2. Existing ProductMad Max Fury road 2015
Mad Max Fury road was filmed fully digitally, this means no physical image was composed onto film strips. This is quite common in modern
films now, it gives the DP and director a greater range to edit, temper with and shoot more as it can be stored on a hard drive or a cloud
database. Mad Max used a very wide variety of practical and digital effects. The film is set in a dystopian Australia in 2060 so it would seem
practical to film in Australia in the directors home country. Although when an unusual rain period occurred this turned the once dry, desolate
landscape green, so production had to resume in Namibia which is an equally bare, apocalyptic landscape perfect for the style of the film.
As I am just making a trailer I will focus on the teaser trailer for Mad Max fury road, It begins with the credits like warner bros and village
roadshow, the style is rusty and degraded but also metallic which is exactly the style of Mad Max and post apocalyptic media. There a blips of
black screen as well when there is no sound and during the showing of the brands there is a muscle car starting up which fits well. After this the
screen turns black and Max (Tom Hardy) says in a low, broken voice "my world is fire and blood" then the next shot is the heavily saturated and
is basically like any of the other scenes in the movie, The bright blue sky with the orange/yellow dusty ground.
The shot goes by the center frame principal that is used throughout the whole film, this is where whatever the shot's action is, is somewhere in
the middle of the frame. Tis keeps tensions high and engages the viewer more as they do not have to find the action or be bothered about
missing sequences. I will use this technique during my filming if I film an action scene. The next shots that follow are mostly action scenes from
the movie like crashes, jumps, parts of the tornado scene, the sandstorm bit where its as tall as a sky scraper and the cars look like ants. These
are some of the most iconic and stylized shots in the films so the trailer gives a great appearance for the audience who will want to see it. These
scenes are in sync to the classical piece ''Dies Irae'' by Yuri Temirkanov which is one of the most well known pieces of classical music that
anyone will of heard before and recognize, but probably will not know the name of, its used in countless pieces of media and I'm not surprised,
this made the trailer seem hysterical in a sense and fits perfectly with the whole mad max style. During the climax of the music, there is fast
paced editing where it would show a short clip of a big action scene, but then in-between these shots words were shown that say "THE,
WORLD, GOES, MAD" which is a play on words because of "MAD" which is the name of the movie, but it genuinely is deranged and the Director
knows this so he acknowledges it and doesn’t take the movie itself too seriously. The costume in the film is all very steam punk like and what
people think of when they here ''post apocalypse''.
Mad Max is its own thing, fans of it are fans of it, but I believe this is because its very realistic, this could happen if the world runs low on
food/water/gasoline. The action is all very real as well, with its amazing practical effects and unique styles its easy to be entertained by it which
will draw people in.
I chose to look at this as I want to set my trailer in a post apocalyptic world, maybe not as action packed as this, but with mostly the main
principal like most other post apocalypse movies. I have learnt shot techniques, editing techniques and colour grading inspiration from this and
it will heavily influence my final product.
4. These are the words that pop up quickly during the classical music
climax and the style is repeated throughout which is a rough
maroon, faded and scratched background with thick, yellow
capitals which look like they have some sort of red smoke and
sand that is passing across them. This style is very in-your-face so
its hard to miss what the words say, this is good for the audience
as they're reading it in their head while the music is climaxing so it
all builds up to create an action filled feeling.
These shots are also included in the trailer and I think I could included something like this in
mine.
5. Existing ProductMetalhead-Black mirror
2018
The image captured when filming metalhead was completely black and white, this was to induce the feeling of an old fashioned horror and as
the story had little to no context it seemed fit to keep the different colours a mystery too. The episode of black mirror was set in rural Britain
after a presumable apocalypse event where advanced AI are set out to kill humans.
As I am just making a trailer that will be my main focus when using it as an existing product.
The shots used in the trailer are a mixture of hand held, shaky ones mixed with still and slow moving ones. The slow, panning ones are there to
educe an uncanny feeling of mystery and tension. They are usually used to show a new location the characters will be set in and exploring.
