Analysis of Trailers

I will be analysing a variety of trailers based on the genre, Horror, where I will look at the different conventions. This will help me decide what type of music, camera angles and shots to include in our trailer and what will make it effective.


Paranormal Activity



One of the films I decided to analyse was Paranormal Activity,which is an independent horror film written and directed by Oren Peli. It was premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival in the U.S. on October 2007, and was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 2008. It received a limited release in several U.S cities on 9th October 2009 which later lead to a nationwide release on 16th October 2009. It has had major success across the nation, and has been rated one of the scariest films of the year.

The movie is based on a young, middle class couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their suburban home. It is presented in a cinema Verite style – similar to a documentary, where throughout the film the camera is hand held. The opening shot is of the couple’s house, what looks like a modern, normal house. The camera is held at a slight tilt, where you’re seeing what they’re seeing, as if real, however the camera tilt suggests something is wrong.

A medium shot is shown of the woman Katie, sitting down, where the camera seems to be at a low angle looking down on her, making her look vulnerable. The man, Micha’s voice is heard speaking over the trailer in the film. He seems experienced of what he’s doing, as if he has done this before and quite confident because of him mocking his girlfriend. He comes across as though he doesn’t believe her and as if it’s all imaginated. A shot of his reflection in the mirror is shown with him holding the camera, giving the illusion we are only going to see what’s happening through them filming it with a camera. Throughout the film the framed shots are not perfectly captured, instead it is generally shaky due to a tripod not being used.
When he says “My girlfriend thinks something is in the house.” It automatically makes the audience think that something is in their house.

A close-up shot of the blinds holds an important element to the film, when the characters look through them. It’s as if they are looking for/at something. A shadow is reflected on the white blinds, which creates suspense; if it is the man’s shadow or somebody else’s. This is a typical key convention of a horror film.
Quick fade up and down of shots are captured, where Micha is heard saying “Doors locked, alarms on.” and then a long shot of him putting white powder (for footprints) on the wooden floor, where camera slowly zooms out. This indicates they are trying to capture a trespasser in their home. Shadowing in this part is a key convention of a horror film, creating a tense feeling.

There is then a cut where the mise-en-scene of the couple’s bedroom, where the video recorder is placed on some sort of chest of drawers in front of the bed from a long point of view, with the bedroom door left open. The time on the bottom right hand corner, suggests realism where the camera will be recording all the going’s on in the bedroom to the upstairs landing. The video shot is set in a black and white theme/night mode suggesting it is now night time, setting a gloomy mood. Some sort of light is seen glaring on the wooden wall post of the bed which could be the street lights shining in on the room or the light from the video camera.
Quite a few fades up and down take place throughout the scene, instead of various cuts. It begins to get faster, while the sound becomes louder, which creates a lot of drama throughout the trailer. Before the couple both wake up in bed, a sound similar to someone breathing lightly is heard, as if it is passing the camera, indicating this is what awakes them, where Katie is heard asking “Did you hear that?”.

A straight cut to the light being turned on takes place, where the camera is hand held focusing on the floor from low angle showing the white footprints, panning across them. Katie’s voice sounds shocked and scared when she says “oh my god”. A long shot of her crouched down on the bed with her expressing her feelings of the situation - her hand over her mouth and shocked. Micha is filming by this point.
A cut to the title card with it presenting large font “One of the scariest movies of all time – Bloody Disgusting.” This is very effective and stands out to the audience, due to the white text contrasting with the black background. Sforzando sound is used in this part too, with the sound of shattering glass. Voice over of a man saying “you cannot run from this! It will follow you.” The way which the screen jumps to different cuts, is as if its electricity, where it becomes faster, while the editing and music is quicker and louder. The characters voices soon begin to sound hysterical, where Katie is heard saying “What’s happening to me?” (she thinks she’s going mad).

A quick flash of a close-up of someone grim appears towards the end of the trailer, indicating to the audience that some sort of monster is torturing the couple, causing their marriage and life to start to break apart because of the stress they are being put under.

In the trailer the fast editing and cuts and loud sounds such as drum beats and other rhythms building up throughout, create suspense and a frightening image. Just when you think that all of the scary moments are over, the man is thrown towards the camera, which sets a realism theme, as it’s as though he is being thrown towards you.































