FINAL PRODUCTS

MOVIE POSTER

MOVIE MAGAZINE COVER



MOVIE TEASER TRAILER

LOVE NEVER LEAVES - Cleo Higgins A2 Trailer from edmundsmedia on Vimeo.

4. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

Here you can see all of the different technologies that I have used.

1. The first image is of the tripod that I used. I found this incredibly helpful in taking shots that do not look like a home-movie. They came out smooth and clear with the help from this, also the panning shot of the army officials taking away the male protagonist looked effortless with the help of the tripod. 

2. The next image is of the computer I used. For my media publications I decided to use, as mentioned before, a mac book. This was because these computers have the technology on them, e.g iMovie, that enable you to easily and quickly edit movies to create an end product that is of the highest possible quality. Without the use of this computer I would not have been able to complete any of the research planning or evaluation parts of the end product. I may have had to hand write the information that I needed to keep, which would have also meant that I would not have been able to use any of the other technologies listed, blogger, google, photo shop, video studio, iMovie, and also the digital camera. The whole process would have been far more time consuming and would have most probably that I would end up with an end product that isn't of a very high quality.

3. The next image is the Blogger sign. From using Blogger I have been able to document my progress, the troubles and changes I have needed to make, and the entire process of creating a promotional package for a film. I have also learnt that looking at other peoples problems, through their blogs has helped me with my own project. In the same way I have also been able to gain inspiration from others blogs for example embedding YouTube clips. When I began using blogger I did not even know this was possible, but from looking at other blogs I found that this was a useful tool and made the entire project more animated and therefore more user friendly. Without Blogger I would have had to either hand write each post which would have meant that if I wanted to edit a post I would have had to re-do the entire text. Alternatively I would have had to type each one as a word document. This would have also been more time consuming as each post would have to be saved individually and also printed out which would have been wasteful and time consuming. It probably would have also meant that I would not be able to do as many posts and show my research, planning and evaluation stages as thoroughly as I have.

4. The next image is the 'Google' sign. I have used google from the beginning of my project. I used this to research my genre, and find websites e.g imbd.com, which are incredibly helpful in aiding the research and planning process. Google is a search engine which enables you to type in key words that you type in to find out about a certain subject. Google then takes less than a second to go through every page available on the website and prioritises each website according to relevance to the key words I typed in. This was incredibly useful in the research stage as I was able to find out a lot about the conventions of romantic movies, I was able to google reviews for movies of similar genre's which gave me far more information that I needed for my research section. Without the help of google I would have had to use books and search for references in individual books which would have been time consuming and could be completely un-useful. Google enables you to search through millions of pages that have the similar relevance as what you are looking for which ultimately leads to a better quality production and a better understanding of your target audience and the genre you are looking for.

5. The next image is of the still camera I used. This is a Nikon D50 SLR. This camera is incredibly useful, it takes high quality shots and is easy to use. From using this I was able to learn the extent of the effects of different lighting's which was very important for the end product in creating an image that suited the rest of the project. I was also able to quickly take pictures and view them on a computer. The use of a digital camera was very important when taking the pictures for my poster and magazine cover. It enabled you to instantly view the picture and know whether or not you needed to take more pictures or not. The use of the camera also does not need to develop each picture. If a different camera was used I may have had to use a dark room and develop each picture individually only to find the two shots that I really wanted to use. This would have been terribly time consuming and would have also meant that I would not know until all the developing was done whether I had the required picture or not.

6. The next image is of Corel Video Studio pro 12. This is the program that my school has on all of the computers, so I used this program to edit the interview recordings. This enabled me to cut the shots to edit any un-useful parts and to change the sequence in order for the audience watching the interviews not to get bored of watching the same person for a long period of time. Through the use of this technology I was able to quickly cut frames out of the interviews and move them around (cut and paste) which would have other wise been very difficult without another movie program. I was also able to edit the sound quality to make it louder or more clear in order for the end user to understand the speaker more easily.

7. The next image is of iMovie. Deciding to use iMovie instead of Corel Video Studio was a very good decision for me. I found iMovie so easy to use and so easy to add in effects that you never even knew were possible. I was able to learn how to change the brightness and hue of all of the shots, I was able to change sound levels to enable gun shooting sounds to be heard in the shots of the male protagonist on the front line, and I was also able to quickly and easily edit my sound track to fit with the background music, but also so that it ran smoothly. Just through playing around with the different features that iMovie comes with you learn so much and the ease of use that it has makes it incredibly easy to go back and change or to do again to other shots. All in all I learnt a lot from iMovie and I think using this programme benefited the end product of the film teaser trailer. Without the use of the iMovie programme I would not have been able to edit the film trailer as easily as I was able to do. Otherwise I would have had to use a film reel which would have had to be hand cut and pasted together, this would have been incredibly time consuming and would have required a skill which I would have had to learn before beginning the editing of the trailer.

8. The final image is of the Panasonic SDR S50 that I used to shoot the clips that make up the trailer. I found this very easy to use and was very helpful in reviewing clips before actually putting them onto the computer to edit. The flip out screen is very clear and I also found that you could take stills with the camera. Although I did not actually use any in the end product I did find that this was very useful to look back at the different sections of filming. I have found the use of the digital camcorder very useful in being able to look back at the scenes just filmed and being able to analyse whether a second third or even fouth take needs to be done immediatly. Without this the filming process may have been extended and it could have resulted in filming the same scene repeatedly on different occassions which would have caused tension among the people involved.

Another programme I used, which isnt featured in the collage above was Photoshop. I used photoshop to edit and improve the images used on the Movie Poster and Movie magazine. With photoshop I was able to learn how to improve the colourings of the picture, make it clearer, brighter, and more appealing to the eye. I learnt how to use the background eraser to move them to different landscapes or other backgrounds. Without the use of tools like this I would have strugggled to create the finish that I have now. I would not have been able to edit any of the pictures used which would have meant I would have had to take pictures which were perfect all over, which would have ben very time consuming and difficult to achieve.

