Callum Harrison created a mind map and pinterest board of ideas for his final project, deciding on a horror trailer. He created a proposal and script which was pitched to his tutor. Upon receiving feedback, he conducted research and created a survey to get feedback on his idea. Problems arose during filming which required changing plans, but a contingency plan was implemented. Skills like editing, lighting, sound design and special effects were developed. The technical quality of the final trailer incorporated conventions of the horror genre through camera work, props, and a building soundtrack. A survey was distributed to gather feedback from the target audience.

1. CALLUM HARRISON
Evaluation
The first task that I was given was to create a MindMap of different ideas that I would be using for my
final project, the mind map included many different media related products such as Music Video, Radio
Shows, Movie Trailers/Short Films and Photography. With each of these Media Products I thought of
different ideas that I could do for my Final Project. When I had looked into each product I had narrowed
it down to two choices which were a Horror trailer or a Photo-shoot. These two ideas both interested me
and I wasn’t too sure at this point which one I would be using. I researched both of these products using a
PowerPoint. The PowerPoint included information such as settings, characters and props etc. After I had
created this I decided that my final project would be a Horror Trailer. I created a pinterest account
where I started working on a collage of different things related to my final Horror Trailer, the pinterest
account included many things such as links to Horror Trailers and Photos along with story ideas and props
that could possibly be used in my own trailer.
Once I had complete the Mind Map and Pinterest Board I had a clearer understanding of what I wanted to
create which led to me creating a detailed proposal and script which I would use to pitch the idea to my
tutor. My proposal included what media product I had decided on, a synopsis of the idea, target audience
research, and techniques that I will be using. The script I prepared was to be no longer than 3 minutes
and had to sum up my idea and include everything that my proposal did but in less detail. The next thing I
had to do was pitch the idea to my tutor and receive feedback.
I received some feedback from my tutor and was given an overall grade for the pitch. Upon completing the
Pitch, I was now able to start working on the research for my trailer including primary and secondary
research. This research included numerous things such as Mind Genius, PowerPoint’s and Prezi. After I had
done my research I used a website called survey monkey to create a survey which I would use to receive
feedback from different people and see what they think of my final idea. The results were positive and
the majority of people liked my idea. Now that I had completed all of my research I started to work on
pre-production.
Time management and problem solving
I created a number of things in pre-production such as a location Recce, Risk Assessment and Script.
These things helped me with my idea and I now knew the scenes that I needed to film and when. I had to
consider cast members when it came to filming; working out what time people would be free to film. The
first time I ran into problems was when I had filmed some scenes but accidentally deleted the footage
that I had recorded. The footage that I lost was of cast members that weren’t local. This became a
problem because they couldn’t find time to reshoot the scenes and due to these problems I decided to use
my Contingency Plan that I had previously thought up if I was to run into any problems. The idea was to
keep the trailer the same but stick to cast members that were reliable to film and to help with time
management. This worked to my advantage because it was easier to film, although it became difficult
because less cast member meant I had to change my idea slightly. Instead of creating a feature trailer, I
would now have to create a teaser trailer because of less cast members.
As I ran into problems I didn’t manage to stick to my original filming dates but I did manage to select new
dates to film and stick to those ones. I also kept up to date with my production diary which was used to
help me manage my time, after each task I updated my production Diary.

2. CALLUM HARRISON
Production skills I have newly acquired and existing skills I have further developed
During both filming and editing I developed in skills. I used different programmes to edit my final trailer
including Premier Pro and Photoshop. I looked into many different camera angles and experimented with
different effects, doing this has helped me to achieve a more professional looking trailer. I quickly learned
that lighting needed to be used appropriately in order to get the best footage and avoid any grain. I
learned this because the first footage that I shot was in the evening and when I played it back there was a
grainy look. This was a problem for me because a lot of my footage was set during the evening. Whilst
getting more familiar with the editing programmes I found that I could manipulate the footage to appear
as though it was shot in the evening when in fact it was shot late afternoon. I also filmed my footage in
manual setting rather than automatic which gave me access to the manual camera setting where I had
access to focus and exposure which helped me to darken the image of the recording and what part of the
video I needed to focus on.
I used Photoshop to create some of the title screens during my trailer. Photoshop allowed me to create
professional looking titles that fit with my trailer. I looked into different titles that appear in Movie
trailers and they often had a screen at the end where they let the audience know the release date of the
trailer, I decided to create a similar title but using the text ‘Coming Soon’ as my trailer was a teaser
Trailer. I used the same background that is used throughout my trailer to blend the trailer together.
This is the title that was created using Photoshop. This is the masking that I created using After Effects.
I think that the titles I created were of a professional standard and managed to work well with the theme
of my trailer, I worked on layers and saved the image in a psd format which then allowed me to selectively
change the layers in premiere pro I f I required to (Using Key Frames)
I also developed my skills in the programme After Effects where I was able to create masks using the pen
tool to darken certain parts of videos. I first masked the images using the pen tool followed by animating
the mask using key frames. The mask tool worked particularly well on the final scene of my trailer where
the mask reveals text written in blood.
During Editing I created twitching effects which would occur at different times of the trailer. I created
the twitch effect on some of the titles in the trailer at the start and the movie name at the end. The
twitch effect was created using key frames and different video tracks. I changed the opacity of other
layers and used them as overlays. I also added a flickering sound effect to add to the twitch effect.

