LO4: Finalise Production Materials
Rough Draft
This is the first draft of my film trailer with all the shots in sequence however it is also unedited but this will soon change when I begin to add improvements such as visual effects, music and transitions. Here is the link to the first draft of my trailer:
Final Edit with Screenshots
Here, I will be showing the step by step guide of how I made my trailer, including all of the elements of how I had done it and why I have decided to add this effect.
First I began with the actual creation of the product by importing one of the first clips I wanted to use for my video as seen below here.
This here will be a placement for clips and effects to be set around it. I have placed this clip here as this shows the group walking towards the woods but it also expresses that element of togetherness and comfort, allowing a contrast to appear within later in the trailer. This clip ultimately shows 'the calm before the storm' and the lead up to what is coming for them. This clip also allows the audience to see our characters and begin to like them individually. However, as you can see within the clip there is a white line at the beginning, this shows where I want to place things within the video and here I want to place a black screen so this is what I do.
After placing down this black screen into my video, I then use the tool bar below to access the Text Tool, in which I then write out the companies name which is Cryptic Cinema and when I have done this I can freely edit the writing to my liking such as fonts, colours on text, outlines, effects etc. I have written 'Cryptic Cinema' and included it within my trailer as every film trailer includes the company it was produced by as this is where the audience can share their feedback to and they will ultimately know who made the product and who it belongs to. Also, doing this at the start of the trailer means that the audience knows which company has made it immediately and it gets the companies name recognised by the world and target audience. Now I will show the different edits that I have chosen to give my text for Cryptic Cinema .
These are the edits of what I have done to my text for the 'Cryptic Cinema' Logo. I decided to go with a strong font for the company, to represent how strong and powerful our work can be that we put out to our audiences so I thought the best font that would show this was the 'Bebasneue' as this appeared to be a strong looking font that would really stand out. I just did this by scrolling into the font collection and pressing on one of the free ones to see which one would suit the logo, so I was a bit limited with the options but I still managed to find one. Another edit that I did to this text was make the text a light blue colour as this was the colour that I thought would've suited the logo the best there isn't much of a meaning of why I chose this colour, I just thought that it would've caught the audiences attention with the bright colour and I was inspired by the colours of Blumhouse for this logo. However, with the next edit that I made, I chosen to add and effect to the text, giving it a more metallic and dull colouring as this makes the text of the logo pop out more due to the lighting and effects of the text. The reason I had decided to add an effect overall was to capture the audiences attention of the logo and to make people recognise it more easily when seeing it in the future and the reason why I had chosen that specific effect was because this was the effect that popped out to me and grabbed my attention so I thought that if it attracted me that It would attract my target audience. This effect also makes my font look more professional as it appears more complex than just the regular colour. Next I will be adding an icon to my logo to compliment the text.
Here I decided to use another black screen with writing to separate the clips and give a bit of context to the viewers for the story so that they can understand better about what is going on. There's not much to say when talking about this technique again as I have already used it before but it gives small hints and details towards the story of the film to hopefully grab the target audiences attention to get their product popular and noticed by many people. I copied this process again by using the text tool within the tool bar below and then began writing what I wanted which was 'For one isn't there for a trip, but for a myth instead'. This gives the audience hints as to why the group are in the woods in the first place but also displays a small hint as to what would have caused the skin walker to awaken. I used the same font of 'Plummet' as it shows consistency within my product with its elements and it makes my video look professional and appealing for my target audience to watch. It makes my video less random overall as I believe the trailer wouldn't be good with multiple different fonts which wouldn't follow the codes and conventions of a horror film. Finally, I the add the fade in and out transitions for both of the texts, but I make the writing on the top of the clip appear first as this allows the audience to read and become confused as to why one of the friends isn't their for the main reason, which is a summer trip. Then I made the bottom text fade in with the clip so that the whole writing is joined together allowing the reader to read the second part of the sentence but to read it fully overall, then I make both sentences fade away at the same time so that it gives the next clip a chance to play.
