Thriller Opening Sequence - Final Cut - "The Case of Charlotte Adams"

This is the Final Cut of our groups' Thriller's opening sequence, "The Case of Charlotte Adams". For the changes we made to the sequence and why, see here.

Joe, Beth, Ellie and Bethany.

Changes from the Rough Cut to the Final Cut

After the rough screening of our Thriller Opening Sequence we constructed a questionnaire for audience feedback, which entailed:

• Gender and Age
• Opinions on Thrillers?
• How do you view Thrillers?
• Was the Soundtrack effective? If not, why?
• Did the opening sequence appeal to you and make you want to watch the movie further?
• Were the titles used effectively?
• Could you spot any continuity errors, if so where?
• Any improvements?

We gave the questionnaire to each member of each group in the class and gained valuable feedback in each area. The class all fall under our Target audience which the first question highlights, and so hopefully, for the Evaluation's sake, we would have wholly positive feedback with a few minor improvements, which we received. The majority of the class gave feedback with no improvements to make other than fine-tuning certain aspects, such as the Soundtrack, and making the last scene flow more. We found the audience were intrigued by the opening and would watch it more, but a few said that having the title at the end makes it seem like a trailer, and we should instead place it over an image.

With this feedback, we proceeded to change a few aspects of our thriller to the final cut. First, we moved the title text and transition at the end ("The Case of Charlotte Adams") so it appeared over the last shot of the Detective looking around the room with the notes on it. This also helped to create a link between what was in the room and the title, i.e. the Case, so the editing allowed for the meaning to be slightly more apparent to the audience. We then edited the final scene of the forest/chase segment, where the Detective is spinning. Our feedback and personal judgement resulted in us concluding the shot was too blurry and went on for too long to be effective, so instead we replicated the shot where he spins at first, with the two shades standing in a semi circle in front of him, and reversed it, so he spins one way and then spins back. Ellie added a transition here that resulted in the Shades being strecthed and distorted, to make them appear like entities. This could be considered similar to in our inspiration films, Shutter Island and Seven, where characters are envisioned and their appearances are distorted (i.e. the children in Shutter Island at the Concentration Camp), and also similar to the Dementors from Harry Potter that I mentioned in the character profile. Not only did this cut the overall time of the sequence by several seconds, it made it flow more and become more conventional.

My attention then turned to the Soundtrack. Beth and Ellie went into the Soundproof room to record a gasping sound effect for when the Detective wakes up (with the help of a member of another group, as it had to be a male) whilst I fine-tuned the Soundtrack around the action. This invovled getting the timings of the loud crashes to exactly match the Shades appearances in both the Street section (First Encounter) and then in the field (Final Encounter). I also made the section where the faster pace kicks in, after the Ribbon is picked up, much quieter. Not only does this emphasise the difference when the Shade appears, it builds suspense as the kicks in the pattern are subtle enough to be almost like a heartbeat, and adds to the dramatic effect of the sequence. I changed the tempo of various sections to ensure that timings were correct and also adjusted volume levels of small layers of the soundtrack, such as the piano note when the Ribbon is picked up. We then added the gasp effect in Final Cut, as after several attemps in Audacity, even though it was at the correct timing, the exported version had the gasp in an entirely different location. In Final Cut, we then reduced the volume to make it more realistic and sound as if the character is more startled rather than completely exaggerated and fake.

This was all we had to correct to reach a completed version that we were happy with, and as a group are very happy with the outcome.

Thriller Opening Sequence - Rough Cut - The Case of Charlotte Adams

This is the Rough Cut of the opening sequence to our Thriller, "The Case of Charlotte Adams"

Thriller Construction - Lesson 6 - Completing the Rough Cut

In today's lesson, we needed to complete the titling, editing and soundtrack that had commenced in the previous lesson so that we could have a rough cut finished for the deadline and could screen the rough cut tomorrow in lesson.

