Hina Majeed's [Trailer] Blog!

Ma' Evaluation. ;)

2010-02-21T17:18:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience as it helped me work with others in a team, and it helped me realise that working with others can be difficult but it's also worth the effort as you learn off other people through their unique qualities and skills!

This experience has also taught me how difficult making a 3 minute trailer can be! Everything must be taken into consideration, every word said must be written in the form of a formal script, every sot must be angled in terms of accuracy and precision. I believe I loved the filming aspect as it was very inspiring and it help teach me how one shot can be filmed in so many different angles and ways and the more creative you are - the more effective your product piece turns out to be.

There was a huge lot I learnt which was that editing can take the most time, and it is most definetely the most important part of the whole process - as no matter what you have filmed, it must be edited in a perfect way in order for a perfect outcome.

In terms of my research investigation, I learn that the narrative of a film is heavily researched by it's viewers and is quite interesting. As when high concept films such as King Kong and The Dark Knight use non-chronological order to display their order of events, Independent films do too such as Run Lola Run and Funny Games U.S. - I didn't know this as it astounding me the fact that even though they both industries differ through big budget films in comparison to independent films - they still follow the same codes and conventions of Classical Hollywood Cinema.

I would love to do this again as working with others has taught me to become patient, reliable and independent as when one is'nt present, it all depends on you whether you want to carry on one step further and stay back a step behind and catch up with the race.

How does my trailer compare to a REAL media text?

2010-02-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

Plot/Summary

As part of being related to another media text (AFTERSCHOOL), we tried to compare and contrast our trailer ina similar form. For instance, we included a 3 Act structure as did Afterschool,the conventions of the Thriller Gnre is for an ordinary setting. We chose to decide, parks and schools - as did Afterschool, thus we were committed to the storyline and plot as we tried to engage it as similarly as possible though the non-chronological order of events. We have done this through Final Cut as it was more "naturalistic' to provide a different approach as did Run Lola Run and Memento - two Thriller trailers who consist of a similar storyline/plot as ours;

Voice-Over

Voice-Over's aren't a common convention of Thriller Genre's but as a group we thought we'd set a new trend or start something new as we were anxious to see whether it would all fit in or work as a whole. I asked Michael and Sam, and they agreed with great enthusiasm which is always a plus as both voice-artists were brilliant with a "realistic" approach! :D Mainly non-thriller trailers have voice-overs; the function of a voice-over is to enhance the audience into the audience's understanding of the plot and is a vital tool for a trailer, espcially our trailer as it isn't in linear order and nobody is setting the base of our story; so why not get someone to tell them? A famous voice-artist, like Don Lofontaine, had voice-overed many trailers, and the positive effect this had on the audience was vital; eespecially if want to attarct our target audience;

Thus, with the help of Michael and Sam, we have introduced a new norm in voice-over art in the Thriller industry and set of codes and conventions.

Music

This is also another key tool, as it was my role, I set out to search for many songs and tunes to include in the soudntrack of our trailer. We were aiming for a "naturalistic" approach through naturalistic songs and instrumental music as it sets the tone of the trailer. For instance, a horror movie would have fast-paced music to build up the tension for the viewer, a film which consists of a tragedy genre would have slow-paved and heartbeat related sound effects to emphasise the unfortunate mood and tension amongst it's audience and in our case we have decided to go for a type of music which starts of slowly, steadily and calmy ( as it does in Afterschool) and then speeds up in terms of its tempo, dynamic and speed to build up the suspense and thriller the viewers would anticipate; here's a clear example of this happening;

Technical Elements

In relation to technical elements, I am referring to the sound mix which is where many trailers are presented in Dolby Digital, this is where the sound effects come in, i.e. heartbeat, bells, panting and many more tension-building sound effects and this is the focus point of this trailer along with the video footage mixed with the music both on Garageband and Final Cut - which helps establish the shape and form in which will be presentably viewable to the viewers - not only does the footage make the film but the good technical skills of editing and multi-tasking apply.

Strengths? Weaknesses? Hm.

2010-02-21T16:31:00.000-08:00

STRENGTHS;

I guess we're all pretty fortunate as everyone was entitled to their role and stuck to it! ;)

For Instance, Suhail was very committed to his work as he made sure everyone was able to make it on our filming dates as well as capturing all the footage. He was also a great member in the role of a third party as he helped me choose which soundtrack to choose and how to edit our voice-over. He also helped out Raza a lot for his editing on Final Cut and eventhough he never really had as much experience as Raza has on editing, he still have it a shot, that's the team spirit! :D
Raza was very beneficial as his role entailed the most work on and the msot time-consuming out of the rest! He was quite patient and everytme we had a lesson where he was present, he went straight to it - thus very time-consuming and didn't waste valuable time which was well-spent on editing!
Sameria was also a great team memeber as she helped me with everything really; such as the voice-over, soundtrack, filming, editing and even the cast themselves! She was very adviseable as she told Raza which shots to put where as it would appear more attractive towards our target audience, such as putting the shots in non-chronological order
ME! As my role was to concentrate fully on the music aspect of the whole project - that's what I did. I first sat down for research and listened to many songs, with Suhail's help as he was very good at researching various songs. I also carried out the voice-over, with Sameria's and Phill's help with all the technical stuff and I organised for Sam and Michael to come and speak for our trailer, I constantly helped the group out whenever they needed help, such as; if someone wasn't here, which is a common problem, I made sure everyone was active and was doing something.

2. Everyone was constructive and productive throughout the whole process! If someone was stuck, each one of us would help out, no matter whose role it was. For examples;

I took photographs of the whole team at their best and distributed them to all the team members for further research or progress.
Suhail helped out pick which soundtrack to pick as I needed an extra person to help me choose which soundtrack would fit in with the Thriller convention.
Sameria was very beneficial to all the group as she was always happy to help and was there to provide everyone with answers as well as solutions.
Raza also helped me with the voice-over as I needed him for his final speech as his voice, in the different camera came out distorted - thus he was eager to help, even though we had a tight deadline to complete!

Weaknesses:

As a group, we probably weren't as organised as we should have been. But we did try our best as it isn't easy to work fully flexible hours with others whom may be busy. To help solve this solution, I photocopied out the drawings for the storyboard for everyone and I kept the yellow book as I always try to be available in lesson and outside of lesson. So in case I wasn't present, everyone would have a copy of the storyboard or an email of what needs to be done.
Another weakness maybe that although everyone has their own role and are happy to imply; we weren't as organised and time-consuming as we should have been as the editing aspect was the longest and left it till last minute, and unfortunately Raza wasn't able to make it on the last lesson, thus me and Sameria could'nt attempt to work on the editing as we weren't aware of his user name or password, thus we had quite a nervous dilemma; but in order to help improve this, we do know that there wasn't a lot of editing to complete as Raza had completed the majority of it.

How has your production been informed by the research undertaken? (narrative)

2010-02-21T15:39:00.000-08:00

Narrative:

Our trailer; TheCut has been informed by a number of research taken as we had to undergo a research investigation into a certain criteria such as Genre, Narrative and Representation. Our trailer had been informed mainly by NARRATIVE as a majority of the group had selected the question, my question was; An analysis of the Narrative Structure and editing techniques of two Thriller; Run Lola Run and Memento through the examination of key scenes. ). I have achieved my aim as I have now structured up the set of events to arrange my thriller trailer in as I have achieved my aim in finding out that now all films follow the Classical Hollywood Cinema, as mainly Thrillers don’t and they typically consist of a complicated narrative structure which is now part of a thriller convention. Thus, in order to follow the codes and conventions of my thriller trailer, I must represent my shots in non-chronological order (Run Lola Run) or even reverse-order (Memento), either way; they both consist of the thriller convention. Another key fact that I learnt was that trailers tell a story of a movie in a highly condensed fashion that has a maximum appeal. Traditionally, most trailers have a three act structure, act 1 being the beginning (Equilibrium) – which lays out the setting of the story, Act 2 being the middle which drives the story further (disequilibrium) and usually ends with a dramatic climax (Resolution) – This was all conjured up by Todorov’s theory of narrative which suggested that the trailer can imply some symbolic music, either a recognizable song or even an instrumental piece to dramatise the ending – the last act or trailers usually consist of a visual montage of powerful and emotional moments of the films, the most partial scenes of course are entailed within the film’s trailer – and also may include a cast run – a list of star that could help sell the movie further in terms of fan base and recognition.

Here are a few trailers which do NOT FOLLOW this 3 act structure within it’s narrative;

Genre:

Although, I never studied the question of genre, I do realise how much effect it does have on the trailer, as a whole. No matter which genre you choose; one must make sure it coincide's with it's own personal time and space, through it's iconography (things your recognise with the genre; For Instance...

