Vlog on Editing Process

Vlog on Editing Process

Tinika and I created a vlog about the strengths and struggles we had during our editing process.

The first problem we came across was the number of shots we had used. Initially we decided we wanted to have lots of shots so, we could build tension by having lots of quick cuts. We soon realised this was much more difficult than we first anticipated as it started to look like a film opening as we began putting them in chronological order which is not typically something you do in a film trailer.

Serif Movie Plus X6 was the software we used to edit on and was very difficult to use, even though we had previous experience on Serif Movie Plus X6. This was due to it crashing all the time and the quantity of film we had was a fair amount which made it even more difficult to edit on as it became even slower to use. We also wanted to add more features/effects on our film trailer. This is due to the fact we had gained knowledge about media studies as we had been studying it a lot longer compared to the last time we had to create a media text. As a result of this, we knew Serif Movie Plus X6 was not able to provide us with all the effects we needed and had to resort to another editing site.

Before we changed editing sites, we opened all our footage on to Serif Movie Plus X6 and we began opening them all up and sorting between the clips we could and couldn't use. This was due to the fact a lot of the clips we filmed were either trail runs or had a lot of mistakes/bloopers. This took up a lot of time as we had to go through and delete everything or crop the lengths of the videos to make sure they were suitable to use. However, the deleted clips were put into a file that we called 'bloopers' in case we wanted to make a blooper video. However, we ended up not doing this as the school system crashed and some files were lost, including our bloopers. We were lucky enough to have everything else backed onto a memory stick.

To start creating our film trailer, we located our storyboard so we could refer back to it to help us get an insight into our first initial plan. We realised from looking at the storyboard that it contained a lot of short scenes, which was good however, we had a few problems with the amount of short scenes we added therefore, we had to merge and cross fade a lot of our short clips. 

After doing so, we looked at different films that were action/thrillers such as Gone Girl, Jurassic World and Inception. Then, we looked into the conventions of these specific genres and decided we would note down some conventions that we were able to copy. These included blackouts to create tension and fast paced cuts to build suspense. We chose different bold fonts to intrigue our audience too. 

Initially we had narrowed it down to two different soundtracks we liked the sound of. We decided to not add any sound until we had completed our trailer to see which sound track went the best with our film trailer. Unfortunatly, we still couldn't decide and ended up cross fading the two. This worked really well until we tried to edit the music to change on a beat drop. This ended up messing up all the work we had done with the two soundtracks and we both decided it was best to just stick with one. 
Eventually, we ended up choosing the one which sounded more like an action film to really stick to our genre and reinforce it. 

We added some effects to our trailer to make it more engaging. We added a blur effect to our protagonist as she was screaming to make it look as though she was exhausted. We also added a slow motion effect to the clock to make it seem as though time was taking forever to pass. These two effects were added to build tension to our film trailer.  

Poster - Institutional Information

Film Poster - Institutional Information

Whilst looking up the codes and conventions of a film poster, I found that, located at the bottom of my poster, I must include institutional information. This is conventionally in a small font, and should tell the audience some of the people who are involved in the production, editing and exhibition stages.

Here is the institutional information I created for my film poster using the websites 'canva' and 'infogr.am'. We made sure to include the costume designer, the editor, the director, the producer and some of the actors involved as, we thought these were the most important to include. This institutional information doesn't and can't include every body as it isn't the credits of a film. Therefore, we chose to proritise.

Analysis of my Film Poster

Magazine - Creating Film Magazine Front Cover

Creating Film Magazine Front Cover

The first step in the process of creating the film magazine cover was looking at codes and conventions of a magazine front cover. 

Tinika and I looked into research and found the main codes and conventions of a magazine front cover were: buzz words, a central image, a masterhead, anchorage text, banner, barcode, date, issue, price and further images.

The first thing we decided to do was create a few masterheads to see which one would look the best/we would prefer.

After creating mastheads, we decided that we would put a template together of what would be an ideal front cover for our film magazine. This would include some of the key features. We wanted to do this so we had a little bit of time to edit things we didn't like and add other things we had forgotten about.

We then received feedback from our media teacher about the layout and masterhead.

She told us the masterhead needs to change, the bar code and price need to move and buzzwords needed to be added.

