Presentation

Today we had 2 representatives from Bath Film Office, and Sara from Suited and Booted to come and see our final films. There were 3 groups before us to present their fim, so I was able to get an idea of what kind of questions that i was going to get asked and planned my answers accordingly. Whilst doing our presentation we had a few technical problems with playing clips of our film but we were able to work around this well. We showed 2 versions of our film, one with music, and one without, and gave the audience the chance to tell us which one they liked best. The visitors from Suited and Booted said that adding music gave the film a completely different feel. My only worry when showing our film is the lack of sound, characters, of a story line, however Jeni from Bath Film Office said that she liked the simplicity of the shot.It was interesting to see how other groups worked as a team, and how they went round planning their film and the reason for their ideas. I think this will help me in the future with how i think about planning my film, and what role i take within the team. This also helped my presentation skills, as i was able to notice the positive and negative parts of peoples presentations and use this to improve on my presentation.

Planning for presentation

Today i had to plan out the presentation of my film.
We assigned different sections to part of the group, I decided to talk about the problems we encountered and what we would do differently next time.
I created a power point including stills of the footage and video clips of footage that went wrong. I then created a short speach to go along with the powerpoint, including some other problems that we had faced, and what I would do if i had to o this presentation again. I got this information by looking back at my blogger to remember all the problems that we faced.

Unfortunately, The music foundation course were unable to create music for our film, so we had to create this music our self. I began by converting the film into a suitable format for garage band. We had decided that our origional idea of drum and bass would not really be suitable, and would be hard to create in one lesson. We decided to stick with a more classical theme. Liam then created a piano peice for the film, and i gave him constructive criticism to help him make it more suitable. I thought that his first peice was perhaps too cheerfull, which wasnt inkeeping with the theme of the film, however if he had included some sound effects like rain and heavy breathing, that this could work well and add tension

Music

In our group we had a meeting discussing weather to have music in our film. Firstly we had to decide which film we were going to submit out of the group, so we watched through each of the groups films and analysed them. We decided that Ollie's film was well put together and edited well so we decided this would be the version of our film that we would submit.

We watched through this film a couple of time, breaking it down into clips and deciding the pace of the film and which music would match with the clip. WE discovered that the most popular idea that arose with each scene was the use of dub step. We decided this would be a strong idea, as it would contrast with the Gothic theme of the film, yet work well with the pace of the film.

We researched different styles of dub step on YouTube and found some music videos that we thought would work well. We wrote down the links of these videos onto a piece of paper, along with our initial thoughts. we also included general ideas about the film, such as the length and the general theme of the film.

We will submit this information, along with a draft of the film to the foundation music students for them to create a piece of music to overlay onto our film.

Sweeney Todd music annalysis

The sound in this changes various times within the clip, which changes the atmosphere completely through the scene.

At the beginning when Sweeney is watching the judge come towards the barbers, music is played using a violin which builds up tension as it gets faster and louder. the sound of the character walking up the steps and entering the shop, making the bell ring also adds tension as the character is getting closer. the music dulls down as they have a conversation with slight sounds of violins underneath the dialogue. the creaky floorboards that moan when the characters walk across also add effect as it incorporates the surroundings into the sound.

The mood switches when Sweeney starts to talk to the judge as a real customer, as the sound of a harp sounds over the dark music which gives a smooth transition but a strong change of atmosphere.

the dark sound of violins cut out when the characters begin to sing and the overlay of music is left with harp music.

The characters begin to whistle and hum to the music which brings the music closer into the clip rather than just overlaying it on top.

The music takes a sudden change after this, as the sound of violins is brought back into the clip which begins to build up the tension once again.

Sweeney goes to fetch his knife, and the sound of the knife being unfolded is exaggerated with a high pitch noise. this same noise is repeated in the background numerous times whilst Sweeney is singing.

The music suddenly jumps back to happy when the judge talks, and then goes back to the dark music when he goes back down, as if the judge is interrupting.

The music begins to get louder and the tones begin to stretch longer as Sweeney rings the blade to the judges neck, then all of a sudden a happy tune pitches in and the dark music is cut out and Sweeney simply shaves the judge, although the audience were to expect the worst due to the reputation of the character.

