Planning: Storyboard

Following on from my previous post, here’s a viewable version of the finished storyboards that we’ll use for the film trailer.

EDIT: I’ve seen that the scanned images for the storyboards haven’t came out well but recently my scanner hassn’t been working so I couldn’t re-scan them. I will try to get a better version of the plans uploaded ASAP.

Planning: Film Poster

This is my design for my film poster, an ancillary task that I have to complete alongside the film trailer for the coursework (my co-worker Sean Flynn is working on the other ancillary task (to create a film magazine front cover) and will be uploaded onto the blog once he’s finished making it.)

EDIT: The original file was lost so I’ve had to upload a poorer quality version of the film poster and edited it within MS Paint to explain the reasoning behind the decisions I made.

Planning: Storyboards (text file)

I’ve been working with Sean on creating a finished version of the plans for our film trailer and we’ve finished creating a list of shots which I will be converting into a storyboard as soon as I can.

The list is as follows:

1. and 2. Union Productions and Brightdale Films shots
3. Landscape shot of Laura with “Staker Voiceover”
4. James landscapey night time shot with Staker Voiceover
5. Staker turns to camera, carrying on with voiceover
Flash to Black edit
6. James/Upir mirror scene
Flash to Black edit
7. “This Year” cloudy background
8. James Voiceover: “There’s a man who’s following my every move” (Staker Shot)
9.”Claiming to be my friend” (Victor approaching Staker on the bridge)
10. Follow on, Staker and James in same shot walking towards each other
11. James talking to Laura “he’s done…something to me”
12. On last words, Upir changes and leaps upon a man “Pick a card” line
13. Quick shot of James running
14. Upir lifts man onto bridge
15. Upir presses Staker against post
16. Throwing man off bridge scene
17. “I think our friend Mr Watson may be taking a turn for the worse.” Staker talking.
18. Staker attacking Upir fisticuffs
19. Second shot of fighting
20.Laura “James, this is something that can’t just be stopped.”
21. Laura pressed against the tree
22. “JAMES, IT’S KILLING YOU!” Laura screaming into the darkness.
23. Staker walking through underpass
24. James hits post with cane
25. Laura walking away turning and looking scared
26. Final attack as Staker and Upir strike one another.
Flash to Black edit
27. David and Staker: “I’m coming for you. I’m coming for you and nothing can stop me.”
28. Fade from Black title “The Tale of James Watson.” Cloudy background. Upir Voiceover: “Alright,”
29. “Bored Now.” Throws a card towards camera
Flash edit
30.Coming Soon on same background as the “This Year.”

I’ll keep you updated on developments with making the finished storyboard.

Research Posters: Daybreakers

My final poster varies greatly from the previous two in terms of context as Daybreakers didn’t have any franchise or trademarks to help advertise it, as such it relied purely on who was in the film and the actual idea of the film itself.  As such, the poster focuses mainly on the three main characters in the film (from left to right we have “The Mentor/Good Guy,” the main protagonist and the main antagonist) in what looks like a glass circular walkway. This changes the viewer’s perspective of the fiml as it looks like the sort of walkway that could be found being built in modern airports and train stations, but like the Death Note poster the use of a darker palette causes the brighter elements to be all the more noticable i.e. the main film title and text showing the main actors starring in the film. The use of darkness and creating a city backdrop creates the feeling of a modern and industrial setting, which to some could be considered a relatively minor detail, but the point of having a modern city that doesn’t look too dissimilar from most modern day cities is to create a sort of “Uncanny Valley” effect, as by having everything look as if it could be part of any generic Action/Thriller draws attention to the smaller details like the appearances of the characters and the carpet on the floor that says “Still Serving 20% Blood.”

All of the actors on the front look noticiably different, as both Ethan Hawke and Sam Neil (middle and right respectively) both appear to have high arched eyebrows and a paler complexion when compared to Willem Dafoe, who looks different as he’s cocking a crossbow straight towards the camera (obviously not what could be considered normal behaviour…) Unlike the previous posters this one is actually made a teaser poster that was released early before the film began its main advertising (e.g. the film’s promotional trailer) which could explain the minimalist style of the poster, as unless you count the “Still Serving…” as a tagline the poster features almost nothing in the way of text aside from what is often considered the bare essentials. Like the Dark Knight poster this image creates an almost suspiciously empty or solitude, especially for a cityscape as they are supposed to be highly crowded areas. This lack of other people or more to the point other living things at all in this poster adds to the elements of intrigue, which is essentially the entire goal of this teaser trailer. The fact that under the billing there is no indication to a date of release provides evidence for this idea, as well as the fact that the film’s website is shown in a dark red to match the title as well as stand out from the white font colour of the billing.

