Our Trailer's Text Shots

Why Cameo?

During last year when we were creating our AS film opening, we had to think about movie production company logos. We decided to make our own, independent and unique logo this year so we could have more control over our trailer and so that we would also be able to further our creative thinking in terms of production.
We decided to stick with the name Cameo from last year as we received feedback that the name was effective in making our film opening sound and look very professional. In addition, we felt that the name worked well with accompanying the genre film that we were replicating.
Not only because of those reasons did we pick Cameo, it was also because we had a wide variety of ideas that we could develop into something which was more current and technological as opposed to employing an existing logo.

    

Props and Costumes Research

Props and Costumes are aspects of the Mise-en-Scene which can help base characters into a period of time or live up to stereotypes of certain people within different cultures. Clothing is something which audiences unconsciously draw upon to build a profile of a character and help them to decide on who is the protagonist and antagonist. The significance of props mirrors that of costumes, if there is frequent use of a prop it enables audiences to associate certain characters which objects. For instance, in the Zorro films we have learnt to connect Zorro with a mask, sword and horse or in the James Bond films it is a gun.

As our film is heavily influenced by Eden Lake, Sorority Row and Blair Witch Project, we had a good understanding of the different representations which we could play around with in order for the audience to visually label the men as the antagonists of the film.

Here is the screen grab displaying the antagonists in Eden Lake, their image plays up to the hyped, thuggish image that youngsters have been branded with today. Their costumes and the current assumptions of youth go hand in hand with each other and help to emphasize the nature of their recreational activities. Also, partly why this film is reagarded as soo shocking is because of the fact that the crimes are committed by such a young group of people, and their age is reinforced by the way in which they dress.
In addition, the only prop which has been used within this caption is the mobile phone which the girl is holding, besides it supporting the stereotypical image of teenagers, it also is generating the feeling of longing and jealousy among the group's two victims.



In contrast, the image above the costume which is displayed on the criminal is clearly a much more theatrical approach and demonstrates, in terms of realism, that this film is purely for entertainmenmt purposes and has no element of real life circumstances in it, whereas the other film has more of a message behind it. The use of black is very effective and is a common colour for 'baddies' to wear. Black connotes fear which is generally derived from darkness and the meaning behind the victim wearing white, reinforces that sense of innocence and purity. In this film, and in particular this image - binary opposites have been used, not just with the colouring of their costumes, but also in terms of props. One of them has a weapon and the other does not, furthemore, the severity and the 'odd' looking weapon adds to the theatricality of the whole film.

In conclusion, these evaluations of the two films show how props and costumes can add depth to a scene and how they are capable of creating a certain atmosphere. 



Creating the Billing Block

The billing block is an important and necessary element of the film poster and trailer as they give credit to all of the companies, cast and crew involved in the film. Despite there being a certain layout that you have to follow when creating a billing block, it still enables you to have creative freedom to a certain extent. For example, the style of font used can display the genre of the film which it is dedicated to, also in a trailer you can either display it in one shot or across multiple shots, much like the Shutter Island  trailer.

Here are some billing blocks with clearly demonstrate the genre film that they are supporting.

~ St. Trinian's                                                                                            ~ The Town

These two billing blocks are exemplars of the comedy genre and crime and action genre. The bright yellow background on the St. Trinian's billing block is really effective in promoting the cheery and upbeat tone that the film has and also works in depicting the youthful aspect of the movie. In contrast, the billing block for The Town has a dark background which works in highlighting the dark stance and theme running throughout the plot. The darkness of the film is emphasized by the fact that the text has a spotlight on it.

 ~ Queensdown Warren billing block

When we were to create our billing block we looked to the film called Sucker punch  for inspiration seeing as it is considered to have thriller elements, alongside action and fantasy, in addition to the fact we preferred it's layout and it rendered itself to be a good template for us to base our billing block on in order to make ours look professional.

~ Sucker Punch 

~ Queensdown Warren

Advantages of our billing block

• billing block shows continuity of the font that we used for all three of our products
• Easy to change in size if needed
• looks professional as layout is taken from an existing film
• the colouring does not distract from the other elements that will be combined to make the poster

Roles Within the Group

As we all study a number of subjects between us, ranging from English to Business, we all had acquired different skills to bring to the table, as well as the knowledge that we gained from last years film opening project. However, it was decided from the beginning that even though we had different strengths, we would alternate duties like editing, filming, acting and directing throughout the whole process.
Following last year, I had gained a great amount of knowledge on the piece of software called Final Cut Express, so this year I was keen to continue developing my skills and immerse myself in this programme. As well as editing video and sound clips together, I took a role in filming the footage needed to create Queensdown Warren and familiarized myself with Adobe After Effects CS6. 

Another member of the group, Grace, was tasked with the duty of playing the role of the film's antagonist which required a great deal of composure as we filmed in very cold temperatures. In addition, Grace was responsible for the continual development of the film magazine and also edited some of the trailer as well as having captured some footage when she was not needed to be in front of the camera.

Amber's main responsibility in the whole process was to utilize Garage Band and create a piece of soundtrack that would capture what we mutually felt would best accompany our idea of the trailer, this task demanded a lot of patience. Moreover, Amber took a part in being the main girl's friend and when she was not being filmed, picked up the camera.

Lastly, Shannon had a great insight into the programme Photoshop as one of her other subjects for A-Level is Photography, this meant that she took charge on airbrushing the photos for the poster and film magazine. Also, Shannon, like Amber, acted in our trailer as the other friend of the main character and took command of one of the camcorders whilst not being filmed. 

Possible Magazine Cover Photos

Whilst we were out shooting for the magazine cover photo, we tried an array of poses and places so that when it came to the decision process we were not short of choices. Here is a selection of the images which we captured, all with good and bad points.

