Final Film - Opening 2 minute of "Stray"

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Diary Post - Editing

This is a screenshot from the editing software, I am using Adobe Premiere Pro to edit my film opening. You can see in the bottom left where my imported footage is kept so I can drag it onto the video timeline (bottom right) and cut it together with the current footage. On the top left is a preview of the imported video before any alterations have been made and before it has been put into the timeline. Next to it, in the top right, you can see the video preview after it has been added to the timeline and edited to fit. In this case there is not much of a difference as I have only done very basic editing so far and not many effects have been added.

At this stage I am still very early on in the editing process but I have about 1 minute of footage edited together with the quick paced music in the flashback chase scenes and ambient noises such as bird song and wind in the trees during the forest scenes. I still need to put the rest of the footage together and add music during the forest scenes but I am pleased with the progress I have made so far. On the preview screen at the top you can see one scene that I am currently editing from the chase scene where Dylan is running away from the camera. You can see that there are very little cuts in the forest scene so that the scene feels slower and more peaceful but tense at the same time. In the chase scene there is lots of little cuts and most shots are only a second long, sometimes even shorter. This makes the chase scene seem fast, sudden and hard to follow, throwing you into the action and (paired with the use of fast music) create a sense of action and getting adrenaline going. This fits the action movie convention and helps define the opening as that of an action/thriller movie.

Diary Post - Filming

Recently, I went out filming for my film opening. All of my filming was done in one day and I used my animatic to help know what footage I had to shoot and my location research in order to find the locations I had chosen to film by opening. I filmed the forest scenes first as I wanted them in daylight and I made sure I filmed on a day where it was quite bright and the weather was clear. Once we had finished filming in the forest we waited until it began to get dark before I filmed the chase scene as I wanted it to seem dark and scary. This meant that I could film both sections in one day and I could have them both set at different times of the day. 

I also wanted a contrast between the settings of the two scenes, I deliberately chose two very different places to film the different parts of the opening. For the calm scene I chose a forest as forest areas are often associated with relaxation and peace. It gives a sense of safety and makes you relax. I chose an urban street for the chase scene as it is more dark, the area has lots of black, brown and grey, quite dull, boring colours and all making the scene seem darker and dangerous, highlighted by the dull, dark evening dusk light.