Diary

To illustrate the work done for this project I have devised a diary in which I have logged our progress.

The bold text is what I personally did as part of the group to contribute to the activities. 

Let us begin from where it all started...

10/07/11

We came together as a group in the lesson and came up with a base of what we want as a practice trailer. We’ve decided to film a comedy called “Big Fat Sweaty Coppers” and have already discussed possible key scenes. With myself behind the camera, the rest of the group (Jeremy Razzell, James Clark and Lewis smith) will be left to acting and their contribution to post production.

12/07/11

Whilst we brainstormed further ideas outside of lesson, Jeremy devised a mind map outlining the plan of Big Fat Sweaty Coppers. One scene that we thought up was the opening scene: the camera panning across a room filled with litter from fast food and one of the fat coppers lying on the bed eating.

16/07/11

Today marked the day of our first filming session. For the scenes shot today we headed to James’ house where the activities consisted of littering his room with fast food wrappers, running him over in the car and a chase scene.

My role for the day was directing all of the camera shots, working the camera and driving the car that hits one of the big fat sweaty coppers.

As a group we constructed a device on which to attach the camera, this was so we could keep the camera still while in motion with the running character. This consisted of a wooden beam on a mountain board – we then had the camera on a stand and attached it on top of the mountain board.

21/07/11

The morning of today was filled with yet more filming for B.F.S.C.

The scene was based in the head office of the police force and involved myself playing a small cameo of the Head chef office shouting at the two incapable fat coppers.

I was involved in dressing myself up with a jumper shoved up my top and a fake moustache.  This was my chance to shine and scream at the other two coppers with cheesy dialogue “That was a shambles… I should strip you from your moustaches!”.  As I was acting on set I had to line up the camera and then Jeremy was able to hit record when ready.

29/07/11

For the shooting today we travelled to Pembury as I had a perfect road in mind for filming a chase scene. James was very helpful in creating a concoction that he would have to spit out of his mouth to look like sick. The idea behind this scene is that in the middle of a chase, detective Clark has to stop the pursuit and vomit his lunch. Our friend Joe Walker played the part of the criminal being chased as we needed a fresh new face for a fresh new character – only a very small cameo however and only needed once.

My part in today’s activities was filming the whole of the scene and again we used our invention to keep up with the characters in motion.

05/08/11

Lewis (one of the lead roles) has left the sixthform and although stating he will turn up for shooting, the rest of the team feel that this will jeopardise the rest of our filming opportunities.

13/08/11

Today’s filming was done outside of school at the local Mcdonalds drive through. The scene involved detective Clark and Smith in a car fighting over what looks like a serious case/problem. However the shot zooms out and they are only arguing over what food to get from Mcdonalds drive through.

I was again behind the camera and it was my job to jump out of the car to get the shot of the car outside the drive through at Mcdonalds. When at home I uploaded the videos onto the computer and started to put together what we had so far.

19/08/11

The final shooting took place today and consisted of Detective James Clark receiving an incoming call for assistance in his car. The detective jumps out of the car – a trail of fast food wrappers falling out with him, and slips up on a piece of litter, bangs his head and falls on the floor.

I played the role of director and filmed the various shots needed for the scene. This did include rerunning the scene so that I could capture it at multiple angles, to then edit together after.

21/08/11

From home I uploaded the rest of the footage and began to work on a draft to the final trailer. I have been using iMovie software for all the editing. Also found a few song clips that I have put in as a soundtrack to the trailer.

24/08/11

Continued editing and started adding in title screens to the trailer. Can’t help but feel slightly limited with possibly not enough clips. Never the less it’s only the practice trailer and we have enough for me to experiment with.

27/08/11

I invited Jeremy and James over to have a viewing of the close to finished draft. Very positive feedback from them both, saying it ran smoothly and had a professional feel to it.

02/09/11

Finished the final version of Big Fat Sweaty Coppers and ahead of schedule. With the time we have until we have to hand the finished product in we started to brainstorm for our official coursework trailer.

18/09/11

Today we presented our practice trailers to sir and the rest of the class. As a group we were very enthusiastic about airing our Big Fat Sweaty Coppers trailer and it was well received. The rest of the class had very positive things to say about it – especially about how the music fitted well with what was happening on screen.

