MEDIA STUDIES A2

COURSEWORKTasks:

-Ancillary-Movie Trailer

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Introduction to Main Task….

2. A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

1) a website homepage for the film;

2) a film magazine front cover, featuring the film; 3) a poster for the film.

IntroductionThis year we have decided to produce a short horror film trailer.Here is a short description of horror taken from Wikipedia.org Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain.This has been taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film We will be working together to produce a short horror trailer using our technical and creativity skills. We are going to use a range of different editing techniques to collaborate, manipulate and edit our shots. When shooting we are going to use different camera angels and camera techniques, for example low angle shot or steady cam. We are going to captured and collaborate scenes on Sony Vegas editing software to allow us to paste all the scenes together. Why we’ve chosen HorrorWe have chosen the “Horror” genre because we don’t have access to special effects software and programs or locations to create the other genres asked. After some research we came to an answer that horror films are usually filmed within parks and woodland areas.Our college is located on the north bank of the River Thames; therefore we have plenty of exterior land to explore around campus. With Henley-on-Thames just 5 miles away we are also able to explore the surrounding area.

CollaborationWe’re going to be working in a team of 2 to create the final productions.

Advantages of working in a team are that we can bounce ideas off each other and use our specific skills in different areas for example filming, editing and publishing. A vital part of working together in a group of collaboration is good communication and organisation skills so we are aware on who’s doing what. Just because we are producing the production doesn’t mean we are going to act within it.

Target AudienceAfter lots of research into the target audience for different genre and sub-genre films we have decided on over 18 males and have to have a genuine interest and enjoy horror films.  Basic ConceptThe basic concept is a revenge based horror film involving stereotypical aggressive teenagers who get their comeuppance by vigilante do-gooder; who looses his way.The scheme is to shoot in various relevant locations at our school, including the grounds of woodland and other typical scary and dark surrounding around the college.

RESEARCH INTO

HORROR FILMS

Results to our questionnaire We are making are horror film for an audience of 18 – 23 years old we wanted to make sure we knew what they expected and wanted in a horror film. There for we made a questionnaire and gave it out to people who we see as are target audience. 10 questionnaires were given out to 18 year olds to 23 year olds and these where are results.

Gender and age What do you look for in a horror film

Do you watch many horror film in your free time

Have you herd of a revenge horror film

Do you think it will be successful

What genre are you normally interested in when it comes to horror

Would you prefer to have a thrilling film or a gory film

Female 18 jumpy no Yes yes thriller thrilling

Male 18 gory yes yes yes slasher gory

Male 19 Clever ending yes yes yes Super natural thrilling

Female 20 graphics yes yes no alien gory

Female 21 Music that matches the mood of the film

no yes yes gothic gory

Female 21 Fast moving plot yes yes yes gothic thrilling

Male 22 gory no yes yes slasher gory

Female 22 Mass murder no yes yes Super natural gory

Male 23 Clever ending yes yes yes slasher thrilling

Male 23 gory yes yes yes Masked killer gory

Research into horror films…A great way for us to research into current horror film trailers and take those ideas to come up with a story

line and story boards of our own film trailer.

The great advantages of the 21st century and the world wide web is to use of video sharing sites such as YouTube.

We used YouTube to search for similar films to what we wanted and produced a research list.. (on the next page)

Research into horror films… Story Lines:

The Shining:With a storyline catching the audience straight away because of its detail – with the empty hotel and close family loved ones being hunted by there own father.

The psychotic way in which this is produced and conducted automatically draws the viewers in.

Its incredibly important for a horror film to have a sense of fear and worry for it to be a success.

DisturbiaThe stories line is that the main character suspects his neighbor of being a killer but struggles to find proof until the very end when he is proven right when the neighbor decides to try and kill him.

The way that the trailer gives the audience a good idea of what will happen works well because it causes the audients ask questions

It is a good idea to have a small amount of predictability in a horror film trailer.

Research into horror films… Story Lines:

One missed call:A group of people who are attached to each other through different circumstances stand receiving weird phone calls, hallucination and the die.

The trailer lets the audience know that people are dyeing in wired ways and there is a link to there phones but not much else.

It is a good idea to leave a good amount of mystery in the trailer so that the audients want to know more.

The CraziesWith a storyline catching the audience straight away because of its dramatic detail.

Peoples personality's change so quickly with no warning.

The psychotic way in which this is produced and conducted automatically draws the viewers in.

Its incredibly important for a horror film to have a sense of fear and worry for it to be a success.

Research into backing tracksWe made research into Horror Film Music, again using YouTube.

YouTube enabled us to research into the music we were looking for. And then when we made up our mind we bought the song on iTunes.

SawWe found the music theme tune to saw on the trailer was extremely well timed and catching in

places. It was upbeat during the scary and eary scenes which drags the audience into the trailer.

Mirrors The music in the Mirrors Theme tune was very slow and high toned. However it was still

effective for the job!

