Final Cut

This is the final cut of "The Seven Swordsmen"

If I had the chance I would re-shoot a number of shots that were filmed outdoors, and invest in a symphony orchestra rather than using garageband

Here  is my evaluation in terms of camera shot:

and here is my evalutation in terms of sound

Evaluation

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

My film has numerous similarities to several different films from which i have drawn inspiration, an example would be the Slo-Mo effects from "300" and the sword flashes from anime. I have remembered the use and put into practice the 180 degree rule along with other film basics such as match on action.

I have also included a great range of different shots varying from Long-shot to extreme-close up. Editing wise I have made great use of match cutting to my benefit in this film as is necessary for a fight scene to keep the audience interested.

I have included opening titles and credits that are present in all films and reference to a major distributor and I also believe that I have created a believable opening to a story that sets a the scene for a film in its entirety.

The idea of my film was to introduce the audience to the world that the film is created around, I did this through the use of a voiceover and a short introduction to the main featured characters in the film. Being that this features a completely different world to our own possibly with magic and the like I deemed this necessary to help the audience get to grips with the fact that the film is a distinct distortion of reality. The 'hook' of the film is a point of interest being in what happened to this group of people and why have they started to disappear? This would hopefully persuade the audience to carry on watching and be 'hooked'

In terms of the cinematography, I broke the 180 degree rule at one point because it was necessary to move from one area to another as is neccessary in changing the setting. I filmed from various different positions around the action, allowing for various shots of the same action to allow for a greater dynamic style and better cuts in the editing room. This allowed the audience to hopefully stay in touch with the action completely, making the audience hooked on what's going on in the fight

For my music I based this greatly off Chinese wushu films in order to establish the foreign feel of the film alongside the drums which provided the audience with a feeling of the past and perhaps closer to home. I made the music more intense during certain areas of the fight to highlight the feel such as the inclusion of cymbals during the sword strikes.

This inclusion of the more intense music during the fight creates a sense of awe during viewing from the audience, furthering their anticpation of the fight and making them want to continue viewing the fight, and this intentionally hides the actors true abilities to swordfight.

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

My product represents no particular social group or age group, although there is a possibility for a young teenager based audience within the film. This film would largely provide interest in a different way of life from that of going to school everyday, it essentially gives them the lives of people very different from themselves and provide them with a peek into it.

I wanted the film to be different to everday life rather than create another gangster movie, this feeling of fantasy provides the audience with a sense of escapism from ordinary 9-5 lives. This may establish a connection with the audience and create interest because the world is different.


What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Most media instituitions that are english language based in Great Britain and America could distribute my movie, an example would be Working Title films, who readily provide oppurtunities for new aspiring directors. A disadvantage of my film is that it is not ready for foreign distribution, an area that could be interested is China, from which a lot of inspiration was drawn including that of the action. I would think that a suitable rating for the Film would be a 12 or 12A providing my film with the greatest possible audience, this would be due to the fact that there overall is not any gore and ineccessary violence.

Usually most producers look to funding from television stations when collecting money for the next big blockbuster, this would provide that television station with the hit film ready to be broadcasted on T.V. as a world premiere after the screenings have finished in cinemas. Following the possible success of the film other T.V. stations may want to purhcase copies for showing the film on their channel.

When moved onto the retail and final stages of distribution, I would make sure that the Movie would be marketed everywhere possible, anywhere that I could buy a film at I would attempt to sell the DVD's to them. Such a place may be HMV, who being a exclusively formatted distributor I may make a business deal with them for exclusivity, and then allow other electronic based retailers to sell.

Who would be the audience for your media product?

As mentioned earlier I would aim for a 12A rating providing the film with the maximum possible audience and therefore the maximum possible income. Much interest may be generated in the film from the younger age groups who will be needing to have their parents take them to the cinema and therefore generate more income.

I would aim for this rating because there is little need for copius blood and excessive violence in the genre of the film. The film would also attempt to attract members from ABC1 and C2DE economic groups as I want to appeal to as large an audience as possible to attract more income.

The appeal of the film may also generate interest from a slightly older audience, also creating greater income for the movie.

How did you attract/address your audience?

In the opening of my film I utilised a black background and powerful,interesting music, this was done to attract the audience's attention to the film. I then allowed the title to appear "The Seven Swordsmen", this would generate interest into who were the 'Seven'?

