This document summarizes Finlay McCall-Smith's evaluation of their research, planning, and time management for a production process evaluation project. Some key points: - Their research strengths included investigating existing products in relevant genres to inform their trailer. They analyzed aspects like structure, pacing, shot framing and grading. - To improve, they would have analyzed more trailer details like score formulation and included a wider variety of source genres. - Planning strengths included a script and shot list. They could have improved with full location scouting and stricter weekly goals. - Time management was adequate but they would have liked more time for refinement, scenes, and special effects. Strict deadlines may have helped

1. Evaluation
Finlay McCall-Smith

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
I believe the strengths of my research were in the investigation into pre-existent products in
the relevant genres that helped to inform what my trailer should adhere to in terms of
rules. Watching trailers from the mid-2010s era of Marvel movies helped to give me a strict
template that seemed consistent throughout so that I could pick from aspects to be used in
my work, mainly from the way in which the trailer was structured, paced and the framing,
frequency, colour grading of shots etc.
To improve upon my research, I would have liked to have included more focused analysis of
intricate details of pre-existent trailers, such as the way that scores are formulated and in
what key/tempo etc, the ratio of soundtracked parts to diegetically naturalistic parts, the
speed of shots and the amount of detail about the full movie that is given away and at what
times typically. All of this could have helped to make my final product more uniform or at
least improved the efficiency at which I could produce it, as I could structurally plan my
trailer in accordance with what is typical of all the ones I had watched as part of research.
I would also improve the variety of different sources I researched from and possibly
broadened my searches into different genres than just Sci-Fi/Superhero to get an idea of
what differentiates that genre from the rest and therefore what would be good to pick from
to make my own product authentically reflect that same genre and better suit my target
market.

4. Planning
The strengths with my planning were the time I invested into constructing a script for the
voiceover, as well as the shot list I formulated for certain occasions to ensure that I’d be
capable of finishing all the shooting I needed to do within a small window, ensuring no
factors like lighting or weather changed within the time I was shooting for.
I could have better improved my planning with a full shot-list, as to ensure that I wouldn’t
be in the position where I was having to come up with the shots on the day of filming. The
only downside to this method that I see is that it doesn’t allow for me to be creative with
the environments that I would be specifically filming in. Therefore, in addition to this, I
could have done with deciding upon set locations at an earlier date and visiting them
personally to plan out exact shot types and positions etc with what information I have in
front of me.
I could have also improved my planning with more structure to what specific days I would
film or edit or what I would aim to have completed by the end of each week. I had
sectioned my trailer into parts, and I was working on certain parts separate from others to
then combine at a later time, but this could have been far more effective if I had set strict
goals of certain scenes to be done by specific dates. This would also allow me to
orchestrate a plan of when shooting days would be around these times and give me an
opportunity to be more fluid in the chances of me succeeding and being punctual in doing
so.
I believe all in all, this would have proven to make my project flow better, especially if I had
shot in sequence, as when I created each individual scene, I would have an idea of how I
would transition into the next sequence, overall making the project seem more tightly
formulated

5. Time Management
I believe my time management, as always, was adequate. I would have overall
hoped to do more with my time to refine my final product and expand upon it
perhaps with further scenes between characters with better dialogue etc but
due to a few setbacks I experienced throughout production and the amount
of extra responsibilities outside of doing this FMP, I am happy that I managed
to produce something of the quality that I did and would be content with the
knowledge that with additional time, I could have produced something that
would have reflected my original ideas in full. The main thing I would’ve
focused on with extra time would be VFX, adding more and refining the
current ones. I would also have adapted the script more to allow for breaks in
the trailer’s intensity with moments that are pauses in the soundtrack
containing more dialogue and substance to the story or character moments,
as opposed to relying on trailer shots so much. I’d have also taken more care
with the soundtrack itself to consider how to form it correctly around the
format of a trailer, instead of what I ended up doing where I made the trailer
fundamentally as a simple music piece with no breaks in increasing intensity.

6. Technical Qualities
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Image 1: In this image, the protagonist can be seen from a low-
angle medium shot that shows them in a running stance. The
lighting in this shot flickers on during its course in the trailer.
This was achieved by me finding a flickering lamppost on the
way back from Work one day and deciding it would be
appropriate for use in a shot. I thought it particularly effective,
as the character is known to have electrically based powers.
The stance is similar to that of the Flash in multiple
promotional images for the new film, with the shot's framing
being also incredibly similar. It took multiple shots to get one I
was happy with. This shot was treated later with some after-
effects to ensure its colour stayed consistent with the rest of
that sequence. The shot was achieved with a wide-angle lens
on a recent iPhone.