The Grudge (2004)

Plot: Karen Davis is an American Nurse moves to Tokyo and encounter a supernatural spirit who is vengeful and often possesses its victims. A series of horrifying and mysterious deaths start to occur, with the spirit passing its curse onto each victim. Karen must now find away to break this spell, before she becomes its next victim.

Release Date: 5th November 2004 (UK)


Genre: Horror Mystery Thriller



• Starts off with quiet slow non -diegetic music which builds up to a faster more upbeat sound where eventually diegetic sounds are heard, such as screams and voices. This creates suspense and drama. It then goes back to slow beats where whispers and wind type sounds can be heard.


• Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar then begins to speak, giving the audience a brief insight what is going on, where the trailer then leads into more tense music, getting faster


• At the beginning of the trailer writing is displayed, and shown throughout showing quick cuts.


• Camera shot at a low angle looking up at the character in the house is shown where it, pans up towards her. She looks worried and curious.


• Medium close-up and close up shots displayed


















I Still Know What You Did Last Summer







I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, is a continue on horror film of I Know What You Did Last Summer. It involves a young student, whose friend wins a trip to go to the Bahamas, with three people. Thinking it will be a relaxing break and lots of fun; she is instead tormented by the same unknown stalker, who knows her secret concerning her and her old school friends, where they committed a hit ‘n’run.

In the opening scene it shows a brief clip of some sort of tiger logo, (gathering this is some sort of sponsor), where non-diegetic music is being played, which is a quit upbeat, happy tempo. There is then medium close-up shots of the two young friends, where they diegetic sounds include them yelling and screaming with excitement; showing that they are over joyed at some news. The mise-en-scene is set in what looks like they’re apartment, in a brightly lit room – sunlight suggesting happiness.

A close-up shot of the girl’s hand (due to the feminine connotations of rings she’s wearing) stroking a photo of a young girl is shown, indicating they were someone special to them. The over voice of a man saying “after what happened last summer’ is a reference to her no longer being around.

The next shot is the mise-en-scene of the sea and beach, stating that they are now in the Bahamas. Again the mood seems cheerful due to the hot weather. What looks as though a low angle camera shot of the friends at the holiday resort, looking down on them makes them look vulnerable and as if they are being watched. The scenes of them on the night time are then shot, where medium shots appear, cutting to various angles of them sitting down. The girl is seen from a long medium shot up singing along to karaoke and where diegetic music of the song is heard. Everybody seems to be in good spirits where the mise-en-scene is in the bar; until she says “wait I forgot the words”, turning around to look at the screen. Straight away this is an indication that something is about to happen. A non-diegetic sound is added which sounds like a typical sound convention of a thriller, where a close up is shot of the tv screen saying “I still know..” cutting back to the girl through a close up shot, showing her reaction, where she looks shocked. The clip zooms even closer on the tv, where it then cuts back to her turning around as if she’s looking for the culprit who did it or if shes just imagining it.

There is then a cut to a new scene where a shot of the sky with striking lightning is seen, creating suspense and drama. The camera pans from behind the girl, as if someone is standing behind her, watching over her whilst she is opening a letter written to her. The next scene is where there is a straight cut of her opening a wardrobe, with a medium shot of her face, at a low angle; again suggesting vulnerability. A body then drops down, with a supreme close up of her reaction – screaming and the camera then zooming outwards. There is then a cut to her running out to tell her friends “its happening again”. This is where the faster cuts, editing and music begins and the girl becomes hysterical. Sforzando sound can be heard. The way which the screen jumps to different cuts, is as if its electricity or in this case the lightening striking the camera, making the cuts look extremely effective and dramatic. Further cuts to scene to scene take place; where in one of them the camera is at a very low angle, as if located on the ground looking up at a pair of feet opening a door. This is typical key convention of a horror film, where they tend to not reveal the killer’s identity until the end of the film; which capture’s the audience’s attention; where they will be full of curiosity. Another is where he holds some sort of weapon, indicating this is the killer; where he is dressed all in black with his hood up covering his face. The colour black represents anger or sadness, or in this case death.