SignsSimilar to Mirrors – scary and high toned.

The Hills have EyesVery quick and deep music, loud and strong during determine scenes.

One Missed CallSlow at the start, and picks up half way through to become more fast paste in the eary and

scary scenes.

We have decided to go with the “Saw Theme Tune” Which can be found

here.http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQk8VNkAZBw

PLANNINGFOR FILM TRAILER

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Synopsis researchAmityvilleGeorge & Kathy Lutz and Kathy's 3 children are moving into an elegant Long Island home. What they don't know is that 6 gruesome murders were committed there the year before - Ronald DeFeo Jr., the oldest son in the family, murdered his parents, his 2 brothers & 2 sisters by shooting them with a .35 caliber in November of 1974. No sooner are the Lutzes moved into the house than they begin seeing horrible things - the ghost of Jodie DeFeo, horribly disfigured bodies - and hearing ghostly voices throughout the house. George seems to notice it the most, and it isn't long before he becomes a danger to those around him. When the local priest, called in to bless the house, comes charging out in horror after being swarmed by flies, he issues a dire warning to Kathy - 'Leave that house'. But will they be able to escape before the house and its vengeful spirits take control of George - and make him into a deadly menace?

The ShiningA novelist - Jack Torrance take a job interview as winter caretaker of the isolated, old, huge and beautiful Overlook Hotel. In the interview, Jack is told by the manager himself, that the previous caretaker - Grady, chopped his family and later killed himself with a shotgun. Ignoring the story, Jack brings his wife - Wendy and his son Danny. It happens that Danny, has a mysterious power known as "The Shining" that shows him things from the past and future. Some of the visions come from Tony - "the little boy who lives in Danny's mouth". Danny meets Hallorann - the hotel cook in their first day arriving at the Overlook, who also has this "Shining" and he warns him about the hotel and the sinister Room 237. As the days go by, Danny has visions of previous guests and employees who died at the hotel years before, meanwhile Jack starts driving into insanity, turning more and more aggressive, at the point that Danny and Wendy gets convinced that Jack might try to do the same thing, Grady did.

HalloweenIn Haddonfield, Illinois, the nine years old Michael Meyers is raised by a dysfunctional family: his mother Deborah is a stripper in a night-club; his foster father Ronnie is an alcoholic bum; his sister Judith is a easy girl; and he is connected to his baby sibling. On October, 31st, after an incident in school where he is bullied by a schoolmate, Michael overhears the conversation of the principal and the psychiatric Dr. Samuel Loomis with his mother. They had found pictures of Michael torturing animals in his backpack and Dr. Loomis would like to send Michael for psychiatric evaluation believing that the boy is deranged. This revelation triggers Michael that escapes from the school and kills the bully, Ronnie, Judith's boyfriend Steve Haley and his sister Judith. Michael is held in custody in the Smith's Grove Sanatorium under the treatment of Dr. Loomis. Eleven months later, during the visit of his mother, Michael kills his nurse and his stressed mother commits suicide. Fifteen years later, Michael escapes from the mental institution leaving bloodshed behind, and heads to Haddonfield in the Halloween's night.

We then analyzed these synopsis’ and planned our own…

Synopsis In the quiet town of Henley on the Thames Alexander Baker (Phil Davey) and Sophie Richards (Alice Brown) have been friends since they could both remember.

They never did anything without each other, but on Sophie’s 19 th birthday Alex took her out for a romantic meal but on the way there while Alex was driving they were in a car collision putting both of them In hospital. Alex was let off lightly with a broken leg and dislocated shoulder but Sophie was severely injured and spent the 7 months in hospital.

Alex never forgave himself for what he had done because he felt he was entirely to blame. This led to Alex devoting his life to trying to keep Sophie out of danger.

Sophie found it sweet at start but it grew tiresome and scary, the last straw was when Sophie found a boy and started to go on regular dates with him, this gave Alex even more incentive to follow and stalk Sophie because he didn’t believe this boy was to be trusted and that he was going to end up hurting Sophie.

This self destructive pattern that Alex is in ends up in confrontation when he catches Sophie with her boyfriend kissing, this causes something within Alex’s brain to snap and he attacks the boy friend with an obvious intent to severely injure him. Once this incident was over Sophie and Alex’s relationship was shattered, Sophie couldn’t stand Alex trying to help her for any little thing and Alex was in a sleepless sub psychotic state. The last straw was when Sophie suggested they needed to talk and went for a walk, this was when she choose to tell him that she could no longer see him anymore and that he was causing her to much pain, this pushed Alex over the edge leading him to spend the 3 years in a mental institute.

