editing footage

Last Monday and this Monday we have been editing our footage. Today we added  the green film rating trailer screen that looks like this

By having this at the beginning of the trailer it makes it look more official and professional.

We also, added lionsgate logo to our trailer as they are a well known production company for making horror films making it perfect for our trailer. 




We also, added an 'ambient' sound to some parts of our trailer, and also, when there is the pan of the location we put a owl sound in the background to give it more of a forest  eerie feel. We plan to add more sound to our trailer once we have found them. 


The feed back from our lecturer on our trailer so far was to speed up the part we slowed down as seemed too slow. He also, said we needed to have more transitions as parts go from bright to dark and does not flow very well. 


Next step:
We have now got a first cut of our trailer so we are now going to move on to making our poster for our film, to give us inspiration we will look at posters for horror films. Once this is done we will go back to tweaking our trailer. 

Filming 2nd session wednesday 24th december

On wednesday the 24th december we completed our filming for our trailer, however due to the times we could all do this filming we had to do it during the day and not i fox's forest  which is our original location. But we filmed it at a location similar looking to our original location(trees, thick forest, leaf, bushes). As we filmed this during the day we will have to edit the footage in imovie to black and white to make it fit into our  previous footage and so it fits with the conventions of a horror.

Our next step is to look at our footage and edit what we have and see if we have enough footage to start to put together our trailer.

Font ideas

Here are some font ideas for the name of our film all got from www.dafont.com
The one we have decided to use is the top one (action of the time new)

(Action of the time new)

(cold night)

Questionnaire for our name

We conducted a questionnaire to our class about the different choices for the name of our film and we intend to use the name that was voted most popular amongst the class.  

                                                    
As you can see from the results from the questionnaire the name 'the unknown' was the most popular therefore this seems like a ideal name to use for our film. As well this name was the favorite of the group and what we thought seemed most appropriate so we were glad when the results showed it was the most popular with our peers.

Name ideas for our film

We had a production meeting today to discuss names for our film

These are the names we can up with

• The woods
• Alone
• Haunted
• Nowhere to hide
• The unknown 
• Hidden 

With these name ideas we will  make a questionnaire and ask people which name they prefer or if they have any other suggestions. 

Synopsis

Three friends decide to go on a camping trip to a woods that they have heard has strange things happening inside. They have been told it is haunted and that people disappear in there. The three friends, thinking that these tales are a load of rubbish decide to go and explore for themselves, having a laugh and not taking anything seriously.

They set up camp and then go off with their hand held camera to explore this supposedly haunted woods. However, whilst they are filming and making fun of the stories they hear noises and strange things in the woods and instantly start to worry, although they try to cover up their feelings and shake it off.

As night falls, more strange things start to happen and they begin to actually panic. Trying to dodge this 'thing' that is following and haunting them.

Looking at our footage

Today we looked back at the footage which was about 7 minuets we got on wednesday to see if we could use any of it. After looking at it we found a few bits that we could use in our trailer. These included Alice walking up to a door and shaking the lock. A shot of Beccy's face looking worried. And all 3 of them walking in a subway.

We still need shots of...

• panic in all the girls
• shot of the location
• realizing there is something lurking in the wood so possibly running and screaming
• the ending shot of the camera falling on the floor and filming someone running away.

We also, watched a imovie tutorial on how to use imovie and give us basic understand on how to edit our trailer, and allows us to begin putting it together. Here is the hyperlink to the tutorial we watched.

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/movies/#intro
Here is a screen shot of the editing we have done so far on imovie

Our next step is to carry on filming for our trailer. We have planned to do our next filming session on  wednesday the 10th of november. We will do it after our media lesson and meet up with our actor at the location which is still fox's forest. We also, need to come up with a name for our film, to start this we will brain storm some ideas and relevant words for our film.

First filming session for our trailer

On the 27th of october we had our first filming session at fox's forest with Beccy Alice and Jenna who are our actors for our film. We turned up at our location at 6 o'clock and done as much filming as we could but we did not complete filming our footage as it go to dark and could not see what we were filming. Therefore, we will arrange another day to book out the camera and complete our filming for our trailer. 

