Problems I have encountered

This post is to show what problems I have faced while filming, Editing, designing and prodousing. I will Analise what the problems are and how I have overcome them throughout my experience of research, planning and my actual products.


Editing:

Throughout my editing I have used the new Imovie, I am struggling to get my product to a professional standard. There are some flaws within the software; it isn't compatible with the other camcorders we had anishally started using thus causing delay with waiting for new camcorders to arrive. Another problem I encountered was when trying to make a fast jumpy intro you cannot get close enough to the Milli-second to cut of the clip on the timeline which created problems with jumping from one scene to another quickly creating the quick dramatic change of scene I wanted- also you can only cut to a minium of 3 seconds which also created problems when wanting to produce a fast jumpy clip.


Filming

Some scenes I have filmed which i cant use a tripod to do (high shots etc), have some shaky areas where I cannot keep my hand still thus making an armature type shot... but some of the shaky scenes look good and work well, others do not.

My friends not turning up or not wanting to do some scenes (embarrassing, cannot make it, busy or laziness?) creating some problems with my time management causing me to use DIFFERENT people; confusing for the audience watching? I will have to try and fit all the characters into one scene to show the audience that these are the people using throughout the trailer?

When trying to make scary scenes look realistic as possible it is very hard, as we only have one camera to film on so couldn't do camera tricks; so a lot of the "stunts" (filming in shower and blood pours over one of the girls, plates smashing on the floor) we only could film it ONCE so it had to be correct! as there wasn't enough fake blood to do several scenes, and not many plates to smash (brought 5 for £10!!!!!!) 

Storyline:

alterations to the storyline and story board, some new scenes added some not used; trail and error! Some scenes just didn't work I will include these unused clips in my evaluation.

Software:

Not having Microsoft word, publisher, Photoshop, Imovie at home on my own laptop has been difficult not being able to do work at home, but time managing my frees at school and after school has helped me produce an overall successful blog so far.

Lighting

Lighting has been a problem in many different cases, such as when filming from certain angles (mainly low and high angles, shadows change direction in the background, or can see the camera/camera mans shadows, this problem has accrued in several scenes and makes my filming look very armature. To overcome this I was just careful where I had my subject lighting (main lights, lamps, camcorder light) to make sure shadows cannot be seen or moving while moving the camcorder.

My opinion:

Working on my own has proven difficult with managing my other subjects as well as Media. But has proven that I am good at time managing myself.

Photos before and after: for poster and mag

This post is to organise all my images, that I have used throughout my planning stage for my mock ups, drafts and final photos for my two ancillary tasks! I have used photoshop to edit all of the photos, and have print screens for proof.

Here I have made the photo like a cartoon, It makes detail in her hair and clothes stand out and the surrounding area, much brighter and more detailed. I do like this photo as its mysterious; putting flowers on a grave. But I do not think it links to my "ghost" theme for my trailer, or connotes horror as much as the other images I have taken.

  

In this photo I have experimented on photoshop to make an abstracted photo, by blurring the background thus disorientating the grave It has made the photo look different and confussing as you cannot make out what the background is, I don't think It worked well as it looks very ameture (just looks like I have taken the photo on a low shutter speed and shake the camera to get the effect) and too confusing for the audience. I don't think the experiment works well. 

Here I have edited the photo to different colours, a blue colour and a black and white (mixed blue colour) I like the idea with the colour variations but not the actual image; Its to ameture and the background images take the focus of the focal image; the girl. Also I feel that the image is to dark and the girl is too far away

from the camera; attention isn't on the girl.

I really like this image; It was used for my mock up of my poster, but I feel that my other poster idea with the eye is better. But I would like to incorporate this image into my magazine? I copied and pasted "paris's" face so many times to make a collage collected up of just her face. Also edited it on photo shop to bring out the brightest colours; Yellow and reds etc...To make it look like fire.

Planning Ancillary Task two

This is my planning stage for my Magazine front cover, it will help me decide on my final design. I am going to design a few draft copies that will relate to my film trailer and also film poster, so there is a clear obvious link between all three tasks. This planning stage will help me decide on my photography photos, cover lines and layout. I will already have a clear idea of what costumes i would like and props as my ideas will come from the other two tasks. I will be using some of my ideas from my research of codes and conventions of a horror magazine and try to impact those codes and conventions into my magazine.

