Personal Diary Entry

So far I am up to date with of my planning for my poster and magazine as I have completed all of my work in the half term holidays therfore I have made sure that I have kept to my deadline. I feel that my work is of a good standard but I am going to improve certain aspects to get the full marks that I am able to, for example I still feel that my music and sound effects need more work therefore I am going to produce two more instrumental beats and try them out to see what one is the best. I have completed all of the planning so I am ready to start creating my poster and magazine cover now.

Photography Ideas and Photographs

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Photograph Schedule

Our original plan as a group was to use the photographs that we took on the filming days however we felt that we needed to take most of the photos again because we felt that the images did not come out effectively as they were dark and unclear, therefore in December we used some days for shooting the pictures which we feel came out more effectively as we used a better quality camera and better lighting, etc.

Magazine Flat Plans/ Mock Ups

The flat plan above is of the actual image that I am going to use and the places that I would like all of my kickers, masthead, barcode and banner to be. On my other flat plans/mock ups I have added a skyline on some of them however after looking at all of my options I would like to use a banner instead of a skyline because I think it looks more interesting as otherwise the magzine would look too busy at the top and be empty at the bottom which would not be the look that I want my magazine to have. I will also not be using the position of the date and price in this flat plan because this is not a conventional place for the date and price to be on a magazine cover.

Poster Flat plans/ Mock Ups

Blogger Background

Ideas for Magazine Mastheads

Ideas for Magazine Titles on Prezi

Flash- I felt that this masthead was good however it reminded me too much of photographs because flash is associated with cameras, etc. Therefore I thought that the audience would not automatically realise that this is a film magazine and it would not be effective so I chose not to use this masthead.

Motion- This masthead is very creative as motion can mean many different things but can be associated with films, such as motion picture. However I felt that the audience that I am trying to attract wouldn't really call films 'motion pictures' as that is what a much older audience would recognise films as therefore I felt that this masthead was not appropriate.

Edit- Edit is a word that is usually associated with films, music, photographs, etc. Things that need to be edited are usually not as good at first but are improved with the edit, therefore I thought that this masthead would not suit my magazine because I want my target audience to feel that my magazine does not need much editing to be good.

Moving image- I thought that this masthead was much too simple and obvious, therefore it was not exciting enough for the audience to think that the magazine is worth buying so I chose not to use this masthead.

Cinematic- This was my second favourite masthead idea but I chose not to use it because I felt that this was too obvious and a very common name for things to do with films and I wanted my maagzine to stand out therefre I did not choose this masthead.

Uncut- I did not like this masthead very much as I thought that uncut could be associated with a more adult theme of maagzine and therefore my target audience may get confused with it being a film magazine therefore I felt that this would not work very well.


Video- I felt that this masthead would not work because with new technology and new ways of viewing films these days video seems too outdated, although it would be a classic name it is not contemparary enough for the style of magazine I wnat to achieve.

Take One- This magazine title was a creative one because I thought of the types of things associated with films and the amount of takes the film crew have to shoot came to mind. As I found out we had to do many takes to get the right one therefore I thought the magazine name 'Take One' would stand out and have connotations of it being good in the first try therefore not having to do more than one take. However I thought that this name was not catchy enough and it would take the audience some time to realise the play on words therefore it was a bit too complicated.


Premiere- I have chosen to use this magazine title for my magazine because I think that it is sophisticated and creative therefore will appeal to my audience of film fans who are usually sophisticated people, this name will also make the audience feel like they are going to get something special out of reading it as only privileged people get to attend premieres therefore the audience will feel special with a name like this. I also think that it is very catchy and the audience will automatically know that this is a film magazine

Film Poster Analysis- The Final Destination

Film Poster Analysis (The Final Destination- Final Destination 4) on Prezi

Film Poster Analysis- Prom Night

This poster is very conventional of horror posters because the image used is an extreme close-up which shows the intense emotion of the character which in this case is fear. The fact that the character is a blond teenage girl who is seen to be the prom queen in this image as she is wearing a tiara is also a convention of horror films because young, good-looking girls as the protagonist because the audience always feel sorry for her because she seems so innocent and helpless. The 'prom' aspect makes it very clear that this is an American teenage film because teenagers and young adults are attracted to horror films like this. The fact that the prom queen in films is always good looking in films will also attract a young audience especially the males because she will most probably wear revealing outfits and be a flirtatious and pretty girl which also adds sex appeal to the film.

