discussing the package

New Programmes and Skills

When we started the coursework I had never used the Mac computers before and was excited to see what they can do and the difference between them and other computers. This was very visible to me because straightaway I acknowledged different new programmes that I have only seen on the Mac's and interesting ways of using tools to create effects. I also found that simple tasks like saving and uploading were much quicker and easier on the Mac's. When revealed to the Mac computers we did have some practise from our preliminary task when making our music video. This meant that were able to become familiar with the tools and layout of the programme Final Cut Express. This is the programme we used to edit all of our trailer and found a comparison between this and the programme we previously used in AS, Pinnacle. I think Final Cut Express has more techniques available for us to use to help give our trailer better effects and the setup of the programme is easier to use. I personally see editing as one of weaker areas in this project as I am much more able on Photoshop but I think through this project and with help from the other members of my group I have definitely developed my skills and become much more confident with the programme. Towards the end of the project I felt that I could comfortably use most tools. I think one of the most time consuming and difficult times i had using Final Cut express is when me and another member of the group tried to make the title run smoother but we didn't know the effect of the different transitions well enough to help us change it. I think if we had more time I would have been able to explore this more to know I had a larger variety of transitions and effects.

As I have mentioned we used Photoshop to produce the magazine cover and poster for the project. As I use this programme in another subject I felt that this would be my stronger point in the project and I found that I helped other members of my group. Me and Laura took a big part in producing the magazine cover and poster but we all had our input and the other members were able to develop their skills too. We used Photoshop because we felt that this would be the best programme to use to modify images and to help us build up layers, especially for the poster. We made small changes using the programme but found they were effective and helped the presentation of our photographs. However, we did use PowerPoint on the Mac's for the magazine cover because we all decided that this is the easiest way for us to import text over the top of the cover image and place the text in various places and the use of different fonts and sizes. I think the programme helped us produce a pleasing magazine cover.

To film the trailer we decided on using the HD Flip Cameras which is different to what we used in our preliminary task. This is because we thought the camera was easier to use in different angles and also uploaded footage onto the Mac's very easily. It also meant that whilst filming we could easily play back what we had filmed to see if it was okay to use. I found the cameras easy to use and the tripods that we used definitely made the footage less shaky. I think with the tripods our filming wouldn't be so clear and wouldn't look professional. From using the cameras I learnt that the quality of the cameras is very good and gives a clear picture.

Another new programme that I was involved in using was GarageBand to create the music for our trailer. I hadn't used the programme before and found it great fun to listen and mix the different sounds available on the programme. When practising it was interesting to see how different sounds create different atmospheres and this was something we thought about when creating the music for the trailer. Along the way on the programme I learnt how to gradually lower the sound of the music so it fades out in sections and how to change the speed of the music. I think the programme is very easy to use it was just sometimes difficult to decide whether the sounds we were putting together worked.

 

To gain feedback about our trailer we used Facebook and You Tube as we knew that they are very popular sites and the majority of people our age use the sites. Exposing our trailer onto this sites showed me how much use the sites get and also how they are a great way to advertise products to our age group.

Target Audience Feedback

When we first started to produce our trailer we knew that we wanted our target audience to be people aged from 15-20 year olds. This is because we would give our film an age certificate of 15 and we felt that people aged up from this to 20 would be the people who we be the most interested in this type of genre. This is shown from our previous questionnaire to a group of 20 students and found that the majority of them like to watch this type of genre so we felt that we had to follow this through by thinking about what our target audience would enjoy. Another aspect that we acted on from our previous target audience research was that we found the students preferred the characters to be the same age as them as they feel they can relate to the storyline more. This is why we have used one of our friends as the main character as she fits into the middle age of our target audience as she is 17. This is shown again from our new results that were taken after the trailer was created as we asked another group of students if they like that she is the similar age to them and the percentage of them saying yes was quite high. This shows that the age of characters is quite an important element of films.

Here are our latest target audience feedback results that we have changed into bar graphs to make it clear and understandable. As one of our main priorities was that the trailer gave a clear instruction of what the genre of the film was we decided to question our students to see what they thought. We made the question multiple choice so they had a decision between each genre we mentioned. Thankfully we had a positive result of them concluding that it is a thriller film being advertised. However, the percentage of people saying it looked like a horror is not far behind. I think this could be because some of our clips are slightly more dramatic, for example when she appears from the water at the end, instead of being more thrilling. I don't think this is surprising to us because we did feel that some elements may reflect a horror theme but we think the two genres can sometimes be linked together so we didn't see it as worry for us. To contribute to the pleasing result of the students knowing the genre we had an excellent result of the students believing that we had followed the typical conventions of a thriller genre. This is great for us because we have felt that we have accomplished our task as we have used techniques that some professional trailers may have used to pursue a thriller genre trailer.

