Sound

As was discussed in earlier posts about sound , we are mainly using two pieces of non-diegetic music in our teaser trailer. Having chosen the two pieces of music that we will use, club music for the first half and industrial music for the second half , we have edited the pieces of music.

We edited some of the club music in order to create a distorted effect for a party scene we are creating. This is effective in showing their drunken state and reflecting the lack of control that they have over their actions. We did this using Garageband, before importing the music into iMovie using iTunes. This effect was useful because it created the atmosphere of a party that we were aiming for while also keeping a consistent theme through the music, as it is the same music used in the earlier scenes of the trailer. The distorted sound works with the fade effects used on the shots (added using iMovie) to slightly disorientate the audience and make the fast paced events more difficult to follow, therefore reflecting the party and distortion created through alcohol. The sound and effects used in the party scene are inspired by a party scene in Skins .

Between the two pieces of music, we are working with the idea of silence with added sound effects instead of music. We have experimented with edited whispers (recorded and edited using Garageband), in order to create a supernatural and eerie atmosphere. This couples with shots of the ouija board and longer shots to contrast with the previously fast paced editing to show the scene to be pivotal to the narrative. Another sound effect that we are using is a reversed recording of a girl laughing. This is high pitched and adds to the uneasy feeling due to the unnatural sound, while also creating the idea of some kind of entity watching and taking part in the events. It could create the idea of a child, which has become a common theme within horror films, such as 'The Unborn' . This creates further unease. Towards the end of the trailer we have also incorporated a reversed recording of plates being moved and banged together, as this has made an effective unnatural effect.

The second piece of music used has not been edited, although we are continuing to use the aforementioned sound effects in combination with the music in order to create a more intense piece of footage. We are also using boom effects to emphasise thuds in the music. As the music fades away at the end of the trailer we are going to use the sound effects to create an eerie finish to the trailer so that it is more likely to remain in the audience's mind.

-Emily

Initial sequence for the beginning of our trailer

                        

For the introduction of our characters we really wanted something that would highlight what type of personalities each girl had, as well as help the audience define who the 'Final girl' is through watching this initial sequence. You can see just from the first few shots why these girls will have to pay 'penance'; the main shots show one girl undoing her blouse so that her bra is on show, to indicate promiscuity, another girl applying makeup, suggesting the girls are focused on their appearence and therefore may be percieved as shallow, and finally another one of the characters smoking a cigarette, which shows they are rebellious and like to supposedly break the rules. The formation of the girls is also key to defining their characters. At the front we see the main girl, the one who is in charge of the others and clearly whose instructions they follow, as they follow her out of the shot after she looks at them. Next are the two more outgoing characters, who, although are confident and independent, do still walk slightly behind the more dominant character, showing they don't have the control of the group they wish to have. Lastly we have another girl whose character is similar to the other two in front, and of course the final girl. She is indicated by the wariness in her expression when she passes the camera, as well as her less promiscuous outfit.

- Rhiannon

Filming Review

In general, we felt that filming went well. Our actors were willing to follow our direction and were mostly able to provide us with the footage that we needed. We shared the responsibility of operating the camera between us.


On the first day of filming, when we were working at  Tonbridge Boys' School  in order to gain the boarding school shots we needed, we found that on the only day when all of our actors were available to film there was a Book Fair. This involved a sign on the main entrance which we had originally planned to use, and a larger number of people than we had expected. Due to the importance of having all of our actors present in the original shots, we needed to complete the shots on this day or reschedule for a few weeks later when everyone was once again free. In order to overcome this problem, we scouted a side entrance that would be just as effective in the shots. There was no sign and the number of people in the background was at a minimum, meaning that we could achieve the shots we had hoped for. Our actors were very good on this filming day especially, as their costumes involved sexualised school uniforms in public, and we received a large number of hoots from passing cars. This minor problem did not affect any of our shots as we would not be using diegetic sound. 


Our other days of filming were on location in houses , so it was much easier to organise filming. We created a table of dates and names so that the actors and filming team could co-ordinate dates in which we would be free to film. Some of our shots did need all five of our characters present again, so we had to carefully organise when all of our actors were free as well as the owner of the house locations. This caused minimal problems as we organised in advance when filming days would occur. Most of our shots in the home locations were achieved easily, although logistics proved that some of our ideas would not be possible. For example, we had hoped to create the impression of a character being sucked backwards through a door. We experimented with some different techniques included jumping out of the room (which would be reversed), or being pulled back by someone out of shot (which would be sped up), however it proved that all of these shots appeared unrealistic when we attempted editing. Therefore we had to abandon some of our ideas and come up with new and more easily achieved shots, such as the shot of a character looking from a window and a hand slamming against it. 


Due to the shots that we wanted to create, we had to use two different house locations. The first belonged to a friend of the team, and the second belonged to Meg from our team. This was useful in creating the appropriate shots and mise en scene, although it meant more organisation. The second location was much more difficult to get to, as the first was situated a few minutes from school and could be walked to easily, but through scheduled filming days it was again easy to overcome. We found that some extra shots were needed of close ups of hands or feet on days when actors were unavailable, so some shots were included of Emily (of the team) running or having an arm dragged through a door. This was effective as it produced good shots and did not require re-filming, so we could make the most of the time we had with our actors to create the more important shots in which their faces could be seen. 


-Emily

Music Research

In the earlier post we discussed music that we were going to use for our trailer, and that would had already chosen a track for the first part of the trailer. We have now chosen a track for the second half, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xm0L5JnAgI which is high paced and creates a tone of warning and danger, which meets our criteria. We have now added more non diegetic sounds to our piece, including screams, whispering and reversed laughter which we hope will create the atmosphere we want. 



- Rhiannon

Music for our trailer

At the beginning of this process, we discussed different songs that we wanted for our trailer, along with sound effects. We wanted two key songs for the trailer; for the first half we wanted an upbeat 'club' type song with a heavy bass line, as this would create the dance/party mood the shots indicated. For this we chose the first track on a mix called "Summer 2011 Club Music" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6RzsOviQXI ). We are still looking for a song for the second half of the trailer, although we want a song that creates a darker tone, that is fast and implies the mood of danger and caution, as it will be played alongside the action shots. Meg has suggested the possibility of the use of Industrial Metal music, we will be researching this next.




- Rhiannon






See also... Party Scene - Skins

Mirrors Poster Deconstruction

- Rhiannon