Screenshot of exporting the finished Soundtrack on Audacity

The whole group was present and we really pulled together to finish the last of the titles and fine tune the editing, despite a power cut halfway through the lesson. I continued my work on the Soundtrack on Audacity (which fortunately had saved a auto-recovery back-up of the project after the power cut), be matching the soundtrack to the action. I also implemented editing techniques such as changing the pitches of the two sections of the soundtrack; the first part, the piano segment, is now in a lower key to enhance the dark, mysterious atmosphere we intended to create, matching conventions, and the second section is in a slightly higher key to heighten the suspense created by the faster pace of the sequence. I also added samples of Japanese "Taiko Drummers" at the start of the clip to create anticipation in the audience, and prolonged the areas of silence where the ribbon is picked up and where the Detective exits the forest to create tension. I then exported the Soundtrack, and we placed it into Final Cut where it would play alongside our sequence. Below is a screenshot of the final timeline of the soundtrack, you can see the multiple tracks and samples that were used in the project (the longer pieces were actually mixed into one layer as originally they were several layers!)

A screenshot of the full timeline of the Rough Cut Soundtrack on Audacity

 We also highlighted which titles were important or essential to have in our opening sequence in note form and jotted down key timings to work together to produce the rough edit. At the end of the lesson we exported the project in Final Cut and uploaded the video to YouTube - it can be seen here or on a separate post on my blog; "Thriller Opening Sequence - Rough Cut - The Case of Charlotte Adams". Next lesson the rough cut will be screened in front of the class and they will fill out audience feedback questionnaires that we also created this lesson, in order for us to make any necessary improvements to our thriller.



Thriller Construction - Lesson 5 - Titling and Soundtrack

In today's lesson the focus was to begin the titling process and have a rough soundtrack produced. Bethany was absent, so Ellie and Beth focused on finalising the titles that we had short-listed in the last lesson and selecting the timings and adding the Production Company still that Ellie and I created. LiveType was not functioning properly so they used Final Cut to produce some titles and effects using the fonts myself and Ellie selected when the rest of the group was absent. They did a fantastic job and completed about half of the titles, along with the ending scene where the title is displayed - Ellie produced a very good "typewriter" type effect here that is very effective.

Meanwhile, I was on my own producing a Soundtrack. I had downloaded the editing software Audacity that I referenced in my Soundtrack post and placed all the samples I was going to use into the software, and began fine-tuning and editing each track, by adjusting tempo and abbreviating certain areas, as well as isolating particular notes and segments, such as the piano used in the start - the actual score I was working with was from British rock band Bring Me The Horizon's track "And The Snakes Start To Sing" - I isolated an instrumental by removing the vocal frequency, and then used a loop to get a solemn, piano piece. After discussing with the group, we decided to not use a few other samples I had created, and so extended the loops. Next lesson I need to fine-tune this area by adding a synth effect, that I could find online or use production software to create - the desired effect is a synth that builds in a lurch then cuts, to go at the end of each bar. This will also mean that the backing track will have more layers making it more original. I created a piano effect to go at the end of this sequence using Garage Band, to fade the clip out as the Detective picks up the ribbon in the sequence.

Here is a screen shot of the timeline of the Soundtrack on Audacity, after about half an hour of producing. You can see
the different tracks clearly, along with where I've added Fade in and out effects to the different tracks. Since this image, the second track has been removed and the tracks have been re-ordered, but this shot shows how I have been producing the Soundtrack so far.

I then used my edited abbreviated version of "Pyres of Varanasi", an instrumental track also mentioned in my Soundtrack post, to heighten the pace. I listed timings from the edit to base the soundtrack around, so that it was synchronized with the action, i.e. a large crashing noise is heard as the Shade is first seen. In the next lesson, I need to add the Camera sound effects and loud, low-frequency boom on each flashback/Shade sighting, and fine-tune the end section of the Soundtrack also. Although frustrating to time correctly, the lesson was productive and we made good progress as a whole despite the absence of a group member and can hopefully make more progress next lesson towards completing the rough edit.

Thriller Construction - Lesson 4 - Editing

During our fourth lesson of filming we proceeded to continue editing the very rough version of our sequence that we had created in the previous lesson. We had placed the clips in the desired order on Final Cut and now needed to add appropriate transitions and alter the brightness and contrast in certain aspects, such as the Flashback sections.

