Audience Feedback On First Edit Of OTS: 'Doppelganger'

Here is my first edit of 'Doppelganger':



Here is a video of myself explaining my audience feedback, mentioning the suggested improvements and what my next step is to my first edit of 'Doppelganger'.

Mirror Task

In class, after we watched Psycho and noticed it's mirror usage within the film - we were inspired to produce our own piece together involving props of a large mirror, a small flower , a mask and a hammer.

I played the victim, Craig played the murderer and Charlie captured the footage.

We each had a copy of the raw footage to take home to edit together. Here's my edit:

'Psycho' And Mirror Work

In class, we have watched the 1960 classic film 'Psycho' by Alfred Hitchcock. We took notes during the film of the techniques that Hitchcock used within this film.

Firstly, throughout the opening title sequence of credits: orchestral music with jerky strings play in the background whilst the white text appear and disappear from the black background. Already, the tension is built in these first few minutes - the background music seems to 'pierce' the ears with the jerky, high pitched strings which warns the audience of any 'stabbing' that may come along.

The first piece of footage is an establishing shot of the city which then slowly pans down through an apartment window of a couple having an affair. At this point the background music seems to calm down for the dialogue.
During this scene, the couple (Marion Crane and Sam Loomis) are both semi-naked, showing vulnerability and 'reveals their true selves'. As she's a single woman and he's a married man, it is sinful and therefore she will be punished - an indication that she will 'pay the price' later on.

Throughout this film, Hitchcock used a great deal of reflection work. For example, when Marion was in her bedroom to quickly pack her bags with clothes and the stolen money - the camera is concentrated on the mirror which is looking at the door. This shows that we may be expecting someone to walk into her room to catch her out - this raises tension as she is acting in a suspicious behaviour and wants to run with the money successfully.


When Marion begins her car journey, she drove into the night - the darkness isolating and disguising her from any passers by.
The camera shots mainly focuses on Marion's facial expressions and the rear-view mirror, this indicates the viewer that she is becoming paranoid of anyone finding her with the large sum of stolen money. Her eyes often glances at the rear-view mirror when she sees other car's headlights in the dark.


After Marion has driven throughout the night and it becomes daylight - which exposes and makes her feel vulnerable - a police officer comes along to stop her. During the conversation between the two, it consists of mainly close ups of the character's faces - amplifying the atmospheric tension as all the viewers see were their faces. This causes an uncomfortable, awkward tension with Marion and the police officer as she tries her best to keep composure.
When Marion was eventually free to go, her paranoia creeps up as saw the policeman seemingly following her for a distance before parting with her.


Marion continues with her journey to stop at California to purchase a car to keep her tracks covered. She stops off the nearest car dealer and went in to the toilets where it's enclosed and restricted. The camera concentrates on the single mirror on the wall which focuses on Marion and the door behind her - showing the viewers that she's behaving delusional that someone may walk in and catch her out.

Self-Filming

I have been filming myself with the help of mirrors and 'test-filming' beforehand.

In this scene, which I had situated myself in, I am seen getting ready to go out and 'fixing' my appearance in the mirror.

The types of shots that I have experimented with was a close up on the mobile phone, the use of mirror in the background which the camera focused on - so to gradually reveal my character one cut at a time, an over-the-shoulder shot and a type of 180-degree rule which is more apparent post-editing between the two characters communicating on the phone.

[more to come]

Monday's Filming

It's Monday morning and I'm feeling relieved to finally film this last piece in the city.
The shoppers have lessened, thus making filming much more simpler and dialogue more coherent.
Before any filming, I have asked permission to film outside of Game by one of the shop assistances and they had allow me, as long as I do not get in the way of shoppers, etc. which is understandable.


The first shot that I had filmed was an establishing shot of Game and Jason walks into the frame from the right to the centre.
The next shot of of Jason walking mid-shot into the frame, he looks around him for me and then he starts to ring me to see where I am.
After the conversation, Jason walks into Game and his doppelganger walks out from Game.


To think that everything flowed fine, I noticed by looking back through the footage that Jason had his glasses on the whole time when it wasn't from earlier shots!
As I had only noticed this when we're out from the city and Jason had to go to his class, I improvised and made up a very quick scene when he puts on his glasses during his 'journey towards the Game'.


Next, I'll have to film myself to edit into the phone conversation.

Saturday Filming Delay

Oh my, I'm disappointed to say that I weren't able to film on Saturday because one of my actors wasn't out of bed to film! So I thought quickly on the spot for improvisations so my Opening Title Sequence can still flow effectively.

My new idea now is to film on the following Monday, where it'll be less busy than it was on a Saturday during the lunchtime-rush in the Christmas period.

My OTS now will have the storyline of Jason's journey to the city and hoping to meet up with myself outside Game. 

Then realising that I'm not there, to then ring me, which then I'll be indoors having a conversation with him on the phone. I will show the 180-degree rule during this conversation.

Next, Jason will be seen entering Game to browse and finally, not long after - his doppelganger will walk out of Game just a few seconds after.

Preparations For Filming Part Two

I have checked the weather again to prepare myself to film the second half of my main task and the weather looks promising therefore I don't need to re-film from the beginning again to avoid continuity errors.

[insert screenshot of recent weather for Saturday]

I will view over my previous recording from last week to check what my character , Jason and his doppelganger was wearing.

I will ask Game if I am able to film just the outside of their shop, telling them that I will make sure that the game and console names aren't too prominent in the shots (due to copyright).