EVALUATION - Comparrison of this and last years work

Links between last years work and this years –
In terms of last years work it is clear that we did not put nearly enough planning into the preparation of our piece, had we planned our filming and spent several days or more over it the final piece may have been more polished, earning us a better mark. However, we have learnt from this mistake and, due to the issues with weather conditions last year which made the filming much more difficult and greatly affected the outcome; we decided to film our trailer indoors. Our camera work techniques have also improved and we are hoping that the overall impression of our final piece for this year will be much more professional.

How we have developed our knowledge and abilities
- spent more time over research and planning
- therefore our end product will be better
- with the blogger we can go back and edit past comments and work, and because we have been posting more, and are therefore more familiar with the website, we are getting more used to using the webpage to go back and correct and add to work, this will hopefully improve our chances of a better grade.

Lucy :)

RESEARCH & PLANNING - Planning and Research

Primary research – your own research, interviews and questionnaires
Secondary research – info from internet, google and wiki

Qualitative method – analyzing our research in terms of quality
Quantitative method – analyzing our research in terms of quantity

Qualitative and Quantitative analysis methods which we employed are listed below in my research and planning lists. The results of these effected our production greatly. For example we took into account the results from the questionnaire which Rach posted on Facebook, and took into account suggestions from our actors in the interviews which I conducted. We found the methods which we used very effective.

How effectively were storyboard and magazine flat plans followed?
We have kept relatively strictly to our storyboard plans, however we have been forced to make some alterations due to weather conditions, despite this I think the outcome will be virtually the same and the quality of our work should not be affected.

Research-
Freeplay (secondary research) – to find non copyrighted music for our trailer
YouTube (secondary research) – Viewing trailers on YouTube and using them to influence our ideas
Google (secondary research) – finding images to help with our filming and idea development
Analysis of trailers (Primary research) – analyzing methods and techniques used in trailers
 Golden compass trailer – flashbacks
 Gilmore girls – coloring
 Freaky Friday – bag scene
 Twilight – editing of back packing scene
Questionnaires (primary research) – helped us develop trailer, qualitative
Interviews with actor and actress (primary research) – helped us to gain a wider knowledge of filming from a different angle
Facebook survey (primary research) – helped us gain more perspective from the point of view of the audience, quantitative

Planning -
Mind maps – way of laying out ideas clearly and effectively
Story boarding – layout ideas clearly, making it easier to construct and edit quickly and productively
Costumes – studied the characters personalities and constructed costumes to reflect them
Lighting – matched to mood of shot and level of detail needed in shot
Setting – matched to characters and mood of film

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - Digital Technology

What soft where was used?
This year we have upgraded the programme with which we edit our work from “Ulead” to “Adobe Premier Element 7”. This is to enable us to experiment with a new variety of effects and to get a wider range of experience where editing is concerned.

In what ways did technology constrain or enable production to take place?
There were many advantages and disadvantages to using so much technology in the production of our coursework. For example we have been slightly limited in some ways when editing due to the programme which we are using, although more advanced in some ways, it restricts us in others, for example we wanted to make our text flicker when on the screen like a broken light bulb, but could find no way to do this.

What equipment was used?
 Video camera for recording our work
 Tripod to hold the camera still and steady whilst filming to make our work as professional as possible
 Microsoft Word on the school computers and at home to plan our work and keep a record of everything we have done so far
 The internet, for use of Blogspot for our coursework and research, using sites such and Google and YouTube for our trailer analysis

What were the technical pros and cons of digital technology/hardwear?
The equipment we used was extremely effective in most ways, the only times it may ever have inhibited us was when our camera battery would go flat and we had to cut filming short.

Lucy :)

EVALUATION - Filming continues...

We still need to do a couple of shots with our actors, we left these to last as originally there were going to be filmed outside, however as said in previous posts we have now changed this scene to indoors.

