Magazine Cover Making

To begin with, I went through all my images from my contact sheet and decided on a image to use. I chose a portrait image as this is the normal style of a magazine and would work better when I started adding text. I edited my image in Photoshop and firstly removed the ties and logo from the jumper. I used the clone tool to cover up the unwanted parts of the jumper and I am really pleased with the outcome. 

I then darken the outside of the image by using the paint brush and gradient tool. I wanted to create the effect that the character was lit up in the middle, which I had also done with my poster. 

I placed the image into InDesign so that I could add text. I changed the title of the magazine a few times until I decided on one. I also struggled with choosing which font I wanted for my magazine title. I decided on a bold but simple text that would be memorable. To make it a memorable name title I changed the colour and sizing of the letter 'M'. This has made the title slightly more unique and also follows with the colours of the magazine. I added the typical features that you find on a magazine cover such as the price and bar-code. I placed these to the left side, just under the title because when researching and viewing other magazines on the market I found that this was a popular location on the cover.

On my magazine cover I used buzz words such as 'plus,' 'win' and 'exclusive'. These words make the audience feel as if they are buying information that can't be found anywhere else. Having the word exclusive central and in large font makes it stand out on the page. It helps to make the potential buyers more inclined to want to read the magazine and find out what is inside. 

Final Magazine

Audience Feedback 

I uploaded my final magazine cover to Facebook to receive audience feedback. Overall the comments were positive and people liked the cover that I had produced. Katie liked the design of my magazine title with 'M' standing out against the other letters. If I was to re-do my magazine cover I would add another image to the film strip and make the text slightly bigger and stand out more in the read circle.

Film Poster Making

This the contact sheet for my images I took for the film poster and magazine. I took images in portrait style, as well as landscape as I wanted to experiment with the framing of my images. Also, from my research I discovered that many other popular posters varied in style. However, most magazines were portrait style therefore I needed a good amount of different shots to try and get the best one. I tried to capture close up images as well mid-close up shots so that when I came to choosing which images to use I would have a good range to choose from. I decided against taking and long, body shots because I thought that the direct eye contact would create more of a connection between the audience and the scary character. 

After choosing the image I wanted to use for my film poster I decided to edit out a few things from the image on Photoshop. I got rid of the strings on Laura's hoody because I didn't think they suited the image and took some attention away from her face. I successfully did this and was happy with the outcome.  

I edited the image so that a lot of the picture was dark, this then allowed me to place text on top. Also as my film is a horror film I wanted the poster to represent this and thought that using dark colour would be best. From my research Id found that a lot of horror film posters used dark colours and red writing (maybe representing blood) which indicated that the film was going to be of a horror genre. 

When adding text I used the software 'InDesign.' The text is very important on a film poster as many poster are only seen as a glance as someone drives or walks past therefore the text needs to be easy to read and stand out. I played around with using lots of different types of fonts and sizes but in fact found it very hard to choose a style of font for my film title.

Audience Feedback 

I decided it would be a good idea to gather some audience feedback about my poster so far in the process of designing and making it. I uploaded an image onto Facebook and asked my friends to take a lot and comment on ideas to improve and what is working well. 

The comments I received helped me to develop and improve my poster. From the feedback I worked more on improving my title and making it stand out more against the dark background. I took both Katie's and Beth's comments on board and changed the style of the title.  

I tried to make the title look as if the writing had been scratched and ruined however this effect made the actual title less visible. I liked the idea but it made the title stand out less and was more difficult to read at a glance. So I came to a conclusion after trying out different styles that the best text was to use a simple font with a bright red colour. The red stands out well against the dark black background and therefore it is really easy to read from either a distance or a quick glance. I included a sentence at the top of the poster saying what other films have been produced by the same company. This could then encourage people to see the film because they liked the other two films made by the company.  I used quotes on my poster, to again encourage people to go and see the film because it is showing to have had good reviews. 

Audience Feedback

I decided to get some feedback using the social media website, Facebook.  I uploaded my final poster and get my friends to comment on what they thought the final outcome was like. Mostly the comments were positive and the feedback said it looked professional. From my audience feedback I realised that my title 'Dear Little Boy' could have been more interesting and made to stand out slightly more. If I was to re-do my poster I would spend more time getting my title to look more unique. I did spend a lot of time playing around on photoshop with the text and trying lots of different styles, however because my photoshop skills are completely amazing I lacked the knowledge to be able to do exactly what I wanted which results in a more simple title. I am still pleased with my title because it is easy and simple to read from a glance which is important for a poster.