There is a scene shot from her behind, where she tilts her head upside down to dry it with a towel, at a medium shot. A reflective light can be seen in the background, whether it is the light from outside or not it gives the illusion that somebody is there, and through the mirror we are only going to see what she’s going to see. A dark shadow can be seen, which could resemble the killer in the background. Again, the electricity type cut happens which fits in with the diegetic sound of the thunder, while the killer walks past, where the character is unknown of their presence. When she demands “I want off this island” and the receptionist replies “that’s not possible”, it makes the audience tense, as they are probably aware of partly some of the synopsis now. A cut to the killer dressed in their black cloak at a medium shot of him swiping his hook across the screen, towards the camera which is located at a low angle looking up, appears to be the dominant character, (shows who is in control) and presented in a realistic way (as if you are there personally) This then leads to a quick cut of a close up of the girl turning her face around at the same speed as the hook, creating an effective shot.

30 Days of Night











30 Days of Night is a Horror/Thriller which was released on 1st November 2007 (UK), which I a story of an isolated Alaskan town that is plunged into darkness for a month each year when the sun sinks below the horizon. As the last rays of light fade, the town is attacked by a bloodthirsty gang of vampires bent on an uninterrupted orgy of destruction. Only the small town's husband-and-wife Sheriff team stand between the survivors and certain destruction.

Trailer’s tend to start off with an equilibrium which are balanced, and everything seems normal however this isn’t the case in 30 Days of Night trailer; instead it goes straight into the dramatic scenes. It opens with a fade, zooming in on the woman character. You get the feeling that someone is watching her from the side. There is an establishing shot of the kitchen, where pans and food can be seen which shows realism. Everything is quiet and slow, where it creates suspense, as though something is about to happen. There is both natural lighting from outside, that is dark, dull and misty setting a miserable mood, while also interior lighting which is quite bright which could suggest warmth. The woman character looks as though she is thinking about something; with her head faced in a downwards position and her arms placed in the sink. She is wearing light blue which could be a connotation of being a victim. It then cuts to the next scene, where her partner is sitting in the living room, with his chin placed on his hands, giving the impression something is wrong or he his fed up. Similar lighting is used, where the mise-en-scene comes across family orientated due to typical conventions shown such as photos. The male character is wearing darker colours; suggesting he isn’t the victim, here. There is then a quick cut to something smashing through the window and then fast pan showing a medium close-up shot of the man’s reaction.

A close-up of the woman being dragged out of the window is shown, where she is dragged underneath some sort of hut. The lighting is much darker, where it is snowing, creating suspense. Diegetic sound can be heard of the woman screaming, showing her terrified she is. You then receive her point of view of her partner trying to help her and her being dragged underneath the hut, away from him. This then leads to quick fade/blackout.

The film’s production company’s logo, Columbia Pictures is shown, where the trailer begins to give a brief insight of the film, presenting white text on screen. Non-diegetic sound can be heard, which is quite subdued and sounds similar to the sound of wind. It shows various shots; slowly fading in and out of scenes; sometimes showing the establishing shots at a wide angle. In the next scene it shows people outside, with torches, reference to them searching for someone, significant to horror films. A wide range of shots and angles of the man are shown, suggesting he is the central character in this part of the scene. Noises can then start to be heard, where suddenly a flash occurs, where he is attacked. It shows a close-up shot of the culprit who’s to blame for the killing, giving off a chilling feeling.

Cut to different scenes take place, where they gradually start to speed up, where everything starts to go wrong. We know this when there is a power cut, and then there is a blackout. The text/credits then turn red suggesting danger/evil, while the music becomes faster and a lot more upbeat. The camera movement is shaky as if it’s being hand held . a high angle shot (from a rooftop) of a woman walking through the snow in the street, indicates she is less dominant over the situation that is about to happen and that she has no control over it and is being watched. Again fast paced cuts are shot, flashes, fades up and down and extreme close-ups of the characters to show their reaction, creating emphasis, aswell as the ‘vampires’. This is where it begins to kick in the plot of the storyline, where everything is not balanced anymore; instead everything goes wrong and dramatic. Sforzando sound you can hear, similar to the sound of lighting and shattering glass. Finally in the last part of the trailer there is a close – up shot of a women who looks distressed and terrified, where some sort of figure is seen biting into her neck leading to the sound of her scream, typical convention of the genre horror.




