Editing.

When we started editing we had a plan of how it was all going to look with the slight change to the storyboard with the additional chase scene added. BUT, as we continued to edit we decided that the opening sequence wasn't up to it's full potential. So as a group we sat down and discussed what our next plan of action should be. We all agreed that the storyline/plot had to change therefore going against our original storyboard, however, we all agreed that it would be for the best. At first as a group we thought that we could have the opening sequence edited so that it was a mix matched idea and that the audience saw random clips of the girl being chased, but when we came round to editing it like this it didn't work, therefore, not giving us the effect we wanted. That's when we sat down and had a talk with our media teacher and we came back to the original idea but add in a lot more pace, so we started off with the girl in the park but took out a lot of the shots we took of the past victims and we also edited the girl so she slowed down when she was swinging on the swing. We also decided that we should make the beginning seem like a memory so we made it "sepia" and added grain to it. Then with the chase seen we played around with many different effects the best effect we had was to just leave it running so the audience knew who was who and what was going on, but the only problem we had with this was that it was way to long and boring. This is when we started overlapping clips and two clips were shown in one so the time was not only cut down but it also gave it a better effect and made it seem a lot more interesting.
Another reason we decided to cancel out a lot of the different, abnormal characters in our opening sequence was not only because we changed our minds on the editing but when we did watch it with them in, it didn't make sense. It made sense to us as we created the idea and we had all the background information but the audience who would be watching wouldn't have that so we thought it would be for the best.
The first idea we had when we started editing was that the film was going to be in black and white and all you could see was the red of the girls dress (like our researched film Schindler's list), but we asked someone who helps us in media and he said that it would talk along time, and this just wasn't good for us as we had a deadline and it was getting close. So that's when we came up with the idea of playing around with different effects and it was also when we found the "sepia" effect with grain on the top which was really affective.
The programe we used for editing, was sony vegas. The screen that was shown whilst editing was this..

This programme allowed us to edit in the way we wanted, it allowed us to slow down certain clips, speed others up. It also allowed us to change the colouring of the film with a click of a button which was very handy.

This was our original edit, however once we uploaded it onto a social networking site (facebook) people said that we should change the part whre the girl in singing onto the bridge so the music was still playing over and wasn't faded out totally.

This was the second edit, we decided to change it after we uploaded our original up onto a social networking site (facebook) to see what responces people had for us, as shown above. As group w much prefered this edit, it was something we discussed to start with but we weren't that sure about it so we left it, however, when we got feedback from people saying the would think it would be better if we had the music playing over the top it made us think that we should do it.

Filming.

When we avvired at ferry meadows, we decided to take a variety of risks which would drasticaly change our final piece. This was because we felt that it would result in great benefit as it would add a variety of new shots and increase the pace of the film dramatically. We also chose the option to shoot frames a lot longer than we intended to as we felt it was much better to have too much and simply shorten the frames, than to not have enough.

Things we have decided to change.
After we had finished all the filming we started to edit our peice to create the opening sequence, but as agroup we thought that the pace of it just wasn't fast enough to make the audience feel uncomfotable and that it did not grab the audiences attention. Therefore, we decided to return to the woods and refilm some in more of a "chase" aspect. Unfortunatley the first time that we went to do this it was very dark and we did not realise how dark. This meant that the recording did not show on the camera, and it looked like this only if we had torches on and close up, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CvLa7K2vS8. So we decided to go back a third time to make sure we had everything filmed, when we returned for the third time it enabled us to be able to involve shots such as close-ups of the mans face in a puddle with the girl running through it to disturb the image a little, it also adds in extra pace. Also, to create a bit more pace and make it seem alot more chasey like, we decided that we would involve a point of view shot, or 'handheld camera' to create a shakey feel. As the weather was bad on the day of filming, the red ribbon that we planned to include was ruined, this didn't make the filming lose its affect so we decided to just carry on as normal, as a group we thought that we could possible go back and film again but because we had a strict time to do all the filming and editing in we decided that it wouldn't be the best idea and see what happened with the filming, as it may not effect anything that much. Whilst filming we recorded shots that we didn't have in our storyboard but that we thought may look good, again as we had a strict filming and editing time we thought we may as well have shots there that we may not use but could use if we chose to and not have the pressure of having to go back and film again. We came up with such shots as: high angles, unusually tilts and a mixture of shots underneath and behind objects.

Obstructions and Difficulties.
The weather was a difficulty whilst filming, flooding occurred in the park with we were worried about jeopardised our use of the park, however, we soon overcame this and came up with a route which meant we could avoid the flooded area so we could carry on like normal. The weather also became a problem for our equipment as at one moment through the filming there was a moment of torrential rain which meant we had to cover the camera (as that was the most important) alothough the heavy rain stopped there was still a little bit of drizzle around so we came up with a great idea of using the umbreallas to cover the camera instead of ourselves as the camera was more important that the way we looked. The battery life on the camera was a big issue in filming twice, the first time was when we filmed on the first go, this was because we used a very old camera and the battery ran out just before we finished filming the wood scenes, however when we walked over to the Ferry medows restaurant to warm up we asked if we could borrow one of their plugs in the seating area, and the allowed it so we over came a problem. Obviously one of the main problems we occured was when we filmed for the second time and it was very dark, we thought we could atleast try the nightmode but the problem with using that was that alothough it means the lens becomes bigger to allow more light to come in, on the camera we used it didnt have a light (unlike high tech cameras now days) so the recordings were very slow and it just didnt give us the effect we wanted.

Pictures of Charcters involved.

THE GIRL!

The pictures above are the characters that we used in our filming, we took them the day that we filmed after knowing what we wanted everyone to wear. The girl is wearing a red dress that is in the style of a prom dress and army style boots. The reason why we decided to make her wear this outfit, is because although it makes her look niceish, it makes her look a little bit wacky and out of control. The second picture is of a man in a trench coat, he is the murderer in out opening sequence, therefore we wanted to make him very dark and so you couldn't see his face that well. The third picture is of the nun that the audience see for a very short while in the background behind the girl swinging. The reason we added in this character and the other three characters (the two children and the clown) was to add effect and show the audience pass victims of the murderer. The only problem with doing that is that the audience may be unable to understand who they are without being told, but as it is only the opening the audience would be aware at a later time in the actual film. The picture at the bottom is of the assistant killer, he is all in black and his head is covered this is so we never know his identity later on in the film the audience may know who the character actually is and it may be a total suprise to them!