Project Brief

For my advanced project I have decided to do the following:

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

• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;

• a poster for the film.

Final Lexicon Trailer

Final Poster Design

Final Magazine Cover Design

Evaluation: Q1

Transcript:

One example of how I followed the conventions of real media text is when I used the High angle shot of the corridor, by using the CCTV camera I was able to provoke an omniscient atmosphere to the scene, this enhances my genre whilst enhancing the narrative and plot of my trailer. 
The same technique is used in the Minority Report trailer, again showing an omnipotent narrative to the trailer, and enhancing the mystery element of the cross genre.

I used a slow motion tracking shot of my main character to increase the intensity and foreboding atmosphere of the plot, whilst also generating an antagonist representation of my main character, a similar shot is used in the Minority Report trailer, however instead of focusing on the feet as he is walking, the camera focused on the main characters head, this allowed us to see his facial expressions as a protagonist victim in the trailer.

I used another tracking shot whilst two of my characters are running, this shot is used to highlight the emergence and danger that they are in, as protagonists that are in danger of crossing paths with my female antagonist.  Although conventions are followed with the type of shot, the context of the shot is different to that of minority report.  
With minority report they use this shot to highlight the character in a heroic sense, however I have made my characters seem more vulnerable, therefore going against hegemonic representations of men and women.

In minority report, an arc shot is used around the main character, although this is a fast pace clip we are able to understand the emotions of the character as we are able to see their facial expressions in the scene.  This influenced me to use an arc shot around my main character, although my context is different, I am representing the main character as an antagonist, whereas minority report uses this shot for a protagonist.  I feel that the way I have slowed this shot in comparison to that of minority report, my audience will react by questioning the importance and role of this character, as she is shown as an antagonist up until the end of the trailer where we begin to assume otherwise.  This enhances the mystery element of my cross-reference trailer.

The use of voice overs and captions are used regularly throughout the Minority Report trailer, they enable the audience to understand the plot and give a clear sense of narrative.  I chose to follow these convention by using my own captions in my trailer, although the captions appear less frequently whilst the sound bridges and voice overs are used to narrate the plot, these are taken directly from character dialogue.  I felt that this was necessary as I did not want to give too much away of the plot, again following the conventions of my genre as well as real media text.

In the maze runner trailer a hand held camera shot is used during a time of urgency and climax, from this we are able to feel report with the character who is being focused on.  In this trailer the character is again seen as heroic.
On the other hand, my use of this camera shot was done to portray the opposite, instead I wanted the character to be victimised by what was occurring in the scene, I also changed the direction of the camera to display the victim character point of view.  This scene was used to, again, increase the level of attention the audience put in to the plot, it was filmed specifically to raise questions, which follows the conventions of real media texts and the mystery genre.

During post-production I was able to partner the soundtrack with the footage, what I mean by this is how the events in the footage work with the key points in the soundtrack.  This editing technique is also used in the maze runner trailer, the soundtrack is used as a que for a fade to black transition and change of camera angle in a sequence of similar shots.  This technique is commonly used in existing trailers as it amplifies the actions and scenes of the trailer.

Towards the beginning of the Cowboys and Aliens trailer an establishing shot is used as an instant way of connecting the characters, plot and era with the setting that they are in.  I adopted this technique towards the beginning of my trailer to make a clear link between the caption 'One Town' and the location of this town, without this narrative my audience would not be able to connect with the plot as easily.

I really enjoyed the montage at the beginning of the Cowboys and Aliens trailer as I found it very informative of who the main character is and what they are capable of, it increased the adrenaline and pace of the trailer which is a convention that I wanted to adopt within my own.  I used a fight montage  scene towards the end of my trailer, much editing had to be done in order to achieve this as the cut, pace and link with the soundtrack had to work in partnership with each other.  The fight scene was used to demonstrate the power of the main character and present her in an antagonist light, this followed the conventions of real media texts and of my cross genre.

The pull focus used in the Cowboys and Aliens trailer was significant to the realisation of the importance of characters, their relationship and the alien device on Daniel Craigs wrist.  I was influenced by this small clip and used it in a similar way within my own trailer, I used it in two separate cases.  One pull focus moved from behind the character, to the door that she was looking at, this was done to highlight the importance of that specific moment and place and also foreshadowed the following event.  Another time was when my main antagonist character is controlling the main protagonist character, again focusing from behind the antagonist and focusing on the reaction of the protagonist.  Both uses of the pull focus display the relation between the two focus points, this being another use of narrative for the plot.

In the Cowboys and Aliens trailer a voice over is used to link with the events on the screen, however the voice over was extracted from the dialogue withing the film.  I chose to do this myself as a way of creating a clear narrative and relation between characters, in this case my main protagonist character is explaining a little moment from his past, this is used as a soundbridge from the flashback of his past, to the current conversation he is having in the cafe at present time.  Whilst improving the narrative and understanding of the plot, the audience are still unsure of the significant moments that cause both main characters to become enemies, therefore following the conventions of my cross genre.

Magazine Cover:

My feature article photo is especially important to how I went against conventions. 

The placement of the character is anchored to the right side of the page, whereas the three competing magazine covers have centred the feature article photo and characters. 

I noticed that all three of these magazine covers also feature the protagonist of the headlining film, I have done the opposite to this and shown my antagonist of the front page.

Due to the genre of my trailer I have again chosen to challenge conventions by changing the direction of my character, she is turned sideways and is not making eye contact with the reader, this connotes the mystery subsection of my genre.

The feature article photo is candid for the purpose of creating a relation between the character and her background, whereas my competing magazines have focused on the characters identity alone, this is done through posed images.

My Mystery Sci-fi genre has enforced the use of semi transparency for my feature article photo, not only this but the colours of the background has changed to enhance the effects of my cross genre. 

The existing magazine covers I am comparing mine against have not used either of these special effects, instead they have focused on the mise-en-scene of the characters and their relation with the text and colour scheme of the magazine cover.

The last unconventional feature of my magazine cover is the font type of the masthead, existing magazine covers use sharp bold font types, instead I have chosen a more ‘curvy’ font  as it connotes that there is more to the magazine and featured film than what meets the eye, the fluidity of the s and the c makes it easy on the eye, and less outstanding than that of the other mastheads written in bold.

The conventions that I have followed for this media product include the format of the cover lines, I used the empire magazine as inspiration for this as the cover lines are written in a column, the title of the films or TV programs are written in a contrasting colours, mine being white and black, empire being white and red. 

The lines that are used to separate each cover line on the EMPIRE magazine have a drop shadow effect, I also used an effect for mine to make them stand out on the page, however instead of using a drop shadow which suggests foreboding, instead I used an inner glow to continue my brand identity throughout my three products. 

The placement of my cover lines, however, do not follow the conventions of the EMPIRE magazine, instead they are anchored to the left so that the feature article photo was not obstructed or distracted from. 

The price that is written using a small font within the masthead was influenced by EMPIRE magazine as it was a good use of space, as well as an allocated placement of the magazine information, such as the date and price.

The placement of the puff in the lower left corner follows the conventions of the empire magazine, a similar shape has been used for my puff text box, however mine has been moved more in to the corner of the page so that whole circle is not visible.  The positioning of my puff is also similar to that in the MYM magazine.

The way I have structure my text on the page follows the conventions of the MYM magazine as the text is place around the feature article photo so that it is not obstructed.

The placement of the heading follows the convention on the MYM magazine as it is anchored to the side towards the bottom of the page and covers the space in the feature article photo.

The use of a plug as a running head was another convention that I adopted in my own work, this technique was sourced from the TOTAL FILM magazine, the effect that I used on this piece of text is also slightly similar to that of TOTAL FILM.

My contents text box was highly influenced by the layout of the TOTAL FILM magazine, where it was formatted to the bottom of the page, the use of little words to intrigue the reader were important as it gave my magazine a status and enhanced the genre of the magazine and the films.

The masthead is also fairly similar, this is mainly due to the genre similarities between my magazine and the TOTAL FILM magazine, however I was mainly influenced by the creativity of integrating one word in to the other.

Poster:

Some ways in which my poster is unconventional include the orientation of the page, most conventional film poster will be designed portrait, however I have gone against this convention by orientating the page landscape, this is due to the style of image that it features.

As the image is only of the characters eye it was necessary to make the poster landscape, I chose to make it this way because of the connotations of the eye, the image is very personal and powerful as the eye is seen to be the passage to the soul.  Not only does this image connote a very serous and personal message, but it also links with my cross genre with regards to the colours used and the mysterious aspect of the image.

The placement of the heading does not follow the convention of the real media text that I have used to influence my poster, instead of placing the heading at the bottom of the page, I placed it at the top, this can create a type of unfamiliarity for the viewer, which is exactly what I was aiming for as the plot of the trailer is based of the relations between people and words, the plot of the novel, which I based the trailer on is also unfamiliar and can be uncomfortable to read however connotes a very important message.

My tag line has been placed in the centre of the pupil, this was done to link the two images of the eye and the scene in the corridor together whilst slightly explaining the plot, the layout is also similar to that of the novel front cover.

I have used minimal text on my poster as I believe that the connotations of the images are more important and intriguing to the audience than the information that is usually provided about the director, music and producers.

