Changes to our OTS

Whilst creating our OTS we made a few changes along the way, sometimes do to the difficulty of an idea and some to improve aspects of our sequence.
We added a scene with a cigarette burning on the floor first of all. This was mainly due to the lighting of it and to add an enigmatic atmosphere to the scene.
We added a part in one of the scenes where it looks like the male character and the female are exchanging something as opposed to just talking and walking away. We decided to do this because it makes the scene look a bit more dark, and like the two characters have a set agenda and aren't just talking randomly.
We also added stills to the first scene, mainly to mix the setup a bit, so that its not just film. Also this effect makes it look a bit more like a crime-scene and not just a guy laying on the floor.

Copyright

As our OTS will be a silent film, we needed to create a good enough soundtrack for it to fill the gap where there would usually be audio.

 "For all other AS and A2 video, copyright audio MAY NOT be used. Soundtrack must be original or from a royalty free source. could however mean that the students perform an existing song/piece of music themselves- as the audio is made by them."

This was taken from one of the OCR websites. Although we know that we're not allowed to use someone else's song for our soundtrack, we've mashed together two songs and edited them slightly so that they match each other and our OTS. Therefore we've created our own soundtrack and won't be infringing copyright laws.

Lou Reed - 'Perfect Day' and Iggy Pop - 'Nightclubbing' are the two songs we've used for our OTS. They fit the desolate, moody and atmospheric vibe that we are aiming for in our OTS. As well as this, the lyrics in Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day' contrasts heavily with the scene in which it's used in our OTS, which puts a strong emphasis on the footage. Iggy Pop's 'Nightclubbing' is used during the scene where the femme fatale is introduced, as it has a mysterious and almost seductive vibe.

Test Shots

These are our test shots for modifying the scene with the cigarette. We decided that it would look more effective if our femme fatal walked from behind the camera after the cigarette has been dropped, and still use the smoke from it as a lighting effect. We wanted to shoot the femme fatal dropping the cigarette as she walked past but we found that too difficult as it didn't drop properly. As these are just test shots, they will look better in our OTS as it will be shot at night and so the smoke will look more prominent.

Test Shots

This is the first footage we have got for our OTS. Due to a lack of supplies, the footage is somewhat shaky and not to the standards we are looking for. Therefore, I used the footage as a test for an editing technique needed for our OTS, which is the sepia effect described in the OTS description post. After much time experimenting with the sepia effect and levels on iMovie HD, I came to the conclusion that the effect seen in this footage is the effect I would like to be prominent in our OTS.

OTS production: Initial OTS pitch presentation

First Draft Storyboard for OTS

basic first plan for OTS