Final Cut screen grab

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Screenshots of final cut for evaluation

Evaluation by Harvey N

Overall i think our film sequence was really good, My main role in the group was to generate and edit sound for our project. We really had a fun time making the sequence and didnt really had a hard time doing this. Alex, Tom and Me play string instruments we all agreed on the idea of making a music/drama genre since it would be really easy for us to do so.

Our main influence was August Rush it had a lot of dramatic moments in that, August rush who plays the guitar and wishes to see his parents by playing music and they eventually do. We based this on bullying where Alex played the main character and as he plays mellow tunes on the guitar we learn a little bit about him before he goes to college. We also had other ideas like Alex's grandad had past away and he was a music legend but its been hard for Alex to cope with it. As a group we had the idea of scenes like flashbacks where Alex has been doing concerts and how he grew up and an overlay of Alex crying , kneeling in front of his grandad's gravestone.Initially that was our main idea but we had feedback from the teacher saying it would not work since it is telling the whole story instead of an opening sequence or an ending.
These are the pictures of our main influence


Being the Sound Role heres what i contributed for the project

From the opening sequence towards the part where he starts playing the guitar ive added the diegetic jazz improvisation done by alex from our spare footage into the sequence i think it this good because it immediately gives the audience a hint to whats going to come.
when it comes to the scene where he plays the guitar the diegetic before that is faded out.
I had feed backs from the other group and they have said that it works really well

The sound in the Sequences we did were a mixture between SFX, Diegetic sounds. When we See him plug the lead to the amp

we wanted to have a sort of echo sound when you plug the lead so it will sound more realistic. What i did was edit the sound clip of that frame and put reverberation so it sounded like it was in a hall and just added some gain in it. I think this works really well because it adds more effect to it.The main sound for the sequence frame was just a plain click. most guitarist would know that it would make a distorted electric sound when you plug the lead in.


The scene where hes walking down the stairs have a diegetic sound in the background. Where i just extracted it from the scene where his playing the guitar and i asked our Editor Tom to fade that scene out-into Alex walking down the stairs.

The specialFX i added where hes in the kitchen or near the kitchen was house hold things like washing mashing and water basin drying.
I think this works really well because it gives the effect of the house being busy.
I think i could of improved it by putting more house old items and combined them together but it was really hard to find them on final cut since there was no search option to find the soundFX
it was really hard editing the main specialfx because there was a tiny part in there that had a toilet flush sound which was quite inappropriate for a scene like that.


I also asked alex to play Jazz in this because it gives that effect where everything is just calm but playing it slower makes it more dramatic going back to our idea in august rush one of the male lead, he plays a song where he uses the same effects as Alex does in the film sequence but on a different guitar an electric acoustic and he just plays chord progression which is nothing technical but leaves it simple for example alex is only plucking string by string. 0:20 onwards shows the example of august rush .

Overall i think ive done a great job of my role but there is room for improvements
that i can learn for next projects to come the group has done really well to support my role without the cinematographer and editor it would of been a hard role for me as both gave me ideas as to which sound fits where
feedback's from the other group were just to adjust the volume because some parts the sound was louder than usual but other than that the sound syncing was good.

Evaluation, Alex winter

For our film studies coursework we had to create an extract from a film, we had to come up with an initial idea then storyboard it, film it then finally edit it, we worked in small groups and each member had a different job, I took the job of cinematographer. The genre we all agreed to do was music/drama we were very inspired from films such as crossroads and august rush. our first idea was to have our main protagonist preforming to an audience and having various flash backs , but after feedback from this idea we realized we were telling the whole story with the flashback instead of it being a film extract. we then changed our idea to our main protagonist being an outcast and being bullied but plays guitar to escape the troubles of his life.

After we chose our genre of music/drama, having the role of cinematographer i decided to watch two films of that genre, crossroads (walter hill) and august rush (kirsten sheridan) both of the films gave me an insight into the conventions of my genre and a lot of ideas on the kind of shot types i wanted to use for our film extract this helped a lot when coming up with the more in depth narrative of our film, it also helped when it came to storyboarding as i had an idea of some shots i definitely wanted to use and also helped to keep our film within the conventions of our genre which is very important for both the extract and the audience.

these are the two films that influenced me the most throughout the project.

I was in a group of three and we all worked well together and there were no conflicts which made the project and enjoyable experience, this was also useful as when we were coming up with our initial idea for the narrative we thought of the idea as a group and it wasn't just one persons idea so we all had an in depth understanding of what our film extract was about and what we wanted to portray to the audience.

my first individual job as cinematographer was to storyboard our idea and make a shot list so when i came to film i had a good idea of what i was filming this is very important as it stops u filming to much which is annoying for the editor or filming to little, while i was storyboarding i was taking into consideration that i had to make sure i was portraying to the audience that our film was of a music/drama genre this was also the case when i came to film it. i did this by using generic shots and iconography from the genre for example in the guitar performance scene i used close up of fingers on the fretboard and another close up of the guitar cable being plugged into the amp, all of which are shots in films of the genre like crossroads this is important as when people watch the extract they can identify with the genre.

some of the shots I described above

I tried to use as many shot types as possible to make the extract interesting, for example i start with close ups for the waking up scene and the guitar scene then the walking to college scenes i used mid and long shots this was done partly for variety of shots which helps with keep the audience interested, but also as more of the narrative and the protagonist is revealed the more is shown in the shot. to get the most shot types in i decided to film a shot reverse shot set up in the conversation scene and not a two shot sequence as i think shot reverse shot looks more professional and suited are extract and narrative better. I had to work closely with sound because of our genre in other films like august rush the sound compliments the cinematography very well, i think we achieved this, the constant non diegetic sound of the guitar playing when perfectly with the shots.

One of many varied shots i used and described above

I think the filming went very well and the only problem was the lighting of the shots which couldn't be helped, but no one commented on this in the peer feedback we received, the peer feedback i received for my cinematography was that there was a good variety of shots and also shot composition was good, I am pleased that people liked are extract and also that i succeeded in my role of cinematographer.

overall i am pleased at how well are group worked as a team and at how well our finale piece turned out and pleased that i successful completed my role in the project.

Alex Winter

806 words

Draft Evaluation- Tom Snell

Overall, I am pleased with how our sequence turned out. We decided to create an extract from a drama, as it meant it gave us a large amount of creativity, and the freedom to cover a wide range of topics. Having seen films such as August Rush, we decided to go down a similar road,with our main character being bullied and lonely, but finding a way out through playing guitar. This meant we had the opportunity to experiment greatly with how sound would be used, and how the use of diegetic and non-diegetic sound affects our piece. My role within our group was editor.

Throughout the planning process we modified our basic story several times to make sure our narrative was cohesive and easy to follow whilst still being interesting to watch. Our previous idea was to have our main character on stage, performing to a large crowd whilst remembering various key points in his life. We decided against this after being advised that it would be difficult to create a convincing stage sequence. Also, as it was based around a great deal of short flashbacks it would feel that it was a whole film instead of a short sequence.As I was editor, I watched other films from the same genre such as ‘August Rush’ to learn how these films are edited. I discovered that the editing in these films usually focuses on clarity and continuity over style. I emulated this by using simplistic editing techniques that didn't distract from the story. I also needed to know how to properly edit a sequence of guitar playing. During the editing process I discovered that the image of the guitar being played and the audio can go out of sync with each other. This was a problem in the original edit of our sequence as it focused more heavily on the guitar being played, but after we re-edited, it was less of an issue.

As a group, we worked well together. We planned heavily in lesson time to make sure that when we did film, everything would run smoothly with minimal problems. However, due to the fact that we couldn't all get to our location at the same time due to timing constraints, Alex had to film all the scenes in his house on his own. As he was cinematographer, this wasn't much of an issue as he had access to our storyboards and shot list. As he had to operate the camera and act on his own, it made my job as editor harder as it meant that I had a large amount of excess footage to cut. Although this made my job longer, it was surprisingly useful as it meant I could use some of the clips to improve the continuity of the piece. For example, during the conversation scene, the footage of Alex sitting down comes from him moving away from the camera, having set it up. The clip below highlighted in red was originally deleted as it showed what I mentioned above, but was put back in to improve the flow of the sequence.

However, as he filmed on his own, Alex was more susceptible to making mistakes. As the images below shows, there is a break in continuity as Alex leaves the house with a guitar, but when entering college you can clearly see the guitar on his back. To make this less obvious, I shortened the clip of Alex leavingthe house.

The main challenge I faced as Editor was how to order the shots in a way that was interesting to watch, but also made for coherent narrative. In my original edit there was much more emphasis on the music and guitar playing. This was changed after a visit from Jake Wynne, who used his experience to develop our idea and re-order the shots to put emphasis on the narrative. By simply removing several shots and changing how the sound is used, a massively different feel is given to the sequence. Another task I had to complete was, working closely with our Sound Editor Harvey, to edit the sound to fit in with the what was happening on screen. The image below shows how we very slightly dipped the volume of the guitar playing that is present throughout the whole piece during the conversation. We did this mainly so that the conversation could be heard but also because we layered some other sound effects, such as a washing machine, to give the scene greater realism.

The piece of editing I feel is the most effective is the scene our protagonist first picks up his guitar. I feel it is effective as the match on action of Alex picking up the guitar, adjusting the knobs and finally playing flows extremely well and looks natural. The transition of non-diegetic to diegetic guitar playing is also smooth, and reflects on the mood of the scene. Our peer feedback was positive overall, however some people commented on how the narrative was slightly unclear. I am really pleased with the end result, as it is our first attempt at this sort of project.

Final idea

we decided to change our idea for film extract because our initial idea gave away all the story and it would turn out into a whole film . our new idea is again going to be the opening sequence in which

How filming went?

All in all the filming went well, but there were some problems one was because it was in a house most of the shots had to be mid shot or close up as long shots were a problem because of cramped conditions .

Shot List

Shot 1: Med. shot
Props:Guitar merchandise,clock
Pan across chest of drawers, which is covered in guitar related products. (Picks, magazines etc) A clock is placed on the end.

Shot 2: Close Up
Props: Clock
Close up on clock, displaying '5:00'. The alarm is going off.

Shot 3: Birds eye view/ Close up
Props: N/A
Close up on Alex's face in bed. With a groan, he wakes up, rubbing his eyes.

Shot 4: Med. Close up
Props:Bed
Alex's legs in bed, swing out.

Shot 5: Point Of View
Props: Guitar, Stand
Alex getting out of bed, sees guitar in corner of room on stand.

Shot 6: Mid shot
Props: Guitar, Stand
Alex picking up guitar.

Shot 7: Extreme close up
Props: Amp, lead
Lead being plugged into socket. An exaggerated electrical crackle is heard.

Shot 8: Extreme close up
Props: Amp
Knobs on amp being adjusted

Shot 9: Mid Shot
Props: Guitar
Alex commences playing guitar.

Shot 10: Extreme close up
Props: Guitar
Close up on fretboard, more guitar playing.

Shot 11: Close Up
Props: Guitar
Close up on main body of guitar.

Shot 12: Close up
Props: Clock
Close up on clock, this time showing '7:00'

Shot 13: Close up
Props: Guitar ,Stand
Guitar is put back in stand.

Shot 13: Close up, Match on action
Props: Guitar, Stand
Match on action of previous, shot, this time form behind the stand.

Props list

1. Guitar: In the opening sequence in Alex's bedroom, we see him play guitar. The following props will be necessary for this
2. Amp
3. Guitar paraphernalia (In bedroom)
4. Guitar Stand
5. Clock: A clock in Alex's room '4:00' will show his dedication and commitment, both to his music and his father

Story outline

The opening scene

Cinematographer

my job in the production of this film is to organize shot types and general shot composition i will be working closely with the editor, some films that has influenced me are

the doors


i like the use of camera angles and the way the band is shot to show there importance this is done by use of closeups on the lead singer and various reaction shots of band members

Editor

The role I will be filling is Editor. This will involve cutting all the footage down to the correct length, putting it in a coherent order, and working closely with our Cinematographer to create various filters and effects. I will also be responsible for creating the titles and crerdits appear on screen. Underneath is a section of film I feel is highly effective. I particularly like the constant change of pace, shown by a mixture of fast cuts, and longer cuts. This reflects on the carnage on screen, without dwelling on any specific details for too long. Also, the combination of editing and cinematography creates fear the viewer, even though 'the enemy' are never really seen, just the damage they are doing

Sound

The role is about producing background tracks for certain scenes. Non Diegetic and Diegetic sounds that fits in the whole story.
My influences are bg music and composers from August rush, Con Air, Green mile, Lord of the rings, Pirates of the Carribean, Transformers, Edward Scissorhand
Howardshore. Ill be working close to The editor and cinematographer so that the sound fits in the video.

Hans Zimmer

Danny Elfman


-Harvey

Preliminary Ideas for storyline

The basic outline of our story is a young child loses his grandparents, who are taking care of him. He inherits his grandfathers guitar, and is inspired to learn in his memory. We are going film the intro sequence, this will start with the main character playing guitar in a large concert,having made it as a successful musician. This will then lead on to a flashback of his grandfathers death, this is when he inherits his grandfathers guitar then various stages of learning and his life.

Ideas And Influences

there are many films that have inspired are decision on what genre of film we wanted to create some of these are:

Crossroads

August Rush

we have decided to make a music themed film