Next I decided that this would be a good time to find the music for the trailer as this is what really sets the mood for the overall product as it can make the audience feel a certain way such as fear due to the music itself enhancing and creating that ultimate creepy setting. This fits with the codes and conventions of a horror trailer as there is slow horror music build up within them that create that small emotion of fright within the audience and that is crucial for a horror trailer as the trailer needs to be good and terrifying enough for people to be enticed by it and to go watch the full product when it is completely finished. To find this sound, I went on to a website named 'FreeSounds.Org' as this helps me avoid the law of copyright and stealing someone else's music without their permission as on this website, all the sound is free to use so I wont get any legal action against me. All I do is search up within the search bar 'horror / scary music and then I search for the correct sound that I think would fit my trailer the best. Here I have chosen 'Eerie Horror Background Music with Ominous Dark Atmosphere' as when listening to this sound it made me feel some sort of terror but it was also that slow and ominous music that made the atmosphere absolutely terrifying straight away. I decided that this was the perfect sound to use within my trailer so I downloaded it and of which it got sent into my iPhone files, and then back on CapCut I went on sounds and selected it through there and then added it to my trailer.
This is the next shot used after the scene above as I wanted the audience to see the paper itself so that they can see why the characters call it a creepy drawing and it allows the audience to become more personal with the important prop as they can see the contents of what has been written on it. This fits with the codes and conventions of a horror film as when an important item or prop is shown within the trailer, there is an up-close shot of it so that the audience and see it properly and understand that it is a significant prop and it is important to the story. Overall, when talking about editing techniques used for this shot, nothing much has changed other than the brightness and vignette as this is a continuation of the last scene so if these settings were to change then my video would look off putting as it would have different effects at different adjustments. Here I adjusted the brightness all the way to the maximum as this clip was also very dark and hard to see so doing this allows my audience t understand the scene but most importantly, read the paper which is the pain point of this shot. I have also adjusted the vignette to be at 10 as this creates darkness around the paper which could be seen as foreshadowing for later in the trailer. Adjusting this any higher would mean that the clip would be dark and barely visible to see, making my trailer poor and unprofessional towards my target audience.
Now after the sudden black clip, I added a fade in transition to the next clip of one of the characters venturing on their own to collect wood for a fire for the group. Here in the clip it is a normal shot of the camera facing their back as they are walking forwards within the woods, letting the audience see just how trapping the woods is as it is surrounding the main character within this clip. This clip ultimately fits with the codes and conventions of a horror fil as within the trailers there is mostly someone who walks off from a group and starts venturing on their women which the audience should know that it isn't a good idea due to that convention being implanted within these horror trailers that if you walk off alone, something will happen to you so I wanted to implement that within my trailer to make the audience feel fear for the character but for what was slowly coming. However, when I was watching this scene, I realized that I wanted some different and more fearful music that slowly builds up to something but this time it feels immediate too, so I went back onto 'FreeSounds.Org' to find more free music to use so that I can avoid legal issues with copyright. I managed to find the sound 'Horror Ambience' and I thought that this sound worked perfectly within my scene so I downloaded the music into my files and then transfer it to my video on CapCut. When adding my new music to the clip, I made the music have a small fade in as this builds the tension that something is coming or that something will be happening soon.
This scene is where the monster makes its appearance with sound as I didn't know how to show a monster within my trailer but I decided that within my trailer I would not need someone to dress up as a monster or that the audience would not visually need to see it as it can lead to them thinking of what it could look like and depending what they think the monster looks like it can make them feel fear overall. Fundamentally, I wanted the monster not to be seen within my trailer as it gets audience intrigued with what the monster actually is and what it looks like and it can get them interacted within my product, leading them to watch it when it comes out. However, since my character is screaming because she has found something, I wanted the audience to know what she was scared of so I wanted to add in an uncanny and unsettling scream. I did this again by going onto 'FreeSounds.Org' and searching up horror screams and once I found the one I wanted I then downloaded it into my files and then uploaded it to my video. I placed this just before my character screamed so that it shows what she is afraid of and what the audience should be scared of too. This fits codes and conventions due to most horror trailers having screams or shrieks to either scare the audience or the characters within the trailer.
With my new music I have also decided to place a black screen with writing as this is where it begins to get faced pace and this is the time where my trailer really has to capture the audiences attention so when I begin adding text onto the clip, I need to make sure it appears fearful and powerful towards the audience which will help that feeling of fear begin within them. Here, I have written 'With its rise..' as this connotes to the skin walker that has been awoken within the woods and this helps create the fear of the skin walker it makes it appear that this skin walker is a terrifying and threatening existence that is coming to hunt down the group of teens. This text ultimately introduces the main threat within the trailer. I have written this by using the text tool and writing what I wanted within the text box and I make sure that the text is the same as all my others with the font being 'Plummet' for consistency. However, I then make the writing red as this can connote to danger and blood but this colour establishes what kind of being the monster is and what its purpose is within my trailer. This fits codes and conventions as this gives more information about the being hunting them and you can see this within actual movie trailers as they use the colour red to connote to danger or death when they give context to excite the viewers with their product. Additionally, I've give this text a transition as I wanted it to just appear, almost like a jump scare but I have edited the music and the text so that when there is a beat within the music, the text appears as the beat could connote the the panic of a heart beat.
