Poster Construction 2

Here is the construction post for our second poster which was designed by Carl.

Trailer construction

The Trailer

The main bulk of the trailer was done in Sony Vegas where it was all put together, cut, trimmed, and much more all to get the final look as it is now. The special effects and text tiles were done in Adobe After Effects to get the professional look as this couldn’t be done in Sony Vegas.

First was to start a new project and to enter all the clips needed, I went on File > import > Media, allocated the area where all my files were saved, selected them all and inserted them. This puts them into the Library in which I can easily access them and put them in the timeline. 

What I done first was make a draft timeline and sort out all the relevant clips from the days filming, import them in the timeline (at any order originally) and trim them down to the relevant bits. To trim them I would split off ends that I didn’t need by highlighting the section and pressing ‘S’ to split it off and then delete it, if it was at the end and not in the middle I would simple drag the clip inwards. I would then put them in some chronological order, leaving areas for the text tiles to go in and highlighting the clips that needed special effects added to them in adobe after effects.

I then started to colour correct various shots to ensure there was consistent colour throughout the trailer as some shots were filmed at different times or I wanted to make it look darker as if night was passing. This was quite a long process as it had to be replicated a few times. To start it off though I would right click on the clip go onto MediaFx and select various effects that needed to be applied such as Brightness and Contrast, Colour Balance, Colour Curves and Colour Corrector. 

I would click OK and the separate tabs would come up for editing. In the colour corrector on the ‘low’ colour tones I would bring it down to the lower bottom right to add a slight tint of blue which is seen in most night time scenes just to get that slight vibe. 

On the colour curves in the RGB channel I lowered down the top right point so that it made a gradual curve between the two causing a gradual brightness and contrast of darker colours in the clip.

In the colour balance tab I reduced the Red channel slightly to get an even sharper yet still slight blue tint on the clips making it look even more like night time, or even approaching night time.

 Finally was the brightness and contrast, I lowered both the brightness and contrast to make it slightly darker, hence I was trying to get the dark night time feel but enhanced the contrast centre to establish the difference.

Next was to add any stills into the trailer such as any pictures. The same process occurred where I would import > media > then select the images that I needed to import into the library then from the library to the timeline. I could alter how long they stayed on screen by dragging either edge, dragging it away increased the duration, squishing it made it last for a shorter period of time.

We then needed to do the special effects which was the blood splatters and the demon face which involved after effects which Carl had more knowledge on so he took more control in the production of the final look. The blood splatters was in the same section as when three versions of me shoot themselves which I had to edit in itself. I got the three individual clips in order and trimmed them down to the appropriate lengths so that the shooting was simultaneous and in time and then mask and crop the actual clips individually to their sections so that all three was showing at once on one still. 

We would import the correct and adequate clip that needed editing into After Effects by importing them and then making a new composition on the timeline. For the blood splatter I would have to track the shot so that the camera/software had something to fix onto whilst the three versions of me were acting and shooting themselves. To do this we would click on the tracker tab and set up a new tracker point by finding a nice high contrasting point which was not interfered by any movement. We didn’t tick the rotation or scale boxes as this didn’t occur in our clip as it was on a tripod and remained still meaning the positioning was just needed. We would then play the keep and it would mask out where that specific point has moved throughout the clip. 

Above the composition I would then right click > Null Object > Insert Null Object and then go back to the clip with the track and click on Edit Target > apply to layer > Null object which would apply the layer to the track and keep it there. Now anything we applied to that Null object or grouped to it, would follow the track to it as well meaning the blood would go where we want it. 

We then browsed through the Adobe Action Essential packs and found some blood splatters and settled on some that we thought were suiting and inserted them into after effects and applied them to the instance of the null object we created. we would alter them and transform them, adjust the colour according to the lighting in the room and add a drop shadow and position them in ways relative to where the bullet is being shot until we got the final look.

The demon face was created in the same way and the same principle applied, I had to choose something which was easily identifying able such as both eyes and track them how I did before. I would also add a null object and the null object would have all the properties on it which create the demon look. To get our distorted look I used the liquefy tool (Distort > Liquefy) and drew out certain features such as my eyes and mouth and made them droop and applied it to the track so it followed me as I jumped out at the camera.

Next was to import them all in and finalise all the shot timings so that it was timed nicely with audio and sounds that I included such as the bass melodies, music etc. I then had to use some transitions, this was fairly simple to do as in horror trailers a lot of fade to blacks are used which an easy access default option in Vegas when two clips are next to each other you can click and drag on a top right or top left corner (where the clips meet) and pull back the time that It will take the clip to fade in or fade out. This was easy to customise when it came to faster or slower shots that still needed the black outs.

