Sunday, 31 May 2009
Editing..
The editing process for my trailer didn't take a long time because I had already learned the basics of the the software so was able to do it more efficiently.
One hold back to the editing of my trailer was adding the music. I added the soundtrack that I wanted to use but it didn't fit with the film. This meant that I had to find a new song to work with my trailer. The song that I chose for my trailer is called 'Just got to be' by The Black Keys. This is a link to Youtube, which is where i found my song... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Je2wAUcH4o&playnext=1&list=PL1AB65D6534311850
The editing effects that i mostly used were the 'dip to white' effect and also the 'dip to black' effect. I feel that these were the best effects to use for the genre of my film (film noir). These effects were also simple to add onto my film but they also created a good effect.
One main effect that I added to my trailer was the black and white effect. This effect was vital in making my trailer fit in with the film noir genre, and it gave it the 1940's style that i wanted.
After editing and watching my film through i was pleased because i think that it had an authentic 1940's feel and it was also like the film 'The Third Man' which is the sort of effect that i was going for.
Saturday, 30 May 2009
Changing the soundtrack..
I had to find a new soundtrack for my film, so I tried to think of powerful songs that I know. After going through various bands that still didn't work, I decided to try the band 'The Black Keys'. I knew this band had some powerful songs and after looking through a couple of their songs and testing them against my trailer, I found the ideal song, which is called 'Just Got To Be'. This song immediatley worked with my trailer and i knew that it would be the song that I would use.
Even though I had found a soundtrack that fitted with my film, I still tried to look for some more traditional 1940s soundtracks (just in case they worked better with my film). I looked through a couple but nothing jumped out. I tested them against my film, but The Black Keys song was still the best one, so i stuck with that one.
Friday, 29 May 2009
filming...
The time that I filmed also was an ideal time because it was completley dark and the streetlights produced enough light for filming and also created shadows which link with the film noir genre. I already knew that the streetlights would give off enough light because of the practice shots that I took a week before filming my actual trailer.
Some of the shots that I used when filming didn't work well and weren't as effective as i thought they would be. One of these shots was a medium shot of the character leaning up against a streetlight. The reason why this shot didn't work is because the light wasn't bright enough and it was too dark and also the street light just looked like a concrete block. I decided to overcome this by trying the shot from a different angle. This worked effectively and I will use this shot in my film.
Overall i think that my filming went well and it went how i expected it to go. When shots didn't work out how i thought they would, I easily overcame the problem. Now all that I have to do is capture my filming onto the Apple Macs and then edit it using adobe premiere pro.
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Editing the practice shots.
In one of my shots, the camera pans up to the top of a streetlight. I thought that this would be a good shot to edit because it is exactly like one of the shots that I am going to include in my actual film trailer. I decided to make this shot black and white. On doing so i noticed that the shot was still too light for my liking, so i added the 'brightness & contrast effect' this enabled to me to make the shot darker by increasing the contrast and decreasing the lighting. Once i had set the brightness & contrast to my preffered setting i thought the shot looked alot better and that it turned out like i wanted it too.
I have not yet added a soundtrack to my practice shots, but i am planning on doing that tomorrow. I want to add a soundtrack onto the practice shots because i think it will give me a better idea on how the music is all going to fit into the trailer.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
Practice shots.
I decided to do some practice shots because Iwant to include streetlights in my film and obviously it has to be dark for the streetlights to be on. I was unsure on whether the cameras would cope with how dark it was.
However, after doing a few practice shots tonight of some streetlights I have found that the camera does cope with the lighting and that the streetlights do create a good effect.
The effect that the streetlights created is good because the light really stands out from the dark background of the black sky and also the streetlight gives enough light to cover the necessary amount of area for each shot type.
The shot types that I practiced was a low angle tracking shot, a panning shot, a lowangle shot and also a point of view shot.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Soundtrack..
What I mean by overwhelming is that I dont think this piece of music will be dominant and I do not think it will distract the viewer from what is happening on screen.
Below is a link for the song that I have chosen...
Monday, 25 May 2009
Filming..
When filming I will mainly stick to my story board but i am going to still try different angles for each shot because this will help when it comes to editing because if i do not like the look of some of my shots or if i don't think the shot fits with the rest of the trailer, then i will have more to choose from and therefore i can make my trailer as effective as possible.
