Production: Editing (Rough Edit)

Before anything else (and even before the filming started), we have  cut
the music clip to our liking and put the markers on selected bars to
align the footage later on in the editing process.











You can see the marker at the point where the audio clip
was supposed to start playing. 

Here, all of the footage (excluding the final title)
 was simply cut and put in the correct order
(without touching any nuisances such as speed, stabilisation
or colour correction).
Since I wanted to have the pipette shot reverse, so here I just
made sure there is such a possibility! 
After consulting, I decided to add the Pluton Productions logo
before the actual opening began. 












I decided to reverse the second clip, so the footage looped
just like the original gif.

Using the gif twice seemed too rushed, so after consultation
I decided to put if in four times and bring the speed
down to 80%. 

I toggle locked the video footage and deleted all of the
unwanted audio clips, so the chosen audio
clip was clear and not disturbed by other sounds. 
I finally got around to duplicating and reversing the pipette
shot (later increasing its speed to 200% as well + adding the
audio clip to the sequence). 

  
This shot (which we used toothpaste for) was great, but the
resemblance to the previous one was not the best - so I
decided to colour correct the toothpaste. However, Premiere Pro
did not allow me to change the area of colour correction; so I had
to learn how to use After Effects to an acceptable standard. 
After Effects was... eventful to say at least, but I finally figured
out how to manage masks and adjustment layers, resulting in
nicely colour corrected toothpaste drip.
A little side comparison of the
original clip and the one
undergoing colour correction. 
Since all of the other clips from the street scene had
blue lighting, I decided to adjust the colour balance
of that clip so it matched the rest.
Colour correcting that bit of footage
(and the one with the flask, but unfortunately that's the only one
I do not seem to have screenshots of)  was the last thing I
have done before exporting the rough edit in order to
get audience feedback. 














          

Above is our rough edit uploaded to YouTube (the music carries on after the footage ends, but this will be worked on later.) From the audience feedback we were given we've gathered that:

  • the transition between 'Pluton Productions' and the beginning of the actual footage was too sudden;
  • the lack of sound between the beginning and the start of 'Danse Macabre' didn't (ironically) sound very good;
  • the clip of the victim and the toothpaste was described as "uncomfortably long";
  • the footage will look much better when aligned with the music;
Our group, despite the audience saying it did not look bad, also felt like the final bit of the opening (the 'title sequence' so to speak) was not up to the standard of rest of the footage, so we decided to experiment with it and if we're still not satisfied, remove it altogether.

Even before receiving the feedback, I've been planning on working on those particular aspects of the opening, but we found hearing multiple opinions from different people important to see which flaws were the most frequently mentioned.

Production: Filming 'TOXIC'

Below is the video documentation of the filming process of our two-minute opening.

    

Planning: Props Update

Unfortunately, although we have ordered the props for our film opening weeks in advance to the deadline, we have heard nothing of their delivery. All that has arrived are the work gloves that are a part of the Killer's costume. As such, we are going to have to make do with what we can get, and hope that the mise-en-scene looks as effective when we come to film our opening.

Mr Henton has ordered a UV bulb for us to use with a desk lamp, so hopefully we can continue with the planned lighting (we are also 100% sure we'll be able to use a coloured source of light in addition to the UV); because it is low-key, this may reduce the negative effects that having improvised costume and props may create.