‘5 Mini Case Studies where technology was used to create, refine and secure meaning’

1.       In my film trailer there is a scene where a man steps out of a car and walks out of a shot holding a gun then walks back into the shot later on holding the gun and a case.
The objective of the shot was to tell the audience that the man used force (the gun) to get what is in the case representing the characters attitudes along with what he was wearing.
Although I achieved the purpose, some of the audience didn’t understand what was happening in the scene.
Using Youtube I was able to download an mp3 document of a gunshot. From this I was able to insert it into my film at the point when the man walks out of the shot.
After I had edited the scene again the audience finally understood what was happening in the scene from the gun shot and the music cut to represent the tension of what was happening.

 

2.       From my audience research and general research on the genre of my film, I was able to find out what sort of effects would be useful to indicate the style of film compared to ‘American Gangster’ and ‘Snatch’ etc.
Using survey monkey I was able to find out what screen filters I could use which would fit the criteria of a gangster film. The typical response I got from the audience research was ‘vintage/dark/bright and sharp’ which meant I could use the editing software on iMovie to create a filter to go over my trailer.
After creating the filter I posted my first film draft on Youtube, Facebook and Blogger to see what reactions and feedback I would get from audiences in response to my editing.
The feedback I received was very positive and gave me reception I wanted meaning I could use the same filter throughout my film trailer.

 

3.       In my trailer I started the credits using a basic font ‘COURIER NEW’ which didn’t seem to fit the style and genre of the trailer.  DaFont is a good website which I used enabling me to find fonts used in films meaning the texts were very professional.
SkyFall was the best font I could find and fit into my trailer really well. The effect from using SkyFall was very good as it looked brittle and strong at the same time the white colour of the font sat very well on the black background which I decided to use.
After changing my fonts to SkyFall it meant I had to come up with subtitles and credits for the characters and production. The very ending of my trailer had the text ‘PURE’ (Pure being the title of my film), then ‘COMING SOON’. Using the SkyFall effect made the text look very professional and looked very similar to what professional film companies do to their films.
After editing in the fonts ad changing the backgrounds I added in a cross blur effect at the ending with the ‘PURE’ ‘COMING SOON’ which meant both texts would shoot past and across each other. This made the ending of my trailer stand out and showed of the title of my film.

 

4.       I left my first draft fairly open and unfinished so anyone could comment on it. A professional came in to assess my first draft and thought I was very good although one of the scenes I did dragged a lot with the van driving and reversing.
After getting some feedback from other people I cut the scene out removing 20 seconds of my trailer. Because 20 seconds was a lot of time I needed to supplement the time with frames and transitions. Throughout the trailer I added in over 23 transitions and over 30 cuts meaning I could balance out the time which I needed from the van cut.
The transition I used throughout the trailer was one which was recommended on a forum sight which exposed certain graphics and effects which had been done to professional film trailers. ‘Cross Divergence/Convergence’ suited my trailer the best as it dissolved across the scene and crossed into the next shot as do most film trailers.

 

5.       The sizing of the screen meant my trailer didn’t look like a realistic trailer. Photoshop meant I could create black boards to go on the bottom and top of the screen making a ‘wide screen’ effect which people would see in the cinema.
I made a transparent effect with the black boards meaning it wouldn’t effect what you would see on the film. The outcome of this was a more real feel to the trailer and meant I could post my 4^th draft of my film trailer ready to be assessed again by another professional.