Hide and Seek in the Making

Technical Practise/Experiments:

Before I create my first draft I want to experiment and practise with some of my clips and see which I prefer for my actual film. I will simply use the scenes where I am confused on which footage to use and place them in and see which looks better. I will edit the beginning and see weather or not I want the title on the opening scene or just after on a black screen. I want to practise editing my ending to see how that will look before I make my draft and I want to practise edit a scene in the middle of the film, to get a better idea of how it will look colour grading. This will really help me with remember what looks better and why. It will make it easier not to second guess myself when I am deeper into the process.

The first two clips show the two ways I am planning on starting my short film. In these clips you can see two different types of shots, panning down and just a establishing shot. The main thing with this was a wanted to see which one I preferred and where the title would look best. So I started with option one, the establishing shot. I simply edited my clips together in a messy fashion not really cutting or making them more appealing. I left a blank section after my opening shot and put my title. At this moment in time I don't believe it is important to put my font on and the colour of it as I already know what I am using. Following the same idea with my second opening shot option, I placed a few of my clips in order not really editing them. Instead this time, I put the title name on the screen of the opening shot, allowing it to go straight into the film. When I was creating both of these clips, I had an idea about putting the time and location on the bottom of the page, to help establish who's story the audience is following. I also wanted to make it look like the story was happening at the same time to make it less obvious about Keith was the killer.

Anyway, this task was actually really helpful and has allowed me to decide on which I want to use for my opening shot and title. I am planning on using the panning establishing shot but with the blank screen and title from the first one. I feel like this looks more like a film and I can build more suspension with it and pull the viewers in more. I also have a good idea with music for this opening scene but it will only work if I use this title page. I just think the panning establishing shot is far more interesting than the plain steady establishing shot.

For my ending I didn't want to waste time, editing a few clips together. So I took my last clip, which I knew I would be using. I decided I just wanted an idea on what my ending would look like. So I simply found some music that I thought would work well for my piece edited it in. It looked good but it also quite there yet. I then started to think back to some short film's I had an analysed at the beginning of this project, and how quite a few of them had the title also appear at the end as well as the beginning. I think this quite a strong move really, as it leaves the viewers with the name of what they watched in their head and possibly make them come back to watch it again. So that's what I did. I messed about at first seeing which I like best and what suited the music, this was quite difficult to get it in time. However, I managed to get the writing to fade in as the music hit the high part and then stay on the screen as it came to an end. I think in my actual piece it will look a lot better and suit the film better when I add the font and maybe some special effects.

Finally, the last thing I wanted to do was create a small clip of colour correction. I knew that some of my pieces had different lighting and angles which effected the colour. I decided that it would be best if I took a scene where my character Hope died and tried to make her cut look more realistic and brighter. I took the method I learned at the beginning of this project and simply applied it to the video. I messed about with the setting a few times to see what like best. I wanted it to seem dark and dull, like you would in a horror film but I also wanted the colours to stand out and pop against each other. I do realise these are to opposite things and would be hard to achieve, however, I don't think I did to bad of a job. I think in my actual short film though I will spend some extra time on this to get it exactly the same throughout.

Colour Grading:

Colour theory has been the hardest thing for me. As each shot has been filmed in different angles and different days and even times of the day the colour was affected. Some of my shots were really bright whilst other were really dark. I found it incredibly difficult through out to make the colours match the previous scenes. I tried loads of different methods for this. Firstly, I tried just colour changing one and then copying it onto the other shots in that scene. This didn't work for me because of the reasons I listed at the top. So I started again and just began adjusting them once copied but it still didn't look right. My characters looked orange but also pal. The leaves were either to bright or to dark. It just wasn't working. My next and last plan was to go though each clip separately and adjust it to what looked best. Even though this method took me ages, it has really helped my piece come together and look a lot better.

In the images above, you can see the difference in colour grading through the photo of the clip and the colour grading settings next to it. When I was editing the clips in the forest, I wanted it took look more green, brighter but also highlight that it is a horror and have a lot of shadows and darkness in the sky and in certain objects around my characters. However, when in Keith's home I want it more dark and blue. so I could hide his identity and what he looks like more.