The blue tint over the image is used a lot in horror posters because it gives the image a cold atmosphere and also connotes ghosts and gives it an eerie feel. This also makes the poster conventional of horror films because it helps put emphasis on the image because it looks very unusual. The fact that you cannot see the characters eyes is clever because most of the time all the emotion can be seen from a characters eyes however in this image is is all from the characters mouth which is a interesting way of seeing the intense emotions of the character.

The narrative of the poster will be read from the image first because it is the main focus of the poster they will then look at the title and then the institutional logo because this stands out the least. I believe that this is very effective because it also makes the title stand out too because the title is in red and it stands out in front of the image. 'PROM NIGHT' is in a red, thin typeface which has a bit of a red glow around it. Red is typically used in horror films because it connotes blood/ danger and this will attract the target audience to this film. There is a tag line which is quite humorous 'A NIGHT TO DIE FOR' which is usually said in the context that the night was really good whereas in this situation it is used in the literal meaning, they have used humour in this to attract the target audience to the film. This tag line is in a thin, white typeface and it has strong masculine edges to make the font stand out more against the black background.

The target audience is teenagers and young adults are the main audience demographics who are attracted to these types of horror films because of two main reasons; the first is because they themselves are around this age group therefore they will want to watch the film as the characters are like a reflection of the audience and the second reason is that an older and more sophisticated audience would find these kind of horror films mediocre, especially ones whose characters are all teenagers because it is likely to have very simple and uninteresting storyline compared to the films they would watch usually.  

At the bottom of the poster the institutional logo is included in the right hand corner so that the audience will be able to relate this film to previous films that the same institutional identity have made, this is also a legal requirement so that the institutional identity gets the credit for creating the film. The release date of the film is also included at the bottom but it is positioned in the centre so that the audience look at that first rather than the institutional logo because the release date is more important for the audience be able to go and watch the film.

Film Poster Analysis- The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Film Poster Analysis (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre- The Beginning) on Prezi

Film Magazine Analysis- Entertainment Weekly

Film Magazine Analysis- Total Film

Film Magazine Analysis- Total Film on Prezi

Film Magazine Analysis- Sight and Sound

The masthead is a black, bold typeface with strong sharp edges which gives it a masculine look and makes it stand out, it is also against an orange/ yellow background which is part of the border around the masthead this colour scheme really clash and therefore stand out on the magazine. The black and yellow/ orange masthead is iconic to the magazine thus it acts as a logo as everyone will automatically recognise the magazine. The other colours the magazine includes such as black, red and white compliment the masthead as it all adds to the horror genre factor the magazine is trying to portray in this particular issue.

There is one main image on this magazine cover which is a common convention for film magazines. The image is of a world wide famous actress, Penelope Cruise. She is a Latino female with brunette hair and is described as a sex symbol from Hollywood, therefore this image will attract a wide audience of females and males as the females will be attracted as they are probably fans of her acting and her style, for example clothes, make-up and hair, and males will be attracted by her sex appeal. This is a still taken from the film, it is a medium close-up and shows the characters intensity in the scene. The hair and make-up is very effective. She is wearing make-up which shows her femininity however the holding of the knife contrasts with this good looking feminine image because it is very likely for her to be holding a bloody knife. The hair is in a tied up style but is look a bit rough and messy as if the character has been in a fight or something active, therefore this suggests a reason for the knife, it could be that she has killed someone or that she has protected someone from getting killed by taking the knife out of their stab wound or even that someone has just stabbed her. This image is obviously from a still from a horror film because of the use of the prop, a bloody knife is also associated with horror films.

The costume of the character is a red cardigan which goes well with the blood on the knife and the red background, therefore the audience will make links between the character and the blood on the knife instantly. The knife she is holding is being held up vertically and she is staring at it directly with an guilty/ angry face, this also links her to the knife directly and it also creates an uneasy atmosphere as the audience will be in suspense as to what the film is about because this actress usually plays the victim but in this film it looks as if she is the antagonist.The character is clenching onto the knife with a tight grip which makes her look even more tense and guilty of something therefore this will really make the audience want to read about this film if they have not seen it yet. This image is very mysterious though as it does not let the story be told through it therefore the audience will have to watch the film to understand therefore it is promoting the film well. The left side third is where all of the text is included on the magazine therefore this suggests that they are the most important kickers on the magazine however they do not steal any attention away from the image.