This result here is also pleasing as we have tried to commit to tension building throughout the trailer. We decided as a group that this was a very important aspect to have in a trailer and especially a thriller. To see that the students think there is means that we have successfully used a technique seen in most professional trailers. This also meant that we didn't feel we needed to change anything to make it more interesting for our audience to watch.

To see that our audience wants to watch the film after the trailer is very pleasing for us all because we feel that we have made the right decisions along the process and had a successful result.

After showing our trailer to a group of students who go to our sixth from we decided to gain more feedback by putting the trailer onto Facebook. This site is open to a lot more people and we asked for any feedback. We again had some positive comments about the trailer however someone did comment about who our character is talking to. When making the trailer we thought this was clear but this has shown that maybe it isn't. Even though there is a slight confusion we felt that we didn't need to change the dialogue because you can still understand that she is stressed and needs help and someone to talk to. A second comment was about Frank being in one of the shots but she was meant to be playing the role of one of Megan's friend as we wanted to create the atomosphere of an everyday at school from the locker but then this changing when she sees the chess piece inside. I think this isn't something for us to worry about changing because Megan is still the main focus in the shot.

I think from our results we can see that we have thought about our target audience when making the trailer and expanding on ideas. We did use the feedback we gained from the first questionnaire and I am glad we did this because I think this helped us understand the message the trailer needs to give to our audience.

The Whole Package

When we first started creating our whole package and idea we knew that all three features, poster, magazine cover and trailer had to fit well with each other and promote our imagined film. We have created a package that we think will attract a mainstream audience as well felt that this would be best for our chosen genre of film and would enable us to engage as many people as possible into our products.

We believe as a group and individually that our three features work very well together as we have kept aspects similar and met the conventions of each element. The poster is something that we knew would be visible to everyone as it would be seen in the street on bus shelters etc. and knew it would have to be attention grabbing. This is why we put a lot of effort and creation into this and I think we have a pleasing outcome. We used a certain font that we felt fitted well with the genre of the film and chose a colour scheme of red, white, grey and black. These are two elements that we have used through all three products. This is because it shows a link between them all and also begins to be familiar with our audience and more noticeable. Another main aspect that is seen in all three products is the symbol of a chess piece as the title of the film is 'Checkmate'. We felt we needed to carry this through in the three elements because it is the main importance of the film and similarly to the stalker we are leaving our mark with the chess piece. The magazine like the poster is going to available to most people to see but is mainly towards people interested in film as it is a film magazine. This is why we had to make the cover very eye catching and decided to use a photo that looked like a shot from the film. This is a contrast to the poster as this photograph looks very set up and was. This shows how the two have different audiences to attract but both are important to urge our audience to watch the film. Along with these two advertisements the trailer is the product that reveals the most and informs the audience more. This shows that the poster and magazine cover may interest our audience but the trailer is the main product that will help push our audience into going to watch the film. This shows how the three work together in different ways to help contribute to the audience watching the film. The three elements have a relationship as they are all similar but also different as they have their different aims but the main aim of all three is to urge our audience into watching the film and I think they all do this.

I think one of the most successful elements of our magazine cover is the layout of the cover. We have managed to incorporate different sized fonts and colours keeping with familiar colour scheme in the other products. The text surrounds the model on the cover meaning that the photo is clear to see and the writing helps draw the attention the centre. The text was one of the main priorities to us for the magazine cover as we wanted to get the right balance and felt that this would help make it look professional. Another aspect I like about the magazine cover is the photograph that we chose to use. We had many photos to choose from and in our development we tried out different ones but we are pleased with our final decision. I think the fact that the photo is outside and has an interesting background makes it different and definitely look as if it is a shot from the film. I think with the photo and the text the magazine cover would grab our audience and would make them want to read about the film. I have picked these two elements of the magazine cover because I think as well as the most important parts of the cover they have both worked well. I think the cover portrays a film magazine genre and also has the promotion element for our film. One of the difficulties we had when creating the magazine cover was at first we couldn't agree what photograph to use as we all had different ideas of how the poster should look and some people in my group like the close up photos whereas some thought this became to look more like a fashion magazine cover for some of the photos. Even though we all had different ideas we were able to compromise and had a pleasing result that we all agreed on.

I feel that our poster has worked very well as it promotes the film and has very easy layout that is attention grabbing from the emotion created from the close up of the character. One of the aspects that I think has worked particularly well is the chess piece that is covering one side of the characters face. The chess piece looks as if it becoming part of the character maybe because she can't get away from the stalker and the chess piece is what he leaves as his mark. I think the chess casting a shadow on her face makes it look threatening towards the character and represents the genre of our film. I like how our character looks upset and the smudged make up adds to her being stressed and detached from anyone else. Even though I like how the chess piece is transparent I think that it could have been slightly less to make it more pronounced in the poster. I think the colour scheme is another element that works really well on the poster because they contrast against each other and the red really stands out. When creating the poster we decided on only using the main characters name to not give away who the stalker is but now I do think that we could have had other name that could have played parts of her friends or family as she wont be the only actress in the film. However, I understand that like this it raises the suspicions of who the stalker is. Something that I don't like about the poster is the plain black background behind the chess as I think we could have graduated the colour slightly as the other side is grey.

