Mel's speech and background music

http://www.zshare.net/audio/84515934ea45bf37/

Here is a recording of melissa's voice over. Looking back at the original speech, I have made some changes.

"Have you ever doubted your existence and confused a dream with real life? Something inside you changes. The thoughts running through your head seem different, you feel detached from everything around you.
No colour, no life, just escape. Am I insane? No, I'm normal, this is normal. So what happens now? Do we run? No. We smile. We smile because we know something's wrong and these questions need answering.

And then I wake up with the sudden realization. I am alone."


I had to make the speech shorter as it was originally 0:49 seconds, and my whole trailer is 1:30. I have managed to shorten it to 0:33 thus giving me more time to add other clips. 


I recorded her voice using logic pro 7. I then added reverb to give a natural echo to the voice, channel EQ to boost/cut specific frequencies, a slight echo to give it an eerie feel and a compressor to make the sound louder. 


The gained inspiration for her voice over by looking at a number depersonalization/dissociative disorder based blogs. 


"Common descriptions include a feeling of being outside one's body; "floating on the ceiling looking down at myself" feeling as if one's body is dissolving or changing; feeling as if one is a machine or robot; "unreal" feeling that one is in a dream or that one"is on automatic pilot." Most patients report a sense of emotional detachment or uninvolvement, or a sense of emotional numbing. Depersonalization differs from "derealization," which is a dissociative symptom in which people perceive the external world as unreal, dreamlike, or changing. The various ways that people experience depersonalization are related to their bodies or their sense of self." 
(http://www.minddisorders.com/Del-Fi/Depersonalization-disorder.html)



http://www.zshare.net/audio/84516064e877c5e8/

This is the background music I have decided to use. I composed it myself using the chords Dm, A#, Gm, Am and F. I the majority of chords used are in a minor key. This is because Minor keys are used to create eerie and depressing atmospheres. I started out by improvising notes from each scale and then overlapping them and harmonizing them. I then used the cut tool to cut each section up and then mix them about. Previously I had looked at Philip Glass and Terry Reich for inspiration for background music, as i wanted my piece to sound minimalist. So once I had composed the piece, as well as mixing the sections up, i began to phase shift. (This is heard at the end of the piece) where the section is played on repeat but shifted a bar later so when the sections overlap, it creates either a harmonic or dissonant tone.

Idea for an intro and storyboard

This is my intro for my media trailer. The opening shot is a long shot of Melissa on a busy street. I've chosen this location because it creates a lot of distraction in the background which creates the illusion that Melissa isn't as important as the background, which makes the character appear quite empty. I have also used manual focus in this shot as I wanted this shot to be blurry. This creates a dissociative atmosphere, a lack of reality. I have used a number of effects to enhance the shot. I've altered the contrast and levels to make the shot appear darker which ties in with the genre of the film. I have also used the colour wheel on final cut pro to add an orange, green and black photo filter. This creates a a natural and glowy effect to the shot, and the black photo filter allows the colour to drain from the shot again relating to my choice of genre.
My second shot is a tracking long/midshot along Marylebone Road. I've delibrately made the camera movement jolty as I feel a steady shot wouldn't be appropriate in a teaser about mental health. I had asked Melissa to appear slightly agitated and jumpy to allow her to connect with her character. I had also asked her not to stare directly at the camera as, I wanted her to appear dissociative and disconnected with the environment around her.
My third shot is a side angle tracking midshot. I used this shot because I wanted to show the audience how Melissa felt, and in this shot she appears very stressed as she pulls her hair away from her face. I also used this shot because the majority of shots I had for the intro were all head on walking/running shots down the road so I felt a different angle was needed. I deliberately chose to face away from the road to make the shot a lot darker, as the only light in this shot is the flood lights shining off of the block of flats.
My fourth shot is a long shot. Again I have used manual focus to make Melissa appear blurry. I told Melissa to walk slowly in this shot as this is when
My fifth shot is a long shot and a zoom out to midshot. I asked Melissa to run towards me and appear distressed. This relates to my chosen genre as the character clearly is quite upset. I used this location because there are several street lamps around this courtyard and I needed quite a lot of lighting in order to show her distress.
My final shot is a close up shot of Melissa. I have used this shot to show Melissa's facial expression, which could be argued shows a sense of manipulation and a sudden contrast from upset to feeling dark and dangerous. Before I had filmed this shot, I had already written the speech for Melissa, so I knew the final sentence would be "I am alone" which I felt really needed a dramatic shot, and I felt a closeup showing emotions would be the best shot.




Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

I have used animoto to show my storyboard electronically

 I have decided to use a wide range of shots and locations in order to get some variety

Getting used to editing part 2

I have put together a running sequence using clips of the main character Melissa.
My first shot starts off as a manual focus shot of Melissa running towards the camera, I have made the camera jolty to increase the dramatic tension. I have also zoomed out to show the character's reaction to being chased.
My second shot is a long panning shot of which focuses on Melissa running. This shot shows the speed in which she is running which i feel shows how scared she is.
My third shot is of Melissa's feet running. I wanted to use a number of different angles and shots in this sequence to make it more interesting and tense. Again the side view of Melissa shows the speed she is running at which again shows the fear.
My fourth shot is a point of view tracking shot, where the camera is running after Melissa. I have deliberately made it jolty to make the shot relate to the genre and to make it more dramatically tense.
My fifth shot is a dolly shot which is tracking Melissa's lower half, I felt that I needed more than just emotional shots of Melissa to keep the audience entertained.
My sixth shot is a tracking long side shot, which i feel is the most dramatic shot of the sequence as it then feeds into my seventh shot which is a zoomed in tracking shot, I took inspiration from tv shows/movies such as The Bill, and Shank. The fast cut draws the audience in as the tension rises.
My eighth shot is a cut back to the point of view tracking shot, I've put this clip in the footage again because it makes it appear like the individual is getting closer to Melissa, which again builds up tension
Nineth shot is same as fifth shot.
The final shot is of Melissa running and looking slightly happier as she is no longer being chased. I felt a non-dramatic ending was needed to surprise the audience.

Getting used to editing

Planning and research

I have been watching TV drama's to get a better understanding of camera shots. At the end of Misfits on E4 09/12/10 was a perfect example of a vertigo shot.