Final Trailer- Dear Little Boy

1-5 drafts of trailer + Feedback and Behind the Scene Shots

Behind the Scene Shots

These are some of the behind the scene shots before I did the make up and styling of the characters. At this point my actors and I were looking around the location and discovering what parts of the building we could use and where would be the best to shoot. 

1st Draft

After placing all my clips in the right order and adding some sounds and text, I had my first draft of my trailer. I had made a green age warning sign to be placed at the beginning of the trailer, followed by a production company logo. After showing my first draft to the rest of my class, I got some feedback on what they thought. I took note of these comments and worked on. 

• clips too long
• more sounds in background
• overall trailer too long

2nd Draft

In my second draft I made many of the clips either shorter or sped them up. This made the editing pace of the trailer slightly quicker and more realist, like other trailers for popular horror movies. I also edited the lighting of some of the clips to make them a little bit lighter because where I had filmed my trailer was in a quite dark abandoned house. The house didn't have much lighting and all i had was a torch, therefore many of my clips were very dark. Using adobe premiere pro I was able to adjust the colour levels of each clip. 

Within the feedback I got from my second viewing to the class of my trailer, a very good point was made. At the beginning of my trailer when the two cars walk out from the car, their voices are quite muffled due to poor camera quality and the fact we were outside on a road. I then came up with the idea to place a voice over at that point in the trailer so that the conversation would be much clearer to hear. I went away and arranged another time to meet with the girls and to record a voice over that would then match in with the timing and actions of the clip. 

3rd Draft

In my 3rd draft of the trailer, I went away and worked on adding the voice over at the beginning. I placed it in and was very happy with the outcome. I think it works much better and is a lot clearer to hear. After showing my class the improvements, they agreed that it was much better with the voice over. At this point in my editing process I focused slightly more on the background sounds. I decided that I wanted to put in a beat of some sort to add tension to the trailer. I choose to use a heartbeat sound throughout nearly half of the trailer. 

At this point in my editing I decided to change the text font, colour and size. I felt the font looked childish and didn't created a scary atmosphere. I decided to use a much ore simple font and white text on the black background.

4th Draft

For my 4 and 5th draft I was only making minor adaptions, such as the length of clips by a few seconds so that they all fitted in together better. I also worked on the sounds and how sound the background sounds were against the voices of the characters.

5th Draft

When editing my final trailer some of the trailer was missed out. This was due to a technical issue where some sound and clips were saved onto a memory stick so when rendering my clip so of it was lost. I soon realised this issue and managed to go back and fix it before producing my final trailer.

First Ideas and Sketches of Poster

These are my first initial ideas of my film poster after researching other posters. I've made a rough sketch on paper to note down my ideas. I plan to make computer versions as well.

Feedback on Ideas

Jessica Brown- I prefer the second draft of the poster because of the use of the close up shot of the main characters face. It will show the expression of the characters emotions and show the scary side of the face. It also allows direct eye contact between the auidence and character. I much prefer the landscape design for your film.

Katie Elson- I like the landscape design better than the potrait because it shows more detail in the face. It also allows more writing to be placed on the left side of the page.

Creating warning sign

At the beginning of most horror movie trailers there is a green warning sign which informs the audience of the age rating that the movie is suitable for. These are espeically found in the horror trailers as some of the content is unsuitable for certain ages. In all the horroe trailers I researched, they all had a green warning sign at the beginning of the trailer therfore I decided to create my own film rating warning sign. I used powerpoint software to create one and took screenshots as I did it.

And heres is the final image of it.

Film Trailer Synopsis

In the village of Maidenhead, a horrible fire broke out in a family home leaving the house destroyed and the whole family dead. Apart from one little boy.
One day, two girls Sophie and Imy were travelling back from a concert when suddenly their camper van breaks down and leaves them stranded. With no signal, they venture of into the near by woods in search from some help. Not long after they come across the left behind house and have an unpleasent meeting with the little boy. However, he isn't too pleased to see them there and he soon lets them know this...

