Conventions of Real Media Products in Our Thriller

Real Media Conventions in Zirgi

Editing our Thriller

Editing can be a tricky process.   We walked into the editing suite with confident smiles on our faces, only to be met with an unloving blank stare from the computer monitors.

After all our clips were uploaded onto the server, we sat down, selected our folder and checked it in.  Now we were ready to begin the true editing process.  Naturally, the first thing we did was to create a Rush bin, and move all the clips into there, and put a Log bin above for the clips we might be using.  Since we were quite an indecisive team, we created a Maybe bin, for clips where the audio was useful or if the visual was more useful.

We put our log, rush and maybe bins in the browser after checking them in the viewer.
We then put them together on the timeline and watched the finished product in the canvas. 

Preceding the creation of the bins and watching/sorting the clips, we began dragging the best clips we had into order, into a sort of rough draft.  This took a couple of sessions.

The way we organised the actual editing was to have one person controlling the computer, while the other two would just contribute to how we should cut it or what order it should go in.  We had external people watch the clip to confirm its verisimilitude and to let us know if we succeed in creating interest.

After we had set up the main chronological order and cut down the clips, we saved it to one computer, taking it off the Final Cut Server, and put it into High Definition.  This gave us a completely new perspective on how we would add in special effects for the flashbacks, as well as how fluid it was so far.


The main thing we worked on during the process, after we had put everything into order and cut it down was the special effects for the flashbacks and the sound.

For the flashbacks, we used the filter "Bad Film" and sped up the clips to create a shaky effect.  This really helped differentiate between the flashbacks and the main clips, as well as adding a creepier atmosphere to it and creating the enigma of the film.  We also added shatter sounds during the flashbacks from Soundtrack Pro to further differentiate them from the rest of the clip.



















The sound was what took up the majority of our time in editing.  We had to cut different sounds to create the effect we wanted, meaning we had to split many of the audio tracks from their video clips to move them around, which proved quite confusing.  We elongated the sounds of one of the car clips to cover the entire car scene because it was the best out of them all, continuing it to the text "Zirgi" as the detective slammed the second door, it created fluidity in editing.  We also auditioned sounds from Soundtrack Pro for the wind ambient sounds, to create a remote, wintry Eastern European setting.  We put these sounds throughout the thriller and put reverb on them to create an atmosphere that one might find inside a shipping container, metallic and cold.

An important contribution that I made to the editing process was cropping the frame of the clip to cover up some mistakes that our actors made when the detective (Simon) was looking at the handprint.  I did this by resizing it and increasing the definition of the newly cropped clip.  This took me about 20 minutes to figure out, but it made a big difference to the visual appeal of our film as well as keeping the verisimilitude of it.

 All in all, I found the editing process to be, although extremely stressful, very rewarding.  The most difficult part was splitting up the work equally and coming to agreements in the group, but these problems were usually easily solved.  Despite the issues we ran into, it was very interesting and fulfilling to see what weeks of planning and hours of shaping and polishing would lead to: our finished product.

Vertigo vs. Warner Bros

Vertigo Films UK



"Act like a criminal to catch a criminal."

Vertigo Films is a British film production company which promotes commercially driven independent films, that is to say, independent films that may become mainstream and have a larger profit margin than most independent films would.  The majority of the films are either action, thriller, or rough comedy.

A recent film made by Vertigo is "The Sweeney", based on the TV show from the 70s of the same name. It is about a detective who enters the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police.  The film was premiered in Switzerland, at the Locarno Film Festival (August 1st) and was subsequently released in the UK on the 12th September.  It was not highly anticipated by the US audience, due to the story as well as the fact that it was mainly promoted in the UK.  It was promoted with Orange, as a pre-film advertisement in cinemas across the UK. 


The film had an original budget of £3,000,000, however, after production, the final budget ended up being less than £2,000,000!  The film made a box office total of £4,474,661, successful considering the lower box-office returns of the UK. It topped the box office in the opening weekend, bringing in 1.5 million and replacing Dredd at the top of the chart.   It was advertised well, mainly appearing as posters in tube stations or in newspapers.  Facebook pages and Twitter were also means of promoting the film.  



This film was set to target the 15-35 male audience that Vertigo has targeted in the past (The Football Factory, Monsters, Retreat) and was a success. It was released in December 2012 on Blu-ray and DVD.  













Warner Bros. 