7. Technical Qualities
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Image 2: This shot is of the final shots of the trailer. It gives the audience
the title right at the end in typical fashion, as if the audience have
watched to this point, they likely have an interest and will remember the
name of the project better than if they heard it first thing. The title was
achieved in premiere pro, using the text function, a reflective effect on a
spectral image as the backing and the same lightning effect used at
different points in the trailer with colour correction added to give
variation. This coloured lightning effect is similar to that of CW's the Flash
TV Show. I achieved this effect myself by inserting a separate royalty free
soundbite of electricity into a clip with a gif of lightning in different
positions that then had to be edited to be different sizes, not overlap the
text and not deviate from the side of the screen too much. All this
adjustment was done by making keyframes that adjusted scale and
position and checking through each frame individually, adjusting them if
necessary. Overall, I am happy with how it looked in the end. Given more
time, I would have further edited the bolts to attempt to be more
representative of the characters in the trailer, to add further meaning.

8. Technical Qualities
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Image 3: This shot was recorded using a tripod and is contained within the same shot
as image 4, though 3 comes later on. This shot was primarily to evidence the use of
the lightning effect once again. I used the same method as discussed before for the
title sequence but opted to only adjust the lightning's colour to fit with the rest of the
scene, giving it a naturalistic realism, as much as I could manage. I animated 3 strands
of lightning separately and made them come in at different times so that the
animations didn't synchronise too much at any point and make the shot look less
naturalistic. I adjust the scale, position and opacity of the individual bolts too, to
ensure that they would look as though they were originating from the protagonist and
I added sound, same as before, to further demonstrate their diegesis. Given more
time, I would likely mess around with the idea of having the bolts be included within
the superspeed animation and not after. The reason I opted for after was primarily
due to the fact that the superspeed only lasted for a frame or two and therefore
wouldn't have much wiggle room for lightning effects. With this effect, I also included
some minor changes to the colour, light and music in the scene that fit in sync with
this moment of electrical surge to tie the in-universe aspects of the trailer to the real
world and bring the characters closer to the audience's reality in turn. I would
compare this lightning effect to 2017's Justice League's The Flash and Thor from the
MCU.

9. Technical Qualities
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Image 4: This image is taken from the same shot as Image 3, during which the speed running special effect can be
seen in action. This was arguably the most complex shot for me to make work effectively. In short, I created the
sound separately in garage band, combining a wooshing sound effect with a laser sound and keying them to
compliment one another. I experimented with different speeds and reverb effects etc til I was happy with it. In
terms of the footage itself, I filmed a shot of myself running over to pick up the ball while asking my friend to
remain still; Doing this and throwing the ball to land on the ground meant that in post-production I could
essentially cut the whole part of me grabbing the ball and just cut back to me landing again, which I made sure to
over-dramatise on the day to give some practical effect value. I then cut a layer out of my person in premiere pro
that I gave a keyframe for position and scale that ended when I was in front of my friend, commenced again and
then ended when I landed again. This keyframe created a slow-moving still image of me that moved from where I
started running to where I finished. After this, I simply sped up the footage, adding blurring and colour effects as
well as transparency to make it blend better and look more naturalistic and did this twice; once for me running to
grab the ball and once for me running back. I also encountered a problem where my friend would show up behind
the effect, despite me running behind him. To fix this, I inserted a still image of my friend into the frame to cover
the running effect and resolve this issue. Earlier in this process, I also encountered another problem. To show
myself running in the footage, I had to remove myself from the image that would be used as a still for my
character to run on, otherwise there would've been two of me. The way I did this, as I didn't think to collect a shot
without me in during filming, was to photoshop myself out and reinsert the background. I photoshopped myself
out by collecting images from this shot's raw footage of times when I was at different points in the frame, cutting
the empty space and then placing it over myself in a part of the footage where I was at that point. The end result
is something I am generally pleased with and think works quite seamlessly though I am disappointed that it
doesn't seem so significant, due to the fact that this shot only lasts a matter of 2-3 seconds. If I were to do this
again in future, I would better informed and able to complete this kind of effect at a much better pace, with less
hassel, though in this instance I was essentially teaching myself as I went along. I am, however, happy to compare
this shot with the likes of Quicksilver in the MCU and say that the level of professional quality is certainly decent
with what anyone could expect from such a low budget sci-fi production.

10. Aesthetic Qualities
• As a general rule across all images, I am very
happy with how they have turned out
aesthetically. I feel like the style I have created
through Aperture, ISO and colour correction
primarily is something unique that
compliments the entire piece well. I enjoy how
I made shots look almost dreamlike too, and
how shots taken in the rural areas were treated
with a contrasting orange hue, while shots in
the urban areas were treated with green. This
tied the images together well as orange and
green are different enough to contrast one-
another, yet share the same yellow tinge which
is often typical of film grain effects, to allow for
a traditional, rustic and slightly faded look to
my shots which I would argue is truly the most
unique part of all my cinematography.
• I would argue that the only major weakness of
this is that the image being slightly faded could
easily be perceived as overly distracting or
amateur, something I should likely have
attempted to amend to with further editing of
sharpness or just less over-editing of images in
the first place.

