Closing Post

We've really enjoyed doing this project and we're glad that we were put in a group together.

We're happy with our final opening sequence and there's nothing that we really want to change about it.

This blog is now CLOSED

Hooray !

After nearly three months of hard work, our opening sequence has been signed off.

We're really proud of the final sequence and feel that we made it to the best of our ability.

There were some ups and downs, as well as times where we felt the sequence wasn't coming together but thankfully, everything worked out !

:)

Editing of third shooting

After our last shoot, we have all the shots we need. However, we feel that something about the sequence doesn't flow.

After advice from our teacher, we have changed our sequence and removed several shots. We realised that it was weird for the character to sit back down on the stairs and drink wine when her friend is panicking on the phone. Therefore we had to remove that shot.

Luckily, we could fill a lot of spaces with our titles which meant we could remove shots that did not make sense.

By removing certain shots, we have increased the pace of the ending of our sequence which is exactly what we wanted. I feel that this builds up tension more and seems more realistic.

Title Brainstorm

Here is a brainstorm showing the various titles we came up with for our film

We had originally liked the title "Anonymous" because it fitted in with the plot of the film. However, we are now contemplating to use the title "Exposed" however, we have doubts that this could lead the audience to think the film is about photography.

Character outfit and props

After looking at the character profile and understanding who our character is and what situation she is, this is the outfit Patricia will wear when we are filming.

It is a party outfit that a girl like our character would wear on a night out. She wil be wearing this with black high heels, a black coat (which she will take off during the sequence) and a black and gold bag.

This is the phone that we will be using.

New Actress

After looking at our rough cut and receiving feedback, we have decided as a group to change the actress and voice actors.

Patricia will now be the new actress, Bianca will be the voice of the friend and Jay will be the voice of the boyfriend.

Reflections

Things we noticed that went wrong:

- we left props in the background
- continuity issues where the match-on-action didn't flow.
- 30 degree rule - some shots were too similar so we had to cut in new shots to make it more continuous.
- unatural movements ( for example the shot where Bianca moves back against the radiator)
- pace is too slow
- not enough reactions to messages

Improvements for the weekend:

- be aware of rules of continuity when filming
- speed up the pace
- add in reactions to messages ( speak the messages through as filming)
-  we might screen test Patricia to be the actress and Bianca will do the voice-over as they will better suit these roles.
- make sure the shots are not tilted and make sure that they are parallel to the lines of the door.

TEACHER FEEDBACK
Ms. Dymioti
mother should be ringing for a reason, not just a random chat - reminding her of an event. much more functional rather than filling up space for no reason. mother's message is just too long.
hear friend first. mandy, mother and then mandy again.
improve more continuity. cutting off end of sequences. not enough details. doesn't need to put on answer phone so early. can put it on after she gets a drink. we're in control of dialogue instead of dialogue being in control of us.
take off earrings and jacket. check reflection in mirror. build up sense of character.
could record it on a mobile - would have the 'phone' effect.
the music is effective.
Mrs Blackborow
the mother's voice doesn't sound like how the audience would imagine her mother to sound.
the music shouldn't start until the 'scary' part starts - we should just have diegetic sound at the beginning, no music needed.

Feedback

After our rough cut, we asked another group (Tom, Hugh and Tom) to watch our sequence and give us some feedback.

Initially, they were confused as we have not inserted the voice-over so they weren't sure what she was reacting to. However, once we explained it to them, they said they liked the idea and it should be effective once the messages are put in.

Also,they liked the first-person POV shot of Bianca going into her bag.

We also got feedback from our teacher, Mrs Dymioti and the media technician, Mr Deans.

She said that we should have scripted the messages and said it as Bianca was acting so that she would react at the right times. She said that the movement of the shots is fine but the choreography needs to be more natural (when she walks back to the radiator).



Mr Deans said that the shot of Bianca walking back was too long.

Editing Of Test Shoot Footage

During the editing session, we found various continuity errors that we can now correct in our actual shoot.

We found that the end of the sequence seems rushed and we didn't realise that we needed to film certain shots in order to allow the continuity to flow. We realised that we had missed out around three shots at the end which causes it to jump and look glitchy.

Also, the beginning of the sequence where Bianca is walking into the house, getting a drink of water takes a long time and we feel that it doesn't leave us enough time to insert the voice-over of the answering machine messages.

We used http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ to find music for our sequence.
http://www.freeplaymusic.com/search/category_search.php?t=v&i=1083

We liked the Dark Dimension Volume 3 album and felt that the song 'Evil Eyes' fit quite well with our sequence.

Storyboard

This is the storyboard for our opening sequence.

Improved Proposal

After receiving the feedback from our teacher, we decided to take out the cut-away shots of the killer walking to the house and concentrate mainly on the events that take place in the house and the characters reaction.

The opening scene starts inside the hallway of a house, with the camera facing the door. We hear footsteps approaching the door and a key turning in the lock. A young lady (around the age of 19) opens the door and walks into her house, hanging her keys up on the wall. As she begins to take her shoes and coats off and places her mobile which no longer has charge on the front table, she presses her answering machine to see if there has been any voice-mail messages.