Warner Bros. is one of the big six, that is to say they are one of the six highest profit film companies in the world.  They are vertically integrated, owning almost everything from production to post-production to distribution to merchandise. 

A successful film recently made by WB Pictures is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  Released July 7th, 2011, to coincide with the school holidays, this film was the ultimate of the Harry Potter series.  The pre-sold elements of it being a sequel, a franchise and already having a fan base from the books, as well as having well-known actors and a high-concept, simplistic storyline made it an obvious success.  

Its budget was $250 million, mostly spent on above the line costs such as set, special effects and props.  Marketing for the film included posters ("It all ends 7.15"), Facebook groups, Twitter, a website, behind-the-scenes interviews with the cast and merchandising.  

$1,328,111,219 was its worldwide earning, making it the fourth-highest grossing film in history and the highest grossing film of 2011.  

Distribution of the film for home-media began in December 2011.  It was released on DVD and Blu-ray, in both single set and box set format.  It became the fastest-selling pre-order on Amazon as well!

Contrasts

While Vertigo makes mainly British, lower budget, experimental films, Warner Bros. makes high-budget, high-concept, franchise films destined for global success.  

This is due to the conglomerate status of WB Pictures, as well as the fact that the American film industry is much more vast and rich than that of Britain.  

Production and Distribution of Our Thriller

To fund and produce our thriller (so far entitled "Trans-Europe Express") we chose the institution Warp Films. This is because it produces first-time, mainly short films on low budgets and short time-frames.  Many of their films are experimental, which would cater to the fact that our thriller is being shot in Latvian.  Warp Films has also shot many films in cross-media convergence, which would provide additional funding for production and distribution for our thriller, while demanding a bit less from each company.

Warp Films has produced other films similar to ours, such as "Exhibit A", "Kill List" and "Hush", showing that they do not only specialise in low-budget first-time films, but also thrillers/mystery films:

We believe that Warp Films would be interested in making our film because it is also a thriller/mystery which does not require a large budget or special effects.  This makes the actual filming and editing time easier and shorter, and as Warp Films has previously shot films in 22 days, this project would definitely be something they would be able to do!  In addition to that, it is a Class B British film (made in Britain, British actors, British funded and international personnel) meaning that it would fit perfectly into the ethos of the institution, most of their films being GBP 500,000 or less.


Considering that our film is a first-time low-budget production, we would want to keep the distribution costs down, and put it straight onto DVD, on pay per view and possibly as a straight-to-TV film.  This guarantees that more people will watch it, as distribution costs for licensing in the cinema (and foreign cinema) would be much higher.  The marketing costs would need to be low but effective as well, so advertisements would need to be in strategic places such as cultural magazines, libraries and universities to be in contact with the target audience.

Warp Films targets many niche audiences, as their films do not usually appeal to a mainstream audience.  This is because they are low-budget, many experimental films.  They are not big-budget, special effects films which appeal to the global audience.  In addition, much of the subject matter is specific to groups of people/the British audience.

**ALL SYNOPSES COURTESY OF IMDB**

Account of Shoot Day

Shoot day.  We met in the editing suite to debrief about the day, discussed what we were going to do, how we were going to do it.  Due to the different schedules of the actors and the availability of the car, as well as the logistics we decided that instead of filming the shots by different type of shots (as in, wide shots followed by medium shots followed by close-ups) we would film first the flash-backs and then move into the shots where the detectives arrive. We changed our storyboard a bit, adding in the flashbacks in order to create more tension in the thriller, to make it make more sense.  This is targeting a wider market range, as well as characterising it more as a thriller rather than a horror (it has more intellectual content rather than effects, while at the same time being easier to understand).  While up in the editing suite, we were trying to figure out how to put the knife (a gag halloween costume) in Archie.  I had understood that it was going to be in the back of his head, and so thought that we would have to cut off the front part of the knife to fit it in, so I did that and we were trying to decide where to place it in the back of his neck for awhile.

Next we went out to the container to get our set ready because the night before had been too snowy to prepare. We chose to shoot in the container because of the rusticity, and because it was exactly the warehouse-criminal hideout that we were going for, similar to  There was not much we needed to change, the miss-en-scène really set the scene for a secret hideout.   Charlie and the Simons just had to take out some of the wooden boards from the side of the container to outside so we would have room to film.  Simon and I took a beaten-up old orange armchair from the studio for the body to sit on, which really fit well into the dank space.  The tarps to cover the body were inside the container already, and the assortment of paint, tools and tubes on the table in the back-left corner were perfectly in place.