Finally was to check through before the render to see if anything was out of place or sync, adjust volume levels so everything could be heard or wasn’t too loud and ensure the render options were right before doing so and uploading it

By Archie McCarthy

Magazine cover construction

The magazine was easy to make and was a quick process to do as we made a lot of them in AS and therefore understood all of the conventions and how to go about making them. I made the inital draft of the magazine, which was then altered by Archie whom had far greater Photoshop skills than I, which allowed him to tighten up any slight mistakes I may have made. I then used the combination of the quick selection and magic wand tool to get rid of the background and then pressed the control key and T too transform it to make it slightly bigger, whilst holding shift to keep it to scale. I  then pressed enter to confirm the selection. Next I added the black background and added a smokey gradient it and placed the layer behind Joe to make it look like it was behind him. He then imported the Empire title and centered that as best as possible. Lastly I inserted the additional text using the text tool and and put the barcode in.



Archie was responsible for the next stage of making the magazine more professional and changing it from the draft to final look. To do so Archie changed the sizing of certain elements using the Transform of Ctrl + T and pressing enter to confirm the selection, this involved rotating the barcode so that it was horizontal instead and then moving it to the bottom right in a better location. Archie used the text tool a lot to create new text such as the text above the title and would change various text features overall. 

This included the horizontal spacing between the characters, making them closer together and then also increasing the height of the text almost stretching it. Archie would then highlight certain parts of the text, access the colour pallet and change it to colours such as yellow and white which came of the page slightly more so it could easily be read. 






Furthermore Archie added more images such as the posters and made them much smaller and changed their properties. This involved adding some layer styles such as a white stroke (to give it a border and polarized effect) and then a drop shadow to make it more 3 dimensional and more obvious as it was only small. 




To create the banner graphic which features sub - headings and tag lines Archie inserted a 'tick' shape, rubbed out part of it, stretched it and flipped it to get the graphic. To make it the right colour of red he used the eye dropped tool on the Empire tool to get the same shade of red and then apply it to the banner and any other features such as the text or even alternated colour of stroke. He drew a rectangle and ensured that the background colour was red (the same shade as the Empire logo) so that it automatically filled it when he drew it. 

Furthermore Archie added various changes to the size of the fonts, colours, strokes, actual fonts used etc. all to get the final and overall look.

By Archie McCarthy and Daniel Seager

Poster Construction

Below is a video detailing exactly how one of our posters was made.

Video by Archie McCarthy

Lord of the films (Filming of us filming our film....)

To prove that we actually filmed our trailer, and didn't hire some James Cameron or Alfred Hitchcock to make it for us, (as if we could afford to pay anyone anything....) we decided to make a collection of short films detailing our adventures into the land of film making.

*Disclaimer; The following may or may not feature us actually filming....*

You have been warned...
Video by Archie McCarthy

Evaluation Question 4 script

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
 
Technology played a key role in the development of our main task and our ancillary tasks. We made use of a vast number of different technologies, which included and are not limited to; Adobe Photoshop, Blogger, Sony Vegas 8, After Effects, Windows Live Movie Maker and many more.

The first piece of software we had to make use of is Blogger. Blogger is a free online software which allows us to make a blog. The blog in question is where all our work was posted and allowed us some pretty neat tools, such as being able to group our posts under labels and being able to embed images and Youtube clips in to break up our mountains of text. Blogger is a effective tool as it allows us to make use of far more technology than a simple print process, thanks to a simple interface, and an easy to use software. The only downside is that it can be difficult to edit the layout of your blog once it has been set up.

Bubbl.us was a piece of software we used relatively often and early on in our work to help us plan what we intended to do during the course. Whilst we may not have always stuck to these plans, we often made use of them as it helped us to see exactly what ideas we had and what needed to be done. The way in which we could colour code our Bubbls also allowed us to prioritize certain aspects of our work, or make certain areas stand out to us.

Another piece of vital software to our  work was Sony Vegas. Sony Vegas was the main software used to edit together our masterpiece of a film trailer after it had been recorded. Sony Vegas was by far one of the most effective way to edit together our work when compared to other software such as Windows Live Movie Maker. The main advantages to using Vegas over WLMM include; Chroma Key capability, Better rendering times, A far more easily navigable interface, A far more detailed audio layering feature, A far faster loading time and A far greater range of editing ad-ons. This, along with the plethora of features I haven't mentioned make Sony Vegas the ideal choice to edit our masterpiece together.