It is obviously a horror genre film and this is shown very effectively through the image, colour scheme red, black and white which are typically used in the horror genre and even the typefaces used on the magazine as they are bold and stand out. The main colour that is used on the typefaces of this magazine is white, this colour is a common convention of the horror genre as it stands out against most colours and is a neutral colour with a cold feeling. The other colours for the typefaces are black for the masthead which stands out against the yellow/orange background and pink and green which are bright and vibrant colours. The use of the colour pink is very feminine and could be associated with the cover line and the character on the magazine cover as this shows femininity, this may attract a female audience. The colour pink is not usually associated with the horror genre however it does stand out and grab the audiences attention. There is one main typeface used on this magazine and this magazine always uses the same style of typefaces therefore they follow a particular house style. The masthead uses the same typeface as the kickers and cover lines however they do look different because some are smaller than others and not in bold, etc. This makes it clear what cover lines and kickers are more important than others.

The technical mise en scene such as the lighting is very dark in the background of this image however the image has lighting which is still dark yet shows the facial expressions and important details of the character. The dark lighting in the background has been used to compliment the text on the left side third of the magazine as these are the cover lines and kickers and therefore are important in attracting the target audience. The layout of the magazine is conventional of magazines as the left side third is being used up with lots of text and the right side is left simple with just the image on it, this is because the audience is automatically attracted to the left side third first. The reason for the price being included on the magazine cover is so that the audience will be able to see it clearly as they look at the front cover before buying it.

The bar code and price of the magazine are positioned on the right hand side of the magazine but not in the conventional bottom corner of the page but sort of in the centre, this is so that it is clear enough for the audience to see but not that big or eye catching so that it steals attention away from the main important things such as the kickers and the image. The issue number and the website are directly underneath the masthead so that the audience will be drawn to this information as soon as they have read the masthead. These are important pieces of information to promote the magazines website and to also make sure subscribers and collectors will be able to keep up to date with the magazine.  

Slideshow of Film Posters

On the basis of finishing my trailer I felt that I needed to start researching film posters which I have created a simple slide show on because it is a more creative way of displaying the images. The film posters all use conventional colours of horror films such as black, grey and red, there is also a faded blue colour used in some of the film posters. These colours are the same colours I am going to use in my film poster because my trailer also has these conventional colours therefore I want to keep my colour theme the same. Red connotes blood, danger, sex and lust, etc. thus I would like to use red to keep the horror theme clear, black and grey connote death and dark/ mysterious feelings and gives a scary atmosphere to the poster. The blue tint gives a feeling of ghosts which is why I do not want to include the blue colour in my poster but I think it is effective in the posters that it has been used in.

Introduction to the Creation of Magazine Cover

Following the making of the trailer I have been given another task of creating a film magazine cover. I will be creating this individually on Adobe Photoshop and I will make sure that it looks professional and as if it was a real magazine cover which would promote my film. I will analyse some magazine covers first to get an idea of what common conventions horror themed covers look like and what I need to include, then I will draw up my flat plans by hand to make my work more organised thus easier to carry out and see what one will look the best. I will be using photographs that our group took on the photographs days and I will edit them to make them look more effective such as change the lighting and add different effects, etc. 

This is a video of a horror fans magazine collection and he talks about what he is interested in seeing on and in his magazines, although my magazine is a genereal film magazine and not a horror magazine I have still got some ideas because my magazine cover I am making is going to be a horror edition of the film magazine.

Introduction to the Creation of Film Poster

Following the making of the teaser trailer to my film I have been given another task of creating a film poster. The poster will be in the same house style as my trailer to make sure that the audience will automatically identity that my teaser trailer and poster are linked. I will be creating this individually on Adobe Photoshop and I will make sure that it looks professional and as if it was a film poster which would promote my film. I will analyse some film posters first to get an idea of what common conventions horror themed posters look like and what I need to include, then I will draw up my flat plans by hand to make my work more organised thus easier to carry out and see what one will look the best. I will be using photographs that our group took on the photographs days and I will edit them to make them look more effective such as change the lighting and add different effects, etc. This will help promote the film and therefore also maximise profits which is very important in film making.

Audience Feedback and Personal Evaluation of Trailer

I am happy with the outcome of my trailer and my final edit is much more improved than my rough edit as I have added the transitions, video effects and audio that I felt worked well with the horror theme. I have had some target audience feedback and this helped me know what I needed to change to make my video even better.

Final Edit

This is my final edit of my trailer- Nostalgia. Our group worked together up to the point of editing our trailers, editing our trailers was all individual work. Even though other members of our group used the same footage I feel that I have made my trailer look very original.

