Update

After two filming sessions we have filmed almost all shots, and also experimented with different ideas, which we didn't necessarily plan on doing and may slow down the filming but we feel it is important for developing ideas. We also want to experiment further with having shots that are out of focus, which we cannot achieve on our usual camera do to automatic focus, so we will be experimenting with a different camera using manual focus tomorrow night. We want to achieve a few shots where the main subject of the shot is in focus but the rest of the shot is out of focus, which can be achieved on stills using photoshop but not in film. We are pleased with the other techniques especially the fish eye lens that we used.

Certificate

We have decided that we are going to have a rating of 15 on our film as it will attract the mass audience of film goers to our film, which is 15-24, we contemplated having an age range of 18, however we thought that cutting out 3 years of the highest film goers would not be a clever thing to do . Also our film is of the thriller genre and atypical to the genre there are no gory images which are in horror movies so we feel we can adequately use 15 as our certificate of age.

We feel with the age of 15 if the trailer were to be on previews before films at the cinema, the mass audience would be able to watch it. The age is not so much a problem on the Internet as trailers are accessible through YouTube without proof of age therefore the age is not as much an issue when publishing out trailer on theInternet. We have decided that publishing on the Internet will be the most plausible option, considering our minute budget, as it is free to publish videos on YouTube.

Disappearing effect

For our production to fall in with the plot of the film we are creating, we decided to create a shot in which an item (the cup) disappears as it is part of the 'things going missing' element of our film. This shot obviously is going to be manipulated further through the use of final cut, however we decided that we would first put it on iMovie to see what effects we could create and put it on the blog as a way to show our process in filming.

Fisheye Lens

This is some of the footage which we decided to experiment with, we are already in the filming process, however we decided to add this to our blogs as we found a fish eye lens which we thought would enable us to create an effective shot for our teaser trailer. The effect that the fish eye lens creates is one of foreboding as the framing of the shot and how the frame gets thinner towards the end of the shot creates a sense of movement towards the object in view.

Test Shots

We decided to mess about with a few shots in order to gage what we needed in our teaser trailer and what will look more effective in our filming. We looked at various teaser trailers in research and came across a shot which we liked, in which it started as an establishing shot and then was edited so that the shot is overlapped with a zoom shot, to create a layered jumpy effect. Not only did we want to create this effect but we wanted to manipulate certain areas of the framing and the shots, audio, effects, transition etc to see what we could do for our final piece. We used iMovie to edit these clips, however in the final piece we are aiming to be using final cut for various shots as we feel it provides a more extensive range of editing techniques and more professional tools to edit with. We decided that for the editing stage iMovie was adequate for what we wanted to test, we booked the camera IN ADVANCE and filmed the outside of our school to recreate the establishing shot it the teaser trailer we had seen. On this particular edit, we decided to change certain video adjustments of the framing such as the contrast, exposure and brightness of the shot. We feel this helped recreate an eerie effect which suited our teaser trailer in terms of genre.

Possible Typography

This font reflects the horror genre very well due to the weathered effect. It looks like the letters have been scratched away in desperation. I like the capitals as it is added impact.

This font also looks as though it has been scratched away or eroded. I prefer the squareness of the previous font but the bold text adds impact.


This font is supposed to look as though it has been written on a typewriter, i like this font but the typewriter is quite irrelevant to the storyline of our film as it is not set in the past.
The spaced out letters in this font creates a randomness that is similar to handwriting, handwritten fonts are often used in the horror genre as they add a personality and show the desperation of a character writing because no-one can hear their screams.

This font very much reminds me of dripping blood, it would be very appropriate in a horror trailer. I really like this font and would like to experiment with it further.

This handwritten font looks very realistic which i like and would fit with the storyline of our film. I think it is quite generic which wouldn't give a big impact.

I like the idea of small font but if it is small it is more difficult to read and people might not bother. It is not very dramatic.

This font looks handwritten but i think it reminds me of chinese writing and seems a bit irrelevant to our storyline, but it does fit with the horror genre.

storyboard working progress

Shot #1The first shot is the production logo. Me and lewis have decided to use the "Impact Productions" logo that we used for the AS work.

Shot #2

This shot is a short black screen between the production logo and the establishing shot of the trailer. There are no sounds.

