A (very) Rough Edit of our Trailer So Far

Written by Emma Taylor

Trailer (very) Rough Edit 1 from Emma Taylor on Vimeo.

Abi, Tom and I worked on editing a (very) rough first edit of all the footage we had so far, which was not even half the scenes we had yet to film, but we thought it would be helpful if we started piecing parts of the edit together. We edited on Final Cut Pro X (version 10.8) which is a programme I'm very used to, as I regularly use this to edit my own short films, music videos and promotional videos. 

The Final Cut Timeline

This basic timeline formed the outline for all the different rushes from the footage we had already shot, we then cut each bit down, using the 'blade' tool to leave the shots we wanted.

using the 'Blade' tool

One of the most important aspects of editing, in my opinion, to create style, a filmic look, and to also help connote atmosphere is colour grading. Colour grading is where you manipulate the colours within a scene, for example, we used blue and turquoise tints in the shadows, upped the saturation and lowered the exposure to create a cold gritty scene, when Grace is tied up. If you wanted a scene to be muggy and warm, you would use orangey colours.

Colour Grading

correcting exposures within colour grading

Below you can see an example of how colour grading and cropping the moving images can effectively manipulate a scene. The cropping of a full frame (82 mil sigma lens) can create an anamorphic lens effect, seen in all feature films. 

A key part of our project is that Grace has telekinetic, supernatural powers. In order to do this, Tom and  I filmed and edited some practice shots to make sure we could master the process in the day. Within post production, this involves 'modifying; the clip and then 'retiming' it to reverse the shot.

Retime, reverse clip

Below is a screen shots of the more advanced timeline as we progress to sound bridges used within the production. I use 'markers' which are placed on the time line to indicate where exactly to cut and manipulate a clip, which are done by pressing 'm' on the keyboard.

markers

a more advanced time line

3rd Shoot - Fire Station

Written by Emma Taylor



East Lancashire Fire Service from Emma Taylor on Vimeo.

Pre Shoot

There was a lot of preparation for this shoot as the Fire Service are an official body. Not only did I send the letter shown earlier on in my blog, but I had many phone conversations with Gary Brook, the fire fighter who would be helping us out on this particular shoot. I had previously met Gary whilst with being a leader with Beaver Scouts on their visit to the fire station and he had said that he was more than happy to help us out. I also had to go for a brief meeting at the station to talk directly with the fire fighters to see what would be possible on the day.

As the fire fighters are working, and could have to shoot off as soon as possible if they had a call out, we needed to work quickly and swiftly to get the shots we wanted.

There wasn't much equipment to take to the shoot as we weren't recording external sound which couldn't be picked up on the internal camera microphones. As we wanted to work swiftly, I brought two cameras to use, so we could have a multi-camera edit on the same action going on, as we couldn't repeat some of the action (eg. cutting a door off a car). I brought my Canon 6D and a Nikon D600 DSLR to capture the action.

During the Shoot

Roles

Emma Taylor - Director and camera

Abi Ford - Camera

Tom Bailey - Camera

Saqib - Behind the scenes

It didn't take too long to shoot fortunately, we were only actually filming for an hour and there were no interruptions or problems on the shoot. We had a good time and learnt a lot about the Fire Service in the process. We had two FireFighters helping us out on the day and we were grateful that they gave up their time to help us out. First of all, when we arrived and met on the car park at 10.30 we went into the board room at the Fire Station and talked through what we wanted to do in the day; film the fire engine coming out of the station and film a rescue scenario in any degree possible.

Abi and I filming 

Abi and I filming

The hydraulics

The FireFighters

Abi, Tom and I filming

Filming

Post Shoot 

As a thank you to the Fire Fighters and the station I wrote an email and also put a video together of all the shots just from the fire shoot for them.

A copy of the email is below:

Hi Gary,

Hope you are well. It was an absolute pleasure to work with you today and my team and I are very grateful that you helped us out in filming for our A Level Media Studies coursework. We had an enjoyable morning and we all learnt a valuable amount about the fire service and how you use your tools to help those in need. I particularly enjoyed filming you cutting the door of one of the cars as I had never seen the hydraulics working in action before and I was very interested in the process. 

You do a fantastic job, not only helping in desperate and tragic situations such as fires and car accidents, but the community work you do, not only with us, but with Scout troops and schools is incredible and potentially, life saving. I remember coming to your fire station on a number of occasions from being a Cub Scout and was definitely one of the activities I most enjoyed in my Scouting days. Now, a young leader at my Beaver Scout section I still thoroughly enjoy seeing the work you do at the station and learning how all the equipment works. 

I have edited a short film with some of the shots from today and there are links below.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtVaVlGN6GQ

Vimeo (high quality): https://vimeo.com/80190730

Some of these shots will be included in a trailer for a film called 'Fallen Grace'. We hope to have the trailer out by December/January once we have filmed everything we need to. 

I hope you have enjoyed filming with us today, and thank you once again, it is deeply appreciated. I will drop off a hard copy of both this short film and the finished trailer when it's complete.

Many thanks,

Emma Taylor

Photoshoot - 2nd Shoot

Written by Emma Taylor

On the second shoot for 'Fallen Grace' we planned to shoot a photo shoot for the poster of our trailer and film whilst Clare had her make-up done and was in costume. We took several photographs in the basement against a white background and the lighting was such that it caused a vignette type effect around the photograph, giving it a good portrait/poster style.

Portrait 1

I took a variety of photographs, including in a monochromatic style; in keeping with the Binary Oppositions theory. We also thought it would look good if we cut off half of the face of Grace, to show that a part of Grace is lost, not only in mind, but also in a literal sense as Grace is kidnapped.