HORROR = Murderer, Haunted House, Lonely Victims, fatal weapons and death.( ^^ Scream, The Grudge, Lovely Bones, Dancer in the Dark, Funny Games U.S.)
MUSICAL = Numbers throughout, Happy and Lively Cast, Bright Cinematography and Mise-En-Scene, Plenty of Lighting and extravagantly colourful costume! ( ^^ High School Musical, Dancer in the Dark, Hairspray, Singin' in the Rain and Grease)
ROMCOM = Romantic plot, a couple, pursuit of happiness or love, ordinary settings, simple plot, usually one is not intersted in the other, etc. (^^ EG: Paperheart, 500 Days of Summer, 50 First dates and Valentine's Day!)

In relation to OUR trailer, we have consisted it with a Thriller genre; which usually must mean we have to include iconography which relates to the Thriller genre; Crimes, psychological harm or distress, a general theme of identity - we have used all of these conventions of our genre along with the iconography. Janet Staiger - a well known theorist for representing issues based around cultural issues; gender, sexuality and race/ethnicity. She also followed the rule of Mise-En-Scene which consisted of lighting, costume, props and figure movement. Now, in our trailer we have followed other trailers with the same genre along with the same use of mise-en-scene (costume - normal, everyday clothing, lighting - dark yet inspiring, figure movement and body - quite fast yet very common like everyday behaviour. Staiger's theory was to establigh a "naturalistic approach" to film and TV - we have done the same as, from other inspiring trailers such as Nowhere Boy, Precious, Shifty and Brick follow the same form of mise-en-scene;

Representation:

Usually, the form of represenation is highly important as it establishes what the film is trying to signify - in our scenario, we are simply representing, British Actors in the form of an Independent film, and here are some other films who have done similarly;

How does our trailer communicate & Appeal to our Audience?

2010-02-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Well, in order to appeal to our target audience, one must provide a treat installed to lure your chosen audience into watching your trailer – simple. I believe the dominant purpose of a triler is to attract your target audience, now the real question which lies here is; how? Firstly, trailers are film advertisements and simply consist of selected shots from our film; it is the director’s job to provide the most funniest, scariest or most attarctive scenes from your footage to produce an audience but without telling too much (spoliers) as then there really is no purpose of watching the entire film if it’s already narrated through the trailer? Also, the scenes which may appear do not necesseraly have to be sin the order in which they appear in the film – and in our case, we must achieve this in less than three minutes…

In our trailer we have contained are the conventions of a Thriller genre; thus attarcting our target audience (18 tp 24 year olds) from that preferred genre group; for instance: if a person who usually watches Thrillers on a regular basis, they would want the best for their taste; thus including iconography from the genre such as plot, storyline, setting, location, etcetcera. Thus, they would expect to see in this Thriller what they would usually expect to see in a Thriller. In our case, some commmon key Conventions are; a crime at the core of the narrative (a murder was committed), a complex narrative structure (Order of events told in a non-linear structure - Memento and Run Lola Run), extraordinary events happening in an ordinary situation (a girl getting murdered during a film shoot) and general themes ofIdentity (Our protagonist is the prime suspect for the killing, but it is up to the audience to provide us with an answer through various forms of identity). In relation to another text, the 2002 trailer for Spiderman had an entire action sequence, such as escaping bank robberies, getting caught in a giant web and many more jam-packed adventures Peter ha to go through; thus in the trailer, it concentrated on mainly the action footage; and this is most definetely one of the conventions of an Action genre and to engage their audience further they have included just that; to provide iconogrpahy for their TG to recognise;

Another famous trailer for unleashing it’s inner beauty through providing what it’s audience want would have to be the 1960’s Thriller; Psycho which was directed by Alfred Hitchcock and gave it’s anxious viewers a guided tour of the Bates Motel itself; and as iterated, it’s provided one of the most famous and scariest scenes well known in a thriller; when at this point, the soft spoken Hitchcock suddenly thros the shower curtain scene back to reveal Vera Miles along with a blood curdling scream;

To conclude, our trailer has communicated through to our audience by giving them what they want; a Thriller trailer. By including all the conventions of the genre, it should appeal to our audience as we had undergone primary and secondary research (Research Investigation) and they usually enjoy watching a Thriller with elements of what a Thriller should provide them with; a Thrilling experience!

Our Finished Product. :)

2010-02-21T10:34:00.000-08:00

As a well co-operative group, we have all chipped in our talents and created a 3 minute trailer; consists of the Thriller genre, targeted at 18 to 24 year olds along with the purpose to entertain.

I am going to include a scanned version of our storyboard and will develop it further by discussing what will be shown on screen, the order of events along with the soundtrack being played along with the shots; [The set of order which will appear on screen for out trailer]

1 Here is the film 4 logo in which will be displayed first in resemblance to what we had planned together, this logo help's signify that our trailer is a British, Independent film of the production company; Channel 4. Here is a trailer for Slumdog Millionaire which co-Film Four Productions as one of it's studio's along with Fox Searchlight.

2. Next up, onscreen would be the Gogo Films logo along with the UKFC Logo, both very diverse and direct media productions. Here is a link to both websites which have a variety of services on offer; such as Gogo TV, Gogo Film, Gogo Research and many more.

http://gogomedia.co.nz/

http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/

Here are other UK film productions which we thought to consider for the editing aspect of our trailer;

http://www.filmclub.org/

http://www.bfi.org.uk/

http://www.filmlondon.org.uk/

http://www.screenwm.co.uk/

3. Trailer Starts! Here, we have included the first 3 shots of our storyboard, which I drew out in brief for a "feel" for what will be displayed throughout. We started off with a corridor scene where the "Film Club" poster is displayed on the wall and we see a group of girls staring at it with anticipation - and then the protagonist is introduced here. So basically we get a normal environment setting as most Thriller trailers do, such as After school - where our inspiration was created.

In Afterschool, we get the first scene set also in a college/school where the characters are introduced. These are one of the common conventions of a Thriller genre; the setting commences with an ordinary setting where ordinary events take place. In this case; school/college = study, projects, socialism and teaching!

4. Awards Information; This is a prestigious part of the whole trailer as it suggests that it's been reviewed by critics such as Phillip French who come from magazine reviews such as Empire magazine; http://www.empireonline.c om/

5. More trailer shots; to help move the trailer along smoothly, we have included many shots, and here are a few clips from our storyboard to help imagine this out clearly;

^^ This part of the trailer is where the audience get an inner feel and depth of what the film provides - we tried our best not to place the order of events in chronoligcal order as it would'nt reconcile with the conventions of the genre itself; thus films like Memento and Run Lola Run; both of which are well-known for their unique portrayal of non-chronlogical/non-linear order of events which are displayed throughout the entire plot.

6. Institutional Data - VERY important which sews the whole trailer together with it's production companies, websites, release date, of course with a tag-line(caption); here I created a Poster for a film in which was very beneficial towards our groupwork as it helped me realise what to initially inclue and to re-iterate, it helped me with the actual title and the film's informative details;

7. Towards the end, shall be played some last footage of the trailer to leave the viewer shocked with awe with the climatic ending; [One of the key conventions of the Thrillers]

7. In Conclusion, here is a list of the possible soundtracks we have included and have used amongst our shots to help immerse them together and enable them to emerge as one as it's more soothing for the reader to absorb the medium - through music and shots.

Mr role entailed to carefully concentrate, select and apply the soundtrack along with the voice-over fopr the shots to be edited on Final Cut;

Our trailer is called The Cut where it has a unique storyline and plot and includes most of the conventions of a Thriller genre, this is our finished product and it was worth while! ;)

Diverse Trailers with various Editing Techniques

2010-02-09T02:55:00.000-08:00

PaperHeart

Dancer In the Dark

My Name is Jerry

Run Lola Run

So, what have I learnt? (Editing)

2010-02-08T15:54:00.000-08:00

Although there are a few aspects of our trailer which need to be completed with, I have learnt a mass amount about trailer editing, and how it is an art form simply on it's own. Thus, in order to create a successful trailer, one must follow the "formula" in how to create one.
When editing a trailer, one must select and cut all of the footage, in order to create a perfect CUT, and then must fit in their choice of music with this CUT to make it more realistic and to prevent boredome of course.
Another method of cutting the footage would be to CUT it in accordance with the music's rhythm and beat.
Also, in order to make a perfect CUT, one would include best bits of the film, which is what our group is currently doing, especially Raza, as he is in particular the one for the role, thus he is choosing the best bits of our footage, but not all of it as we would definitely want to prevent boredom from our preferred audience, Suhail's job is very beneficial as he will act as a third person and help pick out the best bits from the pile! :) We'd also include a few surprises to keep the viewer engaged and entertained. Also, once Raza has saved these parts as clips, he will then choose the audio, with my help (role of sound), and Sameria's help as she helped out with the voice-over. Raza will then re-arrange the clips to fit the audio (we want the best of both!) which is a long and time-consuming process. Luckily, we are here if he needs any help or even wants to hand over the job to another member for a while, it's up to him.

In terms of reference and editing, here is a clear example of a film which has edited it's shots (best bits) according to the music and audio. Trailer for 300

Voice-Over Completed.Yeah.

