Evaluation (Questions 1-7)

Construction: Music

I have edited non-diegetic sound in order to create soundtracks, sound motifs and sound bridges, resulting in incidental music - in this case, the music/sound effects enhanced the eerie factor within the opening 2 minutes of 'The Woken Woods'.

Here are all of the sounds that I used to produce the music:

0:00 - Jacobs ladder electricity

0:02 - Humming electricity

0:09 - Low, soft eerie, harsh sounds on top

0:26 - Criminal radio 

By including a radio discussing murder in the first scene, it alludes to the nature of the rest of the film.

0:46 - Radio static

Radio  static creates an uneasy feel within the audience; they are unable to access all of the information provided by the broadcaster. Additionally, by adding static it allowed me to cover up words spoke by the broadcaster that didn't fit in with the plot of the film.

1:08 - Guitar, chirpy

The guitar music provides a binary opposition between the audiences original preconceptions of the film because, in the previous scene, the sound suggested that something bad was to happen however when the graphic match acts as a flashback, happy music is heard. This makes the audience confused.

2:00 - Heartbeat

3:16 - Ghost-like, woods

4:36 - Ultrasound

5:08 - Quiet crying

5:40 - Tension rise

5:55 - Uneasy guitar picking

6:10 - Creepy and windy (low)

8:49 - Creepy (high)

This is a screenshot of the finished audio for the opening 2 minutes:

For the audio transitions, I used an exponential fade in 
order to gradually decrease the volume of the previous track, allowing a smooth conversion into the next score. Here I have faded the sound of the ticking clock out, allowing the diegetic sound of the footsteps to be loud and clear.

In order to create tension to make the jump scare more tense, I added a constant gain to a low sound of symbols constantly crashing; by gradually increasing the volume of the music, it puts the audience on edge.

I have created a sound bridge in which the guitar, chirpy music fades out as the volume of ghost-like, woods gradually increases.

Construction: Sound Effects

This is an edit of our opening scene with all of our sound effects within it but it hasn't yet got music behind it.

 

Sound Effects

As we forgot to attach the mike into the camera for a scene, I had to import footstep sounds in the clip. I found this problematic; I had to attempt to match each footstep with the movement of the characters. I also faded the non-diegetic 
sound out to portray how they walked past the camera.

I added a ticking alarm clock sound alongside the countdown.  in order to make it more intense. I also managed to match the sound in time to the numbers ticking down.

Once I reviewed our footage, I realised that there was discontinuity regarding sound due to the wind being extremely prominent in one scene but hardly noticeable in the next. To solve this problem I selected the diegetic sound from the windy clip and copy and pasted into the rest of the scene to ensure that it was continuous.

Construction: Editing

This is a screenshot of the thumbnails of out footage, titles and music.

This is a screenshot of our unedited footage:

We then made choices deciding which clips to keep and which clips to discard of considering which shots were framed the best, had the best lighting, had the best sound quality and had the best line deliveries. We also chose to delete some scenes; they were unnecessary as they didn't provide the audience with any context or character.

We have edited the footage and cut it from 27 minutes to 1 minute and 44 seconds. This is only a first draft of our opening scene as we were mainly focusing on getting the correct clips and ordering the sequence of events. We have began experimenting with sound, visual/aural effects and titles however these will need to be developed on.

Construction: Visual Effects

Here I have a graphic match. The camera slowly zooms into the photograph on the newspaper and then, by using a cross dissolve transitions, the photograph turns into footage of the teenagers walking across the field.

The beginning titles all fade to black in order to create a flowing nature from one title to the next. The amount of black frames also help to create an eerie atmosphere before the viewing of the film has even begun.

The titles that appear as the film is occurring fade in and fade out providing a smooth transition - I did this by using an addictive dissolve to fade in the text and then a film dissolve to fade out the text.

Construction: Considering Titles

We have decided to overlap our titles over our footage; it creates a more interesting visual. In order to achieve the best titles suited for our film opening, we will need to consider the titles fonts, sizes and placement.

 Font: Chalkdust

I think that this font isn't suitable for our titles because it looks tacky and slightly childish - it doesn't give off a professional vibe.








Font: Chalkdust

I decided to use the same font but experiment with the sizes and placement of the titles. By doing this, I have realised that I want the titles to remain straight (not slanted) and for sizes to be the same.

Font: Avenir Narrow           

In comparison to the previous font, chalkdust, these titles look a lot more professional although they lack visibility.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   







Font: Avenir

This is the same font however I have adjusted the boldness of the letters so that they are readable. I like this font but I think it looks extremely bland.

Font: Courier New

I selected this font as it matches the newspaper at the beginning of the opening scene; it seems like an old-fashioned newspaper - it doesn't stand out though.






Font: Courier New

I have made our names bolder to make them the focus point - but this then makes the actual title not as visible.

Font: Courier New

I have made the title 'Edited By' bolder instead so the audience know what we've done, however now our names aren't as clear.






Font: Courier New


By making the entire title bold, it ensures that the audience can clearly read them. I then experimented with the placement of the titles. In this case, the titles cannot cover the lighter area due to the white font which blends in with the background.


           
                                                                    Font: Courier New


I then moved the titles into a darker area so the text had a large contrast against the background therefore becoming easily readable.

The Main Title

For our main title, we have decided to have a font which features the theme of the woods within it in order to emphasise the significance of the woods.

OPTION 1 - This font is striking and bold however I don't think it fits with the genre of film; it 

                     looks more fitting for a light-hearted film rather than a horror.

OPTION 2 - The twisting branches within this font helps convey the eerie nature of the film.

                    As well as this the font is extremely bold and would stand out.

OPTION 3 - Although this font incorporates the mysterious factor into the opening scene, it  

                    may not stand out against the background due to the white lines overlapping      

                    black letters.

OPTION 4 - The font, though it is of a wooden theme, looks more like planks which doesn't   

                    express the ideology of a creepy forest. It also isn't as distinct compared to 

                    other fonts because white is the prominent colour.

This is out selected title:

Construction: Evidence of Filming

Here are the bloopers from the opening two minutes of 'The Woken Woods':