LOCATIONS

After storyboarding my film trailer I realised I needed to consider some possible locations to film. 

Introduction to character and conflict with others -
A small pathway with lampposts, dim light but enough to see character outline.
A council estate, small alleyways etc.
Inside house (Main characters little sisters bedroom).
Outside local shops.

Characters move -
Train Station.
On the train.
Outside Thetford Academy.
Inside Thetford Academy.
Sports Centre Astro Turf. 

Trail Stage -
Sports Centre Astro Turf.
Inside Thetford Academy.
Restaurant. 

Acceptance/Conclusion to Trailer -
Sports Centre Astro Turf.
Inside night club.
Castle Park.
Other random locations to show relationships between new love interest and team mates. 

Storyboarding.

What is storyboarding? 

Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence.

Storyboarding came from Walt Disney in 1930. By the late 1930's every major film studio was using storyboards. 

Who uses storyboards?

• Film
• TV Animation
• Theatre
• Fiction
• Business
• Interactive Media - Web development, Software Design, Instructional Design and Technology
• Businesses

Reasons to use a storyboard:

• Helps a subject matter expert (SME) fill in their expert content. 
• The designer can then rearrange the content into the effective sequence.
• Can be given to a developer who will use it as a blueprint to develop the final product.
• Assists instructional designer in sequencing the instruction. 

Possible Elements to Include in a Storyboard: 

• Navigation - GUI ( Graphical User Interface), includes the buttons needed to navigate through the program. 
• Course Contents - Must have a frame with a sample of the Table of contents, outline and map. 
• Quizzes and Testing - Audio scripting, learning objectives, module name.

DESIGN GUIDELINES.

Cognitive Load Theory - For interactive media, try to minimise text and images occurring at the same time. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storyboard

TRAILER RESEARCH (GENRE)

As part of my research into film trailers I decided to do some specific research into trailers of the same genre, I analysed the film trailers for Coach Carter (Basketball), Stomp The Yard (Dance) and The Blind Side (American Football. For all trailers I looked at camera angles, transitions, visual effects/filters, music and sound. 

Coach Carter 2005

The most used camera angles were wide shot, two shot and close up. The purpose of these shots being the most used throughout the trailer allows the audience to see the action (sport) and relationships between characters two shot and wide and the range of emotions portrayed within this film close up. 

There aren't manny visual effects due to the fact that this is a sport drama so realism is represented in this film however the trailer does consist of a flash to white to resemble a death, using this technique is a short cut into informing the audience of this event. Slow motion and dissolves are also used to portray emotion, vital events and links between characters and scenes. 

This trailer uses four music tracks. The first is a instrumental during the introduction of the characters. Another track "Chingy - Balla Baby" comes in during the events of a new life emerging for these troubled characters, the music fits well as it represents the urban lifestyle being a hip hop song. The trailer ends with the song "Changes by Tupac" The lyrics in the song represent the storyline perfectly and I don't think another song would have worked as well as this choice!

Sound effects are very important when it comes to representing specific genres, this trailer includes many which you would expect in a sport drama film; basketball noises, school bell, ball going into hoop, crowd cheering, police siren and clapping. 

Stomp the Yard 2007

The most used camera shots in this trailer are medium close ups, close ups and wide shots, once again to portray relationships between characters to the audience and wide shots are used for group dance scenes so the entire routine can be shown. 

As this film also represents realism the only visual effects used are; a flash to negative to resemble death, slow motion to portray emotion and dissolving layers to show links between scenes. 

This trailer uses many urban pieces of music to portray the urban background of the main character ad the urban style of dance. The introduction music is a hard rap song playing during a street dance battle. A soft instrumental is then used when the scene changes from violent to emotional after a death. Another hip hop track is then used to portray the acceptance of the main character and throughout the training stage for the dance competition. The trailer finalises with a hard rock/rap song during the success and achievements of the characters. 

Sound effects used – dog barking, gun shot, traffic, clapping, stomping, cheering.

The Blind Side 2009 

The main camera angles/shots used within the film trailer for this film are; close ups, wide shots and medium shots, and that is for the same reasons as the other trailers, to show relationships and action (football).

Slow motion is used in this trailer to show the drama during scenes, for example; slow motion is used on a close up of the main character preparing himself at the very start of the game. There are many fade to blacks throughout this trailer and that is to break up the different scenes. 

The introduction music is country themed, this piece represents the family background of the main family within the film. The music used in the middle section is The Fray - How to save a life, the lyrical meaning to this song works perfectly as you can see by the title, as the main plot is that a high class family save a young boys life by welcoming him into their family. The trailer ends with a slow and emotional instrumental, this is used to portray the uplift in the main characters life as his achievements are shown. 

Sound effects used – school bell, kids playing,  whistle, team players chanting, cheering crowds.

MOVIE TRAILERS

As an introduction to this project we started off by watching a number of random film trailers and analysing what we felt worked well in them and what didn't. The three we looked at were Donnie darko, The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug, and The Heist. In this blog post I am going to share my opinions on each trailer according to the lighting and colour, sound, use of camera and the editing. 

Donnie Darko -

Ive never seen the film Donnie Darko so watching the trailer was a true first impression. Firstly I felt the colour and lighting was used extremely well to portray the genre of the film. The titles were written in a medium shade of blue with a glowing and flashing effect, representing a supernatural/sci-fi feel. Another way the trailer represents the genre well is the use of canted angles. The way the camera shots are taken at a canted angle makes it confusing for the audience, portraying the film as a possible psychological horror. I also found interesting the soundtrack used, and it was used for a purpose, to create tension, which was done very well and kept me on edge and engaged with the trailer.  There was one editing technique which really stood out for me and that was the way how one scene was actually sped up in the editing process. I found this interesting as once again it gave a supernatural feel that something was quite unusual with the character and his story.  