When filming i must keep certain factors in mind such as, the weather, the setting and the lighting. If the weather is not right on the day that i film, then i will have to postpone filming and do it anither day (hopefully this won't happen). If the lighting doesn't work, then i shall have to consider another time of day for filming (again, i am hoping this doesn't happen).
Overall, i hope that my filming goes to plan and that i do not encounter too many problems.
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Why i want to include shots of writing...
I want the shots to go in time with the muisic so that they flash up when maybe the music changes tempo, or if there is a key change in the music. I think timing the shots with the music will add to the effect of the trailer.
When researching and studying different trailers I did find that some of them include writing inbetween shots because it adds to the interest of the trailer and also the storyline of the film, but keeping it to just single words doesn't give too much of the plot away to the viewer.
The words appearing on the screen with a black background does stick to the film noir genre but also adds a modern twist to it because lots of film noir films were made in the fifities and did not have writing appear on the screen.
Saturday, 23 May 2009
Examples of titles between shots...
I will most probably only include three different titles inbetween the shots because i do not want them to be the main piece of the trailer, i just want them to be short flashes almost that appear on the screen so that the viewer is even more teased.
Friday, 22 May 2009
What type of editing to use.
Inbetween these shots i want to use hard cuts and maybe include a very quick flash, this will also add to the effectiveness of the trailer and also the spped of the trailer.
Other editing in my film may include some fades because i think having fades and quick cuts in my trailer will create a disorientating contrast.
Thursday, 21 May 2009
Costume for my film.
Wednesday, 20 May 2009
Lighting
- Dark
- Street lights
- Torch light
- Natural light
- Room light (inside a house)
I think that the most easy type of lighting for my film would be natural light (sun light) because i think that is what the camera would deal with the best.
However, sun light would not give the right effect and does not necessarily fit in with the film noir genre. The lighting that fits in best with the Film Noir genre is the darkness with the street lights.
The effect that this creates is that of mystery and also creates tension. Because of this i have decided to use darker lighting for my trailer and i will include street lights because i also think they would stand out and they link in with the Film Noir genre.
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
About my storyboard...
I think that my storyboard will help me alot with my filming because I have already planned it all out and that will make filming my trailer alot easier and much more time efficient. My storyboard will also help with the editing of my trailer because i have included the edits inbetween each shot and also the timing of each shot, so this will meke the editing period much easier and much more time efficient.
In my storyboard I have included what sort of sound i want, (being diegetic or non-diegetic). I have wrote where i want there to be the soundtrack and I have also wrote where i want the diegetic sounds. For example, the footsteps. Writing this information down on the storyboard has allowed me to plan and organise my filming.
Monday, 18 May 2009
Locations
- Dark setting
- Urban area
- Country side
- Inner city
- Rural area
- Farm land
My own pictures for location...
These are the pictures that I have taken for my location. When I was at these different locxations I was thinking about which would be best and which would be most accesible for my film trailer.
The location that I think would be most effective for my trailer is the more urban setting. I like this setting the most because i think that it would fit in with my film and it is really easily accesible.
I have decided to film when it is almost dark, just so the street lights are on, I think that the street lights would create the best effect for my film because the darkness fits in with the Film Noir genre.
Sunday, 17 May 2009
Typical shot types
Saturday, 16 May 2009
Final magazine front cover
The features that I like about this front cover include, the colours, the images and the title of the magazine. I like the colours on this front cover because they all co-ordinate and are quite vibrant. For example, the red title stands out alot and that is useful when making your magazine noticeabe so that people will buy it.
The main feature on this magazine is my film that I am producing. I think that I have made it very obvious that the main feature of this magazine is my film because it is the main picture and the words 'The New Film Noir Thriller' really stand out near the centre of the page. It doesn't show too much information about the film because I would rather people pick up the magazine and buy it. So I think this front cover also draws people in and makes them want to buy and read the magazine and find out more about my film.
I think this front cover is the most aesthetically pleasing but it also promotes my film the best out of the covers that I designed.
The details that I would change about my magazine front cover is the name of the title, although it fits in with the genre of the magazine, I think that it is a little cliche and that I could probably think of a more unique title. Another aspect of the front cover that I would change is the placement of the christmas film images in the centre of the page. I would move these images down the left side of the page, creating a column of images. This would make my front cover look more tidy and neat. I would also change the dotted lines around the images at the bottom of the page. I would change this because at the moment they look messy and are not tight to the pictures. It was difficult to make these dotted lines tight to the images.