11. Aesthetic Qualities
Now to comment specifically on the images included on this
slide:
• Image 1 is incredibly sharp on the subject's face, with a
brilliant light balance that embeds minor meaning into
the scene, while the screen is blaring and shrouded in a
green hue that represents the passing of knowledge to
me. Another brilliant thing about this shot is that the
surrounding area is exclusively true black, which fades
into the subject's shirt, meaning the audience focus
isn't distracted from the subjects in question.
• Image 2 is particularly interesting in terms of framing
and detail quality. From the wires in the sky to the
expansive path and the subject in front, it represents a
lot of information in one for the viewer. The only gripe
I have with it is that certain parts of it appear
needlessly dark and perhaps too much of the sky is
shown off which seems to have also had an effect on
the unsatisfying colour palette. Otherwise,
a respectable shot.
• The final shot has been cropped greatly it is worth
noting, during the FMP documentation process but
from what can be seen, the shot is well suited as the
first shot of this entire segment of the trailer, as
it immediately informs the viewer they are no longer in
the urban area, without giving away too much about
where the rural area is specifically situated. It
also shows a dandelion which stands out nicely against
the wind, resistant to the blows in a similar way to how
the character who resides in this area is, adding greater
meaning.

12. Audience Appeal
I believe my final product appealed well to my target market. I started this
project aiming my project toward the 16-40 age range to be overly specific,
with the main note-worthy trait being that they enjoy the Sci-Fi or Superhero
genre and have invested in at least a handful of recent movies in that
category. I have attempted my own rendition of classic superhero powers
through my special effects that will hopefully appeal to those who enjoy the
powers component of these movies for spectacle value. I’ve also included an
air of mystery and fear to the trailer that portrays the protagonist as
formidable and will hopefully entice people into imagining the high intensity
and stakes of the movie as a whole when considering the scale of this trailer’s
content. This is mainly achieved through the writing and the musical theme
that helps to add tension to certain moments, leading up to a great climax
that should hopefully make the audience desire to see where the film goes
from there.

13. Peer
Feedback

14. Feedback 1
• What did you like about the product?
– I really like the overall look of your trailer and how every shot has
clearly been well thought out. I think that the colouring has been done
really well too, it helps give this eerie vibe that I feel that it’s going for.
– The editing has been done very well, for example the scene where the
character runs very fast and catches the ball. Then runs back. The
effects for that scene I thought really well and the foley matched
perfectly.
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
• I feel as if that maybe some more complicated camera techniques would
have been cool to see.

15. Feedback 2
• What did you like about the product?
I love the editing of the lighting when the ball was caught as it looked
like they have a secret power that know one knows about.
I like how the music matches with what is going on in the scene like
where it screams when the murder has been found it. It really sells the
story
• What improvements could have been made to the product?
I would consider keeping the music going in some parts like when the
person is talking but just tone it down a bit so its just in the
background.

16. Feedback 3
• What did you like about the product?
– The effects where very clean and appealing
– The short story was gripping and immersive it also
gave a clear insight into what was happening
without telling the whole story
• What improvements could have been made to
the product?
• Some of the shots had some overcasting light which gave
a a slight blur
• Maybe have the use of a tripod for some of the shots to
reduce the sway

17. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer feedback?
- I agree that more complicated camera techniques definitely would have made my piece overall
more interesting. If I had more time, I would’ve liked to have gotten hold of a drone to take insert
shots and get a shot from above the two characters in the Farm Scene.
- I agree very much that some of the light from certain shots ended up blurring certain shots. These
shots were often intended to be that way, with the focus being on one character for example while
another part was blurred but I do agree that it ended up looking mildly unprofessional at points due
to over-editing most likely. I wouldn’t however be desperate to change this as it could be inferred
as added meaning for the piece; I feel it gives the piece an overall dream-like hue.
- I finally agree that the use of a tripod may have been beneficial in certain parts of the piece. Some
shots were taken intentionally free-hand such as the tracking shot of the character throwing the
ball, as this helped to maintain emersion but some shots would have benefitted from being static
and it would’ve added better variation in shots and accuracy for my piece.
• What do you disagree with from your peer feedback?
- I disagree that the music should have been consistently on throughout. There may be an
argument to be made for that, that I’m missing, but I personally feel from my research that a
trailer needs ample amounts of pauses in intensity to make the moments that are intense
seem more intentional and thought-out. I don’t disagree that the music could be looked at
and possibly rejigged at points though.

18. Peer Feedback Summary
If I had to change anything based upon my feedback, I would attempt to add
in some more interesting shot types, maybe film some more footage to keep
the piece fresh. I would ensure that I use different lenses with more
appropriate Aperture and ISO settings to ensure that any light involved in the
shots doesn’t blur the image at all. I’d also shoot in a higher resolution such
as 4K, given more time, and then I’d make sure that my editing software can
export at said resolution.
I would also make sure to mess with the colour ratios more until I’m content
with how the shots vary from each-other. I would’ve liked to have had there
be obvious evidence that the colour changes between each different location
without it affecting picture quality too much. Perhaps in future, props and on-
set lighting would be best to achieve this effect. I would also use a tripod for
these shots to ensure they are steady when appropriate.
I would also rejig the music slightly to see if I can make it fit behind the
moments of silence in an effective way. This would be purely experimental
but finding a balanced median between the music and dialogue moments
would be a great thing to put more focus into if extra time was given.