Production meeting

Today we had a brief meeting with our lecture to see if we were on task and to help pull together our ideas for our trailer and film we talked about the following things:

• LOCATION- foxs forest Portsmouth
• ACTORS- Beccy, Alice and Jenna 
• SCHEDULE-  we will be doing the filming for our trailer during the half term and we booked out the camera for this
• SYNOPSIS- we finalized what the film will be about and came up with a storyline
• SCRIPT IDEAS- minimal improvised dialog and during the editing of the trailer we will put in music to increase tension 

Key elements in Blair witch project film

Today i watched Blair Witch project and noted down key points which stood out to me which made the film seen authentic and appear not to be for a movie but a home video documentary. We want our film to have the same feel as Blair witch project and more recent film paranormal activity therefore we thought this would be a productive task. 

• At the beginning of the film there is information about what the film is about 

• blurred picture that goes to focused this gives the effect of home videoing 
• Talking from the person who is filming 
• Footage of someone else filming with a camera 
• Shadow of the person filming (outline of the camera)
• Interview of people from the town about what they are making a documentary about in this case the blare witch 
• Mirror reflection of the person filming 
• Shot of the clapper board shows that its home filming and has not been edited 
• Footage of location and them in the car how getting there
• Heavy breathing when walking though forest 
• night vision shots
• People screaming for help and the camera not focused on anything 
• Half shot of a scared face 

• Change of location to an abandoned house in black and white  

• Camera has been dropped on the floor but the camera is still running 

Next step

Now that we have looked at existing horror film products it now gives us a better understanding on what we need to do to our product in order for it to follow the conventions. As well it has helped us known what type of shots to use in our trailer to fit in with excising trailers.

We also, had a brief meeting about the idea for our film. We have come up with a basic idea for our trailer which will be a couple of friends camping in a forest who are interested in paranormal activity who go looking for proof but when things start to go strange they wish they never went. The location we have decided to shoot this trailer in is fox's forest.

To help us we have also, decided to watch blair witch project and take notes on what is effective as this film has a similar bases as what our film does.

What is a trailer?

A trailer is a way of adverting a film that will be viewed in the cinema or released on DVD. Trailers use to be shown at the end of a film but this didn't last long as people left the cinema after watching the film so they never got to see the trailer but the name trailer has stuck and is shown before the film starts making it a more effective way of advertising.

Trailers consist of a series of shots from the film that it is advertising some time extra scenes are shot just for a trailer and are not shown in the film for example black Christmas 2006. Trailers main purposes are to attract people to watch the film so they use the most exciting funny or important parts of the film without giving to much away or spoiling the film. To help avoid this scene’s in trailers may not appear in the order they would in the film.

(information gathered from wikipedia)

Deconstruction of Last exorcism poster

The background of the poster for the exorcism goes from a white at the top of the poster and fades to a grey colour. The white is near the top of the poster where there is a cross on the wall. This could suggest good purity and innocence as this is what stands for it. It is saying that god is a good pure creature and since it fades to grey near the bottom near the girl bent backwards this could suggest that the girl is not, as the colour shown is not pure grey it is almost off white, suggesting that the girl is not completely pure or good but is not all bad as it is only off white. Also, white stands for hope and the whitest part of the poster is around the cross this could suggest that god offers hope to people in this case the girl who looks like she is in pain.

The girl is the main focus in this picture suggesting that she is the main character or the most important character. Also, in this picture we do not see the ‘baddie’ or the person that is causing the horrible things to happen this could suggest that this character is the victim as she looks like she is in pain but that she is also, the bad person as we do not see who is causing this to her. This could also, help us identify that the horror is a paranormal horror with ghost and bad spirits as we do not see who it is. As well the position she is looks like something is being drawn out form her in this case as the film is called the last exorcism it seems that a bad spirit is being drawn out of her as well the cross is placed directly above her and as belief in god and chanting from the bible is used to perform exorcisms it seems that the spirit is trying to be removed from her. Also, above the cross there is ‘believe in him’ this sounds like a warning that if you don’t believe in god this could happen to you.

The set were the picture is taken for this poster is in a bare room. By doing this it empathises the girl in the middle the cross and the name of the film these three important in the film therefore they are the main focus. As well, by having it in a natural environment it helps the audience connect with the character shown as they could relate to her as they live in a house as well making the film seem possibly scarier as it seems that it could happen to anyone. It would also, make it scarier to viewers that believe in ghost demons and god, as having the cross in a room could be seen to protect you yet this is still happening to the girl leaving the audience feel vulnerable and frightened, which is why people see horrors to be scared and frightened.

