Paranormal Acitivty sweded

We worked in a group of four to swede a familiar movie, we chose paranormal activity.
This post includes our marketing links for the sweded film we created including a trailer, twitter and Facebook acount, and the paranormal activity sweded film we created itself.


Paranormal Activity sweded Final video

The trailer:

The bloopers:

Paranormal Activity Facebook account
Paranormal Activity Twitter account

The poster:

I really enjoyed making this film, especially considering never doing something like this before. I learnt a lot about making a sweded film and the rules involved, as well as having a good time while doing it.

Sweded film-making

What is a sweded film?
Sweded Films are recreations of famous films using limited resources and technology. The films are typically much shorter in length approximately lasting up to 4 minutes.
Films that were erased and recreated are referred to as having been sweded

A film that involves sweded films is be kind, rewind. Where does the name sweded come from?
Be Kind Rewind is a VHS rental store and is due to be demolished to make way for high-end development as the owner leaves.

After Jerry (Jack Black) attempts  to sabotage a nearby electrical substation, it leaves him magnetised. As he enters the store the next day, he inadvertently erases all the VHS tapes in the store.

Mike (Mos Def), quickly discovers the disaster and becomes under pressure as customers begin to come into rent films

Mike comes up with an idea: , he proposes to recreate the film using himself and Jerry as the actors and cheap special effects hoping to fool them.

As more requests for movies unfold, Mike, Jerry, and Alma quickly pass off these movies they are creating to meet the demands as being "sweded", insisting the films came from Sweden and thus able to demand long wait times and higher costs for the rental.

Sweding Film ideas
Films I came across that were really effective:

This sweded film is actually from be kind re-wind.

 

I think personally for a film idea Ghostbusters of Forrest Gump would work well. Ghostbusters could be effective, especially when creating the ghosts part to it. Forrest Gump has a lot of key effects like 'run forrest run' which could be played around with.

I have found two sweded versions of forrest Gump which I both think have good features about them. 

 

R-edit of Dexter opening sequence

1)  Summarise the conventions of title sequences that were most important to this task.
Within  a title sequence, the title's themselves are very important. They don't just provide the necessary information of the producer, director, and the actors within the film, but its a chance for this to occur while introducing the film. They can be used to compliment the sequence that occurs, by drawing attention to something in particular or emphasising a movement.  They should not take away from what is happening, but simply be an addition to the environment.
The titles themselves should probe into the genre, the font complimenting what kind of film it is. The sizing of the them should be appropriate so the names displayed can be clearly read, but also making sure they aren't too big which would take away from the sequence itself by intercepting certain events by covering up certain things that are happening. Therefore, the title sequence is an opportunity for the genre, characters and themes/ideas should be introduced. It should draw the audience's attention in a way which makes them curious into watching the rest of the film.


2)  How did your group plan to edit the title sequence? (consider timings, industry requirements etc.)
Our group planned to edit the title sequence by considering the space on the screen. For example, we only planned to add titles where there were space for them, as we did not want to cover up anything important that was happening. This also mean that the titles were clear, as it is very important the director, producers and actors names listed in the title sequence can be clearly seen and read.


3)  Explain the creative decisions made by your group.
The creative decision involved in our group mainly involve the composition and movement/ effects of the title. Deciding the appropriate entrance and exit for each title was added, was important in order for co-operation between itself and the opening sequence itself. While on the page we would use effects such as 'frigid' to give a jolt/ flicker effect, which probed into the slightly sinister and haunting connotations that the main sequence itself reflected. We used the colour red as some of the titles colour to symbolise the blood that was displayed in the opening sequence. Considering the exit of the titles, in some cases we would fade out the titles in a way that looked like an object coming into shot was pushing them out. We also used the mosquito swat shot at the beginning of the sequence as an opportunity to place a title, and therefore seem as Dexter as swat away the title as it disappears as he goes to swat the mosquito.  The font also had to be creatively thought about, as it was necessary for it to fit the theme of the opening sequence. We chose a dedicate thin, italic font to contrast with the symbolic violent and fearless mans actions.


4)  How does your re-edit compare to the original?
When we watched the original after completing our own re-edit, the original seem quite simple. As we had been mostly concerned on the creativity of the titles, the original edit seemed more concerned about making sure all the titles could be very clearly seen. This even involved them placing their titles in front on things that were happening in the opening sequence, being fearless to cover anything up that was happening behind them. We, on the other hand, did the exact opposite.
The original version used one colour( red )for the font throughout, whereas we decided to alternate the colour depending on  the different shots each of our titles was within.
The original version had a lot more titles in a smaller space of time. Although we had only enough time to edit approximately 5 titles, even if we had had more time to edit, I don't feel we would have included as many titles as they had. This is because I feel the original edit was a lot less fearless of timing. Rather than them evaluating and being creative with where each title would look good, they seemed to care more about fitting them all in at any opportunity possible.

