Trailer

I have finally finished my final production piece. The music has been created in Garage Band and then put over the filming. I had a bit of trouble with getting all the sounds to be in the places that I wanted but after a few hours I am now very happy. I have uploaded my trailer to YouTube and then imported it from there, so now I could get extra comments from other people that i don't know who will be completely honest. Here is the final trailer;

 I was unsure about how to open the trailer, so I created two possibilities and once I had both of them then I got a few peoples opinions and made a final choice. The first idea was to have a plain stalking scene which is how my final trailer starts. However the other way was to change between the stalkers eyes and the older male who was being stalked, after each of the heart beat sounds. The reason I did not choose the faster editing option was that I thought it was too fast for the tension and idea that I was trying to get across. As I explained I did get a few other opinions and 8/10 said that they agreed that it didn't suit the rest of the trailer so I kept the original idea.

Poster

For my film poster I will be using the same image as I have chosen for my final magazine cover. Most films use their poster to put on the front of magazine covers so I will follow the same format. For my first idea I thought I would keep the poster very plain, so I just added the release date and the films name. I will now show the first draft to a few people and get some advice on how to improve my poster.

Everyone I showed the poster to, said that they really liked it and its good fairly plain. However they said that there should be cast names and that kind of stuff. which I had seen in my research but decided that they weren't as important as I didn't have any headline actress or actresses.

 I have chosen to listen to what my critics have said and I have now added cast names and my film company logo. I will get a few opinions on this draft and see if it is now complete.

 My main critic for looking at my second draft was a media teacher which was very beneficial as she knows a lot about posters. My other critics made similar points, however she was more precise. They said that the cast names look weird as they are and the names can be made up as it looks a bit strainge having three of the main cast with the same second name. They also said that the company logo doesn't look right where it is currently positioned and maybe it should be next to the date. 

 After making the extra changes I have changed the surnames of the cast so that it looks better and I have put the company logo next to the date, however I had to fade it into the tree as it looked weird in block format.

  I am hoping that this is the final time I will need to get people to look at the poster as it looks good and professional now.

 As I expected, the critics thought it was much better and the changes that have been made look much better. They really liked how the company logo was faded into the tree. I am very pleased with the poster and most of the critics where happy with it so i will be using this in my final design.

Poster Research

 I will be looking at a few film posters to see what their characteristics are. I will be looking at a range of different genre posters in order to get a broad knowledge about posters, however the ones that will make the most influence are horror film posters.

 I will start by looking at the film posters for the recently released film, Paul. Both the posters are plain and focus you on the characters. the one on the right is plainer as it only shows three of the casts names, the film logo, when it is released, the link between 'hot fuzz' and 'Paul' and finally a caption on the top of the poster. I personal feel that the left poster is better and draws you in more. This is because there are brighter colours on the left poster and the alien 'Paul' who is the main character is at the front of the shot and it is very obvious what the film is about. I personally believe that the poster on the right looks more old fashioned sifi.

 A very good example of a classic horror poster is the poster for 'The Exorcist'. I like that it is almost completely plain, its just the image and the film logo. This wouldn't work for an unknown film, however if there was a lot of hype over the launch then a plain film poster would still work. Another reason that a plain film poster may work is if the consumer sees the poster and wants to know more about it then they can look it up and this way they will find out more about the film than they would have if the poster had the basic information on it.



 As well as looking at the classic horror poster of 'The Exorcist' I thought I would look at a more modern poster that is forest based as this is more what I would need for my poster. I decided to choose the poster for 'Fridaythe 13th'. As you can see, the main image is of the killer in the front of the shot with the forest behind him. The angle that the image is at makes it look as though he is looking down on you which makes it scary, which is also influenced by the mist in the background. The mask and massive knife that are with the main character is what makes the viewer believe that he is the killer. At the top of the poster there is a phrase that may be linked to something in the film but it unknown from the poster. The film title is in red which is known to be evil and as the film is very gory then this could represent the blood. The film title and the film release date are both in the same font and colour as they are the most important parts of the poster, the rest are additional information.

Whilest I was doing my poster research I found a blog that someone had created that included a section about movie poster. There was a section where he had rated the top 10 most iconic movie trailer of all time which I thought was a very good source to see what has been done over the years and what I could possibly do. Below is the link to this part of his blog;

Top 10 Most Iconic Movie Posters

 Aswell as the top 10 most iconic movie posters, he has also looked at more recent poster. he has done a post on 2011 Oscar Winner's Poster. Aswell as a post on the Top 10 Movie Posters of 2010 which was a good one to look at to see how far the poster industry has developed by using more computer graphics as seen in 'The Expendables' poster;

The link to his entire blog about movie posters is;

Movie Posters

Magazine Cover

After researching into magazine covers, I have created two of my own. i have decided to go for a very plain cover to make the viewer focus all their attention on my film.

My first idea was to have a good/happy half and a high tension/ bad half. So what i have done is that i have taken to scenes. The first is from when the group are at the house and all is happy and well, this is the top part and of the happy birthday banner. I have put the picture in black and white except for the banner so that the colours make it look happy. The second image is from when the group of teenagers are walking through the forest and someone is watching them, this is the lower image. I have also put this scene in black and white but kept the colour on the characters and the tree as I believe them to be focus points. Then the two image are faded into each other and the 18th Birthday film logo is put onto the front. I have put the 18th part of the title in the happy side which is why it is in colours whereas the Birthday is in black as it is on the high tension/bad side. I think that the idea behind this magazine cover is very good but I'm not sure if the idea will be understood.

This is my second magazine cover idea. I have used the same images as on the first idea however I have used the writing in the happy birthday banner to create the movies title. So the lower image is in the exact same format as I believe that it looks really good. However I changed the upper image so that only the letters of birthday are in colour and then I added 18th above it so that it shows the films name. I think it looks really good however I have now lost the meaning of the two images.