After researching all of these film posters I’ve come to some rather interesting points and connections to posters of this film genre, namely to advertise the posters a simple colour scheme (preferably dark or possibly even monochrome) and to have the main attraction on the protagonist/s of the film. Billing information and titles are just as important in terms of giving information out but are also not required to be in a certain place or size, just eyecatching and effective in staying within the memory of the viewer. Mystery is another important aspect, as it’s mystery that can help keep a poster within someone’s memory, intriguing them to look into more information concerning the film. As such, it isn’t necessary vital to include information like release dates or actor’s names, but it’s a feasible option too.

Research Posters: Death Note

For the coursework project as well as creating a movie trailer we also have to create two ancillary tasks. As we’re working in a group Sean and I have decided to split the work between us, with Sean working on creating the front cover for a movie magazine whilst I create a promotional poster to advertise the film. All of the posters are from films that Sean and I have researched, as I thought that it would be appropriate to use films of a similar genre to our own trailer in order to find the conventions used to advertise Action Thriller films.
The first poster is for “Death Note” and it’s striking in using a black and white colour scheme split straight down the middle to represent two opposing forces. The two main protagonists are the main focus of the poster, with each in a specific tone representing their split views on morality. The close up of their face show both of them with a determined look, almost as if straining to try and work out something. This is appropriate as the two characters are both trying to discover the identity of the other, in order to defeat them in the name of justice. In the background there is a faded figure that is holding an apple, but unlike the rest of the poster which is divided between the black and white sides the apple he’s holding is bright red. Aside from the obvious artistic effect of bringing this to our attention (“Schindler’s List” did the same technique with a girl wearing a red coat in a very emotional scene within the film, as aside from her red coat everything else is presented in black and white, making her stand out greatly), the apple is a trademark image of the franchise and so is more a reference for fans to appreciate, showing that the film will stay true to the graphic novels it’s adapted from.
Text is used sparingly to keep the main focus on the images, although the title is stylized to be eye-catching as well as being linked to the titular notebook as the title is essentially identical to how it’s portrayed originally. What’s most interesting is how the film’s tagline runs along the top of the poster instead of below the film’s title, as this way it means that the first line you’ll probably read when looking at the poster will be that. The text is inversely coloured to stand out against the background too, allowing the division theme to work without forcing the viewer to strain to read the text. Along the bottom of the advert the film’s billing in red font, as if it was also done in alternating colours it would be too distracting and people wouldn’t have read it. Also the text is shown on a black background with the other images fading to black as the poster goes down, obscuring parts of them and adding an element of mystery to the characters, whilst again improving the quality of how the billing is presented.
All in all I really appreciate this advertisement, as it captures the idea of a conflict between the protagonists as well as making the film feel dark and foreboding, creating an element of mystery that should be integral to any good thriller film.

Research Posters: The Dark Knight

This poster is also based upon a franchise like Death Note and as such also uses imagery linked to the franchise in order to help advertise it, as well as manipulating it in order to create a specific emotion. In this poster, the bat logo that has been linked to the batman franchise since its creation is the main focus point in the background, but has been edited onto a skyscraper so it looks like an explosion has torn out a hole shaped like a bat, creating a sense of disaster and darkness as well as the obvious effect of linking explosions with violence and action. Having the protagonist standing in front of this in a high shot shows his strength and power, whilst also making him appear dark and distant from others. The fact that there is no other human on the poster other than him highlights this element of solitude.

Just below him are the names of some of the bigger stars that are featuring in the film, as fans of these actors who aren’t interested in the franchise may be persuaded to see the film if it has an actor whose work they admire. Like the Death Note poster this also has the title slightly slower than the centre of the poster, stylized so that it still retains its attraction without having to be at the top of the poster, as well as having the film’s tagline at the actual top of the page, keeping it subtle as with it being at the top of the page it is most likely to be the first thing that is read regardless. The billing is kept a subtle white colour and small font so as not to detract away from the main image, something which I agree with a lot as generally there are few people who would decide to go to a film based solely on the billing details, as such it makes sense to have them but to not overly advertise them, as if they were too large it would cause the viewers attention to be distracted from the main imagery and also wouldn’t aesthetically look as good.
I like how this poster keeps it straight forward using the branding to sell itself but unfortunately such an idea would be counter-productive for our own project, as this is supposed to be advertising a new original film, as such it wouldn’t have the benefits of owning an already well known logo or character. Nevertheless, the idea of keeping the image the main factor of the poster seems to be a crucial point to any memorable film poster.