Due to this, Tinika and I spent a lot more time editing the magazine and researching its codes and conventions. We used my previous knowledge of doing GCSE Media Studies and the fact I spent a year studying and annotating them to our advantage. 

Around the same time we received the feedback, I came across an editing website that allowed us to create pieces of work such as posters and magazine covers called Canva. 

As a result, mine and Tinika's magazine cover began to improve drastically. We made sure we responded to all the feedback given to us by our teacher and added some more colours to make buzz words stand out even more.

After we added all the features of a magazine cover and finally got an image for our film magazine, we decided to play around with the layout and a few of the subheadings we had scattered around the magazine. 

We decided we didn't like the look of the box around 'mega movie marathon.' We decided to chance this and the colour of our sticker as it wasn't eye catching enough for our audience to take it off the shelf. 

This is our magazine front cover that we are about to show to our class and teacher for feedback today and hope we don't have to make too may adjustments. 

Magazine - Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover

Conventions of a Magazine Front Cover

MASTERHEAD - A masterhead features on all magazine covers. It is usually placed at the top center of the page which tells the audience which magazine it is. As it tells the audience which magazine they're looking at, it only makes sense that it is the largest text that appears on the magazine. This makes it eye catching for the audience. Masterheads often have bold text or are placed in a box to make them stand out even more. 

IMAGES - Magazines always have a main, central image which takes up most of the space on the page. If it was a film or gossip magazine, the central image would usually contain a picture of the main character/celebrity. This magazine becomes more appealing as it is about a celebrity in the lime light. This magazine is using celebrity endorsement to sell their magazine. There may be smaller images around the central image to advertise other products etc. 

BUZZ WORDS - These are words which grab the audiences attention and make the magazine seem to stand out from any other. Using words such as "exclusive" when talking about an interview will make them seem like they are the only magazine with this exciting information. 

ANCHORAGE TEXT - This text often overlaps with images and is normally quite large on the magazine cover. It tells the audience what stories will appear within the magazine. These often contain quotes taken from interviews. This will be to sell the magazine and make it different from all the others available to an audience member. 

BANNER - This gives overall information about the magazine and what can be found inside of it. 

BARCODE, DATE, ISSUE NUMBER and PRICE - All magazines contain these. The barcode appears on the front of the magazine as usually the back page is a paid for advertisement, the date and price are normally quite small but still relevant so that the audience can see this information.

Magazine - Codes and Conventions

Researching the codes and conventions of a film magazine will help Tinika and I to understand what we need to include when creating our magazine front cover. The key features we include will allow us to appeal to our demographic and create a successful film magazine. 
Doing this in advance helps us expand our knowledge even more as to what is key in our research and planning and what we need to do throughout our process of filming.
As a result of this research, Tinika and I plan to use a Canon EOS 1300D DSLR camera to shoot high quality pictures for out central image on our magazine cover. This gives us plenty of time to take the right shot and picture of our protagonist.  

Magazine - First Draft

Magazine - First Draft

This is Tinika and my first draft of our magazine cover. I used the first font that I created and based my theme off other movie and teenage magazines. This is due to the fact that I want the magazine to appeal to my target audience of people aged 15 and over.

We haven't included an image yet. We are planning on using a picture we take from our film footage. Moreover, I think we will play around with the magazine text. I personally think the colours do not match our theme and the layout needs to be changed however, I think it is a good start. 

We have also established that we need to have a main image on our magazine cover and it will be shot in due course. It will be shot by a Canon ESOS D1300 DSLR camera which allows us to have a high quality picture. 

Magazine - Font Names and Ideas

Magazine Font Names and Ideas

These are the designs I made for the title of my magazine. I like all of the designs, although I can only pick one.

I want to make my magazine look fun and to appeal to my target audience which is aged 15 plus. However, it also needs to relate to the genre of my film.

I wanted a contrast between the heading and the background of my magazine which may be quite dark. This is to foreshadow the themes of my film, but I wanted it to look interesting. 

I created the headings using a software on a website I found which also allows you to create/design your own magazine cover.

I will ask my peers and people aged 15 and over what heading they like the best. This allows me to get the best feedback I can and will be beneficial in picking the best font. This allows me to have a better understanding of what my audience are looking for. I will aim to receive feedback from at least 20 people aged 15 and over.