Friday, 15 May 2009
Magazine front cover
The software that I used to create my magazine front cover was 'Macromedia Fireworks'. Using this software proved to be very useful because i have used this software many times before and therefore i already knew what the tools do and how to use them. For example, i used the 'magic wand ' tool; this tool allowed me to eliminate any background on certain pictures. When i created the magazine front cover with the 'Empire' logo at the top, i had to use the magic wand tool to delete the black background that was on the picture when i downloaded it.
The images that are on the bottom of my magazine front covers are all the same. I have included these images because they are of recent movies that are out now or that are coming out soon, such as, 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1'. I chose to use this film for my magazine front cover because it is a very popular film and it is also easily recognizable.
Another film that I included on the front cover of my magazine is the new 'Tron Legacy' movie. I included this because it will also be a very popular movie when it is released and will be recognizable.
One feature that i have included on my magazine is 'All time christmas films'. I have used this because it is the type of feature that film magazines would have on their front pages. I also created this feature because it is christmas time so fits with the time of year.
Magazine front covers.
As well as the lasrge titles and the main image, lots of the magazine front covers that i looked at have titles of their features around the main image and they sometimes include other small images around the main picture. The magazine front covers have their main features included because that will draw the reader in, and so would the main title and large main image.
All of the magazines that I looked at were colour co-ordinated, so i shall keep this in mind for when i make my magazine front cover.
Thursday, 14 May 2009
My own film poster
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Film posters
The difference between these two film posters is that the final film poster includes alot more information such as the release date. The final poster also has a more detailed image of Batman standing in front of a building, whereas the teaser poster has a very simple image of a joker type face on a brick wall. The inclusion of the Joker character also teases the audience because the Joker is an interesting character.
Monday, 11 May 2009
Sunday, 10 May 2009
Film trailer questionnaire
Film trailer questionnaire
Circle your selected answer.
Do you go to the cinema often? Yes No
What was the genre of the last film you watched in the cinema (answer on the dotted line) ………………………………………………………………..
What is your favourite genre? Action Drama Film Noir Comedy Rom-com Horror Thriller
When watching a film trailer, what do you find most effective? Sound track Action sequences Different shot types A voice over
What makes you want to watch a film the most? Film poster Cinematic trailer Television advert Newspaper/print advert
Do you enjoy watching trailers? Yes No
Does watching trailers make you want to watch the film? Yes No
How long would you expect a trailer to last? 30 seconds-1 minute 1 Minute-1 minute 30 1 minute 30-2 minutes.
Do you get bored of watching film trailers before a film? Yes No
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Film noir costume
These are images of typical costumes used in film noir films. The only character that I am having in my film trailer is a female character, so I have been researching female film noir costumes.
What I have found out from my research is that the women costumes in Film Noir are either very seductive or very smart and business women like. The seductive costume is to draw the male characters in, but thats what Femme Fetales do, they draw the male characters in and then they sometimes kill them or go behind their back in some way.
The smarter dressed female characters in Film Noir films are dressed in a masculine way to symbolise their authority and their power that they have.
The costume that I will use for the character in my trailer will be a mixture of the two, because i do want my character to be slightly seductive but i don't want seduction to over rule my characters look, because i do want my character to have power and i want the audience to know that this female character is an authoritative figure and should be taken seriously.
Friday, 8 May 2009
'The Dark Knight' teaser trailer.
The 'Sin City' trailer.
Film trailers
Batman trailer (more recent) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KGFG-PhPxs&feature=related
Heat trailer (older) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xbBLJ1WGwQ
Another thing that i have noticed when watching different trailers is the use of the film production companies logos. These logos are usually included at the beginning of the trailer. This is helpful to me for making my trailer because it gives me ideas of the sort of things to include in my logo.
FILM GENRES
I have not fully decided what film genre i would like to do for my trailer yet because i am still researching different trailers and i am still thinking as to what would be the most effective and the most effiicient genre to use.
From my research and thinking i believe that an action film would not be the best genre to use because it would be very difficult and almost impossible to create the explosions and other special effects that are key elements of an action film.
Another genre that would be very difficult to use for my film trailer is the comedy genre. The comdey genre wouldn't be the best genre for my trailer because the jokes the sense of humour that would be included would be my sense of humour, so others might not find the trailer funny at all.