After debriefing and setting up the container, we each went to prepare for filming.  I went to the costumes office to get the costumes and makeup, for the victim's dead state.  We had planned for the detectives to wear black trench coats (of which Simon Wood brought his own and Charlie borrowed from Simon Sandved-Smith) with smart trousers, boots and white button-down shirts as well as black fedoras or homburgs, however we decided that morning that the hats were not a good idea, as they looked too much like English detectives.  Instead, we chose for Simon to wear a scarf and both of them to wear gloves to emphasise the dreary weather.  Leila brought gloves for Charlie to wear, and Simon wore all his own clothing.  Charlie's style was more youthful, targeting the female young adult market, while Simon reflected more onto mainly the male audience in his professional coat.

For the "dead body" makeup, we had arranged for Loz, (head of costume) to come to the set and help us.  Loz and I covered Archie's face in pale-yellowy powder and then took some purple putty-like substance and used it to bruise his face, around his eyes.  I found this to be really enjoyable, however we didn't get to putting the blood on yet, as we had to film the flashbacks first.  

We were lucky enough (or cursed..) that it was snowing on and off all day, which really tied in to the cold filter that we were going for.  Instead of white balancing, we experimented with the exposure on the camera to get a bluish tint, to further this notion of being set in Eastern Europe, ominous winter's day.  However, the fact that we were filming in the shipping container or outside for the majority of time made it extremely cold, especially for Archie (dead body) who was wearing only a sweater as costume. 

After everyone was in costume, the container was ready, and Archie was in makeup, our first shot on our new shooting schedule (before the flashbacks) was to shoot the car coming up the drive and the detectives getting out.  We borrowed another teacher's car, an older silver Volvo.

For this shot, Leila was director, Simon was on camera and I was watching continuity.  Or at least that's what would have happened had it not been for the snow.  Simon reversed and hit the gas, but the car just wouldn't go up the hill.  This is when we had the idea to shovel the driveway.  Simon and I got out the shovels while Simon backed down the driveway.  Once we had cleared two small paths for tires, the car had a bit of an easier time getting up, however it was very jerky and awkward.  Because of this, we all agreed to move the car shoot down to the parking lot after we had gotten all the other shots.  

We were now getting ready to film the flashback sequence in which Archie is killed, the killer plays with the blood, makes a bloody handprint on the wall and then covers the body with a tarpaulin. Archie's mouth is duct taped shut, in order to have more of a thriller (rather than cheesy horror screaming) effect.   Now we agreed that the knife would go straight across through Archie's head, like the gag knife.  There was just one problem, I had broken the knife.  We began to panic just a little bit, me especially since I was the one who had done it.  I grabbed the knife and ran almost swiftly to the editing suite, searching in a frenzy for some black tape.  I found some black electrical tape and wrapped it around the knife.  It held up quite well, and covered the unrealistic silver part of the knife handle.  The team was still a bit annoyed at this inconvenience, but it was fine in the end.  

Now that we had the prop knife, I needed to go down to the kitchen to collect the real knife (black handled, silver bladed, specifically).  Once we had this, we were ready to film.  We first filmed Archie being stabbed through the head.  Leila was on camera this time, I was directing and Simon was on continuity.  At first we had set the camera up on the tripod, but quickly realised that it would be more interesting to have a hand-held effect.  To achieve this, Leila held the camera while Paul (an available teacher) held the knife as the killer.  His had was the only visible thing in the frame, as they walked up back and forth, stabbing just behind Archie's head as Archie panicked and tried to scream.  Directing this scene was interesting, and reminded me of the importance of calling out "action" and "cut" to the actors, because they have not been exceptionally familiarised with our specific storyboard, and they are trying to convey the concept of the directors.  

Next was the blood dribbling scene.  Simon was on camera, Leila was directing, while I poured the blood.  It was an extreme close-up, which was inconvenient considering how fake the knife looked, so we turned the exposure way down so it would not be noticeably fake.  After I poured (next to his ear) we waited still while it dribbled to get the desired effect (slow, creepy, to create suspense).   Now we just made a slight adjustment to film Paul playing and feeling the blood around in his hand.  This confirmed him to be evil, that he was a bit messed up and strange.  We then moved the tripod to shoot Paul's hand pressing the blood on to the wall to create a handprint.  This took a bit more preparation, as we only had once chance to get the shot.  We had it as a close-up, as we didn't want Paul to actually be seen (he looks much too young and innocent to be an Eastern European drug lord), just his hands.  Next, we did a few more flashback shots (Archie's scared face, Paul's legs and arms putting the tarp on Archie) in our same positions as before.

