Magazine Cover - Photoshoot & Selection Process

Here is the photo-shoot and selection process for my final magazine cover:

Plan for my magazine cover

Here is the initial plan for my magazine cover. I will include various real life conventions including the mast head, tag line and cover lines. I will also follow a similar design with my trailer and poster in order to keep my promotional package consistent.

Font text

I am considering changing my title font for my movie poster to see which one suits it best; I have gathered the ones I think look appropriate for my movie and I will see what my target audience thinks of it. I will get their feedback to see if I should change it or if I should stick to the current font.

Film Poster - Draft 1

Here is the first draft for my movie poster; I need to get audience feedback and make further improvements if necessary. I will ask a range of people within my target audience to see what they think I can improve to it, or what I can change so that it will persuade them to watch the film.

Plan for my movie poster

I have created a rough plan for what my movie poster will look like, I will include various conventions including the title, ratings and cover models. This plan will help me create my movie poster and will give me an idea of where to place the images.

Trailer Darft 1 - Audience Feedback

Here is the audience feedback for the first draft of my film trailer. I asked my respondents what they liked and what I need to improve which I will then use to make improvements for my final trailer.

Editing my trailer - Colour Grading

Colour grading is known as the process of altering and enhancing the colour of a motion picture, video image, or still image either electronically or digitally.


One of the many useful features of the editing software that I am using, Final Cut Pro, is that I have the ability to colour grade my trailer in order to suit the mood of the scene. For more emotional and sad scenes, such as the one where the character is crying about her dead brother, I have decided to alter the colours to a more darker shade. I chose to layer a shade of dark blue on top of the video to create a 'darker' and 'deathly' atmosphere which is appropriate for the scene.

 

As you can see from the before and after image, I have successfully colour graded the scene to create a darker feel which is what I was aiming for. I personally think that it looks much better because it is more emotional. I have also decided to do the same thing for the scene in which the mother is crying, also because of her dead son. Here is the before and after process of colour grading.

 

I think that this creative process is very helpful especially with the use of digital technology (Final Cut Pro) in order to create a more realistic and authentic film trailer. Real media products such as big budget motion pictures also colour grade their films in order for emotive effect which is what I have done so I think that this adds a professional touch to my trailer.

Magazine Cover - Draft

Here is the first draft for my magazine cover. I personally think that I need to make more improvements such as a better cover image because it looks quite messy at the moment. In order to do this, I will carry out another photo shoot for a better quality cover image. There are also various empty spaces that needs to be filled out, for example I need more cover lines.



Changes I will make to my trailer.

Since I have gathered the feedback from both the film pitch feedback video and the questionnaire, I can now start to make slight changes based on the feedback from my candidates and what they expect to see. On a positive note, the majority of the feedback is positive however there are some changes that they will expect to see and I will try and incorporate those into my film trailer.

Additional Characters

One of the main expectations that my candidates want to see in the film are additional characters, rather than just seeing the two protagonists for the whole trailer. I have decided that I will cast additional actors to play the role of Carrie's mother, possibly the brother and also the ex-boyfriend.

Tagline

All of my candidates have commented on the tagline with different opinions, however the majority of them have said that the tagline is too long so I will change it to a shorter one. I still want the tagline to be relatable to the characters so I will think of the most appropriate tagline to use. Another candidate said that the tagline is quite comical which means I may need to think of something that would suit the atmosphere of the film.


Overall, I will definitely make these minor changes because I want my target audience to feel captivated in my film which is why I asked for feedback. I will upload any further improvements I have made in future posts.

Filming Timetable - Woods Scene

Film Pitch Questionnaire Feedback

Digital Storyboard - Pt. 2

This is the second part of my film trailer which will include the change in pace from slow to fast (and more happy). During this part of the trailer, there will be a montage of various clips showing different parts of the film. The end of the trailer will show the title sequence and a "Coming Soon". I am quite happy with my digital storyboard and I will stick to this structure when I am filming and editing my trailer.

Casting Video & Auditions

In order t identify who I wanted for my film, I auditioned and filmed my potential actors.

Selection Process

Here is the selection process for the different aspects of my trailer including the actors, location and props:

Trailer Digital Storyboard Pt. I

In order for me to get an idea of what camera angles and shots I will use, I have created a digital story board for the first part of the trailer. I took pictures of how I want the trailer to look, including a short description of why I used the shot. This will help me improve my trailer.

This is only the digital story board for the first part of my trailer so I will be creating more storyboards and uploading them on my blog. The reason I have chosen to create multiple storyboards is that I can plan out each part of the trailer; I will follow the conventional structure of trailers which will have a start, middle and end. This first part will be the introduction which essentially sets tone and pacing of my film.

Location Scouting (Scene 3)

For this scene, I want the two characters to be in a library because their dialogue is focused on their future and university so I want them to be in an environment where they are studying. During the scene, I will get the characters to be revising from their text books before saying their lines. I took a few pictures for possible location ideas.

Scene 3 - Library



Outline Scripts - Feedback

I have showed a couple of my target audience my outline scripts for the first few scenes of my trailer and I have gathered their feedback for it in order to improve it or make changes. I asked my audience what they liked about the scripts and what I should change and here is what they said:

What I liked

• The dialogue sets the scene very quickly for audiences to understand, especially the first line which immediately introduces a plot point of the film "It's been 5 months since my brother died in a car accident".
• The dialogue sounds authentic because the characters are just regular teenagers venting about their problems which is what most teens do, including myself. So I like the realistic aspect of the scripts and I feel like some people will relate to the characters.
• I like the scene where one of the characters become angry because it shows that there will be some drama within the film and I like dramatic story lines. The script looks very good and I think I would enjoy the film just by reading it.

What should be improved

• Perhaps the script could be just a little bit shorter since it is only for the trailer and will not include the full scene, apart from that keep the dialogue because it's good.
• One of the scenes included a swear word. Maybe don't include the swear word in the trailer because it may not appeal to some audiences.
• Add some more scenes where the characters deal with their problems.

Conclusion

To conclude, I gained both positive and negative feedback from my outline scripts which I can now use to improve my trailer. I will do the changes that my audience have suggested because this will improve my trailer. I will also continue to write more scenes for the trailer.

Outline Scripts - Scene 1 & 2

Here is the initial scripts for the first 2 scenes I filmed; it consists of the scenes in the woods and the stairwell when the two characters are talking. I have mentioned that dialogue is a very vital aspect of my film trailer as I wanted the audience to understand what the characters are currently experiencing. In this case, an abusive relationship and the death of a brother.

I will get audience feedback from these scripts and make possible improvements for my trailer.

Location Scouting (scene 2)

For scene 2, I wanted a location which was in a stairwell. However, due to the limited access to certain locations, I had to find somewhere that was still believable and realistic for the scene so I considered this location. Here are some pictures I took:

Scene 2 - Stairwell

The reason I chose this location is because I wanted the characters to have an intimate moment where they are alone and in a secluded area.

Film Pitch Questionnaire

In order to gain a more detailed understanding of what my target audience thinks of my film, I also asked them to fill out a questionnaire containing relevant and vital questions about my film . These questions involved elements of my film including the plot, characters, tagline and representation.


Here is my questionnaire:

I think that this questionnaire will definitely help me improve my film even more because these questions are more detailed that the ones I asked in my film pitch feedback video. The questions I have provided will require my participants to actually state their opinions and ideas rather than a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer so this will definitely benefit me in terms of improving my film to garner to my target audience.