Editing the Brightness and Vignette for last clips of Footage:
Here I have decided to group together the last couple of clips that I have edited by adjusting the brightness and vignette as there is not much to say other than just the few adjustments etc.
This clip appears after another black clip with red text that gives more context and fear towards the audience but this clip shows one of the characters calling for help leading the audience to believe that something dangerous has happened or is coming and they cannot handle it alone, showing the myth and the creatures power over the characters. This scene fits the codes and conventions as within horror films and trailers there will always be a scene where someone calls the police for help as the police are a sign of rescue and sanctuary within horror films as they are normally the ones to put a stop to the horror so I wanted to implement this clip within my trailer to show how things have gotten out of control and threat my characters are in a hard needing of rescue against the creature. As for editing, I have adjusted the brightness by decreasing it as I believe that this clip looked too bright with all the other clips and it takes away the horror element of the trailer. This can be done by selecting on adjustments and selecting on brightness and then after that you can adjust the brightness by either swiping left or right. I have also adjusted the vignette to 10 as this creates the darkness around the shot and this can be symbolic of the darkness of the woods surrounding them or it could hint at the idea that the woods can be suffocating which makes the audience feel the same too.
Adding the Pauses of Text within the Video:
These short breaks between the clips are being used to convey more information of the story to the reader while keeping that horror element. Furthermore, the pauses of these black screens are edited so that they appear in sync with the beat of the music in the background to make it sound more fast paced and scary due to the music changing and becoming more like chase/panic music.
Here I have placed another black screen after the girl with the sticks was running as this creates a break between the clips as I wanted to show different clips of the different people being affected by the curse of the myth being awoken. After I have placed the screen in between the two clips, I then use the text tool to write out more unsettling lines that begin to scare the audience and give further details about what this curse/myth does once it has been disturbed and how long it lasts for. The text I have written was 'comes an endless summer' as this is a continuation of what was said within the last text screen within my trailer and this hints to the myth lasting forever possibly or it lasting for a very long time, giving the impression to the audience that this curse that the myth/legend has placed upon these people will last for a very long time or until they know how to stop it. To further edit the text, I have chosen to use the 'Plummet' font for consistency within my product as all my text within this trailer is the 'Plummet' font so it just makes my video look more professional and this font could be compared to scratch marks which fits the codes and conventions and no human writes within that font so it could appear as supernatural and you see this type of font being conveyed within horror type products too. Finally, I have chosen to change the colour of the text to red as this could be symbolic of danger and blood which goes with the elements of horror so this is a good colour to use within my trailer.
Here is another break between the clips that I have placed just after the clip of when one of my characters is calling the police in search of help against the horrors of the urban legend and the creature itself. This break has been added here as it creates a break between the different clips being shown and it displays the different perspectives of the different characters. After I have placed the black screen down I then use the text tool to write out the text,' No soul caught within the woods...' and this is a link towards the myth trapping the group within the woods and the creature possibly catching up with them. The text ends with a cliff hanger as it causes the audience to be intrigued with what the end of the sentence is as it will give more information about what they have caused due to disturbing the legend. After I have written this text I then change the font to 'Plummet' as this is the constant font that I have been using throughout my trailer and keeping up with the consistency would make my trailer look more professional towards my audience. I then change the texts colour to red as this again symbolizes danger and blood which is a common theme that runs within horror films and trailers as they help create fear. This follows codes and conventions as the font is normally associated with horror as it looks uncanny and supernatural and the colour is again associated with danger and it is mostly used within trailers to frighten an audience and get them thinking about what's to come when the creature finally gets the group.
