Umbra Hominis - Post-production
When we filmed for Umbra Hominis we tried to film the scenes in chronological order whenever possible. This was so that it is easy to find the order that the files were supposed to be in without watching all of them. We also made sure that every time we finished filming we backed up the video files so that there was no chance for them to be filmed over or lost in some way.
When we were editing our movie into a coherent and consistent product we had to make sure that we regularly referred back to our storyboard. This is so that our story remained the way that we imagined it and it didn't become twisted or convoluted.
To do this we had to make sure that the main character was introduced quickly and that the problem that he has is made clear from the start. We started out with simple cuts in our opening sequence, this includes the scene of the pill bottle opening and then Tom watching horror movies. This was to ensure that it is clear that the main character has a mental illness and that he enjoys watching horror movies. We also put a gray filter over the scene with the pill bottle, this was to make it clear that the pills were affecting the main character in a negative way due to him not having any left.
We achieved the effect of the visual glitches while the main character watching the horror movie by playing the file on my laptop. This is because of the format that the scene was in and my laptop not being able to play it so that it looked normal.
In the later sections of our opening we had to make sure that the character was portrayed as to having changed from being a calmer character to being someone strongly affected by his lack of medication. A technique that we used to emphasise the effect that the lack of pills was having on our protagonist was the cutting in and out of the book scene so that it overlaid with a different image of the Umbra Hominis on the pages. In order to further this effect Tom Hodgetts lowered the light level in this scene so that the page with the drawing on it was darker, this was a way of linking the drawing to the antagonist as they are made out of shadows.
Overall, the main techniques that we used were quick cuts, colour grading and light level editing. Which were all used to try and set the tone of the scenes that they were utilised in.
We all pitched in to the editing of our opening. Our main editor for the opening was Tom Hodgetts however we all worked on bits of it, this included sourcing a soundtrack and sound effects for the opening.
When we were editing our movie into a coherent and consistent product we had to make sure that we regularly referred back to our storyboard. This is so that our story remained the way that we imagined it and it didn't become twisted or convoluted.
To do this we had to make sure that the main character was introduced quickly and that the problem that he has is made clear from the start. We started out with simple cuts in our opening sequence, this includes the scene of the pill bottle opening and then Tom watching horror movies. This was to ensure that it is clear that the main character has a mental illness and that he enjoys watching horror movies. We also put a gray filter over the scene with the pill bottle, this was to make it clear that the pills were affecting the main character in a negative way due to him not having any left.
We achieved the effect of the visual glitches while the main character watching the horror movie by playing the file on my laptop. This is because of the format that the scene was in and my laptop not being able to play it so that it looked normal.
In the later sections of our opening we had to make sure that the character was portrayed as to having changed from being a calmer character to being someone strongly affected by his lack of medication. A technique that we used to emphasise the effect that the lack of pills was having on our protagonist was the cutting in and out of the book scene so that it overlaid with a different image of the Umbra Hominis on the pages. In order to further this effect Tom Hodgetts lowered the light level in this scene so that the page with the drawing on it was darker, this was a way of linking the drawing to the antagonist as they are made out of shadows.
Overall, the main techniques that we used were quick cuts, colour grading and light level editing. Which were all used to try and set the tone of the scenes that they were utilised in.
We all pitched in to the editing of our opening. Our main editor for the opening was Tom Hodgetts however we all worked on bits of it, this included sourcing a soundtrack and sound effects for the opening.
How do these choices create meaning in the opening?
These choices all create meaning in the opening by linking to the codes and conventions of a psychological horror and the way that the antagonist is working to torment the characters in the opening.
They also work to make it clear that our movie is a horror movie and that it is designed to scare them. This includes the lack of colour, having a clear and easy to follow story and showing that things are not as they seem at first glance.
The dark colour grading makes it clear that things are darker than they seem in reality, this is due to a lot of things having a wide range of bright colours in them due to it being easy to do thanks to modern techniques.
Our quick cuts are a good way of making the story easy to follow because they aren't long and drawn out, instead of being a slow fade or a pan to a different scene it is just one scene and then another which makes it clear that the scene or focus of the scene has changed.
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