3. CALLUM HARRISON
Technical quality of final product
I used a variety of camera angles and used lighting to my advantage, when editing my project I used a
number of sound effects that are often used in trailers. The sound effects helped with the quality of the
final product. This is because they are a convention in horror trailers, the music and sound effects set the
mood for the trailer and help the audience to understand instantly what Genre they are watching and I
believe that I used the sound effects appropriately to create the mood in my trailer. I also used sound
recorders when needed so that I could have clear voiceovers.
Many times during the Trailer I used different camera angles in the effort to add variety to the shots.
The camera angles are the usual camera angles that you will see in Horror films and trailers such as close
ups, extreme close ups, High angle and low angles shots. The camera angles are important in horror trailers
as the audience will subconsciously expect to see the angles in horror films because they help to set the
scene.
After focusing more on the lighting I believe that I managed to use the lighting accordingly. The Lighting
helped my final videos to be of better quality and not grainy which helped with the overall look of the
trailer. Although I still believe at some points the lighting could have been improved.
I used colour effects in my trailer trying to keep them to a minimum but at the same time have the horror
look without the trailer looking over edited. The footage used in my trailer I believe was all good quality
although, I think that some of the scenes could have been improved but due to the delay I had filming I
didn’t have enough time to re shoot the scenes.
I wanted to gradually build my trailer up as it went along consisting of different shots and speeds. I
managed to do this quite well with some of the scenes slow-paced and others fast. Towards the end of my
trailer I used cutting a lot which I have often seen in trailers. I had always planned to do this since the
start of the assignment which is one of the reasons I chose a soundtrack which gradually builds up. I think
this was very effective and managed to create the typical Horror Suspense.
I used a number of props in my trailer. After looking into horror trailers I noticed that a lot of weapons
are shown throughout and that there was usually a trademark weapon for the antagonist of the film. The
usual weapons in horror films are knives and tools. I included both of these things in my trailer to follow
the conventions. One of the main conventions of horror is blood which is used to create fear. I used blood
in my trailer to make it look as real as possible; I also used a mask to create mystery which a lot of home
invasion films feature. In the typical Horror films the antagonist wears a mask as it creates fear and
mystery for the audience. I believe that I used the props in my trailer accordingly with a realistic look.
Reaching your target audience:
After I had completed and uploaded my trailer I created a survey on Survey Monkey. The Survey was sent
out to a number of people in order for me to get feedback from my target audience and their opinions on
my finished trailer. The Survey included numerous questions regarding the final trailer with the option for
people to give their opinions on how I could improve the overall quality of my trailer, the improvements I
could make and what works well. The first question that I asked was ‘Do you think my Horror/Thriller
Trailer is suitable for my target audience? In total 12 people completed my Survey and all 12 of them said

4. CALLUM HARRISON
that my trailer was suitable for my target Audience. Another question that I asked was ‘Do you think my
trailer fits the Horror/Thriller genre’ and again all 12 people said that It did. I asked a number of other
questions for example ‘Do you think my trailer was done to a professional standard’ and ‘do you think the
music and sound effects were used successfully’ I received a positive feedback from all 12 of my
responses. The next question that I asked was ‘If I was to complete the Trailer again do you think I could
improve in any way’ this was my main question and I left a comment box for people to give their opinions on
any improvements that could be made. All 12 people left their opinions.
My final question that I asked was ‘Overall, what rating would you give my trailer’ the result was positive
with 5 people giving me a 9 out of 10 and the other 7 people giving me 10 out of 10. So overall, I believe
that I managed to create a high quality trailer.

5. CALLUM HARRISON
How closely you final product matches your original intentions:
I did stick to my original idea as much as possible but the final result of my trailer was not as I expected
it to be. There were numerous things that I left out which I originally intended to use such as some sound
effects, editing effects and footage. There was one effect that I had planned to use throughout my
trailer but decided against this idea when editing as the effect didn’t mix well with the rest of the trailer.
I also planned to use around 5 different locations and I only used 3 because of unreliable cast members
and I had to shorten my trailer to a teaser trailer. The main reason my trailer changed was because of the
loss of cast members which came to be a problem however, the basic titles and some scenes are how I
expected them to be. I always planned my trailer to be fast paced towards the end which it is and I had
always planned to have a twitching effect on the titles which I did include and I am happy with my final
result as it follows the horror conventions and is still similar to how I imagined it regardless of the other
changes made.
Summary Conclusion:
If I was going to revisit the assignment and do it again I would stick to the same idea but focus more on
time management because although I had it all planned I ran into problems which delayed my work and
stopped me from meeting my own planned filming dates. It’s also possible that this delay affected my
overall edit because I had less time than I originally planned to edit my final trailer. I think if I had more
time to edit my trailer then it could have been of better standards. I would also focus more on the filming
of footage , I had the basic ideas of the scenes that I wanted to shoot however, I think I should have
looked more into camera angles before filming which could have helped me to achieve more professional
looking footage. Overall, I think that I completed the assignment to a high level and my Trailer meets the
target audience needs and was high standard.