This is another clip of a break happening between the different clips in sync with the beat of the music in the background to convey the different perspectives of each group member and what they are enduring. Here I have placed the break just after the clip of the character running while having the monster screech within the background as this will help transition to a new clip of another member of the group. After placing my black screen into my video, I then use the text tool to write down the continuation sentence of what was said in the last pause,' will be spared. This conveys that the group will be hunted down within the woods as punishment for one of the members being too curious and wakening the urban legend / myth and they will not come out alive which further causes the emotion of panic and mystery towards the audience as they begin to worry for our characters but it also creates that question of who will survive this deadly night. I then change the font to the 'Plummet' font as this is a continuation of what I have used throughout the trailer and again it just goes with the consistency within the trailer and it is associated with horror itself the font due to its uncanniness looks. I then change the colour of the font to red as this again links back to consistency within the video and it is also symbolic of horror features in which the audience will recognise. This fits the with codes and conventions as the theme of horror always use red to depict death or blood and the font has been associated with products of horror as it looks like scratches which are negative imagery and ominous looking. An example of seeing this kind of font within a horror product is 'Slender Arrival'.
This is the last break that will be appearing between the clips as the next clip coming up will be the main character realising that the exit is gone and then it will be the title of the film and then the end of the trailer. This break has been placed just after the main character is seen running towards a maze of trees surrounding him as this gives us the final break before the last horrific thing that gets said within the trailer. How I edited this was by using the text tool and writing out fake reviews for the film as this can encourage the audience to watch this product when it eventually comes out and it helps bring hype around the product and get it noticed by many people helping it to become a well produced and popular product. Once I have written a review I then change it to the 'Plummet' font as this shows consistency again with the fonts being used within my trailer and it just makes the overall presentation of my trailer better for the audience. Again I have changed the font colour to red as this goes will horror aspects and themes of danger and panic etc and this fits with the codes and conventions of the horror genre itself as the colour red can be associated with danger like I said and it can be connotations towards dark and disturbing themes like blood, gore etc which are all common themes that are seen within horror. Ultimately, after writing one review I repeat this process three more times as the more good reviews that a film gets from popular film critics means the more likely the target audience will watch your product.
Title of Trailer - Ending
After the last clip of footage for the trailer, I then add the final black clip as this is where the title of the film / trailer will appear so that the audience know what the film is called and they know what to look out for if the want any updates about the product. I used the text tool to write out the name of the product being 'Woods Of...' and making sure to increase the size of the text by pinching two fingers on the screen and spreading them apart so that it is big and bold and stands out upon the screen, making it very noticeable to the audience. I used the the font 'Plummet' as this is the products signature font which will make people recognise the product when they know that the font is associated with this product but this is also an act of consistency as I have used this font throughout all of my trailer. However, I did not decide to change the font colour to red as I thought that the white makes it stick out a lot more against the black background instead of it being red and I just think it captures the audiences attention better. Finally, I use the transition of fade in to make my text slowly appear from the darkness of the background, fitting that horror element. This fits with codes and conventions as the title within trailers tend to do a slow fade in so that the title can be a small surprise to the audience and its a slow and settling finish to the trailer. Additionally, the font has been used within other horror products within the past so that makes it appropriate to use within my trailer as it is already associated with the horror element.
Once I have finished writing out the first bit of the title of the film, I then use the text box again and write the word 'Fear' to finish off the title of the product. Once I have done this I then change the font to 'Plummet' as this would copy the font above and make sure that the word fear wouldn't stand out too much and distract the audiences to the overall name of the title of the product. Once I have chosen the font this is where I change the colour of the text to red as this creates a contrast within the title name and it also highlights the theme of fear and connotes that this is what people will be feeling when watching the film whether its fear for themselves or for the characters we see on screen. This fits with the codes and conventions of the horror theme as the use of the colour red is common within the horror theme as this signifies to blood, death or danger but using the colour to highlight an important element that will be implanted within the film tells the audience that fear will be present when watching the film and it gives the product an overall status that tells them that they will experience fear when watching the film. Final edit I made to this text was the fade in transition and i adjusted it so that the red text would appear at the same time as the white text, making it all come together.
Finally, the last element that I am going to add to my video is the date of which the product will be released to the public, as this causes my target audience who are interested within my product to be excited for a date of release and it gives them time to plan a day for which they are going to watch the full product. I do this by using the text tool and typing a fake date for when the film will come out 'Coming October 24' and then changing the font to 'Plummet' for consistency as I have used this font all throughout the editing process of my video. Next I then change the colour of the text to red as this colour is a commonly used theme within the theme of horror to depict horror elements such as blood, threats etc and it also highlights the words as Fear is the only other word that is red so it brings the audiences attention towards the date since its in a different colour from the other text, ultimately creating contrast. This overall fits with the codes and conventions of a a trailer and the theme of horror as all trailers have a release title as this is what lets the people know when your product is being released and allows them to plan ahead for the release. Additionally this fits with the horror theme as the text is red and again commonly used within horror related products and the font looks like scratch marks like I've previously said and makes it look uncanny towards the audience.