Synopsis, Pt 2After 3 years Jack is released but is recommended see a therapies every day to make sure

he does not relapse into psychotic rage and do something he would regret. Jack has his first session with his therapies and seems to be completely reformed, but is warned to keep his distance from Sophie in case he falls back into bad habits. Jack discards this and decides to arrange a meeting with Sophie to show her that he had changed. But the second he saw her he felt an all too familiar twitch, Jack manages to might his urges all the way through the night. At the end of the night Sophie hugs Jack and whispers in his ear I’m so glad this is all over. Jack freezes and a look of emptiness dawns in his face as Sophie pulls away, and now the chase is on Jack has now lost all control and now Sophie needs to battle for her life against her best friend.

Our Cast…..Roll: Sophie Thomas

Alice BrownRoll: Alexander Baker

P Davey

Storyboarding…

Storyboarding…

Storyboarding…

Voicemail:We decided during the scenes where baker is leaving the mental

institution we wanted the background music/audio to be of a doctor explaining his situation.

Good evening Dr Philips this is Dr Harris speaking I am the chief consultant at Broad-Moor mental institute. We believe that Alexander baker is mentally stable now and can be allowed back home although, you should be aware that relapse is a real possibility. Please continue to treat this case as a priority. Do call me at any time if you have any concerns. Thank-You Dr. Good Night** Hanging up of the phone sound.

We used Mr Derek Mackey for our voiceover, we chose him because he had a deep and effective voice for the task!

LOCATION SHOTS

Location Shots

Outside Shot

College House (Shiplake College)

This is the location for when Alex jumps out the window and throws his bag out side.

Location Shots

Out Side Main School Building

(Shiplake College)

This is the location for when Alex first sees the car an begins to walk towards it.

Location shots

Outside Medical Wing / Court Yard (Shiplake College)

This is the location of the scene when Alex gets in the car.

Location shots

Front Field (Shiplake College)

This is the location for when Alex and Alice are sitting on the bench and Alice rubs Alex’s back

Location shots

Beach walk (just on the outskirts of Shiplake College)

This is where we shot all the scenes when it became for scary in the film.

CONSTRUCTION OF OUR

HORROR TRAILER

ConstructionTo capture the footage we used a sony digital video camera. We were then able to download/capture the

footage and edit it using Sony Vegas Video Editing!

The actual footage…When filming we took several shots of each scene – so we knew we’d get the

right one. To organise and calibrate all these videos we simply created folders and organised them into sub folders.

Next stage…After choosing the right footage we then imported it into Sony Vegas Editing Suit!

Once imported we simply had to put the footage in the right order to the story boards…

To do this there is the timeline feature which is similar to all editing software.

This screenshot above shows the

Explorer view in Sony Vegas//

This screenshot below shows the timeline feature…

Editing the audio from the recording track…

This screenshot below shows again the timeline feature.

We were able to add layers to our project meaning that we could have different audios at different moments in time.

When doing the filming audio was also filmed in the background – however we didn’t want this in our trailer so we muted the background audio and added our chosen backing and sound track.

-Voicemail

-Saw Theme Tune

Adding the effects….To add the effects to the different scenes you simply drag the effect over onto the scene in

which you want to add it too.

Adding the captions…

-Intro after Green Screen:

McCafferty – PintoProductions…

-Casting/Staring:

-Alice Brown, Alex Baker

-You can’t tell your friends from your enemies…. Mirror Shot

-Helpless , Coming soon.

To add the captions in we simply used the “add text field” and inserted it in another layer within the timeline.

Making the scenes darker…

Adding the backing track..Background Music

Voiceover / Voicemail

How we recorded the voiceoverWe simply got our actor Derek Mackey to leave a voicemail on Billy’s voicemail and then

replayed it and recorded onto my laptop then transferred it to MP3 and imported it into Sony Vegas.

Compared

We got Derek to record two voicemails on our phone and then played them back at decided that the first was the best flowing and least stuttering..

We then imported the voicemail into Sony Vegas and made a new layer called voicemail..

This screenshot above shows the edits we made to the voicemail – cutting out stuttering and “urms”

How we inserted the backing track into the project ………

Similarly to adding the voiceover/voicemail on the previous slide we downloaded the saw theme tune (explained why in our research)

Created another layer and inserted the music mp3 file into the trailer..

Before we did this we already had parts of the songs we wanted to use, for example the more relaxed part of the music for the meeting of Sophie again – and then the more up beat it gets as Alex changes personalities in the mirror and then extremely fast flowing and fast moving when the chase begins until the end when the trailers come on.

Voicemail ends… Background Music Begins..

Adding the “Appropriate Audiences – Green Screen”

Following the forms and conventions of other film trailers – this green screen of “appropriate audiences” is very common. To add this in we simply dragged and dropped it into another layer and dragged it out for the amount of time we wanted it to play for..

Creating the production logo

All film trailers contain a production logo – we decided to create our own..

“McCafferty – Pinto Productions..

Because our film doesn’t contain much CGI ( Computer Generated Images) we decided that the beginning credits and ending credits would be a great way to utilize these tools..

