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Thursday 14 December 2017

Film Trailer Rough Cut Feedback


The feedback that I gained from the class after having them watch my trailer, was that primarily I now need to work on adding sound and working it into my trailer to make it a more realistic horror trailer, as I have already a variety of visuals, however alongside this I am now aiming to work on the transitions of the shots as It is very jumpy to other shots I have filmed and added in because it doesn't work as well alongside the typical codes and conventions of a trailer. As I had only just begun adding in the text to trailer, I need to work on choosing a more suitable font to represent the horror genre, but for my rough cut I was only adding in these titles to experiment where I wanted them to be, as I have adapted my storyboard throughly to link more to the narrative of hansel and Gretel just a more modern day version horror. 



Thursday 30 November 2017

Purchased Items for my Trailer


For my trailer, In order to make it possible, I had to order an adapter to add attach it onto my tripod so that I was able to film with my iPhone landscape to be able to get good quality shots. Additionally I had to order a copy of Hansel and Gretel so that I was able to follow my storyboard realistically and include the props that I had planned to use in first place. Another thing that I had to order and invest my money into was having my photos printed by a company called Snap-fish so that they were high quality and could be used as props for my filming. I was able to order these in bulk to be able to represent the breadcrumbs of the Hansel and Gretel Story.

Saturday 25 November 2017

New Updated Storyboard


When revisiting my storyboard it was evident to see that my narrative had become lost in visuals and what I was overall trying to achieve as a horror genre film trailer, which meant that my trailer if I was to produce it in this order would become confusing and it wouldn't be clear to the target audience what my trailer is actually about. So I decided to take it back and make it more evident that I am trying to follow a modern day version of Hansel and Gretel, so I added in scenes at the beginning to have a woman reading to a child a traditional version of Hansel and Gretel. Additionally as my actor was no longer available for me to use, this meant I had to adapt my trailer further to consider using another actor that would have more availability for me to be able to film with.


When looking back at my decided shots I realised that as I don't have a completely trained acting dog that some of the shots I was trying to achieve would make my overall appearance of my trailer look very amateur as they wouldn't be completely perfect, and would mean that I would have to do a lot more editing in the long run to achieve my overall Idea. So I decided to remove the dog from the storyboard as the dog is no longer representing Gretel and I wanted to replace this with more representations of the Hansel and Gretel story itself and have more visual shots of the theoretical breadcrumbs which are being represented as photos from the stalker. And to incorporate my stalker elements further with elements of the keyboards being typed on to represent my idea further.


Continuing on from the stalker element idea, and linking it to Hansel and Gretel I want it to be evident that within the trailer that the dark room scenes that I am keeping are going to be within the Sweet Cabin that features in the original story. So from this I want to add in shots that are of a cabin in the woods, that goes against the typical representation of the cabin as it is a modern day version. This is footage that I will find on the internet and add into my trailer as I have to access to a cabin to be able to film around it, so it means that these shots will be quite limited, but I will be aiming to have the music and other visuals from within the cabin to draw this whole idea together.



Within the cabin shots, this is where my gore aspect will be focused as I will have shots that feature photos of 'Hansel' being developed in blood and lightbulbs smashing. Alongside this when editing I would like to add in fairy tale music that is going to emphasise my point throughout that this horror trailer is going to based on Hansel and Gretel so I want it have the childish eerie element to it. 


The woman reading the story of Hansel and Gretel is going to be a reoccurring element throughout the trailer alongside the trail of photos that is going to lead Hansel into the woods to discover that he is being stalked. But the story is evidently going to display both prospectives of the characters from both the protagonist and antagonist. 


As I am unable to get an actor to film my original scenes of my stalker, I had to again adapt these to take away from the visuals of the stalker and have it to be in more relation to the Hansel and Gretel story, as the trailer doesn't follow the story exactly, but does take specific elements of the story and present them visually to the target audience. In these scenes I wanted to add more of a childish eerie element to the trailer, as it plays into the psychological elements as from a children's fairy tale it is what is expected from the key codes and conventions.


