Editing Experimentation And Update

Earlier today we spent an editing session experimenting with one of our shots, trying to achieve a shallow depth of field/ focus pull effect. In the shot we have two subjects; the character himself in background and a prop that was significant to the plot, in the foreground. We used editing techniques in final cut pro such as the garbage matte 8 point, in order to highlight the subject in the foreground, this then meant the background was transparent so we duplicated it and added it on in another layer, this meant that we were able to apply a filter to the duplicated layer in order to distinguish between the two subjects. We also had to experiment with feathering the effect as it looked too crisp and was not as subtle as we are intending to go for, this meant the edges of the highlighted subject (the radio) had a softer look and were not as harsh and didn't stick out as much, but at the same time the radio was still the main point of focus. The background; the character carrying out his every day tasks, was now slightly blurred and the radio prop was in full focus, we did this for the purpose of drawing absolute attention to the prop as it reveals a key bit of story information.

We now need to make sure we go through each individual shot and color correct each one, and add filters over certain shots in order to give the impression that the start of the sequence is dream like. We also need to record both our own news report, and ambient sounds from around college, we can do this easily with a voice recorder in one of our future lessons however we need to ensure that the news report is authentic and believable as it could very easily look extremely amateur. We also have to work on our titles and opening sequence with all the institutions, possibly create our own graphics for each if we have time, and finally we need to find and apply a suitable soundtrack for certain areas of the sequence however we will be using the power of silence very much so in our thriller opening, not because we are lazy but because we feel it fits best with our theme and the actual opening plot, its very sinister and the suggestion of silence will add a layer of enigma to our thriller that would be far more beneficial than just laying a crappy soundtrack that ultimately doesn't fit, over the entire opening.