Post production: deciding typography

For our film opening, we had to find a font that we could use for our credits and the titles of the film. We used the website www.dafont.com as this was a website we had used previously in other projects, so we knew the layout and how to download the fonts once we found them. However when we looking through the different fonts for the credits we couldn't find any that we thought suited the genre, as some where very extravagant and we felt this may detract from the film itself. We designed a questionnaire that asked a focus group to decide on three fonts, and the highest votes was MS PGothic in regular. As a result we used a pre downloaded font on LiveType which was MS PGothic in regular. We chose this one because it was simple, yet the harsh lines of the letters reflected the tone in the film opening.

Post production - deciding credits focus group

For our credits, we wanted a typewriter style font that would fit in with the stereotypical conventions of our film opening genre. The typewriter style font is often seen in thriller films as it presents an eerie feeling to the credits as it is an old fashioned piece of equipment. However we wanted to keep the font simple as we didn't want it to take attention away from the visual element of the film; as a result we didn't look on www.dafont.com because the fonts that are on this website tend to be very over bearing, something that we were trying to avoid. Because of this, we chose 3 different fonts from the editing programme LiveType as this was the easiest was to find what we wanted. We asked the same focus group as the titles group so that we could have a continuous opinion from the same people.
The three fonts that we chose were

• 
  
• MS PGothic - regular, 
• Baskerville old face 
• Century Gothic.

1. Which font best fits the thriller genre and narrative?
The results from this questionnaire were;
MS PGothic- regular; 5
Baskerville old face; 1
Century Gothic; 2

The least popular font was 'Baskerville old face' with 1 vote and the focus group said that this was because the font was very plain and quite boring, and that it wouldn't stand out over the tope of the visual material. They also said that the font was too elegant and feminine for the genre of our film, so it wouldn't fit with what we wanted. The second lest popular was 'Century Gothic' with 2 votes, and this was because the font was a very popular font in general, so it wouldn't make our production stand out from the crowd. They also said that it didn't have the typewriter feel that we wanted so would not be suitable. Finally the most popular font with 5 votes was 'MS PGothic' in regular, and this was the most popular because it had a thriller type feel to it, and best represented the typewriter theme that we wanted.

As well as this questionnaire to help us decide, Megan and I wanted to make the final decision on the font for the credits as there were still some things that we wanted to decide.

Post production - deciding titles focus groups

For our titles we used the website www.dafont.com as it allowed us to download fonts onto LiveType so that we could then edit and change them to fit what we wanted. When narrowing down the fonts we had three different one that we chose that could fit in with our film opening. These are:

Cold night for alligators

Nightmare

No Fear

We asked a number of people the question 'Which font best fits the thriller genre and narrative?

We wanted to test these fonts on our original focus group of four people along with an extra four people so that we can get a clear range of results and have a opinion from a wider audience. The final participants were 4 females and 4 males, and we asked them the question as stated above.

The results showed this

Cold night for alligators: 3
Nightmare: 1
No Fear: 4

The font with the least votes was ;'Nightmare' with only one vote, and the focus group said that this was because it didn't look quite as scary as the others, and didn't fully represent the narrative that we were trying to create. As well as this, the font wasn't as bold as the others, so the text didn't stand out as much to the group. The typography that was second most popular was 'Cold night for alligators' as this had 3 votes. The focus group said that although this font was slightly better for our film opening, the blood type smears associated with the font didn't tie in with our narrative; therefore wasn't appropriate. The font is related more to a gory style film, which didn't fit with our film opening so was voted lower than the most popular. The most popular was 'No Fear' which took 4 votes out of 8. This was the most suitable because it stood out and the text was clear to read, and the style looked scary enough to fit with our film opening. 

'No Fear' was the font that we chose for our title.

Post production - adding sound

For our film opening we needed to find some sound tracks that would fit with the visual footage we had as well as conforming to the genre of our film. We searched on the internet, through copyright free music websites as this was the only music we were allowed to use without permission, and previewed all of the songs that we came across. The speed of the film increased as it went on, and it was hard to find something that did the same. Originally we couldn't find any songs that individually fit the film from start to finish, so we decided to combine multiple soundtracks towards the end of the film where we wanted the pace to increase and the tension to build. We used one of the soundtracks all the way through the film, minimizing the volume when there was dialogue, and then added a second track on top that had a variety of pitches and sounds compared to the first. This contrast in tracks meant that we got the desired effect of increased pace and built up suspense.

The soundtracks both came from the website www.incompetech.com, and they were both royalty free. 

Post production: software

The computer that we used was an Apple iMac 21.5 inch desktop computer as this has all of the appropriate software downloaded.

We used a variety of software throughout out filming and editing in order to create the best film possible. For the editing of the film we used iMovie on the Apple Macs, and we used it because it has all of the essential editing tools as well as visual and audio effects that we need. It was the first time that we had used this programme properly, but we found it fairly easy to use and if we needed any help with it we searched for the answer on the internet.

In order to create the titles for our film we use Live Type, which is a software programme that allows us to create moving titles in the style, font and size that we want. The finished titles will then be imported into iMovie to use in the film. 

Pre/post production: equipment

We used a variety of equipment to record our film in order to capture the best possible footage. The camcorder that we used was the Panasonic HDC - SD700, which is a high definition camera that captures both video and sound. The camera has a x12 optical zoom so that we were able to use specific shots in order to fit what we wanted. This camera is handheld so we could adapt our shots to make them more or less complex depending on how we wanted it to look.

We also used a Velbon CX 888 tripod to mount our camera on in order to ensure smooth shots that transitioned well into each other. The tripod was able to tilt and extend high, and this is something that we will use regularly to change the dynamics of each shot. It also helped to protect the camera as we knew it would be secure when mounted on the tripod.

The memory card that we used was the 8GB SanDisk card, and we chose the highest possible GB on the card as we wanted to ensure that we had enough room for all the shots and audio clips that we would record.

Post production: call sheet

Date	Time	Aims	Actors	Equipment/ props
1st February 2016	12:30 – 5:00	Attempt to film all shots and sound effects. (If this doesn’t happen a second day will be scheduled)	Lauren Bricknell Miah Kirton Luke Macdonald	§  Panasonic HDC – SD700 camcorder   §  Velbon CX 888   §  8GB Sandisk memory card   §  Spare battery for the camera   §  Flowers   §  Photograph of two girls   §  Black gloves   §  Predetermined outfits for each character

This filming day was successful, and we managed to carry out all of the shots that we planned as well as some that weren't on the story board in case we needed to more to add to the film when editing. The weather was fine which is why we were able to complete it in a day, however there was some wind which meant that we were unable to film some of the audio that we needed; this can be done on a different day.