Jay Brown evaluated their production process for creating a trailer. Some strengths included detailed research on filmmaking techniques and creating storyboards, while weaknesses included poor time management and an inconsistent color palette due to limited equipment. Jay analyzed their trailer alongside the Batman 2022 trailer, noting similarities in dark tone but room for improvement in technical skills. Overall Jay identified areas for growth, such as securing reliable actors, consistent lighting, and adding more narrative elements like dialogue.

1. Evaluation
Jay Brown

2. Production Process Evaluation

3. Research
• I think the strengths of my research was creating the style of what I wanted, for example I first thought there to be more of a
comedic element to the what was first a movie then trailer so I cut that out in the transition because I had also lost the
actors I had first originally casted.
• I think I was very detailed when researching and I got a lot of different research like how certain projects make their stuff
that yes, maybe it wasn’t helpful for my trailer but was good to know and interesting, and I think doing research did
motivate me more because if you surround yourself with information on a subject it gets you thinking about it a lot more.
Saying this I did also get some useful information, like ponysmasher who films very low budget short horror movies, with
two or less characters. He also does videos about how to scare an audience, which refers to power; he also says build the
tension for as long as possible, which I think them things did help my piece as I tried to use low angles for the killer and high
ones for the victim to create that power dynamic.
• I did a lot of meaningless trailer research as I tried to quickly divert my movie into trailer but the ones I found very useful
was THE BATMAN (2022) trailer and Enter the Void (2010). From Enter the Void took inspiration in their fast pace jump cuts
and primarily the most significant thing I took was the text parts where it flashes. I liked the feel in THE BATMAN trailer how
the song they use feels with what we are seeing, it has a very dark feel. I like how when the music cuts all you can hear is the
punches and I tried to replicate that I mine.
• I enjoyed doing the practical research as it was fun to make and also it gave me the chance to improve since the second time
round I did it I was drastically better for the prop that featured in my final trailer, as I learnt what could go wrong and how do
I fix it, for example on my first go I think the container I used to soak my hand was too small so my hand would touch the
side creating gaps in the fake hand.
• A negative is that a lot of my research went into comedies, which I didn’t end up doing, because of the switch up in creative
direction.
• I could’ve found out more trailers with a concept relating to mind and in the same genre as inspiration, whereas most of the
research I did had elements of things I wanted but not exactly the same thing.

4. Planning
• I think that the story boarding and shot list was very important and defiantly one of my
strong points because sometimes I struggle to explain myself especially my shots as I cringe,
so it was very god to show to the people who helped me film if I couldn’t get my words
together.
• The prop list also helped as once I got that together I felt confidence to get everything I
needed.
• Some weaknesses may be my colour palette because I didn’t stick to it, I would’ve wanted to
but I didn’t have the equipment or knowledge how to do it, like a lot of the lighting I had to
use was natural like street lights which gave off an orange light. Also shooting at different
times changes how everything looked, even if I tried to change it. So maybe I could’ve
planned around that, but next year ill strive to get more equipment like cameras and lighting.
• My production schedule wasn’t that good either as I wasn’t very organised with it until after
my friends who were going to be in it left, so it was a lot easier to plan around just me and
one other person. I also did the filming in sections as I had to get more footage numerous
occasions. What I have learnt is to keep a small cast, as people aren’t reliable always. Also not
using unreliable friends is risky and I wont do it next time.

5. Time Management
• Well for what I planned for my time management was pretty poor but
technically I am ahead of schedule because I’ve uploaded it already and
we’ve got a few more weeks left. I think Time management is a lot harder
with the more people you have, as it gets harder to fit a schedule around
everyone; so when I made my cast to two person it was way easier to plan
the days when we were going to shoot. In hindsight I should’ve either
always planned for a small cast or if I was going to get a few more have the
sets of days agreed as soon as possible with the cast. It took me a lot
shorter to edit than I thought it would and a bit longer to film, but that
was only because I did it in stages over 2 weeks. I will limit my cast to 3
people at max but only if I know they can for sure be reliable.
• If I had more time I would probably create more of a high paced second
trailer, like a gasper Noe trailer with more intense music. I would add more
action scenes and intense dialogue.