The sound of the blade that was incorporated before in the film was still repeated in the background within the sound of happy flutes, which subtly reminds the audience of the sharp blade he is still holding.

The music still pays joyfully as the characters sing, but as sweeny brings the blade to the characters neck the music begins to sound sinister, however the characters still sing the words which makes the transition of happy to horror music smooth and subtle.

Final Film

Final film

I like this shot of the abbey as it shows the audience some strong Gothic architecture which was the main aim of our film.

A problem we faced in making this shot, is that we did not get hold of the Abbey until the day, which limited us to how long we could film before the public came in. We should have contacted the Abbey before the day of filming to allow us to plan our filming around the arrangements we would have made.
The main problem with the film is that the footage we captured was shakey. therefor this was hard to edit together and may not be easy to watch. If i had to film again i would plan more still shots using a tripod to balance out the movement of the other shots. Using a tripod would also allow me to use lost of different filming techniques such as panning and zolly shots. Another problem we faced whilst filming was the fact that we were filming in public places. The best way to overcome this is to go at a quiet time. However, as we went to one of our locations later in the day when there were less pedestrians and cars about, it began to get dark. This limited us to a short time of filming as the camera wasn't picking up the footage we wanted, However, it did give our film and eerie effect. Some of our footage was ruined because one of the members of our groups legs can be seen in the shot. This was because we rushed this shot which didn't give us time to clear the area. It is important to make sure there are no distractions that can be seen on camera when filming, so we should have been more aware of obstructions before we started shooting.
An ongoing problem we had when filming, was bringing a battery with us. On multiple occasions we had to run back to college to collect the battery that we had forgotten, which limited the time we had to film. Next time our main priority before leaving will be to make sure we bring everything with us and double check before we leave to our filming destination.

Editing 2

Today, whilst watching our rough edit, we realized that we needed more still footage in our film to balance out the moving shots. We also needed to record some sound for our film, so Oliver and Liam went out with a microphone, whereas Faii, Daniel and I went to record some still camera shots.

Once we arrived at our first destination we realised we had forgotten to bring a battery, so Daniel ran back to college to get one while me and Faii planned out the shot. By the time Daniel arrived back, we only had 10 minutes left to get our shot. If I had to go out again, I would check that we had everything packed in the box that we would need for the day to avoid forgetting anything.

We did manage to get the footage, but it did not have the effect we wanted int he film so we didn't use it. We should have planned out the shot we wanted that would have fit in the film.

Edward Scissorhands

'Edward Scissor hands' Is a Gothic love story about an unfinished creation of a man with scissors for hands. He is removed from his isolated attic located at the top of a Gothic castle placed on top of a hill, to live with a suburban family. When 'Pegg' finds Edward in his castle, her pastel lavender shaded clothes show a high contrast compared to the darkness of the castle. this contrast is reflected when Edward scissor hands enters suburbia.
Much like the story of Frankenstein, Edward is hated by the town for the way he looks, and by accidentally cutting Kim's finger with his scissors, is referred to as 'Satan' and is chased out the town. Another film that could be compared with this, is Beauty and the Beast, as it also shows that love conquers appearance.

The atmosphere and mood differentiates throughout the film. The small, pastel suburbia with painted houses shows a constant happiness throughout the town. The small windows also show a sense of paranoia that people have in this other wise perfect village. This is a strong contrast in comparison to Edwards castle.

From the town, it looks as if a dark shadow is cast over the hill in the otherwise sunny town. the clean cut town is a lot different to the castle which looks ragged and neglected.

However, past the gates, the happiness that surrounds the castle is a repeat of the town. The bright colours and beautiful sculptures begin to tell the story of Edward, which contradict his appearance.


The film differs from 'classic' horror films, as the 'horror' is not only shown in the typically Gothic castle, and Edward, bus also comes from the 'perfect' people living in the suburbia. The only horror characteristic of Edward is his hands, however the bad things he does with them are always accidents. The suburbans reaction to these accidents shows the real evil.

The music used at the beginning of the film uses a 79 musicians to create a mysterious piece of music which gives a scary eerie feel. The song played during the scene when Patt goes to the castle is mysterious yet playful, which combines the atmosphere of the happy character in the scary surroundings.