Codes and conventions:

• Photos that relate to the genre of the magazine- help the audience get interested in the magazine; help the audience easily recognize what genre the magazine is
• A main image- this should focus on the magazine cover features, feature image and a feature article inside the magazine.This is the first image the audience will see so it must be a hot topic that the audience will be interested in. Relate to the genre with the clothes, coverlines, facial expressions. normally have a quote or catch phrase next to the image.
• Headlines/cover lines- so the audience can understand the photo and coverlines so they would want to read the magazine.
• Magazine Title- should be very remember able title to remind the customer when they see the magazine again, to stand out and to stay in there mind.
• columns- to keep the magazine in order, mainly on the contents page.
• subheadings-features on the cover, regulars so they can find it in every issue. mainly for the contents page.
• Website promotion-Get the audience involved, prompt the magazine on facebook, twitter so the audience can give feedback, competitions, play games. Update all the time by these websites while magazines are only published once a week; to advertise whats in this weeks edition
• Bar code- typically used by retailers and issue numbers so the audience can keep track on the latest magazine.
• Colour Code- to keep the audience not getting confussed so the magazine must continue its layout ideas and colour code throughout the magazine and issues. It makes the magazine not look childish.

I have made two mini mock ups to give me a basic idea of my front cover for my magazine, where I ruffly want my cover lines, photos etc

For my magazine my masthead must be eye catching and interesting, obviously linking to films (not necessarily horror). I want to confuse my audience with my masthead, using titles such as "topic film" when it should be "film topics" but it still works and is interesting like "preview film" - "film previews"

Name of Magazine

                                                                        Topic Film

Preview Film

Sight & sound

Feature film

New Film

Review Film

Price:

5.99

3.99

7.99

Costume ideas

Cast- Casual

Killer- white dress- CHOSEN, as used it during my filming and poster

Props:

Axe- one person from the cast holding this, so it adds mystery to the photo; instead of being plain and boring 

Make up- blood? bruises? 

A plain background- chosen, I feel this is a good idea as it again adds mystery to the photo of the cast and magazine, no space filler is needed!

Cover lines:

"BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE CAST"- interesting and fun! people love to find out what happens behind the scenes, including interviews pictures, also an in site to the film! 

Other things to include:

Competitions, website for magazine, gifts, prices, Follow us on twitter, Facebook etc!: all to get the audience involved, and online. 

Market Research:

Font Ideas/ Masthead Layout

I really like this writing layout, It is a bold red which relates to horror/evil/blood and stands out a lot. It can be easily read and is very much "in your face" with the white background. This is the idea I would like to try out for my magazine as it takes up a lot of space and going across the WHOLE page of the magazine which makes it stand out a lot.

I really dislike this idea for my magazine, the writing is very pop arty and cartoonish I think for my magazine. It is quite boring and childish it doesn't really "screem" horror with its dull green font and yellow outline (i do like the yellow outline idea as it does make the writing stand out) but yet again it relates back to the cartoon look.

I like and dislike this masthead for different reasons, I like the colour red with the outline of black around each letter. Also like the font as it is interesting and different; you can tell from the font that it is for an older market rather than a younger market as the font isn't very big and the lettering isn't cartoonish. I dislike the box around the masthead; a bit pointless and not needed.

I like this idea as it is similar to gorezone with the masthead going across the whole page and a word "horror" next to the main masthead, it is a good idea as it makes the audience read "SHOCK" first and want to look in closer detail at the magazine- the writing also links to the word "shock" with each letter being long!

I really like the bold yellow again the black background, but I dislike the idea of "stories" underneath the word horror, It wouldn't stand out much on a magazine because the words are underneath each other. I feel a better idea for my own magazine would be the masthead going across the whole magazine to stand out better. It also doesn't have scary writing or font!

After looking into masthead ideas for my magazine front cover, I think I will use a combination of "gorezone" and "shock horror" ideas! With the long big bold writing and maybe a smaller word next to the main masthead like shock horror has used; and will use the font red like gorezone has.