Research Movie Trailers: Law Abiding Citizen

This one is the last of the three trailers which I researched and unlike the others doesn’t have any supernatural element within the storyline, but also shows many of the conventions that are found within suspense films regardless of its plot. The storyline for this film is that a man who loses his wife and child to two criminals seeks revenge against them and against the justice system for letting of the them walk free after a deal was made for a testimony.

The trailer explains as much within the first minute, with the trailer beginning with an establishing shot of a cityscape (and although both of my other trailers also did the same thing I believe it to be co-incidence as it’s more about where the film is based, not that it has to be a city) which transits using a fade to black effect to a shot with the protagonist and his family, with a piano non-diagetic music which represents both growing tension but also happiness/times of good. As the camera tracks to back of Clyde (the protagonist) it uses a slight shake cam technique, a technique which is used during the next sequence as the criminals break into Clyde’s home to show fast-paced action. Also the trailer doesn’t explicitly tell the audience what is happening to Clyde’s family but we are able to understand through the use of fast edit shots between the criminals and Clyde’s family, as well as the dialogue of the wife screaming and the smaller criminal urging the other to move and the build up in the non-diagetic soundtrack. The last shot we see is an extreme close-up shot of Clyde’s face, seeing him struggling to break free as the shots fades to white, after which the production studios are titled.

The titles fade to black and the next shot fades from black, another establishing shot of what looks like a governmental building, with a dialogue that follows onto the next shot-reverse-shot sequence showing a conversation between two lawyers, one of which is another main character (an important comment to make here on character is that in a suspense film it is not always clear which person we should be supporting, as these films tend to have two protagonists who both face each other on opposite sides of a moral field. In both this film and Death Note, the two protagonists (Clyde and Nick for Citizen, Kira and L for Death Note) follow this convention as it keeps the viewer neutral to them and increases the tension when they come into conflict with each other.)

The shot fades to another establishing shot of a skyscraper then straight edits to another shot-reverse-shot with a single straight edit to a different scene that is related to this story point, again this is purely in an effort to keep the story moving on. The biggest point here is the scene where the criminal shakes the hand of the Nick, with an emphasis added to this shot by doing a close up shot of the hand shake and showing the expressions on the face of the criminal and Nick as well. The music crescendos again and this time the shots “flash edit,” with each shot closer to Clyde broken up with white flash like a camera flash (appropiate as there’s many journalists in this scene) and every edit punctuated by the background music. After a dramatic text title on what looks like a misty background this same technique is used as he walks away, repeating everything done in the previous section.

We have an extreme close up shot of a key object (a bracelet Clyde daughter made him) which blurs out to focus on Clyde holding it before the “flash edit” is used twice more, now showing Clyde’s plan in motion. This “flash edit” starts to become a signature technique for this trailer, as by flashing the white the viewer’s attention is briefly distracted by the flash which causes the next scene to have more of a memorable effect upon the viewer, although personally much like how the flash shot is used in “Death Note” I find it too disorientating, especially when it’s used this many times.

In conclusion this research has helped greatly in terms of shaping the trailer, as each of these trailers makes a noticable use of audio and transistions as much as the content of the video clips themselves, choosing mainly to keep the shots not too complicated in order to allow for faster editing between the shots, in order to build the tension up to the end of the trailer. As well as this smaller details such as the usage of darker lighting to create a more oppressive atmosphere as well as possibly not ending the trailer on the film’s title, but instead on a final quote or scene that will give them one last moment of the film.

Research Movie Trailers: Death Note

This film is a lot more different then the other trailers we’ve researched as it’s a Japanese horror-suspense film that’s been made for Singapore (hence the dual layered subtitles) however I find that most of the conventions for a suspense/thriller film (elements of mystery between the characters, issues of morality and how it’s set up quite literally as a “Genius vs Genius” style film) are quite obvious and aren’t lost in the translation process (Also apologies for the video quality, given that it’s a Japanese film that hasn’t been dubbed into English it’s very hard to find any trailers for it.) As another sidenote before I begin the majority of this trailer has is boxed in by the film title and release date, which I assume is something related to the localization process where the trailer originates from and as it wasn’t part of the original trailer I won’t be commenting on it any more.