Whereas the shaky, hand held ones are more for the action scenes where something tense is happening and to give off that sense of fast paced
movement. The trailer itself is only for a tv series and there not much context in the episode anyway so it would make sense for the trailer to be
quite short. It is 27 seconds long and presents the basic story with some of the main action scenes cut together. It is mostly in chronological
order following the episode which makes it easy to understand what's going on. The trailer includes some advanced effects of the robot killing
dogs which are fully CGI. I wont be using any of this as I cant and it'd be too expensive, but the dogs are actually based off of a real life robot
dog program by Boston dynamics which resemble the killing dogs from the episode quite scarily. I believe the lighting used in the outdoor scenes
are shot in natural light, as the episode is shot in black and white, lighting is not a crucial factor in production as the creators do not have to
consider the colour spectrum and only have to focus on shades and if something is visible. The costume used in the episode is quite a regular
clothing style, this is because in this apocalypse people will still probably have power and clean clothes. It seems like quite a recent event in the
vicinity of a decade, maybe less. Some props include cars, guns and other weapons, obviously their budget is relatively higher than mine but I
believe I could use some toys and make them look real using paint and other materials. With my costume ideas I believe I will have to age them
and make them look rough to properly convey the fact the trailer is set in a post apocalypse world.
As I am a watcher of the Netflix show, Black Mirror, I can say that I watch it because it shows different stories with the main focus being about
advanced technology, normal technology, political issues and how it effects humans. I like it because it gives a very realistic idea on what could
easily happen if something went wrong. I chose to use this episode of black mirror as it fits into the post apocalypse theme and also presents a
survival instinct which I would like to also present in my trailer. I will use this as a large source of inspiration for my project. As I want to create a
poster for the trailer as well the poster of metalhead is quite creative in its black and white colouring, with the clear depiction of the dogs legs
being quite menacing with the main character running far away.
6. Existing ProductAmong the ruins short film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kroGaJXNbXY
This short film set in a post apocalyptic world, and filmed in an
abandoned collection of buildings, like mine will be. It is filmed with a
sort of fade to it, and the colours are less saturated which makes for a
crisp, dull look to convey the feeling of an apocalypse. In the film there
is also little to no greenery or vegetation which can make the setting
more believable. Where I will be shooting there probably will be
greenery, trees and bushes, so to make these look dead I will have to
use a low saturation and maybe colour grade the green colour and turn
it do a grey colour. I think the costumes in the film are done very well,
they present a stylistic and also practical vibe of a wastelander, the
unique Asian headwear fits perfectly with the look. Some of the props
include knives, guns and spears, also like some of the things I will be
taking inspiration off of. It’s a perfect example of something a fan of
apocalyptic media would enjoy. It includes wastelanders meeting
others and is set in a believable scenario. I chose to look at this as I
came across it when researching post apocalyptic media and short
films on YouTube to see what amateur filmmakers create which will
give me inspiration on my own project. I have learned the skills in how I
can set the scene by showing the importance of water and using colour
grading to lower the saturation and make the look seem faded.
7. Existing product
This adaptation of the book of the same name ,written by Cormac McCarthy, Is a movie about a
Father and son who have to travel across America in search of warm climate and food. They
travel through a world that has been affected by a global cataclysm that has caused a huge
extinction event. On their journey they must face the factors of starvation, other gangs that want
to abuse and kill them and the effects of other peoples insanity.
The colour used in this film mainly consists of dark earth and grey tones, even the sky is always
grey or cloudy, this clearly shows that something is wrong with the world. The second image
down shows this, A city skyline is seen with washed up ships and just general destruction like any
other cliché sort of movie. Although, the thing that separates this film from other post apocalypse
pieces of media is that even in the day, the whole horizon is grey and heavily polluted, this is due
to the event that caused the extinction was caused by weather and climate change. So the place
where the characters are set do not see much sunlight, and because there is no sunlight most
animals and plant life is dead or decaying. This is something id like to show in my trailer, but if its
blue sky's when filming, I will have to use colour grading in post production to achieve the baron
look of a wasteland. The clothing worn by the characters is dirty and rugged, this is due to the
characters moving all the time in the film, they're heading to the coast and there may not be a
nice place to sleep every night so they may have to sleep rough. This is perfect for the audience
that like post apocalyptic media, it shows such a drastic change in the environment, not like other
movies and tv where plants still grow and life carry's on barely, animals and plants are dying out, it
shows total destruction of what we know as the world. I chose to look at this because it is the
world I'm trying to create, to an extent, I want to show off the desolation of the world and the
skills I have learnt from this is to make the image look dark and colour grade it to a grey, dark
earthy colour.
