Tasks for this A2 Media course included the production of a film trailer, film magazine cover and a promotional film poster. I worked as an individual this year rather than as part of a group as I had done last year. This is partly because of my differentiating ideas, in addition to other members of the group not participating to the expected standards. However, by working as an individual I have discovered many issues which have contributed into slow work production, such as illness, employment and failure to find reliable actors/actresses. Because of these factors I feel that I had caused an increasing amount of stress as I had struggled to complete this project, with other demanding A-Levels and an Extended Project Qualification also requiring any of the remaining time I had. This has also consequently meant that all work was not completed by the initial deadlines set by my tutors.
To research for my film trailer, I had looked at many different horror trailers, in addition to those from other genres to ensure that I was aware of the codes and conventions belonging to each genre and how they are used to build suspense, tension and atmosphere. As I had to change my product idea towards the end due to the previously mentioned issues, particularly unreliable actors, I had to refer to using the technique of Guerrilla filmmaking, which consists of a large amount of improvisation in the scenes that are being produced. Like many other conventional horror trailers, there is dark music over the shots. Additionally, I attempted to build suspense by creating a mysterious killer at the start which would be revealed throughout the film storyline. Despite this, as I was on such a short deadline after my plans fell through and had to change my product idea last minute, I have had to ignore my previous script, plot line and storyboards. However, I feel that the improvised product would appeal to my demographic of 15-25 year old males and females better than my previous idea would have. Thus, the final product I have produced, although improvised, has manifested itself to be a better notion than the original plan. Therefore, my trailer uses conventions of the real product, yet it also challenges the conventions with longer shots to build suspense, and an unconventional song choice for the songs, such as a low heartbeat when the character changes, the music then changes to a loud track which emphasizes the horror theme.
To produce this, I used Celtx, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Paintshop Pro, and cameras. I had used Celtx, which was also used in the previous year, to produce my script early on in the year. However, due to unreliable actors and other issues previously mentioned, a script was not produced for my final product, in which I used the technique of Guerilla film making which involved improvisation. Although there was very little planning required for the Guerilla film making technique, I feel that my final product presents itself as a better idea than that of my previous planned product. Secondly, Final Cut Pro was used to edit my shots and cut out unnecessary shots that had been captured. This was also used in the first year, yet I had very little experience during the group work with the program. I feel that my knowledge of this program has greatly increased and feel comfortable using it, whereas last year I had very little knowledge and would find myself clueless on how to work the program without facing any technical issues. Although Photoshop is very similar to Paintshop Pro, I decided that I would use Photoshop to edit the appearance of the images and add some text, where I found it a great amount easier to add my desired text using Paintshop Pro. As a previous user of both of these programs I found that I knew what I was doing, and even more knowledgeable with the practise we had received in our media lessons. Finally, for practise trailers and practise with cameras we used large cameras from the technicians office at the college, such as the Canon Z5. However, when it came to my final product I had used my own personal camera which was easy to access and easy to transfer the files from the camera. I feel that although the camera was not large in itself, it portrays a decent quality in the moving images I had captured using it.
Similarly, the magazine cover I had produced was created using both Photoshop and Paintshop Pro. I had used the convention found greatly on film magazine covers which is to have the protagonist looking into the camera. To add to the effect of the evil character on the magazine, I had edited the eye colour to a blood-red to increase the fear factor of it. This also allows the viewer to understand and perceive the genre of the film. I have used colour themes of a smoky grey colour and blood red, this is consistent throughout the cover which can be seen on many real magazine covers. Another of the conventions I use is having the masthead behind the character's head to ensure that full attention is paid to the character, yet the company masthead is still visible. I have attempted to make the magazine cover look realistic by adding a recent film and quote, and as there are very few box office films showing there was not a large amount of text I feel I could add. I have used the Avengers film which has a great reputation and has just been released in cinemas.
Equally, for my promotional film poster I have gone against the most common convention of a portrait poster, however there are still many products which produce landscape posters to promote their films. I have kept the same colour scheme as the magazine cover to ensure that the product is recognised by those who may have seen the magazine, and have also used a common font which can be found on many real promotional film posters. Like the magazine cover, I used both Paintshop Pro and Photoshop to produce the image, both of the protagonist images taken by my personal camera in addition to the college background. I feel that the poster sets the scene for the film and as the protagonist is translucent, her ghostly appearance is known straight away, even though she is facing away from the camera and towards the college building. I have also used a drop shadow behind the text of the title 'The Darkness', which emphasises the shadows and darkness which play a large part in the plot of the film.
Finally, due to changes made towards the end of the year, I had very little time to receive audience feedback and to make changes. I have received feedback on my trailer which was said to work better than my original idea, however if I had had more time to produce the product, I could have created more interesting idents, such as including logos and such. I feel that overall my product has been successful, though if I were to do this again I would manage my time better, ensure that filming is planned to start immediately with reliable actors, and due to audience feedback, spend more time on idents and other conventions that would be used throughout the product.
Equally, for my promotional film poster I have gone against the most common convention of a portrait poster, however there are still many products which produce landscape posters to promote their films. I have kept the same colour scheme as the magazine cover to ensure that the product is recognised by those who may have seen the magazine, and have also used a common font which can be found on many real promotional film posters. Like the magazine cover, I used both Paintshop Pro and Photoshop to produce the image, both of the protagonist images taken by my personal camera in addition to the college background. I feel that the poster sets the scene for the film and as the protagonist is translucent, her ghostly appearance is known straight away, even though she is facing away from the camera and towards the college building. I have also used a drop shadow behind the text of the title 'The Darkness', which emphasises the shadows and darkness which play a large part in the plot of the film.
Finally, due to changes made towards the end of the year, I had very little time to receive audience feedback and to make changes. I have received feedback on my trailer which was said to work better than my original idea, however if I had had more time to produce the product, I could have created more interesting idents, such as including logos and such. I feel that overall my product has been successful, though if I were to do this again I would manage my time better, ensure that filming is planned to start immediately with reliable actors, and due to audience feedback, spend more time on idents and other conventions that would be used throughout the product.
