Wednesday, 12 November 2014
9/9/14 | RESEARCH | TITLE SEQUENCES | "ZEN"
We watched the opening titles of "Zen" a crime drama set in Italy and made by the BBC. The opening titles are colourised like the Italian flag and also show snippets of landmarks in Italy which all give us clues as to where the show is set. We see a whole line of parked cars, all of which are Fiat's, an Italian make. The opening title sequence also has black bars going across it which resemble prison bars, adding to the theme of crime which the show follows. Also, we see silhouettes of handguns which seem to appear in a sort of x-ray vision, suggesting that people who seem normal could be hiding guns, and this also adds to the mystery and crime feeling of the whole show and most certainly adds the feeling of crime to the title sequence. We also so people sneaking around looking like they're hiding and spying on other people, adding to the suspense of the title sequence and also the rest of the show.
Tuesday, 11 November 2014
Shot List
Here is a screenshot of the shot list that we used to aid us when we were shooting the film opening. We made this shot list during pre-production.
Monday, 10 November 2014
Anaconda Productions Ident
Here are two screenshots taken from Adobe After Effects CS6 from when I was making the ident for "Anaconda Productions", our production company.
I used Video Copilot's "Element 3D" for the text, and created four different cameras. I moved them around in 3D space and cut between them at the pacing which I felt suitable. I enabled depth of field to give the piece a more realistic look.
I then added a particle system from CC Particle World. I changed the particle type to cube, and changed the radius of the emitter to a considerably larger one. I also increased the length of the particle life. I then added a gaussian blur to give the effect of the cubes being out of focus. Seeing as the effect works in 3D space, it worked perfectly with Element 3D and all of the cameras which I had set up.
I then made multiple new solids and switched them to 3D layers. I moved them to where I wanted in the 3D space, usually on top of a letter of the text, and applied Video Copilot's "Optical Flares" to them, in the colours and intensity that I felt was suitable for the look and feel of the project.
EDITING
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Here is a a general overview my screen in Adobe Premiere Pro CS6. |
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And a close up view of the timeline |
As you can see, I am using three separate video tracks and eight separate audio tracks. Bright green clips represent other sequences that I had made earlier, in this case they were the flashback scenes.


On either side of this text there are two small screenshots of the two flashback sequences. I applied the tint affect to all of the clips in both sequences and changed none of the settings. This gives a black and white effect.
One shot had to be done inside of Adobe After Effects CS6, and this was the shot of the TV turning on to reveal the public service announcement.
Originally the TV turned on to a blue screen which looked like this:
The idea came to me that I could use a keying effect to use the blue screen as a "blue screen", and overlay the Public Service Announcement onto the top of it. I used Keylight 1.2 for this, as can be seen here:
You can see the finished product in the picture directly above this line of writing. I split the footage of the TV into two, so that the Keylight effect only kicked in after a second or two of the screen being blue, so as to give the effect of the TV having more time to boot up.
The colours of the film looked slightly warm, so I applied Colour Curves inside of Adobe Premiere in order to remove some of the red colour and also change the brightness and contrast.
It's slightly difficult to see but I have ever so slightly taken out some of the red midtones by pulling down on the middle of the red curve. I also darkened the overall midtones by pulling down the middle of the master curve.
I have taken a screenshot of the clip before and after this effect was applied, and spliced them together down the middle so we can see the effect that this has on the look and feel of the film:
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Original on the left, result on the right. |
This shot looks darker and better fits the overall tone and feel that we wanted to convey with the film. Then I thought some more about the fact that the film revolves around a virus, so decided to add a tint effect to the entire timeline in order to make the piece have more of a sickly feel to it. Again, I have made a before and after shot:
It's very subtle but you can see the line going down the center of the frame and brushing along the corner of Lily's eye (the eye closest to the camera).
The resulting shot looks like this:
Finally I wanted to give the piece a more cinematic feel so decided to change the aspect ratio by cropping the image down. I cropped 10% off of the top, and 10% off of the bottom. This gives a "black bars" or "letterbox" effect which makes the entire production look more cinematic and widescreen.
And the finished product looks like this;
Thursday, 2 October 2014
CALL SHEET
CALL SHEET
Shoot Date: 20/10/14
Location:
23 ******** Avenue,
*******-on-Thames,
Middlesex,
**** ***
*THERE IS A GOOGLE MAPS SCREENSHOT HERE ON THE GENUINE COPY OF THE CALL SHEET BUT I DON'T WANT INTERNET STRANGERS COMING TO MY HOUSE SO THIS TEXT WILL HAVE TO SUFFICE*
Crew: Oliver
Davis: *********** - ********@gmail.com
Crew: Charlie
Walker: *********** - ********@gmail.com
Crew: Robert Tann:
*********** - ********@gmail.com
Crew: Lily
Stojsavljević: *********** - ********@gmail.com
Camera Equipment:
-Canon 70D
-Glidecam HD-2000
-Tripod
-Tripod
-Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM Lens
-Sigma 105mm EX DG OS HSM Macro Lens
Sound
Equipment:
-RØDE NTG-3
-RØDE Blimp
-RØDE Micro Boom-Pole
-RØDE VideoMic Pro
-RØDE SmartLav+
-Dead cat/dead wombat
-Zoom H4n
-XLR Cable
Lighting
Equipment:
-Every single light in the house
-iPhone torches
Props:
-Saw
-Plastic Wrapping
-A television
Wardrobe:
-Lily
– Normal clothes
-Charlie – Normal clothes, makeup to look like an
infected/dead person
Wednesday, 1 October 2014
10/9/14 | PLANNING | TREATMENT
We see a close up of a hand. It looks infected. We cut wider to reveal that the hand belongs to CHARLIE, 15, young, pale, and also dead. At the same time, LILY, 15, blonde and slim, wakes up on the sofa downstairs. She does not know where she is. The TV is on in the background and we hear a news report talking about a virus which is spreading across England. It also mentions that the government is executing anybody who is infected, or anybody who has come into contact with an infected person. Lily then goes upstairs to find Charlie's infected corpse. Fearing that the government are on their way to kill her, she decides to hide Charlie's body. After a few failed attempts she chooses to hide his body in the wardrobe. Upon opening it, she finds a pile of about 5 other dead bodies in there, and steps back in horror.
END
Wednesday, 24 September 2014
10/9/14 | RESEARCH | THRILLER FILMS
I made a Scoop.It to collect pieces of research about the horror genre. It is helpful to have all of my research in one place where I can find all of it easily in one concentrated area. Scoop.It is interactive and therefore makes suggestions.
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