MOCK UPS

Mock up

I really like this mock up, I like the colour codes and a ruff idea of what cover lines I could use. I have not yet decided on my main image or other images. I have also not decided how I will include my film into the magazine, I will use an image from my film as well as cover lines to attract to my film. I feel a small coverline isn't enough (like I have produced in my mock up above)

Possible Photos

This is on idea I have came up with, I like this idea, but some changes need to be made: blood much thicker and more red. Also want a white background with the blood pouring down from the top of my magazine to make it more obvious its "raining blood".

Here is another mock up idea, not the best photo being used as this is print screened from my trailer. developing from the previous mock up, I disliked the photo, but liked the idea of it raining blood, so I put blood at the top of the magazine.

Mock up two- explanding on previous mock up

• I have made the writting bigger
• Moved the "plus"box down to the bottom of the page making it into a bar going across the magazine
• added a photo off google from "behind the scenes" in a random film, then adding in my own coverline saying "necromancy exclusive behind the scenes inside!" adding more interest within my film
• removed the facebook and twitter logo as not 100% where to put it at this moment in time

How it links to my film:

• photo is from my trailer, has the same dusty look from my filming; may have to retake a photo!
• coverline saying about my film
• coverline saying "behind the scenes exclusive inside about my film" with a photo linking to this

What I need to do

• make a colour code, my audience feedback suggests red and blue doesnt really work- some say it does.
• take a new main image to see which photo works better
• make the blood at the top of the page brighter red
• make it more obvious that the main image is to do with my film!!! 

From my audience feedback I found that the blood seemed to be too dark, so on photoshop I have created different blood colours by using "colour variations" increasing and decreasing the colour tones and reds:

Colour codes: (for the writing)

 I really like these colours I think they do work well together; but i dont think the yellow stands out as much as the other colours i have experimented with; as the yellow is a bright colour it doesnt stand out against the white background.

I really like the colour code blue and red as these colours go really well together and stand out well against a white background- My orginal colour code and red and blue(light) so seeing the difference between the light and dark blue writing really has helped me decide and develop this idea further.

After some market research to my target audience, most people seemed interested in this colour code and magazine (blue and red)... and gave me some good improvement ideas.

The colour black really does stand out in some parts of the magazine were its exposed to a lot of white background, but in other places where the main image (katie) is dark; makes the writting quite hard to see. Also I feel it doesnt stand out as much as the other colours I experimented with; as it looks too dull.

NEW PICTURE

    My feedback suggested that the previous photo was better- but this layout was better!

• The stoney picture works better linking to my trailer, and blood/text on the mag
• this photo was too big, didnt look like she was hanging or realistic
• the layout was better, so I just changed the picture.

Actual mag

Codes and conventions:

• Photos that relate to the genre of the magazine and trailer
• A main image-

• Headlines/cover lines-

• Magazine Title-

• columns

• subheadings-

• Website promotion-

• Bar code-

• Colour code- red and light blue (research said this was the best)
• 
  

Planning: ancillary task one

This is my planning stage for my poster, it will help me decide on my final design. I have designed a few draft copies that relate to my market research and my film trailer/story line. It will help me decide on the final colours, fonts and how i want my photography pictures, the props, what costumes i would need to relate to my film trailer and the genre. Also will help me on how i want to layout the poster; also with help from my research. This planning stage will also help me on my codes and conventions and to try make my poster as realistic and relate to my film as possible.

A poster should be:

• Aesthetic – It should get attention so the message is delivered.
• Focused – It should focus and communicate on a single message.
• Ordered – The sequence should be well-ordered and obvious.

                                    Mock up, photo: The girl from the RING

Mise en scene plays a big part in this poster, as its so simple but yet tells a whole story which makes your focus and attention on the little creepy girl, wearing a white dress which portrays purity and the thick black hair and arms on her lap, the only thing that gives away that the girl is evil is the way her face expression is, she looks very angry and with the cover line read as "your screams are music to her ears" makes the genre easily known to be a horror; also with the red writing which helps portray blood/death.

the cover line at the top of the poster, is an example which i may use for my final poster, the cover line is a quick easy way to get the audience involved and asking questions; about the little girl... thus making them interested and wanting to watch the film. The photo of the little girl is a very bold photo and would stand out, as its of one person, a very big photo thus making her the focal point, making it obvious to the audience that the film will be based around this evil girl.