Following the flashback scenes, we shot the detectives.  This began with filming from outside the container as the detectives (in a wide shot) opened the massive door and went in.  I was directing, Leila on camera and Simon as continuity to begin with, but we switched around almost every shot.  The snow in front of the container kept melting as they stepped in, so we kept having to shovel it back on. We then shot them from inside the container, finding the body and searching the room.  We made a last-minute creative decision that the murderer needed to have something more interesting than just leaving a bloody handprint.  Simon suggested that we leave a note, so we decided that the note would be inside Archie's mouth, under the duct tape.  Leila first said that the note needed to be in his nose or hair or ear or something, so we went with putting it actually inside his mouth.  The only issue was, what should the note say?  Simon Wood contributed, "How about 'Bring on the dancing horses".  This was quirky enough that it wasn't cheesy or passé, so we went with it.  Originally it's the title of a song:

For sound, as there was a small amount of dialogue in the shipping container, we used a small sound boom muffer because of the acoustics in the container making it difficult to hear.  I operated the sound, while Leila directed and Simon was on camera for the last scenes inside the shipping container.  This included Simon observing the body, the handprint, peeling the tape of Archie's mouth, Charlie taking the note out and reading it, and finally Simon walking out arrogantly, as he'd already solved the case.  We used a long tracking shot to show Charlie pulling the paper out of Archie's mouth with tweezers, to build suspense, This left us free to go down to the parking lot to film some car scenes.  

Filming in the car was a much different experience than filming in the shipping container.  We didn't want to show the parking lot of course, so we had to film through the window and do a lot of close-ups.  Simon discovered that tilting the camera at a high angle not only showed Simon's dominance, but that we could miss out the other cars and only see the sky and the trees.  We began by filming outside of the car.  I was on camera, Leila on continuity, with Simon directing.  We had it so Simon was already in the car, then Charlie gets in.  Simon asks Charlie what took him so long, saying that the case was solved, he knew who did it.  We weren't sure whether or not to actually have dialogue, but will decide in the editing process.

The external shots through the window were pretty straightforward compared to the shots from inside the vehicle.  On the interior, Simon was on camera while I was on sound.  We took turns directing from the back seat.  It was important to keep the sound near them, especially when the engine was on, but not in the frame of course.

We shot scenes of both them arriving and leaving, which we probably won't use both (just to keep suspense and not have what would seem like an ending) so that we could decide which was better.  I think that them arriving would build more suspense and be more interesting, so that we could leave off with Charlie's reaction to Simon saying, "Does it mention dancing horses?"

After this, we had finished our shot schedule! Now, all that was left was to put away the camera, plug in the memory, and return all the costumes and props.  Can't wait to start editing!

Corpse Makeup for Our Thriller

Archie, our blank canvas with which to create a convincing corpse.  

We borrowed makeup from the costume department for the day, however there was not a lot of need for touch-ups, since the cold solidified the makeup. 

First, we (Leila and I) applied pale face powder, to give him a cold look for the camera.  It's important to apply it liberally, as it needs to actually change his skin tone and show up on the camera!

We had a selection of stage makeup with which to create bruises and cuts.  Most of it was putty, as this creates dimension on film rather than sweeping purple powder on. 

This palette was the most useful.  We began with the light yellow to build up dimensionality, building on top of that with purple and mauve to create the bruise colouring.  We didn't use black, that's normally used for decay or burns.  

Our final corpse.

Shooting Schedule

Our shooting schedule:

1. 9am to 10am : Preparation/debrief
2. 10am to 11am : Shot of car pulling up (tracking wide/medium/close-up shots) and pulling away
3. 11am to 12am :  Shots of detectives getting out of car, close-ups and mid-shots of detectives arriving on the scene, as well as leaving the scene.
4. 12am to 12:15pm : Break (if needed)
5. 12:15pm to 1pm : Wide shots of container (interior and exterior)
6. 1pm to 1:30pm : Lunch
7. 1:30pm to 3pm : Interior shots of victim and crime scene (wide, medium and close up shots), close up of knife and blood
8. 3pm to 4pm : Detectives over-the-shoulder shot of conversation
9. 4pm to 5pm : Close-up of detective investigating crime scene and low angle shots