Looking back at the scenes with the car that I had chosen to film, it was primarily because I wanted to film in a variety of locations to show the variety, however this played no relevance to my trailer, so instead of this I opted for having the little girl come back from the beginning of the trailer and sit on the floor with a music box that will be playing the stereotypical music. From this I thought about adding a jump scare into the storyboard as I wanted it to be audience engaging however I felt as though this would be a heavily predictable element to my trailer. 


I wanted to incorporate the little girl into my work further so I have taken out the shots of the stairs that I had originally planned to do with my old actor, and I have swapped these to have the little girl running through a park and alley and possibly under a street light to present the disorientation to the scenario, so not only do these give me a variety of locations but it is relevant as she is essentially running away from the idea of the fairy tale itself.  


In these shots, I have decided to use a lot more visuals of the Hansel and Gretel book which includes setting fire to the book and vandalising it to show that this horror isn't going to follow the suggested storyline, which is the reality of the scenario. For the editing process I want to have it including a montage aspect where the book pages that I have vandalised for the purpose of the trailer itself will flash up on the screen alongside it burning to give it a more original aspect. 


To reach an ending for my trailer, I want to have the male character realise that he is being stalked and follow the hypothetical breadcrumbs (Polaroid Photos) into the woods and it to be bought together at the end with a reoccurrence of the polaroid photos. 


Finishing the trailer completely I am going to include a shot of the cabin on a computer that is being filmed, then the camera is going to zoom out to reveal that it is a computer and then at the click of a mouse there is going to be the title page come up and the release date of the film. By having this aspect at the end, it is going to leave the audience questioning what just happened, so it will hopefully leave the target audience wanting to watch the full film.

Thursday 16 November 2017

Production Schedule Updated








Since my last upload of my Production Schedule, I have filmed some more footage that I am now able to edit in Final Cut Pro. The green is the footage that I have successfully filmed and that I am happy with. The blue color is stuff that I am yet to film or that will need re filming as it is not to a good enough standard, which is primarily the section where my 'Dark room' is in my trailer, but I am currently making progress with the fact that I have edited the first 30 seconds of my trailer. The footage I have left to film I am planning to shoot at the weekend so that I am finished with my filming and now will just need to edit my footage to have it following the same structure as my storyboard.

Wednesday 15 November 2017

Production Update: Beginning to put my trailer together


On Final Cut Pro, after collecting the majority of my footage I have begun the production process into creating my final outcome of a trailer. I have successfully been able to put together my first 30 seconds of my trailer with my edited footage, and have changed around my storyboard to make the footage flow with a more professional approach. I have experimented with transitions on the shots, so that they don't just abruptly change, they have transitions into the next shot. In addition to this, I have used filters subtly in my work to show the variety of things that I am aware of within the software. Once I have added in my footage and edited it to flow with my storyboard. I am then aiming to go over my footage and begin adding in non diegetic sound effects to bring in the horror atmosphere that is created. I also would like to do some further work into the transitions so that when I am in my exam there are a variety of things I can discuss that I have done within Final Cut Pro creatively to produce my finished trailer. 

Thursday 2 November 2017

Final Cut Pro Experimentation


In today's session, I have experimented with the software Final Cut Pro for the first time in order to gain an understanding of the software, to be able to create my psychological Horror trailer. I have learnt how to crop and select footage, to include in my trial to what I specifically wanted. Additionally I was able to experiment with overlaying filters to my work to give it a more realistic approach to what a horror film trailer is typically like. In the future, due to this experimentation lesson it means that I will be able to use my knowledge of short cut keys which are: Q, W, E to move the footage efficiently around the timeline instead of having to drag it on and disturb what I have already produced. Towards the end I also began experimenting with Sound effects within the software, to begin adding non diegetic sounds to my trailer, instead of the already existing audio. As the sound is a big part in the trailers, to create a specific atmosphere, I am planning to experiment further with the sound to try and find clips of sounds that will flow with my footage that I have filmed for the trailer, to substitute for the fact that I have a low budget and would not be able to include my actor talking as it could present my trailer to be unrealistic as they do not have the experience behind them for it to have an overall professional approach.