This is the message I sent to Jen and Raf:

"Rachel Petter January 30 at 1:04pm
hay :)
We need to film one last scene if that's alright? We have changed the script a bit so this time because of the weather, basically Jen you walk down a corridor at school drop your books and Raf picks them up, simple! thank you for being in the other parts! We have nearly finished editing them now just playing around with colour contrasts and such, fingers crossed will turn out alright!

It shouldn't take very long so we thought we could do it in a free? Our free's are Week One mon- p5, tues - p3 and p4, wed - p2 and thur - p1. Week Two mon p1 and p3, tues - p3, wed - p3, thur - p1 and p2 and fri - p1

If you guys can do any of them that would be great, we kinda need to get it done before half term and were thinking Tuesday period three (2nd feb) just because we have media after it, but any of the others would be fine too

Thank you :D"

I sent this message to them over facebook, Lucy, Nikki, Dale and I all looked at each others time tables to find out when we were all free, as shown above I have told Jen and Raf when we are all free, if they can not do any of those periods them we will just make sure at least two of us are present when filming the scene.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Production Update

Today in our media lesson we finished cutting down our teaser trailer and have now put in all our transitions between our clips. We have used a variety of fade to blacks and dip into white transitions. We have discovered how to change the brightness and contrasts in our clips to make the flashback clips brighter to give them a clear definition. We have deleted the audio soundtrack so we can put in our 'Abducted' song in, however we have to wait to do this until we have filmed and edited our locker meeting scene with our two characters.

Nikki Stock

RESEARCH & PLANNING - (Potential?) editing to Sound files

We need to source two sound files of a door knocking, and a mobile phone ringing to place into our film. The reason for this is due to the quality of the diagetic sound we had already recorded. Because of the quality of the microphone and the background noise it produces, the sounds of the phone ringing and door knocking aren't as effective as they could be. I will soon be collecting various sounds from the Internet in attempts to see which would suit our film better.

If these sounds aren't quite up to scratch, then I will import them into a free piece of software called Audacity and edit them to have a higher pitch, tempo, speed, echo etc. I will save various sound files and consult the group in what their opinions are of this. Dependant on whether these are suitable, we will then import them into our film.

A slightly more important sound to edit may be the voice over that one of our actors provided for us. The same reasons apply; the microphone picked up background static. As to whether this can be removed or not I'm not sure, however I will fiddle around with the file and see if I can quieten it down at the least. Unfortunately, we aren't sure how to extract the sound from the video in Adobe Premiere but we will deal with this issue closer to the time when the voice over is needed.

-Dale

RESEARCH & PLANNING - Research and Planning

In preparation for developing our media piece, we had conducted various forms of research (both primary and secondary) in attempts to give us insight into consumer views and opinions. This included researching and analysing various openings to films and assessing their effect that they had upon the audience.

Throughout the planning stages, we had created a mindmap detailing various features and ideas we had for our film. Such details gave information on shot choices, music and costumes to create a quick mock up of the things that we'd need to think about along the way. Accompanying this, we had a Questionnaire posted online to gather statistical information on the thoughts of other people. We looked to see what the majority thought about different genres and techniques of films and feel we expressed this in the planning stages.

A form of research we conducted involved looking over other Media students' blogs and mentally evaluating their work. This proved to be effective, especially for myself as we were unbiased in criticising other peoples' work. If we had evaluated our own, we may either be too favourable or too harsh on our production. By properly evaluating other pieces of coursework, and assessing their abilities of producing it, this has allowed us to avoid any similar mistakes we may make.

YouTube played a big part in our production process as it provided us with an opening to other media texts which has granted us the ability to better our piece. Through the analysis of other films, we have extracted various shots and concepts which we have found effective. Our final media piece will be a reflection of this and should be effective in the feeling we are aiming to create. The use of music also aids us in creating the piece, as we have researched various songs and sound on YouTube. Although we didn't sample any pieces, we did research into how they were used and used that knowledge to find a good choice of music which would fit well into our film.