The trailer begins much like Daybreakers with its use of large establishing shots of a modern cityscape but also begins with a clouded night, which is used to convey the sense that this is a dark film i.e. a horror or thriller. After the establishing shots we have a straight edit to an extreme close up shot of someone writing, quickly followed by two people crying out in pain and falling, with a text overlay showing that this is an adaptation of a popular graphic novel franchise. This is followed by more straight edits of newspapers being narrated over what sounds like a news report, more scenes of people collapsing down dead and a quick collection of straight edits showing the faces of people who have died. The sequence ends with a slow zoom in Point of Interest shot into a black book which is in the rain on a dark night, again focussing on its importance and also a sense of in having an ethereal or supernatural presence.

This shot has a fade transition into a titles which for some reason is suddenly interrupted by a face (which turns out to be the protagonist) before the next title, an edit which literally lasts for a split second so you literally only see the face for the briefest of glances. This is used obviously as a surprise/scare tactic, building up the suspense with the non-diagetic soundtrack slowly rising in the background before cutting out instantly to give the title “Die” the biggest impact. When then have a fade-to-white transition to the film’s title accompanied by tolling church bells and a choir group singing, both staples of dramatical “Gothic” music, followed by the reoccurence of quick edit shots, this time with different opinions of “Kira” (the alias of the protagonist). After another text title we have another two extreme close ups linked through a straight edit of the main character again, this time with him narrating as well to show that he’s the protagonist. The next shots after the text title have the music cut off again when the letter “L” appears on the television screen in a PoV shot from Kira’s perspective.

After this the trailer is very different, with a rock song “Dani California” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, much like how the Placebo song fitted with the target audience for Daybreakers this song also fits in with the same target audience, which is one far more mainstream than the previous (or at least, mainstream in Japan) and also probably a younger teenage demographic too. All of the next edits are straight with breaks to introduce characters and their names, with each character having one line which in a way defines their personality. These end at an animated text title where the font ticks across the screen like the hand of a clock and after another quick clip from the film we have a title where from a background of scrawled writing the words “Catch Me” zoom into the centre of the screen. This follows with the idea of creating a rebellious character, someone who is taunting their investigators as well as eluding them, an attitude that teenagers might admire.

The last few titles zoom out of the page and are broken up by quickly edited shots from the film, varying from extreme close ups of various people and points of interest but the main majority of these shots are focussed upon the character’s faces, as their emotions portray what’s happening whilst the soundtrack plays and the characters narrative some of their foreshadowing lines of what’s going to happen in the film. After the last zoom in close up shot of Kira, the trailers cuts straight to a fade in shot of the film’s title, whilst a voice which hasn’t been part of the rest of the trailer is laughing. As the last text title finishes we see another flash of an image much like how it was done earlier with Kira, only this time it’s a lot more shocking as it appears to be the face a daemon or supernatural craeture (it as actually one of the main characters in the franchise, so I see this as more of a tease to fans of the series more then anything.)

All in all this trailer demonstrates some of the key elements that were presented in the previous trailer, namely that the usage of fade out shots and text titles is common as it keeps the mystery element of the film intact, something which it wouldn’t have with an out of place film narrator. Instead this trailers prefer to narrate themselves, using lines from the film to help convey the general storyline whilst giving glimpses to the bigger climatic sequences in the film. In this specific trailer I don’t like the use of the “flash” imagery as it just seems to be painful more than anything, hurting your eyes with the sudden flash then alarming you and I don’t think it was necessary to introduce each character with their name added next to them, as that’s the sort of thing that should be discovered either through watching the actual film or listening to what people call each other in the trailer. I do however like the usage of a cloudy backdrop for the titles and the idea of the supernatural element living alongside normal life, existing but not in an over the top manner, both of which are ideas I’d like to include into the final project.

Research Movie Trailers: Daybreakers

The next few updates are going to be evidence of my research phase of my project, which alongside the trailers and research into magazine front covers done by Sean will combine to evidence our entire work in this phase of the project.

Daybreakers is a Sci-Fi Horror film where the majority of the population of the earth are now vampires, feeding off the small pockets of humanity which are quickly running out. One of these vampire scientists begins work on a cure for the vampirism and one of the small pockets of human resistence kidnap him so he can complete his work and free humanity. The film has a distinctly modern dystopian setting (one film critic suggested that the word “blood” could easily be replaced with the word “oil”) which is portrayed during this trailer, as well as highlighting some of the larger action sequences of the film and explaining enough of the story for the audience to understand the idea without spoiling the entire plot.