Editing the opening section in the Street

 I edited the opening section up to the first flashback- most of this section was straight cuts from one shot to the other. I proposed having a fade effect on the very first transition from the ambient establishing shot to the long shot of the street but the rest of the group preferred the cut as the transition. This is something we can look at in the rough screening.

Once I had edited up to the first flashback, we added "Brightness and Contrast" Filters to each of the three sections of the flashback (Flashback #1 "Asylum"). We decided on having all of the flashbacks at the same brightness (34) and contrast (10) to give them an eerie, supernatural look, to enhance the "dream-state" of the flashbacks. Bethany then added a "Fade To Colour" transition leading into the flashbacks and out of, so the action will quickly burst to a bright white, then the bright flashbacks, then a burst to white back to the action, all in about one second. This helps to establish a theme of "light and dark", a convention of the thriller genre.



The group reacting to editing success

Bethany then took over the editing, and we reached the Alleyway section (shot 12 of the Planning Edit). After editing the flashbacks and looking at the rough edit I thought it would be better if we deleted the clip where the Detective turns around after encountering the Shade in the alley and flees (shot #14) as we thought the sequence worked better if the Detective saw the Shade, had the flashback and then the action went straight to the fast-paced forest section. Shown on the left is a picture of the group reacting to this section, we thought it worked quite well. Also, if we need to cut out some areas to shorten the overall length of the clip, shots 12 and 13 here could also be removed to make the same jump from action to flashback to action, but it would be from the Street to the Forest. It also resulted in the temporary removal of two flashbacks, the maps of the street, which could be added back again should we need them.

Bethany editing the forest section

We then needed to edit the forest section by adjusting the Brightness and Contrast again to make the scene feel like it was at dusk. We did this by first reducing the brightness to "-39" in the first areas. Flashbacks also needed to be added where the Detective sees the Shade lurking in the forest (shown on the right), and we needed to fine-tune the action to make the flashback occur whilst the Detective was running but not create a disjointed feel to the sequence. We also needed to precisely time the cut from this shot to the high-angle shot - I proposed this had to be done based on his footsteps and the "skip" as he turns the corner, when one foot was in mid-air, so it looks as if it is the exact same scene filmed from a different angle. Then, as it got darker as we filmed, we needed to reduce the brightness less and less. Ellie did this section of adjusting the brightness whilst the rest of the group approved and disapproved of certain ideas. We then edited the section where the Detective runs up the hill- this scene was quite dark already so we actually brightened it slightly, producing an image similar to that of a CCTV camera - I thought this was good as instead of it being just a standard high-angle shot of the Detective scrambling up the hill, it could be from the Shades' perspective as they watch him. We then needed to precisely edit the section where the Detective spins, and is surrounded by Shades on all sides. We merged shots 23, 24 and 25 together, as the footage slightly blurs in the exact same position in shot 23 and 25, so it shows the Detective rotating, then falling, then the Shades closing in. We need to take care in adjusting the brightness and contrast here so as to not completely ruin the footage, but enough to enhance the effect of disoreintation and confusion that we intend to create.

Finally, I edited the last few shots of the Detective waking up. Beth suggested we re-ordered the clips so that they flowed more and made more sense, i.e. he wakes up, then opens his hand to reveal the ribbon, then looks around his room before it fades out instead of the other way around. I used a "Fade to Colour" transition on the ending section, but instead of fading to white like Bethany had done in the Flashback transitions it was a fade to black, lasting about a second.

I feel we overcame the issues presented in this lesson, (such as frustration at the software for not adding transitions in the desired direction!) and progressed greatly with our editing. We now need to finish up a few clips and then turn our attention to the titles, which Ellie and I had already briefly looked at and decided our fonts and titling schedule, and then the construction of the Soundtrack.