The opening explaining the world is there to hold the audience's attention by providing them with answers and more questions to generate more interest and want to continue watching.

I would attract the audience into viewing my film with an extensive marketing campaign, utilising billboards, posters, trailers, tv spots etc. This would tell an audience nation-wide about my film and attract them to the cinema to go and watch it.




What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

When I was creating my film I learnt how the use of a few of the effect tools could go a long way into enhancing the proffessional appeal of my film using only a handheld video camera. This began with the blue lighting problem that was created by outdoor shooting. Arguably I could have taken a set of stage lights to help in this, but this overall for me meant either asking more people along to help shoot who are essentially standing around with lamps. I remedied this by using the white point adjust tool, because the lighting was a blue colour i decided that a very pale orange pale white point may cause the set to appear mroe aesthetically appealing and clearer. This effect also nullified the effect on lighting as the day went on and it got darker. This innovation caused me to use the browner lighting in the wood to represent earth and the bluer natural lighting to represent water nearer the stream.

I also learnt that if I wanted to produce special effects in my film it would be a better idea not to rely on iMovie as it cannot produce that brilliant effects for the standard of film that i was hoping to produce. A better idea would be to purchase Adobe photoshop.

This added to previous experience with Movie editing software of cutting, matching cuts, adding music and transitions which are all fairly basic, and not difficult to appear appealing

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

In the progression i have learnt that in order to avoid the tedious re-lighting of scenes it is a far better idea to bring a team of lighting assistants to make the film look more appealling. That filming from multiple angles rather than having a set plan of the shots is a far better idea, as in the editing room it can be cut to your desire and what looks best with the footage.

What would you like to do next?

I would like to make a music video, I think it would be a very fun experience and would be nice to try my hand at something new. It would probably be rather enjoyable to film and to edit. It would also be nice to make a film that wasn't extremely serious

Making the Film

BASICS OF MAKING MY FILM

I began creating my film by creating my clip library, this was done by uploading the clips from my camera to iMovie on my apple Mac. For this clip library I kept all of my outakkes in contrast to my preliminary task, the reason for this being that because this was a fight in order to construct it best I would need every single shot in order to choose the best bits. This way I could clip together a fight with the very best of every movement.

I began to piece together the best bits of my movie making sure to use the best of every shot, at the point where the clip went wrong would obviously be trimmed off as that would be unneeded, this would be done using the "Split clips at playhead" icon. 

First, Second and Third cut

Making the film began  with obviously uploading the clips I wanted onto iMovie, I then saved this clip library as "Main task base" from which I could create and edit new videos without having to upload another clip library which was a good thing as a director as it saved camera battery. I then changed iMovie to its edit mode.

From "Main task base" I created the preliminary film, which in essence was the first cut of the fight I had created. This was a basic cut with few additional effects, the editing was not brilliant and was composed of my best quality shots rather than caring for mise-en-scene. This was to give me, as an editor, the feel of the film and a greater knowledge of my clip library so that i in later cuts would be able to edit the film together in a more professional manner. I then played the clip to the actors and they gave their thoughts, they believed it at present basic but well cut.

Again from "Main task base" i created a second film of the same fight. All shots apart from specific match on actions had been filmed from multiple angles, so using the extra clips I created the fight again as the "Second cut". The extra angles provided a different viewpoint of the fight and greatly affected who the audience sides with, such as more close-ups on Ben made the audience more attached to him as a character

For the "Third cut" I opened "Main task base" and built another movie of the fight, this time looking at what I liked best about certain portions of the fight and my preferences. This created a much smoother fight but retained its original feel and was more pleasing to an audience. This arguably was still not perfect as some areas of the fight such as "The Kick" were still not cut very well, this was changed slightly in this film

During re-shooting I selected the still rough areas of the fight and made new smaller films of that. Also with the additional re-shot clips I created further improved parts of the fight. These re-cut shots allowed for greater dramatic effect or the original effect intended that was not delivered in the first, second or third cuts.

My method of making my film

Camera

When selecting the clips to use for my final cut I specifically used shots that incorporated the framing rules and photography's rule of thirds, as this appears more aesthetically pleasing to the audience. Any clips that did not do this or did it badly I eliminated in the editing room.

