LO4 Certification Classification

We reviewed all the aspects associated with age ratings and the guidelines our film would have to meet to abide by these said rules, we have decided that our film is suitable for the universal rating and is suitable for all age ranges. And is therefore suitable for audiences aged four and over, because our film generally has a positive framework and offers reassuring counterbalances to violence or horror. We chose upon this rating because of the themes that were not present in our film including; discrimination, drugs, imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, threat and violence. None of these aspects are apparent in our film, our film appears to be calm and not threatening and contains no sight or mention of violence, sex, nudity and drugs. There is no imitable behaviour that could be seen as dangerous, there are no risks that the characters in the film have taken that would be seen as bad behaviour which shouldn't be copied. The only distressing theme is a young girl being found alone in the woods, but the context for the narrative explains it and that behaviour should not be imitable. But as seen as our film is targeted towards young adults it wouldn't especially apply to children, but as a film it is rated universal because it doesn't contain any scenes that would be deemed inappropriate for children.

LO4 Focus Group Reviewing

We sat a group of people together, from various age ranges and genders. Varying from young adults, to adults to make sure we got a wide range of opinions regarding the film, including some from the chosen target audience for our film. Our focus group have a wide set of tastes and interest making their feedback and opinions varied and different to those of each others. The group of people then watched the online edit of the film from start to finish and were given a questionnaire to fill in about the film. They all agreed that the film fitted with the style of drama fantasy, and showed the stylistic conventions of the genre. One of the conventions being a build up of suspense and tension which was mentioned in one of the feedback forms. Everyone agreed that the transitions and visual effects were appropriate for the film and that due to the transitions the film flowed better and the black and white effect showed that the current scene was a flashback; which was accompanied by a specific transition which I linked to the flashbacks only. Most people said the narrative wasn't especially clear, this was because we couldn't produce a film with the original narrative that we decided and had to modify it slightly, this was possibly ineffective and we could have done more to show the narrative. The voiceover could have spoken more about the current events, and we could have more scenes depicting the death of the sister, instead of walking through the forest. But it was said that the black and white flashbacks were effective at helping show the narrative. The feedback to do with age rating was consistent, there is no adult themes or violence in the film and therefore there doesn't have to be limitations when it comes to the age rating, most expected the film would be rated PG or lower. The main improvements to be made according to the feedback were that the narrative needed to be made more clear, as well as the introduction scene being shorter as it was too long and possibly that the music for the introduction and credits was too upbeat and possibly have music more neutral. This is because it gave the wrong impression about the tempo and genre of the film, implying it would be happier and more upbeat, rather than haunting and sad. Also another piece of feedback was that the daytime wasn't consistent, halfway through the forest background cuts from dark and evening time to bright and midday, this was because we couldn't get all the filming done in that specific shoot and needed to shoot at a different time. Although some comments were made about the film, I feel we created a professional developed piece of work and it was effective in its execution and purpose. However it can be improved in the above mentioned areas, the film was highly rated and praised with little criticism, and was able to connect with our target audience and shows relation to the chosen genre.

LO3 Final Film

LO3 Linking Audio to Visuals and adding Audio Effects

During this scene an alarm clock was added during the transition of the two scenes to mimic the idea of her waking up. It was faded heavily in and out in constitution to the music change in the background, helping the transition between one song to the other. I then lowered the volume of the audio because it was very loud and distracted from other aspects.

This is a screenshot of a piece of music which is playing during the credit scene which I placed an audio transition into fade the music in and out. I used the exponential fade audio transition, but increased the time in which it span to make it more seamless and subtle. I used this effect to transition from the eerie music to the credit music and then fade out, I got the music to fade out with the credit scenes, so when the last scene of the credits has left the music is barely audible and is fading out.

Below are evidence of editing the voiceover, during the beginning and the end. The voiceover was vital for our film and helped the narrative progress and let the audience know what is going on. The voiceover is a compilation of many different quotes, that was recorded as one take. I had to open the file in audition and edit the sound, cutting out any unwanted audio and separating the different parts, which we then proceeded to do in premier also when it was imported in. Also sometimes the speaker took too long pauses between sentences and lines so we had to cut out the pauses. The voiceover in sequence with the eerie music helps create and build the tension, as well as building the narrative. It also helps with escapism, as it allows you to sympathise with the protagonist and understand her story and lose yourself in the fictional story. The voiceover was a combination of the protagonist describing the situation she is in and what the girl in the forest has to do with the narrative, as well as taking a 3rd person view on the situation and analysing it from that point of view. We did this because we were originally inspired by a short film called 'A song for your mixtape' where the voiceover is the voiceover which we were inspired and based our style off. The way the words are said the 3rd person aspect was based off this style, as well as the poetical style. The end of the voiceover was an extract from a poem that I wrote about death and grief, and dealing with letting go.

