Soundmix Skills Devolpment

From using garage band for the first time I have learnt how to import sounds easily from iTunes and my documents. I have also learnt to export my soundtrack onto YouTube.

Here is a soundtrack I put together as an experiment in a lesson:

I used downloaded dialogue from the Saw film because I do not yet have any of my own at my disposal. I downloaded eery backing music and added sound effects on garage band like doors opening and church bells sounds that I think will be in the narrative of my film. I also added loud gun loading sounds to shock the audience at climatic moments and more dialogue and sound towards the end where I would speed the editing up.

Other skills I learnt was how to crop and trim tracks as well as splitting a track midway through to use later on in the soundtrack. I also learnt how to lower the volume on individual sounds this is useful if I want a subtle sound or if another is dominating the soundtrack and you can not here the others.

Reflection

All these skills will come in handy when I come to use sounds in my actual trailer. This experiment means I have basic skills when it comes to using garage band. I think I do need more time on garage band because creating a soundtrack has been one of my weaker and it is vitally important I have the right sounds for my trailer to frighten my audience. I like the eery sounds but when I do my trailer I would like to develop them more and have them grow as the tensions grows in the trailer. For my trailer I will heighten the sounds that are happening in the narrative for a dramatic effect. I used electricity sparks and alien and foreign sounds to signify the presence of something supernatural and to make the audience feel uneasy and unsettled.
 

Additional Storyboards

Here a very quick storyboard I put together for re-filming and improving my rough cut

 

 

 

Here a very quick storyboard I put together for re-filming and improving my rough cut

Reflection

This time I chose my shots of the antagonist evolving the story around him instead of the victim like in my Rough cut to make it more exciting and intense plus because this time there will be multiple victims.

I chose to add more of backstory this time of the antagonist cutting up pictures to make the audience think that he's a dodgy character and at what is he doing is he controlling them now or is he planning his next attack or has he got an obsession with these girls leaving it to the audience to interpret without revealing too much.

Inter title Brainstorm

Here I typed notes of inter titles that popped into my head

"Teenage Suicides"
"More than just a coincidence?"
"Hell bent on revenge"
"He Will Possess You"
"He will consume you"
"Manipulating his victims"
"Takes over their mind"
"Rip apart their souls"
"Wronged"
"He is always watching"
"Lurking in the shadows"

Reflection

I am going to use "Teenage Suicides" because that is what is happening and "More than just a coincidence?" to grab audience's attention by placing the question on them. It suggests that something abnormal is happening and makes the audience feel uneasy. In-between the first shot of each characters I will use their real names as an inter title e.g. starring "Tim Oulton". I will use other inter titles such as "Manipulating his victims", "Takes over their mind", "Rip apart their souls" in quick succession to create immense tension towards the end of the trailer.  And "He is always watching" and "Lurking in the shadows" in longer shots prior to that to build the tension.

Moving forward consideration

Need to get shots of rats and the sound of the flute to truly reflect the pied piper theme. If I cannot do this I may have completely rebrand my film the fact at the present there is not enough theme of the fairy-tale may confuse the viewer or decide not to watch because there is no pleasure from spotting those themes. Names I have thought of changing it to are "stalker, "obsession" "hooded man" similar to the tall man I researched. It would be a generic horror film that audiences would recognise but I would lose the originality.

New Profiles, Release Forms and Locations

This is Lauren Robertson she will be appearing in the film trailer, shooting Monday 25th November

Model Release form:

This is Isabel Ineson she will be appearing in the film trailer, shooting Sunday 24th November

Model release form:

Because Isabel is under 16 I got my mum to also consent and sign a model release form

Reflection

To further improve my campaign I would of had these characters appear on the posters to reach a wider audience who are attracted or can relate to the individual character, had I more time.

 

Locations

I am filming at Stonebridge Darlington for Lauren's shots; we will not be filming at abnormal hours because we need lighting for the shots nor are we filming anywhere enclosed. The only hazard is when Lauren is standing on the wall she could fall though it is highly unlikely I will take precautions by checking the surfaces is not slippery and not filming in the rain we will also help Lauren up onto the wall and down again.

For Issy's shots I am going to film in our because it is our house I don't believe I need to take any additional precautions to the ones mentioned about my house in the Reece. Other than when she is pretending to take pills I will give her tic tacs or vitamin tablets just in case she accidently swallows them

Plan

Here is the feedback off my teacher for the research and planning, currently I'm between a level 2 and 3 and I want to be between a level 3 and 4 so here is my plan for the next 2 weeks to tackle all the pink and yellow highlighted spots before the deadline on the 2nd December.