Below the headline there is the title, and below this when the date the film shall be released, now this is very important to consider as scary films not only need to show what they promise in the posters but be a scary atmosphere, so it needs to be released at a good date; winter! where the nights are long and dark, and the weather being unpredictable! Also in my research most horror film dates where released in winter.

Below this, is info about the cast, directors etc, its written in big here but in the final design it will be written up small as in my research most posters did this. example:

Overall i really like this draft poster, as i like the layout, how simple the poster is and not much to read, just quick and simple facts; doesn't give much of the story away (maybe when i think of a name for my film it would help) I would like an overall design like this as its not plain or boring, and i think it stands out.

These are all possible ideas for my poster, i have an idea but now what to narrow it down even further, to help me decide on what to do i did a questionnaire and will update the chosen ideas in bold once i have gone through every idea.

                                                           Possible Locations:
                         My room, up against a dark blue background- CHOSEN
                                 Priory gardens- the field, at night- SECOND CHOICE
                                             In a Forrest- Surrounded by trees

                                                                The photo:
The little girl ghost, hair covering face, either standing up or sitting down= close up/mid shot- CHOSEN
The cast, standing looking towards the camera, = mid shot "no as it wont look scary or to do with the film; unless you can link just the cast standing there looking scared to the films story line?"
The little girl ghost standing in a deserted location= long shot- SECOND CHOICE


                                                             Costumes Ideas
                             Plain long/mid length white gown/dress/robe- CHOSEN
                                       Plain black long/mid length gown/dress/robe


                                                                   Props
 Blood on the dress?- no as it takes away the purity and innocence from the little girl in the white dress.
                                                                  Make-up
                                                                    lights
                                                                    chair
                                                                    a stage
                                                                    Flowers

                                                                      Price
                                                                      £6.99
 £5.99- CHOSEN- cheap and this was near enough as the same price as the other big blockbusters film posters (mine would be cheaper as its not a big film)
                                                                      £7.99

                                                                        Size:
                                                                       38X53
28X43cm- CHOSEN- same size as the other posters that valued at £7.99 (mine is £5.99)


                                                                    Cover lines
                                 Your screams are music to her ears- CHOSEN
                                                                 Evil never dies
                                                            No one will be missed
                     How can your screams be heard, when your in the middle of nowhere?
                                                         Teenagers get all the blame
                                              The night she came home- CHOSEN


                                                                In cinemas...
Near Halloween- best time to show a film as Halloween is the scariest time all year, its dark and Halloween brings people to watch scary films near to Halloween. this would also relate to the target audience of males and teen couples between 15-25 as they would also go to the cinema as at that age they are to old to trick or treat so they would go to the cinema.
November- December- Second choice, as Christmas time is very busy, but families are more likely to go to the cinema so they wouldn't watch a scary film and families/ mother with little kids etc isn't my target audience

                                                     Research on Facebook.

                                                MOCK UPS AFTER RESEARCH
              
                                             Not sure on the colour code, the photo is poor quality

"Fury" written in red this also contrasts with the white dress by showing angry, horror and blood.

You cannot see but in the background there is a gravestone, it is visible on the camera but not on the computer; I will be photo shopping the image and will level out the brightness etc so the grave is more clear.

All the products in this photo connote horror and is easily read to be a horror film. This poster will be going on facebook with the rest of the mock ups to get feedback.

Mock up: Photo is again of my Friend.

    I really like how there is a wide dept of field in the photo, you can see a long path with leaves etc beside it, you can tell it is a spooky place (a grave yard). I think how the girl looks as if she is walking towards the camera, holding flowers; this again shows innocence, but cover lines and the place the photo was taken easily shows its a horror film. The name "necromancy" means when someone seeks the spirit of a dead person either as an apparition or a ghost. I thought the name necromancy stands out, and is an obvious title to sum up my film. I will be putting all my posters on facebook to see what kind of feedback I get.