The two screenshots below show how our ended product turned out. We simply added text to the video and them imported it into the timeline on a new shelf/layer.

Uploading to YouTube

We decided the easiest way to get audience and hopefully 3rd party feed0-back will be to post it on YouTube and wait for the comments and emails to flood in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x37Y78aMNL8

This link will direct you to our film trailer on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x37Y78aMNL8Follow this link above to view our final media studies horror film on YouTube!

Burning to the disk..Rendering….

ANALYSIS OF OUR SHOTS

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Shot analysis

This is the film rating screen for are film. We got this shot by, screen shooting the start of the Wolfman trailer then inserting it into editing soft wear. We chose the the Wolfman trailer because it is the same certificate film trailer as we intend are film trailer to be, there for it was a logical choice to use this for are trailer.

This is a shot of are opening credits showing who produced the the film. But after watching the shot we realized that it was to plain and used CGI (computer generated image) debris in the shot it make it more interesting without blocking out main substance of the shot.

Shot AnalysisThis is the opening shot of the trailer, this helps to establish the main character ( Alex Baker). It does not give a great indication of what is happening in the film, but when combined with later shots it helps to paint a good picture of what he is doing, the pace of this shot was very important to us because we wanted Alex to look like he was trying to get some where important but without drawing to much attention to him self. There is also a voice over during the shot that explains the situation if this character, this is important to the meaning of the trailer, we did not want to draw to much of attention away from this there for it is a simplistic scene.

This is a shot that closely carries on from the shot before although there is an added urgency to the shot what helps to make the audience wonder about what Alex is actually doing, and whether or not he should be doing it.

This shot shows Alex opening a window and throwing a big out indicating that what he is doing is defiantly not what he should be doing, and there for confirming the audiences earlier thoughts that he is indeed doing something he should not.We also had to edit this shot to make it seem as if it was late in the evening, we would of shot this late in the evening but the camera that we where using struggled to pick up movement.

This shot shows that Alex is in a hurry to get out of the building in a unconventional way showing that he does not wish to been seen while leaving, and that the contents of his bag is unimportant there for he is happy to just throw it on the floor out side and retrieve it after he is out side as well.

Shot analysis

This is a shot of Alex climbing out of the window he has just thrown his bag out of, this is the seen that we feel finally shows the audients that Alex is set on trying to exit the building without being seen be any one, and more importantly trying to go some wear that he does not want other people to know about.

This shot is of Alex landing out side from jumping out of the window onto the grass bellow. This is a close up shot of him landing where you can just see his feet to helps increase the felling of urgency that he is in.

Shot analysis

This shot shows Alex throwing his bag round his shoulder as he runs to get some where, as fast as possible and has no time to put his bag on properly. We have used a full body shot in this scene to make sure that the audience can see the full action of Alex put his bag on to really exaggerate the urgency of his escape from the building.

This shot Is very important because not only does it introduce another character into that trailer, it explains why Alex has been so desperate to leave the building that he was in without being seen and the voice over ends and the eerie music began meaning that the introduction is over and the interesting part the the trailer is about to begin. This shot was set up very carefully so that Alex was the main interest of the shot until the car flashes its lights letting the audience know that there Is more going on in the trailer that Alex sneaking out of a house

Shot analysis

This scene show Alex getting into the car that had just flashed at him showing that there had been a well laid plan for his escape not just a few well placed coincidences. It also has Alex looking over his shoulder at the very end of the scene just before he gets into the car suggesting that he is still being very careful of the environment around him so that he is not being watched by any one

This shot explains fully what Alex was trying to achieve be sneaking out of the building before it also shows that his relationship with the new character (Alice brown) is troubled. We have tried to express that Alex is finding it hard being reunited with Alice in this shot with him looking at the floor and looking uncomfortable, while Alice tries to comfort him gently. This helps to express to the audience that there is a close bond between these two characters.

Shot analysis

This shot closely follows up the last one showing that the couple are back to there old ways and are now close friends again. We have tried to show this by having them walk from left to right in a relaxed manner while the sun peaks over the trees showing that night fall is not to far away, giving the scene a foreboding feel as nothing good lasts for ever.We also have a caption at the bottom of the screen late into the shot saying “you can’t always tell your friends from your enemies”. This gives the audience a good idea of what is to come and that the current calm of the shot will not last long.

This is the big turning point in the trailer, we made a big point of saying in the voice over at the start of the trailer that there is a real possibility of a relapse in Alex’s behavior hoping that the audience would defiantly pick up on this. This scene just confirms the audiences prior suspicions that Alex will become mentally unstable again and fall into a dark and unhinged behavior pattern.

Shot analysis

This is a shot that starts the development of the chase between Alex and Alice. It is taken at a low angle to induce a feeling of intimidation in the audience. We chose a path going through a heavily wooded area so that there was an environment that enhanced a feeling of being trapped and there for no escape from the horrific fate that awaits her.