The road (2009)
8. Research Analysis
• All of my products I have researched include a post apocalyptic setting,
and have taught me the skills to create one myself. They all present the
difficulties of living in a dying world by demonstrating the importance of
food, water and natural resources. Mad Max, mostly has influenced me on
wanting to make this because of its abstract style and histerical, almost
self aware atmosphere.I am using a lot of inspiration from the Mad Max
films, and the metalhead black mirror episode because of its bold noir
style of film, which made it it better as it gives the atmosphere a
mysterious and uncanny feeling of unknowing, like you don’t know what in
the world is wrong but through the setting and noir filter you know
something is off, which is what I want to present when making my
trailer. the road and the independent amature film I studied that are
based in the same sort of apocolypse setting. This collection of media will
acumilate into what will be my trailer and In my evaluation want to be
able to show what aspects of each film I have included and put in my
video.
10. Secondary Audience research
In the review done by Mark Kermode, a professional film critic, marks Mad Max
as a re-invention of the Mad Max series which was filmed in the 70s and 80s
with a very small budget. For fury road, he mentioned that the budget for that
as being 150m, this would of significantly changed the series and given it the
exact look George Miller would of wanted if he had that budget in 1979.
Kermode gave it a 3/5 stars, he said, "There is much to enjoy about this
adrenaline-fueled reboot, but two hours of relentless action can get a bit
tiresome" This has nothing to do with styling or shot usage, which I will be
focusing on when making a few minute long trailer/short film, its to do with the
overall structure of the film, which anyone is entitled to their own opinion and
seen as so he is a film critic, he could have a very specific filter in what films he
may like.
11. Secondary Audience research
Click to add text
This shows tht 34% of people who went to see mad max fury road
were in the age group of 15-24, this is understandable as most
people will remember it from mel gibson starring movies in the 70s
and 80s, and also it will appeal to the select few people in this age
range who know about mad max and can see how stylistic and
realistic everything could be in the near future.
12. Secondary Audience research
The age group in this have a lower percentage of people in the highest seen movie
than the last one, this is because the difference in age will impact on how often, or
how many people will actually go to the cinema. Ages 15-24 will have much more
time to go out whereas the 25-34 will most likely be in full time jobs, starting to have
familys so a lower ammount of people in that age range woud see it. To conclude, my
age range for my product will most likely not be in the 25-34 group.
13. Subject Research
This chart shows that the age range between 45-54 make up only 13% of the people who went
to see mad max fury road. This is probably due to older people probably spending less time
going out and spending it more on carreer, kids, family. This will apply to most people this age
anyway. So this narrows down the target audience I would be aiming to make the project for.
14. In a lot of trailers this slide shows up at the start, this Is
telling the person watching if it is for all audiences and
there is also red band trailers which are for mature
audiences. The green also doesn’t necissarilly mean its
appropriate for all audiences, it can also show if
something is restricted an it lists what a person would
view that might be distressing/innapropriate. As there
will not be blood or colour for that matter I don’t have to
give it a rating. But if I were to include blood I could
colour grade the red to be less colourful and more bland
so It cant be classed as blood like Quentin Tarrentino did
for the upcoming release of kill bill when showing the
infamous fight of the ''crazy 88's'' in his trailer.
15. Click to add text
Film Classification
If I were to create some sort of film cover or give my trailer an age rationg Id need to study this page and
see what I think would suit it and maybe create a survey on what people think when they see the trailer. I
thibk this will just make the trailer seem more authentic.
16. When doing research for modern trailers I thought
about how different a trailer from two decades ago
of an action movie compared with a modern one
would be. The old one for the movie speed, starring
Keanu Reaves, included a lot more long shots of
scenes with a generic deep voice narrator, it shows
a lot more of the movies' action scenes. And
dialogue that you wouldn’t necessarily find in a
modern one is heard like when the characters are
engaging in some sort of comedy bit. Whereas the
modern film, John Wick, also starring Keanu
Reaves, is quick cut and its mostly quick comedic
one liners and snippets from the many, many, long
action scenes in John Wick. This shows how short
the attention span is of a common person today
and how much a trailer is tailored to look and
sound appealing and satisfy the watcher to the
point they would want to spend money to watch it.