The Uninvited






The Uninvited, straight away shows typical conventions of trailers, one being introducing the film production/company and another the voiceover of the girl actor speaking and non-diegetic music being played. An extreme close-up of shot of the back of her head is seen which could suggest she is being watched. When she says “I can’t remember what happened that night” this is an indication something has happened in her past, leading straight into a cut of a candle dropping towards the floor and a close-up reaction shot of a girl turning around, who looks shocked. There is an orange type light that can be seen reflecting off a younger version of her, a symbol of warmth, where the audience soon finds out that that night she was talking about involved a fire. There is a high angle shot of the house on fire showing that it has no control.over the situation. There is then a blackout leading into an open fade of a close-up shot of her face where you can hear a man saying “you lost your mother in the fire”. Low angle shot of feet running through a corridor, an indication of that person trying to escape something bad, where there is then a high angle shoot looking down on the character, suggesting they are not dominant; instead in a vulnerable position. This can also be seen in the next clip where there is a much higher angle shot of a car driving on a road, as if they are being followed. Throughout the trailer there man fades up and down and dissolves of cuts to cuts – a typical convention found in trailers.

Further on in the trailer there is a scene where the camera zooms in on a door panning towards it, giving the character’s point of view walking towards it, giving the audience her point of perspective. Dark lighting is used, however there are blinds at the side covering the windows, where light from outside can be seen reflecting inside. The dark shadowing on the walls create suspense and a sign of anger or jealously, which fits in well with how the young girl is feeling about her dad and his new partner. An extreme close up shot of her eye is shown, where the lighting is shining on it.

In another scene the girl’s father’s partner is heard saying “Im really hoping we can make this work”, however it sends out some sort of signal that what she is saying here couldn’t be further from the truth and that she is up to no good; especially due to the shot of her looking up, at a close up shot and making eye contact with the daughter; coming across mysterious. There are plenty of different types of shots and angles, mainly to add drama and showing the characters reactions. From when the girl wakes up after having a nightmare, the camera zooms out extremely fast where the music starts to change, beginning to become faster and sound a lot more dramatic. It then includes other trailer connotations where they show the credits of the film (from the producers of The Ring and Disturbia) in bold text to stand out to the public and inform them. They are trying to reach out to the correct target audience, for instance there may be a young audience between the age 16-25 who enjoyed those films, therefore this film would be suitable for them to watch. This is a major element that tends to be found in trailer's where they try to address the right audience type.


Again many fades appear in the next part of the trailer, cutting from one scene to another, where each clip begins to get faster fitting in with the pace of the soundtrack. It shows a black and white theme, of a young girl which suggests the trailer is looking back in the past/older days. There is a high angle camera shot looking over the main character kneeling on the ground at a graveside, creating tension. The girl can be heard saying “look at this” where there is quick cuts of shots of newspaper cutting’s displaying the word ‘murder’ in large font, an indication that the characters are searching for information about the young children they think have been killed by their father’s partner. The trailer includes familiar connotations throughout, where by the end of the trailer voiceover’s can be heard, along with dramatic non-diegetic sound (lightning sound effects), quick clips. There is a low shot of the girl looking towards the camera, where the audience receives the floor’s point of view of her, where she is about to look underneath the bed. There is then a black out leading into a close-up shot of an arm coming from underneath bed again leading into another blackout, eventually showing the character’s reaction. At the end of the trailer a glass of milk can be seen where it is dropped and smashes on to the floor turning into a red colour which is thought to be a representation of blood, not giving the plotline away, ending on a cliff hanger ,where the audience are left wondering if the young character has been killed.

Music Agreement

After deciding to use The Kills soundtrack 'Sour Cherry' for our film trailer. Because it's copyright we thought it would be a sensible idea to email the band or their management, to ask for permission or inform them of us using their music. This is the letter Rachel sent to 'The Kills'. Unfortunatly we didn't get a reply but decided going ahead with using the track.

"Hi I am Rachel Talbot from Heworth Grange Comprehensive School 6th Form in Gateshead. I am working in a group on a media project, making a trailer for a horror film, and we have become very interested in using your song, 'Sour cherry'. Is it possible that we would be able to use this in our trailer? The only people who will see it is the examination board and my group. I can always send the finish project to you also."

Please email back when you can

Thanks"

Music Choice

From the set of song samples we posted on a poll on Niomi Bolam's blog http://niomibolam.blogspot.com, Sour Cherry by the kills won, with a total 60% of votes.




