Evaluation Question 4

Editing Process; Adding a trail

Adding a Trail:

There was one shot we really liked which was a low angle shot, which we had to lie on the floor to film. This one shot we really liked as not only did it feature our character but also the busy London background all around it. We got Megan to run away from the camera, as this shot followed on from the one which Megan looks behind her shoulder in fear at something coming up behind her. As she is running quite fast, we wanted the shot to last longer so that the audience can take it the surroundings of London but also see that Megan is running away from something. The shot was really quick so we firstly has to slow it down by 25% so it was a bit longer. We then went onto the the edits section of on Final Cut Pro and played around with a few features which could make this running shot look a bit more interesting.  One effect we both really liked and thought looked interesting was the effect called 'Trails'. This effect makes the movement of the shot slow down and almost shadow the movements which are made in the shot, in this case it was Megan running. So each time Megan moved slightly there was almost a shadow of her previous movement behind her. We felt like this effect emphasised this running shot more and make it more interesting.

Editing Process; Colour Masking

Adding a colour mask:

For this one shot we wanted the colour of focus to be red, whilst all the other colours in the shot were drained and more dull. We did this buy creating a colour mask, a colour mask isolates a particular colour on an image. On the selected clip, we went onto the colour collection bar in the effects section. Then we selected the Apply masks section. This then makes the colour mask parameter appears in the same section as the video inspector. As the mask parameter appears we then enlarged it and dragged it to fit the entire section of the post box as that was the iconic piece of set we wanted our audience to focus on. As we changed the size of the parameter the rest of the image becomes monochrome/ a more drained. We used a lot of mask parameters to make sure that the entire section of the post box was filled to create our desired effect. We then played around with the different shadows, mid-tones and exposure levels that we could use on our monochrome section of the shot until we found a colour shot which had a bit of colour, so it wasn't black and white.

Overlaying Shots:

We had two shots which we really liked of Megan walking towards the post box and posting a mysterious item. We really wanted a way to incorporate these two shots into our trailer without it becoming too repetitive, doing a shot overlay was a really good way to do this. To create this overlay we cut both of our shots and dragged one on top of the other. We then played around with the opacity and the burning techniques on final cut pro which gave us different ideas of how the two shots could be incorporated together through using different colours etc. Both of the shots had the colour masking technique so they blended really well together and created an effective and different technique.

Editing Process

Editing of our trailer:

The first part of our editing process of our trailer was too insert a 'Restricted audience' warning. We thought this was necessary as when when analysing other trailers we noticed that they almost always had the film rating at the beginning or end of their trailer. This is something that has to feature at the beginning of every film trailer, as if you are a parent with a small child, about to watch a trailer, it informs you right away that you should not encourage your children to watch the film/trailer to this film as it involves content that it not suitable for everyone.

In our film trailer, we knew it was vital that we used an establishing shot of London, as in most action films they use a birds eye view of the location they are filming in. We needed an establishing shot of London, but obviously this was not practical and impossible for us to do. Therefore we used a found shot of London. We then cut out the parts of this shot using the blade tool on Final Cut Pro, so only the more profound landmarks of London were seen. We did this as it meant we would target a larger audience due to the amount of tourist's these landmarks attract. The next thing we did was added in subtitles at the bottom left hand corner of the shot, adding the date and location of the shot, this makes the audience aware of the time period and where the film is set. We thought that adding these subtitles fitted in quite well with the genre as it is quite a common feature in action films, as often action films are filmed and set in various different locations worldwide. Obviously we didn't have the ability to be able to film in loads of different countries, but the subtitles set the idea of filming in loads of locations. Once we had cut our shots we added a type writer sound for a professional effect.







We wanted our characters to be introduced in our trailer, we started of with a long shot of Megan walking towards the camera. We think this shot is effective as in the background it looks really busy on the roads, yet the character is on her own walking, meaning that she looks really isolated and endangered on her own.

As she gets closer to the camera, she then turns her head as if something dangerous is behind her, we slowed down this shot to build the tension and create a sense of danger as the audience won't know whats behind her. At this point her character is introduced, we used slow motion, then pull focus to blur out the shot, her name then appears so the focus of the shot moves so its on her name.

We got the inspiration of showing her name like this, partly from the film Legend, we really liked the way the characters got introduced in this trailer, so we experimented on final cut, until we found a way which suited our film. The font we used was quite toned down, and not in your face, which we quite like as it fits our theme.

One shot that we were really pleased with in our trailer was this low shot which focused on our characters feet running. In the middle of this shot our character drops her gun, this creates a suspicious effect and makes the audience want to know what is going on behind her and ask multiple questions such as; why is she dropping her gun? Who is behind her? What is about to happen next? We slowed down this shot so that the dropping of the gun is seen more vividly and moves across the screen in slow motion so that is something that the audience have to notice. The black gun is an iconic feature of our trailer so the audience have to see it.

