Research and Planning - Trailer So Far

I have yet to add sound/a score to the trailer, however I am currently in the process of planning and creating the sound/score I want on my trailer. I may add one more scene with dialogue on to help tell the narrative more - this is undecided, however it has been marked in the above trailer as '(scene)'.

Research and Planning - Magazine Feedback

I am really pleased I got positive feedback and that it is clear my magazine is a film magazine and depicting a film from the horror genre :)

Research and Planning - Poster Updated

This is my updated film poster for my horror film 'TRANSFIXED'. I feel the tagline is still too large and so I plan on making this smaller on my final poster. Aside from this little change I feel happy with the rest of the poster and believe it to be complete.

Research and Planning - Poster Progress

Above are two versions of a poster I have created for my horror film. I can't decide on how to arrange the credits/actors names/social networking symbols at the bottom of the poster. My teacher suggested keeping the credits and website address central like the top version of the poster, but put the social networking logos either side the website address and make them smaller. I will do this tomorrow.

Research and Planning - Trailer Progress

This is my horror trailer so far. I have yet to add the titles and sound/score to my trailer - this will be done tomorrow. I will also add transition effects such as fades tomorrow too and cut down some scenes to make the trailer slightly shorter and make the scenes appear better overall.

Research and Planning - Poster Progress

This is my new poster, as I really wasn't happy with the first one I made. I decided the poster looks much better landscape than portrait and I have messed with my photographs too. You may have noticed I have a very similar photograph of my actor on my poster and magazine - however, they are slightly different images, taken at the same photoshoot and they both had different backgrounds, but once the background was removed the images looked very similar.

I have yet to add the steel tongs credits to the poster, but I will do that later today.

Research and Planning - Magazine Progress

I have redone my magazine on the College Macs, because the screen contrast and brightness is rather different to my own laptop's contrast and brightness, meaning what I saw whilst making it at home was not what it looked like when viewed on the Macs!

I have yet to add the last image in the red square at the bottom of the magazine cover - after adding this it will be complete.

Research and Planning - Editing Log

Research and Planning - Editing

Today I was editing my film trailer for 2 and a half hours, editing the colour, contrast and brightness of the clips taken outside to create continuity. I also cropped some of the clips to create better shot types and the tight framing which the horror genre typically has.

Research and Planning - Mac Screen

For some strange reason my magazine and poster appear incredibly dark on the Mac screen in comparison with my own laptop screen. I have a feeling the contrast, or brightness, on my screen makes things, particularly images, appear a lot lighter than they appear on the Mac screens. This causes a problem when editing my magazine and poster photographs at home, as I have no idea how my editing will look on the Macs when I go into College. I've been asking people over Facebook how the image looks to them and its mixed feedback, some saying they can see the dark church background and snow on the roof... and some saying the background is just completely black to them.

To combat this issue I will have to edit my photographs at College, rather than on Photoshop at home.

Research and Planning - Magazine

I placed my photograph on my magazine layout and have begun changing the brightness, contrast and shadows on the image. I have yet to add the flame to the candle and the glow on my actor's face.

Research and Planning - Filming Schedule

Planned Filming (UPDATED) 
DATE           SCENE                          ACTORS REQUIRED
24/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
Unknown   'Friend Confrontation'       Matthew Nicholls and Unknown

Completed Filming

DATE            SCENE                          ACTORS REQUIRED
12/01/13   'Woodland Chase'                James Mills and Sara Wilson
12/01/13   'Death Scene'                       James Mills and Sara Wilson
19/01/13   'Phone Call'                         Matthew Nicholls
19/01/13   'Graveyard Scene'               Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson (FIRST TAKE)
19/01/13   'Candle Scene'                     Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
19/01/13    'End Scare Scene'               Sara Wilson
21/01/13    'Crime Wall Scene'            Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
21/01/13    'Online searching'              Matthew Nicholls
21/01/13    'Mirror Scene'                    Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
21/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
22/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
23/01/13    'Graveyard scene'              Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson (RE-TAKE)
23/01/13    'Montage shots'                 Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson

Research and Planning - Dead Girl Make-up

After my last make-up test looked good to the eye but awful on the video camera, I adapted the make-up to look good on the video camera, which looked rather over the top and excessive to the eye but really did look zombiefied during the filming process! Above is a picture of the basic make-up I did on my actress to show she's dead. It looks better on the camcorder! The white contact lenses add the finishing touch I feel :)

Research and Planning - Magazine Photographs

Today I took some better quality photographs for my Film Magazine cover. They will have to be heavily edited and cropped quite a lot, but they're much sharper and clearer than my first test shots.

