Friday 26th March

Today was overall a success and I’m starting to feel really proud of the work that we have achieved. We showed our final cut to Geraldine and Olle who both loved it and were successfully creeped out by it. We were so happy and relieved and it was great to see that the tutors realised the work, time and effort put into the films, which makes it all the more worthwhile. Olle suggested that we cut a few scenes that dragged on a little to make them more sharp and jolty, a bit more like the movement seen in The Ring. He also helped us to adjust the colouration and finish of the film to give it less of an amateur look and more of a polished, professional visual. We found a great compromise in the brightness and saturation that highlighted the pureness of the white scene whilst also defining the hollow black in the railway bridge scene. We are really happy with the final look and will touch up the monochrome/alleyway scene on Monday.
Originally, we had our music made for us. It was a dark, echoing beat that was haunting and at the time, perfect for our film. However, as we processed the clips and sequenced them together, we realised that the music may not be as fitting anymore and that sound effects would create a more successful outcome. It was so hard to stray away from the music because it had a unique attachment to our film and had seemed so right at the time, but we had to think about what was better overall and searched some sound clips instead. Whilst browsing sound effects such as loud fuzzing and high-pitched interference, we stumbled across a clip on YouTube that used an edit from an audio composed by Pauline Oliveros. The audio was creepy and slightly extra-terrestrial using the kind of effects that we had been probing for. We searched its original format and it found Oliveros’ work and albums online. The original was beyond perfect for our film and had a really creepy buildup to it, which seemed so ideal for us. We bought the music (‘Bye Bye Butterfly’) and imported it into our film. We then cut it down so that the music and its particular feel matched the visuals that it was paired with. We managed to cut it so that when our model made snappy movements, the music followed it and synchronized with her actions. The audio was also cut so that as the drama in the visual built up so did the sound. So at the beginning, the tranquil yet slightly unnerving scene is paired with a fine, high pitched, prolonged note with itchings of interference when the model touched the television. When the scene moves to the alleyway the music picks up and reflects the panicking, rushing feet. Then the all-black outfit scene gathers the drama and peaks, with the music becoming more theatrical and urgent. The final white scene is completely silent without audio, and the closing scene with the empty bed carries the high-pitched hum as before. We were slightly creeped out by how well the music fitted the film when we had finally finished cutting it! Below is the edit that we found on YouTube, the version taht we are using is slightly more creepy and less alien-ish:



Today we also discussed the press release for our film. We are using the image of our model holding the fuzzing television in her arms as the main layout, with the writing in the TV. We will type the final up on Monday and print it professionally.
We also fiddled about with the credits but found it quite tricky to get exactly what we wanted. We tried to use the image of the television fuzzing and being held by two hands, and attempted to put the title inside the screen. This was super tricky so we will attempt it again on Monday. If we still have trouble we will use a simpler layout.
Finally, we decided on the name of our film today. We really didn’t want to give it a title as we didn’t want to make it cheesy/un-creepy/amateur. As a result we used a definition instead. We brainstormed different words that described our film and looked up their definitions. When we tried ‘turmoil’ we found a perfect match:

We will use this exact layout and wording at the beginning of our film to introduce it and set the scene.