2010-02-01T02:56:00.000-08:00

Having the role of working on Sound, it is now my responsibility to complete the voice-over, include certain sound effects and make sure it's all in one place. In today's lesson (Monday 1st Feb 2010), I was starting to listen and improvise the soundtrack as well as Raza's voice-over. Luckily, Phill was available at the time and helped me out in terms of a "realistic" approach and a much more "smoother base". While he was helping me improvise the voice-over, I was taking notes on what I've learnt for future references, as whilst Phill was doing his thing, he taught me what he was doing and why. So far, this is what I've learnt;

Reverb: The purpose for 'reverbing' your dialogue, is to prevent any form of echo. (Which is what was likeyly, especially the dialogue recorded from the studio room which was a small rather empty room) So to reduce reverb, you simply click on the button on the bottom right of your Garageband screen and reduce it by dragging it left or right.
Compresser: The function for compressing your work is to sustain it all on one level, for instrance all the dynamics (loudness) was on the same level of dynamics. This was a problem for Michael's voice-over as Michael's vocals are varied, thus in order to balance out his vocals and voice, you simply compress his voice by clicking on the 'compresser' button on garageband.
Visual EQ: This is very important as it, similarly, also blends a type of voice with the music being played in the background to prevent anything being too loud or quiet, it's all on the same level, thus visually perfect on screen.
Track Automation: This is a vital tool which helps manipulates the sound heard through adding little dots on the voice-over to smoothen out the sharp sounds and reverse dialogue. For instance, we had a problem when the music started off calmy and smoothly but then automatically, Michael's voice simply 'hit' the music with a sharp deep note. Thus, to reduce the sharpeness, one must add circles in a line and start curving them in order to smoothen Michael's voice and balance it with the music.

In today's lesson, everyone was sustained to their roles which is great as we're drawing closer to the dealine. Here's what everyone was doing in today's lesson;

Raza: Raza was mainly focused on the editing and started adding slow-motion to some action events to add effect. He constantly showed me his progress which helped me to enable what has been done and what needs to be done. Fortunately, everything's going pretty fast and Raza and Suhail have decided to stay behind on the Wednesday evening at 3-4pm to carry on editing certain shots.
Suhail: Suhail was multi-tasking which was a huge advantage as he was helping Raza out with the duration of shots and cutting the strips and give advice on what to do, yet at the same time he helped me with the voice-over through more advice as he told me what sounded well and what didn't, he was where I needed a second point of view, to prevent bias to the voice-over. Luckily, he was very honest and told me what to do and how to do it.
Hina: I simply carried on and completed the voice-over with Phill's assistance. Thanks to Phill's advice on the Reverb, Echo, Compression, Visual EQ and Track Automation, I have now completed the both voice-over's (teacher's version and protagonist's version) and have saved it to the student database where Raza can access it easily.

Progress:

So far, everyone is up-to-date. We currently have two weeks remaining and now that the voice-over is complete, we can now all focus on just editing the shots through captions, logo's and music. Raza and Suhail have decided to stay over on the two Wednesdays we have left over, 3 till 4. Unfortunately, me and Sameria have lessons at the time but we will visit them at 4 where we will play a passive role as giving advice and watching their overall progress and start checking and adding changes or improvements to it. We have two weeks to go, and hopefully if we carry on at this rate, we should be able to complete it just in time! :D

Editing, Editing and Uhm..EDITING! :)

2010-02-01T02:53:00.003-08:00

Okay. So this week, as a group, we fully focused on the editing aspects as well as our own individual roles. We did this, because we all need to get some real experience, some "texture" for the feel of editing. This is very important as we all can handle the editing of our shots, just in case Raza, in charge of editing, isn't here. Me, Sameria and Suhail wanted to know how to edit specific shots, how to spread them out to make them longer in time and space.
So, now atleast we can all agree that we all try to help Raza out for his huge and time-consuming tole. Thus, we all tried to sustain our roles further on and to re-iterate, we all have paid full attention to our given roles for perfection and accuracy. For instance, I carried on working on our voice-over, from the support from my group.
Here are a few pictures we took on Monday 24th January as we all started Editing as Phill and Raza guided us through it;

Not only, have we all tried out editing our individual shots, but also we've managed to complete our voice-over! The voice over is now final and completed thanks to everyone, including, Sam, Michael, Raza. Sameria, Suhail and Phill! In this lesson (Monday25th Jan 2010), I managed to grab Raza in order to complete the voice over because the only remainder to be finished would be Raza's voice over, we had to record his voice again because onscreen, his voice came out distorted due to the different camera, we used. Thus, in order to get going and to use up our lesson time, me and Sameria asked Raza to come with us to the studio room where our sound recording can take place, with Phill's help, as luckily Phill was available at the time. Whilst the three of us were completing the sound aspects of our trailer, Suhail was editing the shots which were to be edited, with Sarah's help, at the same time so as a group we were all multi=-tasking to save time. Here are a few pictures we took of everyone whilst recording our Final VOICE-OVER:

Here, Raza was provided a script, from me and Sameria(which we created on the spot because in the actual clip, Raza was told to improvise, with no script to provide a more "natural" effect), and he is practising his lines with emotion. He is speaking into the studip microphone to make the overall effect sound more professional.

With Phill's help, we tried to record Raza's oice over within 10 minutes as we wanted to get the voice-over completed before we focus on the editing as a group. Luckily, Phill adjusted the microphone and the studio for our use and benefit. Although, having recorded with the microphone, the sound also came out "boxed" and with an echo as it's a small rather empty room, but later on, I will focus on this and try and improvise the sound.

Here's me giving Raza the thumbs up! ^__^ Because, he was nervous at the time, as was everyone else who was recorded in the voice-over due to the nature of being recorded in front of other. Thus, to boost his self-confidence, we all tried to remain quiet and remain focused. :) Overall, Raza was pretty sustained and focused in what we had to do as we're clearly running out of time and this has to be done and over with, :)

This is Phill adjusting the sound levels in terms of dynamics, tempto and speed of the voice Raza was transmitting through the microphone. To re-iterate, Phill was teaching us through steps in how to record a voice-over to reduce reverb and echo. Thus, we were learning whilst working which was an advantage as for next time, we can record with ease without Phill's help or assistance.

Soundtrack; Followed On.

2010-01-18T02:31:00.000-08:00

On Monday 18th January (Today's lesson), me, Raza and Suhail continued working towards our trailer. Raza was focusing on the Editing aspects such as sorting out the duration of the shots and splitting them so overall it'll look original. Suhail was helping him and getting a "feel" for how editing works out. I wasn't focusing on the editing as much as I was on the soundtrack as I don't have much experience or much knowledge of how to edit the individual shots, but I did help out in terms of assistance, as I provided the captions layout, which sets out the order of our shots in the trailer, I printed it off my blog as the yellow book was currently unavailable. We have now learnt not to rely too heavily on the yellow book, as it isn't always available so luckily I found another source of blogger to print off our scheduele and other information.
Having the role of sound, I must entail my role through research and investigation. In today's lesson, I simply converted all of our soundtracks off youtube to mps using http://www.mediaconverter.org/ which is a great site for converting youtube url's to any other format, in this case, mp3. Fortunately, I converted all of our video's so we have a diverse collection of tunes to choose from whilst editing after college on Wednesdays, as we agreed. Having done so, I also set out to research various other soundtrack's and trailers in order to understand their layout and how it's structured, i.e. whether it's in chronological order, the sound effects used within it's narrative, etc. The trailer for Avatar was interesting as the score and soundtrack for the film is very much related to it's fantasty genre.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkwbwk-ACc&feature=rec-LGOUT-exp_fresh+div-1r-3-HM
Also, we decided to stay after college, this Wednesday as we' all a Wednesday 20th Jan Raza and Suhail have decided to shoot the toilet scene again which although will last 10 minutes, it's still necessary as the shots had a scene where a bag was once played on top of the drier and in the next shot, it had disappeared, which not only looked inconsistent but also illogical. Thus, while the boys will film in the toilets at 3pm, I will come in at 4, after my lesson, and focus on the script as we need Raza to speak a few lines to establish his role more further and more realistically.

Interuptions...

2010-01-17T16:41:00.000-08:00

Due to many exams taking place the previous week and this week in January, as a group, we have finalised to extend our editing hours for the week after in order to fully concentrate and to focus only on our editing and our trailer specifically.

Rather than rushing around like headless chickens, and being over-stressed for the January exams, we'd much rather prefer to concentrate fully and give attention to detail when all the fiasco is over. It is much about quantity rather than quality. Thus, we have postponed our trailer editing time for next Wednesday 27th January as everyone would have completed their examinations and shall have time to focus on our trailer for perfection!

The Schedule.

2010-01-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

The Schedule.

