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.

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

CALLUM HARRISON

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.

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 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.

CALLUM HARRISON

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.

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

CALLUM HARRISON

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.

Originally I had planned to create a movie poster to go along with the Trailer, however, I didn’t manage to create this because of time loss. I also didn’t think it was completely necessary as I was using Photoshop to create the titles for my trailer.

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.