Research and Planning - Crime Wall

For filming on Monday I set up a 'crime wall' containing newspaper clippings and edited photographs of my actress. Cutting out, highlighting and sticking the articles to the wall in my Dad's warehouse took over an hour and a half ... and 2 packets of blutack!

Myself and my actor Matt were planning on filling the entire 9ft by 13ft wall in pictures and newspaper cuttings, but after spending an hour just filling a 3ft by 4ft rectangle in the middle of the wall, being attacked by spiders and becoming so cold we couldn't feel our fingers, we decided not to fill the entire wall as it looked alright how we'd created it already.

Then after filming the required scenes with the crime wall, I spray painted 'Behind You' across it to add a distinct horror feel to this piece of mise-en-scene.

Research and Planning - Filming Schedule

Planned Filming (UPDATED)

DATE           SCENE                          ACTORS REQUIRED
22/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
23/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
23/01/13    'Graveyard Scene'              Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson (RE-TAKE)
24/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
Unknown   'Friend Confrontation'       Matthew Nicholls and Unknown

Completed Filming

DATE            SCENE                          ACTORS REQUIRED
12/01/13   'Woodland Chase'                James Mills and Sara Wilson
12/01/13   'Death Scene'                       James Mills and Sara Wilson
19/01/13   'Phone Call'                         Matthew Nicholls
19/01/13   'Graveyard Scene'               Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson (FIRST TAKE)
19/01/13   'Candle Scene'                     Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
19/01/13    'End Scare Scene'               Sara Wilson
21/01/13    'Crime Wall Scene'            Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
21/01/13    'Online searching'              Matthew Nicholls
21/01/13    'Mirror Scene'                    Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
21/01/13    'Montage shots'                  Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson

Research and Planning - Poster Feedback

I'm really pleased that the majority of feedback was positive, however one person (my previous media partner) was rather critical of my poster and photograph. I will take his comments on board, however the other feedback is positive, suggesting my target audience does like my poster rather than dislike it. Also, my girlfriend who is currently studying Television and Broadcasting at a College in Canada, which is the same academic and educational level as English University, gave me some really helpful feedback and counteracted Danny's criticisms.

I do think there is something that needs changing on my poster and I'm sure I'll figure it out soon!

Research and Planning - Poster Draft

I edited the photograph I took for my poster and placed it on my existing poster layout. I'm not entirely happy with it and will ask my target audience and media teacher for feedback and suggestions for changes.

Research and Planning - Poster Photographs

These are the photographs I took tonight for my poster. I will pick my favourite and then edit the colour, contrast and exposure of the images before adding it to my poster layout on photoshop.

Research and Planning - Editing

Today's media lesson I edited the footage I have taken for my horror film trailer so far.

Research and Planning - Poster Discussion

Today I had a discussion with my media teacher as to what image I could put on my film poster. We discussed ideas we both had and I have now decided to take a photograph for my poster on location for the 'crime wall scene'.

Research and Planning - Magazine Draft

After taking some test photos for my magazine at the graveyard (despite how blurry and awful they are due to the super slow shutter speed that was used unintentionally) I edited the image, changing the contrast and put it on the magazine layout I had already created to see how I need to change the photograph in preparation for the real photoshoot on Wednesday.

After putting the photograph onto the magazine where I want it, I have realised some of the adjustments I need to make. My actress needs to be on a step or box behind the grave to make her higher; I also need my actor to take a few steps backwards, effectively making my actress and the gravestone larger in the perspective of the shot; the image needs taking from a higher angle to be eye level with my actor (I will require a box to stand on, I'm 5ft2" and he's 6ft7" !!)

Research and Planning - Magazine Test Shots

These test shots are really blurry due to the slow shutter speed that was necessary due to the lack of light at the graveyard when the flash was turned off. Although the images look like there is sufficient light, I believe this is due to the slow shutter speed that was used. The flash looked really bad on the photographs as demonstrated in some test shots below.

These pictures will be redone on Wednesday in better light to avoid the blurryness.

Also, I am going to put my actress Sara on a box/step to make her higher above the grave when I take the proper photographs on Wednesday.

Flash off:

 Flash On:

Research and Planning - Article Filming

As a close up of a laptop screen flickers and flashes when being filmed on a camcorder, I decided to use my laptop screen recorder to record the close ups of the BBC News crime article I created for my trailer. This also eliminates the problem I had of having the photo previewer toolbars on the top and bottom of the article screen, as I can cut it out of the laptop screen recording. I'm not too sure what frame size these clips will need to be to be the same size as my camcorder recorded clips, but I can always re-film these screenshot style clips in minutes if necessary. Below are the unedited clips I recorded of the article on my laptop screen recorder:

Please ignore the sound on these videos, I was watching TV whilst recording these clips !!!