Task 13 Ancillary Products, FILM POSTERS

Ancillary Products: Film Posters

We really like this magazine poster for James Bond in Empire. One thing we really like about this film magazine cover is the way it is completely focussed on the main character of the film. The photo is in black and white which looks really effective and the contrast between the facial features and the rest of his face with a shadow effect makes the character look mysterious.
The way the gun is quite subtle and not a main focus of the poster, but is just subtly shown in the corner of the poster is much more effective than just having the gun in a really obvious and noticeable position on the poster. The focused shot really emphases the characters facial expression making him look professional and dangerous.
We liked the way the film poster only uses toned down colours such as whites and gold, we feel as if this goes with the action genre of the film and makes the overall appearance look very professional. The film again poster has quite small text on the 'Bond is Back!', this is good as it would make a passer  by of the magazine have to take a closer look at the cover drawing interest into the film.

Another film poster we really liked was this James Bond Skyfall cover. Once again the picture of the main character is in black and white, this seems quite a common theme for action genres to have them in black and white. This is something we may take inspiration from as we really think it makes the covers look more serious and quite classy, which is what most action genre films present, a classy but dangerous life style. We quite liked the way the characters head overlaps the Empire logo as it shows that the main focus of the magazine cover is the movie as the character over powers the title. The white background is also quite bold, and contrasts with the black suit and dark shadows surrounding James Bond's body. The gun once again features in this film cover as this is iconography of the action genre. The gun, the pose and the black suit and tie costume all tie in together to create a really upper class and desirable look. The colour theme black, white and gold follows in this film poster as well, which is also a repeated theme which the James Bond films must follow. Once again the title of the film is also very small and in a subtle place.

Film Posters

Film Posters That Inspire Us:

What inspires us the most about this film poster in particular is the close up shot of the main character Angelina Jolie. We feel as if the close up is really effective because it puts a face to the film, so for example people will see the actor and immediately think of this film. Also because Angelina Joile is a really well known actress, by just having her face on the poster markets it  really well. Her facial expression and the focus on her eyes conveys the strong action genre of the film as she looks daunting and purposeful.
Angelina Jolie's name is at the very top of the poster, in a contesting white font. The white font contrasts with her jet black hair, this makes her name stand out making it clear to the viewer that she is the leading actress. The way in which her name is featured in the poster before the actual film title tells us a lot about the way the film is being marketed via the actress staring in it, rather than the story itself.
The lighting in the photo is very low key meaning that her face contrasts with her dark hair, the emphasis on her face creates a mysterious feel to the film poster. We really liked the way her hair blends into the background as it creates a dark tone to the film through the colour of her hair. The rhetorical question 'WHO IS SALT?' we think is really effective to have on a film poster, as it makes the audience think and ask themselves what the film could be about. Also featured on the poster is the date the film comes out and a website, we think these are key features to a film poster.
Things we could take from this film poster:
As our main actor has dark hair we think that we could make a poster that is inspired by this one. We really like the idea of having a close up of our main actor to represent our film. We feel as if we focus in on her eyes it would reveal the dangerous side to our character, then making the contrast of the image really high the dark hair would create a black background. We also want to feature the name of our lead actress on our film poster, as if she is a really famous actor as it would make the poster look more professional. For our poster shoot we think our main actress India should have her hair down and be wearing some eye makeup which wall draw attention and emphasise her eyes more.

This is another film poster which we would like to take inspiration from. This film poster caught our attention firstly due to the striking pose featured. The pose includes a woman holding a gun against her face with a lowered head. We really liked this pose on the front of the poster due to the gun being iconography of the action genre, the gun alongside the characters pose and body language brings across the idea of regret and sadness of the character, possibly to do with the events that occur in the film. Another thing that we really liked in this particular poster is the way the setting of the film appears in a location shot, blended into the the separate shot of the character. We thought this is a good way to add interest to the shot of the main character, so that the film poster isn't just a shot of the main character holding a gun as this would be really boring and wouldn't market the film well. Showing the location the film is shot in in the film poster is quite a good way to encourage viewers to watch the film as the location can add interest for the audience. 

The American Sniper film poster is one which we inspire ours to look like and to take ideas from. This poster first caught our attention due to the clear white/grey background which contrasts with the main character based in the centre wearing his army uniform. Everything about this poster screams the action genre, especially the uniform which suggests that this film has connotations of war and violence. The main character Bradley Cooper's facial expression implies desperation and worry, as he is fighting in the US army he would be dealing with life changing events daily and also worrying about his family back at home so this explains his look of sadness and confusion. Another thing which stands out to us on the poster is the American flag, this allows the viewer to understand part of the storyline before they've even watched the film, clearly the film is going to explore a group of soldiers fighting on behalf of the American people to protect their country. Also as the USA is such a tourist attraction the flag is there to market the film, and make it a global film as people all over the world will be attracted to watch it as it isn't designed specifically for a particular niche market. 

Our Logo

Our company logo

We created our company logo on Motion. We inverted the colours of our clip so it created a black and white look and enchanted the logo of our company. Our logo features an animated cage being broken which goes along with the name of our company logo.
To get the animation of the bird breaking the cage we used YouTube and found 'The Bird Animation'. We saved this video and put it onto Motion where we changed the colors around and added our company name onto the front of it. We really like our logo as it fits so well with our company name, it is also very distinctive and is somthing audiences will remember as soon as they hear our companies name!