25/09/11

A task is set within the lesson. In two days time we must stand up in front of the class and pitch our new film idea and evaluate how the last practice trailer went, including what techniques we will include in the next trailer from the experience.  Later on in the day we completed half of the powerpoint presentation on what we learnt from the practice trailer.

27/09/11

Presentation day. My group and I allocated ourselves positions to play within the presentation; this basically consisted of who would read from what slide. The video footage of our presentation is posted up on the blog and below is a link to it.

- >Link to video presentation<

Here is the powerpoint that we presented in the video -  >Slideshow powerpoint<

we also had to gather some audience feedback from the someone in the class. This person had to answer questions we had relating to our new idea for the plot of our new film trailer. We interviewed Betty May and the video can be found on this blog. Here is the link below

-  >Link to Betty's interview<

5/10/11

Outside of lesson brainstorming of possible names for the film.  Among other absurd and entertaining names for the film, we settled on one for the time being, however it may change in the future. So without further a due, exclusively, I give you the name of our film…. Betrayal and Retribution.

15/10/11

So after a bit of a gap in progress we have in fact made great progress. Today, being a day when we are all free, we travelled to Pembury and broke into the abandoned house for a shot sequence. This scene was the bit in the trailer when Mark Steele goes looking for his son in a horrible abandoned building.

I was the man behind the camera and ended up scavenging the house for quality angles and heights for the best shots.

17/10/11

I but together the clips we had shot from the abandoned house into a montage and added a rough soundtrack to it.

22/10/11

Showed the group what I had put together

27/10/11

We presented the work I had already shown to group to the rest of the class, and Mr Morris. Here we were giving a positive comment from Mr Morris – “ looking very promising guys, I’m liking the camera work and the music fits nicely. However you need to have more shots”

10/11/11

we shot some scenes just outside of school today – round the back of the sports centre. I chose this location because it has a very urban feel to it and has some interesting and useful “landmarks”, like the metal stairs running off the side of the building that feature in the trailer.  This scene involve the character of Mark Steele (played by jez) chasing down a mysterious hooded character (played by james)

Again, I did the filming for this

18/11/11

Today’s filming featured a special guest cameo. Our friend Tom played the role of the priest who Mark Steele visits for some religious enlightenment. We used the school chapel for the interior to this scene. Very well performed Mr Tom Harrington-Voight.

I filmed and collaborated with Tom and Jez in finding a bible verse for Tom to read that would be appropriate for the trailer.

25/11/11

I put together the clips from the chapel and put them in with the previous montage of clips we have

01/12/11

We presented what we had so far to the class and Mr Morris.

10/01/12

Back to work! Nice Christmas break, in which my mind was partially thinking about Christmas dinner and partially about future plans for Betrayal and Retribution.

New scene thought up involving the character of Mark Steele throwing himself around his study in anger.

20/01/12

I spontaneously decided to travel up to Sevenoaks to Jeremy’s home in the countryside. This was to film various shots including the opening scenes… yes we did not shoot chronologically.

Finally, these scenes involved my presence in front of the camera. I played my role of friend with bad news. I had to set the camera up on a stand and hit record before stepping into the scene.

Due to losing light we didn’t manage to finish filming all we needed and agreed to set another date to film before my departure.

25/01/12

BACK TO JEREMY’S

29/01/12

Due to the scenes recorded at Jeremy’s home, we are very close to being finished.

Today I added all the new footage to the trailer in progress and selected a song for the opening sequence.

I actually used the same song that featured in the trailer “shooter” that we looked at in the research stage of the project. The song fitted perfectly in that trailer, as does it in ours.

03/02/12

Today was spent getting the last few scenes for the trailer. These were the office scenes and we used certain rooms in the school for it. We actually used two separate rooms to create the look we wanted; this was a good enough desk from one room and a large window overlooking the rest of the school in another. Through editing no one can tell the difference.

I acted in this for a bit as well with the dramatic dialogue “you can’t keep living your life like this!” For this I needed to dress up in a smart suit.

10/02/12

Further editing on my behalf as I added in some title screens as well

15/02/12

So close to being finished. Needed one more shot to be filmed, which I had forgot about. This was the clip illustrating the death of his wife. Had my mum and dad help me for this at home. We made up a murder scene in which my dad was taking a picture of my dead mum (Mark Steele’s dead wife).

