Editing: Soundtrack inspiration

Inspiration for the soundtrack

Michael Suby:

Movie poster photoshoot

Below is a youtube video with a keynote presentation on my inspiration for the movie poster photoshoot. None of the footage we had was sufficient enough and therefore, we had to create our own. I intend to use a bath with different liquids such as milk and ink to create an effect. I will be using a two point lighting system with filters and the cameras I will be alternating between are a Canon 1200d SLR and a GoPro.

Editing: Colour Grading

After the first edit was simplified as much as possible and all the obvious formatting was completed, it was time to think about the creative editing solutions that go along with the film. This being soundtrack, sound design and colour grading.

Typically, we associate warm colours with happy themes and cool tones with more sinister and menacing themes. Therefore, it makes sense that 'The Unknown' will be colour graded with dark colours and cool tones. Before editing, I looked at some colour grading techniques for DSLR cameras. Below is a colour chart by Wes Anderson that I drew on for inspiration:

On Final Cut, the whole process is pretty easy. You just go to colour correction and decide which hue, exposure and saturation levels you want. Below is an example of my colour chart. After this, you can make one colour grade the dominant by copying and pasting attributes to other clips then just varying little bits as and when necessary.

Below is the original image alongside the new colour graded image. As you can see, there is a completely different tone

Editing: Formatting

We used Final Cut Pro X to edit. At the very start of the editing process, we took all of our original footage and pieced it together to make a working and continuous story. Then we used the 'blade' tool (shortcut CMD, SHIFT KEY, B) to fine-tune each individual piece of footage so it connected. We removed all the audio and put it to 0 DB in preparation for the voiceover and atmosphere tracks which would be taken from foley, free sound.org and also, from imovie effects.

Then after some research, we used the letterbox tool to format the movie into the standard film ratio 2:35. To do this we selected one clip and put the effect on the film, then we went to the side bar where 'LETTERBOX' had shown up and chose the preferred ratio for the film. Following this, we used copy and selected all of the tracks and hit paste effects. This was a simple way of ensuring that all of the clips had the same continuous ratio. As the clips original frame width was being squashed down, we had to use keyframes to ensure that the movement was flowing up and down from the central object of that particular frame. E.G. When using the props, the central object was the book etc and hence, that was the thing that had to be the most central.

Following this, came the stabilisation, rolling shutter motion and rendering. Below are the definitions of all of these things:

 Last year, we were unaware of all these methods of formatting. We used stabilisation but were unaware of the correct ratio for the film. Therefore, when we went to stabilise the shots in the new ratio, they would distort and slant. This meant that we couldn't simply copy and paste these attributes and instead had to stabilise each individual video. A lot of the film was shot handheld, my one issue was the lack of tripod use throughout, therefore stabilising on these particular clips wasn't possible.

Finally, when we were ready to upload the film unto Vimeo/Youtube, we had to ensure that every single clip was rendered in full. For this we went to FORMAT > RENDER ALL and waited until each clip reached 100% rendered.

Titling of the film: 'The Unknown'

Our group spent time discussing possible title names for our film. It needed to be something that grasped the audience's attention and suggested what sort of themes the film would include.

We decided to name our film 'The Unknown'. This is a fitting title for a sic-fi film as it creates mystery as to what is happening.

Our film is set in purgatory, a place unknown to the protagonist. He does not know how to escape or if escape is possible. It is unknown whether or not he will have to spend eternity here.

As he explains how he got there we learn that once he began to drown his decision of suicide was full of regrets which is something that his family and friends still living could not know.

Dylan is in isolation. For someone who had previously been very sociable and happy, his lonely and unhappy existence in purgatory is not something he would have been familiar with.

It was also unknown to Dylan what was going to happen to him once he died. Being stuck in purgatory does not seem to be the afterlife that Dylan expected.

Another thing is that Dylan's situation is unknown to the people he left behind on Earth. There is no way for them to know what has happened to him as they cannot possibly know what happens after death let alone what happens after death by suicide.

Throughout his voiceover, Dylan speaks of how he does not understand what is happening to him. He feels stuck and describes the setting as a "middle ground".

The title helps to give some background information to the audience as well as making them question what is happening throughout the film. Also, it creates enigma in line with Barthe's Enigma code.

Making a film poster

INSPIRATION

Before diving straight into making the film poster, I thought it would be a good idea to look up some examples and references that are relatable to my own poster. I watched the video below and came to realise just how much work goes into every final detail:



One film that I have continued to relate to throughout the making of the short film 'The Unknown' is 'Submarine', directed by Richard Aoiyode. The highly styled elements including the colour grade and the cinematography are very similar to this movie as well as the constant references to the sea and the depression related to the sea. I really enjoyed looking at the posters and there are so many official and fan made variations of the same film. All of them are relevant and include some prop or detail to convey a little about the movie, falling in line with Barthe's enigma code. Below is a youtube video I made of a few variations of the submarine poster:



I looked at some other posters with a darker tone and noticed that the protagonists face was always centred with attention to the lighting and colours. As well as this, the text closely relates to what is going on in the film. Below are some examples:



I really like the idea of superimposition of the character. One thing I was thinking of was having the sea superimposed in the protagonists. It is very certain that we will have to take more photos for the posters as the film footage is not sufficient enough.

DIMENSIONS

It is important to follow international standards for dimensions when making a poster for a film. This means that it will be easier to have your film displayed in a number of different places like the subway, the cinema etc. Below is a screenshot on landscape and portrait film poster dimensions:

Editing: Making an ident

To show I have thought in depth about production, I decided to make my own 'ident'. After my post on choosing a sufficient distribution company for the film 'Unknown', it became clear that after the main funding film companies' ident there are lots of smaller production companies. The first Media Studies project that we did was a titling project called 'The Witch project', we became immersed in the project creating a production company named 'Bronze age Productions'. This year, I decided to change it up a bit and go for 'Bronze Age Vintage'. I felt that it really fitted in with the idea of colour burn flashbacks and the colour grade looked like a vintage french film. Below are the steps of how I made it and the indents:

1) Downloaded rustic film roll stock footage
2) Downloaded 'moonrise' font from 'Dafont'
3) Chose name 'Bronze Age Vintage' and edited the style to allow it to suit the video. This meant turning down the opacity and blurring the title.
4) Added in a shutter roll foley to fit the video
5) Made the creative decision to add in an orchestra warm up. I wanted the sound to swell in the middle like magic so I added in audio keyframes and tapered the track.

Below is the result: