Practise Film Sequences

Although I planned and filmed with Lewis and Sarah, I edited separately and so have a slightly differnet version of our practise film sequence. We did this to practise for the coursework as we had to go through the same stages - planning, storyboarding, filming and editing. however, we did not have much time to do this and we were told to end the sequence in a murder whereas we will eb able to choose our ideas for the real coursework.

Evaluation of murder scene

Planning and story boarding

We planned out our storyboard well and thought about everything carefully before we wrote it down. However when we were filming we did sometimes forget to look at the story board and ended up forgetting to put shots in and added new ones so we didn’t follow our storyboard which left gaps in our scene.

Acting

The majority of the acting in our murder scenes was good and created a mysterious and scary feel to the scenes we filmed. Although in some scenes I began to laugh, which made it difficult as we had to take more shots and cut out more parts. I will try hard not to do this when filming for our coursework as it is disrupting and it makes the filming look unprofessional.

Selecting shots and angles

We started our murder scene with a panning shot of the Stations of the Cross which were on the wall in the chapel to create a sinister and eerie atmosphere to our piece. This was effective as it showed the audience that the location was a chapel and showed the audience where the murder would take place.

We took a POV shot of me entering the chapel and looking behind me to make sure I hadn’t been followed. We did this to create the effect that I was being watched from high above. This also created the impression that I was vulnerable as my stalker was high above so could easily see what I was doing but I couldn’t see them.

We also took several different shots of Rebekah running, but we cut out her own body and we only filmed her feet to make the identity of the person unknown and so the audience didn’t know why she was running in the first place. We took a couple of these from different heights and at canted angles to show how frantically she was searching for someone. This added tension, speed and excitement to our film which made it more interesting to watch. I liked the shots and angles we used as they made it enjoyable. I would use the same techniques in my coursework.

Editing Decisions

Watching our film back after we edited it showed us that we hadn’t done very well in some areas. For example some shots started and stopped abruptly making it look messy. However for the first time ever filming and editing I think we did well. However would work to make this not happen in my course work.
We used slow motion effectively at the parts when we were slamming the doors as it built up tension and emphasised the sound of the door slamming shut. This was a good decision as it made it look professional and made it much more enjoyable to watch.

Use of mise en scene
We were pleased with the choice of location as the chapel provided us with a quiet and eerie place to film and it was quite original. It added atmosphere to our film.
We didn’t plan props very well in the group as we wanted to use a fake gun but we had no idea where we could get it from, so we ended up getting rid of the idea which was pretty much vital for the scene. For my coursework I will change this as it was essential to the film. Also when doing my coursework I will consider assigning different costumes to different characters to make it more realistic.

Use of sound

We used the same music throughout the murder scene as it worked well with all the shots. It sounded spooky but holy as well which worked with or location; the chapel. The music made the film seem a lot more professional and added extra terror to the scenes. At the scariest points in the film we increased the volume to make it even more frightening and thrilling. Yet I would’ve liked to add different music if  we had more time.

In conclusion I think that our Murder scene turned out very well considering it was our first time filming and editing. I was extremely pleased with our choice of location as it made it even scarier. I also liked our camera angles when filming although I would change some of the editing and focus on getting all props and costumes in time to film.