Preliminary excercise

Our brief was to create a continuity task involving a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom he/she then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. Techniques such as match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule were expected to be included and demonstrated in the correct way within the sequence.

1)Who did you work with and how did you manage the task between you?

I worked with three other team members, Molly, Mahalia and Gavin. We shared the responsibilities based around who was acting in each shot, and making sure each one of us had an opportunity of helping to shoot the sequence at some point. Therefore for each shot, we would have one person one the camera, one of the sound, one person doing the clapperboard and the appropriate person acting. Decisions on who would act in the sequence itself were based around who was most confident taking lead in this aspect of the sequence, while others such as myself and Molly decided we would prefer to focus on the shooting of the sequence. This did not mean that the people that were acting stuck to acting, as we all had an input on the framing and shooting style of each shot, working as a team to make sure techniques like the 180-degree rule were put into practice correctly and generally how to shoot the sequence in order for it to be a successful continuity sequence.   
Considering editing, we split into groups of two to enable everyone to get a chance to edit themselves. Both groups created one individual edit which allowed us to compare and contrast both edits of the same sequence.

2) How did you plan your sequence? What processes did you use? What theories did you try to take into account?


We began planning our sequence by discussing what genre we wanted it to be. After deciding to do a mock-thriller we thought about what narrative the story would have, and therefore how we would create a continuity sequence from this narrative. We produced a storyboard to enable what shots our sequence would include and what style of shooting they would be. After establishing who and what would be in each shot, as well as how each shot would be filmed (e.g low angle, panning), we evaluated the continuity of the sequence we had created. This involved considering things like if we had broken the 180 degree rule which would confuse the audience’s perspective, and if our sequence contained the involvement of things like establishing shots, match on action and reaction shots, as well as angles and movements of the camera which were interesting but did not break the continuity of the sequence.
We did not produce a script as our sequence only included two lines of dialogue. We did not feel it was appropriate to form a shot list or shoot board as our storyboard seemed to be a very successful visual demonstration of what our sequence would include, to an extent that we all were confident in what we were doing, and what order the sequence would be shot in. What confirmed our confidence in this as our walkthrough of our sequence, which we did using our storyboard. As we went through blocking what would occur in the sequence we also thought about the set up's of each shot. We had to think about what we had to move, and where we would have to shoot from in order to get everything we wanted into shot. For example, our use of Pa11 and the computers meant we had to turn all the computers to an angle, so all the screens could be seen from the camera.. Due to a successful walkthrough we did not feel a floor plan was necessary, especially considering our sequence did not cover a lot of space.

3) What technology did you use to complete the task, and how did you use it?

To film the sequence we used a Canon HV30 camera. we used a shotgun microphone and Sennheiser HD 201 headphones connected to the camera to enable the sound was working throughout , we used a  mini dv tape to record our sequence, and we used a tripod to make sure the shots were steady. Moving shots were done by either moving the tripod, or taking the camera off the tripod and using it hand held.
To edit the sequence we used a non-linear editing software Adobe Premiere Pro.
Considering pros and cons  of the technology we used to complete the task, there was nothing that was outstandingly negative. The camera was simple to use, small and lightweight so we could easily move it around for shots that involved things like panning. The tripod could easily be shortened or heightened in order for different angled steady shots to take place. The headphones made sure that the dialogue in our sequence could be heard, meaning the narrative was something the audience could follow. The editing software was not something I had used before, and was a little different to the Premiere elements 7.0 I have previously used. But, after being given a tutorial with all the necessary information we needed to use Premiere Pro it became certain that it was a very clear and simple editing software after a little getting used to. The setup of the software was very logical and allowed our shots to be chronologically chosen, edited using 'in and out points', and dragged into the timeline using alternating tracks in order for our overall sequence to be created.

4) What factors did you have to take into account when planning, shooting and editing?

The factors we took into account when planning were:

-Where we were going to film
-Who was going to be in each shot, and who would be managing the camera and sound.
-How many shots there would be, What would occur in each shot, what movement the actor/actress would make.
-Who else was using his area. This was so we could plan who would film there when, in order to decide in what order our shots would be filmed.  
-Timing: how long we would have in each different location we needed to shoot in.

When shooting the factors we took into account included:

-Sound: If sound was being picked up, which was displayed on the camera, if the character speaking could be heard, if there was any unwanted background noise like others talking within the shot. 