After the “Approved by MPAA” message the trailer begins with a stormy background and the “Lionhead Studios” title, showing which film studio created the film and follows on with this dark image with an establishing shot of a futuristic skyscraper complex, before fading to black to a text wipe (The “Fade to Black” transistion is used throughout the trailer, usually followed by text like the conventions used by the “Death Note” trailer, as if you don’t want to break the silence or the tension caused by backing music or a scene with a narrator this is an effective way of getting a message across.) This text is followed by two quick shots edited together with a black & white effect as well as a video effect to make it seem like the technology is either breaking or being affected by some other force (a technique which is used in other mainstream horror trailers in order to quickly shock or catch the attention of the viewer) which in this case is used to show that vampires play an important part in this film.

After another text wipe and establishing shot of a crowded street where every human is a vampire we hear the first diagetic audio from the film, which is a line said by the main antagonist to a vampire soldier. The straight edits between the five mid-to-close shots (three from the crowded street, two from the scene where the quote is coming from) are very quick and done to draw specific attention to how these people aren’t human, which fits in with the quotation. The non-diagetic music also picks up at the end of this line slightly as well, to help to fill in the gap before the next line (there is also a sound effect played during the text wipes that distinguishes them from the music.) These quick edits which keep rapidly showing various scenes of how vampires rule this world and what remains of humanity is oppressed by them are broken up by text wipes. This is used to make sure that what is said in the text wipes is clearly understood and shown to the viewer so they know what the relevance is of the next/previous shots. The white flashes and black fade transistions used here are another method used by the filmmakers in order to keep the viewer intriuged and attentive, making them focus purely on the trailer alone. The music running through here is just as face paced with a large focus on the thumping percussion beat which keeps the action moving quickly, with the strings coming in later to add to the suspense.

As the music is abruptly cut off by the “Cut-to-Black,” the protagonist turns on a lightswitch (a quite clever way of editing back from a “Cut-to-Black”) and one of the humans is holding a crossbow at him during a two-shot. Here the music has changed as it is a turning point within the trailer and the film, with the music now changed to a ticking noise (an obvious link to time, or that lack of it giving the sense of urgency with protecting humanity. ) The “Cut-to-Black” transition is used repeatedly for this next section, almost like an eye or camera lens clicking, showing snapshots of different scenes and locations in the film so as to symbolise what the characters are saying over the narration.  The scene before last is also one of the very few moments we have of a character actually out in the sunlight, something which is of course a rarity as the majority of characters before this would die in the sunlight.

After the line “We’re the folks with the crossbows” the speed of which the shots change increases rapidly, with the text shots still frequent but also with an effect that makes it look like it has been slashed during the white flash, again another eye-grabbing technique used by the filmmaker so that the audience isn’t tempted to stop watching the trailer until the end.  The music also stays now on the same music until the end of the trailer, which unlike the rest of the music is an actual published song called “Running Up That Hill” by Placebo, a long running alternative rock band whose music style would probably appeal to a similar target audience of this film as well as the song itself being a dramatical change of pacing so that the music doesn’t seem to be made for this trailer, adding to the sense of suspence caused by the action sequences shown and the fast “blink and you’ll miss it” style of throwing shot after shot through fade/cut to black transitions and straight edits, making it known that this is the sort of film for people who enjoy action and suspence as much as horror or science fiction.

In all I quite like the idea of portraying the story through this style of teasing out some of the main story points without explicitly saying too much as well as the constant “Fade-to-black” transitions and text wipes as they both add to the feeling of something dark and mysterious, an effect that would work well within our own production, and the way that it is clearly distinctive who a vampire is and who a human is through their teeth and eyes is another small trait that will be useful to show the change between James and Upire (his vampiric split personality). However I also feel like it shows too many different shots, literally bombarding the viewer with too much information so that they can’t take it all in, meaning that the information which is given in the trailer will be lost through the over-the-top ending of flashing action shots and explosions, something which in a more suspense driven horror film I would judge poorly but given the context it works only for this very specific style of film.

A2 Media Studies: Advanced Portfolio

Good day,

I am Matthew Vernall (Candidate no. 6368) from Thomas Deacon Academy (Centre no. 22321) and this is my (second) blog evidencing my work on my (second) A2 Media Studies coursework, “Advanced Portfolio.” You may have noticed the two brackets in the previous section, as this is a re-take of my last coursework (which didn’t mark quite as highly as I had previously hoped) as well as my second blog for this current project (as according to Blogger.com I don’t exist -_-).

My chosen brief is to create an advertising package for a new film, including a promotional trailer, a magazine front cover and a film poster to advertise the film.

For this project I will also be working alongside Sean Flynn (see his blog here) who will be making the magazine front cover whilst I’m working on the film poster and both of us will work together on creating the trailer, which will be for a thriller/horror dark fantasy film called “The Tale of James Watson.”