Evaluation: Final Audience Feedback

We asked a few of our peers what they thought of our work. Video not working? Click here to watch online.

Evaluation: Question 4

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

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Evaluation: Question 3

"What have you learned from your audience feedback?"  
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Evaluation: Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts? Video not working? Click here to view online.

Evaluation: Question 1 - Part B

"In what ways does your media product use, develop, and challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"
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Evaluation: Question 1 - Part A

"In what ways does your media product use, develop, or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?"Video not working? Click here to watch online.

Film Trailer: Playing Judas

Our final film trailer for Playing Judas.
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Film Trailer: Production Days 5, 6+7

Here's the finished vlog of the filming we did to fill the gaps in our trailer. We went around London to get some good scenery shots for our mise en scene.

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Film Trailer: Background Noise

Some of our clips, because we didn't have proper microphones to use, had a lot of background noise and wind to get rid of. For this, we used Adobe Audition.
It was much more simple than I'd expected it to be to remove the background noise in our files. First we selected the noise we wanted reduced, and then captured the sound print so that the program could find similar sound waves to remove. The area then goes silent.

Film Trailer: Set Pictures Days 5, 6+7

We're halfway through editing our trailer and, as we'd expected, have discovered some missing clips. We wanted to refilm the scene we rushed on the balcony on day three, because that was very rushed, and we also needed to film some more running shots from the same day. Although we got lots, they're still not filling up enough of the trailer.
In addition to this, we needed some more footage of our antagonist to show his importance in the trailer.
For these, we got the tube to Waterloo and did a lot of filming around Southbank and St. Paul's. This also assisted in our London setting mise en scene.

   

Film Trailer: Soundtrack Creation

We found, when we put our soundtracks in, that we had quite a big gap in the beginning of our trailer. We couldn't find a suitable 'low strings' soundtrack to build up the tension, so, instead, I decided to use GarageBand to create one of my own. It took a very long time, mostly because the Macs we had wouldn't let us update to the newest version, so I didn't have the right instruments. In the end we only used a few seconds of the clip, but it definitely made a difference to our trailer.

Film Trailer: Soundtrack Decided!

We've started the editing phase properly - meaning we now have an introduction sequence and some of the middle that's been decided. Up until now we couldn't really work out appropriate timings for the trailer because we didn't have any music to work around, but Daniel has found some great tracks. This Mechanolith track is being put over the build-up and plot of our trailer - it has just the right bounce and suspense to make it exactly what we need. This untitled track will be used for the action part of our trailer, as it has enough melody and drive to, when the volume is lifted slightly, carry the fast-paced running shots we'll have at the climax. Finally, we're planning on using Dense Macabre - Low Strings Finale from incompetech.com for the final stages of the trailer, probably timed with some titles and the film's name.
Now that we've got the footage and the soundtracks, we can finally get things put together properly. I'm really pleased with the music we've got and I'm definitely glad we waited.

Film Trailer: Soundtrack Ideas

Unlike our expectations, the search for a soundtrack for our trailer has been long and arduous. Given the number of amateur composers online, and the amount of music created each year, we thought it would be easier than it was to find some good music, but nothing's been quite right.
There have been a couple of websites we've found where we've thought we could find some good music, but then it's turned out we'd have had to pay, so that was a quick backtrack. Instead, we used these tracks as ideals to strive towards in our search. This has been especially disappointing on freestockmusic.com, where, after narrowing the search to 'cinematic', we found A Call To Duty, which had some great bits we could have cut and put together.
But, soon enough, I found incompetech.com, which was great for search and downloads. We filled in the qualities we wanted the music to have, like 'intense' and 'action', and it brought up a big list of options for us to listen to and choose from.

Although none of these are quite right for our trailer, we did think about them for ages, and spend hours trawling through the options. We quite liked some elements from Black Vortex, Failing Defense, and Interloper, but we're holding out for something much better. Fingers crossed it'll come to us soon.

Film Trailer: Filming Showcase

We put together a few select clips from our filming  and showed them to our class in a sort of 'showcase' afternoon. We thought this would be a good way of getting feedback from an audience our own age, and we got some useful comments. Here's what we showed our class:

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We got some quite nice comments, and a couple of useful ideas to keep in mind when we edit - and, no doubt, when we go back out and film some missing scenes.
Here are some of the comments we received:

"You had a good variety of shots from different angles."

"I like the way you had the same shot from different angles."

"Your cutaways are a nice addition."

"The bed scene was a bit too dark. It was hard to establish what was going on because we couldn't see."

We were also told that we could improve our mise-en-scene and establish our genre better by adding a police badge to the sequence somewhere. This would mean that people could more easily see that our main character is a police officer.
These comments were really useful, because now we know exactly what our missing pieces are. Hopefully, if we continue to take on the feedback we get, we'll end up with a very professional final product.

Film Trailer: Production Company Logo

Well, here's a nice surprise. I'm not as technically savvy as some, and Daniel has gone ahead and made us a short sequence for the beginning of our trailer. It reveals our 'Elite4' production company logo.

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Daniel also shared with us a step-by-step so we knew exactly how he'd made the logo.
1. The first step was composing the logo. He did this outside of Adobe After Effects. Then, in the program, he started on the background. Instead of having it plain white, he decided to give it some more detail and atmosphere and create a cloudy background with some flying metal sparks.

2. The next step was creating a metallic effect for the "Elite4". Because he knew we wanted it to burn out, he gave it an orange tint for the fire to transition into. We can then see the animation keyframes being added.