If i had a character moving through shot such as in the opening scene, I would begin the clip with the moment he had entered the first third of the frame, I would then cut the shot as he entered the opposite side of the frame's third. This looks far more aesthetically pleasing to a member of the audience.

During the fight it was important that I maintained the two shots needed from alternate angles, to keep the action interesting to the audience. I would alternate the angles to show both characters, this constant changing of shot demonstrates faster and more intense editing.

Editing

For editing I used a slightly old fashioned technique described to me in the way that Spielberg edited "Jaws", the method being that as soon as I feel the cut is long or short enough I cut it. This was the generic method that I used to edit the opening titles and the scenes outside the swordfight.

During the swordfight I edited similar to the fashion done in "Troy", the method being rather than cutting every time an actor makes a move. Instead I used my own method where we can see an attacking actor make the action, and then cut and view the defender's response mid-swing. This keeps the audience in touch with both actors during the fight and makes them appear relatively equal fighters.   

Sound

Sound inspiration for non-diegetic sound was taken from numerous films notably "King Arthur" and "Troy" for music as I thought that it incorporated the elements that I needed in my film, mainly being atmospheric opening music and intense fight music to make the audience feel on the edge of their seats.

For diegetic sound such as the sword clashes I largely used recorded sound using a small sound recorder, or I simply used the original sound from the clip. Usually however I would mute certain areas of the clip by extracting the sound from the original clip and cut where the clip is supposed to be silent, such as where a character is standing still.

Mise-en-scene

Any shots that compromised mise-en-scene were removed, such as in my fight I had a small child walk into shot, obviously i had to remove the part where he entered shot, however the rest of the clip was perfect so I kept it. This is the magic of "Cyber editing".

Final Cut

I opened "Main task Base" (Where I had stored all of the clips i needed with a fresh timeline), next I selected the best clips from each angle and dragged the clips I needed into the timeline.

I loaded them all on and began to cut at the sections of the fight that i had planned in the First, Second and Third cut, this way my effort wasn't in vain. This way my film looked professionally edited due to the number of times it had been done. I then cut out the unwanted sections of the clips and pieced together the fight and the opening, making sure to include alternate angles and the match on actions at significant moments.

I then chose the best of the angles which I had already decided on and cut using Spielberg's method during the fight and scrapped the unneeded pieces of the fight and the opening. I did this using the "Split clip at playhead" tool on iMovie. I realised then that the clip was significantly shorter than it had been the first time I had edited it. This was possibly because i had learnt that less was more.

I then sped up the swings during the fight to make it more atmospheric, I did this using the video effects tool "Fast/Slow/Reverse". I did this in a way akin to "28 days later" where they sped up the speed of the zombies by a fraction of a second to make it look as though it was not quite right but not unrealistic. This increased the fights interesting value. 

Similarly i added slow motion using the same tool to make certain actions appear faster than they really were.

I then added "flashes" for when the swords collided, this was created by the video effects on iMovie. This was an idea taken from anime and other eastern based swordfights, I largely did this because i thought it made the fight look cooler and more interesting.

I then added my transitions, these are used to make the clip flow better, I chose mine according to what i thought best for the scene I was creating. These were largely used in the opening during the voiceover to make the actions and shots flow into one another. The transitions I used were "Fade In" for the fade in from the titles to the actual film and the "fade out" from the voiceover to the second scene. I also used "Cross dissolve" to make the flow work better in the voice over opening, this way the audience was more relaxed and there were less fast cutting. 

I then added my titles for my film, I styled the opening largely as an homage to "King Arthur" with a black background fading into a large title. I created it using the editing section on iMovie under titles, you select your font, colour, whether the title plays over film or over black. I selected a longer duration for my title so as to fit with the music.

I then after several viewings of the film made some changes to the effects, such as using the white point adjust tool this obviously adjusted the colour white to a colour of my choice. I choose a brown/pink colour giving my orginally blue film more of a browner colour. It also made it appear more professionally lighted and appear more natural and appealing to look at. 

I then muted areas of clips where there was background noise using the "Extract Audio clip" and I then trimmed the audio clip using the "Split Audio clip at playhead" tool i then deleted the unwanted section of the original. This additional diegetic sound would have created a sense of disbelief in the audience which was the opposite effect that i was trying to put across.

