Editing: Adding Titles Credits

Titles credits  

In accordance to the deconstruction I had done, I decided to use the titles that had previously been made by Xena and put them into place.

Like in my research I put the names of the actors first which I put in as soon as the opening begins.

 

Then after I had finished with the actor's titles I moved onto ordering the production team's titles, with the director and executive producer's names last, which adhered to my deconstruction.

 

 

 

 

 

After viewing all the titles in order, I noticed that each time the appeared seemed too sudden and contrasted too much with the texture of the background filter and soundtrack, which generated a smoothness to tones of the footage. 

 

 

 

To solve this issue I added cross dissolve transitions to the titles so it faded out and looked more like the deconstructions of film noir that I had done.       

 

The typography itself seemed quite intense than it had done when I viewed it as an isolated picture, so to sort this out I went into the lighting control and adjustments, and moved the highlights down by -11% to make it blend into the background just a little, so there wasn't such a big contrast. I then went back and did the same thing to all the other clips.

Once I had finished I went back to view the changes, which I was happy with, then I made sure that all the titles appeared before the one minute mark because I didn't want them dominated the frame through the action scenes- or scenes of tension.

Overall, I was satisfied with how the titles turned out and fit in with the conventions of film noir, and was generally integrated well.   

Practical Task - Title Creation

Creating the Title Sequence

In this blog post I create the titles that will be shown throughout our film opening. In examples I've found, such as in The Letter, the titles are large and cover the full screen over the top of the footage rather than small and in the corner so I have created titles like these. 

I used the same font, AR Blanca which I previously used in my typography, and impact as I felt the two contrasted well. I used this image for inspiration of the titles that should be used. 

As there are more titles than there are people in our group, I researched some famous names in film noir that could be used. I decided on using Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall as the leading actors as they were two of the biggest names in film noir and frequently worked together. I also used Robert Siodmak, one of the leading directors of many film noirs. I assigned the people in our group roles similar to some of our contributions, for example Mindi as wardrobe because she had to find her femme fatale costume.

Here are some examples of the titles:

Currently, they don't look so effective as they're transparent images but hopefully they will look authentic once added to our production. I tried to make them quite similar to the title typography I previously made. I applied drop shadow to the text to emphasise it more using these settings:

I also used the glow effect which I have previously used. To do this I duplicated the text layers and applied a Gaussian blur to the new layer and lowered it's opacity to 50%. Here's a side by side comparison of the text with and without this effect.

I like this effect a lot because it makes the text seem much more dated and fuzzy as opposed to clean cut. This is an example of what the layers of each of the titles look like:

Overall I am pleased with the way my text looks, and hope that it will be just as effective once edited into the film.

Practical Task - Filters

Filters Practical Task

As well as our film being in black and white, to give it a more authentic old movie feel I wanted to create an overlay in Photoshop which could be put over the top of the video. I began by using a few of the effects in this tutorial, however not all of them, such as the glow effect, could be applied to a video as the tutorial is just for editing a picture. I made the filter in the dimensions 1920x1080 px as this is what I believe the dimensions in Final Cut Pro are. This is the screenshot from our footage I'm using to test the effects.

From the tutorial, I used the edges effect which uses a layer mask.

I then decreased the opacity of the mask and used a Gaussian blur to make the edges softer. 

I then used the grain texture and added noise to give an old and worn effect.

I then added a black and white adjustment layer to see what the filter will look like once it's on a black and white video. I used a high contrast black and white as this makes it seem like there are more shadows which are an important element of film noir. 

Finally, I applied this image with a low opacity to make it seem more specky as in old cinema there were lots of specks on the screen.

I also applied the filter to a screenshot from the other location, inside the house, used in our film to make sure it looked appropriate in both settings.

Overall, I am pleased with the outcome and think it will make our film more authentic and fitting with the genre. 

Practical Task: Colour Isolation 2

I attempted the colour isolation technique again, despite my previous failure. This time I used a much simpler piece of footage, taken from our film noir opening. I decided I wanted the light from the tape recorder to remain green whilst the rest of the clip was in black and white.

At first it seemed to work very well after some adjustment to the "similarity" setting. The clip was in black and white and the entirety of the green light was in colour.

 

However, when I looked at this part of the clip, I noticed it had caused issues due to the similar colour values of the yellow curtains and the green light. I resolved this by using the blade tool to cut the clip and only apply the filter to the shots of the tape recorder. Here is the finished product.

Overall I think this was a helpful exercise, as I discovered that the color pass filter works in certain shots. With this knowledge I could use it sparingly in our finished piece. Typically, light coloured objects on dark backgrounds or vice versa work best.