Wednesday 1 November 2017

Production Schedule (Updated)








I have color coordinated the work my production schedule in order for it to be more understandable for me to be able to see where I am at currently with my production. The shots that I have highlighted in red are shots that I am taking out of my trailer, due to trialing them and the shots not being successful or fitting to my trailer, so instead of this, I have opted for additional alternative shots that can explore my media skills further and some of these I have already filmed they just aren't mentioned in my production schedule yet as I am uncertain as to where I can put them to ensure that the trailer is still flowing and presenting the same original message.

The shots that I have highlighted in green are shots that I am happy with the way that they have turned out, when watching them back and I want to use my first time original footage, so it initially means that they are completely finished shots that will just need editing in final cut, and not redoing. 

Majority of the shots that are highlighted yellow I have trialed throughout my half term break and have realized that without a tripod the final produced piece is unrealistic to what I want to produce long term, so I am going to redo them, now using a tripod which I have opted to buying to make my trailer have a professional outlook to it. However I am not letting the footage I have captured go to waste, as I am going to use it to learn the software final cut pro so that I am still gaining experience in the mean time, whilst I am waiting to re-capture my footage.

Tuesday 24 October 2017

Distribution



Distribution:


Distribution is the way is the period of time that happens between the production and the overall release and exhibition of the film itself. It is what is considered the promotion of the product. Mass Market companies will distribute films out to their target audience as they already have a maintained reputation meaning that people will feel more encouraged to watch due that company being involved in the distribution of the product.

Distribution Vertically is under the control of one singular company (a conglomerate) and they are controlling the whole process - Production, Distribution, Exhibitions.Horizontal Integration is primarily where the process is a collaborative one, so one specific company isn't having full control over a certain stage of production or distribution the rights are shared.

Within the UK, the mass distributors are going to be who you would be in competition with if you are going to aim to get to the top within the industry for the UK. Warner Brothers, Twentieth Century Fox and Sony are examples of dominating distributors. However there are different types of distribution that occur: Local Distribution is limited to where your product is going to go, and evidently from the name is going to be local to where you are based. This is for lower budget producers and smaller companies that cannot afford the promotion to have their products go further. The local distribution could mean that they are released on DVD and possibly in local cinemas and online. 

Within distribution the company are going to have aims that they want to achieve and it is likely to be the amount of money that they want to receive in box office in the first weekend and then revenue overall. However this is going to depend on the media coverage and distribution factors as to how far it is going to be seen by people. The best times to release films are depending in the genre typically, but they are Fridays and weekends because this is the typical times where people will want to go out after school or after work, so by releasing your film now it provides convenience to these people. Seasons are also what can draw people in. If it is romance genre, it makes sense to have it released around valentines day so that people can go watch it as a date, either single or in their relationship. It is the same concept for Horror being released around Halloween and Christmas films being released at Christmas. Additionally some companies opt to having their films released around the time of the Oscars, or typically at film festivals so that it gets a vast amount of media coverage.

The advertising that companies do are categorized into either "Above the line" advertising or "Below the line." Above is considered to be the funded elements which are the trailers, Billboards and product promotions that link to your product. Such as Bridget Jones having competitions running whilst the film was in cinemas, to get a promotion for Muller, but also their film. Below is considered to be interviews with magazines and newspapers because they will be meeting with these people to gain positive reviews about the film and to ensure that the film is understood and that no bad press is coming out about the film that could put people off watching the film. 

The advertising aspect consists of: Posters, Advertisements on Social medias, Billboards ect.. There is also the trailer release on TV and Online or in cinemas or at the start of DVDs. Can also be at film premiers like previously stated, reward ceremonies and preview screenings. 

Digital distribution is where the product is released digitally. It is a safer method that avoids the idea of the product being damaged as it is sent electronically, it is a cheaper method and the only downside is piracy as people are able to leak the footage online easier instead of paying into services such as Netflix or Now TV to provide them with the footage.