17/02/12

Finished the whole trailer! Last minute editing involved all the scenes rewinding in a few quick seconds to building music and then all turns black and the title ‘Betrayal and Retribution’ explodes onto the screen.

Very Happy with the end result and can’t wait to show Jeremy and James tomorrow.

18/02/12

The Premier of Betrayal and Retribution went down a treat. Everyone loved it and Mr Morris seemed to think it would score extremely high. Now uploaded to Youtube and Facebook means I will be able to get some feedback.

That concludes the diary of Jack Welch Director of media A-level project 2011-2012. Id like to thank everyone involved, my team and, of course, the people who made this all possible… You, the board.

Jack out!

End transmission.

Target Audience

Our film will appeal to the ages 15-30 and will attract a male audience above females. 

To appeal to this target audience it will be a movie with fast paced action in the form of chases, guns and violence.

It also has a gripping storyline for the older quartile of the target group

Codes and Conventions of film trailers

Conventions of Film Trailers

1.     Voiceovers are used to tell the story and give credit information

2.     The stars of the film are showcased

3.     Key points are sometimes conveyed through titles (words on screen)

4.     Conversations between characters often consist of one-liners

5.     Dramatic camera angles may be chosen to show events or characters

6.     Action is interspersed with actor or director credits on screen

7.     Music plays an important role in creating atmosphere

8.     The film’s title may not appear until the end

9.     The trailer builds to a climax, where it ends

10.  Montage (a series of shots from different points in the film, edited together) is often used to highlight the most dramatic, humorous or fast-paced aspects of the film

1) In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Within real media products there are commonly used codes and conventions that I too have used within my media product so that the decoder recognises it as being part of the action/thriller genre. However, while abiding to the former conventions of film trailers in the same genre, I have also stretched the boundaries of these conventions to provide my own trailer with a unique, original selling point.

Genre is a key part of a successful movie trailer. Genre refers to a category of media product that the decoders are able to recognise because of repetition of key elements over time and intertextual links. Therefore the audience will recognise similar films as being part of that genre due to them having the same forms and conventions. The factors that determine the genre of the film can be broken down into characters, setting, themes, use of narrative and certain cinematic/camera usage. Before my group started filming we researched further into the genre of action/thriller to gain understanding and influence into what we must include in our own trailer. Some of the action/thriller genre film trailers I looked at included Shooter and the Bourne Identity. 

These films had a similar storyline to my planned film and they contained fast paced montage editing and lots of action scenes within. Among other elements, these trailers included explosions chase scenes, guns dramatic dialogue, evil character, which all anchor the film as being an action thriller. By including as many feasible elements as I can in my own film trailer I was able to create a film trailer within this genre.

Narrative is one of the main factors in what category of genre the product falls in. The narrative of a film genre includes similar plots and structures predictable situations, obstacles, conflicts and resolutions. After presenting our pitch for our film idea, the audience feedback suggested that the plot had been done too much. This plot being a man who’s framed for the murder of his wife and is therefore on the run from the police force he once worked for. Considering the fact that our aim was to create a unique style to the product, we altered the plot to make it more dramatic and hopefully original. The newly devised storyline involved his son being kidnapped - this added an element of despair; as if it wasn’t bad enough that his wife had been killed and he was the culprit, the main character loses his son – the only thing he had left. Now the main character (Mark Steele) must find the people responsible for the kidnapping of his son, whilst on the run from the police force he once worked for. This narrative is one very relative to the action/thriller genre, as the situation of a man with nothing to lose, seeking revenge and on the run is very much what an audience expects to see in an action/thriller film.

Setting also played a big part in determining the genre. The calm countryside sets the scene in the beginning when the mood is peaceful and the audience, for the first time, see a father and son living a happy and secluded life. This mood is broken as the introduction of a new character (Mark’s friend) brings bad news. It is at this point that mysterious music anchors the audiences feelings of worry. As the music builds into suspense the introduction of ‘bad guys’ holding guns with masked faces strengthens the idea of this film being an action/thriller.

 - Scenes at the start of the trailer.

- Mysterious abandoned house.