6. Technical Qualities
Product now Previous product
On the music video I made at the start of the school year I used way
more visual effects but if I ever used effects it was practical in my most
recent product.
I think my editing skills have improved since the music video, like the
edits I have done now are a lot smoother and nicer looking; It flows
together a lot nicer
Both products were filmed on phones.
I had to chop a lot of the song because I think the song is like minutes
long or more so I cut it to about 2 and a half I believe, so the audience
wouldn’t get bored and also getting 5 minutes of footage would be
hard and would most likely drag; whereas in the music video I fitted the
footage to the song so for example I would shoot a scene at the exact
time in the song. I didn’t know any other way because we really didn’t
get too much guidance unless you asked soi just did what I thought
would be the best way. In my most recent I fitted the song to the
footage I had, and I think that works better because how are you going
to know if it actually works until your into the edit. Its also better to
have too much footage than to little as it gives you a lot to work with.
I used some stock footage in the music video but I didn’t in the
trailer because I think it takes away the authenticity. I also have
way more footage on the trailer, in the music video there are 3
maybe 4 scenes then they’re just split up and the background
changes.
I got everything done in my product now whereas there was
some incomplete or things I wasn’t happy with
There was only one cast member for the music video and that
doubled for the trailer into two.
I used a lot of the same angle for a lot of the music video and for
the trailer every scene was a new angle a new thing to be
interested and there was no reused footage so I prefer it this way.
I used a lot darker lights in my recent trailer because I didn’t have
big lights like I did in the music video I used either natural or
street lights.

7. Technical Qualities
BATMAN 2022 TRAILER
My trailer
When doing my trailer I liked the feel of THE BATMAN
trailer so I tried to get a similar feel, In terms over the
dark music feel, and the action part. I changed the
colouring of some shots to be darker and also I filmed a
lot at night to get that dark feeling I was after. I guess
mine and Batmans does have that feel, but something I
don’t want especially for next year is that the things im
making you can just tell it was just some in experienced
person making it. It needs to be more cinematic and I
want the viewer to be thinking about it afterwards,
which I don’t think I got maybe because of the camera
work and it was shot on a phone.
Obviously Batmans got way better budget, and higher experience
people working on the trailer, I filmed everything on my phone.
I tried to replicate the fight scene as I think it was impactful as the
music stops you hear this guy getting pummeled, so I stopped the
music on mine and all you could hear was the knifing or any other
sound that was happening. I added the knifing and I also added a
car wiper thing. I feel it came off quite nice, maybe a bit awkward
and clunkier than I would of hoped for but I still like it. If I was
going to change it I would probably add more sounds like a scream
or something, and change angle but in the same scene.

8. Technical Qualities
I tried to keep my posters as simple as possible because I think simple is very impactful, and I like
it. I used inspiration off Quentin Tarintino’s Kill Bill, and I think you can tell by my work.
I tried to use a lot of reds to signal blood and danger, and I used a lot more blue on the ‘victim’
poster to show fear, I put on a grey filter however cut out the killers head and copied it before I
changed the filter, so it kept the red. I thought it made the killer look more dangerous and
impactful. The black and whites also represent how the killer doesn’t show emotion and is pretty
badass.

9. Aesthetic Qualities
I’m actually not a fan of the footage that I had to change from night to day because it looks too blue. So
next time I would improve that by if its meant to be at night I want to get a few lights so it doesn’t look too
dark if there’s no natural lighting.
There are some shots I do like, for example the red smoke scene I think that is cool, and creative because it
doesn’t really make so much sense like some guy in a mask crawling but it gets you thinking about it, I
thought of it more as a supernatural demon kind of thing while coming up with the idea. I like pretty much
all the car scenes as it adds a prop to the scene, and i also gets you thinking how the car will effect the
movie and why its important. I like all the scenes where it has the victim at a lower angle and the killer
higher because it shows who has power, and according to my research power helps scare the audience. I
think maybe there should have been more of a narrative in my trailer, like dialogue and the reason there
wasn’t was because I wasn’t really confident enough to do it, I didn’t have much time to write it in because
I changed to a trailer later on.
I would wan more of a consistent colour lighting and grading next time and the reason why it didn’t work
recently is because I would shoot at da and nigh time and also the main lighting I would use was natural or
street light giving off a orange light which is not what I wanted but I did kind of like it in the end even if it
wasn’t what I wanted. If I were to do it again I would get my own lighting so it could be consistent. I did
plan for everything to be grey and dull so the action could one speak for itself and it would be more
shocking with the red bloods in contrast, but obviously due to circumstances I couldn’t do that to the level I
wanted.
I think because filming on my phone and not having the best lighting has made some scenes a bit gritty
which is quite a cool aesthetic that the trailer has.