3. What Have You Learnt From Your Audience Feedback?

As well as this, as you may have already read, I have also asked different people for their comments and suggestions to see what is good and bad about the different aspects of the promotional package.

After looking at this interview and the comments I have received back, I have found that as a promotional package, the film trailer, Magazine Cover and Poster all work really well together. They create an identity and a branding that would set the film apart and recognisable. I have also found that this 'branding' attracts people to the film, it makes the audience recognise what is unique about your film, or your 'USP', and it is this identifiable aspect which attratcs audiences and allows them to notice the film much better. As I went through the filming process also, I found that it is important to listen to everyone's opinions as although it may be difficult to change a fixed idea, sometimes their ideas may be better, and will add to the end product. You may have seen this from the video I have posted earlier.

2. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

As you can see all of these shots proove that the main product and ancillary texts are all linked and all create one promotional package. I have repeated the style, font and colours of the text throughout the productions, and I think that this has wroked really well in creating a proffessional looking end product, and creates an identifiable film that my target audience will be able to recognise. The text on the film trailer is identicle to that on the movie poster, which I think has worked really well, and when I was looking at other movie magazines, I found that the magazines would not use the text that would have been used on the trialer, film or movie poster. Instead that I have found that by staggering the text in the same way, I made the text the focus on the page, and also tried to make it identifiable to the rest of the promotional package, I think it is fair to say that I have manged to do this successfully. Also the images I have used on the movie poster and on the magazine you can see are similar to shots taken from the film teaser trailer. This again creates a package that audiences can realte to and without knowing the name of the trailer they should be able to suggest that this trailer is related to the poster and the article in the magazine. All in all I think it is fair to say that the combination of products I have produced are all combined and related making the promotional package as a whole very effective.

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products? (i.e of film trailers)

Picture 1. This is for costumes. This is very conventional of films to do with war, to have characters in army costumes. For example, in the film Dear John, the male protagonist is also pictured in army costume as he leaves his loved one when he had to go to the army. I chose this as an example of how the costumes I used was representative of the conventions of a romantic movie trailer as it is an image in both American and English movies which is very emotional to a wide range of audiences. Throughout my movie i also used the female protagonist in a simple dress and black cardigan and the boy also just in jeans and a smart shirt, I chose these as the outfits they were is supposed to make them closer to the audience making them more like you or I. This is also another convention of a romantic film.  



As you can see from this shot from the notebook, the characters are not wearing anything that is exaggerated, they are both wearing plain colours, with minimal detail. I have shown this in my trailer when they wear the un-formal clothes.

Picture 2. This image represents the title, fonts and styles I have used. As you will see from my poster, I have used the same colours and style throughout the trailer too. This creates a kind of identity and brand for the film. This is something which is seen across all kinds of films, it allows the audience to be able to identify a film, and even in some circumstances its genre just through the style of the titles.

As you can see from this poster, the titles are very similar to the trailer. This brings the two together and makes it have one identity or one branding that is easily recognisable from other films of the same genre. I think I have managed to do this very successfully, and in the end I have been able to create a brand through my media products which will be far more of a successful promotional campaign compared to if I had not have done this.

If you compare the title on my poster, to the screenshot of the title in my film which is shown above you see that the two styles are similar which makes it clear that the two projects are joined or are about the same end product.

Picture 3 & picture 4. These images represent the story that the trailer sets up for us, which makes us want to watch the end product. The first of these images, picture 3, shows how the trailer informs the audience that it is a love story, which will be the main focus of the end product. The second picture of the two, picture 4 represents the military side to the plot. This is another main focus but the two story lines in the trailer are both un finished and to a certain extent untold, this makes us want to watch the film as we don't know what happens or how it ends. When I carried out some audience feedback I found that a lot of people said that they would go and watch the film on the basis that they don't know what happens and they don't know how it ends. This means that the trailer does its job very well. The poster, I think does this very well also. It shows that the two are clearly together, but the man is in military clothing, which, as a result, puts a lot of questions in the audiences head. These questions will encourage the audience then to go ahead and look at the end product.

Picture 5. This image shows the Title of the film, 'Love Never Leaves'. You can see how I have created a parallel between the text in the trailer, and the text on the movie poster. This is conventional of most films as it enables the promotional package to be identifiable by their target audience. I used the black and pink colours as they stood out from the shot and from the page, but also still reflected the mood and image of the trailer and the film.

Picture 6 & picture 7. These images represent the location used for the filming of the trailer. The house i used for the outside house shots and the inside shots was a barn, as I wanted the film to be set in the country side, in a rural area and I think that this kind of barn I used represents this well. Other movies of this genre do not necessarily have to be set in a rural area, in fact many are set in towns or busy areas, but for my film a rural area seemed to be more suitable. I think also this would make my end product stand out from other romantic movies as this may not necessarily be typical of others of this genre. The second location shot was of the field we used for the army shots. This was a plain field which is used to reflect an army situation. There are no real conventions for an army scene, some will be full of explosions gun shots and dead bodies laying around, and others could be sitting in a trench or cave waiting for the next push.

Picture 8. This image represents the Genre. It is a tale of two people in love. I think I have been able to clearly signify this through all of the media products I have produced. Throughout the trailer I used images of them in an embrace, I also tried to get shots of the sadness that was evoked when the central male protagonist had to leave, and I think I managed to convey the message of romance very well. Other romantic films like Dear John and the Last Song have other moments like this:

From these shots you can see how the close shots really make it clear what genre you are trying to create, and as you can see I have followed the conventions of this genre in this case.

Picture 9 & picture 10. These shots represent the Introduction of the characters. In my trailer I only really introduce the two central protagonists, Georgia Higgins and Max Nordigian. In many films I have looked at the introduction to the actors which will be in the film comes towards the ends of the trailer, in order to allow the audience to see what the film is about firstly and then secondly entice them further with the acknowledgement of the characters used in the film. In my trailer however I introduce the characters pretty early on. I done this in order to entice the audience into watching the film straight away as they recognise the characters in the film and therefore want to see that film because they are fans of their films. I first of all took a shot of the characters name, e.g Georgia Higgins, and then used a shot of the actor. As you can see from the trailer.