Rough Edit draft 3 & 4

This is my fourth edit and I still feel like there is something that needs changing to make it have a more professional look and be more inviting to the audience. To make my trailer the best it can possibly be and to make it more effective as in looking like a professional horror trailer I am going to edit the titile and make the last scenes darker as they are still too bright which does not look like a typical horror film. I will also add 'From the Directors of The Forbidden' in the beginning of the trailer to make it look like a professional trailer as this is a common convention of trailers.



This is my third rough edit which I created on Adobe Premier Pro, this is much better than my first edit because it is shortened down by nearly half the size of the first rough edit therefore it is much more interesting for the audience to watch as they will not have to watch a long trailer which could have got to the point in half the time! I feel that my video effects add to the horror genre well because the flashes and strobe lights help get the message of the flashback happening across to the audience. I also changed the inter-titles to a more simple white, sharp edged typeface as I felt that the one that I included in my rough edit 2 was too complicated and looked mediocre.  The sound effects still need much more editing done to it however some of the sound effects do work well within the trailer but they still need to be edited so I will edit them to make them flow better. The whole point of the trailer was not to give too much away but still attract our audience to watch the actual film and I belieive that I have created an ambigious atmoshere which the audience will want to find out more about with this rough edit and hopefully I will be able to make it better with my next edit.

Rough Edit draft 2

This is my second rough edit which I created on Adobe Premier Pro, this is still much too long to be the final and there are not much transitions and video effects therefore it doesn't have the full effects that I wanted to achieve. I have added inter-titles and the trailer title to this edit but I would like to change them in my next edit as I feel that they do not look professional enough and the actual title is on screen for too long which will bore the audience. The sound effects are not edited enough yet and there are many things that I need to add in terms of music and sound effects, hopefully I will be able to improve on this in the next edit. 

Outakes

These are some of the outakes that we shot, we took a lot of shots and scenes because we wanted to get the best possible takes.

Sound Research and Final Sounds

Step 1: 
Open up FL Studio, and load 'Real Guitar' VSTi.
Step 2: 
Choose instrument patch wwithin 'Real guitar' for different guitar sounds.
Step 3:
Go onto Fl Studio's piano roll, and draw in intro notes.
Step 4:
Draw in verse notes.
Step 5:
Draw in chorus notes.
Step 6:
Draw in verse notes.
Step 7:
load 'Blue' VSTi.
Step 8:
Draw in chords thoughout melody to give more ambience.
Step 9:
load 'Blue,Blue,Toxi biohazard and Hypersonic 2' VSTi's and use same melody 
from step 8 for each channel.
Step 10:
Create Drum loop to add energy to track.

These are a sample of some of the main soudn effects that I will use in my trailer:
reena_horror_sounds by reena272


Horror background beat by reena272
This was the original instrumental that I made on Fruti Loops, I have left some of the music silent so that I can add sound effects to seperate scenes and inter-titles this is why you will not hear anynthing for some parts of the music. This was made for the original narrative and therefore it did not match the new narrative well at all so I decided not to use it although I still wanted to upload it to my blog to show that I have put a lot of effort into making the music for my trailer.

Rough Edit

This is my rough edit of the Nostalgia trailer I created, I have added a few video effects and most of the sound effects but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to improve my trailer. This is just my first draft and I hope to make my trailer look much better than this with more editing and improvements such as adding in transitions, inter-titles, edit the sound effects to make the trailer flow better and add some special effects to make the trailer more effective to link to the horror genre. I also need to change the length of time that my institutional logo is shown for at the end because in this draft it just flashes and my audience will not be able to see it properly.
Our group thought carefully about the lighting therefore we purposely filmed in bright lighting when Natasha was in the corridor so that when we turned the light off it gave an effective flickering effect. We used dark lighting in some scenes to created enigma and a scary atmosphere however we made sure that the audience would be able to see what is going on, we managed to do this by the use of props such as the candle in one scene when it is a close up of Natasha's face and a torch in the other close up of Natasha's face where the video has a blue effect, this blue effect gives off a cold vibe to the audience and is a convention of horror films. The blue effect also puts emphasis on her face and adds a creepy effect to the video.

Camera Testing

We carried out camera tests to make sure that our filming and camera was of a high quality as we wanted our trailers to look as professional as we could make it with the limited resources we had. The purpose of the camera test is to establish any problems that may occur such as bad quality camera, bad lighting, etc. and try and resolve them. We did encounter a few problems such as the camera being shaky which we resolved by using a tripod and also bad lighting which you can see in the video above however after viewing the camera tests we resolved this by adding extra lighting when needed. In conclusion we decided that camera tests are essential in making a good peice of film as they help us sort out the problems which make our work look much more professional.

Film Day 3: 24/11/10

Film Day 2: 23/11/10

These are the scenes that our group shot on film day two, 23/11/10

Film Day 1: 22/11/10

Mise en Scene for Film Day 1- 22/11/10 on Prezi

Call Sheets

Inter-titles

Inter-title Ideas

When the uninvited appear...

Strange happenings begin...

Nowhere to run...

And nowhere to hide...

When hidden doors are opened...

All is revealed...

I also added:
This Winter… coming to a cinema near you… Nostalgia

When the past comes to haunt you...
How can you escape...

I chose to take them out because I felt that the trailer had too many inter-titles in it.

Equipment and Props List

The equipment that we will need to complete making our trailer successfully are: various camera equipment including video camera, tripod, charger, lighting equipment which was very helpful as we filmed some of the scenes at night and we needed to have effective lighting because otherwise couldn't see the video well. We will also need a still camera because we will need to take pictures whilst we are filming for proof that we were present and contributing to the work. We will need a hairdryer (for the scene when Natasha's hair blows and she gets scared) and red paint for the blood in the end scenes where Natasha is being dragged on the floor.

The props we will need are; the scary doll, paper for the hidden room, a spoon for the washing up scene, a wine glass filled with a wine looking drink, the candle, newspapers (to fill the hidden room with), high heels, red lipstick and black eye make up. The location will be a old looking house and we will film the outside view of the house, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, the stairs, living room, the corridor and the hidden room. The software programmes that I will need to complete editing my trailer are Adobe Premier Pro, Adobe Audition, Fruity loops 8 and Windows Movie Maker.

 

Adobe Premier Pro                                                        Adobe Audition

Windows Movie Maker

 

Adobe Photoshop                                                            Fruity Loops 8

Treatment

The Reason For Viral Campaigns

This video explains how social media is taking over the whole world of media and society, especially the younger generation of under 30s, are making use of these platforms every day of their lives.

Viral Marketing Strategies on Prezi

Production Stills

These are some photographs of me getting ready and doing my make up for the scenes that I have been the main character in, i.e. the flashback scenes:

These production stills are of Sarah and I on filming day 1

These are photographs of Sarah preparing the bathroom scene, she is writing in red on the mirror which is a common convention of horror films.

Personal Diary Entry

We have also come up with different name ideas for our film and have decided to use Nostalgia for reasons I have explained below and I have also completed the intre-title ideas so that when it comes to editing I will know what scenes are relevant to the intre-titles and where to include them. The reason we have decided to use intre-titles is so that our audience can follow the narrative and not be confused but we will also try not to give too much away so that we make the audience want to watch the film to find out more. We have done the camera testing so that we could make sure that the camera was a good enough quality to film what we wanted to in a professional manner.
I have also completed the running order of each scene so that I will know what goes where when it comes to editing the trailer as we will be individually editing our trailers I believe that this will help me in the long run and make things more organised and simple.

Title Design

This is my title design for my film- Nostalgia

I have chosen to use this title design because I think that it works well with the horror genre and my trailer in particular. I like this title design because it works well with my trialer especially because it has the same blood effect that my end scenes had when Natasha was being dragged on the floor. I felt that I could make the title look better by changing the colour scheme, I edited this on Adobe photoshop and have uploaded the print screens below to show what steps I used to achieve the final look. I think this will look effective on the trailer because it has the dramatic look I wanted and will stand out to our target audience.

I considered using other fonts such as the ones below but I thought that there was flaws in them as some were too simple such as this one. This font reminded me of vampires therefore I though that it didn't go well with my trailer.

This font does not really go with my trailer either because it is more like a science fiction font therefore I didn't want to include it in my trailer.

The font below is quite simple and not eye catching enough so I wanted to look for something more dramatic and it also reminds me of vampires and that doesn't fit into the narrative of my trailer.

I like the effect of the degraded writing in this font as in my last scenes I used the scenes of Natasha being dragged on the floor. This has a scratching effect on it because it is degraded and Natasha was scratching on the floor therefore this font works well. However I wanted to use much more dramtic font so I chose not to use this one.