Editing Processes

After collating footage in premiere, I decided to tweak the colour/contrast of the film we had collected in order to make it relevant to our task and maintain some thriller conventions. After cutting the footage using the slice tool, we used the colour and contrast button to lower the brightness to add a sinister tone to the clip, dark lighting is an archetypical feature in any thriller that centres around horror/disturbing themes and so I felt this was adeqaute.

By turning the brightness down but toning the contrast up, we were able to acheive a desirable effect, as we have specifically refrained from adding high key lighting that may come across as vibrant, and mask shadows that contribute to the horror/thriller effect. My research has shown that low key lightning is far more popular in thriller films, as this technique relies on one light source - it may cast light over one object whilst leaving others in darkness/shadows. Although I opted for more low key lighting, I understood that the brightness tool should not be neglected and that it was important to maintain some balance throughout the feature, we didn't want our feature to seem as if it was poor quality. Depicted below is an example of low key lighting.

As is evident, the light is cast from one particular source whilst other objects in the frame are shadowed, this adds a sense of verisimilitude to the feature whilst maintaining the codes and conventions of thriller films. By casting light over one side of an object whilst the other remains in shadow, it creates an ambiguity, an uncertainty that is absolutely essential in a thriller/horror production.

Depicted above: This shows the alterations I made to the brightness/contrast after editing our footage, I also added a hint of blue to the colour balance - again, decreasing the brightness of the shot and applying some typical conventions of thriller films. The blue added to the footage also makes the clip appear less dull and engages with the audience more, whilst the brightness/contrast adds an element of shadow to certain objects in the frame, for example, the chloroform bottle - a key feature of this scene, which is why we felt it was relevant to place emphasis on it.