These are the 5 different fonts and designs they have to pick from:

Poster - Ideas

Poster Ideas

Poster - Types of Film Posters

Types of Film Posters

Places people normally see film posters are at bus stops, on public transport, underground stations, billboards and around cinemas to advertise film releases in the future.  

Film posters can vary in size a lot. Some are especially made, like the posters on the side of buses.

To exhibit their film the best they can, film companies will have many copies of different sized and shaped posters made to appeal to a mass target audience.

Conglomerate companies will have the the accessibility and budget to produce and exhibit many posters. Whereas, smaller film institution may not be able to afford the costs of exhibition and will have to limit how they promote their film.

Poster - First Draft

Poster - First Draft

This is the template for my poster. I created this myself and my initial draft of what I imagine my poster would look like.  I haven't decided on what background image is going to be yet, so my poster is going to be only template at the moment. I will add the image when I have finalised everything. 
The font colour is red at this moment in time as the colour stands out a lot with the temporary white background. However, the background image is yet to be added so, this may be changed. The red colour could represent blood and death. This relates to our genre and is foreshadowing what is to come in our film trailer.
Moreover, the font for the poster is similar to classic horror and thriller films. This allows our target audience to see the poster and understand the genre of the film quickly.

Poster - Drafts and Ideas

Poster - Drafts and Ideas

I decided to create some film poster ideas. This was because I wanted to try our different layouts and backgrounds to see what fit best with my genre. As you can see, I created three different film posters. 

The first has more of an action look about it due to the colours and and blur of the picrture.

The next, to me, looks more like a war poster or a book. I do really like this look, but I don't think it's appropriate for my film trailer as it doesn't suit my genre.

The final one, I can't tell whether I love or hate it. I think it looks very mysterious, which is always good as it leaves audience members with a lot of enigma codes. However, I am unsure if the flower is appropriate for the action genre. It could symbolise death, but it is the main focus of the poster and I am not sure if that is the look I am trying to establish.

As you can tell, all my text is a bright red colour. This is to make it stand out against the different backgrounds. Moreover, the red text could help to foreshadow the plot in my trailer. I wanted to make sure the posters left the audience with enigma codes to make them want to watch the film. This would help broaden my target audience to a mass one. 

Poster - The Evolution of Film Posters

The Evolution of Film Posters

1920s

The 1920s was known for movie posters that employed fairly traditional type for the time and hand-drawn illustrations.

1930s

In the 1930s, we see a shift towards bolder designs with a growing tendency towards illustrations focusing on main characters of the film, particularly close ups of their faces.

1940s

By the 1940s, character illustrations were the most prominent.

1950s

In the 1950s we start to see poster designers trying conceptual approaches, such as the Love in the Afternoon poster which is free of characters.

1960s

60s posters don’t go as far as getting rid of illustrations altogether but, play a more important role in the layouts. The illustrations move to a more peripheral role.

1970s 

The 70s is an example of the fast movement of trends in technology and the media industry. Photographs play a big role in posters for the first time, often taking up the bulk of the poster.

1980s

This is where we start to see the movie poster in a form similar to what we see today. Large photos as the big central image are more. However, the amount of text has increased compared to previous decades. 

1990s

Posters of the 90s include pretty much what we have today; photgraphic backgrounds, slogans at the top, and the names of the protagonists and antagonists actors above the name of the film.

2000s

Through the 80s and 90s we see the evolution of movie posters slowed down. In the 2000s we see improvements to keep up with trends in photography, but the layout often remains the same. Towards the end of the decade as minimalism comes into account. That can be seen in the posters of movies such as Up, The Dark Knight and Buried. 

 

Trailer - Up to Date Storyboard

Research- Storyboard Draft

This is the storyboard we designed, we used the screenplay and shot list as a guide to show us what shots are in each scene and the audio. We just needed to make it animated, which was difficult as neither of us were artists, but it showed the specific shots and angles we used. So it is still quite helpful. We edited out Storyboard quite a lot and had to do redrafts because we came up with new ideas, we then edited out first draft and put our storyboard in the order we thought each scene was. We then created different storyboards using the template the we originally Done. This is our most up-to-date draft of our trailer storyboard;  it may also change depending on what footage we obtain or delete.