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/ is where we had taken our song file from. Thankfully, this site operates using copyright-FREE music. Because of this and the lack of limitations as to how we use it, we decided to search throughout the site to find a song. Our final choice in the end led to 'Abducted' - the perfect choice to create suspense and unease as the viewer watches our Teaser Trailer. We have yet to import it into Adobe Premiere and use it, however we unanimously agreed it was the best choice, despite any future troubles we may face in timing it well with the shots, sounds and voice-overs.

At the moment, we are compiling our shots on Adobe Premiere, a piece of professional software which grants wide access to various transitions, effects and techniques to better our film. This is different to uLead which was rather restricted in what it had to offer and therefore had to look for alternative ways to effectively create our scene. Although we faced difficulties in editing such as being unable to remove titles from the shots, we had eventually overcome these issues after becoming more efficient with the software.

At the moment we are finishing off ordering our shots and placing transitions between them. As soon as this has been completed, we will place our music over the top and include any necessary sound effects and/or voice overs to finalise our film.

-Dale

EVALUATION - ABDUCTED MUSIC

As stated in my previous post, we have decided to go with the first choice, 'Abducted'. To reiterate on my previous point, we have decided based upon the clock sounds that can be heard in 'Left Out Question'. Although effective in its use to create a suspenseful event, we haven't produced any shots of a clock ticking. This means that it could seem out of place if we placed it in our final piece.

-Dale

EVALUATION - Is our trailer postmodern?

In the other part of our media studies A level we have been studying Postmodernism, which has raised the question of whether our film teaser trailer is postmodern or not.

Our film is a 'romantic thriller' which is an example of a hybrid genre, we chose this as we thought it would appeal to a wider audience than if it was just of a romantic or thriller genre. In our trailer we show both characters reaching for knives, this links our trailer to the crime genre also.

Our trailer jumps around in time which is a postmodern characteristic - the trailer goes from the present and then jumps to the happier past this demonstrates a sort of dystopia, other postmodern films such as Blade Runner and The Matrix also show the world in a dystopian light.

Rach.

EVALUATION - Limitations To Our Production Work

Due to the limited resources we can only use the effects available on the editing programme we are using (Adobe Premier Emelent 7). We have the aspiration to put editing transitions between each of our clips. Between the clips of our female character Megan rushing around her house packing her bag, we want there to be fade to black transitions. This will show the audience that she is in danger, and when it fades to black, there is a tension created from what the audience cannot see. The darkness portrays the seriousness of the action occuring.

For the flashback clips of the 'happy times', we want to make the colour of the scenes brighter to make a clear contrast between the past 'good' and the present 'bad' times. When changing from the present scenes to these past scenes, we want a flash to white, to show the moving into the innocent period of the film. However, due to the technology available we have had to use a fade to black editing transition then straight after a dip to white. We made our fade to black very short in order to focus on the dip into white. This has recreated this feeling, of moving from the happy past to the sinister present, and we hope that it is just as effective to the audience.


Nikki Stock

EVALUATION - Directors Commentary

Once we have finished editing our trailer we plan to do a directors commentary. I think this is a good idea as it shows the people watching our thought process when filming and also that we have thought about camera angles, costume, lighting, editing, captions, fonts etc.

We would have to take away the music, voice over and speech from the trailer but we can still talk about the choices relating to them that we made.

We plan to do this as a group each taking a particular part of the trailer however one or more of us maybe be ill or away when we plan to do it.

We will make a script before filming so we know exactly what to say, this will make the commentary look more professional and an audience is therefore more likely to take it seriously.

Here is an example i have found of a director's commentary of an A level piece of work from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9kCU87jFzw

Rach.

EVALUATION - Reflection of our Research and Planning

The use of primary and secondary research enabled us to see what our target audience (teenagers) like to see in a film and how the trailers attract their attention and makes them want to see them in the cinema. The quantitative and qualitative data collected allows us to analyse the research in numerical terms or non-numerical term (such as quality).

Our primary research included:

• a survey on a popular social network site, Facebook. Rach collected the data and we analysed it to see what our audience like in a film and how we could incorporate it into our trailer - this was also quantitative data collected.
• Interviews with our actors to find their views of our trailer.
• Another questionnaire to our target market.
• A location analysis to see which was most suitable.
• Analysis of trailers on YouTube to borrow ideas of film narrative and shots we could use.