-Shot: making sure anyone else or anything else that we didn’t want to be in shot wasn’t, choosing the framing, the length of the recording for each shot (which would be edited later), choosing the angle, if the camera needed to be moved throughout a shot (e.g panning or track, or simple turning the camera slightly from the tripod).

-Layout: What was in each shot, what needed to be moved.

-Timing: How long we had to shoot each shot, leaving time to look through our footage and see if any shots needed re-shooting.

When editing the main factor we took into account was:

-Continuity: If there were any continuity errors, making sure each shot flowed into one another and didn’t cut or jump suddenly in order to make sure the audience could follow the story.

5) How successful was your sequence? Please identify what worked well, and with hindsight, what would you improve.do differently?

When considering meeting the brief, there are a few things that were not covered to the extent the brief displays. Our sequence did consist of dialogue, but not enough to consider it a conversation. We should have included an extra line in response to Gavin's 'go away' as Mahalia's 'oh my God' is more of a reaction than an input to conversation.
The movement that was involved in our sequence was also not enough to cover the brief. 'crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character' is the movement necessary in the sequence, but in ours our character simply comes into the room without sitting down.
On the other hand we did demonstrate shot/reverse shot, the 180-degree rule and match on action.  We also used techniques such as an ellipse in order to move across space in a seemless fashion.
What I would improve would be the use of sound in our sequence. Throughout our sequence there is unwanted background noise which does distract from the sequence itself. We could have also added our own sound effects at certain points to add effect, as some parts have no sound at all.

6) What have you learnt from completing this task? Looking ahead, how will this learning be significant when completing the rest of your foundation coursework, do you think?

 

I have learnt about the things you need to especially consider before shooting, in order to make sure the shooting and editing can run as smoothly as possible. This involves planning all the shots before, in appropriate form such as a storyboard to make sure when you shoot no decisions have to be made but you can simply film what you need to film. This gives more leeway for re-filming shots necessary, in order to reach the full potential of the shots and the sequence as a whole. I have learnt how to follow the 180-degree rule in a practical form which has granted me a better understanding of it. I feel this will be significant for the rest of my foundation course because it will allow me to analysis films and similar sequence to a different extent, and for me to understand the techniques and rules they have followed and put into practice.

Art of The Title Grid Activity

We decided our film would be a horror them, and the story involved a  psychotic man whom had a plan to kill certain people in order to cross them off his 'list'.  Our film opening offers an insight to how he goes about this. We seem him drag his victim in and place them on a suitable work bench. He puts on more appropriate clothing for the task he is going to go through with and collects the appropriate equipment to complete his deathly task of the victim so he can cross their name off the list.

The information that has been included in our opening sequence includes the genre and kind of horror the audience will be getting themselves into. The night vision effect symbolises that the film is not so much about happiness and colour, but more about darkness and death. The title also gives the audience an idea of what the film is about. We get an idea of character from establishing who exactly the main character is and what kind of psychotic mind he possess.

The font we used was Assassin's. It's white colour against the night vision effect creates an eerie atmosphere, and its thin thickness combined with this colour of purity represents the slim chance of purity found in the film. The main title 'The list' links to a our main film idea, as its the heart of the story, as without the list this man would have no-one to kill.

The expected audience reaction should be an on edge feeling of being freaked out and wanting to know more. The audience should be wanting to know why this man has this list, and why it is these victims on the list as well as being horrified of the act he is carrying out. Due to the clarity of what is going on in the opening sequence, the audience should know that the continuing film is one that involves death.

The three main things I feel are important in the construction of our opening sequence include, each individual shot chosen and their style, the order of the shots, and the night vision effect used. The choice of each individual shot was important because it was the deal breaker between giving too much away and giving too little away. Each shot had to be carefully chosen to try and portray as much as we wanted to occur in the opening sequence as we could. This involves the angle and type of shot which were important in order to make the opening sequence clear, and for what we wanted each shot to display to be clearly portrayed. Shots like shot three are very important to the opening sequence because it displays the contrast of the lifeless victim and the man, in order to establish character. The last three shots are also very important because they display exactly what the man is doing with the victim, the last one probing into why exactly the film is called the list.
The chronological order of the sequence is also important because it builds narrative flow. This allows the kind of character we are dealing with to be slowly revealed, creating suspense as we unfold what he does with the victim in order to cross their name off.
The effect used really heightens the genre, and creates an atmosphere that colour would drown. It makes each composition in each of the shots a lot more cynical, which fits our theme.  


I think our project as an opening sequence is effective because it gives a real insight to what the film is about, without giving too much away. A real atmosphere that is very appropriate for our film has been created, as well as each individual shot carrying a meaning of its own.