 Now that I have my two ideas I will show them to a few people and see what kind of comments I get for improvements.

After showing the magazine ideas to a large amount of people from different ages however all from in the same geological area. The conclusion is that good and bad idea is not very obvious however some people understood the idea. The main negative that I received was that there needs to be more on the magazine covers, they are too plain. Which goes against what I wanted but as over 80% of my critics said that it needed extra details so I should see what its like with more. So I will now make some new magazine covers and present them to critics again.

I have now added more details to my magazine covers and will show them to some people to get some views on any improvements and which one to choose to use.

All my critics have said that the extra content has definitely helped to improve the final product. They have said that it looks like a real magazine now and that it doesn't really need any more work. The majority of the people have said that the second idea is much better and has a better horror feeling to it. They have said that the first one is just too bright and they are nor sure what the actual name of the film is.

After hearing all the views i have chosen to take the second magazine cover for my final design. I think that is suits the genre best however I wish I could have kept the bad and good break but it was hard to get the idea across.

18 th Birthday Presentation

I created a presentation on many aspects for my trailer. Here is the presentation:

18 th Birthday Presentation

View more presentations from RichardWo.

Representation In My Trailer

 I have written a short essay about representation in my trailer. This is the essay that I wrote:

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Representation in my Trailer

Representation is when you change an item to make it look different; it is the way in which meaning is given to an item depicted. In the terms of representation I will study the basics of representation that we learnt in the AS course as well as the higher terminology from the A2 course. The basics of representation cover the camera (shots, angles, movement, and composition), sound (non-musical and musical), editing (cutting and other transition) and mise-en-scene (production design and lighting and colour design). The A2 course looks in much more in-depth at representation. An image is representation and to re-present something can be done by using different lighting such as low faint light on the evil person to make them look scary or it can be done by using the camera to focus on an aspect. 

  The theorist Stuart Hall has devised what he calls three readings which are the ways that a person may interpret a text. These readings are; preferred reading, negotiated reading and oppositional reading. Preferred reading is when the consumer of the media understands the point fully that you are trying to get across. Negotiated reading is when the consumer understands some of the points however disagree on some aspects. Oppositional reading is when the consumer apposes all the ideas that you have tried to get across. In my film I believe that the horror aspect will be understood pretty well by using the correct lighting and shots. The hand held camera work will help me achieve this understanding of being followed and that the viewer is watching from the eyes of the stalker. However it may not be very obvious from my trailer whose birthday it is as it is not specified, however this would be much more obvious in the film as you will be able to hear the group talking in the car as they travel to the forest. I believe that for the purpose of my trailer the viewer may be a negotiated reader as the whole idea is not obvious; however in the film I would make sure it was much more obvious so the viewer would be a preferred reader.

 Roland Barthes is another theorist who has theories on representation. Roland created two sections; denotation and connotation. The denotation is the literal meaning of an image whereas the connotation is used to refer to the socio-cultural and personal associations of an image. An example of this is if a person is wearing a Manchester United shirt, the denotation is that they are wearing a Manchester United shirt; however the connotation of this is that they support Manchester United. In my trailer there is a denotation that the older male and younger female are walking close together, the connotation is that they  are a couple which is correct and the point that was tried to get across but not really obviously by a kiss just subtly by their body language. Another denotation is that there is an older female in the group, and the connotation of this is that she is the mother and she is in charge by the fact that she is the first person to leave the house and that she is the one that goes to find help. A major denotation is when the car pulls over and they check under the bonnet of the car, the connotation is that they have broken down which is very important that this is understood by the viewer otherwise the complication is not identified and the film won’t be understood.

 My final theorist on representation is Ferdinand de Saussure who came up semiotics which is the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems. A sign could be made up of something which physically resembles the object in some way, or has a direct link between it and its object. I don’t believe there to be any signs in my trailer of film.

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Narrative Structure In My Trailer

I wrote a short essay on the narrative structure in my trailer. This is the essay that I wrote:

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Narrative Structure in my Trailer

Narrative structure is made up of five components; exposition, development, complication, climax and resolution. Exposition is when you introduce the setting and characters to the viewers. Development is when the story is developed and we meet more characters. Complication, is when the complicating event which will affect the lives of the main characters. Climax is when dramatic tension is at its height. Resolution is the sequence in which stability is re-established.

In my trailer the exposition is just after the start of the trailer when the group are getting into the car to go out and you see the characters for the first time. It is established that it is someone’s birthday by the ‘Happy Birthday’ banner outside the front of the house. It can be said that the entrance to the forest is establishing the setting of the trailer.

 The development section of the narrative structure comes as the group travels from the house to the forest and the viewer learns more in-depth knowledge about the characters. The fact that they are in a car could signify to the viewer that there could be car trouble on the way.

 The complication element comes from completing events which affect the characters, in my film this is when the car breaks down in the forest. This is the main complication that sets off the film. However this is not the only complication, the fact that there is no signal so the mother needs to go find help, leaving the teenagers on their own is another vital complication and also shows signs of what may happen. The final complication is when the group decide to leave the car as the mother has not come back and that when the main problem start to accrue.

 The main part of the narrative structure is the climax, the point in which the dramatic tension is at its highest. In my film this is when the group re in the forest and there are shots from the stalkers point of view and shots of the main character running away. These high tense scenes will be accompanied by fast music to help increase the tension of the viewer.

 The resolution comes at the end of the film. This is when the main character gets out of the forest all safe however he is the only one that survived but the viewer doesn’t care as he is the main character. The stalker is then caught by the police as they had been tracking the group after they found the car in the forest and tried to find them to help.

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