10. Audience Appeal
I feel like I’ve honored this
quite well with my killer being
clearly psychotic with hints of
supernatural which is the
audiences top two preferred
scariest things. I tried to create
the psychotic elements in apart
from the obvious attacking
scenes, in the unexplainable
ones like the dance and
crawling scenes.

11. Audience Appeal
I may of gone against what the
audience wanted here however
due to it being a trailer it would
be a lot harder to do a comedy
horror, and there are still a lot of
people who like the other
genres, like all the genres that
have two votes are what my
trailer genre is. So technically if
you add them all up it has more
votes than comedy horror.

12. Audience Appeal
A pretty mix bag here and I think I’ve
done well all in all. The acting isn’t that
bad, in my opinion, not scar enough is
obviously subjective so we can not
factor that in, also it’s a trailer, the
second mot top votes of unrealistic I
reckon I’ve gone pretty realistic and in
the scene that may be considered
unrealistic in the smoke part I don’t
care because I think that was my most
fun and creative shot, and too much
gore I guess I went away from that but
there wasn’t anything that would make
your stomach churn in my opinion so
that is also fine to me.

13. Audience Appeal
As you can see here normal filming
style is the most popular, and
that’s literally what 99% of the film
is filmed In. I would of liked to do
some more and have It as the main
thing if the project however with it
becoming a trailer and me using
my phone I found it difficult to one
get interesting shots using that
type and two not having enough
knowledge of how to do it well.
Kind of ironic how no one likes
handheld and that is what I filmed
like but I think that’s down to me
putting normal as an option. When
I was filming handheld would
always get the better shots in my
opinion so I just rolled with it.

14. Audience Appeal
• I think my trailer dos have the main horror elements you need, like powerful
danger killer coming after defenseless victims. I also added in elements of the
killer is somehow supernatural and also deranged, in the smoke scene and the
dance scene. I think these elements will keep the audience entertained due to
familiarity but also interested in the other elements I added.

15. • 0-2 seconds Intro I took a snippet of Daywalker by MGK and put title which flashed different colours. I put the
song in because I was tussled on which song to use Daywalker or Exit Music by Radiohead, and in the Daywaker I only like a couple parts so
I used it as I kind of enticing into to get you awake.
• 3-12 I start with the screen black as you hear broken glass, I like this effect when you hear before you see as it makes you think and
engaged to see what’s happening, I got this from Batman 2022 trailer. I also used the car scene as a kind of reference point always coming
back to the shot because I think it was probably one of the longest and nicest shot I had.
• 13-16 this was one of the scenes where I needed more footage and it was a pretty easy scene to do and fit into the trailer
perfectly and my opinion doesn’t look to bad, looks quite nice. It was right near my house as well so.
• 22-23 One of my favorite shots we did as it zooms in and looks pretty well done, I didn’t have any inspiration for this I just
thought it would look nice because all the other moving shots we had did. Its also under the orange lighting street light so it worked well.
• 27-28 I put in an outdoor scene i did in Rufforth woods with my only other actor. This was the first scene I added out of 4 I
believe, and the idea was they were walking and the camera was positioned like they were being stalked because there is quite a lot of
leaves in the way of the view. For these wooded Rufforth shots and I think every daytime shot I put on a night time colouring.
• 35-42 I really like the visualisation of smoking for some reason especially while bloody and I thought it would be an interesting
scene with the scafolding.
• 1:01-1:02 I used a tripod for this shot, and it was at the same place where the car was put shot at day and obviously I had
to change the colouring to night by using the presets. I also cut and put in a later part of the song as It was too long and I wanted to hype
up the trailer more with the fast part of the song, its also cut so the drums are linked with the scene which I like in a trailer.
How and why

