Using the story as a guideline, I put the whole story onto the timeline. From this structure, I can begin to edit the finer details. Some scenes need re-shooting, such as the montage scene, therefore I leave a space for that so I can import and work with later. Thinking about all my shots, I like using the element of water. This really relates to my work as water is flexible. It can transform from solid to liquid to gas and back. Water flows, in a constant cycle on earth.
So learning from the webinars, I structured the story onto the timeline before adding the experimental shots. By 'experimental', I meant playing with layers and opacity.
What I learned in which I did not already know
Editing my shot of the shadow going under the rug was new. I had to film 2 shots to make this happen. 1. The rug as a still shot and 2. A shot of the rug with the shadow as if it were going under the rug.
Of course in reality I could not get the shadow to go under the rug without it being lifted manually. With the power of editing, I layered the two shots together and used a masking tool that I could freely mask out the shape of the rug. This is so we can see the shot of the shadow, but as the shadow moves onto the rug, you would not be able to see it as the other shot is layered ontop of the first shot. I have used the masking tool before but I learned that there is an option to freely draw out awkward shapes in which I needed to mask out. With knowledge of this, I can use this technique for future productions and open up my options with creativity and filming scenes on a low budget.
Making the vines come alive
To make the vines look as if they are alive, I had to flm in reverse order, directing the actress to reverse her actions. Once shot, I put the edit onto the timeline and reverse the shot. This scene is previously seen in 'Evil Dead' (1981) directed by Sam Raimi where Sheryl gets raped by the trees in the woods.
Title sequence
I noticed my film jumped straight into the scene, and looked a bit strange and felt odd. I thought about incorporating a title sequence into the film to lead the audience into the film.
Font
Font is also an important part of the film. You need the right style of font to go with the project. I tried to look for fonts from other sites such as '1001 Free Fonts' and 'DaFont' which is royalty free and free for personal use, but there wasn't any that I felt suited the film.
I had chosen the font Herculanum which is found in Final Cut Pro. This is because they looked like twigs that can relate to the nature of the film.
Once sending a file of the picture locked version of my film, I sent 2 copies out. 1. To Sound Desiner and 2. To Colour Grade Artist.
Sound Design
Meeting up with Michael at his studio in London, we went through the film together. We walked through the film discussing what type of sounds in particular I wanted and where I wanted them. We spoken about whether to take the sounds from the woods into the lair, if the shadow had any sounds to create a personality of its own etc... After, we arranged further meetings to see how the experimental sounds were working with the footage so far. Meetings will be ongoing until it is completed.
Within the first week, I went to the studios for the first time to see how much Michael has progressed. He had worked on half the film within the first week. We watched through the film and the result was great. I felt he understood completely what I wanted in the sound design. This was most likely due to the references in my blog and going through the film before he worked on the film. There were a few minor things that needed adjusting such as the singing bowl being more clear and switched to a higher tone, and the tone of the composed music in the lair didn't feel youthful and slow. However, I loved how he incorporated breathing sounds into the intro, which was slightly strange and alien like because the audience never see's the character in the intro so does not know what this strange undertone of breathing is or where it is coming from considering they are watching visuals of landscapes and nature. I also love how the sound of the waterfall is quite basey so when you hear it, you feel like you are standing right by the waterfall.
Just before tutorial, Michael sent me an incomplete copy of the sound design up to the scene where the character awakens. I checked the sounds through, and there was so much more improvement compared to the last. I really liked the beats of the drumming when she is suffering, which can connect to the beats of a heart. This then crescendos up until the character begins to close their eyes and begins meditating to the path of enlightenment.
Third and last time I met up with Michael, he had completed most of the film and minor tweaking was done at the studios before exporting. He added some more effects such as a creaking of a door when the character looks under the rug. All sound design are created from scratch and taken from his large sound library.
I was asked what type of sound files I would like. So, I asked him for stereo and Dolby 5.1 file. Stereo file is more for sound coming out from 1 direction, whereas Dolby 5.1 is set up for theatrical speakers set up around the theatre. This gives the film a 3D effect where sounds are coming from different directions.
Colour Grade
Making the vines come alive
To make the vines look as if they are alive, I had to flm in reverse order, directing the actress to reverse her actions. Once shot, I put the edit onto the timeline and reverse the shot. This scene is previously seen in 'Evil Dead' (1981) directed by Sam Raimi where Sheryl gets raped by the trees in the woods.
