Prelim Task- Editing

I was extremely excited to start editing the footage that we had shot for our prelim task. The first thing we did was split our group of 6 into two groups and work separately on editing.

We worked on Mac computers and used the software Adobe Premier.

 After downloading our clips, also known as rushes, unto the software we began to thoroughly sift through every single one and created a log bin for the rushes that we were going to use. From here on we began the task of cutting and pasting the rushes to make up a one minute sequence.

One of the most important editing techniques that I learnt was cutting on action; which is a way of preserving continuity and makes the cuts invisible. This technique is also called cutting on motion, and is a useful way of transitioning between shots.

 We included a title sequence at the beginning of the clip. When doing so, we had to make sure that it was long enough to read through. A tip that Matt gave us was that you should be able to read it 3 times over in your head.




Here are some images of the editing process-

I will post the final result very soon!

Lo x

Prelim Task- camera angles & storyboard

On Wednesday 8th October, myself and four of my peers worked as a group to film our short 2 minute scene. 

We were given a storyboard which contained the camera angles we should use, and gave us the dialogue that the actors would be performing.
Storyboards are important as by planning each shot beforehand, directors and crew can understand what they are aiming to achieve and have something to build on.
Here is an attachment of the storyboard:

The camera angles we had to use were wide shot, over the shoulder shot and close up.
In this process India and I took on the role as actresses, whilst Sasha was the camerawoman, Francesca was the director and Phoebe was in charge of continuity and props.

Continuity is a very important element when filming. Continuity is the consistency of the characteristics of people, plot, objects and places. It is a concern in the production of film and television due to the difficulty of correcting an error in continuity after shooting has wrapped up; that's why there is always a supervisor who makes sure that continuity is maintained throughout shooting.

Here are some images of our filming process:

We will be editing the video's later, and I will publish the final product soon!

Brief Intro to the 'Preliminary Task Excercise'

What is it?

It is a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue.
This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

Match on action- where there is s shot of the character starting an action, and finishing it in the next shot. 

 

 Shot/reverse shot- an editing pattern that cuts to the view in the opposite direction.

 

180 degree rule- The rule of line-crossing is sometimes called the 180° rule. This refers to keeping the camera position within a field of 180°

I'm excited to start the prelim task because it will be my first time actually filming and editing. This will be helpful as the experience I will gain will allow me to go into the actual process of filming the opening sequence with much more confidence. 
Lo x

Sound Analysis of Sherlock Holmes scene

Sherlock Holmes- 'That's the Irene I know'

Official Film Poster

I will be analyzing an extract from 'Sherlock Holmes', the film released in 2009 and directed by Guy Ritchie. The soundtrack for the film was composed by Hanz Zimmer, who is well known for his compositions for films such as the Lion King, Gladiator, The Dark Knight and Twelve Years a Slave.

Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Robert Downey Jr, Guy Ritchie, Hans Zimmer

In this scene Irene, played by Rachel McAdams, defends herself from muggers and in turn ends up mugging them, whilst Sherlock, played by Robert Downey Jr, watches on. This scene uses a mixture of diegetic and non diegetic sounds to create suspense.

An example of diegetic sounds is a door slamming and quick footsteps down the stairs, which immediately creates a sense of rush and panic. There is dialogue between Sherlock and Watson, which leads to Sherlock jumping out of the window. His yell and crash landing on to the bin is another example of diegetic sound. The audience can physically see his jump, and the noise is one which the character would hear itself therefore making it synchronous. In the background a track is playing, which is either made up a violin or panflute. This is non-diegetic as the track has been edited on top. The mood that Ritchie, the director, is trying to convey is one of suspense and anticipation. The violin track is an excellent choice for this genre of film as it's increasing pace and high pitch evokes feelings of anxiousness and apprehension in the audience.

The music abruptly stops as it cuts to Sherlock hiding from Irene. The strings (or flute) then start up again, gradually building in volume. It is then layered with another violin/panflute which creates a polysemic effect. The track is foreboding, as the audience have a feeling that something bad might occur. Two men on the street attempt to make an attack on Irene but she manages to defend herself. In one sense the track is parallel to this sequence as it never reaches a climax, and neither does the actual action of the film because Irene prevents the attack.

On the other hand it can be argued that the non-diegetic track, orchestrated by Zimmer, is in fact contrapuntal. Majority of the music used in Sherlock Holmes is under the genre of Gypsy Polka music. This in itself greatly contrasts the setting of the film. Sherlock Holmes is based in London in the year 1891, whereas Gypsy music derives from Romani music which is mainly found in Eastern European countries. 

Overall Ritchie and Zimmer succeeded in grabbing the viewers attention, and evoking feelings of anticipation and suspense. This was done by their expert use of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. The Gypsy-inspired backing track for this scene worked well as it created a mysterious, uneasy ambience. The asynchronous of the music worked well as it signified the hectic atmosphere in the scene. There is a lot going on, and the audience has many questions in mind such as; why is Sherlock disguised? How does Sherlock know Irene? Who is Irene? Because of this, the irregular beat matches the dysfunctional atmosphere which is represented in this scene.

Lo x