Picture 11. This image represents the editing I used. In the editing process I kept the effects I used minimal in order to create a simple trailer, that wasn't over complicated and yet still enables the audience to understand what the kind of film this was going to be. For some of the transitions from shot to shot, I used fade in / fade out. This creates a smooth transition rather than a solid harsh one where it just jumps to the next frame. I have noticed that this is quite conventional of other romantic movie trailers, but not necessarily other genre trailers like horror trailers.

These shots from The last song and the Notebook, show how they too use fade transitions. 

Looking at Others Projects

Brendan's A2 Media Blog.

I looked at this blog because although it is not the asme genre as my movie, I thought that by looking at another person's blog I could compare what I have done with what they have done and see what extra things I could do in order to make my promotional package the bets it can be.

Strengths:
1. This person's photoshop skills are really good and clearly he enjoys doing this kind of thing, which pays off as the final product is clearly of a proffesional standard.

2. The overlapping sounds are really effective in making the audience on edge, it evokes a scared emotion in all who watch without even something scary happening at this point.

3. The light that moves but just allows you to see the moving hand is incredibly scary and really makes this trailer believable and makes you want to watch it.

4. The shaking camera is brillient and makes it as though even you as an audience are in trouble.

5. The bloody hand that runs down the wall is very creepy and fits well with the magazine cover.

6. The squiffy screen that looks like its on a t v is really good and effective. in many ways it reminds me of the ring, but this trailer is very unlike the ring and therefore makes this film trailer very different.

7. The heart beat moniter sound effects are really good in keeping with the title, and it makes sure that the trailer doesnt drift away from the theme of the movie.

8. As an audience you dont really know what the story is about, which therefore makes you want to go and see the movie to find out why this person seems to be demented or strange, this makes this trailer very effective.

9. The movie poster is very effective in making it clear that it is a gory and bloody film. it fits really well in the trailer and also with the magazine cover. All in all the poster is very effective and attracts the appropriate target audience.

10. I like the way the subheadings on the magazine are layed out, it creates a magazine that fits well with a movie like this one.

Weaknesses:
1. The scream in the trailer doesnt really fit the sound of the scream, this could make it seem unrealistic.

Other than this though I think the whole package is very successful and very impressive.

http://enorfmcmanusb.blogspot.com/search/label/A.%20Final%20Product%3A%20main%20product

Above is the address for the blog that the Brenden's project is on.

And here is the Trailer:

Gun

You may have seen this shot in the trailer, This is actually a plastic gun and there was no danger to any of the people around or any of the actors when this was being filmed. However it is important to remember that although it is fake it does look very realistic and adds to the scene very well.

Music

I had previously decided that I was going to use a Florence and the Machine song. However, I have found that the song that works much better in my case is Ellie Goulding's 'Your Song'. This song works really well I think, as it fits perfectly with the transition of the shots. However I have found that I am going to have to change the music soundtrack as it could breech copywright laws. As an alternative I have decided to look for either an instrumental, or maybe another version of the same song. It is unfortuante to not be able to use this song however it would not be able to work or be used if this trailer was actually going to be used on TV or in the cinema.

Trailer

This was the version of my film trailer that I have showed to the people who gave me comments.

After showing it to some more people I will do the following changes to my film trailer:

1. I will remove the shot of the female protagonist as it zzoms in as it appears to show her laughing.

2. I will also hold the shot of the two army officials for longer, to establish them as characters.

3. I will also add in titles of the two main characters, Georgia Higgins. It is also worth mentioning at this point that I have changed the character names on the movie poster. it now says Steven Thurley, Georgia Higgins and Max Nordigian.

4. I am also going to have to look at the music of my film, as currently there could be a copywright problem with the 'Your Song' music I have got in the background. As an alternative I will look for a non-copywright instrumental version or another version of the same song that is not under any copywright laws.

5. I will also remove the repeated close up shot of the two as it is unecesasry and looks repeptitive.

Audience's feedback on Film Trailer

1. Cleo, Very Good well-paced movie which you've filmed thoughtfully. The genre is clear, the characters edfined, the soundtrack appropriate. Titles are attractive and well placed. Well done. (Mr Breese - Teacher)

2. I liked the music, the trailer was very moving and did make me want to watch it. Although it seemed like your sister was laughing when the male protagonist got taken but apart from that it is very good. (Harry White)

3. Very Good. I thought that the use of captions was good, and I could easily follow what the film concerned. I liked it, and i would definatly go to see the movie. (George Hopkin)

4. Good Soundtrack. Good shots. I like the fact that the door opens on the girl and you see her reaction to seeing the man and how the door opens the second time and you think its for another good thing but it turns out to be opened for the army who are going to pose a problem to that love. The only negative is the smiling girl when shes meant to be sad but its not very obvious so its fine. (Oli Adewusi)

5. The add displayed a clear anf effective juxtaposition of the military/ war and then the tenderness of the relationship shown in the music etc. The fade effect used on the text inbetween clips blended very well with the overall feel of the film. It leaves you wanting to know the outcome and already evokes empathy for the characters situation.(Grant Sterry)

To get these reactions to my film i simply used an opportunity sample of who was available to look at the film at the specific moment in time. I am aware thast therefore this may not be representative of my target audience so I will be conducting further audience feedback research to develop a cleare understanding of the pros and cons of my movie trailer.

Help From The Actors

sorry for the swearing.