When I began colour grading these scenes I messed around with the settings a lot and tried to see what would suit what was happening, make the colours pop and make it more out there than the original clips. I started with the forest scene and I couldn't seem to find away to get Faith's red outfit to stand out stand against the green of the trees and the blue sky. So I tried the pink tint setting but that instantly took away from the trees, which made me realise no matter what the tint has to be green to help the forest really stand out and also help Faith pop more. The issue was the pink was helping Faith's outfit and make it bright and noticeable. However, I decided to come back to that and focus on the temperature. I tried the blue because it would make it stand out against the trees, yet it just made it seem to bright. Then I remembered in a lot of horror films I have seen there is always an orange temperature, specifically in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So I decided to give it ago as I can always go back and change it. To my surprise, I felt like the orange worked perfectly. It gave that eerie look I had been missing and it really helped brighten Faith's outfit and complexion, without taking anything away from the green leaves. Moreover, with the light part of the settings, I already had an idea of what I needed to do. It felt to bright and in your face at the moment. So I messed about withe exposure. Most Horror films have a darker lighting to create tension, so this was my goal. Once I had set the exposure in a reasonable place, I was then on to contrast I really needed Faith and the colours to bounce of each other and create a bright but also dark look. I continued messing withe the other settings (highlights, shadows, whites and blacks), it took a good few tries but I am really happy with the results and I feel like I can positively say it was what I was imaging in my head when creating this piece.

Moreover, to the scenes in the house. It was more or less the same process of elimination. For this sceen however, I decided the blue and green went best and created a lovely shadowy effect but also brightened up the other elements in the room. With the light setting it was again the same process as above but this time I used a lot more shadows to really help try an hide Keith's identity and once againm I think it was successful.

The hardest part of all with my colour grading was editing each clip separately because I had clips in different angles and areas and different days/times, the light effected it and didn't make the colour grading look smooth. I decided the only way I could do this was by editing each clip individually. This was a long process and took ages, however, my results are worth it. In the images above you can see two clips from the same scene, with completely different colour grading settings. The lighting in these scenes was the main issue and made it more difficult when trying to do this important task. I simply applied similar settings from the clip before and then changed them to suit the scene and match up nicely. So my characters weren't looking to orange and the background wasn't completely shadow and dark. This happened to be the case with a lot of the clips and it was a pain. However, when I got the hag of it and was able to adjust them to my needs and already know what colour the clip before was without going back to check, it ran a lot smoother. You can see in the above images, that the first one has no highlights and shadows, where the second image does. This seems to be the case with a lot of the lighting settings. Even in the colour settings you can see that I had to go for a blue temperature than an orange one. I do know that this two clips aren't perfect but I spent over a hour on this trying to make it match the past I can, so I am not disappointed with what I achieved.

Level Adjustments and Music:

My music was one of the hardest things to decide for my piece. Some of it was easy I knew I needed suspense music for my beginning and end especially to help set the tone. this was easier to find but also difficult as I knew what I wanted but wasn't able to find it easy. I did in the end find it and it really helped bring my piece together. I also knew I needed two different pieces of music for when my characters die. This was extremely hard. Every song I found didn't seem to match was happening within in my scenes. I managed to find one and nearly gave up and was going to use it twice. However, after I looked a bit longer I managed to find one more that fit well enough. In the end it did sound and look good together so I am happy that I chose to do two different songs. I thought that I would be finished for music but when I decided to split my scenes it seemed a bit quite and too monotone in away. So I knew I needed one more song. I wanted to included classical music in this part, I felt like it would create good tension and also give a break from the other sort of music I had been using. This was my biggest issue. I couldn't find what I had in my mind anywhere. I felt at a lost but I couldn't give up because it didn't make sense without it and made it boring. I decided that I needed to keep looking and after ages of searching I finally found a super dramatic classical piece that went well with my time frame and made it feel dramatic throughout.

Once I had all my music added on I was very happy with my piece and felt like I was getting somewhere with it.

One other audio clip I used, was a news clipping. It had very similar topics to what my piece is about and when in the scene where Keith is watching the news. When we recorded this scene you couldn't hear the news and it was all different volumes throughout. So I thought it would be best just to use the news audio and it goes perfectly with it. The audio box is red right now, however, when I am on certain computers it is available to download, so I will just upload and save it onto my Wix when I am on them computers.

Once, I got feedback, on my first draft, I noticed that a running theme was my audio, some of the clips were a lot more quite than others and some was too loud. I wasn't sure how to solve this, so I watched a video, simply and easily explaining how the best way to do this was. I started of by doing double clicking the audio to make it sound over each other, in attempt to make it louder, however, it didn't really affect the clip I needed to make louder as all the other clips were also made to that new volume. So, I watched another video, explaining if you right click the audio of your choice, press audio gain, you can then make the volume louder or quieter. This was actually super easy and was done quick. I did have to go back and re-adjust a few of my clips, as they were still unheard or didn't go with the audio before. I actually enjoyed this process and now in my short film, you can hear Keith shouting when the music is playing and you can hear all the Foley. I did only do this to like five clips though, because all the rest were on the same level and sounded good.

Another thing, I encountered when I was doing my feedback, was that once I had cut my montage down, the music I had previously chosen no longer went with it. This meant I had to spend ages finding something similar. It didn't take as long as I had been dreading. It was actually really easy and took about ten minutes in total. I found that this music was more fitting better and went with my new sequence so well, it even cut to the beat at certain key points, which I though was cool. I would have made it all cut to the beat, however, I would have had to cut key scenes out of my film. Overall, this new song is perfect and matches up so well, it even has an eerier feeling than the original, it's more fast and dramatic and I love it. The song is even called "Shape of lies", which is perfect for my story and even making it better.