Shot #8

Shot #10

Shot #11

Shot #12

This shot is of a staircase, we want the shot to be a low angle so that only a few stairs are in the shot. We are also considering using a night vision effect on this. We decided to use this shot because the creepiest part of house at night is the stairs, we also want a sound effect of footstops over this shot.

Shot #13

We haven't decided whether this is a new shot, or we should pan the camera and zoom in on this door from the previous shot. This shot will be of equal length to the shot before and the door will creak open slightly.

Shot #15
After researching other trailers, we have realised that to establish the storyline, settings or characters a short phrase is used. We will experiment with possible typography and think of an appropriate phrase which is aimed to make the veiwer feel uneasy and not give away too much about the film.

Shot #17
This is a very short shot of the bathroom window blowing open.
Shot #18

This a very short shot of keys hanging up.

Shot #19

Shooting Schedule

We have decided to make a shooting schedule for when we are going to film our teaser trailer, we are also going to include the locations for both the final shooting and our ideas:

First Location: Countesthorpe Community College
Date: Tuesday 2nd November
This is for the experimentation stage of our filming, in which we have booked a camera for our double media lesson.

Second Location: Hannah's House
Provisional Date's: 10th November, 17th November, 24th November
If we have not got adequate filming by this point, we shall schedule a further shooting date for our production.

Planning For our teaser Trailer

Planning for our production on Prezi

Our Ideas

Planning for our Teaser Trailer on Prezi

The Horror Genre

The Horror Genre on Prezi

remember me

The film poster is very simple, with just actor names and the title of the film. The typography is very simple, which reflects the trailer. and the picture looks like a film still or a photograph that the couple might have, it does not focus on the actors. The picture would appeal to female audience more i think, but it is not really cheesy and the characters look like ordinary people, which shows that it is not just a teen movie.

-This trailer begins with the typical green notice about age certificate

-the first shot is a close up of a moving train, a voiceover begins of a young male voice, talking philosophically about Ghandi and we immedietely know the film is pretty serious.

-the next shot is a short shot of actor Robert Pattinson, which makes the audience assume that the voice belongs to him

- The next shot is a section of the film where Tyler breaks up a fight in the street using violence but ends up in trouble with the police, this is the first hint of his rebellious personality.

- The next section introduces Tylers father, Peirce Brosnan, where they are arguing about the fact that Tyler has been bailed out by his father. This shows that his father throws money at his children and as Brosnan is in a suit and clearly in an office environment suggests that he has little time for his children. The focus on Tyler shows that he is the main character.

-This is followed by a section with his younger sister, immediately introducing his family in the first few seconds, which lets the audience bond with the character.

- a white background with simple red letters says "he broke the rules." this is followed by a clip from the film where Tyler is smoking in the office, it shows a more humourous element to the film. It also shows that Tyler is very rebellious and i think this would appeal to a younger audience.

- another screen reads "he had lost his way." This is followed by a clip that introduces his flatmate, moaning at him about being reclusive. This shows that he is not like other students his age and is clearly a complex character, perhaps struggling to come to terms with a tragedy.

- a white screen reads "until the moment." we are introduced to a female character, and we see the twist in the story, as she is first met as revenge to her father, the policeman who hit Tyler.

- "he let someone in." We are then shown clips of their relationship. The girl is strange but somewhat endearing, having dessert before her main course, again showing comedy. Their relationship is cute and easy to watch, it is not cheesy or full on, but the typical love story is obvious now.

- A screen shows the name of the production company, which is unusual halfway through the trailer. The screen is the same as the others previously.

- acoustic music starts. We are shown clips of the film which suggest that the relationship is messy, there are clips showing desperation and anger.

- The characters names are shown in turn briefly on the screen.

- The voiceover is heard again, somewhat forgetable thoughts from Tylers head which show that we the veiwer of the film would have a deep connection with this character, finding out everything about him.

- The name of the film appears followed by the credits and the music fades out.

- The genre of this film is different to the other two that i have looked at, the difference is that there is huge focus on learning everything about the main character, which i think appeals to a female audience, as generally men arent as bothered about feelings. There is nothing exciting about this trailer or anything that will keep the veiwer on their toes, but the fact that it is clearly quite a serious film about a love story, which differs from other films about love stories which are very positive, may make the veiwer of the trailer intrigued about the complex character. the titles are very boring and there are no special effects, which shows that the film is realistic and there are no inhuman elements to the storyline. The trailer does not show further than a messiness in quite an intense relationship, but the fact we find out at the end of the trailer that the film is called "remember me" suggests tragedy.