In this photo there are a number of good points, for instance there is a strong focused expression on each of the girl's faces which depicts their peace of mind and how determined they are in getting themselves out of the situation which they will be immersed into. The girls' proxemics also displays how strong their friendship is. They look like a barrier of resistance which is effective in showing that our film will feature an event that will split them up.

The downfall of this picture however, is that we felt that as there is a lot going on in the background that it could possibly detract from the girls or the text which will be later put on. Furthermore, the shadow on the middle girl's face does not look professional and it is distracting when trying to look at the middle girl's expression.

In terms of location, as a group we preferred this background, we felt like it was a compromise as we knew that we wanted the cover to be placed outside but we noticed that a convention of Total Film was to have a solid or gradient background. This shot shows a block colour however, still outside. In addition, having further analysed magazine covers of the specific film brand we are adopting,  it was confirmed to us that we were not challenging a convention of Total Film as some of their covers feature backgrounds which have relevance to the plot. The significance of this shed is that during the film there would be some action revolved around the middle girl hiding from behind it. Moreover, the scratches on the shed and the girls reinforce the intertwining of youth and the country. 

However, the aspects which we did not like about this photo is that the scratches do not look accidental, also the frame is off balance as there is a gap between the girl on the right and the edge of the shot. 

This is one of the immediately discarded shots, due to the sunlight streaming in from the top of the photograph and the issue that all of the girls are focusing on different things which does not make them look as united as other shots did. Besides the negatives, this photo does work on one level - there is sufficient room for the Total Film title also the girls fit into the frame nicely. 

Once we looked at the shots taken, whilst on set, we knew we preferred the setting and we thought of experimenting with various poses and positioning, this is one of the experimental shots. I think this one is particularly effective as their position (coming closer to the camera) looks very interactive and enticing, however, this picture does not show the middle girl to be the protagonist and two of the girls have their bodies facing to the right of the camera whereas, one of them is towards the camera. Overall, we did not feel that it made them look like a really close-knit group of friends. 

We feel like the positioning of this one is a big improvement on the others as the three of them look really close, in addition, the stance that the two girls at the front took show that they are equal to each other and that they will endure the same experience, unlike the girl placed at the far back. The cons of this image however, is that there is a misplaced blue item of some description on the floor in the bottom left and the image shows too much of the floor, we wanted to use as much of the shot as we could displaying the three characters. It is for those reasons we did not find this one 100% effective.

Lastly, when evaluating this image we felt like it worked in terms of showing that the film is going to be centered around the girl in the middle and that something will happen to her friends. The dirt on the central girl's jump and not on the other two can illustrate that she will become more involved in 'the chase' of the film and therefore reinforces my latter point of the middle girl being central to the plot.We also felt like there was the right amount of spacing left above the girl's heads for the mass market film magazine title, also their facial expressions and body language depicted that of worry and readiness to run.
Overall, we chose this one as it had relevant connotation to our film and we immediately favoured this image admist the rest. The only disadvantage is that the wind swept the girls' hair around which you would not see on an official magazine, unless intended. Also it is a little distracting. However, after discussion we came to the conclusion that between us we have knowledge of how to eradicate all of the little anomalies on Photoshop.

Poster Development

When at the very beginning of the construction stages for our film poster, we decided to make a template upon which we could place our images of the girl and the two men. We decided to go for a grey/black background instead of the solid black as we felt that having a red title would be too harsh upon the very dark backdrop.

This is one of the first images that we placed on top of the template and we felt that as a whole the poster did not look dark enough and due to the brightness you could clearly distinguish the boys and this made them instantly not look as threatening. Furthermore, we did not like how some of the words in the title were getting lost when they were placed over the top of the girl's blue jacket. Despite those negatives we liked that the shot was at a high angle as it gave an intimidating feel to the poster overall.

The difference in this draft is the girl's eye contact to the camera lens, it invites the audience into the story line and her look of desperation is appealing to people's need of having to help individuals who are in unfortunate circumstance. We feel that it is successful in drawing in our target audience.

As shown by this image, we experimented with shooting pictures in different spots of the nature reserve, this was so that we would not be restricted in choosing what shot we most favoured. The change of position for the tagline and the film title was so that it would not block the girl's facial expression. It was when we did this that we realized we could not fit the title in at the top without it touching one of the boy's heads, also that the tagline did not look visible against the girl's clothing. Despite not choosing this draft as the final version, we did keep the alteration to the billing block as we felt it did not stand out so much and also looked more professional.

This fourth option is effective in demonstrating that our trailer is being filmed from the victim's perspective (which is what the people who participated in our thriller survey preferred). This is reinforced by the cameras position as it is tilted downwards slightly so that she is central to the shot. In addition, the effect of the feathered edges did not look as effective as we thought it would originally, this was due to how much room it left around the edges.

Throughout the whole poster making process our original template - with just the tagline, title and billing block, evolved into this image. Our decision to utilize Photoshop to reduce the brightness of the image and apply a spotlight around her was to replicate the feeling of isolation. We feel from the feedback we received, that we were effective in achieving our aim. Also, the softer tone which the tagline and title adopted was so that the focus was not taken off the girl's face. In general, after a lot of talk we came to the thought that we were extremely happy with our final product and had completed this item to the best of our ability.  

Risk Assesment

Evaluating risk assessments is vital when organizing where to go and shoot film or pictures. We need to take into consideration factors such as lighting, equipment and weather/surfaces as hazards could occur if they are not looked into and assessed.

Producing a table like this is very helpful in making everyone who is involved in the filming process aware of any incidents that could occur whilst on set. Additionally, it allowed for us to be equipped with anything that we may need to eliminate the likelihood of accidents.