The document provides an evaluation of a movie trailer created by the author for a class assignment. It discusses the actors and locations chosen, compares the trailer to professional ones, addresses problems encountered and solutions, feedback received, and the software used in creation.

1. Evaluation for Trailer Naomi Hall (UPDATED AS TRAILER AND PRODUCTS DEVELOP)

2. Introduction For the A2 Media Coursework I was assigned to create a Movie Trailer. By conducting research into different film genre’s and look at existing professional and non-professional trailers I had to create my own. As well as the trailer I was required to produce a poster, DVD Cover and Magazine Cover that would accompany my trailer. This presentation will help explain how I made the decision I did and what I might have changed given a second chance.

3. My Actors… I thought of various people I could have cast in my trailer but I feel that the decision’s I made worked well. The main character in my trailer I wanted to be able to play a part that was able to act sad and depressed but at the same time believable. When thinking about who I wanted to play this character I wanted them to have a serious attitude towards the part. Like the main character I wanted this character to have a serious attitude to wards playing the part. Although ‘playing dead’ is easy in some people’s eyes, some people fail to take this seriously and although the scene’s are small this part is one of the most important scene’s in the trailer. The party scene’s were easier to cast as I used close friends to film these scenes as well as the other main characters in the trailer. Again these scene’s were important but I wanted to see the characters in a different situation. I wanted the audience to see the contrast between then and now.

4. Locations… As you can see my idea’s for locations changed when I came to film. The opening scene I left the same because it introduced you to the main character. Where he lived and how his life pans out. It also gives the audience the sense of how alone he is because of what had happened. I decided to change the scene’s where the main character walked through the town centre on his own. I decided to change this for two reasons. The first was it was hard to find a time where I could film the character and he really could be on his own with no one else around. The second being that the town seemed an obvious location when filming the scenes and I felt that the location I actually used worked far better. I also changed the location for the death scene. I once again decided that where I originally planned to film the scene was to obvious for this genre of film. I decided to use an open field which so of suggested to the audience that the blame was put on him but it shows how he is currently free (him being out in the open) but how things could change is he is caught/blamed for the murder).

5. How does my trailer compare to professional film trailers? I tried to make my trailer look as professional as possible. To do this I had to study and research existing trailers. I looked at soundtracks and shots used in the trailers and how certain scene’s are filmed and replicate them in my trailer. The soundtrack I used an existing soundtrack that I thought complimented the events in my trailer. I think it works with the scene’s I have in it and helps to create the atmosphere I was hoping to create in the trailer. I made sure that the soundtrack was timed with what was happening in the trailer which again helped with the atmosphere. The Camera shots/Angle’s To show how alone the character is I made sure he was central in the camera and used medium and long shot’s which help to show how alone and rejected the character is in the trailer. Although with the party scene’s I used close’s ups and didn’t used the tripod for the camera which made the footage unsteady. This gave the sense that the group of friends were very close to each other and were having fun which was a complete contrast.

6. Problems I encountered… (and how they were solved) As like many people I could not predict that the weather when filming my trailer had unfortunately taken a turn for the worse and as you can see when watching my trailer there was snow. As I wanted to meet the deadlines that were set I had to overcome this problem and went ahead with filming in the snow. When making this decision I worried about continuity in the trailer and how the finish product would look but I feel when watching my finished product that the weather only proceeded to help with the atmosphere my trailer creates and I was happy with the outcome.

7. What would I do differently? Given a second chance I would ensure that I get the filming done earlier in the year so that the weather conditions are better than what they were when filming my trailer. When filming I was worried about people getting hurt because of the ice and the bad weather conditions. I found at some points visibility when looking through the camera was reduced by the weather conditions and therefore had to re-film parts of the trailer. This obviously took time and some of the actors in the trailer could not make some the re-film dates.

8. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions or real media products? I think that my product uses quite conventional forms and conventions against other main media products. The trailer starts off quite slow and although the action doesn’t really build in it the trailer leads t the death scene. Now although like I said the action doesn’t build in the trailer the music leads up to the death scene which I think creates a strange atmosphere to the audience. Also like existing professional movie trailers my trailer has text in it which helps to create tension and anticipation with the audience. When getting audience feedback this was one of the things the audience suggested and wanted to see.

9. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? I have used the same text through out all of my products meaning that when one person see’s the text/ logo then they would instantly associate the product with the film. I have seen this idea used with many different films. As you can see im also planning to use images that relate to the characters in the trailer. The character that is going to feature on the products is going to be one of the main characters from the trailer. Again this will be like existing professional products that are already out in the industry.

