Evaluation Task One - Location/Setting

Though out our trailer, we had to understand that there had to be a whole range of different locations and settings for different shots, this was because Dan and I, in our trailer are split up and trying to find each other, which resulted in the use of different places to shoot out trailer. We introduced different locations throughout the trailer not really giving any prevalence to a specific location but it's rather spread out. We used a number of shots to show these locations which I believe can be seen by the choice of screenshots that I have taken below. 

There was a whole range of ideas that went well in our film trailer, one of them was the range of different shots used, this was to show the audience all of the different locations, but it also tells the audience the story line. An example of the wide range shots was when we did an establishing shot of the cemetery. Personally, the establishing shot was a unique shot in comparison to some of the other shots that were used in our trailer. Furthermore, the establishing shot was going to be one of the main shots that we were going to use in our trailer, which does not only just show the importance and in depth of our research and planning but also tells us that we have prepared and planned properly for our trailer.

Personally, I feel that the choice of locations used for our trailer were the ideal settings for the horror genre. These different types of locations that were used consisted of going to various different graveyards (Ewell/Highgate Cemetery), various woodlands/fields and a drive in the countryside at night. All of these different locations showed off our story line, plus it also showed the audience that Dan and I are from a middle class background, which would appeal to out C1, C2 and D target audiences. Also, the working class background can be seen through some of the clothes that were worn by Dan and I, but also the dialect used in our film that both of us used, can also be used by the public in everyday use by a typical teenage audience in the present era.

Here is a location with Dan being filmed in Ewell Cemetery. The camera stays onto Dan but we still continue to see the background. We see almost all of the cemetery which shows that this was a perfect position to take this shot from as it can clearly be identified as an establishing shot.

Here we have an establishing shot of the wooded area location, where we can see Dan running away. This is to give the audience the feel that Dan is running away from something or someone.

Evaluation Task One - Title of the Film

Here are a number of screenshots taken from our trailer. All of these screenshots have some important input to our trailer whether it is setting a location or introducing a new character. This part of the evaluation reinforces why we had put some shots in the trailer.

Title of our film:

Over time, it took a lot of thought for producing a film title, we both (Dan and I) decided to go for the film title 'More Than Human'. This took a lot of thinking time to try and come up with the title, this is due to us going through different situations and positions and trying to apply a number of names to try and fit the genre of our film, which is a found footage horror film. We got the idea from many different found footage films, which helped increase a more effective horror title. Below is the names of some found footage films that helped in the process of deciding a film title.

• Grave Encounters 1 + 2
• The Blair Witch Project
• The Paranormal Activity 
• As above, so below
• The Devil Inside
• Cloverfield
• A Night in the Woods
• Diary of the Dead
• The Collingswood Story
• Unaware

The title above, is one of the fonts we used to try and use to help fit our genre, but we felt like that this was a bit to much as we researched many different found footage horror films and they have a plain, computerized, font which has an effect on the audience.

The title above is on a black background and in a plain, computerized font called "Mathematics" which gave the trailer a more of a found footage horror effect. We decided on this as we both felt it would increase the tension and also due to the white writing contrasting the black background, we were going back to the traditional horror conventions.

One reason why I felt this was a good decision for our specific trailer is because we had a lot of dialect in the form of text on the screen and so we had to make this piece of text more important than the rest and thus we put it at the end as it will be the last thing the audience remembers. People tend remember the start and end of any piece of information and that was the reason why we put it right at the end.   

We also knew that we must differentiate the title from the rest of the text dialogue within the trailer. We kept the font the same as all trailers have a conventional "One Font" system to not over complicate it and we also followed this

More Than Human - How we felt after the film

After countless changes earlier in the year, an example, the change from Action/Comedy, where we thought that it would not succeed as Comedy is a hard genre to pull off, if the jokes within the trailer were not funny, then the trailer would've not succeed and we would've got a lower mark. We changed the genre to Horror, and personally, it couldn't of gone any better. We both have had trouble to find time to film as we both have commitments such as work, but we both took the time to go out and film.

Personally, the trailer was a success and we got good reviews from our peers, even though there were a few things that could of been changed. But throughout the course, both Dan and I's skills in editing, producing, directing and technical skills with software's such as Photoshop, has increased and worked well for the production of our film.

Overall, I am happy with what has occurred in the year and what we have produced as Dan and I have worked hard to produce and pull off our production.

More Than Human Trailer

Here is the finished product of Dan and I's horror trailer called More Than Human. I hope you enjoy this trailer.

Animatic Storyboard

Here below is the More Than Human Animatic Storyboard.

Progress of our Movie Magazine

Recently, I have started to work on my magazine front cover for our trailer "More Than Human", this has taken a couple of lessons and various trial and error things using Photoshop as it is not a program that I am not used to using.
In the next pictures below, it will show the progress of the magazine front cover and some of the things that need to be added to the magazine for it to be complete.