Shape of lies - ETERNAL ECLIPSE.

First Draft:

Feedback:

NIKKI - When I got Nikki to review my piece she gave some amazing advice and tips that I am definitely going to try and use in my final piece. In my short film, it has the time and location at the bottom of the screen, Nikki said that she thinks it would be cool if I got the time to flash and on and off as if like an actual clock and foreshadowing a timer to the girls death. Another improvement she gave me was to make my title more interesting she liked the font and thought it went well with what I was aiming to achieve, but she believes getting it to crack in time with the music will add more tension and pique people interest. Another thing she noticed was that some of my clips were long and that I can cut them down, especially where I have lingered on a shot after the characters have left it and where you can see that the characters have stopped walking. On this note, she also said that she likes my montage but it's too long and a bit slow, she thinks if I cut the clips down a lot more and rearrange them it will work and run a lot more smoothly. Overall, though, Nikki really liked my piece and said it was great.

SEB - When Seb gave me his feedback, he said he found it really entertaining and that he didn't get bored when watching it. He really liked how I had presented it and how it ran smoothly and the time line made sense. He did have some notes though. He noticed the same thing with the cuts and how they affected the pace of the film. He thought they could be trimmed down and made to look more smooth and neat. He also really liked my audio, however, he did think at certain points it was two loud and over powering. He said that he couldn't really hear some of the characters speak when the music was playing. So he believes that if I turn that down and the speaking up, it will pull the piece together really nicely. Overall, Seb really enjoyed my piece he thinks it's interesting to watch and he thought it all went well together.

CAITLIN - When Caitlin gave me her feedback, she gave me a lot of helpful tips and a push in the right direction. She started by saying, how she really liked my first scene and how it is dramatic all the while introducing the location and the name of the title. She then said how some of my sound doesn't match up and isn't seamless, she did suggest I could fix this but putting some music on in the background as if she is listening to it through her headphones or I could play about with the level adjustments. She suggested that for the writing where I have the time and location, to have it fade out or keep it on the whole time. I think I would probably fade it out, I don't want to take away what is happening in the scene with the writing being on the whole time. Caitlin, also said, that she loves how I used a wide range of shots and camera angles and how that really helps sell my story and make it more interesting. Like the previous two, she said how some of my clips are too long and would like to see them cut a bit so it runs more smoothly. She also suggested, like Nikki, that I make the cooking and running scene faster whilst it cuts to the beat. She also loved my use of Foley, music, colour grading - she thinks they add tension to the film, make it more mysterious and scary. Her last bit of advice was to a black out when Faith dies, she believes it will create suspense and tension.

ABI - Abi started her feedback by saying, she thinks what I created in the time we had was really great. She liked how I got actors who followed the script well, plus she liked my different shots throughout and thought they really helped make the story more interesting. She said she likes a lot of hots from Keith's scenes and how they add mystery to the film. On another note, she said the cuts in the first scene are quite harsh and you can hear the disjointedness in the audio where it cuts. She recommended just going back over them and making it a little smoother. She made a good point of how the section of the cooking and running and a tad bit long and I could cut it down to add more tension and suspense. She recommended colour grading the kitchen scenes more. Overall, she said I did a fantastic job.

AMY - When Amy gave me my FMP feedback, she kept it short and sweet. She started by saying how she really liked the story and I created tension really well throughout, She liked my use of camera angles and thought it was very engaging. She just commented on the audio and how some of them were to loud and some were to quite. Other than that though, Amy really loved my piece.

Final Product:

My final product:

Overall, I am really happy with my final product, I really liked the changes I made due to my feedback, I feel like it made it more film like and more suitable for my actual film.

When I first got my feedback, I actually loved all the suggestions people made, I felt like it would really improve my piece. When it came to actually editing them in, some of them was a lot more difficult so I decided not to do them. I did change like the font of my location's and clock and made it flash. I also took the blackout from the feedback after Bella's death and included it. I also trimmed my entire piece down making it seem more seamless and it went from ten minutes to eight. The feedback I gained was so helpful and I feel as if it has actually made my piece better.

