How did we record and edit the test shots?

As the other members in my group were acting within the piece I took it upon myself to direct and edit the film. To edit the footage I used the program 'Movie Maker'. Thus this allowed me to cut and edit particular parts of the footage in which I was able to record.

I then took advantage of the soundtrack from the film '28 weeks later' known as 'In the house, in a heartbeat' by composer John Murphy. Due to the tension that and suspense that the soundtrack was able to create due to features such as a minor key and repeated phrases. This allowed us to slowly build tension until the climax of the short film, due to these qualities we eventually added this composition to our piece.

What shots did we use?
Wide shot: This shot established to the audience that the character seemed to be running in order to save or look for someone, with the audience beginning to question who is he looking for?

Medium shot:

Low angle shot:
This shot aided our attempt in trying to create suspense, as the audience could not see the characters face thus there being a sense of mystery.

Titled panning shot:
These shots allowed us to further increase the tension as the audience is still unaware of who the character is and what their intentions are.

Extreme close up: Here we used an extreme close up of the character pulling on their gloves, signalling that they apparently are up to something sinister.

Wide shot: In this shot the character's figure can be witnessed however they remain hooded. Due to the previous shots only showing different parts of the character's body we decided to finally reveal the character's full frame to the audience, still retaining a sense of tension without revealing the character's true identity.

Blurred close up shot: In our final shot we used a blurred close up shot in order to retain mystic and tension as the character's face is not completely revealed and the music also begins to increase in instrumentation thus leading to the climax of the film.

Preliminary Task

Updated Location Reccee (Possible)

Edit Shot List - Low Angle Panning Shot (Test Shots)

The reasoning for our extensive use of this shot is to slowly build suspense as the camera slowly pans upwards, slowly revealing the identify of the character who is detective Victor. There is very low lit lighting in this phrase in order to create further mystery and suspense as the audience is not fully aware of the characters features and cannot thoroughly see his face. We believe that these shots helped us to follow the mise en scene of a conventional thriller as the use of low lit lighting and slow panning helped to create mystery and suspense.

Edit Shot List - Medium Shot (Test Shots)

Here we used a close up shot of Saeed with his hood up in order to give a sterotypical representation of our youth today. The audience are unable to see the whole of the characters face, but are just able to see a side shot, with the scene also containing lowly lit lighting

Edit Shot List - High Angle Shot (Test Shots)

The reasoning for us using a high angle shot was to create the idea that the interrogation was being watched, almost as if there was cctv in the room. Thus helping us to follow the mise en scene of a crime thriller which props may include a tape recorder, table, chair and also cameras watching the on going procedure. This helped us to capture the true atmosphere of an interrogation.

Edit Shot List - Over The Shoulder (Test Shots)

In this shot we used an over the shoulder shot in order to gain detective Victor's prospective and view within the scene. We used this shot over looking Saeed to connotate to the audience that detective Victor looks down on Saeed and believes that he is superior to him. This is later evident within the opening with the way that detective Victor represents himself. In this shot we placed the lighting behind detective victor in order for their to be a tint of darkness over the character Saeed, connotating that there may be no hope for Saeed and is in a desperate position despite being innocent.  

Edit Shot List - Point Of View Shot (Test Shots)

In this shot we used a point of view shot (POV) in order to capture the true seriousness and tension in this scene. The point of view shot allowed us to capture Kasper's (detective Victor) emotion and anger, underlining the gravity and magnitude of the situation. We continued to use lighting within the scene even though it was low key and low lit, in order to allow us to carry on the darkness within the area.

Opening 45 seconds of thriller opening (Test Shots)

My inspiration for the opening of this piece came from the British thriller 'Britz', in which I viewed in my Media lesson. The opening of this piece was intended to give the viewer a natural insight into what the thriller opening may contain. However this is directly contrasted by the musical piece 'Death is the road to awe' written by Clint Mansell, which was written in minor key. Due to this, this allowed me to place the video and music into together, as the the music which is slow yet tension building follows the feeling of fear.

Opening Concept

The concept for our short media piece revolves around the interrogation of a young male who is involved with a conspiracy against his own country. This correlates with the concept board I previously placed on the blog. The short film is meant to give an insight into the stereotypes placed on young Muslims as well as ethnic minorities within the UK. However we have considered the script and idea and taken away any thing which may have been seen as controversial.

Within the opening 30 seconds we used a montage of the Woolwich attacks along with the news coverage that it attracted. The soundtrack 'Death is the road to awe' in order to set the tone for the film. We hope that with this the film will give off the effect of fear and tension that is necessary in order for the audience to adapt their own opinion. The song itself of sets an extremely tense and negative mood, which we believe in imperative for a thriller opening. All of this sets the viewer up for the next scene, which involves the interrogation.

This then follows where the innocent victim is interrogated by an apparently ignorant detective who seems to enforce his own negative stereotypes,  which eventually manifests itself...

Rough Cut Analysis

Here within the opening shot we believe that we did not sufficient lighting as it

is quite difficuilt to make out the characters facial features, as we were trying to give the audience an understanding of who the character is. In our next set of shoots we are going to strive to use the appropiate lighting in order to get our point of view across to the audience.

We also found our location to be quite poor as the boards we were using were not enough to hide the sorounding location that we were filming in, as the backdrop contradicted (we couldn't completely turn the lighting off as it would vastly hinder our filming process).  

Our Rough Cut (Test Shot)