Photoshop can be seen as an equally vital piece of software during the creation of our ancillary tasks as Sony Vegas was for our main task. Photoshop is an image editing software which allows us to edit images in a wide variety of ways. The ways in which an image can be edited include, and are certainly not limited to; Cropping, Colour correction, Precise cutting, Feathering images, Layering, A wide variety of text editing software, Countless fonts, Countless colours with which to design things, Precise image altering tools AND The ability to apply effects to images. Aside from this multitude of features, the ability to be able to layer images rather than have one single image makes them far easier to edit once they have been set up. This means it was the ideal program to design and make our ancillary tasks.

After effects was a program we made regular use of during the editing of our cut. After effects is a program which allows you to add visual effects to your existing video. Examples of where these have been used can be mainly found during the scenes involving blood, as we didn't have fake blood to hand and didn't want to actually injure our actors. After effects has a fairly vast list of features and such allows for a great deal of video editing. Although you often have to source effects yourself, or work out how to edit footage yourself, there are a number of good tutorials online, such as those done by video co-pilot, whose tutorial for a 'Demon Face' at the end of the trailer was incredibly effective. After effects was also essential for one shot which required three of the same person to be in one scene. This was done by using After effects to overlay the three clips into one.

We also made use of two main pieces of equipment for filming; a camera and a tripod. The camera we used as a Nikon DSLR Camera, which had a number of features, including a setting which allowed us to change how much light would be taken through the lens during the filming. This was an essential feature, as we constantly shifted between light and dark rooms due to the nature of our trailer. The Camera was also able to record in high definition, which is essential for making our trailer look as professional as possible. The other piece of equipment which tied in nicely to this camera was a tripod. The tripod we used was a fairly simple one, which allowed us to tilt, pan and angle the camera, as well as raise and lower it should the shot warrant it. Though simple technology; it allowed us to shoot a number of different angles, such as the masked shot involving three of the same person.

The other substantial piece of technology we had to make frequent use of would be a computer to run all the various software to edit our trailer. For the ancillary tasks, I made use of a Apple Mac computer, which already had programs such as Photoshop and Final Cut loaded onto it. For the actual editing side of the work, we made use of several other computers, such as the Presario CQ56 laptop. A contrast in machinery allowed us to make use of the different features of each. This is because some programs found on a Windows PC cannot be used on an Apple Mac and vice versa.

Evaluation question 3 script

3. What have you learned from your audience feedback?

We learned a great deal from our audience feedback at every level it was given. We were given two sets of written feedback, which marked the route to our final cut. For our final cut, not only did we get some additional opinions from those outside our media class, we also filmed people watching our trailer to see if it was effective, and was able to do what we wanted it to; scare people.

The first time we were given feedback was on our rough cut. This feedback was the first of any kind we had been given and so was incredibly helpful to us. The vast majority of the media students at our school were shown each-other's rough cuts, and were asked to provide feedback as a result. Some of the common things we were told about our work from this included;

• Good/Great use of music
• Sound effects were well realised
• Tracking shot is well filmed
• location was well realised
• the casino scene/shot of the dining room was good
• The shot of the swing was very effective
• Colour correction was in need of work- needs to be consistent
• Lighting needs to be slightly brighter
• Variety of shots needs addressing
• Date for release should be added
• The actor looks to be too young

So, with this list we had to move onto our final cut, however we also got some feedback for the cut before our final cut to ensure that we could make our final cut as effective and scary as possible. Again, we received a large amount of positive feedback with one major concern; our trailer just wasn't scary enough; The ending was no-where near as frightening as we needed, or wanted it to be.

Furthermore we also got some extra feedback from those who weren't actually part of our media class, whom all seemed to like the trailer, yet once again gave us the same criticism that the trailer wasn't scary enough. However, it was useful to get feedback from those who weren't viewing the trailer from a media based perspective. They would be far more likely to view the trailer for what it was, as opposed to media students who would be commenting on far more complex features, such as diegetic and non-diegetic sound and the editing, whereas those who weren't would be far more likely to focus on what they thought looked good and if it was scary of not. 

So going back to the drawing board for our third and final cut, we knew exactly what needed to be done thanks to our audience feedback. Thus for our final cut, we knew exactly what needed re-filming; the jump scare for the trailer. This final attempt was far better received than the other three, and though there were a few issues relating to the video static seen on the trailer; it was through our audience feedback that we were able to make our trailer as good as it.