10. How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? (Continued) -As you can see the Sweeny Todd poster and DVD cover se similar images and the same text. I used this same technique with my products. -Even though the mock up poster of mine is only a mock up (at the moment) I will have an image on it similar to the mock up DVD cover I have created on the left. Like the Sweeney Todd poster and DVD cover both images will be similar again trying to keep the same theme between all the products. Existing products compared to my mock up’s.

11. What have you learned from your audience feedback? From my audience feedback I found out that I need to have speech in the trailer. Some people found the fact that only the party scene has speech a good feature to the trailer as it creates a good atmosphere. To contrast the first point other people said that the party scene should be muted and the soundtrack should play louder but I don’t agree with this point as I think the idea of the characters being heard in the trailer creates the contrast I was aiming for.

12. How did you use media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? In order to produce my products I has to use a variety of software. Some of the software I used was far more complex than other software. Through out the research, planning and development stages the software played an important part as I has to create mock ups of products and rough cuts of my trailer. For my trailer the main piece of editing software I used was Pinnacle. I used this to create the basic layout for my trailer as it uses a ‘scene detection’ system which detects when the camera was stopped recording and started again. This made it easy when stitching the scenes together as I could easily find the scene I wanted. Pinnacle also helped when editing the sound effects for my trailer and also adding a soundtrack. It allowed me to layer the sounds for my trailer meaning I could easily adjust the volume of the trailer in the right areas. Pinnacle Trailer Windows media player I used with some of the basic transitions. In some parts of the trailer I need to add some basic fade effects and on the title screen it was far easier to use to add them to the trailer. Windows Media Player

13. How did you use media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? (Continued) The first logo was created using Fireworks and the second was created using Photoshop. As you can see I used a custom brush rather than the simple effect that was created on the font using Fireworks. I think the first one that was created in Photoshop looks more professional. As you can see I used the same fonts through out my work, on the trailer and in the products. Fireworks is similar to Photoshop in the editing sense. It used similar technologies to create the image you want. I chose to use this for basic image editing as it takes far less time to edit an image compared to in Photoshop. Fireworks Photoshop is one of the most complex pieces of editing software money can buy. I used this for my Movie poster, DVD cover and Magazine cover. I used this as it is my preferred piece of software (compared to others that were available to me). I wanted a more professional look to my products and found this easier to get using this piece of software. One of the reasons that I used Photoshop was because Photoshop allows you to create and install custom brushes. This can be seen on my Movie poster and in my trailer. The font used in the trailer and on the other products (main font with blood) is an example of a custom brush I made and used. Photoshop Products

14. Using the same fonts in/on all my products means that the audience will associate the products to each other. When they see the logo they will instantly think about the trailer. I also used the same theme on all three products. I used a black background on the title screen to my trailer and also white text with the black cracked effect on the text. I also used the same Blood effect brush for the logo on each item. As you can see when looking at other professional existing products they used a similar theme. Black or Red background with white text and a cracked/ blood effect on the text or on some part of the cover. The picture I plan t use also blends into the background providing a plain colour/shade for the rest of the information that needs to be on the DVD cover. I feel that this gives a mysterious look to the cover which connects to the theme of my trailer. How did you use media technology in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages? (Continued)

15. Development of Final Products Movie Poster

16. Stage 1 This is the original images used on the poster: As you can see it is similar to the image I used on the Mock-ups. I decided that the colour of my image needed some editing as it wouldn’t have worked with the genre and theme of my movie.

17. Stage 2 Using the Magic Wand too in fireworks I removed the background to the image.

18. Stage 3 Like I suggested earlier I didn’t like the colour of the image so I decided to change the brightness and contrast of the image.

19. Stage 4 Then I added the text to the poster Film ratings Actors names And the film logo/name

20. Development of Final Product Magazine Cover

21. Stage 1 Like the Movie poster this is the original images used on the poster: As you can see it is similar to the image I used on the Mock-ups. I decided that the colour of my image needed some editing as it wouldn’t have worked with the genre and theme of my movie.

22. Stage 2 Using the Magic Wand too in fireworks I removed the background to the image.

23. Stage 3 Like I suggested earlier I didn’t like the colour of the image so I decided to make the image black and white and adjust the contrast. Once again I adjusted the exposure and contrast to the image. I then converted the image to black and white.

24. Stage 4 I added the title to the magazine at the top of the cover which goes by most conventional magazine layouts. Like on all my other products I have added my film logo meaning that people will recognise anything related to the film instantly. Other less important articles in the magazine. Barcode and date the magazine was released. Information about other articles.