Shout when you wanna get off the ride
Shout when you wanna get off the ride
Shout when you wanna get off the ride
'Cause you crossed my mind, you crossed my mind
Made my blood thump 7-8-9
Make my heart beat double time
Now I'm only sour cherry on the fruit stand, right
Am I the only sour cherry on the fruit stand

Shout when you wanna get off the ride
Shout when you wanna get off the ride
'Cause you crossed my mind, it crossed my mind
I'm a penny in a diamond mine
We could be movers,
We could be shakers
If we could just shake somin' outta the blue
and get off the ride

I'm the only sour cherry on the fruit stand, right
Am I the only sour cherry on the fruit stand?
If I'm the only sour cherry on the fruit stand, right
Am I the only sour cherry on your fruit stand?

G-g-g-go home, go home it's over
G-g-g-go home it's over
G-g-g-go home, go home it's over over
Go go home it’s over
G-g-g-go home, go home it's over
Go go home it's over
G-g-g-go home, go home it's over over
Go go home it’s over

The lyrics will fit well with the theme of the trailer, as it is about not fitting in and Angelica doesnt fit in with Katie and Grace.

Planning

We came up with numerous storylines, where we mind mapped our ideas onto a brainstorm.

A2 Media Brief

For my project this year I will be producing a cross media production, where I will be promoting a package for a new film, which will include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following:
a film magazine front cover and a poster for the film, inspired by a well established film magazine.
I will be working with Rachel Talbot and Niomi Bolam. The genre of the film we have chosen to base our film on is Horror. We will each produce our own film magazine front cover and a poster for the film using Adobe Photoshop, however we will be creating the teaser trailer together. We will be shooting the footage and taking photographs using a digital and still camera; along with it's tripod to maintain high quality and to prevent blurring.

Roles

We will each have our own responsible role. My role will be to take photographs and to choose the locations, while also partake in some of the filming, whilst Niomi will be responsible for the planning/storyboards and filming and partake in cutting some of the music. Rachel will take the role for the editing and the music. We all will be helping each other throughout as we are working as a team; where we can express our opinions about the product, what could be improved on. For us to be given a certain part to concentrate on it will benefit us in many ways, where it will help us gain new skills and confidence of each technique.

Synopsis

Our trailer will be about three girls; one who is quite strange and unpopular and also new to the school while the other two girls will be quite popular and two best friends, who enjoy making fun out of people. Each girl will show a different type of character. There will be the main girl (Katie) who is the leader of the group where she is seen confident, bossy and laid back, while the other (Grace)will be the one who looks up to her and follows on her say so, do what she says and wary at the things she sometimes does, resulting in her panicking compared to her friend. It will start off with them inviting Angellica (new girl) to they're sleepover/party through msn. When she does attend they put something in her drink, and she ends up falling and hitting her head in the living room, which leaves her unconcious. The girls both panic at first, thinking she is dead. However, Katie is a lot more calmer and comes up with a plan of burying the body at a nearby forest. Grace, obviously is not sure on the idea and has her doubts, byt in they end they both swear to secrecy about the incident and to go on to live they're normal day to day lives. But this is the complete opposite to what happens. The trailer will show various scenes in a relatively fast moving sequence, where unexpectant, frightening things will happen to each girl, for instance being chased through a forest by the unknown. It will show the typical conventions such as the film's production company, the age certificate and the star credits, as well as different camera shots and reaction shots.

Casting

Sarah Maddison - Katie
Amy Etherington - Grace
Jodi Zoric - Angellica



We will be going outdoors, to various locations to film for our trailer and take photos for our magazine cover and poster, then editing the scenes on the software Final Cut, inside of school. The scenes will consist of different angles, shots and mise-en-scene.

Possible Locations

Beach
Forest
Graveyard
School
House

We will produce planning for our project where we will be analysing other horror film teaser trailers and their magazines. Any notes or rough sketches and storyboards will be scanned and placed on to our blogs where we will be showing the audience of how we want our trailer to be, what we will include and what it will look like. We will possibly record ourselves onto a podcast when discussing our plans of our project and then place this onto our blog. This will link to the multimedia skills and allow you to listen to our ideas and opinions.



Over the past few weeks in a group we have discussed our plans for our project, looking at the possible outcomes and thinking in depth of the most suitable location and the different shots, cuts and angles. Firstly, we started off by drawing a brainstorm and mapping our ideas down and then choosing the best and most interesting one. However, we had to be careful which one we chose as we didn't want our teaser trailer to be too difficult and complicated to film, but at the same time we wanted to make it look as realistic as possible, which would look exciting and capture the audience's attention. One key element was to film the scenes in plenty of different locations.

