The final countdown!

 On Monday is our shoot day this means that we had to sort out every remaining problem. I talked to nearly all of the cast again making sure that everyone is on the same page. The person we wanted as the priest wasn’t available, so our media teacher Adam is going to play the priest. We discussed the sequence and the action list one last time so we all know what we need to shoot on Monday. Bert pitched the idea of the killer listening to music on his headphones after he kill his first victim. With this he wanted to go for a Guardians of the galaxy feeling which Pablo and I agreed would suit our project really well.  Another good thing is about this is that later on in the edit we can simply change the music and create a totally different atmosphere. Bert and I also  checked out the Church location on Google maps we looked for nearby locations were we could film shoots of the walking to the church.

Next up were our props the fake blood arrived as well as the apron. We decided to pick the mid-sized prop knife from the theatre department as we believed that it would look the best. We originally planned to use a prop knife only for a few shots and use an actual knife for things like close ups. Our media teacher pointed out the danger of bringing a object like this on set if its not completely necessary therefore we tried to scratched as many shots with the knife close up which will hopefully allow use to use the prop knife without it ruining the atmosphere. The prop knife just got a new paint of coat and the handle wasn’t completely finished it still had a golden base coat. The apron featured quiet prominently a  logo. I asked a friend who dose art as a level to hide the logo and add a black coat of paint to the knife which see luckily agreed on! We also did a little test shoot of the murder scnce. This turned out to be very helpful as it pointed out the difficulties of this shot and how we don’t want it to look we were also able to work on specific ideas for the framing and instantly test them. 

 

Here is the in my opinion best take we did:

Meeting 23rd of February- Props, casting and costumes

 Today was the first meeting in person in 1 and ½ weeks. We discussed the timetable, the cast and costume. We thought of alterative jobs for the murderer, but in the end stetted again on him being a butcher. Bert wanted to confirm Simon as the Priest but up until now this wasn’t possible so we agreed if Simon wasn’t able to do the shoot, Adam our media teacher would,  who currently is supposed to play a friendly villager is going to play the priest while someone on set will play the friendly villager. We then went to the theatre department to look at knife props. 

 

All of them look obviously fake so we decided to use a real knife in most parts of the sequence but during the scene where the butcher stabs the first victim, we would use one of the prop knifes.

 

I also ordered a apron so we could. soak it  in fake blood on the shoot day. We looked at multiple aprons but then we decided to buy a light beige apron as this would make it seem more handmade and used which would fit into the scenery of a village.

 

Meeting 22nd of February- Schdual and costumes

 At todays meeting we discussed with our teacher what we did so far and what we still need to do. I came up with a timetable for the shoot day. I had to keep in mind restrictions like that people are not available for the hole time for multiple reasons e.g. teachers might need to teach a class and have no replacement or need to attend a meeting. I also thought about how difficult each scene would be for example a scene with dialogue is likely to take longer than a scene of the butch just walking down the road. This is the timetable I came up with:

:A1 MEDIA SHOOT SCHDUAL ON MONDAY THE 28th OF FEBUARY 

 

Start of shoot day (I assume 8:50am):

-the lodge (location for murder)

- Crew

---------10 am James (the butcher) and Zoe (the victim)

 

Moving on to the street at 11:30 am:

-street near to closes location  

-Crew James (the butcher), Adam (friendly Villager), Adams Dog

 

Moving on to the Church at 1:30 pm:

-ABCDEFG Curch

-Crew James (the butcher), Simon (the priest), Clare (friendly villager 2)

 

Presumed end of shoot day at 3:00pm

(I color coded the timetable to make it easier to look for the different types of information like time and people needed on set)

 

I massaged the theater department to ask if we could get a prop knife and a priest costume. They haven’t gotten back to me about the knife but did send me a costume which they have and we could use:   

                                                                   

 

Bert is going to order fake blood online. We still don’t know if we can shoot at a church but it very likely!

Meeting 21st of February- Final Preparations for Shoot Day

 The school was closed today as there was no water in the hole area. So we had a virtual meeting. We discussed amongst other things casting.  Bert said that had secured Simon a pathography teacher here at Hurtwood as the priest. I massaged James Hartman (the Murderer) and Clare Crossley (the friendly villager) to check if they are still available and if they had any questions, James asked me about his costume (you can see the plan for his costume in a previous block post).  We still need to get a priest outfit and a knife so I’m hoping to get these things from the theater department when were back at school. 

I still don’t know if or if not we will be able to film at a church. I’ve also written a new version of the dialogue for the final church scene

 Location wise we sadly  still don’t know if or if not we will be able to film at a church. I’ve also written a new version of the dialogue for the final church scene:

Butcher:  Forgive me father for I have sinned! As I’ve exterminated another presided.

 

Priest: I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. May the almighty God have mercy on you, and having forgiven your sins, lead you to eternal life. Amen. We shall thankyou for executing your Deluty!  May the infinite spirit bells your sole!

 

Weekend update 20th of February- Key learnings from the previous week

 

Second editing workshop

The focus today was on audio editing.

The graphic on the timeline representing the audio track is called ‘Waveform’. You can unlink (separate) the Video file from the Waveform by right clicking on the clip and then pressing unlink. This is useful for multiple purposes you can now delete (if there is one) the silent second audio layer (this doesn’t affect the final product but makes your timeline clearer. When editing multiple clips together which all have a separate audio it is extremely that a quiet sound will occur whenever you cut between different takes. This sound can make your edit seem ruff. There are a lot of ways of fixing this problem one is by lining up your audio tracks on one level. Then going to the effects tab, opening the Crossfades folder, drag and drop the Constant power effect onto the tow audio tracks in question. You can now shorten the duration of the effect and the sound should be gone.  

 

We then discussed ways editing can shape a scene. For example through editing someone can dominate/ win a scene. This can be achieved by simply cutting more often to them and or giving them more screen time. 

 

It is also useful to edit in a way that matches where a character looks.

 

When editing it is also useful to look at what material there is and what you can do with it. Cutting a line from the sequence can completely change the tone or content of the scene.  

This is the sequence we edited: 

Meeting 8th of February- Updating, cast and costume

 Today was the first meeting with Pablo in over a week. During the meeting we updated him on the developments, messaged our (potential) cast and I talked with the actress who is going to play the victim about her costume. Bert wanted the victim to be a mother in her 30-40s. The problem here is that this would mean that we had to cast another teacher which is always complicated. Because you barley see her face, I casted one of our classmates, Zoe Case. She and I discussed what cloths she could wear to make it seem as if she was older.