The Poster

The Magazine Cover

The Trailer Editing

The first step after filming was to import the footage which we had filmed onto the computer. We used Apple macs for the editing process and the software which we used was called Premier Pro. With only being able to use one computer at a time to edit we both decided Sarah would be more useful operating the computer because she has more experience with this program and knows where everything is which would save time. At times when we worked alone we would take notes on what needed to be done and worked on those.

The footage was taken from the camera and put onto the computer, we copied onto the mac and Adobe premier pro was opened and imported the stream of clips. They were dragged onto the video bar and we started to cut and re-arrange clips, using the razor tool to cut and the selection tool to move them, the zoom in and out made for more precise.

To make clips shorter Sarah used the rate stretch tool to shorten the length of the clip, this can be used to lengthen clips too.

To insert a title.


At the start of most trailers there is an image which tells the audience the trailer is able to be viewed by anyone or a specific age group. We called it the green screen. To capture the green screen, we found a trailer on Youtube and paused it at the right point. For the best image we made the video full screen and made a screen dump by pressing Shift+Apple Key+4. The image saves onto the desktop where Sarah imported it, dragged it to video bar before adjusting the size and rendering it.


A convention found commonly in horror films is a fade to black transition and we used this a lot in the start when introducing the poison pen captions. This was achieved by selecting video transitions > dissolve > dip to black.

To get an audio track for our trailer we used a converter which converts videos on YouTube into mp3 format so it can be used as a music track. This is downloaded as a file which we imported to Premier Pro and added it to the audio bar so it plays whilst the trailer plays. Like the footage we were able to click and drag the audio to determine when it starts. The music enters after the Bruckheimer Films clip. The audio we chose to use was an Evanescense instrumental.

To create the typewriter effect on the 'SCORPION EYE' we had to create 12 different frames each with an added letter until it eventually spelled 'SCORPION EYE' we had to make sure the letters didn't move too much from the frame before but some movement was good because it makes it seem more jumpy.

The Poster Editing

Step 1: Background

Before we started filming, we went out and took

photos of the area which the film would be set in. We thought this would help inspire our plot. After looking through these photos for one which would be suitable for a background we found one. It shows a long path leading into the darkness and is framed by trees and overgrown shrubbery. (This photo can be found on the setting section earlier in this blog)

We decided that the general colour

scheme of our poster should be predominantly blue and white to create an eerie moonlit feel.

To make the photograph more suitable I adjusted the hue and saturation of the photo and tinted it blue. At this stage the photo seemed too light so I made a black background and adjusted the opacity to about 26% then added a dark vignette border which is common in a lot of horror film posters and can give the effect of something emerging from the darkness. This will also help the main image of the protagonist stand out.

Step 2: Protagonist and intruder photos

In the last day of filming

we took photos of the two main people in this film. The main protagonist who is played by Helen Palmer and the intruder portrayed by Joe Phipps. We took a lot of different photos and out of about 20 we decided this one was best for Helen's character. Her face is serious and looks directly into the camera, her hair is messy but is kept out of her face so it stands out more. The eye make-up is smudged and uneven to give the impression she has been crying or panicking. Firstly, I used the magic wand tool to remove as much of the background as possible which was easy because of the contrast of dark hair on a yellow wall. I then cut around more precisely with the lasso tool with a high feather so her hair blends into the dark background and looks as realistic as possible.

These three images show the stages of development from the original cut out of Helen to the one which we used on the poster. In the second image I used the clarify tool and set the maximum number of 20.0 which emphasises the shadows which were already there making her face look slightly more sunken. I then duplicated the layer, added a blue hue then altered the opacity to very low so the skin seems pale and cold. In the final image I have used the warp brush to make her head narrower and a darkening brush under the eyes and on the cheek bones to give a gaunt almost skeletal look. The corners of her mouth have been altered to remove any hint of smile that might have been in the photo and her lips have been made pale and thin.

The Print Section

This is a collage of 8 different posters for different horror films. A very prominent similarity is the picture of a face in the center of the poster. Apart from number 4, 5 and 7 not a lot of action is happening and the effect this gives is eerie and silent. In these exceptions the face is still centred in the poster layout but instead of a calm expression fear is shown which could possibly mean it is less of a psychological and thought provoking film and just a more obviously scary film. Apart from number 4, all 7 of the photos have the subject looking straight into the camera. Even the images without eyes, because of the positioning of the photo we can imagine eyes looking straight at us, it can be unsettling to think of what can be lurking in the darkness of the eye sockets. In number 2 the lack of a mouth and eyes (the main features that portray emotion) create an extremely sinister image with a face that lacks a conscience or emotion.