Characters and Props are key elements of genre and my film trailer includes that which are typically involved in films of the action/thriller genre. The protagonist is a man who has lost everything but sets out for some sort of vengeance, with nothing to lose. The element of love is engaged through the character of his son, who is the only person the main character cares for. In these types of films there is always a friend of the protagonist who looks out for him but seems to get in the way; in our film trailer I play the part of the friend and at one point in the trailer I am heard shouting, “you can’t keep living your life like this!” This classic cliché line is a perfect example of a friend trying to help, but gets ignored. All action/thriller genre films need a bad guy- someone or group of people that creates a twist or obstacle for the protagonist. In our trailer masked men are seen kidnapping the son and later on, the main character (Mark Steele) is seen chasing a hooded man – these characters being the villains. Also acting as key elements of the genre are the props that we included in the film trailer. Guns are a big indicator of a film being part of the action/thriller genre and are a key prop used in our trailer. Mark Steele is seen baring a handgun when on the search for his son and at the end of the trailer an unidentified figure is seen looking down the scope of a sniper rifle. Another key prop in our production would be the balaclava masked used for the villains. These masks created a sense of mystery to the villains as it is unclear who they actually are and this gave a un-nerving sense of detachment to the characters.     

Editing is determined by the conventions of film trailers . . .

Click Here for Codes and Conventions of film Trailers

The way in which I edited the clips in our film trailer followed the codes and conventions of typical film trailers. 

2) How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

On top of having to produce a trailer, we were given a task of producing both a poster and a magazine front cover to promote our film. As the encoder of these media texts I had to keep in mind the intended target audience and had to make sure the finished product would attract them to viewing my film. Because I produced the two ancillary texts after the film trailer I was able to intertextually link certain images and themes that the decoder will be able to recognise in the familiarity.

To determine the success of the combination between my trailer and the ancillary texts i had to make sure that there was a clear link between the three products. The poster i constructed was formed from screen shots from the actual film and anchored with the title of the film centred in the middle of the poster. I chose to include images from the film trailer on the poster for a couple of reasons. One was that after researching previous film posters i found that a montage of separate images looks rather eye catching in a unique way and with various action shots appropriate for the genre, the images anchor the films genre and should appeal to the target audience. The second reason for choosing a montage of screenshots was that it connects the audience with the film at a more advanced level; by this i mean the audience get a further look into the film and when they are watching it they would be familiarised with key scenes in the film. A familiar face is consistent through each of the media texts – this being the main character of the film, who’s heroic, active performance in the trailer is mirrored by the determined forceful figure surrounded by aggressive flames on the magazine cover. 

The bold tile of the film ‘Betrayal and Retribution’ explodes onto the screen at the end of the trailer, and it is this same title that inexplicitly links all three products by anchoring the images.

Within my film trailer i included key signs and props that signified the action/thriller genre and i therefore wanted to transfer these over to the ancillary tasks to continue the intertextuality. The binoculars that feature in a short clip in the trailer is a main focus on my magazine front cover. The front cover shows the main character (Mark Steele) appearing from flames standing face on with the binoculars raised to his eyes. I chose this image for the film magazine cover because, i think, it depicts well the feelings and emotions present in the film and would appeal to the readers of the magazine – thus making them want to watch it. The main character is searching for his son and the binoculars signify this in a literal sense as well as metaphorically, much like the aggressive flames surrounding him, which signify the fiery aggression that he does in fact feel inside.

3) What have you learned from your audience feedback?

To create a successful product in the media industry it is vital that you keep up to date with what your target audience take from the end product. As an encoder it’s really important that the decoder sees my film trailer the way i intend them to. This is why audience feedback is valuable to any encoder. Providing regular feedback opportunities at the start and throughout the project is a great way of keeping on track with your progress. Feedback gives you, the producer, a way of altering ideas and remedying any mistakes made and by having that outsiders view can help you notice problems you have not foreseen yourself.

The first piece of audience feedback we received was after we pitched the first draft of our film idea to the rest of the class. This pitch consisted of the storyline, locations, props and key scenes. The general feedback we received from this presentation was positive and viewers said that we had obviously put a lot of thought into it. however, after interviewing a single class mate with specific questions, something was brought to our attention.

This is Betty, a class mate who we interviewed and this is that interview.

This feedback suggested that our storyline was one that has been done to death. This led us to devising an altered plot to our film; after all the aim was to produce a product that had a unique selling point. The newly devised plot involved his son being kidnapped – this added an element of despair to the film as the main character (Mark Steele) loses the one thing he had left. Now Mark Steele must find the people responsible for the kidnapping of his son, whilst on the run from the police force he once worked for. This early stage feedback was extremely useful, otherwise my group and I would have started composing a film trailer that was very much unoriginal.