When it came to actually making my first draft, I was so lost at the beginning, I literally edited it together and trimmed some of my clips down. At the beginning my montage wasn't even a montage it was two separate scenes, but I didn't feel like that sold the story and didn't show that he was a cannibal. I do prefer it as a montage. After I finished putting my clips together, I dived straight into music. My piece felt like it was missing something, so I thought that this was the best place to start. I started with the beginning and end, adding music to fit the mood/create the mood. Straight away it started to feel like it was coming together. I then decided that the death scenes didn't feel as dramatic as I wanted them to be, so my next was adding music to them. However, after I completed this it still felt like it was missing something. Then I decided that my montage was to quite there wasn't any talking and it just felt boring to watch and that is why I also added music to that. Altogether, I actually really liked the way the music made the film look and I think if I didn't include music in these scenes it wouldn't have been as effective. Moving over to my next stages of making my short film was colour grading. This was possibly the longest process out of all the others when it came to editing. I thought it would be as simple as making them all the same colour, however, this just ended up making it all a weird saturation. I tried multiple ways to make it look as close as possible to each other but then I decided the best way to do this would be to do each clip separately. This was excruciatingly long, but it was worth it in the end. All my clips were a dead on match or close enough colour to each other and I was so happy this process was over. Before, I could call this my first draft I needed to added my time and location on the first clip of each scene and sort my title page and outro page out. When it was finally ready, I got feedback. Straight away, I really knew that the feedback would make my piece better. I started to then edit and make my new title page, outro and credit page's. I put them. After this I sorted the font and text out on my thing making it flash. I added in the black out and cut everything down. I decided it would be best to change the music for the montage I was no longer liking it and it felt like it didn't fit. I found a better one which was so much more suited. I added it trimmed it. My only other issue was that some of my audio clips were quite and that you couldn't hear what the actors were saying in my film. From there, I decided to tweak all of the ones with this using audio gain, to make loud enough or quite enough so people can know what is happening in these scenes. I knew after this was finished that I was done. I couldn't think of anything else to add to make it better. Honestly, I actually don't want to change anything else because I really like how it looks.

Analysis of my Film:

When watching over my short film, I can see the typical codes and conventions and signifiers for this genre and style of media.

Starting off with genre, straight away in my film we get location. Half of my film is set in the forest, that in the film is abandoned. In horror films forest are used to show fear of the unknown and represent that freedom is close if they can escape whatever is trying to get them. In my piece it represents the unknown as well, the two girls (and anyone) don't know what has been happening in this forest, all they know is that people were last seen in there have disappeared and haven't been seen again. My story also uses stock characters, starting off with the most obvious Keith, my cannibal, is very obviously a villain, Faith is my protagonist and lastly Hope is the funny friend. I feel as my film has such a small cast these stock characters are easily depletable and you can tell who they are easily, especially as the story progresses. Throughout my full piece, you have typical situations that you see in horror films, but specifically one that stands out to me the most is when Faith is running through the forest to get away and, even though is probably safer ways, she chooses the way that leads to her death. I feel like this happens in all horror films, and I feel like having it mine really helps sell the genre and what I was aiming to make. Iconography, on the other hand, I only managed to get one due to budget, however it was blood. Getting fake blood for my film was such a must have because the story wouldn't have made sense without it. In away the blood really helped bring the story alive, made it more dramatic and honestly made it make sense. Finally, for the style of my film, I used a lot of close ups, and wide shots in the scenes with Keith so I could hide his identity. With the girls we had more shots that followed them and still lots of close ups. I feel like all of my shots really help present the characters and who they are in the story and I feel like they tell the story really well as well. When I was editing these clips together, I also used fast paced cuts but also some longer ones, to add and create suspense.

When I look at the codes and conventions of short film, my mind straight away goes to length. The longest a short film can be is 45 minutes before it's classed as an average length film. Mine is roughly around eight minutes meaning straight away it gets into the category of a short film. Overall, when I watch back to my film I think about how my storyline is easy to follow and not difficult to understand what is happening, which is a common convention of a short film. They have to simple storyline and limited dialogue's as there isn't a lot of time to right a complicated and over the top story. One thing I find interesting, when watching my short film back, is the number of characters that I have included. A short film won't have a large cast, due to the fact that the story only goes on to where the audience has made a connection with the audience, meaning if the cast was of fifty lets say, then there wouldn't be enough time for the characters to create a connection with the characters. A twist isn't exactly a rule in a short film, but because of the genre I have chosen, it is. The twist in my short film was that Keith was the killer and the one who chased the girls, Faith and Hope. Looking at it from a codes and convention way including a twist give clues for what could happen in the end. Creativity is one of the biggest convention of a short film, with the limited time that one has to tell a story, it is all about the creativeness to draw the audience, it isn't about profit or what one might gain from creating it. For me when I look back over my film, from costume, to the scene shots, to the locations and even to the fake blood, I feel like I really was able to achieve and show my creativity through this project. Linking budgets into creativity, I was also able to find away to reveal the ending of my short film, without having ot go over the film budget that I had set my self. The budget was only small (like most short films), but I only used it for the necessities that which I needed for the story to make sense. I don't really feel like my short film, does give the audience a specific emotion, however, when I think about everything that has happened in the world lately, I believe that my film will actually spark some fear and disturbance, which is the goal.