Our secondary research included:

• We went on Freeplay.com to find suitable songs which were non-copyrighted, to use as a soundtrack for our trailer.
• On YouTube when we analysed the trailers you can read comments on the trailer, from all over the world, to see their views on it.

Planning:

• We created a mindmap to lay out our ideas clearly and to analyse which one would be best.
• Storyboards to plan our shots and timing.
• Costumes for our characters to wear in their different clips.
• Researched clips from other films to incorporate into our film.
• Music to use as our soundtrack and that was non-copyrighted.
  

Skill Development:

• Mindmaps to formulate ideas
• Research and planning completed before the production process
• Blogspot used more and in greater detail

Nikki Stock

EVALUATION ~ Media Technology and Our Development With it from Year 12 to 13

The technology which we have used throughout our media A Level (year 12-13) includes the following:

• Video camera -Mini DV Cameras
• Computers- Microsoft Word for the rough draft of our trailer analysis, Mind Jet to create mind maps of all our ideas, Microsoft PowerPoint to create a slide show to present to the class about our trailer.
• The Internet- YouTube to watch and analyse film trailers, Blogspot to record all of our coursework on, Google to research films, and the Therfield Media Studies Blog to gather information from our teacher.
• In year 12 the editing programme which we used was Ulead and in year 13 we have upgraded to Adobe Premier Element 7.
• In the near future we will need to use a Photoshop programme in order to create our film poster, as part of this course.
• Microphones to record the sound with to get a clearer quality sound.
• Tripods to hold the camera still and straight.

Our Development:

I feel that we have developed better skills over the last two years in using the media technology. Our use of this blog has dramatically increased, as we have recorded much more information on it throughout our production process, including planning and research for our teaser trailer.

We have upgraded to the Adobe Premier Element editing programme, which is much more complex than the Ulead editing programme we used in year 12. It has enabled us to use more effects and transition in our teaser trailer. An example of this is we can speed up or slow down shots using an icon called 'time stretch'. We can add or delete the audio soundtrack and move it around, eg. we have a voice over one of our clips and we moved the audio sound to the clip we wanted. It has given us the scope to make our trailer even better than previous work on the older programme.

We have developed the knowledge about the different camera shots and angles we should use has improved. We took a variety of shots of the same clip from different angles, so in the editing suite we can pick and choose the best shots. We have learnt about the frame composition, and how it affects the way a character can be portrayed and incorporated this into our film trailer.

From analysing more teaser and theatrical trailers off YouTube, we can borrow and incorporate the ideas from these films and use them in our own trailer. For example, I have analysed the Freaky Friday scene where the two characters meet in a school corridor. We had a similar idea that our two characters could meet in the same way, and by analysing this clip we can see which camera angles they have used. Also, Lucy analysed the Golden Compass editing transitions, and we like the way they use the flash to white to cut to the next shot and we could like to do this in our trailer.

Last year we did not use the Mind Jet programme. This year it has enabled us to look at all our possible ideas, analyse them, and choose our favourite idea to use.

Nikki Stock

RESEARCH & PLANNING - Get Ahead OCR Media Blog and other...

Get Ahead OCR Media Blog

http://getaheadocrmedia.blogspot.com/

This is a link the a blog OCR have set up for AS and A level students. On this blog students and teachers can ask questions about the course and get appropriate answers.

I have found this blog to be extremely helpful and have used some of the information on it to help improve our trailer - for example there was some confusion about how long our trailer should be as it is only a 'teaser' trailer, from looking on the blog we were able to plan a film the right amount of footage so that our trailer will now be long enough.

As you can see below we have produced an animatic, this shows the different shots we are playing to use, an estimate at how long each section should last and it always shows what we plan to use as a soundtrack. It does not however show what sound effects we are planing to use, for example the door knock and the phone ring. We chose the final sound track abducted over left out question as left out question had what showed like a clock in the background - this is a good feature as it builds tension however we do not show a clock in our trailer and therefore the clock sound is unnecessary. We thought overall that abducted was the best sound track to use. The OCR blog gave us helpful information about how we could create an animatic.