16. • 1:03-1:06 this shot I got my dad to dress up as the killer and i filmed while moving and used a high angle for me to show weakness as the victim and
then low angle for the killer to show power. This was shot in the alley nearby of the street light I used for a lot of filming.
• 1:08-1:20 I put in some black cuts to add tension through the scenes and this part I stopped the music which is an effect I took inspiration from the
batman 2022 trailer as the music stops and it goes into batman beating up this guy in a gory way. So I put in some esablishing creepy shots of the killer far away, and
then it cuts to the killer running the victim then stabbing her but that scene is intertwined with the car from inside window wiper scene which I think really pulled the
sequence together from not being too awkward. I was really happy with the visuals I got from these scenes to be honest, in the car scene I used a combination of
street light and the car light as lighting then I hid underneath and jumped up as a jump scare. Maybe I would’ve liked it to be a bit scarier but its fine.
• 1:22-1:23 Not too much to say about this part I used the same title idea from Enter The Void, and I think its really effective here.
• 1:24-1:25 This was filmed in my garden just after the first car scene but before the smoke scene, I had blood on my face. Something that I may of
forgot to say was when I filmed the bin running scene the blood didn’t show up well because it was an old batch so we remade it for the later scenes so it would show
more.
• 1:30-1:40 My favourite scene. My most creative one, we used the smoke machine so you couldn’t see the box, as lighting we used natural moon, with
garden lighting and the smoke machine has red lighting that we used for the sense of danger. The scene was really up to the viewers interpretation but my idea was
that it was a bit of crazy a bit of supernatural elements to it that’s why I used an colour overlay that made it a bit distorted.
• 1:41-1:50 quite a nice pan out under the orange street light. I was laid on the car for this scene and the car slightly dented I believe.
• 1:51-1:56 In this dancing scene I tried to add a bit of craziness and character to the killer, I took a bit of inspiration from the Joker. I wanted the scene
to be pretty dark and a long shot, I also got inspiration from the Smiling Man the short film on Youtube. I think there’s something sinister about someone’s who’s
mentally gone, because you don’t know what they’re going to do, and this is the effect I wanted.
• 1:57-2:04 Two scenes here. One we made a hand using my moms hand so it would look realistic on Lucy. And made it look like it was cut off. Then
there’s the shot of her falling down the tree like she’s been hung up. I think both these shots are effective and shocking in my opinion.
• 2:15-2:20 Another title sequence with the beginning music again reminiscent of Gasper Noe film again. To shock the audience.
How and why

17. Peer
Feedback

18. Feedback 1
Hey mate looks like fun and great effort. Mainly small bits of audio to bring in and slight tighten in
the cut in couple areas. Wud say Lucys sev hand looks bit false, suggest crop in to frame it out or
reshoot with composit and a decent hand. Her face and blood is enuf. Really nice work, great
acting too. – Pete Hunt (an actual film maker).

19. Feedback 2
• What did you like?
• The music linked in with the movie trailer clips and fitted
with the horror genre of the movie. The trailer left you
feeling intrigued and wanting to know how the story would
unfold. The scenes and music gave me a feeling of what will
come next! Particularly liked the different scenes,
background, lighting and camera angles you’ve used.
• What improvements could be made?
• The fake hand you made could have have more blood
splattered around it. -Mum

20. Feedback 3
• Movie trailer
• What did you like?
Loved the opening sequence with the dramatic music
Scenes were cut really nicely with the sound affects, particularly the windscreen wiper shot
It’s a very original piece of work.
The scene with the red light/smoke and murderer crawling along the ground were very dramatic and sinister.
Loved the zoom in/out camera shots.
The trailer has the feel of a cult indie classic!
What improvements can be made?
Maybe add some titles to the opening sequence with a voice over to help the viewer to quickly understand what the
film
is about ie “this Halloween, prepare to be afraid, very afraid” ” the scary movie of the year, coming to a cinema near
you” ... these are just examples.

21. Peer Feedback Summary
• What do you agree with from your peer
feedback? I agree that the song does fit the horror feel, and I feel I was quite
lucky to find it. I probably needed to add more audio so the audience would have more
of an idea what was going on, and there needs to be more foley audio so it feels more
of a cinematic experience. I agree that the idea was creative and especially some scenes
like the car, and the smoke scenes. I thought the acting was pretty good for two none
actors.
• What do you disagree with from your peer
feedback? A lot of people have been hating on the hand saying it looks
unrealistic, however I think it looks fine and adds to the overall experience, perhaps it
could’ve been a bit more bloody. I wouldn’t of done like the generic trailer voiceover
like my dad was suggesting but like dialogue that was ‘cut out the film’ I wish I had
done.

22. Peer Feedback Summary
– I would probably try and tighten up some shots, making them more snappy
and impactful, I would add lines of dialogue sprinkled throughout the trailer to
keep the viewer interested more and give them more insight of what’s going
on and what the film will be about and how the characters are, I would add
more general noise, like more ambiance, maybe screams. I would reshoot
some hand scenes so I can add more blood and make it look more realistic.

23. Reflective posts