Trailer - Analysis of Survey Results

Tinika and I created a survey on Survey Monkey to make sure we were including the correct characteristics to appeal to our target audience on our poster. From the feedback we received, we need to make sure we change a few aspects of our poster etc.

One of these aspects is our film title. Tinika and I weren't too sure on the title 'Silence' and when we recieved the results that 'Shackled' received two thirds of the vote, we knew we needed to change it. This was really helpful as we now know we are appealing to the majority of our audience.

We also know to include a variety of colours in our poster. I still think we are going to use more dark colours as it fits with the genre of our trailer. However, we know now to include bright colours too.

This was a really helpful thing for us to have done as we received great feedback and it will allow Tinika and I to obtain a mass primary audience as we can appeal to more people.

Trailer - Male Gaze Theory

Male Gaze theory

 We applied Laura Mulvey’s ‘Male gaze’ theory to our film trailer, to ‘stereotypes of characters’ which means that more men are engaged in our media product as the female protagonists is more ‘pleasurable’ and ‘satisfying’ too look at. Our protagonist within our trailer is a young white female, blonde hair, which challenges the stereotype of the main character of being a young white male. The protagonist of a trailer is conventionally portrayed as a ‘dumb’ blonde and usually dies first. However, within our trailer we use various shots, and angles to suggest that the protagonist can escape the situations and portrayed as strong although in a compromising situations. There is a scene that shows vulnerability of the protagonists as she has been kidnapped. We chose this character as our protagonist, as we wanted to challenge the norms and conventions of trailers. Our antagonist within our trailer is a black male; they are also another one of the characters most likely to die first. This doesn’t happen in our trailer, he is dominating within our trailer and he is the one that controls the protagonists.

Filming Process

Filming Process

I created a slide show which contains the process Tinika and I went through to obtain our film footage before the editing process. It was not an easy process as a lot changed in a small space of time but, Tinika and I now know, for the future we will have to be more prepared for such changes to happen.

Trailer - !! SURVEY LINK !!

PLEASE COULD YOU COMPLETE OUR SURVEY LINK SO WE CAN UNDERSTAND HOW TO APPEAL TO OUR TARGET AUDIENCE :) 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YP9QG9H

Trailer - Soundtrack Ideas

Soundtrack Ideas

1. Finger Music- Ultra The first soundtrack we had was copyright free. We thought it would work well with our genre, as it became quite faced paced and created a lot of suspense. which would work well as our genre is a thriller/action hybrid and the soundtrack feeds into the genre. although at 1 minute 30 it goes into a more action/ Sci-Fi theme, so we may not use all of the soundtrack depending on how it fits with our trailer. However, it may work for the beginning of the trailer as we want to keep the audience engaged until the beat drops and we use a lot of faced paced cuts/scenes.



 2. Twelve Titans Music- Monolith The second sound track was also copyright free. It was a favourite, as it fit all the criteria for a thriller/ action movie that we wanted to showcase- as it is very creepy, eerie and built up a lot of tension and suspense. The theme we were going for was thriller/action and we wanted to represent that through an upbeat but creepy and distorted. This would create enigmas, as well as foreshadowing the past for the characters, leading to the kidnapping and the reasons behind it. The beginning of the soundtrack started off a bit slow, so we might cross-fade it with the first soundtrack as we liked the beginning of the first one. We really liked the ending to this sound track as it created a lot of suspence, which we both found encouraging, as it would look good in our trailer

Second Draft of Trailer

Second Draft of Trailer 

Tinika and I used the feedback from our first draft to edit our trailer. We needed to make a lot of improvements but, this was a lot easier as our friend Amber let us edit on her macbook. The software was so much easier to use which also helped with the limited amount of time we had to edit it. 

The constructive criticism we received from our teacher and our class helped us to develop our trailer to increase our grade.

After hearing feedback about our second draft of trailer, we are a lot happier. We are now on a high c grade, low b grade. This is promising for us both.

The main piece of feedback we recieved was to change the text on screen to reference the character more rather than the audience. This is due to the fact that some of the text on screen does not make sense. We will be changing this as soon as we have time and access to the macbook but, hopefully as soon as possible.