P3: Create the extract for an original TV programme or short film by applying post-production and editing techniques
Below is my offline edit.
I followed my storyboard closely, using a range of shots to capture the action. The Go-Pro was recording throughout the whole filming process, so I had to use some of that footage to hide parts where actors looked at the camera, or piece together different takes where they stumbled over their lines. I think I definitely recorded what I set out to, and during a peer review viewers said they really liked my piece so far.
However, I think that the plot needs too much explaining, and the ending is very abrupt. If I used establishing shots of the same corridor at the beginning and end of the film, I think this would make it much more clear that everyone has disappeared. This way, the product has more purpose because without these shots, there are no consequences to the events in the lift, so the audience is left with a lot of questions. By giving the short film context, the audience have more of a story to follow and the narrative is more engaging. I will need to film these two additional shots before I can make the final edit.
In order to maintain continuity in the offline edit, I had to change some aspects of the audio. All of the scenes with dialogue were filmed when the lift was at a standstill, when at first the lift needs to be rumbling to tell the audience that it is moving. To ensure the film makes sense, I had to find a part of the GoPro footage where the lift is moving with no additional background noises and I added this alongside the dialogue.
Below is my final edit.
M2: Apply video effects, titles and graphics to the materials
Based on feedback I got in a focus group (shown in P4), I have decided to make changes to my short film, as the original video had no visual effects, and viewers felt it could be more visually stimulating. I didn't decide to use any visual effects (e.g. title cards, filters, transitions) because I felt that the short film was thrilling enough as it was, but after reflection I agree that the film could be more immersive for the audience.
I chose to use a filter called 'Security', as this allowed me to add grain and a time and date to the shots, which makes it more obvious that the high angle shots are from a security camera. I feel that this effect adds more context, and gives the audience the feeling that the characters are being watched. There are many different ways you can change this filter to achieve the desired effect, so I changed the saturation to show more colours, since the default filter is black and white. There is also the option to change all the text shown on the screen, like the date, time and bottom text. I made sure to change the time on screen with each minute that passed, to make my short film even more realistic.
I also added a fade-in transition at the beginning of the video. This makes my short film look much more professional, as this is a convention of short films to have a black card at the start of a video. I also feel that this transition introduces to the audience that they are watching a thriller, since we can hear a squeaky door before the visuals fade in. This makes the video more exciting to watch, as the audience are already anticipating that something scary might happen, and this keeps them on their toes.
Below is my improved video.
D2: Demonstrate control of the audio tracks in the editing of the materials
In my final piece, I had to do lots of audio editing, as shown in the screenshot of my timeline below - the green is the music I used, and the blue is sound effects.
As shown in P3 above, a large part of the editing was creating ambient sound for the sound of the lift moving. In order to fit the camera in the lift, the door needed to be open so the lift had to be stationary, but by looking through the GoPro footage I was able to find a few seconds where there is a clear sound of the lift rumbling, so I needed to duplicate this clip a few times in order for it to fill the time where the lift is moving. There was a clicking noise at the end of the clip, so I had to fade out the end of the audio clip, which can be seen in the screenshot below. This makes the scene a lot more immersive, as the audience might notice that the lift has stopped before the characters do, and this increases the tension of the scene.
The next thing I edited was the beeping noise which increases in speed as the tension rises. I found a sound effect which is a very fast beeping sound, and I made two other versions in Audacity by taking out every other beep and then leaving in every fourth beep, this is shown in the screenshot below. I increased the speed when something changed in the scene, with the fastest part happening when one of the characters has a panic attack and faints, continuing on until they get out of the lift. I did this because it mimics a heartbeat speeding up as the characters become more panicked, so this would make the audience's heartbeat speed up too and clearly show them that this is a critical moment for the characters and the audience should be worried for their safety.
Another sound effect I used was the sound of feet running, and I edited this in Adobe Audition to make it sound like the noise is coming from a room above. I found two different clips of people running on a hard floor from a royalty free source, one in flat shoes and one in high heels for some variation. I imported these clips into Adobe Audition and from the menu bar I selected Effects, and from the drop down menu I selected FFT Filter, which opens up the box shown below on the right. There are different preset effects you can add to the audio, and I chose one called 'The Club Downstairs', which makes the audio sounds like it is coming from above the listener. This is most noticeable when wearing headphones. I chose to use this effect because it adds another layer of realism to my short film, and if I didn't add any effects to the sound of feet running, the video wouldn't seem very professional.
I used a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound in my short film to create meaning, I used non-diegetic music along with diegetic sound effects, which are diegetic sounds because the characters can hear them. The only non-diegetic sound effect I used was the beeping noise, which helps to build tension and make the audience feel uncomfortable as the noise is so shrill. I chose to use this because non-diegetic sound effects are a convention of thriller films, where often a loud, sudden sound effect will be used to emphasise a moment designed to make the audience jump - this sound will often be non-diegetic as it is a sound that would not be caused by the character's movements and is added in purely to shock the audience. The diegetic sounds I added in (e.g. footsteps) make the short film more immersive and realistic, therefore drawing the audience in more and making the film more impactful to them. Whereas the non-diegetic sounds help to create tone and atmosphere, and a piece of music appropriate to the genre makes the audience anticipate that something scary might happen, they just don't know when - thus keeping them on the edge of their seats.