Research and Planning - Murder Article

One of the scenes I am filming is an over the shoulder shot of my male actor searching an online news article regarding the 100 year old mystery of a dead girl which he has become transfixed with on his laptop. Therefore, I needed to create a BBC News style webpage for the scene to put up on the laptop screen.

BBC News Article:

I wrote the article from scratch, edited the photographs and even made sure the name on the internet tab matched the news article and put 'murder archives' in the Google search bar, making sure every detail was accurate and believable!

How it will look on the screen for filming:

My actor will use the scrollbar to navigate up and down the article. it's a shame the 'photopreview' bar is at the top and the bottom of the screen, however I'm sure the article will detract attention away from the photo preview top and bottom toolbars.

The photos I edited for the Article:

 Creating the above webpage article took a very long time as it was created on MS Paint! However I do like the way it looks... such a shame it will only play a 4 second role in my trailer! However, being a perfectionist, I want every detail to be correct, accurate and believable in my trailer.

Research and Planning - Filming Schedule

Planned Filming

DATE                  SCENE                              ACTORS REQUIRED
21/01/13     'Friends Confrontation'        Matthew Nicholls and Rebecca Mckenzie/Someone else
21/01/13     'Crime Wall Scene'               Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
21/01/13     'Montage shots'                    Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
21/01/13     'Online searching'                Matthew Nicholls
22/01/13     'Montage shots'                    Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
23/01/13     'Graveyard Scene'                Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson  (RE-TAKE)
Unknown    'Mirror Scene'                      Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson

Completed Filming

DATE                SCENE                               ACTORS REQUIRED
12/01/13    'Woodland Chase'                  James Mills and Sara Wilson
12/01/13    'Death Scene'                         James Mills and Sara Wilson
19/01/13    'Phone Call'                           Matthew Nicholls
19/01/13    'Graveyard Scene'                 Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson (FIRST TAKE)
19/01/13    'Candle Scene'                       Matthew Nicholls and Sara Wilson
19/01/13    'End Scare Scene'                  Sara Wilson

Research and Planning - Filming Yesterday

Yesterday I managed to get a little more filming done - not as much as I was hoping for, especially as my actors were at my house for 4 hours, but my actress was being very uncooperative. I specified 12pm to meet at my house and my actress changed the time to 2pm...It then took my actress almost two hours to get into costume, let me put the zombie make-up on her and put the zombie eye contacts in, by which time it was too dark for the magazine photography at the graveyard and because she refused to move out of the shot in the graveyard (behind the grave) I have to alter my camera angles which annoyed me greatly. Now we have to return to the graveyard Wednesday to re-film and take the photographs again, which rather renders yesterday completely pointless. To say I'm annoyed is an understatement.

Research and Planning - Poll Results

The Poll I created months back in this post: http://beckymckenziea2.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/research-and-planning-teaser-trailer.html closed last week and now I have collected the results.

These results will impact upon the final version of my trailer which is still in production.

Research and Planning - Magazine Photo Draft

I created in PhotoShop a rough draft of what I want my magazine photograph to look like, with my male actor holding the lantern and my female actress being the zombie behind the gravestone. After creating the layout I wanted for the photograph I then practiced changing the brightness and contrast of different sections of the image, to make it look like night time and like the candle is really illuminated and lighting up part of my face near the lantern, in preparation for the manipulation I will be doing on my real photograph.

Layout:

Manipulated:

On Magazine cover:

I have really found this task incredibly helpful as preparation for making my real film magazine - it has improved my photo manipulation skills and helped me work out exactly what I wanted on my magazine cover image.

Research and Planning - Risk Assessment (Filming and Poster)

Risk assessment for the garage and warehouse location:

Research and Planning - Location Recce (Filming and Poster))

Location Recce for the new location of my Dad's Garage and Warehouse:

Research and Planning - Perfect Location

So, it would seem the perfect location for a scene I've been struggling to find a place to film it in was right under my nose! My Dad took me to his motor mechanic garage and took me into the storage warehouses which were EXACTLY what I'd been looking for! Then, on the way back to the house, I saw some other really good locations to film in, especially for night time filming as there is a floodlight to illuminate the area! As the business is next door to my house it is easily accessible and as my Dad owns it, he takes responsibility for health and safety issues and for permission to film on the land, which is very helpful - my Dad has his uses!

Location photos: