Trailer

Cover Page

Poster

Question 4

www.binary10.co.uk/Kyle Dos Santos-Question 4.m4a
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Question 4: How did you use media technologies in the construction, research, planning and evaluation stage?

Research

During the research process, I used YouTube regularly to watch trailers for other horror films. This was particularly useful as it enabled me to be secure in my knowledge of conventions with trailers of this genre to therefore implement them into my own work. YouTube also allowed for me to view work of other students who have undertaken similar tasks. I also used the search engine Google whilst researching for my film. Google allowed me to access a vast array of websites. I used Google Images to see previous issue covers of Empire magazine alongside using it to look at horror movie posters. This gave me style models of which I was able to follow during the creation of my ancillary tasks.

Planning

I placed silhouette placeholders in iMovie, which allowed for me to visualise the timing of my trailer before taking my shots whilst also creating a digital storyboard. By creating this storyboard, a sense of structure was made and I had the ability to replace these placeholders with real shots as my filming progressed. To familiarise myself with software I’d be using for the evaluation stage, I created a practice response to a question with the iMac GarageBand in the form of a podcast. This gave me the ability to implement images to my podcast to give a visual representation of what I am talking about. I was also able to stop the recording whenever necessary, which helped me, become more flexible with my recording. I regularly used blogger to record my progress during the process. Blogger is a useful tool because it enables me to effectively organise all my work in a single place. Through labelling my blogs into tags such as ‘Research and Planning’, I was able to catagorise them where relevant. I used Blogger throughout the whole process as it is an easily accessible site and I    had previously used it in my AS studies.

Construction

Whilst constructing my trailer, I made use of a handheld Cannon Legria HD camera to record my footage. It allows for smooth recording as it films at 60fps. The fact that it was handheld proved to be a helpful factor as I was able to closely match conventions within horror movies. The point of view chase shots were complimented by the shakiness of the camera to make the action appear more intense and natural. It also gave me more freedom with the type of shots I was able to take. For example, I sat in a tree to film a particular part of my film as the distance between the camera and my characters below made them appear more vulnerable. I used a tripod for shots of which required stillness. The tripod gave me a lot of freedom with its adjustments in height and angles to ensure that I was capable of achieving the shot I desired. iMovie was a useful application on the Apple Macs as it allowed me to construct my trailer in a straightforward method. It allowed me to cut clips to guarantee that the timing of each shot was suitable. I was able to add music, transitions, text for a title and the application also has an array of filters that can be placed over shots. I found the Day-to-Night filter particularly useful as it allowed me to convincingly make my shots appear like they took place during the night. For my ancillary tasks, I took pictures using a Cannon still camera and this ensured that I had high quality images to enable me to begin editing. Photoshop C5 was used for my poster and magazine cover and my skills and familiarity with this have developed quite a lot. The software enabled me to manipulate and edit images to adapt my images in order to create my ancillary tasks that closely follow conventions.

Evaluation

For the evaluation process, I used the photobooth app on the iMac to record myself as I looked back on how I created my product. This was useful as it enabled me to talk into the mac’s webcam, allowing me to stay at my seat whilst recording and therefore providing convenience. I was able to stop recording and freely play again to allow for needed breaks between filming. I then used iMovie to edit this filming, allowing me to place images over my shots to compliment what I was saying. I was also able to segment my film by placing subtitles for each section of the evaluation. I also returned to GarageBand to create a podcast and used my skills developed from my practice with the app in the planning process. The fact that I was familiar with how to use the software allowed me to efficiently create a podcast. Prezi proved to be a useful website as it enabled me to produce a professional looking slideshow easily. Its array of layouts enabled me to have freedom upon the appearance of my work. I was able to separate each aspect of my evaluation onto its own slide creating a sense of organisation throughout my slideshow. I devised another presentation using Microsoft PowerPoint. Due to how massive of a brand Microsoft is, I’ve used the software for years and therefore I was accustomed to using it and able to efficiently create a slideshow. I then uploaded this to the website Slideshare. This proved to be useful due to its compatibility with Microsoft Office applications like Microsoft PowerPoint.

Question 3

Question 3

 What have you learned from your audience feedback?

For the construction of my trailer, audience feedback was extremely helpful. This was because it provided a non-biased and critical opinion in terms of improving my work. When creating my film, I planned with my actors to shoot on two separate occasions. This allowed me to create a draft film after the first day, which I could then, present to my peers and gain ideas on how to improve. On the second time shooting, I was able to implement the ideas onto my new shots for my end product. One piece of feedback I received was to create more tension in my trailer. I did this by making more shots for the start of my trailer to make a calm atmosphere, which gives a false sense of security. I also increased the tension by adding more fast paced and intense running scenes at the climax of the trailer. I was also told that the music I used didn’t work very well with my film as it did not work alongside the creepy tone. Due to this, I used a royalty free piece of music from the website ‘Orange Free Sounds’ called ‘Creepy Doll Music’. This is a piercing and high-pitched noise, which is reminiscent of conventional horror movie music. I then presented this too my peers and they agreed that this music suited the film much better. Another comment that was frequently made was the fact that my shots took place in the daytime. Due to restraints in time, I was incapable of shooting with my actors at night. Therefore, on my second time of shooting, I took shots without the sun or shadows in that could then have a night-to-day filter placed over them in the editing process. I uploaded both of my ancillary tasks onto Facebook and my friends agreed that the genre was, in fact, horror. However, previous media students made me aware of the fact that the background of my poster (which was originally dark blue) was not as effective for symbolising a horror film. Because of this, I experimented with different coloured backgrounds. I decided on black as this shadowed the clown face on the centre of the poster. The darkness of the colour is symbolic of night time and creates a sense of scary emptiness that is conventional of horror movie posters.

Question 2

https://www.slideshare.net/KyleDosSantos/question-2-how-effective-is-the-combination-of-your-main-product-and-ancillary-texts-76035307

Question 1

https://prezi.com/23cbj87mhiw7/question-1-in-what-ways-does-your-media-product-use-develop/

Creating My Cover Page-Part 8 (Circle Puff)

I used the circle tool to devise another puff. It is green with a white boarder to follow my house style. It mentions the final trailer of 'Star Wars VIII' which I predicted would be released at the time of this issue as it is coming out in December. I used exclamation marks to make it appear exciting.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 7 (Text at the Bottom)

At the bottom of my cover page, I placed another banner. It uses 'Empire's' conventional, italic 'Plus' and also makes reference to more films that are being released at the end of 2017 including 'Kingsman' and 'Insidious'. It talks of an interview and a review which are commonly found in magazines. It still follows my green, white colour scheme to maintain the house style.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 6 (Text at Top)

At the top of my cover page is a banner that informs a reader of the contents within the magazine. It references a countdown of 'The 50 greatest horror movie moments' and mentions many famous horror films like 'Alien' 'Scream' and 'Friday the 13th'. This was inspired by the 'Independence Day Resurgence' cover of 'Empire' magazine where its cover mentions a countdown of the 'The 50 greatest sci-fi moments'. I adapted this to 'horror movie moments' to suit the genre of my film and the October/Halloween release date of the issue.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 5 (Barcode and Puff)

Almost every magazine has a barcode on its cover as it is necessary for retail purposes so I placed a barcode onto my cover page. Underneath the barcode is a puff that informs of the magazine's contents. From my research, I discovered that Thor: Rangnorok is set for release in November and therefore assumed that a trailer would be released in October. I made reference to this in the puff where the subtitle is 'Thor Preview'. It is also due to be the final Marvel product of 2017 and I made reference to this in the text below my subtitle. I also found that 'Jumanji' is being released at the end of 2017 and therefore included this in the puff too. The subtitles in green text due to their importance with further provided information being in white. This follows my colour scheme of green and white.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 4 (Film Title)

Over the main image, I placed the title of my film. This is the largest font on the page as the magazine's focus is upon 'Coulrophobia'. Below it is a phrase that compliments the title which reads 'The most suspenseful film of the year!'. It is underlined to increase its importance and the exclamation mark constructs a sense of excitement. These subtitles are common among 'Empire' cover pages as they provide further information towards the film they are about. The word 'most' is a buzz word that derives a reader's attention. All of this text is in the colour green as green and white is the house style I've decided upon. Green is commonly used to represent horror and evil.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 3 (Taking Pictures and Adding to Photoshop)

For my magazine's cover page, I required a medium close up shot of my actors. For convenience, I took this shot in school. Despite the indoor location, there was a large window behind my and therefore, natural sunlight shone on my actors. I experimented with two possible shots. One consisted of my actors stood back to back whilst fearfully looking at the camera. I directed Lydia to her phone with its torch light lit whilst Danny held the clown mask. However, due to the bright lighting, the torch did not work effectively. Another shot I directed echoes an aspect of my trailer where the two are backing away from the camera whilst Danny is in the forefront, protectively outstretching his arm. He holds the clown mask to allude to the villain despite its lack of appearance. I used the eraser tool to remove the background. I also found that Danny was wearing earphones in the shot but this problem was simply solved through the use of the of the spot removal tool to realistically remove the earphones. I made the image of my actors protrude over the 'Empire' logo as this is a convention of 'Empire' magazines.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 2 (Empire Logo)

Next, I implemented an image of 'Empire's' logo. This was initially red in colour and therefore clashed against my background. So, I used the fill tool on photoshop to make the logo a bight white colour which was much more clear than the original red logo. I used the text tool to add the issue date  (October 2017), website address ('empireonline.com') and the price ('£4.50, $9.99') and placed this between the points of the letter 'M'. A convention of 'Empire' magazine is to place this information within the letter 'M' and therefore, I replicated this for my own cover page.

Creating My Cover Page-Part 1 (Background)

For the background of my cover page, I decided to use the same image used for the background of my trailer's title and release date. This creates an increased connection between the two products. However, this image is in a landscape format and I required a portrait background.To solve this problem, I added identical images of this burnt circus tent to a photoshop page and closely matched them together.To make these look like a single image, rather than 8 images placed together, I used photoshop's spot removal tool. This made the red lines appear as that were more connected and removed some of the burnt outline and made the burns more inconsistent instead of neat and linear lines.