Now I have Completed the Production of my Trailer
This Is The Final Draft Of My Video
Feedback & Discussion Of Feasibility
Here is the google forms that I sent out to 10 people in regards to getting feedback from my Unit 15 Video. Within this form I have included 10 different questions to get specific details and elements that either need improving or re-doing again. This form will ultimately allow me to see from an audience perspective and allow me to view weak elements and improve on them to make the video better.
When finishing the creation of my Promotional Video, I would say that I am pleased with how this has turned out and I am surprised that I like it so much as before, I did not think that It would end up looking good as some of my clips were darker than others and some of the clips were unusable due to camera being out of focus or the audio being poor causing me to be limited with the different clips that I can use. I love the slow build up within the trailer as it creates a creepy and ominous tone immediately when we see the clips of the group of teens walking within the woods, allowing the audience to get a quick glimpse of them before they enter their doom. Ultimately, this slow build up also allows the nerves within the audience to build up and give them that feeling of dread as they know that something is going to go wrong as it is conventional for a horror film but they just don't know what is going to happen or when it is going to happen, which still gives the audience that element of surprise within my product and it gets them to keep watching it as they will be intrigued and interested to keep watching.
However, I think my video portrays the prop of the mythic paper quite poorly as it is only visible for two scenes, then its not mentioned again which is quite bad because originally, the paper was going to be seen a lot within my trailer as it was the main focus and reason why everything was happening around but during the actual editing of my footage, I realised that most of the clips that contained the paper, they were unusable due to the poor lighting, audio or focus. If I were able to change this, I would add more clips with the paper as it would've represented that the paper was significant to the story and it would ultimately appear as a danger to the audience. Additionally, when speaking about the myth itself, I would have liked to have gotten some footage of perhaps the main character searching up the myth and then discussing the trip with the other members at a meet up, as this provides the audience with more context and reason as to why this trip was planned in the first place and it would explain why the main character is so keen on finding out if this myth / urban legend is true or not. Overall, I believe that the use of the paper being a key prop and element within my trailer is poor due to it only appearing in two shots and it is not detailed that the paper was the key element that would cause the group to be hunted down if it were to ever be found and if I could perform this differently, I would give a little more information on the myth and what its about and how the group decides to find it.
On the other hand, I'm super pleased with how this video turned out as the music and sound effects are a real and significant component within the trailer as they make the whole tone of the trailer eerie and unsettling for the viewers. One example of how this works really well is towards the end of the trailer where the music begins to get really fast paced and we see the characters being frightened leading them to run away but with the way that I have edited the clip, I have made sure that there is a black screen with text on it which is in sync with the beats of the music, indicating it to be like a heartbeat for the audience and ultimately create panic within the audience. After the clips with the texts when I show the footage of the group members struggling individually after the disruption of the urban legend and it ultimately makes the audience panic for that character but it also makes them wonder who will survive the terror in time for help to arrive. I have even received feedback from others about my trailer and the feedback about the must is overly positive as they said that it sets and eerie tone throughout the video, it settles the mood and it gets the audience fearful for what's to come within the trailer.
Did I Follow My Concept Documents?
Overall, when looking back at my concept documents and comparing them to the final draft of my film trailer, I would say that I have followed my concept documents well as they have been a guide to me and how to make my product but I also think that during the capturing of footage and editing the final draft, I slowly started introducing new ideas that were not originally in the concept documents.