Prop List and Equipment and Software Used

Prop List

Iphone- The iphone is used in my film trailer when Sophie and Imy are discussing what to do about the broken camper. The iphone shows the audience that they have no signal. The iphone is a popular, well known phone therefore is recognisable to the audience. The phone also adds danger to the trailer as it enforces that they are alone and have no one to contact.

Camper Van- The prop of a camper van is used in my film trailer. The camper van implies that Sophie and Imy have been travelling and is used to show that they are broken down. The camper van breaking down is what begins the film and is what the story is based on, therefore it is vital that the audience view the camper van at some point in the trailer.

Dagger (made of wood)- This piece of wood, shaped like a dagger, is used by 'the little boy' in a close up shot. Actress Laura drags the dagger under her head, implying she is going to cut someones throat. The prop of the dagger shows that the little boy uses weapons to scary visitors.

Equipment Used




I used a tripod when filming my film trailer. This allowed me to avoid camera shake and to make my filming seem more realistic and professional. The tri-pod also helped to create different angles and heights when filming. I am very lucky to have this tripod as it did make it a lot easier to film the shots and clips I wanted.

I used this Sanyo 14,0 mega pixel camera as it was the only video camera that was available to me at the time of my production. The quality of the camera wasn't that good however I tried my best with what I had. Even though the quality wasn't the best I think that some of the out of focus shots can be quite effective.








Software Used

I used three different software's when creating my main production task and ancillary tasks.

• Photoshop - Image shows an example of me editing an image in Photoshop for my poster.
  

• InDesign- Images shows an example of me editing text on the software InDesign for my magazine cover,

• Adobe Premiere Pro - Image shows me using the editing software Adobe Premiere Pro to create my trailer.

Character Profile

Character Profile

Actress Laura White plays the antagonist character of the 'Little Boy'. The little boy is the only family member that survived the tragic house fire. Rest of his family died in the house, over 100 years ago, but the little boy has remained there ever since. He lives there on his own and hates anyone who comes near so when sophie and imy arrive, its not going to be a good ending. Laura represents a hurt, lose little boy who been left to defend for himself.








Before and After

With Lauras character I decided to work on her make up. I got inspiration from the movie Orphan which I have researched into. The main character in the film is a young girl. I got the idea of having dark make up under her eyes from this clip in the Orphan movie.

 Sophie is one of the main characters in the film and is the best friend of Imogen. Sophie plays the protagonist character. She is a 17 year old girl who is travelling in a camper van back from a concert along with Imy. She has long, ginger hair and plays a sterotypical teenage girl. She plays a moody character who doesnt seem concerned with the broken down car until she becomes scared in the abandoned house. She is wearing comfortable, causal clothing as they were travelling a long distance. Sophie appears to be quite a girly character, who is concerned about her appearance.

Imy plays the role of one of the main characters alongside Sophie. She is also 17 years old and travelling in the camper with Sophie. Imy has long, brunette hair and again is a typical teenage girl. Imy seems slightly more concerned and worried about what is happening. She is wearing a light grey hoody and black leggings. This represents her athletic personality. Using two teenage girls appeal to my audience of young adults as they will be able to relate to the characters themselves.







At first thought, I was going to include boy characters who were travelling with Sophie and Imy as well. However, I changed my mind on this idea as the boys made the girl characters seem less vulnerable.At the beginning, I did some filming with four characters, two girls and two boys, and i thought that the boys made the trailer seem less scary, and in fact, the trailer seem more like a comedy trailer. As director, I took the decision to re-film my trailer with only the girl characters.

 

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Gannt Chart and Location Planning and Call Sheet

 

This is a Gannt Chart showing when I will be completely different tasks over several months.

This location plan clearly shows where and when I will be filming my trailer. It also shows who will be there on set when filming.

Choosing a Location

I knew I wanted an abandoned house to shoot in however didn't know which one I could or wanted to use. I went on the internet and searched for some abandoned locations around the area I lived in. I discovered a few and thought it would be best to take a look at them before taking my actors and equipment there to shoot. So a few weeks before I planned to shoot, I went with a friend to take a look at the potential locations. Here's some of the images I took while exploring these locations.

Some of locations I looked at I thought would be too dangerous to bring lots of people, plus I wasn't sure if I would have permission to shoot in particular locations. Overall, I decided to shoot in an abandoned house in Maidenhead. I was able to get permission from the owner and felt the location was safe to bring people to.