 

Reflection

A lot of them I have just done the basic amount and not reflected on them which needs doing. I will go through my blog complete them one by one and cross them off. The most important ones that need completing are probably the sound mix, animatic and advance planning which are vital for these crucial 2 weeks to go forward with my product

Poster and Magazine Rough Cut Feedback

I put my Rough cuts on my Facebook and Twitter to get a range of feedback off people in my target audience. I managed to obtain a number of detailed responses on Facebook following my questions.

Magazine Cover Responses 

Reflection 

My feedback was very useful as I found my audience really liked the colours they said it represented the horror genre well which I am very pleased with and the they appreciated the continuity of the colour scheme across both prints.

I got some good suggestions some I will defiantly apply these include the suggestion of adding a third article to the right of the page to tackle the dead space. Other suggestions included adding a skyline and altering the position of the barcode to look more discrete on the page.

I got some positive feedback on the shadows of the image creating a dark and scary feel and the blood splatted across the masthead was a popular feature. Another element I will look to change is making the sell lines and the descriptions stand apart a bit more so they grab the reader more, by either making the sell line bolder or bigger.

Poster Responses 

Reflection 

The general feel I got from this feedback and a lot of the response said this, was that the bottom text is difficult to read, I did not notice this as much because I know what it says. I will look for a new font which may mean I have to change the pied piper font as well to compensate and so it remains professional in it's continuity.

The light face contrasting the black background has drawn my audience into the products so that choice seems to have paid off. It has been said to remind them of "psycho" which I very pleased with as this means my audience thinks my product can be comparable with a professional one.

The poster has been said to be clearly identifiable as horror because of the fonts. For the poster after the feedback I feel it is the barest of the two products therefore what I will do is add my production logos which I had not made at this point but now have and possibly add a rating from a film magazine or a newspaper.

Following one of the feedbacks I received that the image on the poster in particular, the victim does not look truly scared it looks more like she is joking. And the poster looks like one of a "spoof" horror like scary movie. This prompted me to try tackle this by seeing what the poster would of looked like using different images from the photo shoot and see if it would be an improvement

Poster Image Experiment 

1

 

 

2

 

 

3

 

Reflection 

I picked in my opinion the best photos following my photo shoot to fit the magazines structure.

Image 1. I don't believe this photo would improve the product at all, the expression is one that is gormless and not truly frightened, the lighting is almost with the image being too bright as well as her eye line too high up in the frame to represent the vulnerability of a victim.

Image 2. Again her eye line is too high in the frame and like 1 the badge on her clothing make the text difficult to read and is too distracting.

Image 3 is the best out of the 3 and could be used as an additional poster although she does not really looked scared but a bit depressed.

I decided to stick with the image in rough it is exaggerated but you would if you were truly terrified and a expression less victim will not have the same effect at grabbing the audience's attention I believe the expressions of the RC cut stand off the page more than the comparable.

Questionnaire Responses 

Here are some of the questionnaires responses  I handed out in college and at home

Reflection

From this form of gathering feedback I found that the audiences saw consistency between the prints predominately from the colour scheme. The red blood was the main attraction to the poster so using the brushes on Photoshop seems to have paid off.

From this form of research the reason for the audiences identification of the poster as a horror was because of the victims expressions so this image is effective in grabbing audiences of horrors attention. From the majority of my audiences said they felt the amount of text is sufficient however because the feedback on Facebook I am still likely to add more sell lines.

I handed out a questionnaire to my mum and to my younger sister to see if there response would differ not being in the prime target age group of the film. This response could mean that the film could be relevant to a wider audience despite being blood and murders still an interest.

Rough Cut Trailer Feedback

General Audience Feedback

• Good equalanium at the opening of the trailer
• Train station fast paced and interesting
• Completely slows after the train station, slow shots, the trailer drags on to much  
• Slow pointless shots of the piper walking around the park
• Narrative not clear at all 
• Whys is she sat on a swing? 
• No pied piper concept  
• The shots are too dark shots round in the park 
• Need to make the narrative absolutely clear 

Reflection Video

 

My Production Titles

Poster Construction

 

1. Firstly I downloaded and applied the true lies font I chose in my research with the "pied piper "and the phrase "have you paid the piper?" to direct it towards audiences and draw them in
2. Having chose my image I decided to remove the names because they did not fit in especially both of them. I also went for a brighter red to be more striking on the eye and fitted the text around the image 
3. I added the phrase "the highly new acclaimed horror by Sam Ineson" to add more interest and "big the film up"
4. I added colour to the eyes only because the image looked quite plain at that point to catch the audiences attention and to draw more on the victims emotions I did this following a YouTube tutorial I mentioned earlier by going over the eyes in a brown brush tool to revitalise them.
5. I finally added blood to the victim to further signify the horror genre by using a ink splat brush I downloaded at brushezzy.com
6. I rubbed a lot of the blood out with rubber tool because it looked over the top and took up too much attention. I made the blood more subtle so it was more believable