~~Monday 4th Jan 2010~~~~Schedule IN Class~~~~Wednesday 6th Jan~~~~3-4 (PHILL) Editing4-5 Voice Over Complete~~Monday 11th - 8thEditing IN classWednesday 13th - 10th FebEditing in Mac RoomFriday 12th FebTRAILER + BLOGGER DEADLINE!
So, we were set the task to create a Schedule among our groups in order to organise ourselves much better and visualise what needs to be done next in order to complete our trailer in sufficient time and space. So, in today's lesson, (Mon 4th Jan 2010), we all huddled together and started grouping our ideas together of what to do, when to do. So, today we spent deciding on our Schedule and what everyone's initial role was and what they'll be contributing in relation to this. Thus, we have finally decided to meet up weekly on Wednesdays to help Raza out with his Editing, as this role entails a major aspect of the trailer as it's the most hardest role to complete as well as the longest process. Therefore; we have all concluded to help him out with any problems which may occur and anything else in order to improve the finished result.

Genre

2010-01-03T03:58:00.001-08:00

Genre = Thriller

In order for me and my group to produce a Thriller Trailer which is professional and effective, we can only compare and contrast previous Thriller trailers; from which we can establish what the conventions of a Thriller trailer are characteristics of. The locations used in the trailers are essential and useful as they set out clues about what the film entails and what it's about in terms of storyline. In Afterschool, for instance, the locations used reflects the protagonist's contrasting school-like behaviour with his bizarre and osychotic personality.

This simply demonstrates the locating of the character's first and how effective it turns out to be, first we see the protagonist in his school and we see him surrounded by normal sophisticated and respectable people such as teachers, colleagues, etc. and at this point we notice a very kind-hearted and mature side of the main protagonist, however the next location is his bedroom where he is with his school mates and we notice a sort of perverted side to him and we see various shots of a girl getting murdered brutally which leads us to this protagonist as a main suspect which starts to arises questions which therefore refers to locations as being a common convention of a Thriller trailer.

The use of Mise-En-Scene is highly effective in Thrillers as they're used to create suspense as it's approached in many different ways. We can see this in Moon as the Mise en Scene used in this British Thriller is spectacular as we get an eery sort of sense through the low key lighting and dark atmospheres used within the storyline.

Audience

2010-01-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

In terms of audience, most Thrillers would have as much of a mass target audience as possible, to increase their fame and film awareness, and usually Thriller films would range their target audience from 14 to 50 year olds, but a majority of 18 to 24 years olds would be their primary target audience as they'd be able to understand the concept more and would relate to a preferred meaning (they would agree with what has been given to them). Thus Thriller-film directors would try and resist attracting a Niche audience (except if it were an Independent Thriller film) then they would most likely have many who'd have an Oppositional Reading towards the film (Disagree with the given medium) or even a Negotiated Reading (Understand the text but agree on some aspects of the film). Also, we would aim toward a both male and female audience and try and expand our target audience as much as possible, in general 57% of women are targeted to watch a Thriller movie whereas 43% of males are targeted for Thriller films. In terms of demographics, we would aim our Thriller trailer towards working class (Group D).

In relation to our trailer, we have aimed our Thriller film towards 18 to 24 year olds and we may rely on a Niche audience, as it is classed an Independant British film, which was similarly styled with This is England which was an Independant film as it consisted of a Low budget (1.5 Million), distributed by an Independant film company (IFC) and had unexpectadly won an award at the 2007 British Academy Film Awards for best film thus transforming from a Niche audience to a Large worldwide reception.

I have also created 2 polls on the sidebar to see what others think in terms of Thriller movies, their conventions and what they'd usually expect to see in a Thriller trailer and what they'd expect from this film in general.

~Filming~

2010-01-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

What went WELL

Everything went according to plan! Well for instance, if we had booked out the camera equipment for the weekend to film in the exterior locations, that's exactly what we did. Everyone turned up at the exact place and time and we weren't too dependant on one another.
Everyone was brimming with ideas and enthusiastic about the filming experience. In other words, when we had our weekly meetings, if one was stuck on something, say they had trouble writing a script, either one of us would help the other in aid of what to write next.
Also, if we had planned to take a shot of something and we didn't, we would change the shot afterwards as a group and come up with a unanimous result and change it together rather than doing it without the other's consent or agreement.

Plus, the shots we had taken, as a group, were dynamic and as proof I'd taken photographs of the group working as a team rather than an individual, I also shared the pictures among the group to prove it was a group effort.

What went Not so Well:

As a matter of fact, although everyone was dedicated to their role, we still had trouble with our cast list. Although everyone bought some people to play the parts, we couldn't settle on who's who. To solve this crisis, we decided to have a vote on who would play their role best and who is to play the protagonist along with the antagonist and who would portray real chemistry between other members.
Unfortunately, not everyone was flexible with time. For instance, if we were to film a scene which was necessary to film, some weren't available at the time and had lectures, such as when Raza and Suhail filmed the uploading scene, me and Sameria had lessons at the time and weren't available to assist the crew. Also, if we'd booked the camera equipment overnight, not everyone started at 9 to hand in the equipment before 9, as it's a college policy to follow, so to fix the problem, some made compromises to come in early to hand in the camera equipment which is what I did as I had the equipment to film the scene with my parents.

~Post Production~

2010-01-02T12:37:00.000-08:00

In terms of Post production, the group underwent a great deal of research and planning in order to get the overall perfect score. There is proof of this which can be seen through the rough edits used for captions, JPEG's, Logo's and the overall structure of our trailer. The JPEG's we used were mainly for the use of logo's such as Film4, Gogo Media, Paramount Vantage and the UK Film Council. Basically,

Not only did we create rough edits f

or the actual logo's we were to use but also captionsfrom film critics and 5 star ratings along with the actual title of the film along with the release date and the website for further information.

Reflection on PROGESS...

2010-01-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Fortunately, our trailer is running along smoothly and fine and have been able to fulfill all the requirements there are in order to complete this, such as; booking and returning camera equipment on time which has enabled us to film what we've had to film in the given time, completing the voice edit and voice over, filmed all the scenes according to the step outline & storyboard and editing as much as possible before breaking up. In other words..

Completed List:

What we have left to do is the editing aspects which is ideal as the editing process is the longest to complete so

we shall help Raza complete the editing process and help him conjure all the individual shots into one long strip to

create a Trailer. We also have the written work to complete which would be the evaluation, the problems we encountered

along with the improvements we made, in conclusion, although we have maintained a lot, there is yet more to maintain in

order to complete our trailer

To Do List:

~Individual Role & Contribution~

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Role

My initial given role was ~~music~~ sound. Having given this role, I have had to maintain many responsibilities such as:

Making sure everyone knows what to see whilst filming (speech and dialogue)
Undertake specific aspects of research to perform better in my role (Voice over conventions)
Research many sound tracks, and look through what might sound realistic and what is actually conventional in an Independent film trailer. Here are some examples of the music videos and soundtracks we have seen and considered;

Contribution

Having been given this role, it's my duty now to carry it out through actions, here are a few things I have contributed for the group:

Firstly, my role was sound thus I have shown much attention to our voice over and the music edits. I was in charge of script, and making sure Sam and Michael knew what to see along with the rest of the actors.
Also, the sound effects were essential in order to complete the voice edits.
And I have contributed to the group as a team member, by making sure everyone is present at our weekly meetings, making sure we book the equipment and making sure it's returned aswell and making sure everyone puts all their effort into our trailer project!

~Strenths & Weaknesses~ So Far...

2010-01-02T10:15:00.000-08:00

Strengths:

My group is very reliable and enthusiastic with ideas which is always an advantage as we all construct good ideas and produce them well. Everyone has a copy of everything, such as the storyboard or the script so we all know what's happening where...
Everyone is dedicated to their role. For instance, Raza is in charge of editing and has already produced some shots for the trailer such as the awards/nominations to help express the work and to use his role, has already edited it.
We all work as a team and nobody is left behind, such as Sameria. Although she is in charge of scriptwriting, we all work together to help improve each other's qualities instead of debating about individuality.
Everyone is flexible with time. Suhail for instance, he is in charge of camera and had scheduelled to film on the weekend, everyone was on time and worked as a team.

Weaknesses:

Although we are subject to our roles, we aren't as organised as we should be. Although everyone has a copy of everything, our work isn't in one place. In order to improve this, we have set everyday Wednesday afternoon as a meeting day we're we all meet up at a specifiic time and explore the written aspects of our trailer further such as the step-outline.
We are currently having trouble with our cast. Although we need more assistance with this as our cast list isn't set yet. We need to be more flexible in time and make sure others are also to aid us. To solve this dilemma, we have also conjured up a plan to ask our cast for any available time on their hands whenever we have the chance. So instead of relying on just one individual to ask our cast for their time, we will all ask to our best.

~Sound Effects~

2009-12-15T13:00:00.001-08:00

Having completed half of our voice over, we must now search for realistic sound effects. Although my user has limited access. many sites for downloading sound effects were blocked, thus I received help from Sarah to help me look for sound effects from her mac book. Here is a list of sound effects we hope to include in our trailer:

School Bell (To create a school-time atmosphere and to make it sound as if we're in an actual school.
Leaves Shuffling (To give it that naturalistic feel and to include in the park scene, to make it easier for one to imagine one is walking through the parkduring Autumn.
Birds singing/Chirping (Also to be included within the park scene along with other noises you'd hear in the park, i.e ice cream van and children laughing/playing.
Heavy breathing/Panting (to go along with Thriller conventions, to be included when the protagonist is dragging the dead girl's body.