One genre that would be fairly easy to do for my trailer would be the thriller genre. This genre would be easy to use because the thriller genre elements such as suspense and mystery would be easy to create in a teaser trailer. Below is a thriller trailer for the film '28 Days Later'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmfbKnwe1Gw
What i like about this trailer is that it has small clips of the beginning of the trailer which lets the audience know the main plot of the film, so informs them on what the film is about. There is also tense music used in the trailer which also makes the audience want to watch the film and the tense music also links with the thriller genre.
Another genre i am interested in using is film noir. I am interested in using film noir as the genre for my film trailer because the aspects of film noir would be easy to create, such as pathetic fallacy, femme fatale and the dark and mysterious settings. I am also interested in using film noir because i think that the darkness and the mystery has a good effect. The two minute opening of my AS media project was also film noir, so it would be a logical choice to use the genre again. Below is an example of a film noir trailer for the film 'Sin City'.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0M8qjlAT8s
I have specifically chosen this trailer as an example because i think it is typical of the film noir genre. I like the way it is edited to show all of the main characters in the film. The short cuts that are edited in the film trailer add to its intensity. There is also contrasts in dark and light in the trailer which has a good effect. I would like to include dark and light contrasts in my film trailer.
The genre that i am most likely to use for my film trailer is Film Noir. I think that this will be my most likely choice because for my AS media project, my groups film was a Film Noir thriller film. personally i like the genre because the mystery and the darkness of the fiklm is very effective on the audience. The aspects of Film Noir are also easy to re-create.
This is a list of links for film noir trailers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_D09mk1zyg Sunset Boulevard
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3wjJcuGsVE Double Indemnity
Both of these trailer are tarilers for older films, so the style that these trailers are will be different to the style of more recent trailers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwIlEu7o9ZM&feature=related Sin City
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDeOkaCUUI8 The Spirit
Both of the above trailers are more recent Film Noir films. Both of these films are made by the same director (Frank Miller).
Through my reasearch i have discovered that Film Noir was a very popular genre in the 1940s and the 1950s. This has made it more difficult to find trailers that are more recent because i like the Sin City trailer and would like to mimic the style of that trailer for my own Film Noir trailer. The aspects that i would expect from a Film Noir trailer include, dark settings, rainy or cloudy weather, a femme fetale character and maybe a mysterious detective.
If i decide to not do a Film Noir trailer, then i am considering just doing the thriller genre. I like the idea of doing a thriller trailer because it is flexible. What i mean by flexible is that you can include other genres, for example, an action thriller, a comedy thriller, a film noir thriller, a comedy thriller and also crime thriller. Also for my AS media project we had to do the opening for a new thriller movie. I enjoyed using the thriller genre because og the fact that you can include other genres.
Thursday, 7 May 2009
Target audinece
The age rating that I will give my film will most probably be 15 because I dont think people under fifteen would be able to watch the thriller side to the film.
Research into the film noir genre
In my film trailer I will attempt to recreate these aspects of film noir so that my trailer sticks to the genre and is dark and atmospheric.
The music that is used in film noir builds suspense and contributes to the atmosphere. This is why the soundtrack that I use in my trailer is very important because a soundtrack for the trailer must connect with what is on screen and it should also contribute in making people want to watch the film in its entirety.
The soundtrack that I use in my film trailer is most probably going to be an up to date piece of music because although the film noir genre was very popular in the 1950's, I don't think that the music of the 1950's would attract a modern day audience into watching my film. The songs that i may use are...
- 'Closer' By the Kings of Leon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8AvtYJDBoA
- 'On call' By the Kings of Leon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DK_8VZm_Dg
- 'Intro' By The XX http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L73OLaG4_kA
- 'N*E*R*D & Daft Punk - Hypnotize You (Nero Remix)'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2n0TCu9PKo
The dark atmosphere that is created in film noir films is created by a number of typical aspects. One of these aspects is the way the films are black and white. Some film noir films are black and white but have one dominant colour. Red is often used in film noir films. The red connotes danger and passion which is a typical theme found in Film Noir. One film that stands out to me and uses a dominant colour is 'Sin City'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0M8qjlAT8s
There are not alot of modern film noir films. When producing mine i would like to include a modern twist to the trailer. I was thinking of including a modern soundtrack or even just a modern setting with modern costume. I think that this new and modern twist to my film noir trailer would make it unique and would make it stand out against a more traditional film.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
History of film trailers
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Chosen Brief
-A website homepage for the film;
-A film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
-A poster for the film.
I have chosen to do this brief for my coursework because it is the brief that i am most intersted in and i also am interested in studying film at university.