Monday, 19 April 2010


The Third Eye trailer













The Plot












































Before/after editing


To introduce the characters we created diary entries in order to explain to the audience in a quick and clear way the personalities of each character. These diary entrys are very important in order for the audience to understand the upcoming clip after each character is introduced. Hannah is a great example, as she uses a big smile, whilst rocking around showing she is a very energetic girl, also can be percieved as being 'Bonkers' as she uses in the clip.






Shown are the two images before and after editing. To make it easier and clearer for the audience the on screen text enables them to be sure of the character and the name of the actor, ensuring no errors are made that could cause confusion and also makes it more personal for each individual character. Also we have made the edges of the screen darker, creating the effect of the lense of a camera being circular, making it look less professional, how ever at the same time is what we want the audience to believe.






In Hannahs scene we followed our plot and used her playing a board game against herself. Attempting to portray a character as 'bonkers' was quite difficult in which this was the best way to do so. Also to create a better effect we shot this scene from a 'birds eye view' perspective, by doing this it allows the audience to see everything that is going on with a clear view.







Again in this scene we used the lense perspective to create the effect of a camera watching the actress. A chess styled transition (mosaic) was also used due to it relating to the clip with the chess board. Also we have speeded up this clip as firstly it was too long and secondly it produced a stranger effect, in which representing Hannahs crazy/split personality.



Due to having the gates to a rather large house we felt we had to use this to our advantage. The use of gates like these are very iconic when it comes to producing a horror film. The way in which we used these was as an ending to our trailer. Using closing gates can represent many thought provoking ideas, such as the end of something or someone or no way out. By using this clip as a closing scene makes the audience want to watch the film to find out.


The closing scene is often one of the main things the audience will remember from your trailer, in which the editing had to be able to grasp the audiences attention in order for them to want to watch more.
We have changed the whole trailer to a 'negative' effect, we felt this formed a scarier twist to the ending of the trailer, also making it stick out to the audience as it was something different. The gates were speeded up in this scene as it was origionally too long and as our research showed, a clip too long can often bore the audience.


As this house was the main set for our whole trailer we wanted to make it as scary as possible. In order to do so firstly we used 'up lights' on to the house to create a spooky feeling. To add to this we had one of the characters walk slowly across the house making the shadow to give the effect that there was somebody lurking about, however as we did not show the actual character, in which it allows the audience to use their imagination to who or what this may be.



We used 'garageband' to create the deep, scary voice over in which adds to the horror side of the trailer. Slightly tinting the background green and the text with which has bits missing gives off the dirty, old feel to the house.


The first scene creates the effect where the audience has to first wait and ask themselfes, 'what is going on? and what is going to happen next?' It firstly creates the scary atmosphere however then goes on to the comical twist of the film to get the audience laughing yet at the same time on the edge of their seats as they don't know what to expect next.
The opening scene is just as important as the last, in which we wanted to describe the film to the audience in this short space. By including the phrase and talk over 'If you thought Horror was dead...' instantly shows the audience it is a horror, however the scene suprises them with a comedy side to it, as they must be expecting otherwise.
The deep voice over, night vision and green effect are again all used in this scene to create a feeling of horror, however the scene then speeds up to change the atmosphere from horror to comedy.



In Jade's scene we attempted to make her look as 'tarty' and 'vulnerable' as possible as seen in her diary entry this is what her character was percieved as. By looking at previous films we found that having a shot of her just coming out of the shower with 'The Third Eye' watching her was the most iconic way to do so.
We use a dirty dark green colour in this scene to add to the creepy side of it. We also add a 'laugh' sound effect to add a bit of comedy to the eery silent build up.





As seen in alot of comedy horrors the main 'bady' isn't always so smart and so in this scene when Jade turns around the character gets caught by her and scampers away, which in this scene is the comical twist for the audience.












We started the scene in the toilet, this was due to you first hearing the groaning from a man, however when the camera drops to see this shot the audience understands he was not in pain and just on the toilet which is meant to be the comedy side to our film.
Again in this scene we used the dark perspective around the boarder to create the effect that it was a camera lense.