From the OCR blog we can access other students blogs from different schools, this has been very useful to see how far they have got in there coursework and also see what techniques they had used. It also helps us evaluate other peoples work and this helps us look at our own work more objectively and therefore we are able to improve it more that we would of been able to before.

Rach.

RESEARCH & PLANNING - Concept/Storyboard Trailer

Above is our concept trailer for our media piece. Unfortunately due to the extra shots we have gathered this is a rather inaccurate representation, however it gives us a brief glimpse of what the final piece will eventually be like. The music we have chosen has came from http://www.freeplaymusic.com/. We boiled our choices of music down to two options; 'Abducted' and 'Left Out Question'. We felt they created a suitable ambience and aided us in developing our scene. We were faced with the dilemma of which song to choose but in the end we stuck with 'Abducted'. The reason for this was because 'Left Out Question' featured the sounds of a clock ticking heavily. Though it was effective, we had no shots which showed a clock which in the end, made the sound seem out of place.

Despite the timings and number of shots in the concept trailer being inaccurate, it does aid us in constructing our final piece. Of course, as time progresses we will deal with these issues when they are considerably more important.

-Dale

EVALUATION - Changes in our Original Plan

Due to poor weather conditions, we have decided to change our outdoor letter box scene to an indoor scene, where our two characters meet for the first time. Instead of our main female character dropping a letter next to a postbox, with our main male character Eric picking it up for her, we have decided to have her drop her books next to her locker in our school corridor. We have yet to arrange with our actors a time to arrange to film this scene, however, we are confident we can have it completed by the deadline.

As seen in a later post I have analysed a similar clip in Freaky Friday. This can help us with the planning of our scene from analysing the camera angles the use to portray the instant connection between the two characters.

Nikki Stock

RESEARCH & PLANNING - Flashbacks: colour change

As mentioned earlier on our blog we plan to adapt the colour of the shots which we edit together to show a distinct difference between the present time and the flashbacks. We have considered many different options, for example putting the present sad and depressed scenes in black and white/grey, or simply dulling the colour of them, or brightening the colour of the flashbacks to happier times. An example of this colouring technique which i have found is in the introduction to the TV programme "Gilmore Girls", I have posted the link for this below. However whether or not we are able to use this editing skill in our piece depends entirely on whether the ability to adapt the colour of the images is available on the software we are using for editing, if it is we shall experiment with a variety of colours and tones before deciding on the most suitable combination for our piece.

Lucy :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OX8JtJffWo

RESEARCH & PLANNING - Freaky Friday Clip Analysis

I have decided to analyse this clip when the main character Anna drops her bag on the floor in the school corridor. This is because we have decided to change our letterbox scene due to the poor weather conditions, and have decided to have our main characters meet in a similar way. In this film sequence Anna drops her bag with her books and pens rolling out. Then Jake comes to her rescue, and picks up her guitar pick, which leads them into their first conversation. We thought this was a good way for our characters to meet as it shows their romance was destined to happen, however not for long.

As Anna steps out of the door, with large letters saying ‘detention’ into the corridor, suddenly her bag gives way and all her books and pens down to the floor and roll around. There is a medium shot of her annoyed/ fed up facial expression, as she sighs then bends down to start collecting up her belongings. The camera tracks in towards her putting her stuff back into her bag, when there is a close up of her picking up her last book. We see a man’s foot in this shot, which is soon revealed to be the boy who Anna likes, called Jake. There is a shot reverse shot of Anna, as he picks up a guitar pick and she doesn’t realise until he holds it right in front of her face, then says “excuse me is this yours?” As she stands up, he immediately starts a conversation about music and bands. The two characters then walk side by side down the corridor, getting to know each other better. This is a romantic but subtle way for the two characters to meet and initiate a romance between them, which is what we wanted our characters in our film to reflect.

