Equinox: Finished Product

Last Day of Editing!

Today was our last day of editing. During this session we have finished working with sound by adding the radio frequency noises as well as adding the exterior "Forest" and "Wind" sounds.

Another task we have accomplished was coming up with the name for our thriller. We decided that "Equinox" will suit our opening sequence perfectly.

The meaning of Equinox:

e·qui·nox

/ˈēkwəˌnäks/


Noun


The time or date (twice each year) at which the sun crosses the celestial equator, when day and night are of equal length.

Adding Special Effects

In order to create the portal we used an ‘After Effects’ program and have imported the footage from the section where the portal is needed. Firstly, we made a black mask in a new layer and then with the pen tool we created a black circle over the top of the video footage. We used a tool called feathering in order to blur the edges into the background. We then put an effect onto another layer called the "twirl" to give the portal a moving effect. We then added advance lightening onto a new layer and looked closely into controls to create that particular effect. After that,  we duplicated this layer 12 times and changed the effect controls for each  of them to give a variation. Then we used the blending tool to blend the light colours together. We then reduced the opacity to 50% which would make the lighting less bright and finally we used another mask in order to create a circle in the centre of the portal.

Editing Day Three

Today my peers and I started working on the sound as well as adding some titles. Working on titles was fairly basic. One of the tasks that we needed to do was to change the font of the titles and also to add a special effect which would make the titles either dissolve or cross fade. We also got to make up the names for either our actors or the staff. This was a really fun thing to do.

But on the other hand, adding the sound effects was very difficult. We used a program called "The Soundtrack Pro" which allowed us to upload new different sounds. Although the program was tricky, it was particularly useful in the interior car scenes since we had trouble finding the right sounds in those existing shots. Luckily Seb was familiar with this program and has helped out a lot.

Editing Day Two

After we finished sorting out the Rushes and the Log bins, we moved on to editing our clips together. We started with editing the establishing shots of the countryside and of the car. When comparing it to the whole editing process, editing those first scenes was the easiest since we had it so perfectly pictured in our minds and there was no problems with either duration or the continuity.

Editing Day One

Today we once again were introduced to the Final Cut Pro. During this lesson we concentrated on sorting out our footage into two bins: the Rushes bin and the Log bin. In Rushes bin we have put the footage we won't need as the shots are either out of focus,shaky or just useless. In our log bin we put the shots we do need for editing. It was a time taking process since we had more than 80 shots to sort out. In order to make this action easier, we decided that separating the good shots into the sub-categories will be useful and more clear which it definitely was.

Final Draft of our Storyboard

Equinox: Behind the Scenes

Account of Shoot Day

In order for us to be prepared on the actual shooting day, there were few things we needed to make sure were ready the day before. One of the main props we use in the thriller is a Chrysler car and the radio inside in it. We also collected all the objects we needed like books, pillows, blankets and rubbish. On the next day we collected all our props and shooting equipment and loaded them into the car we were using in the film and began our 15 minute journey to our location. One of the main problems we encountered was the last minute switch to our location. On our shooting day, it has been snowing a lot and due to that weather condition the car couldn’t get up the hill and therefore didn’t reach the car park we were supposed to shoot. Hence, another location was chosen. This was one of the most valuable lessons I learned that day, that sometimes things on the shoot day can go wrong. After that incident, we began decorating the car in order to achieve the effect of somebody living in that Chrysler. So we lowered one of the seats to create space for our main character to sleep, we also needed to empty the trash piles we previously collected like fast food boxes and coke cans. This process was time-taking but at the end I think it was useful and made a difference to our thriller. Also on the day of shooting it was freezing and from time to time that weather would make it difficult for us to continue working or concentrate on continuity. During the shooting, we switched the roles of continuity, cinematography and directing around so each member of our crew could experience and learn something new on the job. I particularly liked the role of a director since I had a clear idea in my mind of how our project needed to look like and how can that be achieved. The role of a camera operator was interesting too because watching back something that you have filmed and created is so empowering and freeing. Overall I feel like I have learned a lot from our shoot day and next time we do this activity, we will go into this process more open-minded and with better understanding that in fact that there are particular things that can go wrong during shooting and that its fine as long as you can find quickly an alternative option like what we did when our location had to be changed. It is also important that next time if we will be filming in January, our dress code will need to be more suitable for the weather as we were freezing during filming. To sum this experience, our group worked very well together helping one another and I cannot wait to see our final piece.