This is a high angle shot of Alex on the same path that Alice was running down before showing that there is a chase taking place, we tried to make Alex seem as clam as possible to try get across that this is not just a mindless chase and that he is biding his time waiting for the perfect moment to strike, increasing the suspense of the trailer.

Shot analysis

This is a shot through the eyes of Alice showing that she is fighting a losing battle and that she is finally cornered. The shot is taken on a night time lense that makes the shot look a little darker but considerably more gothic, there for increasing the feeling of fear in the audients, this shot also makes you more aware of Alice's situation and how futile her attempted escape is

This is a very short and fast scene where you can see Alice running through some bushes in a frantic manner showing that she has now lost all composure and is now doing anything within her power to stay alive, we feel this shot really helps to emphasize the desperation within Alice, there for you feel a lot closer to her character and for involved in the story.

Shot analysis

This is the final scene of the chase where Alice falls over, this is a very typical scene I a horror film and helps conclude the chase without the murder of one of the characters dying, this means that Alex can catch up and begin to unleash his wrath upon Alice

We chose to have the final scene of the trailer to be a point of view shot from Alice’s perspective to help tie up all lose ends while leaving the trailer on a slight cliff hanger, of a stick swinging straight for Alice’s face. We feel that this ending scene will cause the audience to ask questions and want to find out weather or not Alice is dead or knocked out.

Shot analysis

This is the last shot in the trailer, this just contains the the name of the film (Helpless) in a large gothic font to make the mise-en-scene of the trailer and the information that the film will be released soon. But again the writing on its own was to plain and we felt that the trailer needed to end in a gothic fashion, so you introduced a CGI blood splatter effect in the background. This gave the hole page a gothic feel to it which is the exact look we wanted to achieve because it helps to end the trailer In a text book horror way.

Shot analysis

INTRODUCTION TO

ANCILLARY TASKS

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

2. A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

1) a website homepage for the film;

2) a film magazine front cover, featuring the film; 3) a poster for the film.

RESEARCH INTO FILM POSTERS

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Research for ancillary taskmagazine front cover.When researching horror related magazines we discovered the key to a spine chilling front cover is a good mix of gothic text (mast head and pugs) and gory images that portray the film that is involved, making it look like a must see film.

It also needs quotes from the film critics and audients that big the film and increase hype for the film such as “real scream fest, bring a pillow”. This causes the audience to ask questions and drives them to go watch the film so that these questions can be answered.

The normal conventions for a magazine that is involved in horror is lots of dark images that do not give to much away so that the film being reviewed remains an enigma so that the viewer is still In suspense for twists or cliff hangers.

Although most of the text will be about the front cover film you need to give the reader a little more incentive to actually buy the magazine there for you need to have two or three other films involved in the front cover they don’t need pictures just a big sub article plug that get the reader flicking through the pages to see what it involves, increasing interest.

Normal uses for the sub article plug is a film that is coming soon, so you tell the audients when the film is due to be released in local cinemas also if there is a big star involved in the film there will also be a mention of them because if there is a big name viewers that are loyal to that actor will become much for involved in the article.

Research for ancillary task poster

Normal conventions for a horror film poster is dark background, list of staring actors, strap line that hints to what the film is about, when the film comes out in cinema, web site details and a list if the key people involved I the film such as producer film editor etc.

DARK BACKGROUNDThe reason a dark background is used more often than not is that it help to build a scary atmosphere this is the general goal for a horror poster, if this is successful it leaves a good bases to build interest with quotes and gory images

LIST OF STARING ACTORSThis is very useful for building interest because viewer are normally more loyal to some actors than others so if you have an actor that a viewer is particularly loyal to there name will instantly draw them in.

STRAP LINE THAT HINTS TO WHAT THE FILM IS ABOUT.(e.g.) “you cant tell your friends from your enemies”. This is a very powerful technique because It grasps the viewers attention by making them ask questions due to the fact that it only gives them a very small amount of incite into the film.

WHEN THE FILM COMES OUT IN CINEMABy letting the audients know when the film comes out it gives them a scale of how long they need to wait for the film there for building suspense in waiting for the films day view.

WEB SITE DETAILS This just gives the audients a chance to to learn more about the film it they are extremely interested about the film and normally the web site will reveal a little bit more about the plot of the film and the exiting scenes.

Research for ancillary task Poster

Key: important =

In a horror poster it is very common to have almost the whole page in darkness except for the main image which is centered with in the page, not often is there a distinctive background in a horror poster. At the very top of the page there is a key quote from the film that gives a small amount of incite into the film its self such as the setting of the film or an important line that the main character says in the film.The credits of the film are in very small text so as to take up as little room on the page as possible. There is a very obvious trend in the text of most horror film posters, the name of the film is in a gothic text just above the credits in a dark red blood like color. The credits are in a slightly transparent white color so as not to distract the viewer from the key image on the page.