Soundtrack

2009-12-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my group members, here is a list of possible soundtrack we can include, from which we have all conjured up:

I have decided to use music to minimal effect in "TheCut", in order to capture the "heavier feel" of the darker stle of the trailer, Sometimes movie music feels fake and unrealistic, silence can be scarier than music. We decided to keep the music to minimal to give it that documentary feel.

The Trailer Plan

2009-12-11T05:14:00.000-08:00

A preview of how our trailer is to look, a sort of step outline plan of how our trailer will order itself chonologically. ( Double-click to enlarge)

7th Meeting

2009-12-09T10:41:00.000-08:00

On 9th of December, we all were to meet after college together, as a group. In this meeting, all we needed was the scene of Raza uploading his footage onto the Mac, and seeing as Suhail was in charge of filming, he filmed it with the camera I booked out for this date for us to engage our filming process. Therefore, Suhail filmed the scene to his full effort along with Raza acting out his scene, and I was planning for future filming as it will be beneficial for us all to film everything we have left to film before the Christmas holidays as the time there reminding shall be used for editing what we have filmed. I decided, that next Wednesday on the 16th of December, we shall film the remainder of our trailer including the toilet scene where Raza is lying unconscious on the floor where he is was attacked by the mysterious figure in the toilets after being excused from class.

While Raza and Suhail are filming in the toilets, me and Sameria shall focus on creating and editing the rest of our captions on Photo Shop as it is unnecessary for us to accompany the other group members in the boys toilets as it is wasting valuable time which can be spent on another important aspect such as sound and editing.

In conclusion, everyone had a productive day as we had filmed one valuable scene which combined the trailer together. And we have decided to film the remainder of what is left to film next Wednesday before the Christmas holidays.

Logo's/Captions

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Here is a selection of logo's and captions we can use to extend the film trailer as well as making it seem like a film trailer through it's codes and conventions. These logo's have been distributed/found and edited by everyone from the group:

This logo was found by Suhail Muhammed through research and r

epresents an Independent British film and is quite rare in it's colourful style!

Filmfour represents a niche audience as

it doesn't distribute as many films as Warner Bros. does, but again it represents an Independent aspect.

^^ This is cut from the actual main poster we created in order to edit the trailer in terms of captions. This was created on PhotoShop along with dafont.com

Another Independent distribution company well known for distributing films like The country for Old men and There will be blood.

The UKFC another, Independent flm distribution company backed by the UK government to establish educational films thus would be a great company to use.

Another piece created from photoshop stating: "Outstanding, first-rate...and compelling" a quote from Phillip French, an editor from the Observer, another serious aspect to set the tone.

Five stars to make the whole trailer realistic enough with a nominated aspect of being rated. Therefore, the fuction of this caption is for the film to be taken seriously as it's considered to be a serious, independent, British best seller.

FILMING! Stage 3 (Neighbourhood - Yardly)

2009-12-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

On Monday the 7th of December, I arranged to book the camera equipment for me to film at home, in my neighbourhood; to film the parents and neighbour's questioning the victim through the camera. My next-door neighbour was willing to participate along with my parents. Here are a few pictures I took of the environment and the essence of the scenes;

^^ Me trying to get used to the camera and how it works from various angles and shots. In other words, having a test go and test filming.

^^ This is a long shot of my neighbour's home. She is Christian thus it wou

ld provide more diversity for our scenes.

Here is a shot of my mother playing the role of the victim's mother and tried to play the role to her fullest through her facial expressions and tried to express it through her body language.

Here's another high angle shot of my mother with her youngest daughter as she tries to seek comfort through her and tried to portray this scene as believable as possible.

Voice Over

2009-12-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

In terms of voice over, it was my job to complete this assignment given to me. Thus, on the 2nd of December, I asked Michael Trevaillon from the English Department if he were available to voice-over our trailer. I decided to choose Miche because he has a soulful voice plus a Canadian accent which is lovely and unique! =) Luckily, he had time and read out a small script I provided for him which was:

Based on a True Story
Nominated for best film
At the Cannes film festival in 2008
"Intriguing, fast-paced, neat."
^^ Empire Magazine
The Cut (title)

Although, voice over's aren't a well-known conventions for an independent film trailer, we thought we'd go solo and start a new convention of our own. The least there is to say, the more effective it shall be.

We also asked Sam Rouse to participate from the media department,as the sound was all distorted on screen, we told Sam to repeat his script but this time, adressing the Mic in the studio room. We decided to go for Sam as he was on screen for the filming but he sounds extremely enthusiastic and blissful as he always is! =) Here are the lines for Sam in which he said;

Welcome to film club, it will change your lives!
The world on your doorstep...
The trees, the birds, the nature
It's great to see some enthusiastic film-makers!

Now, that we have completed the voice-over, the sound is yet to composed. Thanks to Suhail, we have found a song composed by Clint Mansell called "Death is the road to awe"from the operatic and classical era, here's a preview of the tune;

Improvements made...

2009-12-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

Although we may have been unlucky to encounter such problems, or we may have even made some mistakes; the most important things to do is to learn from your mistakes! So here are a few improvements and corrections we made to make it more beneficial to us in terms of development and progression;

Although, the sound wasn't exactly audible, we can still fix that as we can record in the studio room in college for sound purpose's, which we have already done. So what we have recorded are the sound effects (school bell, shuffling noises of leaves and background everyday noises), voice-over (we need one who has a deep and one-0f-a-kind voice to set the serious tone), dialogue (which we will hear Sam speak along with the rest of the characters according to their dialogues) and music ( classical, operatic music to set a spiritual theme to it)
Having uploaded our work onto FCE, we did suffer from some stress as it would mean to go out to our various locations and film all again, but in order to solve this dilemma, we got our teacher, Sarah to upload our footage onto her mac book and was accomplished successfully as her user login may have had more privilege than ours.
Finally, although we did spent plenty of time on editing, we have now started pre-planning for future jobs and roles to assign to one another to make the whole process less time-consuming as everyone would have assigned roles to do, such as me having to film some scenes in my neighbourhood to include more diversity, Suhail having to book out the equipment for future filming and arranging what to film where. Raza currently has the role of creating/editing captions and organising various fonts. Sameria and me have the role of sound and how to edit the voice over, along with the music and sound effects on garage band.

Problems encountered; ^^

2009-12-08T09:17:00.000-08:00

Although, as a group, we've managed to film most of our storyboard, we have encountered a few problems which has delayed our project further in ters of time. Here were the problems we faced;

Firstly, the sound wasn't exactly clear when we uploaded our work onto FinalCut Express, we could hardly hear the sounds, words, any of the dialogue from our recorded scenes such as the teacher scene with Sam in a room full of students. Sometimes we'd be able to hear the sounds but sometimes it would seem muffled which didn't really help as we were heavily relying on the dialogue to help progress the trailer.
Secondly, having uploaded our work onto FCE, our work was worth half an hour's worth of recording, and it soon came out to be a long stretch divided up in to 2 second shots which obviously didn't seem genuine or satisfying enough to qualify for a thriller trailer as it all looked rather "choppy" and disfigured.
Furthermore, as a group, we spent a great deal of time only on the fixing of the editing aspects which may be due to a faulty tape or the equipment supplied to us.

6th Meeting

2009-12-07T02:42:00.001-08:00

As a group, we met again on the Wednesday the 2nd of December. In our meeting, we decided upon the various conventions of a Thriller trailer. We all came up with a list to provide for the trailer. I wrote them in the yellow book for everyone to intake. Here is a list of captions we all came up (Me and Sameria had researched by looking at other film trailers with similar aspects from our trailer, such as being a British film, along with being an Independent film as well as being a Low-Budget film. Here is a list of a few other British, Independent, Low-Budget - based film trailers:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQTJUfqNJts ( Moon )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGFbWhlVezo ( Afterschool )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rXw1myJlpg ( In the loop )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6Km9L1Sqd0(Nowhere boy)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxz03dyZj40 ( Mugabe and the White African )

Thus, I researched trailer captions by looking at trailers with similar codes and conventions to our trailer and came up with a list of various captions we can use to sustain the "feel" of a British Independent film:

Awards/Nominations. EG; Cannes Film festival 2008
Distribution companies. EG; GreenT
Quotes from film critics. EG; "Intriguing, fast-paced, neat." by Phillip French - The Observer
Film title. EG; THE CUT, A FILM BY___________
Institutional Data. EG; a GREENT CLASSICS production. FILMFOUR presents THE CUT in association with GREENT. "THE CUT". RAZA MUSTAFA. UZMA AKBER. Casting director SAMERIA IDRIS. Director of Photography, HINA MAJEED. Written, Produced and Directed by SUHAIL MUHAMMED. etc etc.
Logo's. EG; We shall create logo's such as greenT, filmfour along with award logo's such as the Cannes film festival logo

Having construted variuous logo's for our trailer, we also went with creating our voice-over to move the trailer further in terms of speed as the deadline is pretty soon. Suhail asked Sam for him to read out his script again for the trailer as we went through some difficulties in terms of speech and dialogue when we uploaded our work, so SAM read out his script and me and Sameria went to the English department to ask Michael Trevaillon to voice opver our film trailer as he consists of a deep voice with an Canadian accent along with a unique feel. The sound went pretty well as we all played our parts and carried on. The voice over was uploaded onto garageband on my account, so it is my duty now to carry on in terms of sound effects, voice-over and music.