This will help me figure out how I would want to
proceed when editing mine and how fast I would
want to cut it. Although, there is another type of
trailer which mad max fury road used to present
that film, where certain speech can be heard, but
the main focus is the music and the trailer being cut
to the fast paced music.
18. Practical ResearchFor my trailer I really want to present the look of an apocalyptic
wasteland with minimal use of context or speech, I wish to do it
through costume, setting, need for food, water and the use
of colour grading. The use of colour grading in a project like this
is crucial, its crucial in any movie, it defines what atmosphere
you want to create. And as scene in this colour grading, you can
make the setting seem uninhabitable, with the green and red
grading I did on the left. This sort of projection of a whole other
world is useful in Mad Max fury road, the before and after's
show that the colour grading is used to make the floor look like
its been in the sun forever and uninhabitable, in some shots,
and if the sky wasn’t shown you'd think it was on mars. But with
the before shots you'd think its in a desert you could find on
Earth. All this shows how important it is to use the tool.
19. Practical Research
Here are some other examples of some practical testing I
did with colour grading, I think the only one that
represents a desolate world is the one in the middle of
the left, although it doesn’t help that it looks like a hot,
uninhabitable area but the photo is of a bush so it kind of
takes you out of it. The one in the bottom left is also an
unsuccessful version, this looks more like a photo from
the 1800s and not the style I would go for in my project.
The one in the bottom middle is a good one if I was
shooting in an area that had lots of concrete and rust
because these would look really good as the
colour grading in it really brings out the rust and shows
how dull the grey is, I turned down the contrast as well,
so if any bright colour is visible, its more closer to a shade
of grey
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it
Type of image- studio/location, angle, effects, post-production
Use of lighting/composition/mise en scene/costume/props/location/colours/fonts etc.
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/watch/play it?
Why have you chosen to look at this? What have you learned that can help you in your project?
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it
Type of image- studio/location, angle, effects, post-production
Use of lighting/composition/mise en scene/costume/props/location/colours/fonts etc.
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/watch/play it?
Why have you chosen to look at this? What have you learned that can help you in your project?
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it
Type of image- studio/location, angle, effects, post-production
Use of lighting/composition/mise en scene/costume/props/location/colours/fonts etc.
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/watch/play it?
Why have you chosen to look at this? What have you learned that can help you in your project?
Choose a recent product similar to your own and annotate it
Type of image- studio/location, angle, effects, post-production
Use of lighting/composition/mise en scene/costume/props/location/colours/fonts etc.
Audience appeal- how does it make its audience want to buy/watch/play it?
Why have you chosen to look at this? What have you learned that can help you in your project?
Use this space to record any secondary audience research you might do. This is finding out about the audience for existing products.
Use this space to record any secondary audience research you might do. This is finding out about the audience for existing products.
Use this space to record any secondary audience research you might do. This is finding out about the audience for existing products.
If you do any additional subject research, record that here. This might be most relevant if you are producing a magazine or a documentary but even a fiction trailer might require some additional research in to a particular subject.
Getting some background information on your subject would be a really good idea.
Find some resources, log them, read them and write something about them.
Undertaking practical research is another great way to improve your project. Experimenting with techniques, equipment and processes you might want to use in you project will help you plan for the future.
Think about what you will research. It could be studio photography, or sound recording, or post-production techniques for video or animation techniques for a video game. Tutorials are useful here.
Make something similar but unrelated to your chosen idea.
Do not make it a version of your final product; it is an experiment
Provide a reflection of the processes you used and how it has been useful.
Don’t do something that you already know how to do.
Undertaking practical research is another great way to improve your project. Experimenting with techniques, equipment and processes you might want to use in you project will help you plan for the future.
Think about what you will research. It could be studio photography, or sound recording, or post-production techniques for video or animation techniques for a video game. Tutorials are useful here.
Make something similar but unrelated to your chosen idea.
Do not make it a version of your final product; it is an experiment
Provide a reflection of the processes you used and how it has been useful.
Don’t do something that you already know how to do.
List all products researched in previous sections. Include anything additional you have watched/read in preparation for production. Alphabetise your list.
