Blocking Photos

CCTV end of the corridor

Long shot of dead bodies angle



'Dark Inside' OSS



Dutch Tilt corridor angle

Arc action shot of Ashley and Liam

Wide angle of Lilie

High angle OSS with Lilie and Ashley

Extreme close-up tracking shop

Trial and Error- Audio Editing in Trailer

The techniques I used to edit the audio in this video was used across the whole of my trailer editing process.  I accessed these options using the Adobe Premier Elements 14 version which I bought and downloaded with Adobe Photoshop Elements 14.

Soundtrack for Trailer

This soundtrack created a mysterious, futuristic sound at the beginning, as it went on the volume and pace increased, therefore increasing intensity.  What I enjoyed most was the fast paced series of high impact music near the end, when listening to this I could imagine a series of short, fast and significant shots that would create an effective montage at the end of my trailer.



At the beginning of this soundtrack I found that it was too loud, I liked the vocals in this clip however I think that the effect it has is more of a sorrowful mood to it, this would not be appropriate for my trailer as I need my audience to feel more scared and concerned about the main character and the plot. The pace then picked up, however again the mood created was not correct, I felt like it was more hopeful instead of conveying the intensity that I need in my trailer.


I really like the sharp impact that this soundtrack created at the beginning, however the mood of this does not fit my Mystery Sci-Fi genre, instead it is better suited to an action genre trailer.  It creates a more atmospheric and dramatic effect, it represents determination.  I really liked the intensity of this soundtrack, however, and how it builds momentum and calms at particular points of climax.  The whole soundtrack is also slightly too short for my trailer and does not follow the conventions of how a trailer of my genre would be put together.

Lexicon Trailer: First Cut

Whilst editing my trailer I have noticed that the plot of the film is being explained in too much detail during the dialogue between the two male characters (Tom and Wil) and the voice overs.  Although I have not completed 100% of the filming I have noticed that the duration of the first scene is too long and does not have a strong and significant connection with the event that has happened, this being the Broken Hill disaster.  Instead it is unclear as to how the event happened, who or what caused it, and why it occurred.

It is very difficult to get interested in the events as there is no soundtrack playing with the footage.  The transitions between the clips are not always smooth and can be distracting from the importance of each scene.  I have also noticed that the audio is unbalanced and there are distracting clicking sounds during some of the clips, I have noticed that these are because of the autofocus on the camera, this meant that as characters move, for example Wil walking down the corridor after his kidnapping.

Trial and Error- Font for Trailer

At first I referred to the front cover of the Lexicon book, I noticed that the font was very simple with sharp straight lines.  The letters are spaced out and the conventional blue colour is used.

On Photoshop I found a font called 'Oswald'.  I changed the thickness of the font to 'light' which thinned the letters.  I then edited the letter spacing and changed it to 200.  I made the colour of the text bright blue like the convention Sci-Fi colour that I found in my research.

The colours and effects of 'Lexicon' were done by right clicking and adding a gradient effect, the colour I had originally chosen then graduated to white at the top of the text.

After I had perfected the gradient of the text I added a glow effect to add to the Sci-Fi effect, I started with a glow on the outside of the letters, I noticed that this was not good enough as it softened the lines and rounded the edges.  I changed it so that the glow would come from within the letters, around the edges, this kept the sharp edges whilst still adding to the effect.

 

Trial and Error- CCTV

As an establishing shot I decided to get in touch with the caretakers at my filming location, they explained to me what CCTV cameras are in use and the rules about using the footage.  I had to get permission from a member of staff who was responsible for the use of the CCTV footage, once I got permission the caretakers were able to download the footage that I needed (this was between 16:00 and 16:30 on Wednesday 25th) on to my hardrive.  However there were some complications with this process as I was unable to play back the footage on my own computer as I required the program that is used for the CCTV footage, I spoke to an IT technician and was able to fix this problem by exporting the files as a different file type, which enabled me to view the footage on VLC Player.

Once I had the footage I chose the best part that could be used as an establishing shot for my opening scene.  I used a couple of seconds of footage, the footage was originally in colour and was poor quality, there was also too much light for the mise-en-scene that I required.

Original:

Edited:
Effects- 
- I used a black and white effect to create the common perception of CCTV footage.
- I also used a noise effect to make the image look more fuzzy, this added to the CCTV effect.
- I then changed the brightness of the scene to suit the mise-en-scene.
- I used colour pass and alpha adjust to change the colours of the shot.

Alterations-  
I scaled the frame so that it was more focused on the 'dead' characters lying on the floor, I was also able to remove Louise from the scene by doing this.

Trial and Error- Voice over- Phone Call

In the end I decided to use the 'Phone Quality' and mic gain recording settings, I decided that this would be the most suitable as the distortion and muffling of the voice suited the atmosphere of the scene.  The audio will be used in conjunction of audio where one character will be on the phone, having a short conversation with the audio that is theoretically coming from the phone in the characters hands during the footage of the scene.