The title in all of these posters is at the bottom below the image of the face and above the film credits. This is so the face grabs the attention of the reader first and then their eyes are drawn downwards like reading a piece of paper, to the title of the film which uses it's own unique font to stick in the mind of viewers. A unique aspect of the Friday 13th poster (number 2) is the fact that instead of the title of the film, it just says the release date which is in fact Friday February 13th. Strongly linking the audience with the film because the day that most of them will see it will be the day it is set on.

The Re-shoot Schedule

1. Chase scene through forest path

Too shaky because filming running alongside actor.

NEXT TIME: Film long shot and have actors run towards camera.

RE-SHOOT: 25th November 2010 3:30pm - 4:00pm (beginning to get dark)

2. Break in scene

Continuity error, door wasn't open enough in one shot, next shot the door was too open.

NEXT TIME: Film both scenes and have door open all the way in each then match during editing

RE-SHOOT: 25th November 2010 6:00pm (completely dark)

3. Running out of house

Reflection of person filming in front window.

NEXT TIME: Film from an angle which doesn't reflect in the window and for the shot directly in front of the window use tripod and stand away. Tripod is less obvious and can hardly be seen

RE-SHOOT: 25th November 2010 6:10 (completely dark)

4. Restless sleep

Doesn't look realistic.

NEXT TIME: Take some practice shots judge what needs to be different, and mess up hair.

RE-SHOOT: 25th November 2010 6:30 (can't see outside so time is not essential)

5. Blurry waking up shot

Unable to shoot because actor is unavailable

NEXT TIME: Use look alike, someone with same build and size. Make sure the camera doesn't focus enough to see detail

RE-SHOOT: 25th November 2010 6:45

The Filming Schedule

October 12th

• Film the setting in day and night
• Forest area to set scene in during the trailer.
• Use pans and zooms.
• Must Be slow to create an eerie feel.
• No actors needed.

October 13th

• Re shoot night setting earlier (at dusk) not sufficient lighting to shoot in darkness

October 29th

• Film front door scenes with protagonist (Still camera looking at door slight tilt to represent something unusual)
• Pick up mail montage, change appearance of arm so it looks like its on different days (Close up on mail, only see hand and wrist)
• Reading letters and putting on the table. (Over shoulder shot then short pan around to see table)
• Actors needed - Helen Palmer

November 14th

• Film the break in
• Gloved hand opening door shot from inside and outside (Pan from letters on table to door, close up on door handle)
• Pick up knife (Close up on knife block, slowly pulls out menacing blade)
• Shadow in frosted glass door (Similar to front door shot static camera, bright kitchen light contrast with dark figure)
• Protagonist wake up shock (Point of view shot from the intruder looking at protagonist, point of view shot from protagonist at intruder, blurry to show awakening from deep sleep)
• Also film alcohol sequence where actor slams a bottle of drink down on a table and rolls over asleep. Under the influence = Vulnerable (shot from the level of the protagonist on the couch. Camera pointing at where the bottle will be put down)
• Actors needed - Helen Palmer, Joe Phipps

November 20th

• Chase scenes through forest (tracking shot of both protagonist and intruder)
• Running out of the house (shot from front, back and side to get different angles of running to, away and past the camera)
• Take photos for poster, magazine and other print advertising.

The Target Audience

Our film will have an age certificate of 15 and the audience we expect to draw in are male and female teenagers and adults between about 15 and 25. The characters in the story are young adults which the target audience can relate too. Also the plot is relatively simple so will not require a lot of thinking which can put a lot of people off watching a film. To attract this kind of audience, the trailer has shown parts of the film with action and thus created a quick paced exciting advert as opposed to a slower more explanatory trailer which one might expect on a more mature film aimed at older adults. This trailer will predominantly be shown in late afternoon to evening in between shows like X Factor, Misfits and other highly rated television programs and channels like E4, which the intended age group are likely to watch and conveniently released during winter when this age group are looking for things to do that don't mean being outside in the cold weather.

The Trailer Research

There are many things which are essential in a movie trailer. The intention of film advertising is to grab the publics attention and make them want to watch it. Product placement like posters and billboards do not need to give much information but must invite the viewer to find out more about it via magazine articles or the film website, the address of which should be shown on everything, from the poster, bus adverts and the trailer itself.

Unique Selling Point

Our film must have a Unique Selling Point (USP) which is a feature or style used to make our film exceptional and unrivaled by any others in the genre. The story-line should be original and although the film should follow conventions it should have it's own individual flair which can be achieved through location, filming style and actors.

Advertising Competition

The poster and general film image must compete with hundreds of other adverts, posters and magazine articles and there must be something that makes ours stand out. Each poster usually gets about 3-4 seconds of viewing time by each person as they walk past. Sometimes people wont even notice it but there has to be something which makes them at least take in the name of the film. The font is a very important factor of the house style and there should be as few as possible used.