I think one of the best assets of our trailer is the quick cuts that are towards the end of the trailer. This is something commonly seen in thriller genre trailers to create tension and build up the climax of the trailer. I think our quick cuts do this in our trailer and without them it wouldn't be so interesting and grabbing to the audience. When filming we knew that we wanted to include fast cuts and that's why we tried to film as much as we could so we could include different short angles and positions. The quick cuts contribute to the trailer looking professional and shows the influence from our main inspiration 'Disturbia' as they also have gradual fast cuts. To increase this tension we decided to make the music quicker as it plays further into the trailer. The music is another aspect I think has worked well and definitely helped pull the trailer together. I like the basic beats we have used and from our research we found that thriller trailers had no vocals included unlike what you would maybe see in a Rom-Com trailer, so we too have not included any vocals. I like the slow pace of the music at the end of the trailer because I think it fits in with the dramatic shots and also the release date and billing block enter the screen on the beat of the music which is very effective.

I think one of the weaknesses of the trailer is the title of 'Checkmate' because the smoke jogs slightly as it plays. Me and another member of the group tried prevent this and tried different transitions to see if this helped it play smoothly but we didn't have enough time or experience with the programme to be able to make it better. I am glad we tried to make the appearance better and I think that it isn't a very noticeable aspect I just think it would have looked more professional if we were able to do it. When were editing parts of the footage we found that some clips were too short like the bath clip, so we had to change the speed of them which we thought the audience might see but luckily this hasn't had a bad effect on the clips and has helped us prolong sections.

When we were producing the film we were trying to use a variety of shots and I think we have managed to do this as their are many angles during our trailer. I think this is something that has worked well and definitely fits the conventions of trailer as they have to include different shots to make it interesting for the audience to watch. I like the titles in the trailer as they expand on the screen because I think this adds to the threatening atmosphere and also I have noticed that trailers of this genre use the same effect on their titles. They have worked well because it links to the game of chess and the audience feel like they are becoming involved with the game.

Evaluating Conventions

This is the first print screen I have taken from our trailer. I like this shot because I think that it feels as if the camera is almost planted in our characters bedroom which adds to the mystery of the story and as if the stalker in question is always watching her. Also the bedroom is quite a private place and the camera is invading this like the stalker of the film. I think this angle works well because it shows a natural movement of her curiosity which continues through to the audience. This shot reminds me of the Paranormal Activity trailers as it is as if the camera is trying to catch the characters everyday movement. This shows that our research has had some influence on us and we have used different angles like other trailers to represent curiosity.

This is our billing block that appears on the screen at the end of our trailer. We have done this beacuse we found from our trailer research that a billing block is a convention of all trailers as it the credits to the most important people of the film. We produced this ourselves and included our film institution and production company. I think the billing block works well with the trailer beacuse as well as informing the audience of the people who contributed to the film it is also a sign of the trailer finishing as we have found that many trailers have this towards the end. The billing block definitely helps make our trailer look more professional and as if the trailer is advertising a real film.

This shot is one of the main links to our title 'Checkmate' and we repeat this at different speeds throughout. As a group we felt it was important to have this connection to show where we got the idea of the title from and why we used it as one of the main symbols. We also felt that most trailers represent to the audience why the films are called what are they are for it to make sense to them and also show that the title informs them of the what the film is about. I like that the shot is from the same hiehgt of the hand which forces the audience to watch the movement of the chess piece. I think the shadows created from the chess piece really accentuate their shape and design which re inforces the symbol which i again shown when the title appears in the trailer. I think that this being the only time the audience see anything from the stalker works well beacuse like other thriller genre trailers we were trying to not reveal to much to the audience. This is another convention we spotted when doing our research. We found it also hepls build the tension of the trailer and urges the audience to wacth the film to find out who is behind the chess board.

 

When watching trailer we found that one of the most common conventions of a trailer is there film institution logo being shown. We found that many trailers have them at the very beginning but we decided against this as we wanted the filming to engage the audience straightaway. However, we have kept the logo near the beginning of the trailer so it doesnt disrupt when our trailers tension begins to build more and the cuts become quicker. Adding the logo inbetween shots has worked well and makes our trailer appear to be realistic.