This is me making the title of my film stand out a bit more, and to look more frightening, just by using a pencil I went over each letter to give a double effect to make it bolder, also around the edges to make it look uneven and unsettling to look at. I will put this poster on facebook etc to see what type of feedback I get.

Mock up 3

Mock up 4

I am not keen on this mock up, as I feel the photo isn't balanced, the writing isn't in line with each other and seems to be dotted around the image, making it not look like a real scary poster. I like the editing on this photo but not the actual photo; as I feel it isn't "in your face" enough like my other mock ups. I do like the idea of "the night she came home" and the girl putting flowers on a grave - easily indicating my film is about a ghost. I will also put this mock up on facebook to see what feedback I get.

     15 People have liked the first photo, only 2 people in the second photo.No one liked my other mock ups I put both photos of facebook to get some opinions on which photo is better, Now I have decided what photo idea I am going to have, I will now research more into colours/fonts/cover lines.

After my research of which photo idea they would rather I think I will go with the first poster idea but change the name from "Fury" to Necromancy (as this was the favourite title for my film in my market research) NO ONE LIKED ANY OF THE OTHER MOCK UPS



This is a new idea I came up with after seeing "the eye" film poster; I think it works well as it takes the focus of the girl (as if i keep using the girl ghost my magazine/poster would be too similar etc) but it still links to my film, and the eye connotes horror as it has hands coming out of eye.

I have taken far too many photos of my eye and other peoples eyes to put onto my blog; but there was just a few different eye expressions that I tried out. Photoshop helped me a lot on creating the right look for my eye, starpening the image so it is more in focus, changing the colour of the skin tone and size of the pupal; also adding cuts down the side of the eye.

I like this idea, but I feel that the girl in front of the eye takes away the attraction of the eye, and that she is just in the way...also a grave stone is behind her which i feel is pointless and in the way.

I really like this idea, I think ill keep it this way as it looks like, we are staring right at the girl as the girl is reflected from the pupil of the eye. The writing being distorted shows confusion and fear; but It takes away the boldness of the writing, its not clear enough to stand out.

I like the writing here as it is bold and clear, stands out very well; I think I will use a combination of the last style of writing and this style of writing; too not over do the blurry effect but not under do it.
Also you can see the eye looking to the right, this shows that the person is looking at something, and can tell they are scared by the way its fully open. I have yet to decide on the background of the poster as you can see it is a mixture of grey and black atm, I think this works as it shows horror and doesn't take the attention away from the eye or the title and cover lines; also can be passed off as the persons skin around the eye and shadows.

                                                       Research on facebook

  I will use this idea for my next mock up of my poster; the audience like this poster more than the other (the only changes to this poster is the writing), I feel like that works well but is a bit too distorted. I will redo the writing making it distorted but not as much as this poster. The first mock up idea, with the eye, got no likes!

                                                  (Comments on the mock up with 10 likes)

IMPROVEMENTS:

                                                           Poster after feedback

^^ example of the small writting which goes at the bottom of the poster.

I have swapped the title of the film with the cover line, as i feel it stands out more with the cover line above the image, also a white background makes the colour red stand out much greater and bolder. In my next improvement stage, I will add in small writting at the bottom of the poster, and play around with the size, font and layout of the writting.

                                                            Editing on photoshop

Here i have created different layers to my poster, so if i make a mistake i can easily go back and undo. on here i have just added cuts to the eye and have centred the girl ghost within the pupil of the eye- i now just need to choose a suitable background since i dislike the grave stone within the middle of the poster even though its hard to see- it feels like it is just in the way.

                                                              Editing on photoshop

here i have added a white background, which contrasts with the eye- i really dislike this as it doesnt go with the colour of the eye, i will now go on to match the background closely to the eye, also the masthead i feel needs to be moved down slightly as its distracting from the fingers coming out of the eye.

Showing me doing levels, brightness/contrast, and the other tools i have used such as bluring the image, rubbing the image(background), adding text, zooming in, quick selection tools, cropping the image and the clone stamp which helps blend in all the different colours.

