Developing idea
when first starting this project I read the brief to know exactly what i should be showing in my experimental video. I then researched some existing videos to get the feel for what I should be creating. I think this helped give me ideas and explore my own themes I was thinking of. I looked at the following site. here they has loads of video’s and different category’s. It also helped me know what i don’t want to do such as animations.
My Idea
After researching I came up with the idea of a dream style video. I liked the idea of dreams changing and not really understanding what’s happening or where its going. Here are my notes on my idea for my video, options for my opening shots and different locations.
After time went on my idea developed a bit more into a horror. I wanted my character to be feeling paranoid which is then why she has that feeling of someone following her in her dream and she can’t escape, walking down hallways, stairs and flashbacks of real life(in town seeing character fully)
Examples/Inspiration
When researching dream ideas, my first thought was the film Inception directed by Christopher Nolan. I’m a huge fan of his work and really enjoyed this film. the idea behind this film is dreams within dreams. I liked the style and the changing of location throughout this film. I also like the idea of being able to control your dreams (lucid dreaming)
I also looked at the film La La Land directed by Damien Chazell. in the end of this movie there is a whole “dream” sequence or different reality. I liked this idea as it shifted through many scenes of what the two characters lives could have been if they stayed together. There is also a vibrant colour scheme throughout the filming which i found very appealing.
I looked up some dream sequences from different films in the following youtube video. this showed me how these dream sequences are done in films.
I really liked the scene from Vertigo directed by Albert Hitchcock when Scottie’s having a nightmare. The opening shot of him in bed and then then a close up shot of his face, to then the colour starting to change to multiple colours to then him waking up suddenly. I will try and portray this in my own video.
when deciding on transitions I looked up American Horror Story season 1 opening credits scene. i liked how quick these transitions are and creepy. So, I wanted to create something similar for mine.
Effects
I then researched different effects I could possibly use. I think these effects will add the feeling of a dream.
Why a dream?
Here I looked at the feelings we feel during dreams. this help me narrow down what i wanted to portray in my video. therefore, starting to create a narrative. I’m going to look more at the feelings of anxiety, confusion and fear, becoming more of a nightmare rather than a dream.
week 6 – 22nd October – Presentations (pitch)
For this week I presented my pitch to the class. I discussed my concept, influences, techniques i will use (mechanical and software), language techniques and the tools I will use. After I finished my presentation I then had time to do a Q & A. here i answered question asked by fellow classmates. I think I could have answered the questions a bit more confidently and prepared myself more.
week 7 – 29th midterm
Unfortunately I didn’t do anything this week due to my granddad passing away and having to travel home.
week 8 – 5th November
As other modules started to get heavy work load with filming a music video with actors only available for certain times/days, I did not have time to film anything this week. this week i just researched more about how my character could be feeling and the meaning of dreams to then portray in my video. i also looked up styles of editing for the dream effect.
week 9 – 12th November
I was not in for this class but I spent this day getting my first initial footage, this was mainly of my opening shots of Katie asleep and a few of the shots around the college.
week 10 – 19th November
I showed my footage and got back feedback from my lecture, I needed a lot more footage, which I knew wasn’t up to my best standards. I felt a lot pressure with other modules work and maybe lacked too much for this module. I then started edit my opening scene in premier pro.
week 11 – 26th November
I did not attend this weeks class as I knew I was filming later in the week and didn’t want to have no new footage to show. I got my footage around the college, and outside. I was a lot more happier with how this footage came out.
week 12 – 3rd December
I showed my new footage, got more feedback. my lecture pointed out that maybe I needed more of narrative as all I had was pieces of footage, not a story. We discussed maybe actually showing a person (man, women, child, friend, or an object) to get more of a following feeling and how this person will react to it. Also to show that my character is a woman to maybe show hands, with jewellery, rings etc. I started a rough cut edited in adobe premier pro. There I narrowed down the pieces of footage I wanted to then be able to edit them in after effects.
colour grading – dreamy effect in after effects. Here I followed a video and took notes on the steps to create the dazed/dreamy RGB look. I used this effect in my hallway and stairs footage. For my shots of Katie asleep I added a colour gradient effects in after effects and had my footage zoomed in so when I brought it in premier pro it fitted in the centre of the screen.
After this meeting I then decided to get more footage that I needed during the week. I got Shane to be a figure standing at the end of the hall. and I also went to town for a small bit of footage of Katie standing in a street looking nervous/anxious with the camera following her.
Transitions – for my transitions I went with an x-ray kind of look. and each transitions I added a lightning sound effect. I think this gives that quick transition similar to American horror story. This also adds tension, and gives that creepy effect.
week 13 – 10th December
This was our last week before handing up our finished work. during the week I added the final touches to my edit, i mainly added the final effects such as the blur in all my footage with out the colour grading, this helped me give the feeling of a POV and sense of a dream. I added ‘glow’ effects in the footage in town and the bathroom. This effect made the footage more darker while lights more bright.
blur effect-
Glow effect –
Music – To finish my video I added a copyright free music which was very tense and creepy, which i thought suited very well. and i also finished off added title and credits.