FILMING! Stage 2 (Indoor - JCC)

2009-11-29T14:33:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday the 25th of November 2009, as a group, we decided to film the rest of our trailer in terms of interior locations, i.e. JCC. In this scene, we filmed the classroom scene where Film Club is born. We see a teacher (Sam!) who is teaching a bunch of "enthusiastic filmakers". So basically, this is our opening scene (obviously, not in chronological order) with the assistance of our cast and crew... Here a few photographs I took of everyone during the production process..

^^ Here is a photograph of Suhail constructing various angles of the classroom with the camera. In this shot, he captured the teacher (Sam) while explaining "Film Club to the students who are listening with excitement! In this picture, there is Sameria and Raza, the cast and crew members along with me who is also taking part! =D

^^ Here's a close up of "Film Club" the poster, which Suhail created on Publisher. This poster is a key scene for our trailer as it gives a clear overview of what film club actually is as well as seeing the poster yourself along with the characters who did also in the scene.

^^ As a group, we had a few difficulties with the camera, considering as it was a completely new camera to us, as nobody from the group has ever used it before. Thus, here is a shot of Sam trying to help out with the camera along with the tripod - to shorten it's legs for a similar scene already taken but from a different and shorter angle.

^^ Here's a photo of Film Club being filmed by Suhai. We thought we'd film the poster as an extreme close up so it gives that extra impact on how effective the poster is and to make it clearer for it's viewers.

^^ Here is a long shot of the entire cast and crew conjured by everyoine from the group. To make it fair, everyone had to bring 2 or 3 people along with them for filming processes to make it much easier to proceed. So I bought Aisha Ahmed, Sameria bought Tayyub and Raza bought Uzma. Suhail bought about 5 people to cast as "fillers" to make the classroom scene seem more realistic and believable. We all also took part and played our roles as "filmakers". This scene was constructed quite successfully as everyone played their role perfectly as if a real club was to be born!

5th Meeting =)

2009-11-29T14:11:00.000-08:00

Our 5th meeting, as a group, was on Wednesday the 25th of November 2009 where we all discussed our filming process further. Here, we talked about the remainder of our trailer and where to shoot? Well, what we came up with was that on that same day, Wednesday after college, we shall film the interior remainder of the trailer. Considering that we all did bring 3 or 4 people to participate for our production. Fortunately, Sam was available like we asked him and acted out his role, with accordance to the script and stage directions from our help. Everyone has a specific role and portrayed it successfully! =)

Suhail - [FILMING], Suhail was in charge of filming and filmed the study scene from various angles/shots which worked pretty well. He also created a "Film Club" poster for the scene which was rather beneficial for this shot.
Raza - Raza, being the protagonist, acted out his scene as the "main guy" and helped Suhail for filming the shots and sort of directed some aspects of the scene as he tole some to act in a specific way, in terms of figure movement and body language.
Sameria - Her job was speech and dialogue. In other words she helped remind everyone what to say and how to say it. For instance, she gave Sam the script and reminded him what to say.
Hina [ME] - Lastly, I helped everyone engage together as a group. For example, if someone was late, I helped get all the equipment ready and bought the cast together, I also helped with the props, such as schoolbooks, paper, pens and cameras to make the scene realistic as possible. Having taken photographs of the group during production, I also distributed them to everyone to help them for future reference.

In conclusion, we had a very productive day as we've finished three quarters ofthe trailer, with Sam's help afcourse and the entire cast and crew. All that is left to film is the Mac/Toilets scene which should be completed by next week along with the parents/neighbours questioning scence which is to be filmed in my area.

BLOGGER UPDATE (Hmk)

2009-11-22T13:55:00.000-08:00

In order to present our work as a group, I will now identify what we have planned and organised in order to extened the trailer in a more developed way:

Recce Notes; (Exploration of Area)

Basically, our trailer is based on a Thriller-based genre which intends to thrill the audience in terms of thriller convention such as costume, location and props. Our inspiration came from AfterSchool which is a 2009 film about a young American student who accidentally captures the death of his two classmates on camera. This has influenced us to create our trailer on the basis of this. We also intend to use a similar style and aura of the film to give it a "thriller" effect.

PhotoGraphs (Some of the photographs I took of everyone in the group at their best)

Location (In brief summary)

As a whole, we have decided to film in various interior and exterior locations to give the film a typical "feel" for a trailer. Here is a brief list of our location spots;

Canon Hill Park (For the main park scene where the footage is filmed)
JCC Mac Room (Where the secret footage is discovered)
Library/Classroom (To set the story, the birth for film club!)

Trailers (Afterschool)

Here is a trailer of our influentional film which has inspired us to create a trailer for...The Cut!

Schedule: (In brief)

Every Monday/Tuesday = Try to book camera equipment (filming purposes...)

Every Wednesday afternoon = Group meeting (discuss topics in detail)

Every Friday/Weekend = Filming, if not then updating our blogs! :D

Costume:

The protagonist is wearing casual wear (jeans and top to equate it a realistic effect) whereas the antagonist is hidden with maybe a hoodie and some shoes with distinguished laces. The rest of the classmates are dressed in everyday clothes along with the teacher, as one would normally in similar circumstances.

Props (What the characters engage with)

The only props we are to use are the computers used for the editiing scene and the laces along with the distinguished shoes. The camera also participates here as the protagonist works with the video camera to film his "Nature Project".

Step-Outline:

Shot 1 - Happy kids/students finish school scene. End of school "After school". Hear the sound of bell to prove this. Wide-shot of the entire school building with students rushing home.
Shot 2 - "Film Club" poster in the corner - we see a close-up of this, a clear description. Students staring at this.
Shot 3 - Focus on the "Popular guy" in school. He's flirtatious, follows a bunch of girls into the classroom (Film Club Meeting). Girls were previously seen looking at the poster, (interested in club). Popular guy spots the girls, (interested in girls...)
Shot 4 - The protagonist (Popular guy) is extremely talkative. He's seen sitting at the back of the class, "chatting up" the girls. Mid-Shot of this scene of the socialising, but we hear the teacher talking in the background - AUDITORY IMAGERY! Hear something else but on screen is displayed another. Teacher talking about "Nature project", popular guy not interested, not paying attention and teacher is out of focus, (blurred). Protagonist is in focus here.
Shot 5 - Over-the-shoulder shot, popular guy and girl in conversation, although the focus here is on the teacher, she is currently blurred, the two students = in focus. The boy and girl are obviously flirting/giggling. (Shoulder to shoulder). The teacher is walking around in the background, the board is in focus also.
Shot 6 - Everyone is put in groups. A wide-shot of the park (Canon Hill Park), a group of five, including the protagonists, are splitting up. Boy and girl are mocking around, all are off to film for Nature project.
Shot 7 - A scene of the two of them flirting again, except this time a theme of playfulness is involved. The boy is filming the girl, touchin her hair, she refuses - playfulness.
Shot 8 - The girl here runs off (playing hard-to-get), a medium shot of this, tracking in/out.
Shot 9 - The boy accidentally drops the camera on the floor
Shot 10 - The camera is tilted, the audience here see through the camera's lens...
Shot 11 - The boy chases after the girl without realising he has dropped the camera, it is on the floor – unnoticed at the moment, we hear the boy apologising for his rational behaviour earlier. In this scene, we see a girl (student) being dragged away, and we recognise something from the killer, his fluorescent shoe laces.
Shot 12 – The boy has finally realised that he has dropped the camera, he goes back to retrieve the camera, we see a Track-in of the blank camera scene, he switches it off.
Shot 13 – Back at the college now (Mac Room) Similar scene to the beginning, the boy is now flirting with a bunch of different girls now, again similar scene of shoulder to shoulder but this time the focus is ON the teacher, we are concentrating on what is actually said – time to upload the work of “Nature Project”.
Shot 14 – Registration scene, two are missing from the club, one arrives late. Tilt-up from the register to the empty seat to signify missing and lateness.
Shot 15 – The boy enters through the door where the popular boy spots his fluorescent laces and comments on this, compliments them.
Shot 16 – Time to upload the work (headphones) We finally see the full scene where the boy spots the laces, and is restless/paranoid and shocked after what’s happened, ask to go to the toilet to “freshen up”, the killer spots his paranoia.
Shot17 (Final) – The popular boy is washing his hands and face in the toilets, is looking down and spots those same laces, he is looking down, we get a tilt up where he starts to look up at the face and BAM! IS punched in the face.

