Digital Storyboard

The Rough Cut

A few days ago my group and I uploaded the rough cut for our title sequence. I was pleased with the way it looked and happy with the editing. However it did not have a soundtrack which is what we have been working on over the the days after finishing the rough cut and we now have a good soundtrack that goes perfectly with the whole title sequence.

Titles

When adding in the titles to the sequences I learned more about how to select the right type of style of fonts and animations to keep the flow of the overall feel of the film which is a thriller and I didn't want to loose that sense of suspense and fear so I went for a simple black background with white titles that flicker with black. This creates a gritty and dangerous feel and adds to the suspense.

Parallel Editing

In our title sequence we used parallel editing to create even more suspense and anticipation. It was a challenge to try and get each cut to work together just right but in the end we got it just the way we wanted and it worked well. In the soundtrack we can also hear two different and very distinctive sounds for both the man breaking into the house accompanied by threatening and bold music to emphasise the danger that is approaching and for the girl who is initially oblivious to the break-in we can hear a almost silent, soft and high pitched set of sounds that highlight how fragile she is compared to the man breaking in and how much danger she is in.

Filming at night

Because nearly half of our shots used were to be filmed outside at night we faced the problem of how to light the actors and scenes without losing the sense that it was at night. We had to often retake particular shots to get the angle of the lighting and camera just right to light the foreground but not the background so the audience still acknowledges that there is darkness all around although they can still clearly see the actor's face and the scene in front of them. I learned a lot about filming at night or scenes without light present such as when the girl is in the cupboard.

Silent Hill

I watched Silent Hill the other day and found the film and I loved it. Although it I still struggle to this day to figure out the true plot. Directed by Christophe Gans the film was based on the Silent Hill game from Konami. A worried mother, Rose takes her daughter, Sharon to Silent Hill which is the name of the town that she keeps speaking of while sleep walking. After crashing her car outside of the town Rose awakens to find her daughter missing from the passenger seat and emersed in an alternate reality. With the help of a cop named Cybil she sets about finding her daughter and encounters scary looking creatures and constant shifts in reality. Rose faces a cult who a hiding out in the church of Silent Hill and slowly begins to uncover the truth about a young girl, Alessa who was burned by the cult but managed to survive after the hot coal is knocked away by the cage she is suspended in. Rose slowly uncovers how her daughter is connected to Alessa by being the remains of her goodness.

The whole film is a stunning example of the use of CGI and some of the images portrayed can be disturbing and the plot is also quite disturbing but it is visually impressive. The suspense and mystery created in the film is really effective especially with the use of the air-raid siren. Whenever the audience hears it in the distance we know that something dangerous is coming yet because of the time it takes for the air-raid siren to finish sounding off it builds up suspense and the sense of panic that the characters are probably feeling as well as they know they must quickly escape.

Overall it is no doubt visually impressive and lovers of the Silent Hill game series will enjoy this in depth film. However it is not for the faint-hearted.

The titles

When creating the titles we wanted to keep it simple yet effective with the special ripped lettering that we used to make look like the opening title sequence of a thriller. The titles in the title sequence are the actors, editor, music and the director.

The Actors

In our title sequence we have two actors Hannah St Jean Marie and Onur Kent. They helped us to put our thriller sequence together as they we the only actors in it. Hannah portrayed a girl who was alone in her house when someone broke into the house and who might try and kill her. Onur plays the gangster/hitman that breaks into the house and he might try to kill Hannah.

The soundtrack

When we were creating the sound track we though of different title sequences/movies that we had watched that related most to our title sequence. We looked at 'The Shining' and the instrumental in the background of scene where Jack Nicholson is breaking the bathroom door. In our title sequence the instrumental helped alot to create a eery feeling making it feel more like a thriller.

Filming

When filming in Edgeware we found that alot of the shots that we planned would have to take a different format as the location wasn't exactly how we excepted it to be when we were planning. One main obstacle we came across whilst filming was the lighting, as we were filming when it was dark so we had to carry lighting with us. When filming we captured alot of different shots, each varing one from another. During the filming experience I learnt that although you might plan something when filming things can go wrong or elements such as the weather can play a major part in filming.

The crazies

When watching the trailer of the crazies , what I really liked about it was that the music is creepy and there is not a lot of instrumental music playing, it has sound effects which is really good. Some of the parts are really loud compared to the sound effects and music example bang, breathing sounds. The editing is really fast which builds up the tension because there is constantly some things going on which shows the film is not boring and too long because there is a lot of things going on. The beginning is slow which a lot is not happening becuase its introducing the film to the audience. When it comes to the middle of the trailer it gets really fast and it looks scary. At the end we have a calm , caring music which brings down the tension. Because it comes to an high point, it needs to bring it down so the film does not end boring. At the end we have a calm , caring music which brings down the tension. Because it comes to an high point, it needs to bring it down so the film does not end boring.

the shining video

When we started to do our soundtrack for our film, we looked at examples of sound effects on Mac- soundtrack. When we found a sound that will go with the film, we edited and used other instruments to make the sound much better. When doing this, our filming was not finished so we did not do much and planned to do the soundtrack after finishing the editing. So after we finish the editing , we worked on the soundtrack and tried to make the music go with the film. In some parts I wanted to make the sound really loud because when watching the shining , in some parts the music goes really low and the sound in the film goes high so you hear the bang and crushing in the scene. When we did not have any more ideas for the film I opened a scene from the Shining (which is above) and listened to the use of instruments and sounds. In the scene where Jack breaks the door, when he hit’s the door with the axes, the banging sound is loud and you can hardly hear the music (instruments). In that scene you can hear the women Scream and the axes hitting the door. The thing I like about this scene is the music being quiet and the sound in the film being at a high volume. On the soundtrack there are some parts which reminds me on the shining because the sound effects were used in shining as well and because of this our film sounds a scary film.

photos from the film

The first day of shooting.

In lesson , after having our story ready we described our houses we planned to shoot our film at Clara’s house because of the setting. After going there on the weekend( Sunday) , it was about 5 pm and we started shooting. When we had a break I went out and started to take photos of the setting/ location we are going to film. The shot I took here is a ellipsis shot of the house to show where is the film going to take place in.

The next photo I took was in the alleyway which looks really creepy and scary. The thing I like about the alleyway is that its dark, there is dust bins which create an creepy atmosphere.


This is the garden which the killer walks in. its it simple and looks calm just for a girl that live in a house alone.

This is the wooden door that the killer jumps from. Because its really dark it looks good and because the killer comes from that way it shows its personality, dark and its away from things.

This is the wooden door that the killer jumps from. Because its really dark it looks good and because the killer comes from that way it shows its personality, dark and its away from things.

This is the room of the victims. The wardrobe in the photo is going to be the place that the victim is going to hind.

A photo of the fall room. We tried to make it look girly.



This is the bathroom where half of the film is going to take place. We are going to shoot the scenes where Hannah is getting ready to have a bath and the scene where Hannah’s boyfriend calls her to say get out of the house.

The garden door where the killer breaks in to the house.