Planning

A quick chat with the group. We have decided that we would like our teaser trailer to be either horror, thriller or action because we think there is more scope for fast paced exciting editting. We have also decided to use limited actors as the acting is never very good and they are unreliable so organising is difficult.

Inglourious Basterds

From one look at the poster for Inglourious Basterds, we know that it is a film based on events in WW2 due to the army look and the nazi sign incorporated into the typography, i think this is a good thing as we know exactly what it is about. From the title we also know that is isn't going to be a serious film focusing on real events, which attracts a younger audience. The main characters are on the front, including the most notable actor Brad Pitt, there is also a fair amount of actors names on the front, which shows there is a good cast and that the film is pretty high budget and mainstream. The front cover pictures both guns and attractive women, which obviously attracts a male audience and the red behind the picture not only makes the soldiers stand out but also connots blood.

-This trailer begins with a green coloured screen with some information about the certificate of the trailer, which most trailers begin with, there is no sound.

-This is followed by the production company logos, which appear on a black background with the intro to a metal song in the background, which immediately creates excitement.

- The first shot is an overhead shot of soldiers staning in a row, it doesnt set a scene or particular era, just a topic for the film. The leader shouts and we know that it is an army set up, therefore a war based film.

-The first title appears on a white screen, and the typography is written in a blood splatter, which appears at the sound of a gunshot, it reads "once upon a time." I think the reason for this particular typography and title was to shock and create excitement, as the film is an action thriller. From the words we know that the film might be set in the past.

- The next title reads "In nazi occupied France" which is where we realise that the film is definately about WW2. These titles act as narration which makes us focus on the screen.

- This is followed by a section of the film, which is cut up by titles and other sections of the film, but this section introduces the main character Brad Pitt and throughout the conversation narrates the aim of the main character and the plot of the film. It also lets the audience know what they are in for, as he speaks of cruelty and dismembered bodies.

-Titles during this section include "activate," "infiltrate" and "exterminate." These also have gunshot sounds, i think they are supposed to keep the audience on their toes.

- The music grows faster and the feeling is more intense, the clips are fast paced and show lots of violence. These clips hint at what the rest of the film is like.

-There are more titles towards the end that mention Tarantino and Brad Pitt. It also says "there are no crimes, behind enemy lines" which suggests that there are going to be a lot of crimes.

This magazine cover advertises an interveiw with Tarantino but it is essentially about Inglourious Basterds at Cannes film festival. The picture of Tarantino reflects how imagine his personality, he looks confident and cool, he looks like the kind of person who would make his films. The picture doesn't exactly give away anything about Inglourious, it doesnt have any main characters or even the title in its correct typography. The red behind the title connotes blood and the handwritten text shows rebellion and informality. The background is relatively boring, apart from a handrawn skull near his head which also reflects his rebellious personality.

