Editing the CCTV footage

Today we edited the CCTV footage which we shot yesterday of Matt and Olivia (the attacker and the victim). After turning the shot black and white and changing the contrast, brightness and saturation a bit to make the shot a bit more fuzzy (to give the effect of a real CCTV camera), we tried to find a good title to use to put in the corner to make the timer in the corner which we found out from our research that so many cameras have.

At first we thought it would be easy because there is a title called 'Date/Time' which obviously displays the date and the time. But unfortunately, it was at the bottom of the screen and we wanted it at the top which we couldn't change. The other problem is that the time only displays hours and minutes and not seconds. We then found the title 'Upper' which is in the top left hand corner like we wanted and allows you to write whatever you want. This was when we realized that we were going to have to split the clip every second and add the title to each separate clip and individually change each one. Liv started off doing this and after about 20 minutes i took over and finished the rest.

It was extremely long-winded and frustrating as one time we realised that we had accidentally missed out a second and had to go back and change every single one. But when we looked at the finished result it was definitely worth it as it looked much more authentic than it would have done if we had just settled for the first title we had seen. We then watched it back and realized that the handle from the window had been in the shot so we had to crop it. We also had to change the font to make it look simpler so Olivia looked through them all and picked 'Synchro LET'. The picture below is of the finished result.

Criminal face generator

We thought it would be a good idea to have a sketch of a criminal face shown on our documentary so whilst Olivia and Matt were in the car park (during our first nights filming) sorting out what shots I needed to take I scoured google, trying to find a website that would let you do this online. As i didn't know what the technical name for the sketch was it was quite hard to find but when I typed 'criminal face generator' into google this website came up:

http://flashface.ctapt.de/

The website allows you to choose from loads of different face shapes, eyes, lips, hair... everything! in order to make your criminal face.

Below is a picture of the finished result...

And here are some pictures of the processs:

The program was easy enough to use all though quite fiddly as you have to arrange all the features separately and size each one but the finished result was good and once I got the hang of it it was quite easy and only took about 10 minutes to create. Hopefully we will be able to show the picture in our documentary and say something along the lines of ''This man is still out there so if you see anybody that fits this image please do not hesitate to contact this number''.

First day of Filming

Yesterday we had our first days filming. As our main actors weren't free and we didn't have that much time we decided just to film the CCTV footage using Matt and Liv so that we had something to edit until next week when we will be able to film the rest. Firstly, I set up a tripod out of the window in the common room to get the shot of Matt (the attacker) coming into the carpark. Because the tripod was at a slightly odd angle I had to tilt it slightly out of the window holding it in place between two chairs.
The second shot of Olivia (the victim) walking towards her car was much simpler as the tripod caught the shot perfectly without me having to put it into an awkward position. With both shots I had the lights out because it made the lighting better in the shot.

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Equipment

The equipment we will be using this year is the same as last yeah which is good because we are familiar with it and wont have to spend time getting used to it. We will be using an Apple Mac laptop for editing, a sony HDD Handycam for filming and a variety of tripods.


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Types of CCTV

At first, we wanted to use a real CCTV camera to capture the footage but after finding this too difficult we have decided to start researching into different types of CCTV to see how we could make a camera shot on a tripod look like genuine CCTV.

The first thing we noticed was that the shot would have to be taken from a high angle as most CCTV cameras are rigged high up walls. A second thing we noticed was that many CCTV cameras have a timer in the corner counting up in seconds with a date and sometimes a couple of letters to differentiate if there are lots of cameras e.g. C7, C8, C9...

Another thing we noticed was that the quality wasn't very good on a lot of the footage, which we can easily change once we have the shot by altering the exposure, brightness, contrast and saturation.

Lastly, we noticed that on many pictures of CCTV footage there are rings around what the viewer is meant to notice just incase they don't notice. We want to do this so we're all going to try and find way to do it because there is not an option to do it on the Mac's we are working on. 

Permission

We had to get permission to take the cameras and tripods away from school for filming so my mum signed it and we were free to film to our hearts content

Casting

After planning all our shots and different camera angles we have been able to cut this list down as obviously finding 6 students who are all free at the same time in the middle of their A-Levels could have been a problem. In the interview with the female victim, we are going to try and make an effect using lights so that you cannot see her face, only her silhouette like this (leaving her to remain anonymous):

(picture from http://inkscape.org/screenshots/gallery/inkscape-0.45-volumetric-light.png)

We actually thought of this before thinking of the amount of actors we would need but we then realised it had more than one advantage. It shows our camera skills but also means that we can use the same girl for the reconstruction and the interview. The name of the actress is Lydia Whittle. We knew we would be able to trust her as we used her last year in our media coursework and her GCSE and A-Level drama experience clearly shows in the filming. (Picture of Lydia below)

We couldn't find another girl who was free to film on the day we want to so I said I would act as the female friend as it it just a tripod shot. (Myself pictured below)

We had already decided we wanted to use Elliot Williamson for our attacker as he also acted in out media coursework last year and was very good. We decided that he should be used for the reconstruction and not the 'real footage' as the CCTV footage which we were going to shoot was only taken from ahead and as he was the best male actor we had we thought it would be best to use him to his full advantage. (Picture of Elliot below)

Matt Burge said that he would act out the CCTV footage as it is just going to be a walk around the carpark so although he is in our filming group, he wont be missing out on much as it is just going to be a tripod shot. (Picture of Matt below)

The final two people we needed to cast was the person who will intervene in the attack and talk about it in an interview, and the person who will intervene in the reconstruction. Because we have already planned our shots we know that the rescuers face wont be seen and also it will be dark so we will be using the same person for both. Anish Godwin Patel is the actor we chose. (Picture of Anish below)

Deciding on Casting

After properly deciding on our them of a Crime Documentary we realized that the topic we wanted to do it on was very personal so it was difficult to find somebody who wanted to share their story. So instead, we looked at various attempted rape stories and made our own, not in an attempt to miss-portray events but to raise awareness of what can happen to young girls.
These are the actors we are going to need:

1. A female actress playing the victim in the interview
2. A female actress for the reconstruction
3. A female acress playing the friend in the interview
4. A male actor to play the attacker in the CCTV footage
5. A male actor to play the attacker in the reconstruction
6. A male actor playing the rescuer in the reconstruction
7. A male actor playing the rescuer in the interview

Making the Final Decision on Theme

Today our group made the final decision that we are going to do a documentary on the attack of a young girl at school. We spent quite a lot of time on the BBC Crimewatch website looking for some inspiration and also to see how the majority of them are set out. One particular film which we liked was the 'Hayes Attempted Rape'. They used reconstruction, CCTV, interviews from close family members and lots more which we were thinking of which is good because now we know were on the right track. The pictures below are screen shots from the film on the BBC website. Click on an image to enlarge.

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Teen Cribs

After making 'Testing out... Interview Techniques', we realised that producing a documentary on Bipolar Disorder would be too challenging and sensitive to make as humourous so we decided to try out lots of different topics. This was one that we have made into a proper 'short' because we think we might like to use it for our main piece.