Magazine Construction

 

1. Firstly I downloaded the bebas neus font for my cover because it is bold, strong and easy to read; I added the #piedpiper straight away because I am using social networking sites to get the word of my film around rapidly increasingly my audience through the internet. I added world exclusive to grab readers attention this is a significant film. And used the horror issue as an indication that the magazine is mainstream and the horror theme is reinforced by the font.
2. I then added an image of the type image I wanted for the cover to see what my fonts would look like with an image. I changed some of the fonts to white to draw attention to certain feature and to make the content easier to read and more distinct. I also added a barcode to signify professionalism.
3. Following my photo shoot when I added my chosen image the LCA masthead did not fit so I changed the name to popcorn and chose a more exciting font which also separates itself from the "pied piper" title. I removed the skyline because I felt it was too cartoony and reduced the scare factor. Instead I added "the most terrifying horror for years" to further prompt audiences to the film and get horror audiences excited. I then reinforced "terrified" by underlining it.
4. I began to add sell lines around the image to make the magazine more desirable and re added the barcode as well as a date, issue number and price to reflect the professionalism of a real magazine.
5. I also manipulated the piper's eyes to make him look more darting and dangerous. I did this as previously mentioned by placing the coloured image layer directly underneath and rubbing out the eyes.   
6. For the finishing touches I added a banner offering a free poster to give readers another reason to buy the magazine as well as tying in the poster product creating synergy between the two. I added texture to the banner so it didn't look so amateur by using a circle brush I downloaded off brushezzy.com so the banner looked rough and gritty like a horror film 

Animatic Storyboard

 

Reflection

 

Watching the drawings of my storyboard my initial thoughts are that I it takes a while for the trailer to get going till it gets to the station. I will probably shortens this because I don't want someone to switch it off before they even are introduced to a character.

 

I like the switching back and fourth to the victim on the platform and you see a change in her facial expressions. I am glad this looks good because it is a vital scene in the narrative.  

 

The quick shots around the station are also effective to the building of tension so when filming I will take lots of short shots at the station.   

 

I will need to address my inter titles so that my audience knows what is happening in the trailer but it is fairly obvious that she see this dodgy character and see is trying to get away from him and he is following her just isn't clear yet why but a description in the narrative will patch it up.  

Model Release Forms

My Rough Cut Trailer

Here is my (extremely) rough cut trailer

 

 

Reflection

 

 First of all I need a soundtrack which is overt, I will also add more sound such as the chimes of the bells at the start. I opened the sequences with pans because this what many of the professional trailers have done, I wanted to create a dark mood and show that the locations are isolated, I used the shot of the train rushing past to try make the audience jump. I think the train station sequence is the most effective part of the trailer. We have a concerned mother on the phone although I could do better to illustrate that like 'don't be ridiculous mum' 'of course I'm safe' 'no one is following me!' And then I try to connote danger with the warning signs and a pan to suggest the danger is nearing. She then notices the mysterious man who disappears from the platform when the train rushes past which I aimed to escalate the panic I had been trying to inflict on the audience. However a danger I need to address is that the trailer seems to play more like a sequence at the moment because the first half of the trailer uses the train station and the other half use the park. 

 

The narrative once she enters of the park goes absent, there is no reason I need to retake shots with a lot more thought into them and how it will shape the narrative. I am really disappointed I couldn't get shots of rats, an important cue to the pied piper at the moment my trailer doesn't have any elements of the pied piper so this is something I defiantly need to address or alternatively change my idea.

 The shot of the piper walking through the park is too long it was meant to be mysterious as I edited so he would disappear and reappear but the audience may get bored at this point switch off and miss the climax therefore I should shorten it or use a different shot. 

 

I used shots the swings swinging and the roundabout moving on it's on accord to signify a dark force present. We found a dolls head in the park so we decided to use it as a shot with the piper stamping on it to connote his dominance, ruthlessness, death and signify the pipers evil.

I sped up the editing towards the end to create tension as the piper appears to going in for the kill and it is the most exciting part of the trailer so I wanted to get the audiences hearts racing as they sense the victim vulnerability and hopefully the shock as he grabs her will have the audience going away wanting to know what will happen next, did she die or not because she is the main character.