Filming Part One

I have now completed all of the film clips that I had set out to do, on my shooting plan. I found when I was doing this that the other people around you, the actors, could help you with shots, telling you what might look better, or what could be done differently. This was very useful in the sense that I had given myself a firm image in my mind of what each shot would look like, having other people tell you what might look better made it easier for me to look at alternative ways to shoot each clip. This will mean that the actual shots themselves might be slightly different to what we had originally anticipated, however the main effect of the story will remain the same. The only thing that has really changed are the camera angles.

iMovie

As I previously mentioned, I have decided to use iMovie on an Apple Mac computer, here are the reasons why I have decided to do this:

1. It is a great editing tool to useto create a movie.

2. iMovie allows you to easily add music, effects, title, graphics, voice over and transitions to create a polished looking movie very quickly and effectivley.

3. It is easy to share that movie. it has one click exports for iTunes, iPhone and YouTube, meaning that I will be able to upload my video to YouTube to gather peoples opinoins on the end product and whether I need to change any of the trailer, to recieve feedback and critical opinoins of what the general public think.

4. The user interface is in one window, which is split into five sections:

5. The project library, allows you to open and work on more than one movie/ film/ trailer at any one time, which are all clearly visible in the project library.

6. The project Storyboard, here you create your movie and are able to easily add new sections of video, move things around and make video clips longer or shorter,

7. The viewer, this is where you view all of your video, you can watch here the movie itself or individual clips that are in your movie, or clips that you are considering to add to your movie. This is very useful in ensuring that you are putting clips in the right sequence and it is large enough to notice problems or other flaws that will need to be rectified.

8. The event library, this groups all of your video clips usually based on the time they were added/taken. This is very useful as it enables you to automatically see what clips you have taken and orders them in a systematic fashion. For the camera that I am using, it enables me to group the clips i take into an order that i will be able to quickly find and locate in order to add and adapt to the final movie cut.

9. The event browser, this shows all of the clips that you have taken, which are in the event you selected from the event library, Here you are able to preview and selected the clips you want in the final movie, in order to determine that you are choosing the correct ones suited for the film. Each clip is disblayed in an easy layout, in the form of a film strip.

10. The toolbar, which is in the middle of the screen as a splitter for the five sections, The toolbar allows you to easily add voice overs, effects, transitions text, etc. very easily, and quickly at the touch of a button. you are also able to adjust the audio you are using, and any video adjustments that need to be done.

As you can see, iMovie, is a very easy to you user-friendly interface, that is well suited for what I am aiming to do. It allows me to complete all of the effects and edits i want to make to create a film trailer worthy of the big screen.

This is a screenshot of what iMovie looks like, as you can see the layout is very understandable, the project library where all of the shots will go before you choose them and edit them is positioned at the top of the screen, with a screen to watch the edited filmn on the top right side of the page, The panel at the bottom is where you edit the shots and turn them into a film. The buttons above and below all give the user different editing toold that will ultimatly turn your production into a very proffesional looking film.

This is the iMovie symbol.

The Filming Process

The Filming Process
Equipment?
To film the various clips for my teaser trailer I used,
• A Tripod
• A Video Camera
I have decided not to use any lighting equipment as this can be edited in the editing process on the computer if necessary, and the location I have chosen for the filming of the trailer has both dark and light rooms, and an outside space to film outside scenes so I should be able to find a room appropriate to the scene according to the lighting. Also, no sound equipment is being used as there is a song playing over the top of the film throughout. Although I have not decided at the present time whether the speech at the end ‘ill never leave again’ will be diagetic or non-diagetic. As I have non-diagetic sound running throughout the film, I am considering a diagetic voice being heard at this point. However I do not want this to affect the quality of the production, so I will have to see what each shot looks like before I decide. If I choose to use the diagetic sound I will be using the microphone device that is installed in the camera that I am using. I am not using any crew as such to help me, although I do have a friend who has made a teaser trailer before who has said that he would help me in the filming process as this is new to me. Other than that however, it is just me.
Locations?
Finding a location for every clip of the teaser trailer was quite difficult, for some of the scenes I used my house, as it has quite a big field for the grassy scenes, and the running scenes, and a house I used for the inside shots, I used different rooms in the house to act as different places, and this worked very well. For the street shot I used my school as this as the easiest and most suitable place I could find. Both of these places will appear in the final teaser trailer, however since the original storyboarding I have cut down a lot of the filming I originally set out to do, due to time and to make the trailer more concise. This will mean that you may not see as much of the locations as it was previously thought.
Actors?
For the main protagonists I managed to get Thomas Staton Georgia Higgins who both have experience in acting and dancing, Georgia played a very important role in the school production of Bugsy Malone, and Romeo and Juliet where she played the two leading ladies, and Thomas has played Othello in Othello and Doctor Faustus in Doctor Faustus. More directed at this particular genre Georgia has recently played Cinderella in the Hertford production of Cinderella, and Thomas played Prince Charming in the same play, so you together they are perfect for the roles in my film trailer.

Before The Filming

I am now going to start the first section of my filming, hopefully now, having cut down the number of shots I want to make, I am hoping to be able to complete the majority of the filming in one day. Although this may be optimistic, I am aware that there are a number of clips that are captions, which will be created in the editing process. If you take these shots out of the number of shots I am hoping to film, I have only got around 10 shots to complete. Hopefully making it possible for me to complete it in one day. Although in the real media world it would be near impossible to create a teaser trailer in one day, for me i think this is a goal to reach in order to complete the process as quickly as possible. This will then give me lots of time in the editing process, and if needs be iIcan always re shoot failed shots again.

I am filming the outdoor grass scenes, where the man is looking as though he is in the army, in my back garden as this will give the right mise-en-scene for the film. Hopefully then giving us the right image in the final product.

For the actual filming process I am using a Panasonic video camera, which has a memory card that can easily be inserted to most computers, in order to complete the editing process. I am using an Apple Mac Computer for the editing process as this is the best editing tool around at the moment, it is also what alot of the proffessional companies use. That is why i will be using this.