Here is the link from Youtube: The clip I am analysing starts at 7.44.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xic3FFhuyB4

Nikki Stock

EVALUATION - Editing: Transitions

For the transitions between shots in our trailer we were hoping to use a flashing effect, however we could not find one on the programme which we have been using. I am currently in the process of analysing the trailer for the film "The Goldren Compass", a reproduction of the book "Northern Lights". In this trailer, and several others which i have analysed, for the effect of a flash transition they have simply used a fade to black and cut from the black screen to a white screen with a simple soundeffect before fading back to the picture again, this is very effective and gives the impression that a light has been flashed acros the screen. This technique looks very proffesional and dramatic when used correctly, we are hoping to attempt it in the production of our trailer.

Lucy :)

The trailer mentioned above can be found through the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK6MDIEQjMg

EVALUATION - Production Timeline- Snow Delays

Due to the recent poor weather conditions (snow) we have been unable to come into school due to health and safety reasons, so we have missed a few media lessons, consequently delaying our editing production.

However, due to the disruptions, we feel that we are on track to completing our work by the deadline set.

We have uploaded our footage onto the editing programme and are currently undergoing the editing process. We have approximately 10 minuets of footage for our teaser trailer, and we have to edit this down to about 1-2 minutes.

Nikki

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Narnia trailer analysis: Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene

There are many aspects to cover in terms of mise-en-scene. For example, the lighting applied throughout the trailer is kept light and cheerful, even in the battle scene, this is possibly to reflect the bright nature of a typical fantasy fairy land, but also because it is primarily a children’s film and so cannot seem too intimidating. Even in the most depressing scene of the death of one of the main characters the shot is kept light through the use of lit torches and candles, however although it is light, this also creates a rather foreboding and eerie feel. The costumes which are used are clearly intricately designed and are in keeping with the time period in which the film is set. They are simple but effective, showing the plain style which was in fashion during the war, but also making each outfit individual to the child to reflect their personality. The setting is cleverly constructed, and is very realistic, particularly the landscapes covered in snow. The old house from which they have ventured is in great contrast with the world in which they find themselves, and this change could mirror the difference between their old and boring lives in comparison with the new and exiting one which they have discovered.

Lucy :)

This trailer can be found through the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQCECF1Qzv8

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Narnis trailer analysis: Camera use

Camera use

Most of the camera use throughout this trailer is kept simple, and all attempt at dramatic effect is left to the music, lighting and sound. However, at the start of the trailer simple high and low angle shots are used to establish the social position of the children in comparison to the women who leads them to the house. After this high angle shots are consistently used to show that the children are out of their depth, and are extremely vulnerable. Particularly the high angle shot of Lucy as she pulls the cover of the large wardrobe, showing how big and important it is in comparison to her. The camera stays steady and there is little use of zooming or panning, this makes the overall appearance more professional.

Lucy :)

This trailer can be found through the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQCECF1Qzv8

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Narnia trailer analysis: Sound

Sound

Unusually the first clip is not introduced with a fitting choice of music, but with the diagetic sound of the train as it flashes across the screen leading us into the opening shot. The music then fades quietly into the background; it is gentle and unobtrusive to mirror the docile nature of the country side. The volume of the music increases as the logo appears on the screen to show its significance. The shots which follow are bridged together with a voice over of a character to which we have just been introduced, after a while the shots match up with the sound and you are able to see one of the characters reactions to the speech which had just been overlaid in the first few clips. The music which is quietly played in the background is also reflective of the time period. The music becomes more tense and noticeable as the trailer draws to the pinnacle of it narrative, the moment when Lucy discovers the wardrobe. At this moment the music sounds almost magical, suggesting what lies behind the doors of the wardrobe. As Lucy opens the door the creaking of the hinges is amplified so as to create tension and emphasise the significance of the action. The following clips are accompanied by a piece of music which predominantly consists of a constant drum beat, suggesting that the events being shown are leading up to something bigger. All actions which are shown during this piece of music and are vaguely significant, have their sound amplified to add to the tension, such as the drawing of a sword or the crashing of a staff against the ground. The music speeds up towards the end, as the shots get shorter and each one contains a more action filled image. Until finally the music cuts out altogether with the final sudden fade to black, and a lions roar is left to echo through the scene of empty mountains for dramatic impact as the title and release date licker onto the screen one after the another. The drum music begins briefly again throughout the showing of the films title, however cuts off abruptly for the release date. The faint sound of a gentle wind whistling through a gap is played over the showing of the date, as the background is full of swirling snow, representing the world which into which the characters are about to venture.