Thriller Construction - Lesson 2 & 3

In our 2nd lesson after filming, we were missing two group members so we had to slightly change our plan for the lesson - Ellie and I experimented with the LiveType software and managed to discover various fonts that we could use for the titles, the production company logo and the film title. We settled on the production company being named "Inertia Productions" as it sounds very mysterious and perhaps threatening. These are the different styles we shortlisted:

A screen shot to show all of the footage on iMovie before editing

We also went through all of the footage to review it, deleting unneccesary or bad takes on the iMovie software. We then experimented with Final Cut to see if we could rectify specific areas to prevent a re-shoot, which would be difficult considering Jacob (The Detective) had a hair cut a few days after we finished filming. We used some basic filters and effects such as Brightness and Contrast controls and discovered we could change these clips to make them more suitable, or not include them, as we had plenty of footage to work with.

When the rest of the group returned, we discussed the fonts we had selected but would need to see them in the correct placement to make a decision. Then, after Ellie and I organised the clips on Final Cut, we all began to edit a rough edit with no transitions, just to have a vague idea of how the sequence would flow and what changes to the planning edit we would need to make.

Thriller Construction - Lesson 1

After shooting the majority of our footage, we used our double lesson to refine our footage and decide which clips we were going to keep and which we didn't need. We all did this for the first hour, and in the second hour myself and Beth finalised our clips on iMovie whilst the other members of the group were busy with another task. We have around 10 minutes of raw footage after deleting the shots we did not need. Overall, we are happy with the shots, and before extensively looking at our footage in the editing process, where we will decide whether or not we need to re-do certain aspects. Discussing it with Beth, she feels as if we have everything we need, although I'm not certain the ending scene will work. However we have managed our deadlines and therefore if we do need to re-shoot any section it should present very few problems. We also decided how we were going to manage lesson time from now on. I raised the issue of the soundtrack and introduction animation for the production company needing to be completed, and the film title. I proposed bringing in my laptop so I could utilise my music software for the soundtrack although ultimately the soundtrack will need to be fine-tuned around the edit. These issues and discussions should hopefully become clearer after the next lesson.

Thriller Filming - Day 4

The 4th day of filming included the remaining shots, which were the Detective running through the forest whilst being pursued by the Shades, an encounter with the Shade and then the Detective stumbling into a field where he is confronted and cornered before the end of the action.

For this section we required all three of the Shades: Nathan, who we had previously used on Day 2 and Day 3 of filming, as well as Josh and Elliott. All of these actors had similar builds and so when dressed similarly in the dark they would appear the same.

We slightly changed the planning edit in this section by removing the transition from the urban area to the forest area. We thought this could easily be achieved by using a flashback, and then suddenly the action is in a different location - this would help to induce confusion in the audience and maintain the fast pace we desire in our opening sequence. This also allowed for more time to be spent in the forest or for the confrontation scene. We managed to get a variety of shots in the forested area which we are very happy with, however we need to review the footage in lesson to see if there are any scenes we need to re-do before our deadline due to brightness or maybe the action in the shots. Despite this we have enough footage to get a rough idea/edit of our thriller opening sequence and can focus more now on the other elements that will make up the sequence.

Thriller Filming - Day 3

Last night was Day 3 of filming. As previously mentioned, our filming deadline was extended until next week, giving us more time to film. Last night was going to include the majority of the remaining scenes, but we only had myself and Ellie available to film, so we decided to finish the street and alley sections. This meant we were finished up to shot sixteen of the planning edit before the action moves onto the field area and forest. We decided that we will film this at the weekend when we can film at a twilight time and then adjust the brightness as otherwise we would be filming in complete darkness. We shot a few extra shots such as a close-up of the Detective as he turns to flee from the Shade in the alley, and have decided to place the Shade in some shots where the audience may be able to spot him, but the Detective does not and so the action continues as normal. The next filming section will take place Saturday, involving the expanded cast with the extra Shades, and shots up to and possibly including the confrontation in the field, depending on how much can be filmed in the window between partial darkness, sunset and complete darkness.

Thriller Filming - Day 2

Last night was the second night of filming, where we would tackle the opening of our sequence to around halfway. Firstly, after we returned from sixth form, we went back to our homes and assembled whatever we needed to bring with us to the shoot. I nad to assemble the cast, and so briefed my sister, Ellie, before walking to Beth's where we would meet and wait for Jacob to return from University. After he got back we got the characters in costume and met Nathan, who was playing the Shade and was already in costume, en route to the location we were filming at, which was the street in Thrope Marriott (The Cains).