Looking at Conventions

From looking at the teaser trailer for "500 Days of Summer" I also noticed alot of attention to the name of the film, as this is a caption that comes up on five different occasions. Generally also, it came up in approximatly equal intervals of 10 seconds. Although i may not be doing this as frequently as this particular trailer, I think this is something to definatly consider, as this is a very effective way of creating awareness and a strong brand for the film. Which is the role of a teaser trailer, as not all films have been made when they create the teaser trailer. In a way a teaser trailer is a form of 'testing the water' in order for you to test your market to determine whether or not it will be a success. By repeatedly putting up the title you are increasing the awareness and therefore giving yourself the best possible chance of success.

Generally, from the trailers I have looked at the timings are all relativley the same. Within the last 10% of the time of the trailer, they will show the Title of the film, and usually the release date and perhaps the credits. They also all usually begin with the first scene or clip, between 5-8 seconds in, with the first voice over, or sound heard around 8 seconds. when music is heard or it is a slower paced trailer this time will be increased, and I think that my time will be increqased for this to give the audience time to create an idea of the emotion that will be in the film. I have chose to do it this way as I feel that there is more of an emphasis in my teaser trailer of the emotion the two feel, just like we see in the trailer 'Dear John'

Checking the Conventions

I think that it would be a good idea to have a look at some of the trailers, and more, to see the timings of the film. To present this I will make a time line for you to see how the conventions of a typical film trailer and my film trailer will compare. Once I ahve done this I may find that I will need to reconsider the structure of my film trailer. This is all part of the planning process and is a step that is vital in ensuring the teaser trailer is the best it possibly can be to appeal to the target audience.



This movie trailer, like the other ones I have looked at will still be much longer than my trailer, however I have gone through this, "500 days of summer", "Twighlight" and Dear John have all given me a good indication for the timings of my film. And I will be making a few changes to the plan as a consequence of this.



This twighlight teaser trailer, is more the kind of length I will be aiming for in my editing process, however this although a romantic story line is not the type of genre that my film will be, yet it does still give me a good indication for the timings of captions etc.

Shooting Plan Revisted

I have been checking my plans for filming, in order to be totally prepared for when I do come to filming, as a result I have found that my film trailer tells too much of the story, or has too much narrative rather than teasing the audience, and enticing them into wanting to find out about the narrative of the plot of the film. To deal with this problem I am going to cut out irrelevant shots in order to reduce time and create a trailer where the audience wants to know more.
Here is my new shooting plan:

1. Close up of man's face who is smiling looking into woman's eyes (possibly over the shoulder shot)

2. Close up of woman's face who is also smiling looking into man's eyes (possibly over the shoulder shot)

3. CAPTION = "When Love"

4. Shot of man in military clothing

5. From an embrace the man lets the woman go and begins to walk away (over the shoulder shot from woman to man)

6. CAPTION = "Is Taken Away"

7. Shot of a hand, writing a letter (to the man) [VOICE OVER]
A) FADED OUT

8. Shot of another letter again to the man [VOICE OVER]

9. CAPTION = "The Love"

10. Shot of man in grass with camoflage on face looking up

11. Shot of man at door of house - coming home (smart dress)

12. Man opens door to two army officials

13. Letter writing from man to woman [VOICE OVER]

15. CAPTION = [VOICE OVER] "Colin Firth, Emily Watson, Jude Law"

16. CAPTION = "Love Never Leaves"

17. Man holding woman, whispers "I'll never leave again"


As you can see from my original plan to have 30 shots I have become more realistic, and seen the realities of a movie trailer. I have halved the number of shots I am going to be filming, decreasing the time spent on it, and increasing the quality of the teaser trailer as it will no longer depict the entire narrative of the film, instead it now gives you a little idea of what is to come. I have also tried to ensure that there is the possibilty of the ending to be happy or unhappy, this is left for the audience to guess, as it gives them a sense of mystery and meaning/wanting to go and see the film.

Notting Hill Trailer

In this trailer I really like the shot of the woman in the bath, like an over the shoulder shot.  

Filming Part Two

After filming, and looking over the clips I had captured, I have realised that some of them arnt as high quality as I had orginally anticipated. These clips will be re filmed as soon as possible, and the clips which may not be as high quality as I had hoped may be changed. For example the shot of the man looking down to the woman will be re shooted as something similar, yet not at this angle as this doesnt create a high quality clip that I would have liked.

Letters To Julliet Trailer

In this trailer I like the soundtrack that goes with it, I also like the story that this trailer tells us. I think the voiceover too works really well, and gives the whole thing a kind of heart-warming feeling about it.

Film Trailer Sequence

The basic plot of the movie is a man and woman fall in love, they have a short while together and then the man has to go away to fight in the war. The woman writes to the man every day for a year with no reply. She eventually presumes that he has either died or does not want to write to her. The man is injured in the war, and while in hospital he is able to receive all of the letters she has sent. The man is close to tears when he reads the letters and decides to desert the war effort and return to the woman. When they are reunited they are so happy, but the army officials have to come and get him again because he was not allowed to leave the war. After 3 years of writing to each other they are finally reunited and they all live happily ever after.

1. The first shot is of a woman walking carrying lots of books. With the song ‘Cosmic Love’ by ‘Florence and the machine’ playing in the background. (2)

2. Shot of man walking looking at his watch. (1)

3. The two walk into each other and the woman’s books fall on the floor, they both bend down to pick them up and their eyes meet.(4)

4. Close up of woman’s face as she looks into the man’s eyes, a smile comes across her face. (2)

5. Close up of man’s face who is also smiling looking into the woman’s eyes.(2)

5.5 caption- ‘When Love’(1)

6. You see the couple laying on a grassy field together(2)

7. The woman is running down the field holding the man’s hand.(2)

8. A shot of the man wearing military clothing holding a big bag.(1)

9. A shot of the woman who looks very sad, possibly with tears in her eyes(1)

10. The two hold each other.(2)

10.5 caption – ‘Is Taken Away’(1)

11. Shot of a hand writing a letter, that begins ‘Dear Freddie,’(1)

12. Shot 11 is faded out and then a longer letter is seen. A voice over is heard saying ‘Dear Freddie this is my 30th letter, it has been a month I hope you are ok…’(1)

