feedback from rough cut

After everyone looked and analysed our rough cut piece, they wrote down what they thought and how we could inprove it. After looking at it again i agree with them in how we are giving too much away and shouldn't have the 'omg' as sharon walks into the house. I think the sequence shouldend there to make it a cliff hanger rather than letting the aundience know whats happened as it is a bit obvious.
Most people think that our music is too tense in some places such as at the start in the woods where it could be less intense.
We could have used more varied shots to make it more interesting.

rough cut 'Stalker'

rough cut

we have completed the rough cut of our thriller.
after uploading the footage on to the computer, we first selected which clips to use as we shot more than one of each for a choice. we then cut down the shots to an appopriate length of time, then fitting in our soundtrack after lengthening it from it's original time.
the first shot, of the murderer making his way through the trees, was too dark and it was hard to tell what was going on, and you couldn't see anything when the camera was shot on to the feet. to solve this problem we edited the contrast and brightness using the effects in final cut express.
we then selected which titles we were going to include in our opening sequence and assigned names to all of them, then placing them in an appropriate place and order throughout the sequence, placing the main title of the thriller (Stalker) at the end of the first section, before the victims friend (sharon airy) enters the next day.
the titles displayed were as follows(in chronological order):

producer ed litle,
julian gutteridge,
sharon airy,
casting rachael dunn,
film editor natalie taylor,
production designer tim harris,
jenni gutteridge,
director sian miller.

the volume of the music and the sound were then edited throughout the piece, so that in some places you could hear the sound over the music (for example jenni shouting up the stairs, sharon shouting to jenni at the end of the sequence, the knife dropping, jenni being grabbed, and other places where voice and important diagetic sounds were used) and in other places the music was all you could hear, helping to build tension within the piece. the sound effect of the door creeking was also added in so it could be heard over the top of the music.
transitions were also added to the start of each title.

for our final draft, a designed main title will need to be added at the end, and other things that need touching up will be made known from the feedback we recieve.

filming night

we chose to film all the footage that we needed in one night. this was successful and we managed to film alot, and we thought of more shots that we may wish to include.

title sequence shots

For the title sequence shots we have decided to have first person shots of walking though the wood etc with the title across the screen.
title shot 1: shot of walking through the woods
title shot 2: close up of feet walking though the leaves.
title shot 3: long shot of the house.
title shot 4: peering through the conservatory windows.

types of shots in order

shot 1: mid shot of woman cutting meat on he chopping board.
shot 2: mis shot of wonam watching the TV.
shot 2: close up cutting meat.
shot 3: close up of woman putting the knife down on chooping board.
shot 3: close up of woman turning the TV off.
shot 4: behind mid shot of woman walking to stairs.
shot 5:side mid shot of woman shouting up the stairs.
shot 6:mid shot of woman walking back to the kitchen.
shot 7: long shot of woman returing to the chopping board to see the knife has gone.
shot 8:close up of woman clutching her stomach with blood on the hands and apron.
shot 9:mid shot as woman drops to the floor, close up of her feet moving slowly up to her hand.
shot 10: close up of womans hand on the floor covered in blood.
shot 11: close up of knife covered in blood.
shot 12: long shot of neighbour walking up to the front door.
shot 13: first person shot of neighbour peering through the window seeing if she can see anything or anyone.
shot 14:close up of neighbour at the front door, realises its open so pushes it.
shot 15: mid shot of neighbour walking into the house.
shot 16: mid shot from behind, walking into the kitchen, calling friends name.
shot 17: neighbour sees knife on the floor, camera moves up to blood covered hand.
shot 18: close up on neighbours face, shocked and upset.

camera shots

The majority of the shots will be close ups so that the film creates a clostraphobic feel. we will have a couple of slow moving shots so that the film is more creepy and fits in with the suspence and thrill. There will be a couple of wide angle shots to give the audience a bigger perspective of what going on and their surrounding.

shooting schedule

We will shoot our sequence in the opposite order to how it will be edited and shown;
instead of shooting the killing first, and the next day afterwards, we will shoot the next day when the friend finds the dead body first. This is more practical as the next day is supposed to have some light as it is earlier in the day, and the killing is to be at the darker point of the evening.
After we have shot the next day, as Jenni will already have the blood on her hand from being discovered, we will shoot her death before the beginning of the film as it makes more sense rather than having to keep washing blood off and putting it back on again. When the next day scene, and the murder have been filmed, we will shoot the first part of the title sequence which is when Jenni is cutting the meat, and hearing the noise, discovering the knife is gone etc.

updated animatic

this is our updated animatic. it has a few alterations such as changes to the storyline.

title

we have decided on the title of our thriller which will be "Stalker"
we chose this because the film is centred around finding out who done it, who turns out to be a stalker.
in the rest of the film it turns out the killer had a diary written on her and followed her.

characters

for the woman cutting the meat (main character) this will be jenni, for the woman at the front door the next morning to discover the body will be sian. natalie will be the director and will be filming.
jenni will be buying the meat, all the props will already be at the location of jenni's house ie knife, apron, fake blood.

change in idea

the victim will no longer call up to the kids before she realises the knife is gone, as it wouldnt make sense for them to be there and not realise she is dead before the next morning when the friend finds her.
she hears the sound of the door while she is cutting meat, and then she calls out to someone who lives with her not knowing if they are there or not, (they are not) and then when she comes back the knife is gone and thats when she gets killed.


also when she gets stabbed, instead of viewing it from half way up her body, and actually seeing the stabbing, you see it from the floor. e.g, the knife would drop, then blood would drop, then she would fall, all seen from her feet, then when she has fallen camera drifts to blood-covered hand.