CONSTRUCTION OF FILM POSTER

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Software AnalysisBecause both the print tasks were to create a poster and a front cover, I used the same software for

both!

Adobe IN Design

I used IN Design to actually put the whole document and products together. InDesign is used to put documents together.

Adobe Illustrator

I used adobe Illustrator as my DPS (Desktop Publishing Software)Adobe Photoshop

I used Adobe Photoshop as my photo/image manipulation software. This is shown in the construction phases.

This shot was to far away and not close enough to the main action of the image. Also the fear the actor on the left was

not portrayed quite the way we wanted we need it to look

more innocent and confused than she does at the moment

because at the moment it could be misstated as laughter.

This was shot far to close to the individuals that we were trying to photograph, you can’t see enough of the back ground to

get a good idea of what is going on in the shot. There is

also to much light on the actors faces from the flash on the

camera. The expression on the left actors face was over

exaggerated and did not give off the effort that I wanted in

this shot.

After lots of different shots this is the one we finally choose for are poster image the reasons

behind this are, the expression on the left actors face is perfect, she has just the right amount of fear and confusion in the way

she looked. The distance away from the actors was perfect because you could see just

bellow there shoulders but no further and just above there

heads.

Effects we used to manipulate the image…

These screenshots above show’s how we manipulated the images to how it looks now.

We used the auto tone, auto contrast, auto colour tool to change the effects.

We also edited the brightness tab to make it darker to allow a more darker feel to it.

Using Adobe INDesign and Illustrator to put the poster together

Above shows the masthead / title of the poster.

Following the forms and conventions of a poster with the title on the top with the actors name and a strap line of the “You can’t tell your friends from your enemies”

This saying was also captioned in the trailer with the mirror scene.

Here shows the credits of the poster, producers, film productions, editors, publishers photographers ect ect..

For this we used random names throughout expect for our names in red.

RESEARCH INTO FILM MAGAZINE FRONT COVERS

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Research for ancillary taskmagazine front cover.

The normal convention for a film magazine is take the star from a very popular film and use them to fill the page, the rest of the page is filed up by a back ground image related to actors latest film. You also very rarely have more than one person on the front cover, it is mostly just once key actor from an up and coming film.The masthead the magazine will stretch across the whole page and usually be in a bold font so that it takes up a lot of room at the top of the . The tag lines and strap lines are mostly large and help to fill the page, they don’t go into to much detail so as not to give away to much of the contents with in the magazine just enough to interest the reader. The contents of the text is all very specific, it only talks about the biggest film out at the time and does not wait any room on the page on films with very specific audients.

Key: important =

CONSTRUCTION OF FILM

MAGAZINE FRONT COVER

“FINAL CUT”Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty

Software used…Again I’m using the same software as what I did to create the film poster.

Adobe Illustrator – DTP

Adobe INDesign – Publishing

Adobe Photoshop – Photo Manipulation

Coming up with a name..We wanted to come up with an original magazine front cover so we could make our own stamp

on it and include different features from all different types of film magazines…

We came up with the name…. FINAL CUTWith the stapline – “The monthly insider”

Looking at research:Looking back at the research we noticed that on every magazine front cover there is a focus point for the

image. We want this in our magazine and plan to do this so Alexander (physco) is the focus of the image.

We are also going to explore different layering techniques…

Research back a few slides….

Laying out the document…This screenshot shows the page dimensions in adobe INDesign….

This screenshot on the right shows a mock-up design we

made in Microsoft Publisher, of exactly how we wanted the

front cover to look.

Creating the background..

The idea we came up with was to imbed-layer Alex on top of the dark woodland image above

Manipulating the focus image…

Stage 1: Stage 2:Stage 3:

To actually start the construction of the magazine, we firstly got our focus image how we wanted.

To do this like all the photo manipulation we’ve done we used Adobe Photoshop.

To cut the focus image out of baker we used a quick selection tool which allowed us to cut out certain parts of the image we wanted. In this case all we wanted was his body.

Manipulating the Background..

Here we rotated the image and changed the brightness to make it follow the forms and conventions of a horror film movie front cover….

Adding the focus image……..We now decided it was time to add the focus image to the main background image..

We also used an image of Sophie to include in the front cover on the bottom right..

Adding detail to the front cover..In our research section we found out that to follow the normal forms and conventions of a magazine front

cover we should have a clear masthead, cover lines, plugs, strap lines and other information such as price, date, issue, website and a barcode.

Exploring different fonts

We quite like this font because it follows the forms and conventions of the horror genre. With a war terror look to it!

We didn’t like this one as the PoragolITC TT font, because it takes up too much room on the page and wasn’t as readable in a smaller font!

After looking at a variety of fonts and texts we decided to go with the PortagolITC TT font!

Adding Cover-LinesWe feel its very important for a magazine front cover to look attractive and contain not to much revealing

information to what’s inside.