 Pictured here are all three actors. I will create a blog post with our reasoning for casting them soon, most likely in lesson time when not reviewing footage. On the top left is Nathan (on scene), in the centre is Ellie (who plays Charlotte Adams) and on the right is Jacob (not in costume) who plays the Detective. See Thriller Planning - The Cast for further details on the Cast.

We filmed up to shot eleven on the planning edit, and attempted a few extra shots in different orders as practice - arriving at the conclusion that they needed to be shot in daylight to prevent them from being grainy. We managed to capture all of the footage we required from that night, including walking down the street, meeting the girl, and the first Shade encounter - we filmed a few extra shots not detailed in the planning edit also that we thought may be of use, but ultimately stuck to the planning edit.

An image of myself filming

This is a picture that Beth took of me setting up the camera ready to film a scene in the street. Ellie, (Charlotte Adams) is in full costume standing infront of a streetlight which created a mysterious and spooky atmosphere. In the backround you can see Jacob (The Detective) being briefed on his role - Beth had already spoken to Ellie about what she had to do at this point. We did face some difficulties in filming - for instance, we were filming at around 6:30, when many people would be returning home from work, and there was a constant stream of cars coming in and out of the street, making filming very slow paced as we had to stop filming each time or move the camera out of the road. Similary pedestrians or dog walkers caused similar issues as they would be in the shot at any point on the street so we would have to wait for them to pass. Towards the end a car parked on the corner of the roundabout which we had to avoid to prevent a continuity error, but we did this well, and ultimately finished with a scenes looking like the image shown on the right, of Ellie looking very eerie, mysterious, and out of place on the street corner.

In today's lesson we discussed what filming would take place tonight. Most of the group can't attend so it may just be me and Ellie seeing what we can film in the circumstances. The deadline has been extended until Monday 16th so we could film any extras on Saturday/Sunday afternoon, and we also decided not to re-shoot every scene in daylight as we are happy with the way the first version went.

Thriller Filming - Day 1

At the weekend, whilst the rest of the group was tied down with job commitments, Ellie travelled to the abandoned mental asylum in Thorpe St. Andrews. She faced an immediate problem in that part of the building had been demolished since she had last visited but we still managed to get the shots we needed.

Today, we left sixth form at lunch (12:30) to return to Thorpe Marriott / Taverham in order to film the rest of the flashback footage and the awakening of the Detective. This meant missing 4th and 5th period, but we had Media in both of these lessons and had permission from our teacher. This allowed us to set up all of our props and the room for when our actor, Beth's brother Jacob returned from University.

We would be filming the scene in actor Jacob's bedroom as it was the right size we had in mind and was very messy. We cleared some general clutter out and covered the walls with pale sheets to pin items such as photos, maps, notes and drawings onto to create the room of a delusional man. Bethany managed to draw a sketch of the street on which we will be filming tomorrow for the flashbacks and we also constructed several notes to suggest the man's paranoia and fear. Here are some images of these props, both before we placed them on the walls and afterwards. We couldn't place the items on the walls themselves and so improvised and used bed sheets to create a "clean canvas" but it still created the effect we desired and allowed for an eerie effect to be created when the lighting was dimmed to film. We also turned the TV in the room off and left it tuned out, showing a bright blue screen, to spookily light the room.


We also took a photograph of the actor to play the Detective in our opening sequence. Jacob, pictured right, fits the character profile we had in mind for this character. He is very tall, around 6'4", with scruffy black hair and a strong build, and looks a lot older than he actually is. When dressed in his costume and when in the darkness he will look even older. He is quite capable at acting and from the few scenes today we saw he can adapt and take on situations without our direct guidance, i.e. we had to be out of the room for one shot so we left him to it and he got the exact shot we needed, a point of view shot looking at the notes on the wall. All other shots were captured by us as we directed Jacob in what he needed to do. Now he is accustom to what we need from him in our sequence he will be better prepared for filming the lengthier sections in the coming days. Overall today's filming went according to the plan constructed on the shooting schedule earlier posted.

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