Editing final cut

Editing the final cut was a long process; it consisted of mainly the last minute of footage and the music. It took so long because we found we were short of usable footage and had previously cut the majority of shots. Luckily we were just about to make the 2 minutes, but i still felt there was alot more that could be improved.
However we added a new title at the beginning to create a professional look to the opening. We named it ‘seven twenty cinema’ which we then added effects too which made the text jitter and fade off screen. This allows the audience to immediately recognise the type of genre the film might be. I thought this was really affective.

When we became closer to finishing the editing, we decided we didn’t want the sound anymore; the sound was too jumbled and didn’t go with the piece. From this we found similar free music which suited the piece better.

6th march - last shoot

We decided to reschedule to do our last filming on 6th March. Overall the filming went well, the lighting was good yet it was still cold enough to show the actors breath, creating an eerie effect. However, our main actor was ill and wasn’t able to make the shoot. We didn’t want to waste time as the deadline was next week, we had to use all our free time as much as we could, so we decided to improvise. We were able to use a different actor, called Johnny. Without seeing his face, he could easily pass as being James (our main actor), also it helped that he was wearing the same costume as we use for James, a leather jacket and beanie hat. As well as this, we chose to use a different location, as our last location was noisy and had a lot of unwanted extras in it. we chose the local park as it wasn’t difficult to get in, yet was an ideal/ realistic location.

group meeting

Time to improve

The rough cut was complete so we decided it was time for a group meeting to discuss the ways we can change and further improve our thriller.


The main things we will have to change are:
- The clicking sound when the protagonist picks up the photo booth picture of the girl he’s stalking and her boyfriends.
- Shoot more scenes including main couple (Abby and Andy)
- Add more reaction shots so the audience can distinguish the main characters jealousy.
- Replace the scenes when using other couples; include shots more of Abby mainly. This would make it clearer for the audience to realise she is the victim. Most important shot to replace is scene located at school when protagonist hides behind book.
- Elongate and add more titles.
- Elongate shots of girls drowning in the bath, also add more. Mainly in shots in the ‘i love you scene’
- We finally need to edit the sound and make it in time with the shots. Some of the shots are in need of intensifying.

individual progress

Since the start of my AS media coursework i feel i have developed and improved my skills tremendously. Especially looking back at the continuity tasks seeing as I wasn’t even capable of keeping the shots steady. My camera work has improved the most; I’ve learnt how to create shots that are at a high standard and that signify certain aspects of importance and how to show this. I can honestly say that my confidence with camera work has overcome leaps and bounds; however i still feel i struggle with the editing software. Although, i am able to get the job done, even if i do struggle from time to time, the more i use the Mac’s and the editing software, the better I’ll become.

feedback and advice

We uploaded and editied all the footage we had and we asked our teacher for their advice. Unfortunately, we were advised to reshoot the whole thing as we used zoom in too many of the shots, creating it to look unrealistic. We were also advised to cut out the drinking scene with the bottle of alcohol as the character doesn’t look the legal age to drink, also it is terribly cliché. It also takes the focus off the obsessiveness of the female character.
We were also advised to cut out the handwriting shots as the hand writing looks too immature and unprofessional; it also kills the build up.

We had a talk after and decided to swap the drinking shots with shots of a photo falling out the scrap book, and him staring and stroking the picture. This would intensify the admiration for the female character whilst still being creepy.

Third shoot – 21st

Similar to the first shoot, we filmed all the shots in the school location on Wednesday 21st Jan in our free periods. Firstly we took shots of the couple in the cafe. This time the shots looked a lot more affective, we used a different male character, which was more comfortable and easier to direct. We took various different scenes around the school, all of which seemed a high standard. In addition to this, we decided to add another scene in the story line. We added a new couple that we filmed just outside of school on a bench. The lighting was perfect as the sun shone onto the girls face, showing her importance. The shots we took where perfect, and in my opinion the best footage we had so far.

After school we went back to the protagonist’s house to re-film. Similar to the shots we took at school, the footage looked higher quality. Although we did encounter a few problems – the tripod we had kept on breaking, it made it really difficult to keep the camera steady. The lighting was also difficult because there was no natural lighting, and we only had a few lamps available to use. Finally the actor was being slightly temperamental and unwilling to do his job.
We also decided to add more scenes in, these being ones where the stalking is constantly on his victims facebook. However once we shot it we realised how unrealistic and immature it looked.
Overall, this shoot was alot more successful than the last, even though everything wasn’t perfect, but we got what we needed. We decided to upload the footage and see if it was the standard we wanted before we organised another shoot.