REFLECTIONS: DARK ROOM

When I reflect over our film trailer, multiple scenes stand out to me as being successful in creating meaning. Some of my favourite footage from our trailer is the clips we got in the schools dark room. Using the dark room allowed us to film creepy, eery footage with jump-scares. We used red lighting in order to build tension, as red often connotes warning and danger. Furthermore, we filmed using found footage which made the audience feel as if they were actually in the shoes of the protagonist and experiencing the horror for themselves. 

We used a variety of different camera angles in order to portray the antagonists as threatening and scary in this footage. For example we used a low-angle shot (see below) in order to connote power and authority which is something that the protesters want to have. We also use a mid shot which showed a protester and also enables the audience to see what he was wearing, along with the background of the room, informing the audience of the location.

Overall, when reflecting on the footage captured in the dark room, I believe it was some of our most successful footage as clearly emphasises the horror genre of our film. The footage was scary as it acted as a jump scare for audiences to experience. I also feel as if the variety of camera angles proved to be successful in creating a sinister undertone for the antagonists.

CHANGES: STORYLINE

One main change we made during our production was to the storyline of our trailer. Originally, we had a completely different idea from Off The Leash. When we were researching we came across the TV show 'Hunted' on Channel 4. This TV show explored the idea of a group of people on the run from another group who had the aim to 'hunt the runners down'. We liked this idea as we thought we may be able to develop it into an enticing, action film. We explored different ideas; one idea we had was to have someone who owed a powerful organisation a lot of money (maybe drug money) and was on the run from them. We believed this idea could work because we could create an action-thriller trailer using lots of short clips and fast editing.

Eventually, as a production team we drifted away from this idea as we realised that involving drugs and dirty money is not suitable for audiences under 18 and that would significantly limit our target audience. We still were enthusiastic about the idea of an action-thriller, so we still followed this idea. We had to adapt our plot so it was more suitable to younger audiences, but also keep the genre we liked, this proved to be difficult as we had to work around fine margins. However, we eventually came up with the idea of 'Off the Leash!'. We still took inspiration from Hunted in the sense that there were a group of antagonists terrorising a group of teenagers. We also made our protagonists teenagers, this was a good idea as it will attract younger, teenage audiences to watch our film because they feel as if they can relate to the characters of similar age.

Overall, I believe the change to our storyline was successful and for the best.

REFINEMENTS: FILM POSTER

One refinement I made was to my film poster. Once I had finished my first draft I realised that I could significantly improve it as certain features were not right. For example, in my first draft the central image was slightly being obstructed by the film title. The refinement I made to overcome this issue was swapping the position of the film title and the tagline, using photoshop. By doing this it freed up more room towards the top of my poster, enabling the face of my central image to stand out and no longer be obstructed. This was a key edit as it must be clear that the figure is wearing an animal mask, as this is an important, reoccurring feature within our film.

Furthermore, in order to make room for my film title at the bottom of my poster, I had to edit the billing block and make it shorter and wider, in order to create more space above. This was an easy edit to make on photoshop as I could just edit the size of the font and compress it. This was also an important edit as it was important to make my film poster look professional. Professional film posters often have small billing blocks that are barely visible, in order to fit more important content onto the poster, such as the central image. I would say that this edit was successful as my poster turned out well and I am pleased with how professional it looks.

EDITS: GREEN SCREEN

One key edit we had to make in our production process was centred around the news reporter scene. We made use of the media departments green screen and Final Cut Pro in order to create an effect where the reporter appeared to be in a studio. This edit was one of the most challenging, but important edits we had to make. It was important to make this scene look realistic and convincing because if the editing appeared lazy and sloppy it could make our production team look unprofessional.

Using Final Cut Pro we were able to remove the background of the image and just select the reporter (Tom). We were able to complete this edit with relative ease because we filmed the footage against the green screen which had a strongly contrasting colour from what the reported was wearing. This allowed us to differentiate the reporter from the background. Next, we had to import an image of a news studio as the new background. We researched various images and eventually found one we thought would look convincing. Once more, using Final Cut Pro we could successfully underlay the image behind the reporter to make it look like he was sitting in a news studio.

Overall, I was happy with how this edit turned out. We were successful in creating a convincing edit that makes it look like our news reporter is in a studio.

CONSTRUCTION: INSTAGRAM

 

CONSTRUCTION: FILM POSTER

I created my film poster using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom. The process was relatively long as I had to go into great detail at several different occasions. I had to teach myself how to use the applications as I had no experience using either apps before. I would say I learnt relatively quickly and managed to produce a realistic poster which successfully portrays our genre and vibe.