3. Finally, the fire effect was added. The final render was estimated to take 20 hours.

Film Trailer: Production Days 3+4

And here we have it, a video of the final two days of filming. The only reason it didn't take more days than four was because we managed to squeeze way too many locations into day four, and it was tiring, but I'm so glad we're finished.
This time we run all over East London to various alleys and houses to film the last of our scenes. Video not working? Click here to watch online.

Film Trailer: Set Pictures Day 4

Day 4 was a very busy day for the whole team. We covered four scenes in one afternoon, travelling all over the area to cover scenes in the street, scenes in two different houses, and scenes in an alleyway. This day marked our last day of filming for now - I have no doubt that we'll have to go back and get some more done while we edit.

Here's the picture we took to edit for the alley scene:

We made it back and white and put it in a brown envelope to make it look like an image from a CCTV camera of a notable criminal:

Film Trailer: Set Pictures Day 3

Our third day of filming was possibly our easiest so far. We didn't have to put together any specific sets and we didn't have to take a train anywhere - we just took to the streets and filmed lots and lots of running, and then found a balcony in school and filmed a single line there. There aren't many pictures of these settings because, really, they'd all have looked the same, but here are a few we did get.

Film Trailer: Production Days 1+2

Finally, the first edited vlog of our first two days of production. I think doing the vlog has definitely helped me with my editing skills in Adobe Premiere Pro - it took a while to figure out, but, well, I can only improve from here.
In this video, we hijack an empty room at school and turn it into an office, and take a field trip to New Scotland Yard.

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Film Trailer: Set Pictures Days 1+2

We're really pleased with how the filming turned out! We shot some vlogs while we were out and about, but until that video is ready and edited, I've collected some photos of the sets and trips we took.

And, to top it all off:

Film Trailer: Meetings!

Me and the rest of my production team for this year mostly communicate using a group chat on WhatsApp, which allows us to message each other free with our phones. It's really useful for sharing ideas - and, most importantly, organising events, as we had our first sessions of filming on Thursday and Friday.

Film Trailer: Shot List

This is just a more detailed version of the list I had previously. This time it's written with shots and more detailed imagery so all of us know exactly what goes where and what to film.

·         First shot of protagonist asleep in a bed – close-up of a phone ringing and the character rolling over to answer it

·         Protagonist bathed in shadow, long shot of him sitting on the edge of his bed

·         Voiceover: “Alex, they’ve taken her.”

·         Extreme close-up of the handle of a gun

·         Protagonist grabs the gun, focus pulls out

·         Long shot of the character walking out of the door – fade to black

·         Zooming out from a close-up of sign to a long shot of the protagonist walking past the New Scotland Yard building with voiceover

·         “Good morning, everyone. For those of you who don’t know, I’m Chief Superintendent Adams.”

·         Cut to meeting room – mid shot of new Chief Sup. Adams as she speaks to her new team of Detective Inspectors

·         Voiceover interspersed with cutscenes to the group of detectives listening and some fast-editing of a van pulling up on the pavement next to a small girl

·         “We’ve had an incident this morning. An eight-year-old girl has been taken from outside her school. Her father is the new CEO of IBM, so we assume ransom. We’ll be keeping this quiet – it hasn’t hit the public yet. Shaw, you’re heading this one. Let’s go.”

·         Cut to protagonist and his boss arguing in the same office later in the day:

·         “Chief, please, give me this case.”

·         “Just stop. You’re a relative. It’s not going to happen.”

·         “But Chief—”

·         “Listen, it’s in Shaw’s capable hands. Relax.”

·         Cut to a dim long shot of the protagonist and his brother on a balcony. Protagonist says: “I’ll find her.”

·         Cue fast-paced shots of walking, research, tensions rising

·         Long shot of protagonist in an alleyway with a brown envelope

·         Close-up of him pulling a picture from the envelope

·         Long shot of protagonist finding a group of people in another alley – a few leave but one, the one in the picture, remains

·         Protagonist says: “I need to know about the Hudson kid.”

·         “I don’t know anything.”

·         Close-up of the man’s face as protagonist pins him to the wall, gun-to-head, saying, “Are you sure?”

·         Fade to black

·         Fast-paced editing of long shots, protagonist running down the road with the alleyway stranger’s voiceover: “There’s got to be someone on the inside.”

·         Long shot of protagonist bursting into his boss’s office with picture ‘evidence’: “I think he’s involved.”

·         Close-up of Adams: “You’ve had it in for him since the start. Give me your badge and go home.”

Film Trailer: Planning

Me and the rest of my group made a startling realisation once we'd finished with our posters and magazine covers: now we actually have to make the trailer.
Lots of us had so many different ideas to get across so we decided to go away, write them all down in the form of a list of shots or a part of a storyboard, and meet again. This was the snippet of storyboard that my idea was on:

With everybody's conflicting storyboards and ideas it was a nightmare to put them all together and compromise, but once we'd all just sat down on a Thursday afternoon for an hour and talked it through, we finally managed to wrangle something a little bit like a plan of a film trailer into a list on this: my most prized piece of paper for 2014.

This will be the list we will (hopefully) constantly refer to throughout production and post-production of our trailer so that we know what should come where and we don't forget any good ideas.
We also have a shoot planned for this Thursday afternoon and Friday morning to film the office scenes with our Chief Superintendent. Fingers crossed.