Draft Script: (SCREENPLAY)

EXT.PARK.EVENING

A strange MAN is dragging a woman’s body and is breathing heavily. It is set in a mystical forest woodland surrounding.

STRANGE MAN

Oh! C’mon...

He tries dragging the body across the floor with great difficulty

VICTIM

(Groaning)

Huh? Wha – Where am I?

CUT TO:

2. INT. SCHOOL CORRIDOR. LATE AFTERNOON

The school bell has just rung and in the school corridor a poster, “FILM CLUB” is displayed on a wall with a group of students staring at it.

1^st STUDENT

Ooh! What’s this? Film club, Awesome, it starts today!

2^nd STUDENT

I’m so in, I love using video cameras, plus it’ll look great on my CV!

A group of students hum and nod in agreement

CUT TO:

3. INT.FILM STUDIO. LATE AFTERNOON

A group of giggling girls enter the film studio without realising that they’re being followed by KAMRAN, a happy-go-lucky, student who is flirtatious around women.

DEREK

Come on in! Have a seat, and welcome to film club! It’s good to see lots of enthusiastic filmmakers.

CUT TO:

4. EXT.PARK.AFTERNOON

A group of students, in a nearby forest, are filming various shots of trees, birds and woodland creatures in order to attain their nature project.

VO of DEREK

The task I’ve set you is to capture the beauty of nature that lies all around us...

This is a cue to describe what we actually see on camera. The camera here is focused on ALEX here whilst we here DEREK instructing him in the background. Currently, the focus here is on ALEX so we are concentrating on his actions.

KAMRAN

So, I’m stuck with you then?

ALEX

I guess. Enough of the innocent act, I know why you’re here, so leave me alone!

KAMRAN

Whatever...I’m here to receive my excellent letter of recommendation!

ALEX is walking off in an opposite direction

VO of DEREK

The trees...the leaves....the birds...

KAMRAN

Hey...wait up!

KAMRAN drops his camera and runs after her.

CUT TO:

5. INT.JCC.MAC ROOM.EVENING

DEREK is helping students upload their work. KAMRAN is using headphones and is going through his footage. We see the footage SAM recorded of the leafy trees and the feathered creatures. Suddenly, we see the camera drop to the ground and soon afterwards we see someone’s legs being dragged away by someone wearing fluorescent green laces. SAM enters the Mac Room. SAM is a gentle character with a timid personality.

SAM

(Panting)

Sorry I’m late DEREK.

DEREK

No worries lad, have a seat.

KAMRAN spots SAM’s fluorescent laces.

KAMRAN

(Anxiously)

Can I go to the toilet Sir?

CUT TO:

6. INT. TOILETS.EVENING.

The toilets are dark and all we can hear is a tap dripping. KAMRAN splashes water in his face and his hands are trembling with fear. He turns around looking at the floor and green laces.

KAMRAN

You

SAM punches KAMRAN in the face. KAMRAN lays unconscious on the floor.

CUT TO:

7. EXT.PARK.AFTERNOON.

ALEX has run away from KAMRAN, managing to lose him. She spots SAM with a bunch of other guys, wearing grey hoodies. They are all sharing something among them.

ALEX

(Whispering)

What?

ALEX then hides into a shrub hoping to hide without being noticed. The group all split up and run off together, apart from SAM who is creeping behind the bush.

SAM

Hey, what you doing in here eh?

ALEX is silent with fear

SAM

What’s wrong with you?

ALEX is still quiet, but this time she is whimpering

SAM

(Seriously)

What did you see?

WHAT DID YOU SEE!?

ALEX tries to do a runner but SAM manages to grab her by the wrist.

SAM

If you tell anyone, and I mean anyone, you’ll regret it

D’ya hear me!?

ALEX

(Gasps)

4th Meeting...

2009-11-18T06:25:00.000-08:00

Our next meeting is on Wednesday the 18th of November 2009, here we will discuss the further locations we can film for the rest of our trailer. Having completed the exterior locations for our trailer, we now need to complete the interior locations such as the college library, the Mac room and even at home. We will also help each other extend the script in terms of emotions, suggestions and stage directions to make it easier to read out aloud.

We shall also discuss who will be our cast for the interior locations to film, and have decided to choose Sam to act out the role for a film club teacher who is in charge and to play a rather passive role. Hopefully, we shall discuss the storyboard further and explain what has been changed and how we can work around this.

FILMING! Stage 1 (Outdoor - Canon Hill)

2009-11-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

As a group, we booked out our camera equipment on Friday 13th November to start filming for the extended weekend starting Starting Saturday the 14th November 2009. We filmed the main (park) scene to begin with to make the plot seem visual in our minds. We began shooting Canon Hill park and some various shots of the park itself along with various angles to provide a variety of shooting techniques. Raza and Uzma were the protagonists who were acting out the main scene according to the script and the screenplay provided by me and Sameria. The two of us helped the stage directions as well as helping out the actors act and behave in our intended ways as well as suggesting various shots to take from different perspectives. I also took pictures of everyone whilst filming and acting on their parts to help prove our work. Suhail was in charge of camera, who actually filmed the entire footage with the camera.

Here are a few pictures I took from Canon Hill park of everyone at their best;

Improvisations/Extended Shots

2009-11-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

Here are a list of shots provided by my group memebers along with my tutor which has helped enable to us explore further within the plot and the trailer itself:

Extra shots of the park. Nature Project; Trees, birds, insects, plants, etc. (A quick succession of these shots - MONTGAE)
The students talking about the "accused£ being the killer - all blaming him...
The main character (protagonist) fights with another (creating more mystery and ambiguity) - "You did it?"
Captions/Awards - These will be done in a more later stage for editing purposes, such as; nominations, five-star rate, "The Cut" teaser poster and the release date.
Looking at the girl's (victim) photograph in a newspaper article (to extend the plot further)
The protagonist is running away from someone (we don't see), maybe in the forest?
He confesses to a friend, "Maybe, I did it?"
His own investigation, frustration and anger released, "I'm going to prove it!"

These are a few shots we all came up with as a group to helped extened our trailer further in terms of extended shots, this will hopefully increase the length of time we have remaining and fulfill the 3 minutes we have to film...

3rd Meeting

2009-11-11T03:55:00.000-08:00

Our next meeting commences on 11th November at 4pm till 5, in our meeting we shall be meeting up with our cast list and pre-planning for filming purposes. As a group, we intend to book the camera equipment on Friday at 3:20, cinluding 2 cameras and a tripod. We will also be planning on what to take with us (props) and who's coming where. I am in charge of the equipment, therefore it is my duty to make sure I bring the camera, it is safe and make sure to return it back to Sarah on Tuesday.
We will also extend our trailer shots through ou rstep-outline as we have not enough shots to cover our three minutes within the trailer. Currently we have about 20 shots, including the entire plot but hopefully we intend to expand this limit to 50 shots as done so in various other trailers such as Funny Games U.S and Afterschool which has about 50-200 shots for just 2 minutes, therefore we hope to cover this in our meeting. We will have our cast list which would cover the protagonist's role, antagonists and the "background" cast. There shall be about 6-12 people in total.

Poster/Editing

2009-11-02T15:48:00.001-08:00

For editing purposes, I created a teaser poster and a film poster for our film trailer, it was also used for coursework and editing purposes through PhotoShop.

Teaser Poster: Main Poster:

Props

2009-11-02T15:38:00.001-08:00

In our group, we have a wide assortment of props available in which we'll use in order to complete our project.

Shoe laces Plastic Bag Video Camera

Location

2009-11-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

In terms of narrative, we have a variety of various locations, to help expand some broader footage in different areas, such as Small Heath, Kings Heath and the City Centre. In order to capture the footage in the "forest" we'll need some locations where there are trees, barks, leaves, grass etc.

Canon Hill Park
Small Heath Park;
Library;

Possible Ending (Individual Role..)

2009-10-23T01:37:00.000-07:00

After oour group meeting on the 21's of October, 2009 at 4pm till 5pm, we finally decided on our first 10 shots together, as a group. We finally concluded that each of us should consume of a possible ending for the film trailer (Create 6 Extra shots) and draw our storyboards individually as we have extra and broader ideas then.

