Editing Digest - Hospital Sign

One of the most important scenes featured in our production is the final scene before the title of the production is revealed, in which the Pathologist informs the DCI in charge of the investigation that the investigation may have took a twist as the DNA results have been tampered with. Ideally we wanted to film this scene in a hospital to give it that look like it was situated in a laboratory. However, we realised that because we had such a tight schedule and gaining permission to film in a hospital would take time that this would not be viable. But, we still wanted it to look as if it was in some form of Lab, therefore Ross and I set out to produce signs similar to that would be found in a Lab:

Images to come

How it was made

We used many of different techniques in order to produce the signs from above, below are snippets of how they were produced.

Directional Sign - We added a bevel effect to the individual section of the sign, this created the look that the sign was actually rounded on metal however, it was actually printed on paper.This was ideal as it gave the look of typical signs you may see but was extremely easy and cheap to create. However, we felt that the size of the sign may not have been correct, but overall we were very happy with the look of the sign with other commenting that it looked very realistic.

Name Plaque  - This took a long time to produce due the use of a trailn and error method to find what worked well. The effects that were the most important and helpful are below:

For the text inside the plaque, we added a thing called noise which made the sign look old and well used. This adds realism and dexterity to the sign and breaks up the solid black text which featured previously.

One of the most useful and effective looking techniques as it creates the overall etched effect making it seem 3D and tricking the on looker into seeing depth. This effect was vital during the use in our production as the first two signs are shot fairly and foccussed on largely. It they did not perceive as if they were 3D then they would not have the same impressiveness.

The final effect i will mention is the use of gaussian blur on the text involved in the plaque to make the text seem less sharp and more worn. This creates the impression of a rough effect sometimes seen on realistic plaques.

On printing the signs for use the in our production, the directional sign incurred a slightn dent that we inittially thought would hinder the look, but luckily it enhanced the look and made it look like the sign was worn giving it a more authentic look.

Feedback - After we has produced this scene and shown it to our audience they said that they thought the scene had been filmed in a real hospital/laboratory when in fact we had actually filmed it in ross' living room.