The Hobbit - The Desolation of Smaug-

For this trailer I feel that the most effective area was the use of light and colour. The trailer consisted of one warm coloured shot (inside the mountains using colours such a oranges, yellows and browns) which was then followed by a cold coloured shot (mountain establishing shot, with the use of blues, whites and greys). The use of the contrasting shots portrays the storyline itself to the audience. The warm colours represent the joy and happiness of Bilbo's adventure, however the cold colours are used to represent the danger that lies ahead of them. The use of camera angles was also effective in this trailer as it allows the audience to know who are of importance in the film and who are most likely to be victims, e.g low angle = character of power (looking up at them), high angle = character who is a victim (looking down on them). For editing I feel that the fading to black between many shots was very effective as it gave the trailer a very dramatic feel. 

The Heist-   

The trailer for The Heist consists of many sound effects, for example: gun shots, breaking glass and car wheel screeches. This worked effectively as it portrayed the genre of the film to the audience which I worked out is an action/crime. The lighting and colour was also interesting as it only consisted of cold colours (greys and blues), portraying the emotions and feelings and of the characters as cold and strict. 

MY TWO DESIGNS

After revealing my design to my class mates we took part in a session where we analysed each others magazine covers, discussed what worked well and if there were any areas which could be improved. I had very similar comments and they were that the colour scheme worked well along with the image, however what could be changed is the range of fonts. I do agree with this as there isn't a large enough range of fonts, I also felt the magazine looked a little bare on the right hand side so I took the opportunity to change it up a little. As you can see on the second image I have moved my USP (free poster) down into the empty space and changed the font. I also added the text 'UNSEEN IMAGES" as another unique selling point in another different font. The other slight change I made was the font used for the USP in the golden circle "Exclusive Collectors Copy". Even though the changes I made were only slight changes I think they had a great impact on the magazines overall appearance. At first I did not enjoy the changes, however I have grown to like my improved magazine design!

MAGAZINE COVER

Above is my design for my magazine cover featuring my film "One Way Road".  As you can see I have used the edited image chosen from my range as images from a previous blog post, I think the image works well as the mise-en-scene (football attire) is shown through the positioning of other conventions, the black and white filter works well with the colour scheme. Also you can see I edited the images background, I disposed of the original background which consisted of a garden with a fence and changed it to a grey and white gradient background. I think the colour scheme itself is the main attraction for me as the black and white with hints of red and gold allows simplicity however it is effective when enticing an audience as the eyes are drawn dramatically to the odd splashes of colour. I absolutely love the positioning, font and size of my masthead if I could keep one convention it would be that, I just think it looks so original and I really enjoy how it doesn't take up 100% of the top 1/4 of the magazine cover due to the different sizes of fonts for "PREVIEW" and "FILM".  Because it was my favourite convention due to its appearance I decided to carry out similar designs when adding my main story line layer, as you can see the same font is used and doesn't take up 100% of the area it is positioned, it is written on the right hand side and doesn't stretch across the entire width. What I discovered from my research is that the same font is used for many conventions therefore I used the same font as my masthead and main story line for my other story lines, media convergence (website link in the bottom right hand corner) issue number date, unique selling point "FREE POSTER INSIDE" and tag line "THE ULTIMATE EXCLUSIVE". I also think that the use of capitalising the font portrays a more professional image and the idea that the magazine is "screaming out to its audience". My magazine cover consists of many unique selling points, this really does aid to attract audiences. The bottom left you can see a gold circular layer, this USP allows audiences to gain an exclusive collectors copy of another film poster that wasn't used for publishing. Another USP is the "WIN A TRIP TO CALIFORNIA" feature. I decided to go with the location of California as a typical Football/College theme you imagine an American atmosphere, so by using the convention it allows audiences to feel that they have the opportunity to also experience the American lifestyle in California. All USP's are designed so that the audience feels that they are gaining something extra from buying this magazine, mine gives them a trip opportunity, a free poster (original) AND another collectors copy. 

Even though I am pleased with my first design I am not completely satisfied and do believe more work could be done to improve its overall appearance. 

MY CONVENTIONS

Main Image- The main image was decided during the editing process. I like this picture for my magazine cover purely for the use of the direct mode of address. I also like how the mise-en-scene is noticeable as my character in wearing his college football shirt. 

Colour Scheme - Black and white colour scheme, influenced from my research with red and gold layers. 

Direct Mode of Address - Direct mode of address will be used on my magazine cover as I want that audience interaction and communication between the product and consumer. 

Masthead - "Preview Film" decided from my research. I want to use my colour scheme for this design and write "Preview" in a white/silver shade and "Film" in a deep red. 

Tagline - "The Ultimate Exclusive" also decided from my research as it was the second most popular for my masthead. I plan to use the colours black and dark red with a similar font as my masthead. 

Unique Selling Point 1 - "WIN A TRIP" I haven't decided where I want my trip to be yet, so when I finally do I will choose a suitable font.

Unique Selling Point 2 - I want to use a feature that will attract the audience into purchasing my magazine over others, therefore I intend to include either a free poster or an exclusive collectors copy of the magazine, possibly even both depending on how my magazine looks. 

Main Cover Line - The main cover line will be about One Way Road, inviting the audience to read in depth details and unseen images. 

Other Cover Lines - My other cover lines featured on my magazine cover will be on recently released films such as; The Railway Man, 12 Years a Slave and The Wolf of Wall Street.  

Media Convergence - I intend to use media convergence to show my understanding of modern day media and social media, therefore I shall add a website link at the bottom of the magazine cover for an online version of the magazine itself.