Title sequence
I noticed my film jumped straight into the scene, and looked a bit strange and felt odd. I thought about incorporating a title sequence into the film to lead the audience into the film.
Font
Font is also an important part of the film. You need the right style of font to go with the project. I tried to look for fonts from other sites such as '1001 Free Fonts' and 'DaFont' which is royalty free and free for personal use, but there wasn't any that I felt suited the film.
I had chosen the font Herculanum which is found in Final Cut Pro. This is because they looked like twigs that can relate to the nature of the film.
Once sending a file of the picture locked version of my film, I sent 2 copies out. 1. To Sound Desiner and 2. To Colour Grade Artist.
Sound Design
Meeting up with Michael at his studio in London, we went through the film together. We walked through the film discussing what type of sounds in particular I wanted and where I wanted them. We spoken about whether to take the sounds from the woods into the lair, if the shadow had any sounds to create a personality of its own etc... After, we arranged further meetings to see how the experimental sounds were working with the footage so far. Meetings will be ongoing until it is completed.
Within the first week, I went to the studios for the first time to see how much Michael has progressed. He had worked on half the film within the first week. We watched through the film and the result was great. I felt he understood completely what I wanted in the sound design. This was most likely due to the references in my blog and going through the film before he worked on the film. There were a few minor things that needed adjusting such as the singing bowl being more clear and switched to a higher tone, and the tone of the composed music in the lair didn't feel youthful and slow. However, I loved how he incorporated breathing sounds into the intro, which was slightly strange and alien like because the audience never see's the character in the intro so does not know what this strange undertone of breathing is or where it is coming from considering they are watching visuals of landscapes and nature. I also love how the sound of the waterfall is quite basey so when you hear it, you feel like you are standing right by the waterfall.
Just before tutorial, Michael sent me an incomplete copy of the sound design up to the scene where the character awakens. I checked the sounds through, and there was so much more improvement compared to the last. I really liked the beats of the drumming when she is suffering, which can connect to the beats of a heart. This then crescendos up until the character begins to close their eyes and begins meditating to the path of enlightenment.
Third and last time I met up with Michael, he had completed most of the film and minor tweaking was done at the studios before exporting. He added some more effects such as a creaking of a door when the character looks under the rug. All sound design are created from scratch and taken from his large sound library.
I was asked what type of sound files I would like. So, I asked him for stereo and Dolby 5.1 file. Stereo file is more for sound coming out from 1 direction, whereas Dolby 5.1 is set up for theatrical speakers set up around the theatre. This gives the film a 3D effect where sounds are coming from different directions.
Colour Grade
My colour grade artist lives North of the UK, this means that I can not travel to meet with him. Instead we send each other emails, and dropbox each other samples of work. I had given a description as to what colour palettes I would like for my film, but from the original samples he had given back to me, he slightly understood me but not completely. The best solution was to send him a colour palette moodboard. There were 4 types of colour changes I want incorporated into my film, so I though this would be the best way to show what I wanted. I gathered images from various films and put the timecode on where I wanted these colours to go.
From these moodboards, you can clearly see the different colours I would like for different sections of my film.
In recieving sample files, Seamus noticed 2 dead pixels on my film. In an attempt to cover them, the pixels are more noticeable. As he began grading the images onto a darker palette and adding a vignette onto it, the dead pixels became less noticeable.
Other problems I have encountered is the decision to either keep the colour palette or the vibrancy of the costume. I have found that when the palette is dark, the colour of the costume becomes less vibrant. This is because the colour tone changed matches up to the colour of everything else on the screen. Decisions I made as the director was to keep the palette over the vibrancy of the costume. I feel the film benefits from the colour more to help bring the tone into scene.
Here are some colour test slides sent to me prior to grading the complete film. Graded ones are at the top, original ungraded slides below.
Here are some colour test slides sent to me prior to grading the complete film. Graded ones are at the top, original ungraded slides below.
Graded - Gress looks greener and more alive.
Original - Grass looks brown and dead
Graded - Set is alot darker, colours of the flower becomes more saturated
Original - Set is brighter and flower is less saturated.
Graded - on a blue palette where colour of red looks more blood like.
Original - No colour palette, red is too bright to look similar to colour of blood.
Graded - Grass becomes alive, whiter palette
Original - Grass looks dead
Graded - following the yellow palette, image looks more golden.
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