I added my voiceover for the opening by using the media option on iMovie HD to create my homage to "King Arthur", i recorded my dialogue in my clearest possible voice to make sure the point was put across easily. I had to try and loose some of the buzzing in the background which was in reality the Mac working, a slight design flaw is that the mic is right next to a fan, this blurs the voice over slightly

I then added my audio files created in garageband as an mp3 file, I then added this to my film using the media section of iMovie HD. I then dragged the audio files to the place that they were needed and effectively worked like my music bedding track so that my film wasn't quiet where it was muted and made the film feel professional and my opening sequence atmospheric. With the addition of my non-diegetic sound my film was complete.

Filming and pickups

Filming went smoothly apart from choreographing the fights, which took some time to get right. It was also rather lengthy due to the use of a single camera rather than 2 or 3, this created frustration between my actors to get the choreography right and the fact that they had to repeat it again exactly the same.

My actors (for the most part) were ok with costume. I chose my costume according to actor and to plot, Ben is wearing black in this scene against Will who is wearing white, this was not only to create contrast between characters but as a hint to the coming story. It basically being Ben turns evil, this is highlighted in the mise-en-scene because he is wearing black

I think a lack of pre-shoot fight choreography created problems, especially among the actors and me as they wanted to add stuff in and I wasn't completely sure how to shoot it. A lack of before and after also created problems as the shoot went immediatly into the fight.

I think a pickup shoot is necessary, this is where the director spots gaps in what has already been done and fills those gaps with extra filming. An example would be the fact that despite filming for 2 hours we only obtained 3-4 mins of useful footage, another would be despite me wanting the fight to be EPIC, the fight only became around 30 secs long and i came stuck.

If necessary and i cannot piece together the footage i have well i may consider a total re-shoot where i literally film everything again. I made sure I had all the footage I needed before calling it a day for filming 

After uploading the pictures onto my computer i have noticed there are some gaps that need to be filled in my film. My pickup shots will include:

• A more lengthy chunk of intensive fight
• Better planning and idea of camera shots
• Another camera man (to reduce time taken to film a sequence)
• Rehearsing of choreography
• A second shoot of any shots I didn't like

Storyboarding

Instead of doing full on storyboarding instead i have made a short animated storyboard feature including the fight with a short commentary

As you can see once you have viewed the finished product, the film is very different to that of the storyboard, due to the fact it had little story and meaning to it , and i also had to get rid of the bits that were not feasible without a effect creator such as the flying leaves etc. 

I dropped the idea of the staff as it provided too much confusion, and once filming it made sense that they wouldn't stand around for minutes as it just gets boring and less appealing to the audience. 

The opening of the eyes however remained present in the film and was made choppy due to influence from anime.

Mise en scene

In my film the Mise en scene is primarily used to differentiate between characters.

Costume: The costume is used to create subconscious semiology between characters such as black is bad white is good. This helps the audience to also determine between characters.

Lighting: In general as the film is outdoors the lighting will be nothing out of the ordinary

Actors: Largely as it is teacher and student one will be made to appear older than the other

Make up: Not a lot of make-up if any other than perhaps a bit of dirt

Props: The swords, that staff that is significant to the plot

Setting: A woodland

Theme of the Main Film

Largely as the main portion of the film is action orientated in the context of the fight my original plan is to make to audience believe that this fight in the opening sequence is a full on fight to the death, what can attribute to these would be the sound, camera shots and editing. Largely the purpose of mise-en-scene in these fights is to help the audience determine who is the bad guy and who is the good guy.

As the fight progresses the audience is told that the fight is simply a fight between teacher and student, but can also provide a forshadowing for later in the film. These fights should also tell the audience something about the characters, such as mannerisms and attitude towards the fight and in turn this affects the audiences first impression of them.

Largely one of the few comparable scenes in this fashion are a scene from Troy where Achilles is training Patroclus, also there is another in Eragon, however the film was unsuccessful and so i don't wish to compare.

Largely the mood is set in this fight by there being continual breaks of dialogue in the swordplay with the close ups being in these breaks and there being long shots during the fighting. However this banter is what keeps the audience interested, as it helps give an insight into the characters.

However as the fight originally is made to feel like a real fight i should study real fights in the context of films, and so the music changes alongside it along with camera shot and editing.

Largely what can subconsciously fool the audience into thinking it is a real sword fight is the pitch and volume of the sword clangs, also the presence of the "ughs" in the fight create a sense of realism with the audience