12.5 caption – ‘The Love’(1)

13. A shot of the man looking up into the sky, he is dirty and is still wearing the army outfit. (1)

13.5 caption – ‘Never Leaves’(1)

14. A shot of the woman writing another letter, you hear ‘It has been seven months… I still love you.’(1)

15. Shot of man with bandages around head laying in a bed.(1)

16. A Nurse comes over and hands him 3 piles of letters.(1)

17. Reaction shot of man who looks up to the nurse and slightly opens mouth in shock (2)

18. Shot of woman opening door as if to the camera (1)

19. Shot of man at the door of the woman. Holding a bunch of flowers. (1)

20. shot of the two in bed. (2-3)
[could possibly be 2 shots]

21. man opens door to 2 army officials. (1)

22. man being dragged away by the army men. (2)

23. woman collapses in hysterics as man is dragged off. (1)

24. shot of paper and a man writing, the letter says ‘Dearest Molly, its been two weeks...’ (2) [voice over saying what is written]

25. Shot of paper, ‘Dear Freddie, I miss you ...’ (2) [voice over saying this]

26. Shot of paper, ‘Dear Molly, I’m coming home soon I promise,’ (2) [voice over saying

27. Lots of letters are seen fading from one to the other, with a voice over saying some words from the letters seen’

28. Shot of the woman running towards the man, the man drops his army bag and the women jumps into his arms.

29. Caption – ‘Love Never Leaves’ (2)

30. Man holding woman says ‘I’ll never leave again’ (2)

As you can see i have focussed alot on the emotions coming through in the film trailer, as this is something that i feel will appeal to my target audience.

Creating A Story Board

I decided to create the story board to give me some direction. It allows me to have a good idea of how the production of my film will go, and the way in which it would be most time effective to film the trailer.
When creating the story board, I have found that trying to think about how you are actually going to film the final product is very difficult. With little or no filming experience it has been an eye opener in the difficulty in envisaging what you are trying to portray.
I am aware that some of my clips in the film trailer are quite optimistic, and although I will try to do the clips as I have drawn them into the story board there is a chance that it will not look right and I will have to think about and change the way I film those certain clips. The shots which I can see problems are shot 25 when the two are laying in bed together and the camera is above them looking down. Also the circling shot of the couple holding each other in the final clip, number 31. Although this can be done I am aiming to keep the filming looking professional, if I find that the circling around the couple is jerky and does not look like high quality I will change this to a still shot.
I have also realised how long filming is really going to take. Before beginning the story board I had the idea in my mind, however I did not understand length of the process, filming a 1 second clip might take up to an hour because of preparation and repeated takes, this is why planning everything is key. I am hoping that the fact that it does take so long to film will not affect the continuity of the film.

Creativity

Creativity
Where did you get your ideas from?
After watching a number of romantic film trailers, I was able to develop a lot of ideas. Two of the trailers that stood out to me as best representing the conventions of a romantic film were ‘Dear John’ and ‘The Last Song’ These two films represent what a romantic film is all about, and from this I got a lot of my ideas for my teaser trailer. For example in ‘Dear John’ the way the two were separated is something that I have picked up on in my film trailer prospects. Also the way in which the scenes flow, I think I will use the fading effect as a transition from clip to clip as this effect was soft yet allowed the trailer to move rapidly to create a desire to want to know more about the film and to want to go and see the film. After watching ‘The Last Song’ I also saw the way the two people who had fallen in love faced a problem and this was a convention of most romantic movies, I liked the way this was shown in this trailer and I would like this to be shown in mine, also the way the characters seem to go on both an emotional journey, and a personal journey finding out their downfalls in this film was something that was key and I would like to try and use this in my film trailer as far as possible.
Did you find originality difficult?
A lot of love films have very similar plots and themes, this makes it quite difficult to diverse from the usual conventions and create a love film that isn’t similar to other love films. In many ways my teaser trailer will be very similar to the other romantic films I have mentioned before, although in other ways mine is much different and I think that my romantic film trailer gives a new edge to this genre of films.
Did the use of the internet help you in any creative way?
As mentioned before watching film trailers on the internet helped me a lot, creatively. Without watching these I would not have been able to look at romantic film trailers from a media perspective, and been able to come up with the typical conventions from this genre, in which make up the trailer.

Genre

Genre Decision

Why did you choose your genre?

When deciding what genre to use for my teaser trailer I thought about what I liked and what I thought would be enjoyable to do. If I had chosen to create a sci-fi trailer I would not have enjoyed the filming, nor would I have had an idea of the conventions of that kind of genre. Also I found that the majority of students chose to do a Horror/Thriller movie, so I also wanted to do something a little bit different. I am a big fan of Romantic films, and so a genre that I enjoyed, new a little bit about, and was enthusiastic over seemed to be most suitable to me.

Do you think it present any problems?

Once I had chosen the ‘Romantic’ genre I found that when you look at a genre from a media perspective, it’s not all about love and kissing which defines a romantic movie. In actual fact what makes a romantic movie trailer is the music, the actors, the lighting, the speed of the trailer. I found that what seemed to be quite a simple and easy idea at first was much deeper and did require a lot of thinking in order to make a film with two people kissing into a romantic film trailer.

What other movie trailers from the genre did you watch?

When looking for romantic film trailers I found ‘Dear John’, ‘Notting Hill’, ‘Love Happens’, ‘Valentine’s Day’ ,’The Last Song’, ‘Remember Me’, ‘The back-up plan’, ‘Letters to Juliet’

From watching these trailers I have managed to create the plot of the story, I have based the story of the trailer on ‘Dear John’ although I have not copied this; it is quite similar to the story of this film as I felt it typified the conventions of a romantic movie. You can watch ‘Dear John’ further down in my blog.

The Notebook Trailer

In this trailer I really like the faded transitions between shots, and I think what makes this trailer really special is the way that the voiceover not only relates back to the shots when you see him speak, but also how it tells the audience about what the film is going to be about too.