The next stage of audience feedback that we received was fairly early on in our shooting. We were asked to present a thirty second long clip of our preliminary shots, which i montage together with a drafted soundtrack. After screening the clip, three peers were picked to comment on our clip and I was very happy with the feedback given.

>Click this link to view the comments made on our early footage<

Social networking allowed us as a group to receive feedback on a larger scale as our final trailer was viewed and shared among friends and family. After three weeks of me uploading the trailer onto youtube and facebook it had received 279 views. By linking the video through facebook, viewers were able to comment on the video and click on a ‘like’ button which indicated whether that person liked what they saw. Below is a screenshot taken from the facebook link.

On facebook our video receive 24  “likes” and underneath the video we received numerous amounts of comments, one of which was rather useful as feedback. “ I would definitely watch that… if the ending hadn’t already been revealed by the trailer” This is a very fair comment as he is referring to the scene, which indicates the reuniting of Mark and his son. However, in response to this I stated that the fact that he is reunited with is son his revealed because the story of the film is all about the struggles he goes through to get his son back. Also I thought that this particular sequence of clips were most professional looking given the location, angle and the way they were edited together. These two reasons overpowered any concern of ruining the ending and therefore I made the decision to leave them in – a challenging and fair observation regardless.   

From the various feedback comments I received throughout the project, I can honestly say that the views from others really brought the standard of my work to be the best that it could be. Having that outsiders view and listening to their comments was key to being able to alter certain things and make sure, as an encoder, I was producing a product that met the needs of our target audience. 

4) How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Throughout the project I used a wide range of technology that aided the success of my final trailer and ancillary texts. I found that having these facilities was really important and had a vital role in influencing decisions in the planning stage and techniques in the construction stage.

Research and Planning Stage

The internet was the provider of the vast majority of research accomplished during this task as it was the most convenient. I was able to visit numerous websites that enlightened and influenced what i produced as an end product.

The phenomenon that is Youtube was the website I visited most during this whole project. Here I would spend time watching various film trailers as research and because of it’s humungous library of videos, I had no limitations. I also used Youtube to upload my own creations because it was the handiest way to upload videos onto the blog. As I had my own account on Youtube already this was not a problem. A slightly more unusual use for me with Youtube was to watch tutorials on certain techniques using the editing software i used for the construction of our groups trailer. This was how to create a cinematic film look to your own videos and came in really useful as it enabled me to apply this effect to our trailer.

Another aspect of the internet that I used was the Google images search engine. I used this to research into existing film posters and magazine covers. Looking at these professionally made media texts I was able to see what made them successful and professional looking, which I then applied to my own.

iTunes is an online music library with a world of music which can be downloaded straight to your computer. It was this programme that i used to download the tracks that featured in our film trailer. With a useful search tool i was able to select particular soundtracks that i though would best suit the moods included in the visual elements of our trailer.

Throughout the project i used blogspot.com which is a website designed for blogging. It was here where i uploaded all of my work, whether it was research, planning or my film trailer progress and ancillary tasks. I found blogging a really useful way of keeping my work organised and communicating it with the teacher or other students for feedback. One of the useful features of blogspot was the ability to create labels; for each thing posted up onto the blog you can select with label to categorise it in – this being an example of how it made it easy to organise my work.   

Construction Stage

A major piece of equipment used in the construction of our film trailer was the camera. The school had provided each group with a standard video camera, however these were considerably lower quality in the image they produced. The group and i chose to use my Nikon D5000 digital SLR camera which has a high resolution film capturing feature – and although not fantastic, was still much better than the school cameras. The camera was light weight and easy to use, with the ability to be attached to a stand which came in handy for shots where we needed the recording to be steady. The footage would record onto an SD card which made it incredibly easy to transfer the footage onto the computer, ready for editing. On top of using the camera on a stand for various shots, we also used various ‘less-technical’ attachments to the camera, which enabled the effect we wanted.

By using a trolley, formally used for transporting chairs, we were able to keep up with the characters in the running scenes – rather than having an unsteady image from someone running with the camera after them. 

To get the shot of that’s looking down a sniper scope I devised a transparent circular disk with the sniper cross hairs drawn on, which was then taped to a lens flare lid and put on the end of the camera.