Concept Document - Mood Board
An example of me following a concept document that has led up to the creation of my horror film trailer is my mood board as this allowed me to get the overall aesthetic for the film trailer and allow me to gain ideas from images found on the internet that went with my ideas for my trailer. Within my mood board, there are images of the woods having haunting or eerie lighting, indicating that I originally wanted my trailer to be set in the woods as it is a classic area for a horror story to begin. Due to this planning beforehand, I ended up following my mood board as within my final draft of my trailer, you can see that I have recorded pretty much all of my footage within the woods while having a dark natural lighting to hint back at that haunting and eerie lighting that I had found being used within those images that I had found online for my mood board. Additionally, there are more kinds of images within my mood board that I have followed, such as the images of a group of friends lost within the woods as this again is a classic scenario to happen for a horror film as it is also a popular one with some successful movies and films so I decided that I would want to convey this idea within my trailer as I thought that this would be the easiest task to due since I already had friends offering to act within this video, so this inspired me to add a group within my film. Fundamentally when you compare those images of a group of friends to the final draft of the horror film trailer, you can see that I have followed this concept well as I include a close group of friends within my trailer who are going on a camping trip overnight and then they are being hunted down after a myth / urban legend had been discovered. However, there are some images within my mood board that had ideas but I did not convey them within my final draft of the film and instead scrapped them for a different idea. An example of this is the images of shadow people or a killer idea that I thought I would go with for the idea of my film, but however this was not introduced and instead changed for a skin walker that I decided was not going to be seen within the trailer. I decided to change to this idea as I thought it would be more effective and scary if the audience could hear the creature but the creature wouldn't be visible within the actual trailer itself, leading the audience to be creative and let their imagination think of how horrifying and devastating this creature is, which could make them fear the monster more depending on how they think it looks. However, I still like the idea of their being a killer within my trailer and I would probably use this idea again if I were to make another horror film trailer within the future, but I thought it would make my trailer a little bit more terrifying if there was a supernatural being rather than a person hunting them.
Concept Document - Story Board
Another example of me following a concept document that has led up to the creation of my horror film trailer is my story board as this allowed me to think of the overall plot that I wanted for my trailer and it let me create and adjust the different scenes that I would want and what camera angles and lighting that I would like to implement the different scenes. Within my storyboard, there is a scene (Scene 5) where all the characters are walking towards the woods for their camping trip, all having their backs faced towards the camera while they are walking forwards and the camera is slowly following them towards their destination. If you look on my story board, the description of this scene states that the group is already in the woods walking while also staring at the trees, giving the scene that element of the forest being intimidating and overwhelming, while the editing techniques state that this shot should be a medium / close up shot that that all characters are included within the scene. I would say that I partially followed the plans for the scene as I have included a shot of my actors walking with their backs turned with the camera recording them from behind but this was not shot while they were already in the woods and they were not looking at the trees either, getting rid of that element that I wanted to implant. The reason why I changed this scene was because I thought that the change in them walking towards the woods would be more effective as it shows the calm before the storm really, it allows the audience to see and establish the main characters within this trailer without having to be distracted with all the unsettling trees surrounding them and I believe that this scene also creates that slow build up to the horror for the audience rather than them being thrown straight into it. Overall the reason why I had changed this scene partially is due to me wanting the audience to have a scene where they are introduced to the characters and the amount of them that are there and it allows the audience so have an insight of who the characters are before the horror begins, allowing a slow build up to the terror waiting. Another scene that I have used from the creation of my story board from my concept documents is scene 12 where I have one of my actors running from something in a panic state, indicating that something horrific has just happened to that character. The plans that I had made for this scene was that there would be another person running away from something in a panic, and that the shot type would be a medium and there would be chase music followed with natural lighting. I mostly followed this plan as I do have a character fun away from something within my trailer just after they had screamed due to seeing the supernatural being for the first time, however I haven't followed my planned out angles and shots for the scene as I decided that I wanted to do something differently as I thought my plan as a bit poor as when I have to record someone running, I also have to run with them which can make the camera unsteady and the footage shaky and choppy which makes my product look bad. Instead of my plans, I decided that I would still record a scene where a character is running away but instead of following them running, the camera would be in a fixed position where the actor is facing away from the camera while running away as this helps prevent the footage from being shaky while running. Another change that I have made for this scene is the editing of the natural lighting as when I was recording my footage, I had to swap to my iPhone as the camera that I was using was making my footage more darker than it appeared in real life, but when recording on my iPhone the footage was really bright and I thought that it would've stuck out from the rest of the clips if I didn't make changes to the lighting, so I had to edit the brightness of the clip to make it darker as it would suit the overall tone of the film and match the darkness that the other clips have within them. Finally, another way that I had changed this scene from the story board was the overall camera angle of the actual scene as the scene that I had planned out on the story board was supposed to have the camera at the side of the character as they were running, but on the day of recording I decided that I would want to capture this footage from behind the character instead at a long shot as it shows their full figure running away from something but it also conveys how close the character was to the supernatural being, making the audience panic for that character more. One thing that I kept within that scene was the chase music being included within that scene as it being a shot where the character is running away from something, I wanted to make the overall experience of it intense to get the audiences