Editing Schedule

As we only had a short amount of time before our deadline, we decided to split our free periods up so that we could take it in turns to edit our trailer. This process has been ongoing for a few weeks and has been very successful as our trailer has transformed into the trailer we originally had in mind whilst we were planning.

Filming - Day 4 & 5 (Private Location)

After capturing the initial shots of our killer, we noticed that we didn't have any shots of the victims. It also came to our attention after showing our rough cut to the class that we reveal the killer far too early on in our trailer. In order to create tension and give the trailer a dramatic feel to it we needed to keep the killer more hidden to make the audience anticipate what is going to happen next.

We arrived at the private location at around 9.30 on day 4 of filming. We captured a number of very effective shots which created an opening scene for our trailer, opposed to a compilation of shots of the killer as we had before. As it was mid november the weather worked in our favour as a misty morning is perfect for a horror film, giving the footage an eerie feel to it, along with providing us with appropriate lighting for filming. One of the opening shots shows the victim approaching the killer, we decided to face the killer away from the camera to create the tension as i mentioned earlier.

We returned to the private location for day 5 of filming a few days later. Our intention was to re-shoot some of the shots we had filmed on day 4 as they had not been framed exactly how we wanted or were of a bad quality. However the trip turned out to be very successful as we came up with some new ideas for shots that would be perfect for our trailer. One of the new shots we thought of was too show the victim running back to the car as a point of view shot from the killer, instead of the tracking shot we decided on first of all. Another idea we had turned out to be the best shot of the entire trailer. The shot was a point of view shot from the victim, it was very unique as it showed the killer slowly walking towards the camera, we then had an idea whilst editing to cut the shot up and place long fade to blacks inbetween, giving the impression that the victim was fading in and out of consciousness.

Feedback notes

Jamie, Will, Lyle

To get a rough structure to the shots to create a narrative
Use the strongest shots and get rid of the weakest
Try to find shots that don’t reveal too much information about the subject straight way to keep the audience on the edge of their seats
Good use of fast edits, use more of this within reason
Use the existing music but add some sound effects to add atmosphere to it….. speak to James or AJ for advice.
Get some simple but effective titles

Feedback From our First Cut

We recieved some fairly mixed feedback on our first cut after presenting it to the class. The majority liked the way in which we had portryed our killer, saying that the costume was very effective and unique. They also liked our footage from the old church, especially the shots of the killer standing by the entrance with the candles. The class also thought that our decision to use a children's nursery rhyme as the sound track for our trailer was a very good idea, due to the fact that it works very well in other classic horror films plus the fact that we had recored someone singing it ourselves made it a very unique version which was a clever idea. But although they liked the idea of the music, we were told that the use of short sharp shots combined with a slow sound track did not work well together and the meaning was unclear. They also didn't like the fact that we revealed the killer to the audience immeadiatley claiming it would work better if we kept him more hidden and mysterious throughout as it is only a teaser trailer and therefore will build tension far better.

Also with no titles, sub-titles or font it was difficult to understand what type of genre our presentation was add to the fact that we were unable to complete most of our filming in time for the first cut they thought that it simply appeared as sequence of different shots of our killer, containing no real meaning or building any tension or anticipation.

We were already aware we needed to add some different shots and a few different editing techniques before we showed our work to the class. However, we have recieved some very constructive criticism which can only help to improve our teaser trailer for the final cut.

Editing

When it came to editing the intial footage we had collected the editing process was going smoothly and we managed to create a tense atmosphere for our trailer, in particular the establishing shot leading up to the old church. We added a number of cuts in between. This made the sequence appear as if the camera was skipping, which is tradionally used in horror films. However, we had someproblems occur when preparing our trailer for the first cut. Although we had a good number of shots, they were in no particular order. Jamie was unable to edit in the time myself and will had allocated for editing which made issues even more difficult as we could not be unanamous as a group on editing choices. Will and myself did manage to create a vague stroy line, which was respectale enough to show to the class for a first cut, although it still needs alot of work doing to it.

New Location for Filming

Whilst we were going over the footage we had already collected it came to our attention that we didn't have any shots that signaled that our killer hated family life (which was the initial idea to why he was out to kill people)therefore our new location to record shots is at one of our group members house. As it is a very small isolated area, surrounded by fields and woodland it blends in perfectly with the rest of the shots we are going to be using for our trailer. As it was one of the group members houses no permission needed to be obtained for filming.

Filming - Day 3 (Old Church,Thundridge)

For our third day of filming we decided to return to the old church at Thundridge. This time all three members of our group were present so we were able to capture a number of decent shots that were required for our trailer. We decided between us that on our last visit to the church we did not capture all the footage we needed, plus we had a few problems with the focus on the camera. The decision to re-visit the old church proved to be successful as we managed to film some very useful shots of the killer in his lair. The shot of our killer standing by the entrance of the church with his face illuminated by candles works very well in our trailer. Along with filming shots of the killer, we also managed to filming a few more short establishing shots of the church itself, which helps to set the scene. However,our filming was cut short as the light started to fade which resulted in some of our final shots looking very grainy, which we had to delete.

Filming - Day 2 (Abandoned Pig Farm, Great Amwell)

On the second day of filming we decided to get the shots we required from the abandoned pig farm, which is located just behind jamies house, As the area is public now we were not tresspassing. The suit we had ordered for our killer had arrived so it meant we could get some shots showing the killer. Whilst at the pig farm we managed to film some effective shots, which included some long shots, showing the killers surrounding's, some medium close up's concentrating on the top half of the killer. This shot worked well as there was alot of hanging debris such as vines etc, which was exactly what we wanted. We also filmed a low angle shot where the killer is looking away from the camera then turns his head to face the camera. Not only does this particular shot make the killer look intimidating it is also a classic horror film shot.

Filming - Day 1 (Old Church, Thundridge)

We decided as a group to begin filming at the abandoned church at Cold Christmas, Thundridge. As will was unable to attend, myself and jamie decided that we could still get some good shots. We arrived at the church at around 4pm, just as the light was starting to fade, perfect filming conditions for our horror trailer. Unfortunatleyas the suit that our killer was going to be wearing had not arrived we couldn't get any shots with our killer in. However we still managed to film a number of very good establishing shots leading up to the killers lair. We also filmed some shots inside the church, but without the killer they were not very affective and didn't really work. We did encounter some problems whilst filming when we discovered that the focus was far too close, this took a little bit of adjusting to correct it.

Lyrics for Music

Incy wincy spider climbed up the water spout,
Down came the rain and washed the spider out,
Out came the sun and washed up all the rain,
Then incy wincy spider climbed up the spout again.

We decided to use a traditional children's nursery rhyme as it gives the trailer a creepy feel to it, similar to other horror films. We achieved this by altering it slightly to make it more darker and as it is sung by our friend perry we ensured it was not copyright. It also works well as our killer envies family life and happiness.