    

Again, when it came to editing software, the school supplied an editing programme on the school computers. However i found this software rather limiting and chose to use iMovie software that i have installed at home. iMovie is so intuitive and simple to use that it made the whole experience much easier and the effects available aided greatly to the success of our trailer. A notable effect was the notion of being able to edit a video to playback in reverse and alter the speed of it, which i used in the ending of the trailer to build up the pace before the end title exploded onto the screen. Another brilliant feature in iMovie is the sound effects library and the ability to install various audio files, which was useful for including such sound effects as gun shots and screeching brakes. Having this software, i feel was a major, or be it, most important factor in the professionalism and success of our film trailer.

CorelDraw was recommended to us to use for the production of our film posters and film magazine covers. However after researching well known film magazines such as Empire and Total film, I was determined to make mine at a similar level as much as I could. I felt that the Corel Draw programme was far too limiting and that it had relatively amateur results. Instead i used software that i was very familiar with from previous experience. Photoshop, with its vast opportunities in manipulating images and adding text, enabled me to produce a quality designed magazine cover and poster. The ability to layer several images and control the opacity of them and use precise tools was vital to the outcome of my ancillary texts. When it came to creating the flames surrounding Mark Steele on the magazine cover I needed to freely alter the flames and cut precise parts from the image – this would not of been achievable on CorelDraw.    

Props & Other Stuff

Guns – The majority of action thriller films always have a character baring arms at some point. We plan on having a few scenes where the main character (Mark Steele) is walking through an abandoned house holding up a handgun. Also we plan on including a large gun ie. A sniper rifle, being held by a masked character.

Costumes – we have a lot of different costume ideas for each the various characters. The main character ( Mark Steele) will be wearing casual clothes as he’s a retired cop and stays at home with his son. A suit will be required for the main characters friend (played by me) who works in an office. For the part of the villain (played by James Clark) we will just require him to wear a hooded jumper. Any other of the small cameos that may appear in the trailer will be fine in whatever they are wearing; apart from the character of the priest who will need a white dog collar.  

Dog – We plan on using Jeremy’s dog in a couple of the opening scenes to show how settled the character of Mark Steele actually is at home.

Balaclava – In the scene in which the son is kidnapped from his father we will use balaclavas to hide the identity of the kidnappers. The use of a balaclava adds mystery and fearful unknowing feel about the character.  

Trolley kart for camera – in our practice trailer we found a really useful way of keeping up with the running scenes, which also steadied the camera as well. To do this we attached the camera onto a trolley kart found at school. We will do the same in the running scenes in this trailer.

Sniper cross hairs – we have devised a simple attachment for the camera which gives the look of some sniper cross hairs, as if the camera was looking through a scope. The very non-hi-tech piece of equipment screws onto the front of the camera lens. 

Characters/Actors

Characters and the Actors

Mark Steele – main character. A husband to a murdered wife and a father to a kidnapped son. This guy is a determined type who seems to fear nothing. The part of Mark Steele is to be played by our very own Jeremy Razzell – no doubt his GCSE achievement in drama will bring a refreshing quality to the final piece.

Un-named friend – in the storyboard we have previously made up this character has such lines as “you can’t keep living your life like this!”. This part will be played by myself (Jack Welch).

Alex Steele – this is the son of Mark Steele and we plan on using Jeremy’s younger brother to play this part. We have planned to use him in only a few scenes and will have to make sure we get those scenes at Jeremy’s house

The Priest – this is only to be a small cameo however there is quite a bit of dialogue required for the part in the trailer. We have asked someone outside of the media group at school to play this part (Thomas Harrington-Voigt)

Bad Guy – this part will be played by James Clark. Such planned scenes so far consist of him being chased and him attacking Mark Steele.

Extras – One scene that we have planned is the point at which Alex (Mark’s son) is being kidnapped. For this scene James and i plan on changing costume and wearing balaclavas to hide our faces – this being so that it isn’t noticeable that it’s us.

The will be an ever so brief shot of Mark Steele’s wife at the crime scene of her murder, however we need to choose an appropriate girl to play his wife.

 

Location, Location, Location

The Opening shot of our trailer was taken from a hot air balloon. I had previously been on a hot air balloon ride and thought the footage would be a perfect scene setter for the countryside - which is where the main character lives.                             Its a privilege to be able to get an opening image from this height and we were lucky to be able to get one. The following shot of the main character and his dog link well to this opening shot, as they are in a field. 