The Mood Board

The Setting

The film trailer will predominantly be set in this kind of environment, surrounded by untamed trees which although still have vibrant green foliage will make the area much more enclosed and block out light from the surrounding area more than bare trees and branches would. The rickety old wooden gate that leads to nowhere further enforces the idea that no one has been here in a long time and if something was to happen it would be a while before anyone discovered anything.

This is a narrow path which leads into total darkness, the overgrown trees would frame the shot if we wanted a person running into it and also close in on the protagonist the further down the path they run. This would be difficult to illuminate in the darkness so we would need to film at dusk when it is light enough to see but not broad daylight. We could darken the film later in the editing process to make it more eerie. The leaves on the trees and the moss on the bare branches gives the whole frame an eerie green glow.

In my previous photo analysis' at the start of the project I mentioned how the colour or brightness of a light can change the mood of the shot. The same theory is applied here with the colour of the surroundings.

Most of the trailer trailer will be set in a house, there is nothing unusual about it. It is a regular home where the protagonist can feel safe and puts the audience in a false sense of security as she goes through her daily routine of coming back from work and picking up her mail. The disruption to the routine when she receives strange letters is something that could easily happen to anyone and makes this film more frightening than if it were happing somewhere or to someone unusual and this can sit in the mind of the audience throughout the film.

The Detailed StoryBoard

The Basic StoryBoard

The main characters in my trailer include the film protagonist (a female), the bartender (a male) and an evil presence (either human or spiritual). Other people in the trailer will include the extras which will play the part of other previous victims. The trailer will show flashes of these victims in parallel with the main female character.

The main protagonist is shown in a bar ordering drinks. She is drunk and the barman tells her she has had to much.

He proceeds to warn her that she could get hurt in the state she's in but when she refuses to listen he begins to tell her a story about people who have previously mysteriously disappeared after leaving the pub in such a state.

As he tells the story the trailer shows all the events which he talks about, happening to the woman who he is talking to. The barman then becomes the narrator of the trailer dictating the horrifying situations the woman finds herself in. It is around this point that the pace of the trailer quickens and suspense begins to build.

Pans and flashes of an eerie looking house set the scene for where the film is set, the trailer will give the idea that this is in the middle of nowhere and any help the woman hopes to find is inside this house.

The shot shows the protagonist running down a road through thick trees, during the shot there are several flashbacks of the same thing happening to other people, these will be distinguished by an effect like sepia or be made blurry.

An ironic shot of the girl telling her another person she knows that she'll be ok, shown quickly between screaming and running and flashes of trees and fast breathing.

A person standing on the wrong side of a bridge looking scared as though they are about to jump but not really wanting to. Sobbing noises, maybe a desperate but quiet plea for help.

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She turns around and walks out of the pub as the doors close a bolt of lightning flashes and the screen goes black. After which the title of the film appears as well as credits and a website.

The Detailed Analysis

I have been asked to use a trailer which fits my chosen genre and analyze it in detail, commenting on the narrative, mise en scene, camera angles, dialogue and setting. The film trailer I have chosen to analyze is 'The Others' because it follows conventions seen in most films.

Sight

The trailer begins with the green screen telling the viewers that it has been approved for all audiences. Following this is the company logo which fades in from black. The fade from black is a common transition in the horror/thriller genre because a main characteristic is something slowly appearing from the blackness and is used a lot throughout this trailer, it gives the trailer a pulse which speeds up as the trailer progresses subconsciously causing the heartbeat of the audience to speed up. The first shot of the film shows a foggy setting with a bare twisted tree branch reaching across the top half the shot framing the mansion behind as if it was trapped or being grabbed which represents the evil presence which grasps the house, the mansion is barely visible behind the thick fog with connotes an air of mystery surrounding it. This immediately tells us the genre of the film is horror. The next shot is that of the inside of the house. A quick pan across a staircase further increases our idea of where this film is being set.

The next sequence of shots introduces the main characters into the plot, starting with the woman who we presume owns the house. The next people introduced are the housekeepers, we see that the woman and the older female housekeeper stand in exactly the same position with their hands held in front of them which suggests the two will have a stronger link than house owner and house keeper. Next the children are introduced, dressed in white which contrasts with the dark surroundings, this gives them an angelic or ghostly persona.

After the introduction of the main characters the relationship between these characters is established to the audience. Primarily, the conversation between the two children and the nanny is used to show how the children are undecided of the new nanny. The code of expression for the next few shots shows uncertainty between the children and the nanny, the mother and the nanny and the fear from the young boy contrasting with the confidence of the young girl when the curtains are flung open in the bedroom.