Portrait 2

I personally think that the image, for a poster, is better in colour.

Portrait 3

Portrait 4

We have decided that the image below is the best to use for our poster. There are special make-up effects connoting destruction and enigmas are created asking why she is in this state, so I think it works well as a poster. 

Poster Photograph

Shoot 2

Written by Emma Taylor


For this shoot, I organised to film in the cellar of my father's office building where we could look place lights to make the area look grungy and cinematic.

Pre-Shoot

The equipment list was certainly not as extensive as on the former shoot as we didn't need external sound equipment so sync up, or my dolly to do tracking shots as we were in a small room.

The Equipment List

Camera

SD cards

Batteries

Tripod

Back light

fill light

I did a quick visit to the location prior to the shoot to check out what would be possible on the day of filming. I looked at two possible basement layouts and decided that the latter would be more in keeping with our plan of the mis-en-scene. 

The following photos are from the location scouting.

stairs down to the basement

basement 1

basement 2

During Shoot

I thought the shoot went really well. We worked efficiently and effectively within the time restraints we had and got all the shots we needed for our trailer and I also took some photographs for the poster design whilst Clare was made up with make up. There were no issues that arose, we just had to be careful of wires leading to the lights for safety reasons.

Make-up

The make-up for Clare took approximately around an hour to complete, to make it look as real as possible. I got some pictures of the kind of make-up I would like Clare to have. These images are below.

Make -up Image 1

Make-up Image 2

Make-up Image 3

Post shoot

Since it was only a short shoot (the setting up actually took the longest to do) I edited the second set of graded rushes for these clips. I colour graded the rushes (clips) to have a blue tint, to make the images look cold and uninviting.

Shoot Number 1

Written by Emma Taylor

We are shooting four of our scenes at our school, and have organised to shoot this on Thursday 31st August, during half term. We did this so there would be no distractions from others using the school in the day, and we could use our actors as planned. The difficulty with this however, is that we need extras, to make the school look alive - not something that can easily be done, considering it's half term and many people are on holiday. Despite this, we found willing volunteers from the local stage school, Valley Academy to help us out. 

1st Shoot - Graded Rushes from Emma Taylor on Vimeo.

Pre-Shoot

As director, preparation is key to a successful shoot, as there is so much going on, and many questions being asked by various different people including the cast and crew, and this can sometimes be difficult to manage and so good preparation is needed to make the day run as quickly and effectively as possible. Shot and prop lists were made along with getting and preparing all the equipment to be taken to the shoot, and making sure all the procedures were in place to make sure we could shoot at school and have all the rooms we needed access to, to be open.

With the main planning in place prior to the shoot, running through the day and how it's going to pan out the night before the shoot is crucial. So as well as printing out all the scripts, shot lists ect. I made plans on how to brief both the cast and crew. (Order of shooting the scenes, who's required at what points, to turn phones off ect.)

Writing everything down and knowing exactly what you plan to do in the day, is crucial, as everyone asking what they should do at the same time, can be overwhelming, so I wrote every last detail in my black directing book to reference back to. I found this useful when shooting, and I made sure I didn't miss anything we needed. 

As I had all the equipment we needed; clapper board, lights and stands, reflector, camera, tripod, boom, headphones, dolly, tracks, sound recorder, microphones, batteries, 4 SD cards, and extension cables, all of this needed to be loaded and set up prior to the actors getting to the set, in order for minimal 'waiting' around. 

Going through noter for the shoot the next day

During Shoot

Overall, I think the shoot went very well. I felt happy with all the shots and sound we had, and we even finished earlier than anticipated, and gave our actors sufficient brakes. (I bought some food and made sandwiches for all the cast and crew to have during the breaks).

I felt that some of the shots were challenging, such as the corridor scene where there were 2 movements which needed to be conducted; tracking backwards on the dolly and also focus pulling to make sure the three main actors were constantly in focus. Even though we did the exact same thing (focus pulling and tracking) in other sections such as the classroom scene, I found the positioning of the former scenario difficult, and as the actors are half out of focus, it is likely that this will be cut from the final cut of our A2 Trailer production.

Another challenge we found, was that one of our crew members, Saqib didn't attend this shoot, and so we had to do our own and his jobs as well, which was a lot of pressure and I had many different roles to think about. For example, I had to set up the camera settings, think about health and safety with lighting (making sure it wasn't too hot ect) look after the actors, direct, fulfil the role of producer, set up all the equipment, check for continuity, use the reflector and clapper board and oversee all the other parts of production. Whilst I enjoy doing all the different aspects of production stated above, it's a lot of pressure to do your own work and another person's, but despite this, all the different aspects of production ran smoothly. 

Abi and I setting up for the shoot with the dolly

Directing the sound and action

Abi and I setting up my Canon 6D

Abi and I checking the tracking corridor shot

Tom recording diegetic sound from the corridor scene

Working photo of the classroom scene

Abi on the clapper and me focusing up

Looking at the composition of shots with the reflector working in the background

Starting to film 

During filming

During filming

filming for the last scene of the day

I set the camera settings to more or less the same for each shot, as we had a constant light source (white LED Panel film light). We filmed on my Canon 6D with a full frame lens. The shutter speed at 320, the aperture at 2.8 and the ISO at 1250, which worked really well in our conditions.

Post shoot

Straight after coming home from the shoot and putting all the equipment away, I downloaded all the rushes (footage) and the sound off the SD cards in my camera and recording equipment onto the editing suite (Final Cut Pro) and started to edit the work. This included syncing all the sound to lip movements (helped by the clapper board stating the scene and roll), cutting and adding transitions to the footage, colour grading, and cropping the frame to give the effect of an anamorphic lens.