Questionnaire 2

Once we found out what genre of film we were doing (Horror) we handed out a Questionnaire, stating relevant questions to 30 people finding out what we should and shouldn't include in our film trailer.



























How often do you watch horror films?
1. Everyday
2. Once a week
3. Once a month
4. Occasionally
5. Never

2 people picked everyday
8 people picked once a week
12 people picked once a month
7 people picked occasionally
1 person picked never

What do you think are the main conventions of a horror film?
1. Monsters
2. Blood
3. Death
4. Suspense
5. Ghosts

1 people picked monsters
7 people picked bloods
11 people picked death
7 people picked suspense
4 people picked ghosts

What do you think makes a good location for a horror film?
1. Beach
2. Forest
3. Graveyard
4. School
5. House

2 people picked beach
11 people picked forest
6 people picked graveyard
2 people picked school
9 people picked house

Who do you prefer to be a victim in a horror film?
1. Male
2. Female

12 people picked school
18 people picked house

What name sounds suitable for a horror film?
1. Sweetdreams
2. Midnight
3. Nightmare
4. Party House

12 people picked sweetdreams
5 people picked midnight
7 people picked nightmare
6 people picked party house

Should the trailer be in chronological order?
1. Yes
2. No

9 people picked yes
21 people picked no

What time period do you like a horror film to be in?
1. Olden days
2. Future
3. Present

6 people picked olden days
5 people picked future
19 people picked present

What makes you scared? (Pick 3)
1. Gore
2. Storms
3. Chase sequences
4. Screams
5. Ghosts
6. Blood
7. Weapons

Gore 19 points
Storms 3 points
Chase sequences 25 points
Screams 23 points
Ghosts 10 poins
Blood 5 poins
Weapons 5 points

Who do you like to see the most of?
1. The Hero
2. The Villain
3. The Helper
4. The Victim

9 people picked the hero
12 people picked the villan
1 people picked the helper
8 people picked the victim

What camera angles do you think are most effective in a horror film? (Pick 2)
1. Close up
2. Extreme close up
3. long shot
4. tilt
5. medium shot

close up 24 points
extreme close up 9 points
long shot 12 points
tilt 5 points
medium shot 10 points

What sound effects help to add tension to the film? (Pick 2)
1. Explosions
2. Wind
3. creaking
4. Bangs
5. Screams
6. whispering

Explosions 5 points
wind 9 points
creaking 12 points
bangs 12 points
screams 12 points
whispering 10 points

What is your favourite horror film?
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We got a range of answers but 'the grudge' 'the ring' and 'hostel' seemed the mostpopular horror films.

Doing this helped give us more of an insight and a better idea of what the public prefer to see in Horror trailers. We would receive the public's feedback and reactions, where it would enable us to produce a trailer based on the answers given and help us acheive these results.

Questionnaire 1

Firstly, we wanted to find out what genre of film to base our trailer on. We did this by handing out a Question to 30 people to find out their opinions and what we should produce.

What is your favourite genre of film?

1. Horror
2. Comedy
3. Thriller
4. Romance
5. Adventure

12 people picked horror
5 people picked comedy
2 people picked thriller
9 people picked romance
2 people picked adventure

'Get Carter' Film

In class we watched a brief clip of the film 'Get Carter'. We were given a script, along with a digital camera and tripod; where we had to go out in the school grounds to film a real concept of our own version of the scene. This was just a case of training ourselves on how to use the camera and becoming familiar with it.

I worked with Rachel Talbot, Niomi Bolam, Sophie Liddle, Steph Ingram and Nicole Kelly, where we each took it in turns recording. Niomi played Jack, while Rachel played Albert. When watching the clip, we noted down the different camera positioning, angles and shots and the character's actions. This way we could produce similar scenes and present it realistically.
To maintain high quality footage with well balanced framing, we made sure that the small air bubble on the tripod was in the centre of the circle. If it was outside the circle, this would indicate it was inaccurate, which would result in a bad quality and positioned scene.


Below shows the script where we annotated the different conventions.

Review of 'Your Film'

Two film makers and ex students of Heworth Grange visited, where they gave a lecture on video production. They went through the pre - producution, production and post - production stages, as well as the various conventions where they showed the class what was expected. They went into specific detail sometimes, which helped a great deal as you receive a clearer idea of what is needed in your project and how to gain the highest possible results.

