Editing and effects

We used Final Cut Express to edit our opening, this
allowed access to a variety of techniques that we would be
able to use on our film. We could easily cut clips to get
them the exact length we wanted and not include parts
that weren't needed.

Another technique included reversing a clip, this technique is
unusual and we wanted to include at the end of the opening a
reverse clip of the whole scene before the character awoke
from the dream. This was effective as it happened straight
after the accident to add drama to the event and emphasize
the feeling that something bad had happened.

We also used lots and one of these was to create the look of
CCTV camera footage, this makes it look realistic and
professional. We took this shot from a higher up position so
that it appeared as it was actually taken by a security camera.

We were also able to slow down clips, this adds dramatic feel
and emphasizes for the audience, this was portrayed in the
shot were the character of Beth grabbed Charlotte in attempt
to save her from falling. Also as this shot was extremely
important part as it determines to the audience exactly
what happens, we wanted to make sure it looked realistic
and tried to avoid it appearing cheesy. So we added an
extra effect to this, to make the shot appear blurred and
add to the drama that it all happened very quickly although
the shot is slowed down.

We could also speed up clips to make it seem more sudden and
dramatic, an example of this is the clip in which the train that
Charlotte falls in front of, speeds towards the platform we made
this clip faster to make it seem like the train was travelling
at a lot faster speed and this made it more dramatic.

There were many other effects that we used throughout like black and white colour effect when including the reversed clips so that they were more separated from the other shots. Also included are transactions at the beginning and ends of some clips so they gradually faded in and out. We used this not only on shots but also with the music as well as we thought it made the introduction of the sound more subtle. Such as the heart beat sound effect we used a large transaction to fade the sound from the background until it was the only thing playing so when the title was shown only the heartbeat could be heard. We thought this was very effective as it made it seem more dramatic. We also used the transaction technique by fading for one shot to the next we used this between the shot of the warning sign into the tracker shot of the yellow line, but this was the only time we used this as we didn't want to over use the technique.



Shots that were taken by me

As myself and another member of my group were the characters of our opening this meant that we weren't able to do most of the filming. Although we still took it in turns to film parts that we were not needed in. Such as I filmed the setting, such as the running shot of the yellow line, the warning sign, all of the shots of the moving train and many more. The other member of our group (Sacha Wyatt) was also able to film the sections of me purchasing the train ticket and other parts she was not in. This way it was fair for our group, and everyone had the opportunity to film.