The writing at the bottom of the poster saying ‘the last exorcism’ goes from bigger to smaller. This film is a carry on from a number of exorcism films. This could suggest that the films are getting bigger and bigger (better, well known, or the quality of the film is getting better). Also, the writing is in bold black capitals. By having it in capitals could suggest that it is loud; an important must see film, because it’s in capitals and stands out from the rest of the films being advertised. Black writing could suggest death and fear but also, power. This could suggest that this film is powerful it will make an impact on the film industry that it will make a big profit and is a must see horror film.

Saw 3D Teaser Trailer

Teaser trailers do not give you a great deal of information about the films narrative. A teaser trailer is a short usually between 20-30 seconds used to advertise a movie they are usually released a long time before the film is out in the cinema sometimes up to a year and a half this then teases the audience. Teaser trailers simply let the audience know that the film is coming out and to build up a hype about trailer it.

What are genre conventions?

Conventions is a way of something which is accepted by the audience for a certain type of category such as  conventions of comedy genre is funny punchlines. Or a convention of a horror film is scary music; it is the way we recognize what type of film something will be. A good trailer will show conventions of a genre that the film is. For example, the trailer for saw 7 starts with eery music and dark screen with bold writing.

Where might a trailer be seen

Places trailers may be viewed

• Cinema- before a film starts, sometime linked with what genre of film you’re seeing, for example when the horror film devil was being shown in the cinema the trailer for paranormal activity 2 was being shown. They show the same kind of genre as what film that you’re about to watch as they know that the film will appeal to you. 
• Effect on viewing the trailer at the cinema- big picture good quality of the trailer, the atmosphere in the cinema may help the chances that people want to see the film being advertised, the audience that will be watching the trailer have a higher chance of being the right target audience as the trailer for a horror film would be shown at beginning of a horror film.

• Radio- film trailers are sometimes heard playing on the radio. For example radio 1 had a interview with a member of the cast from the film inception and they then played the trailer and a short snippet from the film. 
• Effect of listing to a trailer on the radio- people can listen to it when in the car when traveling this means that they are targeting another type of audience increasing the amount of people who know about the film and hopefully who will go and see it. Also, it allows people to imagine what it will look like and they may go and look on the internet to watch the trailer.

• Television- films rated over 12 are normally shown after the watershed (9 o'clock) as the people watching after this time will be old enough to see it and the audience that they are trying to aim there film at maybe watching TV at this time. As well children films such as despicable me are shown on children channels such as nickelodeon. By doing this they are targeting a specific audience.
• Effect of watching trailers on television- it is targeting the specific audience that the film is for
• Online- anyone can view any trailer at anytime from websites such as YouTube

What is needed to give you a strong narrative of a film?

To have a strong narrative for a film there are key elements that need to be shown in a trailer in order for the audience watching the trailer to get the general idea of what they films is about with out giving away to much information.

Some key points that are needed are

• Glimpse of who the main characters are
• voice over or writing on the screen ( allows the viewers to have a bit more information about what is happening) 
• main event snippets
• a shot of the location   
• a shot or mention of the bad thing (the killer, ghost, demon, vampire) 
• music to give you the feeling that it is a horror
• the makers or producers of the film ( some production companies such as twisted films are known for horrors) 

5 events in the trailer and the questions they raise

• man driving past abandoned barn 

 Questions raised by audience- were is he going? who lives there? is this were the scene is set?

• Girl in a white night dress and a close up of her face 

Questions raised by audience- who is she? what role does she play? why does she look like that? what is going to happen to her? what is this girl going to do?

• creaking floor board with a close up of feet in chains

Questions raised by audience- why are the feet chained? if they were chained up how did they escape? who was chained up? is this person good or bad?

• fire in the background and a man holding a cross

Questions raised by audience- what is happening? why is there fire? will anything happen? are people gonna survive? How did the fire start? who started the fire?

• Girl bent backwards 

Questions raised by the audience- what has happened to her? why is she doing that? is she possessed by the devil? Is she the main character? Will everything be better at the end of the film? Is she going to be saved? 