Charlotte looked through and edited the first half of the voiceover compilation, and I looked through and edited the second half of the voiceover. We consulted each other throughout the process and made sure that each half connected with each other and flowed nicely.

LO3 Applying Appropriate Visual Effects and Transitions

I added many visual effects and visual aspects to my film including the title, which appeared on the screen and slid across the screen slowly. I was able to get this effect through entering a title sequence and adding text. I chose a white colour and shadows around the text, because it is eerie and links to the theme of the film. I chose to put this title in front of the forest scene at the beginning to add variety and build up tension and intrigue.

All the flashback scenes were in black and white, but for this specific scene I wanted the red ribbon to show through, because its relevant to the narrative and links to the next scene. I was able to do this by applying the effect, then creating a clipping shape and inverting the effect so instead of the black and white only being visible in the shape, the black and white effect was everywhere apart from the shape. This wasn't perfect as it didn't always line up with the bow and sometimes went out of shot, but it mostly worked and was successful up to a point. It also showed slight technical ability to create such an effect.

In this scene I used the blur effect to make this clip slightly out of focus, this was to add visual variety and was to make you feel empathy for the protagonist and mimic the confusion she was feeling during the scene. I tweaked the blur settings to make it less obvious, because it initially was too distracting.

Charlotte added credits at the end, using the title sequence and rolling. She then tweaked the rolling title settings to make sure the credits started off screen and ended off screen, so they span across the whole screen. First she created a text box and chose a bold, easy to read text and capitalised it as it made it easier to read. Then she listed off all the character names and jobs. She then copied the text box and pasted it and then inverted the direction so that the two text boxes lined up, she then replaced all the text with the people that were responsible for each role. She then made the first text red to make it contrast to the other text, so the two text boxes could easily be separated. She wanted the credits on a black background so the text was the most important aspect on it.

I used many transitions in the course of my editing including; film dissolve, cross dissolve, addictive dissolve and dip to black. Addictive dissolve was used for the scenes were transitioning into the flashbacks so they appeared to flash before the scene and therefore replicating a flashback. I used a mixture of film and cross dissolve for the rest of the scenes, because they allowed the film to flow easily and also create a visual eeriness that added to the build up of tension. I used the dissolve transition the most because it allowed the film to flow easily and contributed to the genre and theme of the film and it wasn't as obvious as some of the other transitioning effects. Also on some of the transitions I extended or decreased the time of the transition, depending on whether I wanted more or less of the following scene.

For the title sequence Charlotte changed all the font and visual settings to make it suit the background and theme and genre of the film. She changed the font to 'Photographs' as it is a bold and easy to read font. She changed the kerning to 3.0 and the tracking to 8.0.  She made sure the title was central and the right size so it wouldn't take over the screen, but also wasn't too small to notice.

She then followed to create a shadow around the text to create intrigue and mystery, as well as visual interest. The colour of the shadow was black as well as having 80% opacity and an angle of 15 degrees. The distance of the shadow was changed to 28.0 because she wanted at least a little separation from the text and the shadow, the size of the shadow being 6.0 and the spread being 39.0. The spread was important combined with the opacity, because the spread could be increased to make it appear more as a shadow and the opacity turned down so it was less obvious.

LO3 Producing and Reviewing Offline Edit

The final offline edit can be seen above, all the scenes have been cut to the appropriate length in preparation for editing for the online edit. The scenes that should follow with the voiceover parts of the film, have been cut so they are the same duration as the specific quote it is linked with, so that later when editing it is easier and the voiceover can just be placed along side the clip. All the sound has been deleted from the offline edit, because we aren't using any of the sound from the actual footage in our final film, it will consist of background music and voiceovers. All the music and voiceovers need adding to create tension, and the voiceover to explain what's going on and narrate the story. The title needs to be added towards the start to show the name of film and connote the narrative and meaning of the story, along with credits at the end. Transitions need to be added between scenes to make them flow more smoothly other cut to black when specified. The background needs to fade in and out slowly and softly transition into the next piece of music. Some blurring effects need to be added when concentrating on Elizabeth's face, which can be added through video effects.

Charlotte for the offline edit edited the introduction bedroom scene and the first forest shoot, which cuts off roughly at the first park scene roughly at 03:12. I started editing the offline edit when the park scene started and the second forest shoot started also. And I continued editing and compiling until the end.

LO3 Logging Rushes and Edit Decision List