Lucy :)

This trailer can be found through the following link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQCECF1Qzv8

RESEARCH AND PLANNING - Narnia trailer analysis: Editing

Editing

The beginning of this trailer is very unique in that the transition of the first shot is extremely striking and memorable. The use of the moving train to cut between the view of the Disney logo and the opening shot is subtle but effective, as, without realising how it was done, the audience are quickly and easily drawn into the plot, without any of the characters having spoken, they are already aware that the children they can see before them are standing on a train platform. The next few cuts are simple and unnoticeable, allowing the story to develop as any traces of advanced editing fade into the background, mirroring the old time period which is demonstrated through the use of mise-en-scene, this is another reason why the editing in this area is kept simple except for cuts between scenes, so as not to detract from the actual story line. The “Walden Media” logo is then used as a transition between scenes, followed by simple fades and the producer quickly sets the scene of the film with a composition of sections from the beginning to explain the narrative. Captions are then used to break up the shots, as the voices of the characters can still be heard, as the words “In this house there are many rooms”, you can still hear the counting of the boys voice, suggesting that they are playing hide and seek, another reference to the narrative. The cuts which follow are simple, leaving the short shots uninterrupted. Transitions remain simple throughout the shots which follow and it is left to the music and images to maintain the dramatic effect. The editing gets faster and faster towards the end of the trailer as the drama increases, mirroring the pace of the narrative, which speeds up dramatically towards the end. Right before the final shot there is a dramatic fade to black, which dominates the screen with darkness directly in sync with the height of tension in the music, which cuts of completely as the last shot fades onto the screen and a lions roar echoes into the startling scenery of mountains, in which the title of the film becomes visible. The music grows louder and louder and finally the screen cuts to black right before falling snow fades in and the release date fades into view.

Lucy :)

This trailer can be found through the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQCECF1Qzv8

EVALUATION - Sound

I have been looking at various samples of sound clips that we can include with our media project. These include the sounds of a mobile phone ringing, and a door knocking. As part of our film, we have included these events to happen and had originally intended to use the sound that had been recorded from the camera. Unfortunately, due to the quality and effect that these noises made, we have decided to add our own, higher quality sample to place over the top.

We do of course have to make sure that the sounds are used effectively and blend with any background music that we may have. On top of this, I have to ensure that the effect given from the door knocking is intimidating and frightening. To deal with this, I intend to find a suitable sound file where the knocking increases and becomes more frantic as the clip and music fades out, leaving just the knocking. If done correctly, I believe it can help create the effect of both solitude and fret, as our main character is left isolated/trapped within her own home.

As for the sound of the phone ringing, I have to ensure it's not any copyrighted music and perhaps simply a 'tinny' sound that mobile phones tend to make, however not too recognisable. Something I've thought about is the usage of a song that leaves a lasting impression, again to create an effect.

-Dale

EVALUATION - Reference to research

All the trailers which we have analysed on this blog have helped us in developing our final piece. Not only do we use these selected trailers to study mise-en-scene, sound, editing, and camera work, but we can also use them to research the narrative, characters, and settings.

The trailers which we have analysed we have carefully selected for either the narrative, technical elements or just for the general construction of the trailer. It is interesting to compare the different elements which are applied to various trailers, which are pulled off successfully, and which are recieved best by the audience. There are clearly paticular techniques which suit different genres and we are hoping to apply the ones which we have selected to our work to make it look proffessional and polished.

Lucy :)