The Last Exorcism - :60 Trailer

The last exorcism is a Mockumentary (mock documentary) horror film directed by Daniel Stamm. It is a film which follows a priest trying to draw the devil from a farmer’s daughter after being possessed by it by carrying out a number of exorcisms. The trailer which is 60 seconds long portrays an extremely horrific experience and makes you want to go to the cinema as soon as the film is released to experience this amazing horror film. The trailer achieves this by using a number of different techniques from sound to editing to mise en scene, giving you a sneak peek of what the film has to offer. This trailer has many conventions you expect to see in a horror trailer such as the eerie music.

The music featured in this trailer builds suspense to what will happen leaving you terrified and wanting to see it. All through the trailer there is eerie music building louder when facts and writing comes up on the screen this builds up tension making you focus more to what is on the screen therefore paying more attention to what the film is about. Also the uprising in beats in the music could represent the viewer’s heart beats as they are scared and the increase in beats in the heart could be due to the tension and anxiety about what is going to happen and what the view is experiencing. There are also, synchronous sounds in the film, there is screams coming from a girl and we see this from a close up of her face this links the action to the sound. This is also, shown when this same girl who is possessed by the devil lets out a evil roar we also, see a close up of her face at this point this makes it more scary as we can link this horrible sound to a horrible image making it appear more scary. We also, hear two more conventional horror sounds of creaking floor boards and rattling chains, we may find this scary as it is the unknown of what is coming towards us this is also linked with a close up of feet chained up walking with a cut to a man in a cream suit looking terrified looking up to the ceiling as he does not know where the sound is coming from. This gives the audience an advantage and allows them to join in the experience as they can see something that the man cannot.

In this trailer there are a lot of hand held shots. By doing this it gives it a more personal experience to the viewers as they are experiencing what the character is seeing through their eyes allowing the audience to connect more. This is important as it will increase the fear factor of the film as it is almost like they are being put into the same situation. There is also a point where the camera tilts down a corridor or a girl who is blacked out. By doing this it increases the tension as you do not know who is coming towards you. This is a good convention of a horror trailer as it leaves you wondering what will happen and it is scary as it is dark. By having the girl in the dark, blacked out it could suggest that she is evil mysterious or that she has something to do with death as black represents all these things.

We see a few images of a girl with sunken eyes messy dark brown hair dark pupils wearing a white nightdress and red boots. The whole image that this character is portraying is scary. Having sunken eyes with big bags shows that she has not had a lot of sleep and is ill. This could give clues to the story line of the film as this could be the girl possessed by an evil spirit. Dark pupils could suggest emptiness and death. By being empty could mean she has no soul making her not human therefore appearing scarier and leave you asking the question to yourself how did she become like that. However by her wearing red boots suggest that she is still a young girl that something nasty has happened to her and that she is still human. This therefore makes you want to see this film as you are inquisitive to see what happens to this girl.

There is also, a close up of a man wearing a white suit holding a cross. By wearing a white suit could suggest that he has a pure soul and is good as we see the colour white as representing things were as we see black and bad. As well if we see the man holding a cross we also, think of him as helping or as good as he is worshiping something which is known to be good and helping or a good symbol rather than a symbol that is known for black magic or worshiping the devil. As well by holding the cross it gives us an insight into the film as Christian chanting is used in exorcisms.

The writing that is shown on the trailer also, shows conventions of horror films. There is a black background which indicated death depression and disappears. The font used is harsh and sharp looking this could suggest that it is a film that will leave you on the edge of your seat as you do not know what will happen next. Also, the font has a gothic look to it and during the gothic period black magic played a huge part in everyday life suggesting that the film may have an element of black magic. However there is light shining through points in the letters this could suggest that there is hope or things will get better. This could be attractive to potential viewers as they like to know that there will be an ending; a conclusion to the story rather than be left not knowing what will happen to the characters.

Getting started

Today we had a course over view to find out what we are doing for A2 media coursework. We also got into a group and in our group there is me Tanya and Kate, we have decided to create a horror trailer and what kind of horror to do. We decided on creating paranormal horror and we will be deconstructing paranormal activity, ghost and the last exorcism trailers as these films have the same concept that we are planning on doing.