Adding the cover-lines to the main imageNext slide….

Put it all together......

Masthead

Cover Lines(our film)

Focus Image

Layered image of Sophie

Layered image of Sophie

Barcode and other information

EVALUATION OF A2

COURSEWORKBilly Pinto – Ross McCafferty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x37Y78aMNL8

You can watch our trailer on YouTube here!

Audience Feed-BackScreenshot below shows a post to my Twitter Stream showing my followers my new work!

Screenshot above shows a post on my Facebook stream

After we completed our tasks we posted them all up on the web.

Trailer – YouTube, Twitter, FacebookPoster – Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, FacebookFront Cover – Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook..

Why we did this?We did this so we could get feed-back and thoughts from both our target audience and 3rd Party Members..

Screenshot above shows our products on my Flickr Stream!

Click here for my Flickr Stream

Comments and Feed-Back

@Facebook Twitter Email’s

Comment: Jade WilliamsI love the trailer, its really capturing and makes me want to watch the film!

The poster looks good – very effective, Alice/Sophie looks really scared and I like the photo manipulation!

@harrisonlewisThe front cover is really good, and really looks like it should be on a news stool! Well done!

@km1210Congrats on the poster! FC looks good aswel. Really good effects on the editing!

Email from a 3rd Party Viewer from YouTube and Flickr

General Class Feed-Back!To get our class feed-back we showed our Media Studies Year 13 set our Trailer, Poster and Front Cover

This screenshot above shows the film trailer being displayed on a projection system.

Positive Negative

The effects worked really well together and it wasn’t very overwhelming!

Didn’t like the way the captions were placed on the screen, it felt like it was in the wrong place.

Magazine Cover and Poster seem very much like a house style!

Music seemed very well synced and well edited between different parts of the song. (layovers)

Voiceover/Voicemail at the beginning was extremely catching and brings the viewer in straight away!

Feed-Back from our target audience was extremely important for us to actually ensure our products were a success and followed similar forms and conventions.

There were many comments throughout the class session however I think these are the most important ones to bring up.

We had one negative feed-back however this is explained and over comed later on in the evaluation.

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Our media products use, develop and challenge the forms and conventions of real media products. This was done by paying huge attention to detail down to every aspect of the products.

I also challenged these forms and conventions by researching into current similar products………..

After researching into these products we had a good idea of what we needed to create for each individual task

-Movie Teaser/Trailer-Front Cover of a Film Magazine-Film Poster

Darkness, Horror, Woodland, Empty Spaces, Physco,

Movie Trailer (Teaser)Forms and

ConventionsAt the start of our film trailer we have a slow calm start while we are trying to introduce the characters and their situations, but once all this has been established the music becomes much faster and the shoots become a lot shorter there for increase the intensity of the trailer, this is a very useful technique that we learnt during our research.We also tried to make a big statement in the trailer when there was a turning point where Alex snapped and became mentally unstable, and there for his entire character changed, to some one sadistic and merciless, we got this idea from one the film the Shinning were he turns on those who holds direst to his heart forming a complexes dilemma for Alice increasing the level of involvement the audience feels for the characters.Once the turning point in the film has struck the shots become a lot darker (colour), this indicates to the audiences that the trailer is about to become a lot more intense, this follows normal forms and conventions.The way that we tried to express that Alex was psychotic and not just a mindless killer, was that we started with him as a normal person that thought clearly, then showed a scene with him staring into a mirror battling with himself, and then finally losing to his sadistic side. This helps to explain to the audients whet is happening to his character and clarify his motives towards Alice.

Movie Front CoverForms and

ConventionsWe found a magazine front cover during our research that we felt the mise-en-scene of this magazine was very close to what we felt ours was so we chose to use a lot of the forms and conventions from the magazine in ours.We took a picture of the main character from our trailer (Alex) wearing a long black over coat, we made sure that he had a very violent scary excretion on his face and clutched fists right in the centre of the page to let the reader know that he is the villain in the film that he stars in, because we had a dark vicious main image we had to make the background image in the same fashion. We used an image from the location in our trailer that was the most intimidating so as to follow the mise-en-scene of the page and there for follow normal forms and conventions. We had green strap lines cover lines and taglines to match the green background, we also had it so that they all clung round the edges of the page and there for wrapping the main image in text without overlapping it greatly, these are very usual form for the front cover of a magazine.We priced are magazine at £3.95, this shows that the magazine is a high end item and there for a glossy magazine. Our masthead goes all the way across the page meaning it jumps off the page

when the reader picks it up the magazine it will be the first thing the reader sees, it is a dark red colour which helps the reader relate to violence and death. We have a quote from an interview within the magazine to help draw in the attention of the audience, this is a widely used technique by most professional magazines.