POSIBBLE ENDING: [Hina’s Version]
· Shot 11 - The boy chases after the girl without realising he has dropped the camera, it is on the floor – unnoticed at the moment, we hear the boy apologising for his rational behaviour earlier. In this scene, we see a girl (student) being dragged away, and we recognise something from the killer, his fluorescent shoe laces.
· Shot 12 – The boy has finally realised that he has dropped the camera, he goes back to retrieve the camera, we see a Track-in of the blank camera scene, he switches it off.
· Shot 13 – Back at the college now (Mac Room) Similar scene to the beginning, the boy is now flirting with a bunch of different girls now, again similar scene of shoulder to shoulder but this time the focus is ON the teacher, we are concentrating on what is actually said – time to upload the work of “Nature Project”.
· Shot 14 – Registration scene, two are missing from the club, one arrives late. Tilt-up from the register to the empty seat to signify missing and lateness.
· Shot 15 – The boy enters through the door where the popular boy spots his fluorescent laces and comments on this, compliments them.
· Shot 16 – Time to upload the work (headphones) We finally see the full scene where the boy spots the laces, and is restless/paranoid and shocked after what’s happened, ask to go to the toilet to “freshen up”, the killer spots his paranoia.
· Shot17 (Final) – The popular boy is washing his hands and face in the toilets, is looking down and spots those same laces, he is looking down, we get a tilt up where he starts to look up at the face and BAM! IS punched in the face.
Here we see a sort of cliff-hanger ending which is one of the key conventions of a Thriller movie.

Storyboard progress so far... (Brief Summary)

2009-10-21T12:53:00.001-07:00

Shot 1 - Happy kids/students finish school scene. End of school "After school". Hear the sound of bell to prove this. Wide-shot of the entire school building with students rushing home.

Shot 2 - "Film Club" poster in the corner - we see a close-up of this, a clear description. Students staring at this.

Shot 3 - Focus on the "Popular guy" in school. He's flirtatious, follows a bunch of girls into the classroom (Film Club Meeting). Girls were previously seen looking at the poster, (interested in club).

Popular guy spots the girls, (interested in girls...)

Shot 4 - The protagonist (Popular guy) is extremely talkative. He's seen sitting at the back of the class, "chatting up" the girls. Mid-Shot of this scene of the socialising, but we hear the teacher

talking in the background - AUDITORY IMAGERY! Hear something else but on screen is displayed another. Teacher talking about "Nature project", popular guy not interested, not paying attention

and teacher is out of focus, (blurred). Protagonist is in focus here.

Shot 5 - Over-the-shoulder shot, popular guy and girl in conversation, although the focus here is on the teacher, she is currently blurred, the two students = in focus. The boy and girl are obviously

flirting/giggling. (Shoulder to shoulder). The teacher is walking around in the background, the board is in focus also.

Shot 6 - Everyone is put in groups. A wide-shot of the park (Canon Hill Park), a group of five, including the protagonists, are splitting up. Boy and girl are mocking around, all are off to film for

Nature project.

Shot 7 - A scene of the two of them flirting again, except this time a theme of playfulness is involved. The boy is filming the girl, touchin her hair, she refuses - playfulness.

Shot 8 - The girl here runs off (playing hard-to-get), a medium shot of this, tracking in/out.

Shot 9 - The boy accidentally drops the camera on the floor

Shot 10 - The camera is tilted, the audience here see through the camera's lens...

2nd Week Progress (Meeting)

2009-10-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

This week, as a group we decided to meet up together at 4pm-5pm to decide on our storyboard ideas and to elaborate our storyline itself. We each pitched our own ideas to one another as well as drawing our storyboard at the same time - this helped me to see the different approaches and perspectives of my group members. Therefore, the four of us, all stayed after college today to help each other with our understanding of the film trailer, the music, the characters and the storyboard.

OUR Movie Trailer, :]

2009-10-19T03:11:00.000-07:00

In our movie trailer, what you are going to see is a fast-paced montage, basically you hear the music, but you see something else, the pace will go quicker and quicker to increase tension for the audience and toward the ending, all you can hear is silence.

In the beginning, there shall be an introduction as to what is happening, what is the storyline, the plot. In terms of dynamics (loudness), the trailer may start with a quiet base and eventually leading toward a louder end to create tension and anxiety + to help represent a specific theme, i.e happiness, sadness or being scared.

We shall use score, basically music being composed specifically for the text, for example background music, such as a piano or anything instrumental.
In terms of Dialogue, there shall be conversations amongst the group members helping us narrate the film.

Sounds will be mainly digetic (realistic sounds) such as a heartbeat, someone breathing or walking – to create anxiety.
There will also be aspects of auditory imagery, as one would speak of something and it will be displayed on screen, about what they’re talking about...

Sound Effects!?

2009-10-19T03:10:00.000-07:00

The focus point of many modern-day trailers would be the scenes including the sound effects and the music. The trailer for the "Dark Knight" would be the most outstanding as it's won 3 awards, one for being the best film trailer of the year"!

Inspiration...?

2009-10-19T03:07:00.001-07:00

*~After School*~
Robert is a young American who accidentally captures on camera the tragic death of two classmates. Their lives become memorialized but the video memorial assignment results in an atmosphere of paranoia and unease among students and teachers.

Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGFbWhlVezo

Music ^__^

2009-10-19T03:03:00.000-07:00

Music is a key factor as it helps the mood and the tone of the trailer itself! Usually the music used in the trailer isn't from the film itself, the film score(background music) may not have been produced yet even. The music used in the trailer may be, Music from the score of other movies,
Tarantino does this a lot, as he used a wide assortment's of songs taken from various artists such as "Miserlou" and "surf rider". Music can also be popular music, chosen specifically for its tone.

Voice Over Edits

2009-10-19T03:00:00.000-07:00

A typical feature of a film trailer is a voice - over, every film has one, why? Well the function of a voice-over is to help improve the audience's understanding of the plot, what's going on. The most famous American- Voice over artist would have to be the late, Don Lofantaine, also known as "Thunder Throat" - Films such as The Terminator and The Simpsons Movie.

Sound (My Role ;) [Summary]

2009-10-19T00:43:00.000-07:00

1) Voice-Over : A typical feature of a film trailer is a voice - over, every film has one, why? Well the function of a voice-over is to help improve the audience's understanding of the plot, what's going on. The most famous American- Voice over artist would have to be the late, Don Lofantaine, also known as "Thunder Throat" - Films such as The Terminator and The Simpsons Movie.

2) Music is a key factor as it helps the mood and the tone of the trailer itself! Usually the music used in the trailer isn't from the film itself, the film score(background music) may not have been produced yet even. The music used in the trailer may be, Music from the score of other movies, Tarantino does this a lot, as he used a wide assortment's of songs taken from various artists, such as "Miserlou" and "surf rider". Music can also be popular music, chosen specifically for its tone.

3) The focus point of many modern-day trailers would be the scenes including the sound effects and the music. The trailer for the "Dark Knight" would be the most outstanding as it's won 3 awards, one for being the best film trailer of the year"

4) In our movie trailer, what you are going to see is a fast-paced montage, basically you hear the music, but you see something else, the pace will go quicker and quicker to increase tension for the audience and toward the ending, all you can hear is silence. In the beginning, there shall be an introduction as to what is happening, what is the stroyline, the plot.

1st Week Progress (Meeting)

2009-10-08T02:38:00.000-07:00

This week, we have starting pitching ideas to one another amongst our media groups. In terms of narrative's, storyline and genre. Having done so, we have obtained a mixture of various ideas and has helped us structure our film trailer as a whole. In our first meeting, we have created mind maps and a "To do list#" which has helped us to enable our route in a more chronological way! :D

Hina Majeed's [Trailer] Blog!

Ma' Evaluation. ;)

How does my trailer compare to a REAL media text?

Strengths? Weaknesses? Hm.

How has your production been informed by the research undertaken? (narrative)

How does our trailer communicate & Appeal to our Audience?

Our Finished Product. :)

Diverse Trailers with various Editing Techniques

So, what have I learnt? (Editing)

Voice-Over Completed.Yeah.

Editing, Editing and Uhm..EDITING! :)

Soundtrack; Followed On.

Interuptions...

The Schedule.

Genre

Audience

~*Filming*~

~*Post Production*~

Reflection on PROGESS...

Completed List: Voice Over Soundtrack Filming Scenes Storyboard Storyline Photographs Script

To Do List: Editing Written Work Evaluation Upload Voice Edits

~*Individual Role & Contribution*~

~*Strenths & Weaknesses*~ So Far...

~*Sound Effects*~

Soundtrack

The Trailer Plan

7th Meeting

Logo's/Captions

FILMING! Stage 3 (Neighbourhood - Yardly)

Voice Over

Improvements made...

Problems encountered; ^^

6th Meeting

FILMING! Stage 2 (Indoor - JCC)

5th Meeting =)

BLOGGER UPDATE (Hmk)

4th Meeting...

FILMING! Stage 1 (Outdoor - Canon Hill)

Improvisations/Extended Shots

3rd Meeting

Poster/Editing

Props

Location

Possible Ending (Individual Role..)

Storyboard progress so far... (Brief Summary)

2nd Week Progress (Meeting)

OUR Movie Trailer, :]

Sound Effects!?

Inspiration...?

Music ^__^

Voice Over Edits

Sound (My Role ;) [Summary]

1st Week Progress (Meeting)

~Filming~

~Post Production~

Completed List:

To Do List:

~Individual Role & Contribution~

~Strenths & Weaknesses~ So Far...

~Sound Effects~