The lighting throughout the whole trailer is overall, very dull and orange. This creates the effect of candle light and positioning of the light casts long shadows across the set, further adding to the creepy mysterious aura which has been made. In some shots, the lighting produces a chiaroscuro like effect on the faces of the protagonists, a style which has been taken from film noir and used to emphasise the untrustworthiness and mysteriousness of the situation.

During the climactic scenes instead of fading through black the shots quickly flash white between each other perhaps symbolising lightning or even flashes through time as the trailer flicks backwards and forwards through the storyline. At the end after the suspense falls we see the film title then a girl sitting playing with a puppet. The puppet suggests she has control over something and she hums eerily. As the camera cuts from the mother and back to the girl we see she is dressed in a white dress symbolising purity and innocence but also giving her a ghostly appearance which contrasts with the innocence and creates an extremely eerie scene.

Sound

"Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin."

The first thing we hear is a woman's voice ask this question as if she is about to tell a bedtime story. This is ironic because bedtime story's are meant to put children at ease before they sleep but the eerie way in which she says it makes the audience uneasy and the opposite of comfortable. The music starts immediately after, it does not fade in, it just begins on the first shot of the tree branch and the house. In this trailer there is a lot of dialogue which is uncommon in horror films. Usually horror trailers are based on the visual aspect of the film whereas much of the information about the film is given through the conversations between the different characters. The section in the middle of the trailer from about in most of the trailer there is very little music, however there is a lot of eerie sound effects like howling wind and creaking doors. All stereotypical of the genre. As the exposition progresses the more frequent the sound effects become building up tension until a crescendo where the characters are seen frantically running and panicking. There is a faint tune in the background but is barely audible above the shouting, running and banging which is being played louder in the action part. Suddenly the crashing stops and everything turns calm. The housekeeper says "sooner or later, they'll find you" an eerie sentence which sticks in the audiences head because of the silence it broke. A flickering sound is heard as the film title appears which is followed by a ghostly humming by a little girl. In this context it sounds sinister and creepy and the audience know that she's no ordinary girl.

The Second Grid of 9

Edward Scissorhands

Watch the Edward Scissorhands trailer here

The Grid of 9

Final Destination 2

Watch the Final Destination 2 trailer here

The Stairwell Photos

Photo Analysis:

Task 1

We were given the task of taking photos which had to resemble a small line drawing. Our drawing showed a high angle shot looking down on someone walking up the stairs. These are the photos we took and a small analysis of each one.

Model: Ella

This is the first photo we took, this is an image of Ella running up the stairs. The picture is very clear and it shows an action in the process, however the drawing we were given showed a person walking holding on the banisters, also the drawing showed the staircase to be narrower and the one in this image is quite wide.

The next photo shows Ella on a more narrow staircase and this time her hands are holding onto the banisters at either side. However she is looking away from the camera in this shot and the drawing specified that she should be looking in the direction of the camera.

This is the third and final shot of Ella climbing the staircases for this task and this one is almost exactly what was specified by the drawing. She is walking up the stairs, looking directly at the camera and her hands are holding onto the banister. I like the way the staircase winds down below her, however close up this picture is blurred because the flash was turned off.

Task 2

Next we were asked to use the original idea of someone walking upstairs but use different angles and positions to try to make the photo more interesting. These are some of the photos we took and a small analysis of each one.

Model: Ella

This is the first photo and was taken at the top of a 2 storey staircase, as Ella climbs up from the ground floor I am standing on the 2nd floor and the camera is looking directly down on her. This is quite a common shot especially in horror films when the protagonist is being followed .

This picture has been taken at a very low angle, looking up at Ella climbing the stairs, because of the angle of which this picture has been taken the direction of the stairs at first appear to be going downwards. This photo is disorientating and is would mainly be used in a horror film if the protagonist was following something or walking towards something dangerous or maybe even used in a dream situation.

This shot is completely different to all the others. This has been taken in a very low position with a close up of the legs and feet centred in the middle of the frame. The identity of the person is unknown and this type of shot might be used to either focus on the fact that the person is running or creeping etc, or the actual staircase, whether it be modern and shiny or a dingy stairwell. The staircase used here has gaps between each step which lets the bright light from behind shine through which gives this picture a more positive feel. This could be changed to show a person behind the stairs or even a different colour or brightness of light to set a different mood for example a dim swinging light which would cast eerie moving shadows on the staircase.

The Intro

I'm Kris Hanson, This is my A2 media blog. This years project involves me working in a group creating either a movie teaser trailer or a music video. I will use the grid of 9 to analyse videos so I am more aware of conventions used.