We used a 'ripple' effect for the transition of this clip as it linked well with the toilet flushing
The idea of someone on the toilet is not to everyones idea of comedy and alot may not want to see this, however we thought this was one of the funniest scenes, in which in relation to the genre of the film we felt we could involve this in a way that everyone would laugh.

Sunday, 28 March 2010

Designing the website..

Final Design..


This is our finished website. We felt that the representations involved were very iconic to our trailer. As the camera played a key part in our film in which is central on the screen so the audience see this straight away. The dark mysterious face adds to the audience wondering who the evil character is always being hidden in the shadows. The main site of the trailer is at the house, in which we have again involved on the website. The trailer can be seen on the pop out screen of the camera, it will replace the eye when selected. We have also kept a set layout simply using black and red excluding the images to make it simple yet very effective.

Website contents..

The image of the house is the main set for our trailer. On the website design we used a blur tool to give the house a creepy, ghost like effect adding to the horror aspect of our trailer.








This is a photo taken of the camera we used in order to video our trailer. We felt we should use this in our website as we had not used it on our poster, in which it is a key aspect of the trailer. Having this centred, with a strange image placd within it enphasised the importance of the title 'The Third Eye'.







We used our friend James as the main image of our mysterious character in the trailer. Due to him having a shaven head it gives off a thuggish look about him and gave off all the conventions we were looking for. As we shadowed James' face for the website it gave the scary effect, also how when people struggle to see in the dark it causes them to panic and be scared, in which this is the effect we were going for.


Designs..


The first website design was created by myself. In general the design gives off a mysterious look about it, in which not giving away anything from the film. The hand held video camera is the main image, as it plays the key role within the film. The red colour again is kept as it enthasises danger. The picture of a mans face is showing the horror side to the film, along with the spooky house and again makes the audience re think about the plot. The features included on the website are located on the back of the video camera, whilst the trailer would be played on the pull out screen.


This website design was created by James Bell. It shows how a simple layout, with a variety of colours can interest more of our target audience. The eye in the top left hand corner is a link to the home page, which would be consistant through out the whole website. This design is aimed more at the horror side of the film, as it simply shows a spooky house, with a ready to play clip, saving all the mysteries to be revealed in the film and not before hand.








Designing the poster..

Final Design

We created our final design through many attempts, adding again and again to each one. We have included an image of the main house to show the main set and images of all the characters, when you can see for example, jades kinky look in to the camera describing the character at first sight. There are quotes from well known newspapers about the film, in which the audience appreciate and listen to their oppinions. The title is the largest text on the page as it is the most important. We achieved our goal coming from the first design to the last in using more images to make the poster more exciting and including more text to give the audience an insight to the film.






Creating the poster



When first playing on the imac's we tried creating the swirl effect thinking that it would give the effect of a toilet flushing. However we found that this took out too much of the original image, meaning it was difficult to include all the other info about the film and images we needed. The actual swirl effect was also white, we could only have this a certain colour, which was too boring as it took up alot of the image and could not have a picture as you would not be able to make out what it was, in which we scrapped this idea.





We then completely changed the style of our poster. We took a picture of somebodys eye and placed it on to one of the floor tiles, we felt this created a strange effect for those looking at it, whilst at the same time added to the thought of the title 'The Third Eye'. We then put the title as if it was on a seperate tile.

These two designs were both us playing with the tools on photoshop, seeing what we could do and what ideas we could produce.




This first completed design of the poster lacked detail, it did not have enough writing or images to attract the audience and describe what the film was about. The initial idea was to have a border around the image, representing the fact that it was a view from a hand held camera, the 'rec' sign in the top right corner was to make this clearer to the audience. We had shown the age of audience suitable for the film with the '15' sign. A fault on this poster was putting the directers, however missing out the essential information the audience want to know of what actors are starring in the film as famous names can often influence people to watch a film.