fear rising and make them begin to worry for the characters on screen. How I did this was by searching up 'FreeSounds.Org' and searching up horror chase sounds that I could use for free within my trailer and once I found the correct chase music that I liked, I then downloaded it and the added it to my editing software, allowing me to place it and edit it to my video. On the other hand, when talking about me following my concept documents such as my story board, there is a couple of scenes that I decided that I would scrap due to either the footage of it being too poor compared to the others that it doesn't deserve to be in the trailer or that I just thought that the scene was unnecessary and would instead just add useless seconds onto my trailer, making it too long. An example of this is within scene 3 of the story board as this scene was supposed to show the group on the train, heading towards the woods for their camping trip and give a little bit of context on what kind of people the characters are and basically show the audience how the group got to the woods in the first place. In my description for the scene, I planned that this shot was supposed to convey the group on their way to their destination, and it was going to be a medium shot and it was going to be inside the train with the natural lighting of it, but however I didn't record this so I didn't consider the plans for this scene. The reason that I had scrapped this scene was due to it not really adding anything to the story other than a slow build up to the horror and I thought it was just a useless scene to include as it doesn't have anything to do with the theme of horror and it ultimately adds on wasted time onto the trailer so I decided that I would not film this and instead move on to the next scene within my story board.
Concept Document - Mind Map
A final example of me following my concept documents is during the early planning stages of my product in which I created a Mind Map which let me place all my different ideas for my trailer all together so that I could generate more ideas about different subjects and add them onto existing ideas or to also get rid of them if they weren't suitable ideas. Within my Mind Map I spoke a lot about different ideas of which I could consider using and the concept document shows scrapped ideas that I did not follow or altered to fit the overall final cut of the product. An example of this was creating a music video for a band or a singer as a way to make an audio visual promo for them which would promote their music as well as get their reputation built up. The ideas I had for this music video was that it would be 2000's style as this was and still is a common trend today so having the music video follow the trend of the 2000's vibe was sure to get the eyes of an audience who love this trend and overall era of the world. However, I also decided that I would make this music video 2000's style was because when looking at music videos from that time and comparing them to todays music videos, they are more simpler in terms of clips and settings and the actions that they do, which would have made this music video a much easier approach then to try and mimic a 2020's music video style. Fundamentally this idea of creating a music video for a singer branched off into different ideas such as creating a story within the music video that fitted the song that they were singing as this would put deeper emphasis onto the message that the singer was trying to portray to their audience but it would also give something for the audience to watch as they listened to the song too and not just a normal stage singing video. However, this overall idea was scrapped for creating an audio-visual promo as I couldn't find any artists who were in the area who also wanted a music video to be made for them but I also decided that a music video was just something that I didn't want to make as it didn't interest me. So I didn't end up following those ideas on my concept documents but however I then decided to go down the horror film trailer route as I enjoy horror myself and was inspired by many different ideas of previous horror products such as the Blaire Witch Project and the game Until Dawn. These are ideas within my concept documents that I have followed as they are mentioned within the Mind Map and I have been inspired by ideas from their products and have altered the ideas and improved them to make them my own for my horror film trailer. From the ideas that I had, they also branched into more ideas such as having a group of friends in the woods which is another idea from my concept document that I have followed as within the final product of my film the setting is in the woods and it includes a group of friends who get trapped. However, their are some ideas that I changed and got rid of when actually creating my video, such as the idea of having it a slasher trailer so that their would be a killer hunting the group of friends in the woods. This was inspired by the franchise Friday The 13th but however the idea of having a killer / slasher in the woods that hunted a group of friends seemed a bit boring and plain to me as most horror films have those elements and a similar storyline to that so therefore I wanted to make mine different so that it would stand out from the rest so that is another way that I did not follow that idea from my concept document. Another idea that I got rid of and altered was instead of having the group finding a piece of paper within the woods that would disturb the killer, it would have been a ring that held ancient power and awoke the killer once one of the people from the group of friends had worn it. which would've broken the spell. This idea was considered but I then changed it to ancient pieces of paper as the paper would have allowed me to portray more horror type elements such as eerie drawings that helped create a storyline and an origin towards the antagonist of the film, whereas with a ring I wasn't sure how I was going to connect it to the killer. This is an example of another idea that I didn't follow within my concept documents and instead altered to fit the final product of my trailer. However, there is one idea that I did follow from the very beginning of thinking about creating a horror movie trailer and that idea was to have a chase scene with one of the characters running from whatever was hunting them down as this could help establish enough fear within the audience to make them scared of the antagonist too. I followed this concept document idea as within the final product of my trailer there are multiple parts where the characters are running away from something and therefore having a chase scene. The elements that I also decided to keep for this scene was having the camera be shaky within the chase scene as this depicts the intenseness of the scene and makes the audience feel as if they are running from the creature too which furthermore helps establish that fear within them. However, I did not follow the idea of the concept document where I would have the POV of the antagonist chasing them and this is simply due to me wanting to create that element for the audience that they cannot see what is chasing the group of friends and why they are so scared which then adds further curiosity within them and makes them want to watch the film as they are enticed to know what the creature is and what it looks like. Overall, for my Mind Map I would say that I have partially followed my ideas within this concept document as I have kept some of the ideas from early development of which can be seen within the final product but I have also not followed it as well as I have changed elements for the trailer or have got ridden of them completely.
