The Finished Teaser Trailer

Here is the finished teaser trailer for my FYP "RAPTO".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPmp0_znjzk

Some Updated Photos of My Location

Here are some photos taken while myself and Anthony were at the location shooting footage for the teaser trailer.

Finding A Composer

I went out into the real world in an attempt to find the composer for my film. For finding a composer, I started with people who I knew wrote songs and are well accomplished on their instruments. Darragh Waters, who is a friend of mine was one person who I talked to about composing for my film. We are in a band together and I’ve known him my whole life so I knew he was capable but I ruled him out. He didn’t have a set up to record proper audio, and the software he uses to make his music pieces is computer based, which I wanted to stay away from. 

The second person who I got in contact with was Joseph Thomson who is my neighbours nephew who has been writing songs since the age of 11. Trained on piano and guitar, Joe has travelled Europe performing his songs and he to is very accomplished on guitar as well as singing and piano. I found that his songs are mostly acoustic pop songs and I just felt that the tone of his voice and style wouldn’t suit what I wanted. Even his piano playing is quite bouncy and I just wouldn’t feel right using him.

 The final person I looked at and the person I decided to use is Colin Hurley. There are a number of reason why I chose him. Firstly, he has composed for short films before including our recent film “PSYCHODELIC’. He has been playing music for 20 years and I have heard many of his scores. He has a professional set up and the main thing that swung it for me is that he is in the film. He will know the tone of it and what I want so we can work closely together to get that score. He will see the footage as it is occurring and just by being there will get an overall sense of what the film is and how it should sound and that is why I picked him. It was a good experience though looking for another aspect of telling my story as I would usually find royalty free music so it was a good process to go through.

Test for Colour Correction

Before you do any colour grading however you must ensure that your video is colour corrected. I used the Three-Way-Colour Corrector in Premiere to test and see if I could clean up the test footage that I filmed with Stephen.

It gives you a lot more control by using this plug-in and as you can see it makes a difference to your image. Another handy thing I learnt as well is using an adjustment layer while colour correcting. Using an adjustment layer means that you can grade the adjustment layer and place it on top of any clip you want instead of colour correcting every single clip which is a handy thing to know. 

Test for Colour Grading

Many Irish dramas use greys and blues in their colour grading and again it ties into this dark element that is about to occur. I was looking at was looking specifically at colour and colour grading for my film. This is something that seems to get overlooked by many students and is something that even when it is done, isn’t done well. I find that seeing a film using colour to drive the tone and story makes the film better because it’s using a subtle technique to tell the audience information without spelling it out. It tells the audience something bad is going to happen and it does, and that is what I want for my film. Here are some examples I did using both Premiere and Final Cut Pro. 

MOODBOARDS

Here are some moodboards that I did which helped me craft idea as well as helping with certain shots as well as visual tone I want for my film.

Second Draft

I spend a lot of time reviewing my notes that I took I Sunday which led to my second rewrite which can be read here:

Carl O'Donovan -FYP-Rapto-Draft2

Meeting With Colly And Rewrites

On Sunday I met up with my actor again to talk through the script. After spending a few hours with him, we fleshed out a back story for both characters and we really delved into the story. He felt a lot more happy with the story after the talk as did I because the story felt more whole. This set me up for a second rewrite.

Test Footage

Today I went out and shot some test footage with the guys from college. I had to edit it in Final Cut Pro as my Premiere wasn't working but I still found it beneficial to try these shots to see what worked. I cut the audio from the video to as I have a table read planned with my actor so I didn't want to see what the lines were like with someone who isn't an actor. The lines will be tested with the actor as he will deliver them better so it will make more sense to see if they flow well.

Every Little Helps

Here is an interesting take of a conversation scene in which the camera stays longer on the subject and rakes focus back and fourth between the actors before cutting and reverting back to the pulling of focus. It is an interesting visual and it may not be something I will use, but definitely may help down the road.

This scene here is a nice example of what you can do when you shoot behind your subject. The light from the setting sun brings a lovely colour to the actors face and it gives the impression that the actors are talking in private. We the viewer are behind the subject so they have no idea we are watching them so it feels like we are experiencing the intimacy of the scene without the characters knowledge.

Another Video I came across that tells a short story based solely on a bench. This short film is quite helpful as it was shot nicely, but it was something good to look at as the film was 7 minutes, so the cinematographer had to come up with interesting shots so it wouldn't become boring visually, which I think he did well.

More Guidance

This is taken from one of my favourite films "In Bruges". Although the dialogue itself is quite funny it shows nice composition and shows me something I aim to deliver for my film.

Here is another example of a conversation on a bench in film, however it is different from "In Bruges". I had never thought of using a slider for the scene I plan to shoot but it gives a nice visual.

This example shows simple cinematography but I looked at this more in terms of editing the conversation. Using different shots can emphasise a line or important moment in the scene and I think this scene shows a good example of this.

Test Footage Guidance

Here is a video I came across that has been helpful leading up to my test shoot for my FYP. It talks about the rule of thirds as well as giving a good visual of how to set up and edit a conversation between two people.

Test Footage

Tomorrow I am heading out with some of my class mates to try test some footage for my FYP. I have some shots in mind I want to test. This will hopefully guide me and will inform me if the shots I want are doable as well as seeing how they look with the dialogue. Here is an example of some similar shots I want to try.

Table Read

I have organised a table read with my actor for the coming weekend which I hope to record to see if the dialogue flows as well as seeing if the actor as any ideas on the characters or the dialogue itself.