Due to the fact that this trailer originated from written text I have had the ability to interpret the novel in my own way and have had the freedom to be more creative with the composition of my three media products.

The main two conventions that were followed from my real media text was the layering of images which I was influenced to do because of the effectiveness it had on the minority report trailer, it created a disjointed, mysterious yet futuristic effect which causes the viewers to look more deeply in to the meaning of each image.

Another would be the text that was written on the poster,  in the maze runner poster the date is written at the bottom of the page, and on the cowboys and aliens poster the names of the actors were written in order of appearance.

Evaluation: Q2

Evaluation: Q3

I found out from my audience feedback that the narration and captions within the trailer were the best ways to explain the plot of the film.  As there is more narrative we become more understanding of the characters backgrounds and we are not told too much about what happens in the full length film, instead the general plot is explained, however towards the end as there is no conclusion, and more of a confusing message being shown the plot remains unclear to a certain extent as the main female character is displayed as both and antagonist and protagonist, this therefore enhances the mystery genre of the film, whilst the general plot of the Lexicon and 'bare word' follows the conventions of a sci-fi as these actions are fictional and defy the research that we have today.

My audience have also said that the synergy between my three media products was mainly down to the use of the one female character across each product.  It is also due to the continuous use of the font and colours.  Although, Chrissie noticed that I had used elements from the trailer within my digital print products, such as the reflection in the eye and the scene used on the magazine cover.

I asked my audience if they would watch the full length film, they said yes because of how unclear and uncertain the plot was and that the unknowing has intrigued them and influenced them to want to watch the film.

Evaluation: Q4

Author's Review of Trailer

Trial and Error- Camera angles

In order for me to shoot the tracking shot of Lilie's feet I had a lot of difficulties that I had never thought of before, when I was on location for this shot I noticed the the ground was very uneven and would cause the footage to be very shaky.  In order to resolve this problem I went to find some material to put on the ground, for this I found some corrugated cardboard, this was suitable as it is shock absorbent, which allowed for steadier footage.
After this I decided to strap the camera down on to the middle of the dolly, I did this by using masking tape for security.  I then placed the tripod on to the dolly, this made it easier for me to move the camera with Lilie's movements.

Shot List for Final Cut

1.      Establishing shot

2.      Close Up

3.      High Angle (CCTV)

4.      Long Shot

5.      Over Shoulder Shot

6.      Deep Focus

7.      Close Up- Hand on Handle

8.      Close Up - Hand Drop Phone

9.      Close Up- Phone Drop

10.  Over Shoulder Shot

11.  Extreme Close Up

12.  Dutch Tilt

13.  Close Up

14.  Two shot

15.  Hand Held

16.  Side Close Up

17.  Point of View

18.  Extreme Long Shot

19.  Side Close Up

20.  Extreme Long Shot

21.  Point of View

22.  Tracking Shot

23.  Close Up

24.  Point Of View

25.  Over Shoulder Shot

26.  High Angle Over Shoulder Shot

27.  Deep focus

28.  Two shot

29.  Point Of View

30.  Side Close Up

31.  Extreme Close Up Tracking Shot

32.  Tracking Shot

33.  Close Up

34.  Arc Shot

35.  Mid Shot

36.  Extreme Close Up

37.  Long Shot

38.  Two Shot

39.  Close Up

40.  Two Shot

Poster Development

Tutorial for changing eye colour

Firstly I used the Macro setting on the camera and got an extreme close up shot of Lilie's eye.











I imported this image on to Photoshop and flipped the image to make the placement of the eye the opposite as it looked better for positioning on the poster.










I cropped the picture to only focus on the eye.









I copied this picture on to the correct size canvas (29cm x 21cm)

I used a Gaussian Blur to create a sharper focus on the main part of Lilie's eye.

In order to change the colour of the iris I used the Lasso Tool to select the area I wanted to change.









I then clicked on new adjustment layer- hue/saturation, this allowed me to colourize and change the colour of the iris.







I began to add the 'Oswald' text on to the main image, I changed the positioning of the text until it accentuated the image by making it more dominant on the page, this continued until the final processes of the poster production.

I selected the image I took in the corridor during Scene 1 to use as a reflection in Lilie's eye. 











I selected the central, important part in the picture, using a circular selection tool.  I then selected the inverse in order to keep the selected part and delete the areas around the picture.

I edited the opacity of the image to make it follow the conventions of my genre, this also allowed me to create synergy and a house style throughout my three media products.

I imported this image to my main poster image. After this I was able to see the positive effect of the overlaying images.  I made any corrections to the shape and opacity of the corridor image and finally place the text in the correct places.