To add darkness and detail to the footage, we experimented with adding a vignette around the clips. This made sure that the focal area was in the centre of every clip and the audience is not distracted by any unwanted details. The aim of this was to create a cinematic looking video.
This was the tutorial Eye used:
The effect was not very visible in the opening as the clip was already dark however I thought it worked really well on shots of the desk panning as the footage blended into to the rest of our opening better.
Me, Claire and Eye each worked on separate laptops in order to use our time efficiently. On my laptop I edited the transitions of the title, experimenting with different fonts which Eye found. In the meantime Claire worked on the rest of the credits and choosing the font. First and last names was needed along with roles/position of each person. We discussed on the font which was used in both the credits and the title making sure that all of us were happy with the chosen font.
We added special fonts to our laptops by using the website http://www.dafont.com , downloaded the font into our laptops and added the fonts to After Effects by using FontBook.
Title
After changing our title post editing our rough-cut and receiving response from our classmates, we also had to change our choice in fonts which were initially chosen to be used for the title "Limerence". Throughout this process, I realised that the choice of font does has a large impact on the vibe that the word gives.
This is the tutorial I used for the transition of the title, however this effect is not as visible in our opening as it is in a much smaller scale.
Here were our consideration of fonts:
We wanted the font to look imperfect as it reflects the main character's mental state.
Our final choice of font: Splendid 66 by Johan Holmdahi
A screenshot after showing adjustments to the mask and stabilising the footage.
Credits
Claire and I coincidentally stumbled upon the same opening which we both really enjoyed its simplicity. As a result we used it as a reference for our credit transitions and positioning.
Here were some font considerations for the credits:
After a discussion we all agreed that these font didn't look right. Claire experimented with default fonts on her laptop and found the perfect one. Times New Roman
We decided to make changes due to various reasons, one being the result of our class feedback. From the feedback we found that most people had an unclear and vague idea of what our film opening was leading to. We believe the name "Skin" gave a clear connection between the cut-outs of the magazine and the meaning created throughout our opening. The word skin also has connotations of gore and age.
The second reason in our change of title is our audience not knowing what the word "Limerence" means, as it is an uncommon word.
Here is a video of our classmate's and teacher's response to the question
"Do you know what Limerence means?"
From the rough cut we also received responses from our classmates of what they liked, disliked and whether they have seen something like this before if so from where.
What we will do as a response to the feedback:
Colour grading
Make the credits become clear by
Adding digital typed up text
Re-film the collaged credits making sure to include the full name
Possibly change of name to clarify the message in the opening
We assembled a rough cut to give us an idea of which shot was going to be used where and whether we had to make changes to our sequence.
Here is our rough-cut:
Eye made the title opening which was then put together with the rest of the edits.
This was her process:
We chose the name "Primac" as the word Prima has a good meaning in multiple languages as well as being common in names of company.
The font used was Trajan Pro 3. We liked this font because it looked modern while looking elegant at the same time.
At first we chose the sound of a clock ticking as it signifies that time is running out as our character is getting older. This is the production title with the sound of the clock ticking.
The video clip we used for the sound:
Due to the changes in our actress the concept of the old women ageing was not as strong, as a result we decided to change the production title background music.
This is the sound clip we used:
We thought this sound clip worked better as it helps to set the thriller mood more effectively.
This is the final production title:
As we arrived at our filming location which we found a day in advanced we began to set up the lighting, adjusting our filming equipment and preparing Claire for her character as the woman.
Here is a time-lapse of Eye doing Claire's makeup as she has done SFX before as a hobby. I helped in applying fake stitches as Eye instructed me.
We decided that Claire would wear this green vintage looking dress as she already owned the item which meant that we did not have to spend any money on finding a dress. As the dress already looked vintage this fits perfectly with the character of the old lady we are trying to portray.
We filmed the peephole shot first (which we ended up not using), the desk panning shot, followed by Claire's back, her walking to the away and lastly the scene in the bathroom.
Our intentions in creating the film opening is to create suspense by gradually revealing information about the character. In doing so we made changes to our initial sequence due to the location we were at and the equipment we had at the time of our shoot.
Camera slowly zooms into a hallway, a swift turn to a room door.
In one lesson we discussed our choice of lighting for the opening scene. We chose a blue/cold lighting as it provided a better sense of discomfort when compared to yellow/warm lighting.
Here are some pictures that Eye found during our discussion.
Zooms into the peephole of the door where a glitch effect is used and a women working at her desk can be seen.
Camera pans her desk, on it the audience can see numerous beauty products. Camera continues to pan onto display where the audience can see a number of magazine cut outs. Diabetic sound of pencil scribbling and paper being cut.
The women walks to the bathroom (this is shown by multiple angles of the women walking). The lady stands in front of the mirror, parts of her face is shown by close up shots. This reveals cuts and wrinkled skin.
Cut to shot of her hands running through her white hair and she looks into the mirror. Her facial expression is shown in the reflection, an unsatisfied face can be seen.
An extreme close up shots her pulling a strand of white hair, this shows the tension of the skin being pulled. (provides a sense of disgust)
The lady walks out of the bathroom (this is shown by a wide shot). As she walks out of the bathroom a body/leg covered in blood is seen hanging out of a bath tub.
This is a video of us drawing the story board. However there were some difficulties with film which made the clip shorter than we would have liked.
On the 21st January we went location scouting around the Ari district (nearby Eye's house). At the start we had planned to film at Eye's old house, however the arrangements of the furniture in the room was not what we had in mind as well as the house being too new looking. Using a room at Eye's house also meant that we weren't able to film the peephole shot. As a result we looked for local hotels and decided to spread out filming and location scouting over two days as this would allow us to explore more location options.
Eye edited a vlog which I filmed during the day with my Gopro:
Here was one of the other hotels we looked at:
Pradipat hotel : 900 Baht/night
Elizabeth Hotel : 1000+ Baht/night
The hotel we filmed at:
Bangkok Condotel : 1000 Baht/night
We stumbled upon this hotel while we were on our way to Elizabeth Hotel. When we arrived by taxi the Elizabeth Hotel exterior looked newer than we had expected, we immediately realised that the interior would be new too meaning a higher price of stay which we didn't want. We decided to look nearby for smaller hotels and we found Bangkok Condotel.
Hispanic: we referenced from thriller genre films such as Mama(2013) and Julia's Eyes(2010) in which we found that hispanic actresses and actors were very successful
Thin: this would make it easier for us to enhance the bone features for the backchat where we see the spine
Long haired: provides a sense of secrecy in shots where hair partially covers the character's face
Our chosen cast:
Tailia Boonkul (Tan)
Unfortunately Tan was very busy with school work during the week we were filming. As a result we spontaneously had to change our actress to Claire.
Claire Lu (Claire) Claire kindly stepped into to play our main character as she has 2 out of 3 of our requirements. We also decided that using an asian actress would give a unique feel to our opening.
Here we found examples of fonts in film opening of both we liked and dislikes to see what elements of the different types works and which didn't. By doing so we are able to adapt elements which we liked into our own film opening.