Eat Pray Love Trailer

After looking at this trailer I like how it gives the sense of a journey to the audience. I like how the audience are taken through the emotions of the characters. I also like the soundtrack, and the way the voiceovers work really well. This is something that i may consider in my film trailer.

The Last Song Trailer

 
After looking at this film trailer, I like the way that the audience know that this film will be sad without even have going to see it. It evokes emotion in the audience which I think is important in any romantic movie. I would like to try and reproduce this in my trailer as I feel that it is important and will attract my target audience to come and see this film.

Dear John Trailer

31/10/10

Research

Research

What is a teaser trailer and what purpose does it serve?

A teaser trailer is a short trailer used to advertise an upcoming film. They are usually between 30 and 60 seconds, and usually contains no actual footage from the film. They will usually be released well in advance of the actual release of the film. The purpose of a teaser trailer is to advertise the film and its release; it reveals the genre through it music and sometimes even through its actors and it reveals if there are any special of specific actors in the film. Both these revelations will attract audiences. They are usually part of a promotion campaign to launch a new film.

In what ways are teasers different from the movies themselves?

Teaser trailers are unlike movies themselves because they are short clips of film, that are used to give an insight to what the film is going to be about, in a sense they are a taster. They rarely contain actual footage of the film and do not tell the story. They are not narrative and will usually have non diagetic sound running throughout the trailer. They are used generally to get the theme across to the audience, and to attract their particular target audience. I have ensured that my teaser trailer will attract the specific target audience I have decided upon by following some of the regular conventions of romantic teaser trailers, for example the music that is used in the background will be typical or expected from this kind of film, which as a result will lead to the target audience relating this music to the type of film I am aiming to create. I am however still going to try and differ from other romantic movie teaser trailers as I do not want it to seem dull or seen before.

How much of a problem was the concept of narrative in your work?

When I began to first plan out the different shots in my film, I realised that deciding what is going to be in the clips was difficult because you automatically want to tell the story. As it stands I am pretty sure that I will have to edit my trailer down because I think that it tells the story too much already. This is a real problem because teaser trailers are not designed to tell you the story of them film, as then there would be no point to go and see the film because you will already know what is going to happen. A teaser trailer should do exactly that, tease the audience and make them want more.  In my teaser trailer I have used a strategy often used in the marketing of products, AIDA. This stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action; I will use this model as a way of making sure that my teaser trailer reaches all of these points, to ultimately lead the consumer to the ‘action’ stage, where they make the move or decision to watch the end product. The audience will be taken on a kind of journey through which they find a love, a problem a solution and ultimately they will reach a conclusion or ending. Although not being told the story they are being led on a journey where they need to see the film to fill in the gaps. This is what my teaser trailer will do, and ultimately will show. This is shown in the teaser trailer for the film ‘Dear John’ where the two meet, fall in love, however they encounter a problem that could break them up, they come up with a solution and ultimately an ending all from the trailer that you watch before watching the film.

Magazine Cover Spelling Mistake

After looking over my magazine cover I found that i had spelt Ritchie wrong, Richie instead of Ritchie. here is the adjusted cover.

Continued Changes to Magazine Cover

I have now finished changing the Magazine cover. I have now swapped over the sin city sex and the city title with the LOVE NEVER LEAVES title. I have also added in a glow around the outer edge of the NEVER as this makes it stand out more and will attract peoples eyes much more easily. I have showed around teh various copies of the magazine that I have created and everyone was in agreement that this final version was the better and more appealing version.

Changes to Magazine Cover

I have now decided that with the background on the magazine cover looks far better than without. I have alos tried out a few changes ot the magazine to see what looks best as after some feedback i found that the positioning / sizes of the text was not really the best that it oucld be. The firsat thing that I have tried out is Increasing the size of the LOVE NEVER LEAVES text to size 60 for Never and 55 For love and leaves. this makes the title tof the feqature film stand out far more. I ahve also changed the positoning of the sin city vs sex and the city title, it is now staggered down the page from the lower third to the bottom. I have also changed the SIN and SEX colours to a darker shade and a pinker shade to represent the films in a better wat. The feedback i got from this change was that the Sin city vs. sex and the city article lookes like the feature article as it was far more promiant on the page. Perhaps it would be better to switch these titles around in order to make the LOVE NEVER LEAVES title stand out more and represent the feature article in this issue of tha magazine. They also said that they liked the background and the picture because it gave the right kind of message and idea of what the movie is about and whta they could expect to find in the magazine.


Here is a picture of what the cover looked like with these initial changes:

Magazine Continued

after looking at the new movie poster, I have realised that the poster is a much higher quality than the magazine cover. This is a problem as I would like the magazine cover to be just as high in terms of quality as the poster. I think that the problem is with the image mainly. To rectify this problem I have considered putting a similar or the same landscape background in behind the magazine, as is behind the poster. My aim of doing this would be to make the edge of the models heads blend in more rather than look harsh against the pure white background. it would also make the whole thing more appealing and stand out more.
Although having this background here would not necessarily make my magazine fit in with the conventions of other movie magazine, who wouldn't necessarily have a background like this on the cover of their magazines. This could then be used to break the rules of conventions and be used as a tool to entice new audiences towards looking at my movie. However this may be difficult as the rest of the promotional package I have created does not force the boundaries of romance movies as far as a new audience may like.

I have also noticed a few more problems with the magazine cover, these include:
1. the spacings between different lines of texts.
2. The fonts of the different texts, as I have some which is Times New Roman, yet the rest remains to be Arial. Ofcourse, I will be keeping the masthead as Times New Roman as that works well, but I have decided to change the rest of the subheadings in the magazine to Arial. This will make the whole magazine look thought through, and not so 'mish mashed' together as it might have before. This will include changing the text underneath the masthead to Arial also. However I have also considered leaving the 'Love Never Leaves' title in TNR as this is the biggest of the headings and so will stand out more. It will also make the magzine look more 'together' with the masthead.