The voice from the machine says "You have 4 new messages". She presses play and then heads towards the kitchen to get a drink from the fridge. Simultaneously, the first message is being played "Message received today at 3:03pm" - "Hi Darling, I'm just calling to remind you that I've booked a reservation at Il Forno, you remember that lovely little Italian Restaurant we saw ..." She cuts the message short.

"Message received today at 5:49pm" - "Jade, where are you ? I need to talk to you !" Jade looks at the answering machine with a confused expression. She plays the next message.

"Message received today at 5:55pm" - "(Mandy can be heard crying) Oh God Jade, they know. (more crying) they know it's us ! I don't know what to do now ...(more crying)". Jade drops her bottle, which shatters on the floor, and runs to the answering machine to play the message again, while it's only halfway through.

It repeats and then carries on; 'He said he knows and........wait. i heard something... someones here. (in a whispered voice) ... *silence*.

In this silence Jade hurries to her mobile, only to find its battery die while in her hands. All the while, the message continues and we hear the phone drop and then a sudden outburst of screaming which is then muffled by the killer's hand. We hear the killer pick up the phone and he says something similar to "Your next". The phone cuts. And the answering machine says "End of final message."

As the answer machine says this, the camera focuses on Jade's shocked expression. She places her hands over her mouth, and her eyes start to water. She glances at the clock and her breathing becomes heavy as she realise the killer must be on his way to find her.

Teacher Feedback

Here are the comments that our teacher gave us

• Too much happening, we need to slow the pace of the sequence down to allow the audience to see Jayde's reaction to the messages
  
• We need to take longer to establish the scene, location and character
• We don't need to show the killer, don't need to cross-cut.
• Our plan to use streetlamps for lighting during the outside shots would cause too many issues
• We need to make definate decisions on who our actors will be
• There wasn't a strong enough sense of an opposite - victim vs killer
  

Proposal

The opening scene starts with a young lady, walking home at night. She opens her door and walks into her house, hanging her keys on the wall. As she begins to take her shoes and coats off and places her mobile which no longer has charge on the front table. She presses her answering machine to see if there has been any voice-mail messages left. The voice from the machine says "You have 6 new messages". She presses play and then starts heading towards the kitchen to grab a drink from the fridge. Simultaneously, the first message is being played.  "Message received today at 3.03pm - "Hi darling, I'm just calling to remind you that I've booked a reservation at Il Forno which is a lovely little Italian Restaurant..." She cuts the message.
"Message received today at 5.46pm - "Hey, It's Mandy. I can't seem to reach you on your mobile. But yeah, call me back when you get this". Jade takes another sip from her bottle, and plays the next message.
"Message received today at 5.49pm - "Jade, where are you? I need to talk to you!" Jade looks at the answering machine with a confused expression. She plays the next message.
"Message received today at 5.55pm  - "( Mandy can be heard crying) Oh god Jade, they know.(more crying) they know it's us!!! i don't know what to do now....(more crying)"
"Message received today at 5.57pm - "I never told you this, but he called me, Jade, he said he knew who we were.........I hear someone.......I think he's here (in a whispered voice)......*silence*" Then a sudden outburst of screaming which is then muffled by the killer's hand. The phone cuts."
Jade continues to look at the answering machine in shock. She steps back. She places her hands over her mouth, and her eyes start to water.

Whilst this narrative is happening, we have cross-cuts of the killer walking towards Jade's house with extreme close ups of his feet as we don't want to reveal to much of this identity. As the messages reveal more information, the killer gets closer to the house, and we see his hand opening the gate and door.

Right at the end, with Jade's reaction to the messages, we see the killer slowly creeping in the background.

Testing voice clips

I used the mic on my webcam to record my voice saying a message that we could potentially use in our opening sequence.

Synopsis

How hidden is anonymous ? What happens when doing the morally right thing puts your own life in danger?

One year ago, Jade and Mandy witnessed a brutal murder and anonymously reported what they had seen to the police. The evidence they provided resulted in the capture of and conviction of the killer.

After a night out, Jade returns home to find five messages on her answering machine from Mandy, who is frantic as she insists the killer knows it was them who made the anonymous call and is coming for revenge. In the last message, Jade listens in shock to Mandy's screams as she is killed. Little does she know, that the killer is already on his way to her home.

Mandy's killer plays a psychological game with Jade that eventually confines her to her home. Yet as the movie goes on, secrets are discovered and the real killer isn't who it seems to be as we realise that nothing stays anonymous forever.

Inspiration from Strangers

This is a clip from the trailer of the 2008 film 'Strangers'.
The female character is standing in the middle of the room and we see the killer silently walk into view from behind the wall. The woman is still unaware that he is there and continues to stand in  the middle of the room. We are going to use a similar shot in our opening sequence when the girl is standing in the hallway and is unaware that the killer is behind her.