Control

- The video begins with three short white logos on black backgrounds, Momentum Pictures, Northsee and Becker International. There is no music yet, these aren't really included in the rest of the video and are forgettable as they are relatively unimportant to the watcher of the trailer.
- The music begins at the start of the opening clip, two blocks of flats with telephone wires and we immediately aware that the film is black and white. Its is actually a grey and white film and i think it looks very different from typical 1950s film because it is much crisper due to advances in technology.
- The shots change in time with the beat of the music, the next shot is actor Sam Riley playing Ian Curtis lying on his back. The actor looks a huge amount like the singer of Joy Division so along with the music it is immediately obvious what the film is about, which is exciting becuase there hasn't actually been a film directly about his life yet.
- The next clip is a black background with the words "This is the sound" in a pale grey square font, used for all the typography in the trailer.
- This is followed by short clips of the film which do not give much away about the storyline yet
- In the same text as before a background appears saying "of passion." This is followed by the character Debbie played by Samantha Morten speaking at the same time as the music, this particular clip shows Debbie and Ian meeting, following the theme of passion. The following clips focuses on their love.
- a black screen again saying "of beauty." The following clips show the band recording and focuses on the music, many people think that the music is beautiful. This is the first time the band is focused on. I became aware at this point that if this storyline was in colour with different actors and music, following conventions of a generic blockbuster, it would be like any other love story. However, because of the black and white film and the music, there is an eeryness about the storyline that lets me know this is more of an arty film. I think this attracts a certain audience, because everyone loves a love story but this one would be respected by an older maturer audience because of its beautiful filming and because it is about a time in music that many adults remember.
- This is highlighted when a black screen says "That changed the face of music." The band are then the only focus in the next few clips, with voiceovers from characters Rob Gretton and Tony Wilson about the bands rise in fame. All of a sudden the music stops to show a section of the film where the band meet Tony Wilson at Granada Studios. There is a short section of dialogue which really shows the bands northern mancunian humour and shows that there are comedy aspects of the film. It also introduces the other members of the band, showing their personalities which are much cockier than Ian Curtis who is very quiet around them. I think this section adds another dimension of the film, a light heartedness which isn't portrayed in the rest of the trailer due to the depressing nature of the storyline.
- This is followed by the beginning of the song "love will tear us apart" Joy Divisions most famous song, which despite its lyrical content is actually melodic and due to its major key, quite happy..for Joy Division. During this song there are fast paced clips showing the rise in the bands fame and the affair that Ian Curtis had. This section moves quickly through the storyline without dwelling on anything or giving too much away. There is a voiceover from Ian, reading a diary extract about having "no control anymore." This contrasts with the clips shown directly previous of this. There is a change in the storyline, therefore a change in music, and the very dramatic "Atmosphere" begins to play.
- black backgrounds show different reviews of the film, inbetween short clips of the film. Many of the clips are diliberate as they reflect famous photographs of Ian Curtis published in music magazines, which create nostalgia.
- There is another voiceover from Ian, which is one of his poetic quotes and during this the title appears on a black background along with "a film by Anton Corbijn." The words flicker then fade, leaving a black screen. This is followed by a very short shot of the credits.
- The trailer made me want to watch the film because I am interested in the music and storyline, but I liked the way it didnt give too much away. It is obvious that it is filmed beautifully and the lack of special effects and unneccessary noises shows that this film isn't for kids. Many kids would be put off by the fact it is a black and white film and that it is about an old band, i know a lot of people my age would think it will be boring, therefore it is obvious that this isnt a mainstream film.




I think the poster is very simple and to the point, which i quite like. I like the colour scheme as it fits with the fact the film is black and white but the pink draws the eyes to the title. I dont think that the poster says very much about the film or storyline, but i think the picture along with the title "Control" would let most Joy Division fans know what the film is about. I think the choice of reveiw is important because it reflects the filming and style of the film.

The task

The group and I have decided that we are quite interested in following the Teaser Trailer for a film (along with magazine cover and poster) route. We have come to this decision because we did not enjoy making the music video as much as the film opening, and as all of us watch a lot more films than music videos we feel we know more about it and have more experience due to the AS task.

Evaluation

Final Video

Filming

We have booked the camera for filming at friday lunch, we are excited about this as the weather is predicted to be good! I have sent a message via facebook to the majority of people who will be around the area we are hoping to film on friday, just to inform them and to ask if they could wear summery clothes! Obviously if we had a budget we would give it a sixties feel using costumes, however we don't have the time or the money. I would like the experiment with costumes in the future. I have also taken pictures with my camera of the video opening shots, the boy walking to the girls house and the girl opening the door, which i will print out and use in the video.

Filming holding up the boards

Poster Ideas

These are some ideas for our poster. We wanted to use the 60s style throughout the the poster and digipack as it fits with the upbeat style of the song. We decided to use this image as it is very simple and a nice shape, we chose not to use pink flowers as they are too feminine.

Our Digipak

Here is the digipack that we have designed. We decided to use the flower image on the front as we used it on the poster and we think it would be a memorable logo for the song. We decided to keep it very simple as we liked the faded photography as it reminds us of old photographs. We also used the same font as the poster to keep the synergy. We are quite pleased with our digipack in the time we had to make it, however i would like to experiment with graphics and photo manipulation in the future as although our digipack is attractive i think it would look more professional.