 

 A lot of scenes were filmed at Jeremy's house and its surroundings. This was because the location of his house was perfect for how i imagined the character of our film's home. The access to the woods around his house was great for further filming. I love the framing in this shot, the path centred with both characters imerging from opposite sides of the frame. The old garage on the left is a great illustration of the isolatedness of the location.

This shot was taken at an old church in Pembury, however the following scene was shot inside the chapel at school: We found that the setting inside the school chapel had better, lighting, avalible props and was easily accessable. However for an astablishing shot the old church in Pembury was much better. 

For the part of the trailer which showed the main character looking for his kidnapped son, we broke into an abandoned house in Pembury. The location was perfect as we wanted a location that reflected the dark, hopeless mood in this particular stage of the film. The abandoned house signified the isolated and unnervyness that the main character was feeling.

We had to choose carefully which classrooms to use in the school - wanting one that looked more like an office than a classroom. Even though we had a few shots located in the school, we plan on making sure we don't do much filming around the school as it is a familiar area; looking unproffessional.

Magazine Cover Research

I figured that this was a great magazine cover to analyse as it is very relevant to the genre of our film (Betrayal & Retribution). I think the single image of a man in flames is very effective. A magazine cover shouldn't be to busy with various different images - a single image is powerful enough.

When it comes to designing my magazine cover i think i will include some agressive flames, as it signifies well the agression and rage within the character.

It is also important that i include plugs to attract the target audience. Offering such things that appeal to them.

Audience Feedback from my film magazine cover

Fellow Student feedback:


"I like the masthead, it creates a lot of impact when looked at and very eye catching. I could see this as a widely recognized name. I like the way the main character from the movie blends in with the fire, representing his rage towards his son's kidnappers. It also enforces the action-thriller genre of the movie. I think there could be a bit more text towards the left of the main image."


Response:


This is some really good feedback as it seems that all the codes and conventions were successfully portrayed as this student understands exactly what i was going for. The fire really seemed to of given the powerful image it was suppose to and does express the anger the character is feeling. In response to the comment about the lack of text to the left side; after researching a few film magazine covers, i found that less is more - that it's more expressive to leave the image to do the selling.

Film Magazine Cover (Betrayal & Retribution)

This is the final design for my Magazine cover that promotes my film 'Betrayal and Retribution'

Click here for link to feedback:   Audience Feedback

Betrayal & Retribution POSTER!

Audience Feedback on Final Trailer (Betrayal&Retribution)

Included here is both two types of audience feedback i have collected. The first lot are casual comments made by friends after i posted on to my facebook wall. The second lot are slightly more detailed, as i ask for a deeper analysis.

Facebook comments:

"This is great!"

"That's Literally amazing!"

"i would definitely watch that... if the ending hadn't already been revealed by the trailer ya big din! aha"
- in reply to this comment, the fact that mark steel finally meets up with his son at the end isn't a major part in the film and its all about how he gets him back and not that he does. The clue is in the title, Betrayal & Retribution - the main character has been betrayed and now he seeks revenge, reuniting with his son is to be seen in the trailer as it isn't suppose to be a secret.


Detailed Comments:

Betrayal & Retribution Trailer (OFFICIAL)

This Trailer is our final piece for the A2 level coursework.

Mark Steel was a family man. He had left a life of violence in the police force to settle down with his wife and only son. However after being framed for murdering his wife, ex-agent Mark Steel begins a life of hiding in an isolated cottage in the countryside with his son. As if being framed for the killing of his wife wasn't bad enough, Alex, his son, is kidnapped. Now Mark Steel must find the people responsible for kidnapping his son, whilst on the run from the police.

Below is a link to the audience feedback on this trailer:

http://tgcjackwelcha2media.blogspot.com/2012/01/audience-feedback-on-final-trailer.html

Big Fat Sweaty Coppers Trailer (Practice Task)

The video above is our groups first trailer, produced as a practice run for the real thing.

A hilarious comedy based on two over weight cops who get into sticky situations because of there size. After a particularly imbarressing incident the two cops find themselves banished from the force. Soon they decide to create there own league of Big Fat Sweaty Coppers, getting into lots of mischief with hilarious results.