Evaluation [Part 1 & 2]

Deadline

so the deadline for everything to be handed in is tomorrow, and I've pretty much finished everything but my evaluation, which I'm going to have to do while I'm on holiday. yesterday i ripped my film opening to a DVD to show in class today (hopefully.) and maybe get some feedback from the rest of the class so far all my feedback has been really positive, most people love the first section where the girl is walking down the hall in time with the music.
i went back through all my files on my laptop from all 3 of my previous ideas to see how much i'd done and i was suprised to find that i had 125 unedited video files and 21 edited sections i didn't realise i'd videoed so much!

[Dare] Final Edit

three different ideas and i finally got the narrative together to do this.

i like this one best out of the three different videos i did because it flows smoothly, the narrative makes sense, the editing is edgey and fast and at times, timed with the audio which is exactly how i like to edit

i made a video with clips from my orgianl ideas and an explanation of what i liked and what i didn't like.

[Dare] Synopsis

Dares full story

Beginning
At the beginning of the film the audience's hears a girl die, they don't know why or how but it looks like a hit to the head, then they're introduced to the main character, a detective who has a lot of experience with murder crimes and serial killers he lists all the things he knows about serial killers and we audience sees someone doing exactly what the detective is say, this someone is the serial killer, the main bad guy. it becomes the detective's job to stop and catch the killings before they escalate. Like Todorvo's theory, this is the disequilibrium.

Middle
More people are murdered from the same school, they all have ID cards on them like the one in my film opening, they are all killed with a blow to the head but no weapon is found the detective suspects its someone from the school who is the serial killer so he starts talking to students, teachers and anyone else he can find to see if anything suspicious has been happening. when no further clues turn up the school is closed until further notice for everyone's safety but the killings don't stop in fact they increase.

End
the detective notices an inconstancy with the killings (location and how hard the victim is hit) and decided its more then one killer, he hangs around the locations that the killings have been happen and finds his two suspects who are the serial killers, it turns out that they have been playing an extremely sick game of dare to kill the people in there school they don't like. they get caught and locked up for life and equilibrium is restored.

[Dare] Recce

Locations i considered but didn't use:

In the first shot where the girl is walking down the hall, i had thought about using the hall at my house but it doesn't fit the genre because the walls are purple and there's nothing really sinister or creepy about it and there's lots of door handles sticking out everywhere which would mess a shot up, on the other hand the lighting is pretty good.
a lot of my shots are close-ups on the serial killer doing things, to do those i needed a room with a lot of light this room has light, but there's a lot of stuff in the way and it would be a pain to move everything around just to get enough light in.

This room is in a similar situation to the first, plenty of light but lots of stuff in the way, and its right next to the kitchen so there is almost always noise in the background i did use the drum kit in the picture to add audio though.
i sat on the kitchen floor while filming most of my serial killer shots because it the right amount of light that i wanted, i filmed while everyone else was out so i didn't have to worry about space or background noise and if i got any of the floor in the shot it would be okay because the wood looks rustic and old like the wood in the first shot of my opening.
i used this room for my detective scene, i covered the curtains because they're purple and i wanted to cut the natural light off and use lamps to light only parts that i wanted, i also cleared the desks off and only had props i wanted on them there.

[Dare] Lighting/Mise en Scene

I chose this location because its got the stereotypical old fashioned look that a lot of mystery films have in them and the lighting is dim but light enough to see whats going on, i also liked the stream of light across the floor, i thought that was effective as well.

i made her walk down the centre of the shot so the audiences eyes focus on that and nothing else.

it was a really bright day when i shot this section, which was good because i didn't have to worry about it being to dark when i edited it, though the brightness doesn't really fit the mood so i had to add darkening effects on to the clip in Sony Vegas

i was stood on a ladder when i filmed this shot, i wanted a high angled shot for two reasons. reason one, so that i could get the whole body in the shot and see everything on it because i specifically gave her a card in her hand and a bag which would come into play later in the film. and reason two, to make her look small and weak, if i'd done it from another angle you wouldn't be able to see the whole body very well and it wouldn't have the same impact on the audience

i made some blood with washing up liquid and red and blue food dye, though my sister wasn't to happy when i got it in her hair, but i needed it to look like she was bleeding from her head and it worked!

in this shot i had to cover-up my sisters curtains because they were purple and clear her desk so that were wasn't teddies and things in the shot and i put the things that she had worn in the previous shots on the desk so it looked like the evidence put out on a table like they do in CSI just not as high-tech, i had a test tubes set out as well from an old microscope i have.

I shot this from a side on angle so you could see the detectives face, and that was is looking at the card. if i'd done it from a front angle the audience wouldn't have felt involved like they were there with him because they'd be where the desk was which doesn't work!

because i'd covered up the curtains it made the room really dark, but that's what i wanted, i then used a lamp to aim the light at Darius' (the guy in the picture) face and the evidence, it still wasn't light enough so i added some lighting effects on in Sony Vegas afterward.

[Dare] Soundtrack

In my new soundtrack, I've kept the original first few shots and audio as they were because they were good, the other parts i either edited myself or downloaded from Freeplaymusic.com.

George scream unedited and edited by whiteisblack

i took a clip of my sister (who plays the girl who dies in my opening) screaming, then edited so it sounded more mysterious in 'Sony Vegas sound forge audio studio'

i also added my own drum beats behind another song, it acts like a heart beat i think, i had originally intend to do the whole soundtrack on the drums but i don't think that fits the genre at all so i thought it sounded effective behind a song from Freeplaymusic that didn't have any beat to it.

the highlighted part is the drum beats behind the song, on the purple layer (track 6) just after he highlighted section is the narrative voice over audio, i split it up and spaced it out so there were slight pauses between because it was spoken quickly and didn't have an suspense to it

also before the highlited bit on the green layer (track 5) there is some audio i record using my sisters guitar and amp, i put the guitar to close to the amp so it made a weird noise then recorded it and split it so that it sounded like it was stuttering which gives it an air of mystery that fits the genre, it also scares the audience.

Miss Sutton said it gave her goose bumps, and a friend of mine said he wouldn't go see this film because he doesn't like things that are scary or jumpy. i think that's mostly down to the soundtrack as its a key part of my opening and any film opening as it sets the mood.