Using Black and White

For my opening sequence I decided to use black and white. This makes it seem as if it is filmed in the 1940's and also helps to emphasise that the footage is from the past. There are two clips in the sequence as these are in the present day from the girl trying to find out what happened to her mother. The black and white effect makes it seem more artistic and more appropriate to the era.
However, films such as Changeling which is set in the 1920's is in full colour. I am yet undecided whether to keep mine in black and white or to have it into full colour. This is because I wanted to give my film a fairytale feeling to it and made the main character, Marie wear a red dress with red lipstick as the film is set in the woods and she encounters a woodchopper which is much similar to Little Red Riding Hood.
My plan is to do two different rough cuts, one in colour and one in black and white to get some feedback on which one looks better.

Soundtrack

After trawling through Youtube trying to find a piece of instrumental music appropriate for the opening sequence of my film I finally found a track called La Plage by Yann Tiersen.
This is just a piece of plain piano music which fits perfectly into the sequence of my film. As the piece develops it becomes more and more dramatic which fits in with how the opening sequence develops and I purposely edited the clips together so that the more dramatic scenes fit in with the more dramatic music. In addition this also adds a lot of emotion to the sequence and sets the mood and tone of my film.

This is a link to the soundtrack I am using. I posted a comment on the video asking for permission to use the music.

Finally managed to Film

Today I finally manged to film the final shots of my opening sequence. I shot the woodchopper scene and the scene where the baby is left alone in the woods. Im glad that I managed to get it all filmed as I hadn't been able to due to the weather and the snow.
All the filming went really well and I managed to get it all done in the matter of about half an hour. This means that I will be able to fill the gaps in my sequence and complete the editing for a rough cut to get some feedback on.

No filming today.... still snowy in the woods :(

Rough Cut Deadline

Today is the rough cut deadline. unfortunately, I planned to film the remaining scenes last weekend but it snowed so i was unable to as obviously the continuity would be ruined. However, by today I have managed to edit all the footage i have together including a soundtrack and a title sequence.

This is a printscreen of my opening sequence. This is the part where Marie reads the letter from her husband. As you can see there are titles of the actors also.










This is another shot of the letter from a different angle. I wanted to include different shots and angles so that the video was much more interesting to watch. In addition it allows you to see most of what is written on the letter when all the shots are combined.







I plan to film the remaining scenes during the half term and hopefully if the weather permits, i will be able to do this. These shots are the ones that include the woodchopper and where Marie leaves her baby. I also plan to include shots of the woodchopper perhaps watching Marie as she walks through the woods these will include shots of him watching her from behind trees or in the distance. Also, I plan to do a shot where the woodchopper is chopping wood in the distance perhaps on the shot where the baby is left. As this subtly introduces him into the film but so subtly that you may not be aware of him.