After completing the editing , Steve Pettitt and I went into the studio to compose some music for my final video. I edited all of the music and sound effects on a programme called 'Logic Pro', this piece of software allowed me to insert the video footage and edit the music so it would fit with the video. Logic Pro has thousands of copy right free sound effects built in, which I used to add more suspense and action to my thriller.
I laid a piece of music down called 'Disoriented' which I used for the main music, which will be playing in the background. The reason I chose this piece of music was because it was a thrilling, action piece of music from start to finish, the pace picks up half way through which fits with the video. At the end of my video the killer launches a bat towards the camera and I wanted to create tension. I inserted another piece of background music towards the end, which slowly fades in and has a fast drum beat and an electric guitar which fades out towards the end. Once I applied the music to my video in brought the film to life, the music is the key part to making a movie, it gives it a more realistic effect. To make my film even better I decided to add Non - Diegetic sounds in i.e. when the door opens at the beginning of the scene, I added keys raterling and the door slamming behind the killer. I also added a warehouse effect, so when the camera cuts back to the victim there is a hint of warehouse atmosphere in the background. Another main sound I used was a type writer, I used a typewriter filter in Final Cut and thought it would be amazing if I could get the sound to fit the video, and it worked. Finally I applied the rest of the Non-diegetic sounds and previewed the final version of my film 'The Victim'.
On Monday 15th March, I decided to add the final touches to the editing within my film. There was a few little pieces that need touching up and re-editing. At the beginning of my film, my original idea was to have a panning shot of the Detectives desk for the opening. However, I am still using the panning shots, but I am applying them after a creepy and unusual shot of a silhouetted figure. The reason I chose to add the silhouetted figure at the start, was because it draws the audience in from the beginning and it sets the atmosphere of a creepy and thrilling movie.
I decided to change a section of my movie, the part where Detective Stirling is looking furious with the 'Accused Suspect' and when he grasps the chair fearlessly and throws it to the floor. I decided to chop each section into three different sections and mix the scenes up. So the camera focuses on the Detectives face and then cuts to him gripping the chair and throwing it on the floor. By using this mixture of cuts it adds tension and suspense, especially with the suspenseful music over the top. I had to cut a few clips down because the timeing was out of sync with the audio, this enabled me to match the audio and the video, so that when the final video is complete the audio and video will be in sync.
Adding Titles: Within the opening of my film, I had to insert some title sequences to state who Directed it, the cast and supporting cast. I had to choose where my titles would be inserted carefully, as it could turn the movie upside down if they were inserted in the wrong place. I decided to insert the cast names over the footage, 'Featuring Neil Mason as 'THE ACCUSED' is placed on top of the Detective pacing up and down the interview room. I wanted to keep the text simple and not to fancy, I stuck to Verdana and increased the spacing of the text by 5. This enabled it to look very effective and professional. Other Titles I included within the opening are as followed:
Featuring Neil Mason as 'THE ACCUSED'
Steve Pettitt as 'DET. STIRLING'
Denise Pettitt as 'THE VICTIM'
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A Special Thanks To Adam Mason, For all his help with the story board and production.
After shooting the footage for the opening of my Thriller, I had to take roughly 30 minutes of footage and cut it down into a 2 minute opening. I decided to use Final Cut Express 4 to do my editing, as I find it much more easier to use than Adobe Premier. By using Final Cut it allowed me to create more unusual and effective shots to insert into my film.
To start of with the editing was fairly easy, cutting each individual clip, so the size and context was perfect. It then started to get more advanced and tricky as I had to decide which video transitions to used and which one would look better with the clips. I took the opening scene, where the camera is panning across the Detectives desk, overlooking some case files, computer, paperwork and his badge. All of these clips made up to a couple of seconds, I played around with some transitions such as Cross Fades, Fade In and Out, Dissolves and many more. However, I decided to stick to a Cross Fade or a normal Fade, because it is a fairly simple transition and it also breaks the audience in slowly. As the movie progresses and the film draws to a closing, more fast and effective transitions will be used to add tension and suspense to the clip as well as the actual footage.
After I edited a few of the clips together, I decided to change the whole image to black and white. I decided to do this because black and white stands out more and looks more effective. With one of the scenes in my thriller, the lighting is fairly bright and once turned to black and white it looks more realistic. I wanted to create a thriller film that has a twist and has a slight dark side to it, I managed to achieve this by changing the frames to black and white.
On Tuesday 2nd March, I couldn't do much work towards my editing because Final cut wasn't responding to my computer. I wasn't able to solve this problem in time, so instead I decided to look at thriller openings and writing down the disadvantages and advantages of the opening. I also thought about the advantages and disadvantages and started to think of possible questions such as; is my thriller opening as good as the ones that have already been released within the industry.
