We also learnt how to use the camera and how and what settings to change if we need to.

They showed us how to set up a tripod safe and securely, everyone had to set up a tripod we did this to make sure that we know how to open a tripod and also to allow the teachers to trust us with it. They then showed us how to put camera on the tripod with out damaging the camera. This has to be done properly because while your in filming you don't want the camera to fall off the tripod and to make sure you don't damage the equipment.

Intro to Cameras and Health & Safety Tutorial

In class, I learnt how to handle and operate a professional camera. I also learnt how to set up a tripod and how to handle camera apparatus safely. The first thing that I learnt was how to insert a charged battery into the battery compartment of the camera. I also learnt how to remove the battery without damaging the camera! I was then taught how to turn the camera on and got used to where all the different operating buttons were, i.e. where the recording button was, etc. I also learnt how to focus the camera, how to watch back what I have recorded and how to adjust the camera image according to how bright my surroundings are. Post learning the functions of a professional camera, I learnt how to put the camera onto a tripod and use the tripod to meet my filming needs. I learnt how to set up a tripod from scratch, adjusting it to various heights and also learning how to store it away properly. At first, it was tricky to place the camera safely onto the tripod but then I learnt how to do so by sliding it into place and hearing a click (and also tightening a screw to make sure the camera was extra safe and steady). I was then able to use a the tripod to pan the camera left and right, up and down and continued to experiment with different types of filming.

Intro to Cameras & Health and Safety Tutorial

We were given an introduction to the cameras and how to use them, as well as a health & safety tutorial in how to look after them.

The first thing we were taught was how to properly set up the tripod and lock the legs into place. We were told how to place the camera into the slot and be certain it is secure, making sure that it doesn't fall out if tilted at all. We were then tested to make sure we could do this properly, without damaging any of the equipment.

After this, we were told how to operate the camera itself. We were taught how to make sure the battery is in place before turning the camera on, where to place the memory cards, how to check how much battery life & memory there is left, how to adjust the focus properly, and how to record and playback what we have recorded.