Here we have deicided to use an split screen effect on the shot to show how we can use different tools and to help create the confusion shown from the actress. She looks very stressed in the shot and to empahsise this we felt adding the split screen would give the audience a lot to concentrate on and give an insight to how she must feel inside beacuse she has so much happening to her. The spilt screen is a convention we saw in the 'Disturbia' trailer which is one of our main trailers that we took insoiration from as it is a thriller genre. Howver, they used the split screen to show other people acting at the same time whereas we hyave used one charcter to help create her distress. 'Disturbia' used four parts in their split screen but we felt we only needed two because it is of the same character. Also something we would have liked to change is that the two sides had different footage but we still think this works well because the reverse footage implies that everything keeps playing over in her mind. We have wanted to use a split screen in our trailer since our storyboards but we have developed it and used it on a different shot to what we previously decided. I think we made the right choice in where we have included it as I think it works well with the emotion from the character.

I have chosen this print screen because I like how the camera is looking down on the character making her look very vulnerable. This is something typicallly seen in trailers as well as films because it automatically suggest to the audience the characters position in the film and their role. For example this character is the damsel in distress throughout the film and trailer. We chose to put the character behind the door to show that she is trying to block everything out and keep away from the stalker. The lighting looks very natural and I think you can tell that is a room light so it tells the audience that it is at night which adds to the threatening atmosphere.

This shot is towards the end of the trailer where the character is trying to drown herself. We wanted to add a dramatic scene like this to represent how the stalker is affecting her and she feels that there is no one to help. We have quick cuts up until this point and this is beacuse we wanted to show how much was happening to her and then how she feels this is the only way to deal with it. I think this has worked well because I like the contrast in speed and in fact we made this shot longer to empasise the isolation and to help the audience sympathise with her. The shot was quite difficult for our friend to do as she had to hold her breath underwater but I think what we managed to capture works great because her eyes being open give a sense of her being lost and make it much more freaky for the audience to watch. We decided to add this because we felt that from our research trailers had something towards the end that really grabbed the audiences attention and spirals questions of what happened. I think the only apect that we wasn't too sure on as a group was that our actress is dressed but this is something that we think could imply her madness and represent that she isn't preparing herself for a bath but to take her life.

After the titles if our trailer this shot appears as she pulls herslef out of the water. We did this to shock the audience as they may have thought the trailer had finished. It is also shows that she didn't carry out the suicide so the audience then want to know what actually happens to her. This is a convention we have seen in trailers and I think we have used it well here as it fits in with our genre aswell as the storyline. I like the shot because of the dripping water from her face and the smudged make up which makes her eyes look quite dark meaning the audience can't connect with her. The smudged make up is something seen intrailers to show the characters tress or upest and we have used it here to show both of those elements. I think the postioning  of this shot in the trailer has worked particularly well and I think definitely would urge the audience to watch it as it shows that something unexpected may happen in the film.

Along with the billing block the date of the film release appears on the screen. This a very important convention of a film trailer as the purpose of the trailer is to inform them what the film is about and when they can watch it. It is typically seen a the end of the trailer so the audience engage with the actions throughout the trailer and make their opinion and then decide if they want to see it. We have used black and white like all of our titles in the trailer and clear, bold font. I think the black empty space around the text adds to the eery atmosphere after seeing the character pull out of the water. It also fits in with the slow beat at the end of the trailer and I think this makes it effective as it tells the audience it is something important that they need to know.

Our Final Trailer

Titles

We have now completed our editing apart from the titles. We have decided to use the same font as the title of our film that we used on the poster and magazine cover. This is because it means all of our advertising links together. We have also used a black, plain background with white writing because this ties in with the chessboard idea as well as the two colours contrast against each other. The black is also a colour that is a convention of our genre as thrillers are seen as dark and dangerous. We decided that we wanted our titles to gradually expand on the screen as if they are coming towards the audience. I think this works well because it makes the audience feel threatened as they close in on them and I think it adds to the tension. Inbetween the titles we added a fade transition so they appeared on the screen slowly which emphasises the words and also enables enough time for the audience to read them. The titles are links to the game of chess as well as the game played between the main character and the stalker. We did this because we thought it would add to the mystery of who the stalker is as well as build the suspense. I think this has worked well because I like how we have linked the two aspects together.

When the title of our film appears towards the end of the trailer we wanted it to be more interesting and eye catching so we had the idea of using smoke that gradually fades out to create the shape of a chess piece to again tie in with the name of the film. To do this me and another member of my group opened an image of smoke onto Photoshop. We then used the shape of a chess piece as an outline so we knew what the smoke needed to change into. Then creating different layers we changed the opacity of each one so when played together as Gif file the smoke gradually fades. This is similar to what we did for our Production Company Logo when we made this animatic too, this is why we found it easier to do this time. Like the Production Company logo we had to use fade transitions inbetween to make it run smoothly when we imported it onto Final Cut Express. I think this has worked well because it makes our trailer appear more professional and it shows that as a group we have paid attention to detail and creativity.