What Would I Do Differently Next Time?
When creating another trailer like this in the future, I would make changes as to how I do things to overall improve on the stages of Pre - Production, Production and Post Production for the final creation of my trailer.
One thing that I would do differently next time when creating a Promotional Video is to make sure I stick to the production schedule as this means that I can get tasks done on time and ensure that my product will be handed in on time ready for the deadline. When I talk about following the Production Schedule, I mean that I found it hard to keep up with the tasks that I needed to do to create my video, leading to me having to rush when the deadline is creeping closer and having most of my work look really rush and not as detailed as I would have wanted it to be. However, when given the task of creating a Promotional Video for a client, I will maintain a consistent production schedule so that I can stay on top of tasks and ensure that all the things that I have done that have led up to the final draft of my video are up to standard with how my client would want them. I would make sure that when making a production schedule, it is well structured so that it allows me to follow it more efficiently and I won't have to be struggling last minute to create everything at once, allowing the quality to improve of my actual video and make any adjustments that I think need changing or polishing before finally finishing the product. I would also allow myself to be self disciplined when following this production schedule, ensuring the fact of that if on the production schedule it says I should be doing a task on a certain day, I will be doing that task as it follows and not pushing it back to further dates due to interruptions within the days I plan within the schedule or pushing it aside to do other work, I will stay focused on the things I need to do that day I plan so that everything isn't rushed and I can hand my work and video in within the suited deadline. Overall, I would make sure that I improve and manage my time efficiently when creating a Promotional Video within the future as this will ensure that everything gets handed in at the correct time, all of my work isn't rushed until last minute and that I can make adjustments to my work before handing it in to my client.
Another thing that I would do differently next time when creating a Promotional Video is to make sure that I will improve my editing knowledge by exploring a wider range of techniques to add to my video instead of doing the basic adjustments that I have done within my video a such as brightness, vignette and basic transitions. Even though that I believe that these editing techniques have still made my video look really professional and well made-overall, I feel like they were the only editing changes that I had included within my trailer so therefore the edits that I have made look really repetitive and there's no change within them. Next time, I will ensure that I used more advanced editing tools such as video effects, more advanced transitions than the plain fade in & fade out and creative video overlays that be placed over the video to give them more visual effects. When discussing video effects, I'm talking about the body effects option as this gives me a catalogue of effects that can happen throughout a clip in order to improve the theme of the video (in this case a horror trailer). For example, within my future, I would like to add perhaps environmental effects such as fog or smoke, as these effects create tension, especially within a horror film and it can emphasize a mystery. Furthermore, if I were to make another horror trailer in the future and add these effects within the editing stage for that video, it would add a ghostly vibe to my video and make the audience feel that something sinister going on, but due to me not knowing how to add these video effects and most of these effects needing to be paid for, I did not add these into my video as I thought it would take too much time up when I needed to focus about getting my video done. Additionally, another editing technique that I would add within my trailer next time I were to make this would to add some grain or noise to the video as this helps enhance the atmosphere. This is because the use of this edit makes the footage seem like its vintage and gritty which ultimately makes the audience feel unsettled by this visual edit and disturbed due to the footage appearing to be really old. Overall, I would make sure that I explore and use more editing techniques when creating a Promotional Video within the future as this will display my skills further when wanting to get employed by more companies to make trailers and it will help create the tone, atmosphere and improve the overall story-telling of the film within the trailer.
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