PosterForms and

ConventionsLike in most film posters we have chosen an image from our trailer that is very important to the storyline of the our film trailer, this helps to give the audience a good incite into what the film might be about.We have a very important quote in small text just bellow our masthead that does not give to much away about the film but does help the audients to understand more about the main image and why it is what it is, this is a widely used concept that a lot of professional posters use so in this way we used the normal conventions of posters.For the majority of our text we have use a red and green colour scheme this does not keep to the normal forms and conventions of a film poster but we felt that it gave the poster a unique effect, also it helps to define the more important test from the text that can be dismissed.We have gone against the usual forms and conventions for our masthead normally this would go at the bottom of the page just above the credits of the film, but we felt that this would get in the

Way of our main image there for we defied normal conventions and put it at the top of the poster.We inserted the stars of our trailer above there charters in the image to that the readers can figure out who is who the is a well known technique.At the bottom of the page we have the factual information in a small text so as not to draw to attention to it although it does need to be there to give the reader of some idea of when the film will be released and where it came from.

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

We feel that all three of our products (trailer, poster and front cover) all follow a house style.

Its very important for new movies to have efficient and effective advertising.

We feel like we have successfully done this!

Starting with the poster . The poster is there to grab the audiences attention – and perhaps make them follow the website link for more details. **Access to the trailer**

The magazine front cover is there to advertise the movie with more information and background discussion (i.e. interviews, quizzes, polls ect ect)

However after both of these products drag the attention towards the trailer.

We feel like the trailer shows exactly what the films about and follows the synopsis to every detail!

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

Audience feed-back was a key part of our product. It allowed us to sign our products off as a success to there genre.

Its incredibly important for the audience of the magazine to actually relate to the products – because they are the ones who are going to be buying them!

Every time we changed or manipulated our products – or even went out on shoots for

the front cover we made sure that what we were doing would

be accepted and enjoyed by our target audience.

Luckily we were able to do this by actually using our own

knowledge base and our own thoughts because we are both keen Horror Film

enthusiasts!

From our Audience Feed-Back we leant that its important to have constant feed-back throughout the different design stages.

We wish we’d done this – for example after drawing up storyboards and planning the shoot – actually get feed-back from our audience and even then input so that when we are filming we are aware that we are filming exactly what the target audience want!

Feed-back was extremely easy to get thanks to online social networking sites such as….

We went to HMV store in Reading to see what posters were already out there. It makes a diffence seeing the posters in real life with glossy finish. It gave a good insight and ideas.

We analyzed the videos on YouTube to help us understand the editing within the videos which helped us with the construction stage. We analyzed the length of the videos and how they went from one scene to another, we also listened to the voice over they used. For the construction we used electronic media technologies such as sonny Vegas movie studio to put together and edit are footage.

We used Google to research into current film posters and magazines. This gave a vast insight into what was actually already out there.

How did you use new media technologies in the research and planning, construction and evaluation?

However

How did you use new media technologies in the research and planning, construction and evaluation?

Filming:To plan the filming we simply used hard copy storyboards and scanned them in so we had an electrical copy to annotate and edit.

Electrical Copies of Story Boards.

We also used the internet to check the weather forecast to ensure the sunny days were the days we were planning on filming. Especially for the bench scene!www.bbc.co.uk/weather

PosterTo plan the poster we simply used MS Publisher to layout how exactly we wanted it to look.

This was again the same for the planning of the Front Cover!

How did you use new media technologies in the research and planning,

construction and evaluation?

Sony Digital Still CameraWe used the still camera to take location shots of where we were planning to film. We were then able to import these photos into iPhone and organize them into files and events.

Sony Video CameraWe used the video camera to capture our footage which automatically saved them digitally on the memory stick – thus giving us easy access to them through the computer.

Microsoft – Sony Vegas Editing Suite:Sony Vegas allowed us to import out footage, re-arrange – edit and add captions to our footage.

Filming:

Desktop PublishingFor the desktop publishing and construction of our ancillary tasks we used Mac operating system with the Adobe Premium Suite

-PhotoshopPhotoshop allowed us to manipulate our photos and add filters and effects.

-IllustratorIllustrator and InDesign allowed to do the actual DTP of the front cover and poster.

-iPhotoiPhoto allowed us to organize our photos into events and folders.

How did you use new media technologies in the research and planning,

construction and evaluation?

For the evaluation of our products we used Microsoft Powerpoint:We did this because it is easier to add annotations and edit rather than a blog or website!

It also allowed us to work individually on two portfolios and then sync the work together with one portfolio (this one)

Evaluation:

Without the aid of new media technologies we wouldn’t have been

able to create what we have.

As a group we are now able to consume new media’s online with

the aid of the World Wide Web.

And now with the aid of design software and DTP we are able to

become publishers and publish our products way out there for the globe

to see!

Everything we’ve done in our Media Studies A2 Coursework would not have been possible without the aid

and use of new media technologies!

THE END!

Billy Pinto – Ross McCafferty