Pre - Production
Ideas, concepts, script, storyboards, planning, permissions, budget, casting, crew -up, pre interviews, research, define roles and responsibilities, location, scouting.

"Plan well, set realistic goals, map out a schedule, allow for set-back, be bold, aim high!"

Each person in our group will again, have our own responsible role, concentrating on what needs to be done and meeting deadlines. However, we will be working as part of team where we will be providing each other with benficial information and helping each other out, when necessary.

Production
Filming, sound recording.

"The beef, keep the faith, stick to your plan, believe in the idea, get what you need!"

It is important that we know what music we will be using for our trailer soundtrack as it will help us film the appropiate scenes with the relevant location, to reflect the mood of the music. For instance, if something unexpectant was going to happen, where it will keep the audience waiting and it was going to take place in a dark location, we would use a low pitch, slow sound where it would begin to get faster and eventually leading up to a frightening high pitch noise. (This would represent the mood of the person and the atomosphere.)

Post - Production
Video capture, logging, video editing, sound design, music, graphic design, effects, animation, titles, voiceover, sound effects, foley.

"It all comes together. Stick to your plan but allow for creative licence."

Reflective Summary of Year 12

In Year 12 I produced a music magazine. It included:
- a front cover
- a contents page
- and a 2 page article spread
aimed at a young female audience between 16-25.

From this, I have learnt new skills and grown more confident working with the school's equipment and they're software such as Photoshop.

Before I created my music magazine, I didn't realise how much planning that would have to be involved. I know now that it is essential to do this, as it helps a great deal. Handing out Questionnaire's to the public, taking various photographs in different locations at different angles and shots, design ideas and analysing other established magazines is very important and I found doing this benefited me a lot.

Handing out Questionnaire's helped me to receive feedback and opinions relevant to my project. This was important as I wanted to know what people like to see on a music magazine (colours, images, stories) and what captures their attention and persuades them to purchase it.

The skills I gained were printing, photography and written theory. Also editing and cropping of images in Photoshop as well as creating style fonts. The manipulating and cropping of images, where I could make them smaller or enlarge them. Using different font styles; editing the size and colour, while also making it look realistic and at a high standard. I used a lot of colour throughout my product and began to change the tone, creating various effects. I used a digital camera to take photographs, in different sized shots and angles, while also using a tripod to maintain good focus. I found that having the camera in focus is when you receive a high quality image, making it look very professional. Cutting the images out, making sure that they were tidy and at a high standard was very important. This year, I want to develop these skills, along with learning how to video and edit the footage I have recorded.


My music magazine was aimed at a young female audience between 16-25, based on the genre pop and therefore I had to use a relative colour scheme which was quite feminine. I analysed various music magazines; their front cover and contents page and often an article page, looking at the typical conventions and connotations that were present, e.g. the barcode, date and the magazine's website. The majority of them all followed the typical convention of traditional types of artists on the front cover, who were mainly young, attractive women with slim/slender figures, with their lips slightly parted, showing a glimpse of their white teeth; while their hair was blown back. According to theorist Marjorie Ferguson (1980) this is known as the Chocolate Box. Other poses would include Invitational where there would be emphasis on the eyes with them having a mystery mood or the Super-Smiler where they would have a full face, wide open toothy smile with a ‘look at me’ mood or aggressive, demanding hard sell approach, at various shots such as medium close up or close up from a low angle etc.

From looking at various genre of magazines it taught me the important ways of targeting magazines; what looks eye catching and stands out, what makes a good colour scheme, the layout of the magazine and how it should be positioned. I didn't want a magazine to be too condensed together where the text is not very clear to read while at the same time you want a magazine that has enough text positioned in columns with the same width and height that has a simple layout and is clear to read, with high quality images. Careful research enabled me to target my product more accurately.



If I were to do this project again, I would improve on my time. Last year I felt as though I didn't give myself enough time on certain parts of the project, one of which was the location of my photographs. These were only took in a house or inside of school, when instead they could have been taken at well established landmarks on Tyneside, with a higher decorative background such as the Quayside. This would have made the magazine look a lot more professional and eye catching. Also, the quality wasn't the best and I feel as though I could have captured the photographs at a much higher standard without becoming blurred.