Creating My Poster-Part 8 (Logos and Credits)

I pasted the logos for both 'Warner Bro's' and my own logo for 'TigerGuard Productions'. This creates consistency by relating to my film further. I used SF Movie Font to write credits at the bottom of the page. It references my actors and websites used. The white text helps it stand out against the black background and the font size is quite small as a lot of information is required in this section.

Creating My Poster-Part 7 (2D, 3D and IMAX 3D)

I added text at the bottom of my page which indicates that my film is watchable in '2D, 3D and IMAX 3D'. I copied and pasted the logos for both '3D ' IMAX 3D' . This modernises my film and gives variety to an audience with flexibility on how they'd watch a film.

Creating My Poster-Part 6 (Release Date)

I added a release date (which is the same as the one on my trailer-October 29th) at the bottom of my poster. I used the same glowing font used for my title to create constancy and because the release date is just as important as the title.

Creating My Poster-Part 5 (Ambiguous Text)

At the top of my poster, I used the text tool to add a phrase at the top of the poster in white text. This contrasts against the black background and makes it stand out. These are used on horror movie posters as they intrigue an audience. My use of a rhetorical question creates further intrigue.

Creating My Poster-Part 4 (Title)

I added my title to the bottom of my poster. This is the same logo that is used in my films trailer so and is the main thing that connects my poster to my trailer. The blue glow makes it brightly stand out against the black background.

Creating My Poster-Part 3 (Background)

I used the fill tool to make the background black. This complimented the shadowed part of my image and helped hide the mask further. The darkness furthered the scary atmosphere created by the poster.

Creating My Poster-Part 2 (Editing the Picture of My Clown Mask)

I used the eraser tool to remove the background of my image. I used this tool combined with the healing tool to make the hair on the right side appear more neat and pointy. I then erased the hair on the left side, followed by selecting the hair on the right side and copying, pasting and flipping it and replacing the left hair with this new image. Therefore, symmetry was created.

I added a shadow over the bottom of my image. This created an ominous atmosphere and made the mask seem more unsettling as it is partially hidden.

I attempted to remove the orange aspect of the image with the spot removal tool but this proved to be difficult and I was unsuccessful. I solved this by selecting half of the image and then copying, pasting and flipping it on the other side to hide the orange and create more symmetry. 

Creating My Poster-Part 1 (Taking shots of the clown mask)

I took some close up shots of my clown mask. I took these outside, therefore natural lighting was provided by the Sun. The hair was quite messy and my actor is also wearing a jumper but I will use photoshop to fix this.

Using iMovie-Part 7 (Placing Images and Backgrounds)

After showing the big institution logo, the logo for my fake institution appears. This is because a convention within trailers is showing several studio logos at the beginning. I created this in Photoshop and it is reminiscent of the MGM logo which is of a lion in a circular ribbon roaring

Before any content is seen, the text 'This Halloween' is seen. It has a red font as red is symbolic of blood and danger. It is against a background of space. This background is one of iMovie's own images that can be found in the 'Maps, Backgrounds and Animatics' section. The darkness and emptiness of space helps create an eerie tone. The sky littered with stars is reminiscent of nighttime which makes for the setting of a large part of my trailer.

When my trailer ends, the logo for 'Coulrophobia' is seen. This is at the end of the trailer  as the title would remain in an audiences mind. I created this in photoshop by using the logo from my magazine cover and placing it against a background of a burnt circus tent. This circus tent is the background of my magazine cover.

My trailer ends with the release date in a stylised and bold italic font. It is against the same background of a burnt circus tent as my title was. This is the final thing seen in the trailer to ensure that the date of release also remains in the mind of the audience members.

Using iMovie- Part 6 (Adding institution logo and rating)

A convention of trailers is having an age rating and institution logo at the beginning. For my trailer, I imported the trailer for 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' so I could use iMovie to crop the first 10 seconds of the trailer (Its age rating and studio logo) and implement it onto my film. I used this particular trailer's opening as it suited my trailer effectively. The age restriction of PG-13 accompanied by text warning parents of 'intense action and frightening images' echoed my trailers content as it includes both of these. I chose to not begin my trailer with a red band as; sex, drugs, bad language or blood are not included in my trailer.

Using iMovie Part 5 (Adding Music)

For the background music for my trailer, I wanted a spine-chilling score. I used the royalty-free website ‘Orange Free Sounds’ where I listened to many pieces of music. I eventually decided upon one entitled ‘Creepy Doll Music’, which is an ever suspenseful, and piercing sound. Its noise is reminiscent of a child's music box. This echoed the plot of my film in that, like clowns, dolls and music boxes are conventionally innocent icons of childhood which (in this case) have been subverted and antagonised into something scary. After downloading this music, I was able to simply drag it into I movie where it moulded over each shot within my trailer. I was able to crop the length and adjust the volume of this to suit what I required.