Editing Task - Sound

Sound Editing Practical

Finding Sound

All sound used in our film opening had to be uncopyrighted and royalty free. I started by looking at websites such as purple planet and incompetech. I searched specifically for jazz music as we had already established that this was the genre of music most suited to film noir. Other members of the group had already edited music into the film however I wanted to see if I could find anything more suitable. 

Eventually, I found this video on YouTube. 

The music is royalty free and made by the YouTube uploader who said it is free to use. I feel like this music is suitable for our production as it has classic jazz instruments such as the saxophone and has a low, downbeat feel to it.

Here is the track edited into our film. The other music tracks we were using at first are still there but disabled, as I hadn't yet discussed the change in soundtrack with the group and I didn't want to delete it in case they still wanted to use the other one.

I also used the fade handles on the music to get it to fade in and out at the end to make sound more smooth.

Also seen in the screenshot is an eerie soundtrack. Because our film starts to get darker at the end I wanted to see if it was possible to add a creepy undertone to the music to change the atmosphere without entirely changing the music. I added this clip quietly under the main soundtrack as it started to get darker.

However, I'm not sure how effective this was as at times it sounds quite crowded and at others it's difficult to pick up.

Finally, as the tension really starts to build up at the end I edited in this sound clip as it builds up quickly and I stopped it just as the shoe hits to give it more of an impact. I also edited in a series of booms at the dramatic moments.

I think the war horn sound effect was particularly effective as it builds up slowly so adds to the rising tension of our piece. I also liked the boom as it gives the audience more of a shock.

Practical Task: Editing the voice over

As a group we edited in the kidnapper's voice over, which was voiced by Devin Mombourquette.

 

 

 

In this blog post I will detail how I edited the various sound effects such as tape recorder clicks and briefcase latches in to the video.

First I downloaded this clip . I dragged it from safari downloads in to final cut. I cut off the sound of the tape recorder stopping. I also copied the background noise of the tape recorder playing so I could have it play while the man was talking. I moved the sound of the tape recorder stopping to the end.

I then added a sound effect of a lighter being lit when the detective lights his cigarette. This is the video with the tape recorder section edited.

Harlem Sunset voice-over Script

Voice-over of Scarlett "Harlem Sunset" practical

 

Once we had the majority of the continuous editing was done, I got a sense of  how long the script had to be in order to fit in the last part of the final production of 'Harlem Sunset'.

 

 

 

Whilst writing I realised I couldn't write all the script all together in one block, as I needed certain parts to be isolated in order for it to be edited in to correspond with what is happening in the frame; during the "where's the money" as this is what another actor is saying on screen.    

 

Film Noir slang

• Snooper: detective or private detective 
• Kick: Complaint
• bracelets: Handcuffs

I wanted the script to contain film noir slang in, however I felt that too much would make it less natural so I stuck with only three so there is continuity in the use of film noir slang (as shown in previous script).  

Evaluation

The writing itself was easy as it fits the general narrative of the second half of the film opening, however I may have written too much, but if this is the case I can cut bits out if the sound track is too long. Though doing four different recordings could make the editing process easier as we can easily remove bits we don't need and re-order them, thus improving the continuity of our film opening.  



film-evaluations 22nd of december

22nd of December

 

On the 22nd of December we arrived at the location promptly at 10 o'clock in order to set up. As a group we decided that we wouldn't do any filming as we didn't have our actor who couldn't make it on the date, but we were together to take polaroid pictures and set up for the 2nd of January. We had planned to do the last scene which doesn't involve the detective, however due to the weather being unpredictable and wet, we decided against it.

 

We were using the corner for the brick wall background, which Zayanah set up by installing a chair to the place where we can't see the garage door.

 

Unfortunately, we did not have a tripod on the day and we couldn't find a person with a tripod that was nearby, so to do this we used step ladders in order stabilise the camera and balance it at the right height. Eventually we decided on the taller step ladder, as it had the right height, which allowed the camera to capture the right shot. Despite the lack of tripod we worked well to move past it and work with our resources.

 

This was part of the wall that the camera had taken, which was the right sort of shot we wanted.

 

 

As I was the victim, Hazel had helped me with my costume and did my hair, ready for the picture. Zayanah held the garage down as it kept rattling and opening, and Xena took the pictures.

The last part of props was the whisky glass for the pictures, we used a small glass in which we diluted coke in water to give it some colour.

Photos

Our first set of photos were of the victim in the kidnappers location.

The next we had done were of stalker like pictures which suggested a long obsession. This fools the detective into thinking that she's a real victim.

 

 

Lastly, we finished the day with regular looking photos of the victim, we then chose the best two to put on the evidence board.

 

 

Although we had a few set backs such as the weather and no tripod, we persisted as a group, and got as much done as possible, though we then had lots to do the next time we were together. However, seeing the layout of the rooms and area we were filming prepared us for the next time when we were filming.