Mock Up

This is another mock up, coming along nicely with the two stars names written in white next to the title of the filml; it works well and i like this idea, not to sure on the colour white but other colours like black,blue etc didnt link with the colour code of my poster. Red also was another colour i debated but felt like it didnt stand out enough next to the red title; feel like i have used too much red! I have also made oct 31st smaller as i felt that the date is important, but it didnt work well with having a big title. I have added a website for my film as this is more advertising.

Mock up: New production company- twisted products

 Codes and Conventions of a Film Poster:

• To have eye-catching/ and appealing to their target audience
• To have a focal picture that will be interesting
• Suggestion of the film genre, via colours, props, clothes, etc:

• To display a large title that is easily read

• May use famous actors (starpasonia)

• A tag line is usually shown on the poster (will they make it out alive? Who will survive? Depending on genre etc)

• The date of the film coming out

• 
  
  Director and production company displayed.

Planning: Story board

OLD PLOT:
The plot of my film is, a mother and baby living in a house; the mother kills the baby and herself. Others while living there suspect something and weird stuff begins to happen. They set up webcams to monitor the house. They also set out to find the ghost one night after more creepy things keep happening. They find out about the mother and baby dying when searching on google about the house they live in. They try and call the ghost to reason with it. Then terrifying things start to happen.
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AFTER filming all the footage above- i found that the film would be to complex to fit into a 60 second teaser trailer and all the footage didnt work well together, and had too much of a story line- feeling like an opening sequence instead of a trailer! So i simplified the idea too - 4 people living in a house  and summon a ghost- bad things start to happen.

OLD STORY BOARD- BEFORE FILMING

ACTUAL STORY BOARD- AFTER FILMING:
Visual

Planning: Script

First Draft

1^st girl: Paris

2^nd girl: Megan

3^rd girl: Elaura

4^th girl: Katie

Others: Rebecca Loveday (Extra). Rebekka Cooper (Ghost)  

Director: David Blanchard

Producer: David Blanchard

Four girls sitting in a circle holding hands chanting round a candle

Dialogue 1

All four girls:

 “Show your face…show your face”

Dialogue 2

1^st Girl:

 “Ghost spirits we are calling for you (louder than the rest)

 (The three other girls still chanting show your face quieter than 1^st girl)”

Flash back, Transition: Cross over:

 Clip of plates shaking on a shelf and falling off one by one. (Gradually show each plate falling off after each individual shot of each character)

Flash back straight cut, speed up:

 A ghost walking down the stairs (cut up into different sections and gradually show her going down the stairs, put other clips in there to break it up: those individually chanting, medium shot) 

Dialogue 3

Medium close up, eye view on each individual character saying:

“Show your face”

High shot, close up of ONE plate smashing to the floor

Edit the sound to eco

Dialogue 4
High angle shot, titled

Girl under a street lamp rocking back and forwards with a knife. Sound effect: heavy breathing.

Medium shot, eye view:

The ghost walking towards the camcorder, flip the shot around so the ghosts face is facing the opposite way, jump cut used. Then reverse back round so she is closer to the camcorder. Sound effects: a loud scream.

Straight cut:

Candles blow out.

Extreme close up:

Blood pouring down my face then I close my eyes. Sound effects: none, quiet scene.

Dialogue 5

Medium close up, eye view:

Girl 2 in the show, the water turns to blood. Sound: Screaming, water pouring.

Transition: Plain white

To show the end of that sequence of events with the chanting and plate smashing.

Long shot:

Girl being hung, Effect: X-ray. Then changes to Sepia to give a quick flash effect.

Long shot, zooming in: a green effect used to show night-mode (someone spying on them)

Zooming in on a window, see someone move at the window.

Long shot of stairs, titled at an angel.

Ghost walking down the stairs, jump cuts used to skip forward to the camera then backwards, and another jump cut used to symbolize time (flashback to a photo of a little girl).

Planning: Time schedule

I have created a time schedule as it will help me keep on track with what I need to do at each stage for my film trailer; research and planning- construction task- evaluation. This will enable me to be more efficient with managing my timing while doing each task. This time schedule will also keep me focused for each of the deadlines given for my final film teaser trailer.