The next step we took the original image and put it on a fresh page with a funky border making it fun. The red background makes the whole poster stick out to the audience more in which more people would stop and have a look. We corrected the previous mistake by putting the actors names in a position that can be seen with a first glance and putting the directors name in a much smaller font at the bottom as they are not as important. We also added more text to give the audience a small insight to the plot.


Original Images


The first image seen here was the first we took. We felt like this firstly showed too much of the actors body in which in the next image we changed the camera angle. Also we felt that having the camera as a straight shot was a bit boring and that it didn't look like a camera had just dropped, in which in the second image you see that we have tilted the camera, with a more close up shot, in which producing a much better effect.



Designs


The first poster design was created by myself. The background was chosen as it is the opening clip on the trailer, showing the comical value to the film. Also seen for the border is meant to show how it is the lense of a video camera.
To enthasise this seen in the top right corner of the poster is a 'REC' sign. The title 'The Third Eye' is in big bold letters, as it is the main text on the poster, it needs to stick out to the audience.
The big 15 sign also indicates the film is aimed at teens/ in the 20's age group.





This next design was created by James Bell.
In this we liked how The title corresponds with the images on the poster (the three eyes). A theme has also been set, using just a small number of colours, making it simple however effective. Some aspects of the design are seen in both designs, such as the 15 sign and the REC in the video camera view. The title is also in big, bold writing ensuring it jumps out at the audience.

Wednesday, 24 March 2010

Research:Analysing Comedy-Horror trailers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfDUv3ZjH2k&feature=player_embedded

Genre- Comedy- Horror


Unique selling point- Remake of an actual Horror movie ( Dawn of the dead)


Target Audience- 15 and above


Music- Background music is the 'muppets' which is a well known comedy show


Pace- Starts off with a fast pace to show a sense of panicing, then shows a longer clip to show an understanding of the film, finally moving on to short snappy shots through out the film


Dialogue- Normally shows a scary scene but uses the dialogue to create the fun and comical atmosphere


Voice over- The voice over almost comments on every shot change and links it all together with the dialogue being said in the film


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOIRq4hSIMw&feature=player_embedded

Genre- Comedy- Horror

Unique selling point- Two actors in it from a very popular TV show

Target Audience- 15 and above, however mainly aimed at male teenagers and young men

Music- Fast paced Rocky song to create a fun atmosphere

Pace- Starts off slow, giving you an idea what the film is about, then the beat picks up and more quick scenes are seen

Dialogue- Describes the characters well and shows many funny scenes and quotes from through out the film

Voice over- No voiceover which enables a more thought provoking atmosphere

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0zAlXr1UOs&feature=player_embedded

Genre- Comedy- Horror

Unique selling point- Jokes about current horror movies that are already out

Target Audience- 18 and above

Music- Calms down the mood using beatles music, showing the audience it isnt a standard horror film

Pace- Again includes both short and long scenes, telling the story, showing the characters etc

Dialogue- The dialogue is rarely serious and is often followed by a 'one liner' aimed to make the audience laugh

Voice over- The voice is scary showing the horror side, however the lines are funny, in which both the horror and comedy is shown to the audience

Credits- Short and snappy as they are low on importance in the trailer, showing the release date (which however is much more important) on the same page

Film Theories..

Apparatus theory, derived in part from Marxist film theory, semiotics, and psychoanalysis, was a dominant theory within cinema studies during the 1970's. It maintains that cinema is by nature ideological because its mechanics of representations are ideological. Its mechanics of representation include the camera and editing. The central position of the spectator within the perspective of the composition is also ideological.

Formalism, at it's most general, considers the synthesis (or lack of synthesis) of the multiple elements of film production, and the effects, emotional and intellectual, of that synthesis and of the individual elements. For example, take the single element of editing. A formalist might study how standard Hollywood 'continuity editing' creates a more comforting effect and non-continuity or jump-cut editing might become more disconcerting or volatile.

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villan.

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. Also, films in this style typically have a happy ending.

Poster and Website Research