Things I changed during filming/editing

During filming not a lot was changed, I tried to stick to my storyboard and got all the shots on there and a few more.

Filming -

I added an extra handheld shot of the intruder going through the door into the lounge and shutting the door behind him, I did this because it showed the audience where he went instead of him just randomly appearing in the study.

As I have previously said on my blog post containing my shooting schedule, I had to change all of my long shots (apart from the shots of the intruder outside of the house) to medium shots because of lack of space. This was not ideal and changed the look of a few scenes but I think it was successful as we are able to see more of the actors’ reactions and as the shot is closer up we are able to hear the actors' dialogue more clearly. It also makes the audience feel closer to the actors making them identify with them more.

Editing -

Titles: I reduced the amount of titles I had originally planned to use because I needed to shorten my film. I also changed them around as I thought the sequence I had placed them in did not make sense after looking through them again. The titles I ended up with were:

• Coldhouse Pictures Presents
• An Emma Presland Film
• Starring Tony Presland
• Saman Aftab
• Rhiannon White
• Produced by EVProductions
• Directed by Emma Presland
• The Intruder

I decided to change the look of my titles as well. Originally I had planned on having a black background with a white font moving across the screen from right to left, however when choosing titles from the selection on iMovie I chose a sequence where the font moved from left to right, I felt this flowed better that doing it from left to right and looked more professional with my chosen font. I also finally decided to do my last title "The Intruder" in a thinned-out Georgia font with alternating white and red letters. I chose this because the thinned out font looked more eerie and fit in with the plot and I chose red and white letters with a black background because red white and black are frequently used in thrillers and have connotations of danger, death and darkness.

Cutting shots/scenes:

Also due to time constraints I had to cut a lot of shots out of my film. When posting my storyboard I acknowledged the fact that I had planned to film a lot of shots which may make my film longer than it should be, but I thought this was a good idea because then I could cut it down. Cutting down my shots has made my film have slightly less of a back story than I wanted it to, but I think this can be seen as a positive thing because it makes the audience want to find out more about the characters and why certain things happened, which is the whole point of a thriller; confusing your audience, making them want to watch more and keeping up the suspense.

Shots cut from the film -

- Shot 9
- Shot 13
- Shot 16
- Shot 20
- Shot 21
- Shot 22
- Shot 32
- Shot 35


I also removed shot 49 (the low angle shot of the intruder when the girls see him in the dining room) because when editing it didn't flow very well and I liked the shot where the girls just walk out of the lounge and see him there, it has made the sequence simpler but just as (if not more) effective.

Originally the shot where the intruder looks in at the girls from the patio windows using a handheld shot was split into two shots with a title in the middle (scene 24 and 26), I then decided this was unnecessary and decided to keep it all as one scene and add a title in between the intruder walking into the dining room and when he walks into the lounge and closes the door behind him. I added the title in there because the original handheld shot was too long and I needed to cut it down but still wanted to include the second shot of him going through the door an closing it, so to make it flow more smoothly I added the title in there.

In the shot where the girls come back from the door with their take away and see the patio door is open (shot 27) I had planned on panning to the patio door and panning back to the girls to see their reactions. I filmed it that way, but when editing I thought the panning shot took too long and even when sped up I didn't think it looked right so I changed it to the girls walking into the dining room, then cut to a shot of the patio door open, then cut back to the girls. I think this looks better because you can see the girls reactions quicker and it seems more realistic and flows better.

Music:

When planning my film I had chosen two pieces of music that I thought would fit well (The Platform and Stardust Collector.) However, after editing my shots together I found that blending the two wouldn't work as well as I thought it would and decided to just use one piece of music the whole way through. I decided not to use either of my original choices and found a completely new piece of music, I think this piece of music gives my film more of a mysterious, eerie feel giving it more suspense. I think it builds the tension well and creates a sense of fear for the audience.