Filming and editing

To ensure we had enough hours to film we used our frees in order to make sure we could finish the filming in one day and have a head start with editing which we believed will help enhance our thriller through means of dissolve edits, fades to black, filters and different sound affects and soundtracks. The first scene we filmed was the rivers, and Rosie walking with the baby. The shot list helped keep us organised and stick to the task in hand. We at first had difficulties as I originally messed up some of the camera work also struggling with lever on the tripod, at first the shots were rather rigid when panning as i had not fully unlocked to lever it didn't allow for smooth panning or tilts, which made our film look rather unprofessional and amateur, however quickly got to grasps with it. I feel that shooting the match on actions went particularly well and I believe this showed when we got into editing as they turned out just how we hoped they would.

I enjoyed the process however I found the editing slightly more challenging.  We started off by organising all of the separate parts of film by arranging them into the order necessary on Pinnacle Studios. We did this fairly quickly and then moved on to adding various edits such as dissolves and fade to black. We also added a sort of blue filter to the film to create a more unsettling and mysterious mood for our production.  This benefited our thriller as all filming was done during the daytime due to this being the only time all of our members were free.We originally wanted it to be shot in the evening when it was getting dark however this was just not possible, due to the fact we all live very far away from each other and transport to one an-others late at night was simply not possible, this acted at as a hindrance as a daytime setting doesn't particularly connote danger as nighttime would. However the filter makes the whole production seem darker and more gloomy at the same time as creating an eerie effect due to the hints of blue.

When creating the titles, we had difficulty in deciding on an appropriate style of font for the production.  In the end we chose a simple white serif font to be displayed as overlay titles. When we chose our music, we put it into Pinnacle Studios and then had to change the emphasis of the sound in certain areas of the film, for example when Rosie discovers the baby is missing there is a sharp high pitched non diegetic sound, which shocks the viewer and accompanies the serious event that has just taken place .We decided it would be most effective to do this when the teddy was dropped along with other parts, but especially at the very end to accompany the realisation of the mother when she sees her child has been taken.

Music

Trying to find the perfect music seemed a very time consuming, and in some cases costly task, we were given a number of websites to look at in order to find some copyright free music, however we found that in many instances when finding a track we thought suited our production we often had to pay a lot of money for it. Originally we wanted a children's nursery rhyme in order to tie in with the title of our production however trying to find one that wasn't heavily edited to the point it barely resembled the original rhyme was very difficult. So we decided to take elements of an eerie nursery rhyme and adopt them, the eerie chiming notes we believed would be suitable as it creates a haunting affect, the music we found in the end was perfect for our production and we were able to edit parts, for example making it louder at crucial moments. The music was by Kevin Macleod and begins with high notes that create a rather haunting atmosphere, gradually building to a crescendo to a range of thudding sounds which creates a fast pace and intense atmosphere, this is perfectly fitting for not only the thriller theme but our opening in which alike the music, starts of eerily and slowly and builds to a disruption and is very powerful and hard hitting.We finally decided on using
http://www.audionetwork.com/ after thoroughly looking at other websites such as Royalty Free music

Naming our production

As a group we decided 'Baby' was very much a suitable for our film, for a number of reasons, firstly we felt a long winded title would detract from the film, and using just one word hints at the story however does not give anything away. The simplicity of the title also creates an air of mystery. Finally we thought it would be suitable as the film is orientated around Grace the baby and her kidnapping.

Time Management and Organisation

For communication we mainly used texting to organise ourselves, this was useful and efficient as it was quick and easy and the use of smart phones enabled us to send pictures and easily express our ideas.

We also had a group chat in which we all gave our input this allowed us to communicate easily and often we found that via texting, we were able to tweak ideas for example the original hoodie we was going to use was a light grey, until Alexia found a black hoodie she thought would be more fitting for our thriller as black is often a more intimidating colour.

Overall I personally found texting an ideal method of communication as it was fast, efficient and without it we wouldn't have been able to track our work and see the amount of work we had left to do, it was crucial that we remained organised as if we didn't our final production would reflect our lack of time management and planning, so by keeping everyone up to date via texts we could ensure this didn't happen. Overall I found texting useful to delegate roles, set up meetings, share ideas and generally keep track of how efficient and organised we were being. 

Planning around the weather

The biggest issue when planning was ensuring we filmed on a day when the weather wouldn't act as a hindrance. We needed a perfect balance of clouds and little sun in order to create a chilling setting. We hoped for a dull and overcast day with no rain or sun. As sun would make the film see more upbeat which is not suitable for our thriller and rain would act as a barrier to filming outside and be next to impossible to film anything outdoors. Another obstacle we faced with the weather was wind, which did in fact ultimately act as a problem as when watching our production back the noise of the wind made dialogue difficult to hear, and as we didn't have an external wind sock we had to utilise the microphone at school in order to make Rosie's dialogue clear and loud.

Production company logo

When deciding what our production company logo should like we wanted to keep in mind the theme of thrillers, this meant nothing too bright or colourful as it would distract from the serious tone of our film, bearing this in mind we decided to go with a monochrome logo as it ties in with the theme of binary oppositions, black and white connotes both evil and good which is an underlying theme in our thriller. Also the harsh black stands out against the white making it more eye catching. We decided to use an eerie looking eye as part of our logo as it creates a haunting effect again suitable for the production. The fact it is one eye it appears to be looking at you always thus foreshadowing the evil within the film. We came up with the the name 'White Productions' as for us it was simplistic and had a professional look about it in order to not distract from the actual theme, also it looks a lot less amateur than if we were to attempt, perhaps make a logo with our own drawings. The logo fades in with a subtle non diegetic sound of eerie wind in the background which creates a sense of mystery almost as if it creeps up on you. The font we used here is sans serif in capitals with a faint shadow used behind it to connote a sense of danger and the idea that you don't know what is lurking behind you in a thriller.We made the production logo in Pinnacle Studios by creating an overlay title.  We placed our image of the eye in the centre and added 'WHITE PRODUCTIONS' just underneath.  We then went on to edit the effects of it by adding a fade in and and fade out motion.

For our professional production company we decided to use new line cinema firstly for aesthetic reasons, we found the dark colours helped to reinforce the thriller genre, the almost shadow affect again alludes to the theme of mystery and helps connote the unknown. Secondly New Line Cinema are an established, professional company renown for their successful thrillers such as the cell, seven, fracture, snakes on a plane and many more.

Props

Props we require for filming are:

• Baby grow
• Baby monitor
• Moses basket
• Pram
• Hoodie
• Teddy
• Duct tape

moses basket 

baby monitor

teddy

pram

duct tape

Costume

For costume we definitely felt it was important to incorporate the theme of binary opposites, bearing this in mind we went with black and white, which of course connotes good and evil. We felt Alexia should dress in black in order to maintain an air of mystery, and anything too colourful may distract from the actual plot, and the viewers may not take the character seriously, black connotes darkness and evil which is fitting for the villain. For Rosie, we thought it important that she looked as adult as possible, so we thought using a blue mackintosh would help make her look as motherly as possible. For Grace keeping in mind the theme of binary oppositions we dressed her all in white, which of course connotes innocence and purity this makes the audience feel more empathy when she is kidnapped as she seemed so angelic and undeserving of the crime.

Alexia's costume

Rosie's costume

Grace's costume