This picture (Above) was the start of the movie poster but only slightly progressed. We used the red Empire magazine title, as it is a well known film magazine, plus the used of red gives the horror effect of blood and contrasts with the black background of darkness, fear and death. I used a well known horror film "You're Next" and the picture of the masked antagonist from the film to help draw in the audience and make it feel more scarier. The use of the title above the Empire Magazine title, in capitals, "Our Best Horror Issue Ever", gives the effect that there is more inside that will surprise the audience reading this magazine. I have also added in the prices and date of the magazine, to make the magazine feel more realistic.

This second picture (above) has more added into it, including the title of our trailer and another well known, recent horror movie. The Title "More Than Human" is in the conventional horror colours of red and white, this contrasts the black background. The red writing, represents blood and the white text represents light, but the white writing is used to stand out on the black background, with the black colour representing darkness, death and fear, which will attract the audience to the magazine, due to the colours standing out. With another added horror film added onto the magazine and the scary doll/puppet picture added aswell, gives the magazine a more conventional horror feel, due to the picture blending into the black background, attracting a wider range of audiences to buy the magazine.

In this picture (above), a lot of changes have been made, including the text/font of the writing, the size of the font and also added in a "New and exclusive interview" with the directors, who are Dan and Myself. I decided to change the font and the size of the text to give it a more eye catching feel, to attract more people to take a look at the magazine cover, still using the conventional red and white colours, to represent blood and still making the text stand out and contract the black background, giving it the horror feel too. I also changed the positioning on where the movie title should be, as it didn't seem right having the text on the top right of the movie magazine, as it is more effecting nearer to the bottom and more central, also filling up the page. To make it more central, I had to adjust the positioning of the bar code to a more horizontal position, due to when the bar code was vertical, the text had to become more cramped and it didn't look as good. The use of capitals in the title, makes it stand out more, also having the word "Than" in a slightly larger font, make the title stand out even more, allowing the audience to get drawn into the magazine. Also adding the "New and Exclusive interviews with the directors" in the red and white colours still follow the conventions of a horror magazine cover, also keeping it simple and making it fit in with everything else on the page. Also, using this text, this gives the audience to have something to look forward to when reading the magazine.

There is more to be added to the magazine front cover, as there is a large black blank area, this is where our main picture is going to go after the film has been produced. The picture will be the antagonist, which will bland into the background to give the audience the question "who is the killer?".

Now, the picture above, is the finished product of our magazine cover and our trailer, More Than Human. The last image to be added was the black and white, faded grave stone that is covered by the tree vines. This picture was the ideal photo for our magazine cover, this is due to the fact that the grave gives the audience a feel of death and fear. The name on the grave gives the audience the question "Is that the killer?", "Is that a ghost?". The grave is in black and white to contrast the black background and the red writing, drawing the audience into the magazine.

Overall, I found this to be a fun project to do and I am happy with the end product. I have been able to apply my skills from editing to try and find out how to use the Photoshop program, also looking at tutorials have helped me with the end product, and overall, I am thrilled that my hard work has paid off as I am very pleased with the magazine cover

Documenting the Influences of our production

Throughout my life, i have enjoyed picking up a camera and learning how to use it and the find out the wonders of technology. I wanted to do media for part of my studies in 6th form due to the sheer excitement of being able to use my knowledge of cameras and editing to produce my own production. Below are some of the influences that have inspired me.

Director - Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg, is one of the most significant and influential directors in the present history of film. He is known as one of Hollywood’s wealthiest filmmakers in the world and has produced many successful films. Spielberg, throughout his career, as a producer, director and writer, has countless credits that have been critically acclaimed and also has countless big-grossing films. 

Location – Highgate cemetery

Using this location was convenient for us to use as my associate and me came up with the script, even though we could film in any cemetery, we felt as if this one stood out. The cemetery has a big location; we can get many types of shots in.

Films

Some movies that have helped influence our film is the movie Grave Encounters, and as a part of the direction of “More Than Human, we believed that we should follow in the steps of this film and create something that has the similar effect. There are also a few other films that helped in the influence of our film, REC (2007) and The Blair Witch Project being some of the films that helped and influenced us on how to make a found footage horror.

We have had a broad range of films that we have been working on. We both wanted to do a film, for example, our film, “More Than human, we wanted to please the teenage and young adult target audience, with hope of scoring highly for the film and production.

Photoshop/Sony Vegas

With regard to Photoshop, it enabled us to create magnificent poster and magazine covers, something other software’s couldn’t offer us. We used Sony Vegas to edit our trailer; we have found this software very useful as it provided many editing tools to the footage.