Creating The Poster

We had to make a poster which would accompany our film. Stuart was the one of our group who was most familiar with desing software such as photoshop so he made it while I contributed ideas and advice. We went out into Canford Heath and took a range of different pictures. We decided that we would use a picture of the sun beaming through some trees for our final poster.

Then, using Paint Shop Pro 8, me and Stuart began to edit the photo.

 

First we changed the colour, contrast and brightness to overall enhance the picture to get it to look like what we wanted.

Then Stuart used the paint tool to Darken all around the edges of the photo which made the viewer to look centrally at the image. It also created a sense that the edges where closing in which we felt fitted well with our film. Also by darkening the image it looked a lot more forboding.

From our Research we had found that the cast, producer, editor, director, distributor and production company were all featured in small writing at the bottom of the poster. Stuart did this in White and cleverly darkened the background further around the text so it was easier to read. Also Stuart added our the logos of the production companies and distribution companies.
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Actual Filming

We finally got round to do our filming when the weather was more generous. We used my camera to film and transported all the equipment to the location using my car.

Equipment that we used:

Sony XR-155 camera
Tripod
White card to reflect light
Kodak HD pocket camera
Torches

I was the directorof the film, this meant I had to make sure everybody else knew what they where doing and when to do it aswell as organizing everything, I also had to find the location and make sure that the continuity between shots was kept. Jack was in charge of lighting, I showed him how we could use the torches and card to create softer reflections of light to better give the impression of natural light, and helped find the location to film. Stuart was mainly cameraman although I did film some shots, he was incharge of the camera and the various shots that we used.

Instead of using the Tripods that we bought for our film we held the camera wihth our hands. We felt this meant we could get better angles (e.g. we couldnt get the tripod open in the car), also we felt the shakiness helped to add to the disorientation and dramatized events.

We filmed each shot multiple times so we could look afterwards using hindsight and decide which was best for the production, and we also did each scene from different angles, so when editing the film we could cut between shots which we felt would make the film look more profeshionally done aswell as allowing the viewer to see what is taking place on screen far easier.

To get light ont he scene we either used a very high powered LED torch, the headlights from my car, natural light(Moon) or a slightly less powerful yellow tinted bulb torch. We felt that we dealt with the lack of light very well in the final piece. Shooting in the dark is always a huge problem even for films with huge budget and considering we didn't have a budget we did extremely well. At one point we did discuss using night on day but we felt it would retract from the realism of the piece as most people can spot it.

Whilst filming we kept to the original plot that we had planned for. When on set however complications meant we had to change some sections and new ideas came up which meant we shot scenes that we didn't initially plan for.

Ther postponing of filming

Unfortunately, due to the weather of snow and ice, our filming had to be postponed until better conditions. So weused this extra time to slightly edit the plot of the film and develop the characters, we also got our equipment together and ready for when we wanted to film.

The location

The location I found was just outside Swanage in an area called rempstone which is located in Dorset. This meant that the loocation was close to our houses and we could easily get their and back with all of the equipment that we needed.

The location selected was extremely important as it had to strongly show the isolation of the main charecters. This are was perfect as it was filled with tiny country roads wiht no streetlighting or other vehicles present. We did most of our filming on one quite stretch of road as we felt it was the most appropriate location. The road was extremely isolated and had trees all around to which we felt established some sense of entrapment. As there was very little light at the location and we where doing our filming at night we had to either use torches or the moon for lighting.

Pictures of Location

I went to our possible location for shooting the film and took some photos for reference. This helped the others to know what the place was actually like.

Looking at film magazine covers

I began by researching lots of different film based magazines. Some of the magazines I looked at are:

• Total Film
• Empire

From this research I determined the what things to consider in creating my piece of media.

The front cover of a magazine is crucial to the success of a publication. It is used to draw in possible customers who may buy the magazine. The magazine usually implements a number of ways of getting a viewer's attention and interesting them enought to get them to purchase the magazine. These are:

• Usually a famous star or iconic image is used. For example Tom Cruise above or the face and importantly eyes of the terminator above that. This is a great way of getting the viewer to look at the magazine.
• The name of the magaizine is normally very large and can either be placed in the foreground or background. It is placed in the background if the main image needs to be placed over the top of it to give it more dominance. The title of a magazine is used to get the viewer to recognize the magazine and so they would buy it because of it's good reputation or because they liked it last time they bought it. Also the title helps to reassure the customer that the magazine is dedicated to film.
• Lots of smaller text is used to further intrigue the reader. This text normally outlines some of the interesting stories inside the magazine. These help to interest the reader so increase the likelihood that a magazine will sell.

Research on trailers

We watched and studied a number of trailers to better understand how they where constructed. We noted how the editing, sound, mise en scene and camera shots and movements where implemented when making a trailer.

Most trailers gradually build towards some sought of conclusion. usually the begging of a trailer is used to establish the story, location charecters and events that may take place during the film. This part of the film is usually slow paced and has some quite music in the background to move the trailer along smoothly. The trailer gradually builds and usually eventually culminates into a classic montage of action(either dialogue or phsical action on screen) this part is normally edited together so each frame is very short and is in time with the music which by this point has gotten much faster and louder. This section slightly disorientates the viewer as they are not quite sure what is happening which leads to the viewer wanting to know more, which they can do by watching the film.

This is an alternative idea for a trailer which I found very interesting. This trailer has no intention of trying to establish a plot or charecters it simply intends to intrigue the viewer so much that they are willing to split with money just to know just what the hell is going on.