I wanted to create a poster which highlights the scariness and severity of our group of antagonists, The Transparent Animals. After school one day I went to the woods with my dad where we took a selection of photos of the trees and me wearing my goat mask. Some turned out good and others not so good. After reviewing all the photos I picked the one I liked best and began to edit it on Adobe Lightroom.

Original photo

I chose to use Adobe Lightroom to edit my photo as it is easy to use and offers a wide range of filters and effects that I could use when customising my initial image. I edited the features of my image such as the shadows, exposure and added a red effect over the sky and trees. I was happy with the red effect I was able to create as it added a sinister and scary ambience to my poster which fit with our horror genre.

Adobe Lightroom

Finally, once my image was edited I dropped it into photoshop so I could begin to overlay my text and make some final adjustments. I used the 'Shock Therapy' font for my poster as its rigid corners and serious undertone emphasise our horror genre. One change I had to make to my poster was removing the logo that was visible on my shirt. This was simple as I just had to take a brush and apply some black over the white logo, making it invisible.

Adobe Photoshop

Finally, once I was happy with the way my poster was looking (the font, the background and the central image), I began to make some final adjustments. After looking at my first draft I realised that the central image was being obstructed by my film title. It is important that the central image of a poster stands out and attract attention, therefore I felt it was necessary to swap the places of the film title and tagline. This was an easy change to make as I just swapped the places of the two texts on my canvas. I was felt that the poster looked much better this way as the head section of my central image was no longer being obstructed.

Another final adjustment I had to make was making the size of the billing block smaller. This was a necessary change to make as it stops audiences from being drawn to it and focusing on other aspects of the poster such as the central image and film title.

First Draft                                                                   Final Poster

CONSTRUCTION: FILMING

22nd November

We filmed the main portion of our trailer on the 22nd November in Esher woods. The filming was a lengthy process as there were multiple different scenes and varying shots that we needed to capture. When we arrived we realised that some of our initial ideas may not work, such as using found footage for our entire film. We overcame this by using a variety of found footage, as well as some regular filming. We decided to film in these woods because we could all easily access them. Furthermore, the sunlight provided good natural lighting.

As stated above, we used found footage in our trailer. Found footage is where the camera is held by an actor in the trailer as they film. In our trailer, Kyle was usually the one behind the camera and asking questions. For example, in one of our scenes Kyle is filming and says 'is this thing even filming'. This is an example of found footage. Found footage is useful as it makes the audience feel as if they are in the film themselves and provides them with insight and makes them feel involved. We used found footage in other scenes as well.

In the scenes which we did not use found footage, we used a variety of different camera angles and shots in order to create meaning. For example, we used an over-the-shoulder shot capturing Blake's reaction to a branch suddenly snapping in the distance. This shot was successful as it allowed the audience to see Blake's reaction and shows that the focus of the shot is Blake.

Another shot that we used was an establishing shot. We were able to capture this shot using Matt's drone. We flew the drone over the woods in Esher in order to capture a short clip of the drone flying over the woodland area. An establishing shot is useful as it shows the audience where the trailer is going to be set.

1st December

On the 1st December we filmed the scene with Alecia in the car. This was an important scene in our trailer because it introduces the antagonists as scary and menacing. The footage we got was all filmed in a car park near Esher. We needed to film the shot where the man in the goat mask appears in front of Alecia's car. We used an over the shoulder shot filmed from the back seat of the car, showing the windscreen of the car from the inside. Then the man appeared in the windscreen and Alecia screams. We captured this scene well as it shows the scariness of the Transparent Animals and the vulnerability of Alecia.

The other shot we needed to get was a camera angle that could show Alecia in the driving seat, but now also showed men with animal masks sitting in the back seat. We used a three shot of Alecia in the foreground, sitting on the drivers seat and the masked men in the background in the back seats. The three shot was useful as it allowed us to capture Alecia's reaction as well as the two men sitting in the back. 

On this date we also filmed our protest scene which introduced the audience to the cause of the Transparent Animal's protesting, the covid-19 lockdown procedures. In the protest scene we used a variety of different short clips and a range of camera angles. We used a tracking shot that followed the protesters down the road and various close ups of the signs and banners. These camera angles created meaning as they introduced the audiences to the antagonists, at the beginning of the trailer.