Synergy Research 1

Song - Crystalised by The XX





There is a short sound before the guitar comes in, where a light shines towards the camera in a dark room. This adds suspence and I think it was right to not begin the storyline in the video before the song effectively starts. When the music begins, the camera pans of over the band who are standing in a line with a projection shone onto them, they are wearing black so we focus more on the projection and less on the actual band members, which reflects their shy and modest style. The shots are long and do not cut on every beat. No band member looks at the camera, whcih I quite like as it adds a mystery to them. These shots carry on through the intro, with varied shots of the whole band, mid shots of one or two members, and close-ups of the players fingers in action and never their faces. The projection changes to orange, which adds intensity to an already intense building intro. The singer begins to sing, and it is the first close-up shot of a face, yet he still doesn't look at the camera, his face concealed by the projection. Some shots begin out of focus but then pan and zoom into focus, which is quite effective. These shots carry on, some very dark with one light shining onto the side of face, which is very mysterious, and some with light blue or bright orange porjection. The projection throughout changes from fire, to very abstract images, which can make you feel uneasy. The end of the song is marked by the projection being lowered and the band fading to black. In my opinion, quite a boring low budget feel video, however I think there are some interesting aspects to the way the band act. They seem very shy and don't want to give anything away by their expressions or body language. This is very mysterious, but also makes the listener/veiwer focus on the intense lyrics, so quite a clever way to move music away from the attractive controversial egotistic front man, which is so popular in the music video age, and more towards the actaul musical talent, such as the lyrics and focusing on the instruments being played. I like this idea a lot.

This is the album cover. The actual album is a black sleeve with the x symbol cut out. This gives the feel of a higher budget, which contrasts with the video. Although the cover is very simple, I don't think it limits itself to an older market, I also think it looks very stylish and gives the band a complete identity. I personally would buy this cd because it looks very different from anything else on the market, and gives no clue to the kind of music, other than it is different and probably quite dark. Inside the digipack is the same logo, which i think is a shame. I think a person opens the digipack to find out more about the band, and there could have been some photography or artwork there to portray the music further. The back of the digipack is plain black with a white font. The song titles are listed above a barcode and record label logo. I think the back of the digipack is again probably too plain and i think the x logo would look good there also. This band are clearly aiming to sell records to the curious music buyer, possibly older, therefore a smaller market. I think this suits the band as they are clearly not bothered about being liked by everyone, when in actual fact they have become popular anyway. I think the modest yet stylish attitude worked well as their music wasn't pushed in peoples faces, people thought they were "cool" for finding this new band that no-ones heard of, partly becuase they didn't want to be heard by the masses. This shows a very different way of marketing, a kind of reverse psycology where they pretend they don't want everyone to like them, which makes more people interested.

This was the poster for the release of the album. I did actually see this poster quite a lot in music magazines, often on a full page spread. Again this brings the feeling that people would feel cool for knowing what this symbol stands for, like they are in the know or part of something. One side of me thinks this advert is pretty useless from the point of veiw of knowing when the cds out or seeing the band live, but when reading a music magazine and turning over to see this, it just looks very stylish and very cool for a band to being doing this with their first record. I do really like it. It isn't aimed for the mainstream of the teenage market, but i personally like it. I think this is aimed for a more mature audience. It was a risk for the band, and a risk for the record label, but that just makes me like it more.

Our song

Possible Typography

We would like our fonts to reflect the 60's feel of the song, here is some we have found from urbanfonts.com
We like this one possibly for the name of the band as it is simple but it is also quite boring. I think the logo of the band needs to be bold and easy to read and then the words Sha La La La Lee need to be more decorative, so we may use this font for the bands name.

I like this font because I think it is quite attractive but I do not think it fits in with the theme of our synergy. As a group we have decided that this one is not appropriate as it is not bold enough.

We like this one as we feel it fits with the theme of happiness in the song so we may use this one for the actual song name.

This one is very 60's and has a hippie feel, this one would be perfect for the song name typography, however i'm not sure whether it is too cliche.

Playing with the green screen

We filmed our friend in front of the green screen to experiment with it. We think this was quite successful but we don't think there will be a need for this in our video and we are not sure we will have time but we would like to use it maybe in the final peice next year.

More Images

These are some images we took that reflect the feel we want to create in our video. We may possibly use these on our digipack and poster, we will experiment with them and take more if needed.

Storyboarding

Possible images for the digipack and tour poster

I took some photographs of some flowers in my garden as they went with the hippy summery feel very well. The group also discussed about taking photos during the field scene in the video to use for the digipack or tour poster. We may also edit these photos on Corel Photo Paint.