I think if i make these changes, the whole magazine will look alot more appeailing and stand out more. This will ultimatley be more beneficial for the film in the long run. However I am still at this time unsure as to whether the background fits with the magazine cover. I have decided to turn to my target audience and find out what they think, and see if they can come up with any suggestions as to what they think might look better, or what they might like to see on the cover of a magazine which is promoting a film that they would be likely to go and see.

Pixels.

When I was looking at the printed out version of the magazine cover, I found that unfortunatly it was very pixelated, both the image and the text. To find out why this was I went onto photoshop, opened up the magazine cover publication and clicked on image, and then Image Size, from the drop down menu. Once I clicked this I found that the pixels were 72 in an inch. I needed 300/inch for a non pixelated image. So to change this I deleted the 72 and typed in 300. The computer was then able to chnage the resolution of the image and it is no longer pixelated.

Creating the Magazine.

1. To create the magazine first of all I took the image that I had previously decided on and cut out the image of the two from the back gorund. Obviously because I took the image without a backdrop this was a little more time consuming than it could have been, however it was still accomplished relativly quickly and eeasily. To do this I simply used the background eraser tool.

2. I then used the auto contrast, auto tone and auto colour tools to optimise the colourings of the image as I have already decided that the image will be in colour and not black and white like the poster. This is because, by having the magazine cover picture in black and white the magazine itself would not stand out. And I feel that the magazine needs to stand out to compete in this highly competitive industry. I also used the colour balance and brightness/saturation tools found in 'Edit' - 'Adjustments', to adjust the brightness and colour of the picture. Overall the final edited version of the two came out very well.

3. I then opened a new page on photoshop, and created a page that was the same as that of an actual magazine, and of a movie magazine. 20.99 cm / 26.9 cm. This then allows me to automatically have a white background, which again is what i want for my magazine cover, as this is the most sutibale for the end product. Also by doing it like this i am allowing myself to be able to change the colour at a later stage if i find that the background would be more suited in a different colour.

4. I then began adding in the text, starting with the Masthead, or the name of the magazine, which as you know is 'PREMIER'. For this all I did was literally opened a text box on the page across the top band of the page, and typed in 'PREMIER' from there I chose an appropriate font, Times New Roman, in Bold size 129.
For the colour I decided to pick out a colour from the image, so I used the dropper tool on one of the stripes on the shirt of the male model. This gave me a good, bold colour for the magazine, which will stand out against other magazines on the stands. The colour I chose was:
c=100
m=93
y=29

k=17

5. I then chose subtitles appropriate for the magazine, Which would appear around the front cover image. The subtitles I have chosen to go around are :

Love never leaves - First interview with cast of the oscar nominee

Guy Richie - at the top of his game

Sin city Vs. Sex and the city

2012 - unseen ending INSIDE!

These will all be in the font Times new romanian bold or Arial Narrow bold at either size 33 26 or 48 in either black, the blue colour used on the Masthead or a colour I picked out from the lips of the female. This colour is:
c=4
m=87
y=82
k=1

These texts have given the whole publication a much more proffesional quality, with an end product that is very suitable for my target audience.

I have also placed the mast head in the background of the image, so that you can still see the title, but so that the most important image that you see is the image of the two protagonists from our film.

I used the paint tool to create a circle paint mark on the right hand side of the page as a stamp like tool on which i placed text which reads 'WIN tickets to london premier on the red carpet' this is a tool some of the other movie magazines had, mine aims to entice readers to read this magazine, it has the professional classy feel also which adds to the overall feeling of the magazine. I have also tilted this text around slightly to look more liek a stamp than just plain text.

I have also put two features at the top of the magazine saying 'EXCLUSIVE AVATAR 2' and 'NEW QUENTIN TARRENTINO' seperated by a dot made in the same way as the stamp, which is used to appeal to readers from far away who may only be able to spot this part of the magazine on the magazine stand.

Also, underneath the masthead have put the text 'The Premier Movie magazine ... Issue 250 February' so that readers and the audience know more about this magazine and what issue this version is. In the lower right hand corner I placed that barcodw which I flipped around and placed a price above it at £3.50 as I found earlier that this was a conventional price for movie magazines.

The final outcome of the magazine at this point is very strong, and I am very pleased with the way that it has come along. Ofcourse I am sure some changes will be made when I ask for audience feedback on it, however any changes now can be made quixkly and easily, hoping to create a publication that is much stronger.

Magazine Image

For my magazine cover I could use a variety of different shots. Here are a few that were options:

I decided no to use this ^ shot as the girl's face seemed a bit squashed and alsmost forced, I did not think that this portrayed the right feeling/ideal that I am aiming to put across to the audience.

I feel that this ^ is one of the strongest images that I have for the cover of the magazine, I like this one because the male is not in army clothing like on the movie poster, yet the image still suggests that they are in love because the woman is embracing the male, also the man is facing away which suggests he may have to leave the woman. Also the way she is embracing him suggests that she wants to hold on to him. I feel that this gives off and suggests everything that i wanted for an image to on the front cover of the magazine.

This is the image that I have used on the poster for the trailer. I have decided not to repeat the use of this image. Firstly because I think an image when the man is in plain clothing will be better for a magazine cover, to symbolise a more relaxed atmosphere about them and about the movie rather than trying to suggest the story of the film. Also this image being repeated would not show off all of the other great images that I have of the two, and for a magzine cover there are stronger ones, although this was perfect for the poster.

This image ^ I have decided not to use also. This is because once more, I do not like the way that the male is wearing the army clothing, I feel that in this instance it would be much stronger for him to be wearing plain/ everyday clothing as it is for the magazine not for the film. Also by having him in his own clothes it shows that he is not filming right now and therefore the filming has already been done. It woudl show that the image was for the magazine not the magazine was for the film.

Considering all of these pictures I have decided to go with the second one as this fits the guidelines of what I want the magazine to be like far better than the alternative options I have.