Reflecting on Editing

To begin with, Sam edited the first cut of our trailer using Serif MoviePlus x6. This was a basic editing software however it allowed us to see what kind of order we wanted our shots as this differed from our storyboard as we felt different footage would work better in different places. It also meant we could play around with basic effects such as fades and lighting to get a better idea of the transitions we wanted and some of our footage was to bright therefore we were able to adjust this to make it darker making the film look more gritty. However, as we wanted to begin working on our ancillary texts, and Sam had done GCSE media, therefore had experience creating a magazine cover, we felt it would be best for her to begin on the magazine and I would edit the second cut of our trailer then begin working on the film poster.

To edit the trailer, I used Adobe After Effects. We both felt that this meant we could explore a broader range of effects to create a more professional outcome. As I hadn't used this software before, at first it was difficult to edit the footage because it varied extensively from Serif which is what I was used to using. However, I managed to pick up the basics fairly quickly such as cutting footage, and working on each clip as an individual layer. At the beginning of the trailer, we wanted some of the footage to fade into each other; on Serif we could simply drag the footage over the previous clip however this didn't always work effectively because it didn't always fade in the right place. Although on Adobe this was a lot more time consuming to edit, the clips we wanted to fade over each other such as the lights at the beginning worked a lot better. To do this, I used the stopwatch tool and changed the opacity levels of each clip at different points so the first clip was fading out whilst the second was fading in which gave the footage a smoother transition. One of the things that I did struggle with however, was fading to black. When I went back to edit in the sound, we felt that the footage at the beginning needed to be on screen for less time and fade to black in between. The sound we used at the beginning was a voice mail, therefore with the shots on screen for too long we felt that this looked to much like an opening sequence. As a consequence of this we decided to try it with the footage fading to black in between shots to create a slightly faster pace contrasting to the sound. However, we did feel it was necessary to add a soundtrack behind the voice mail to add another layer to the sound. When editing the fades to black, this was slightly more difficult as the clips sometimes ended up looking choppy and the transition wasn't as smooth. To fix this, I changed the opacity levels by less of a jump at different points which meant that the transition was a lot smoother. 

The first time I edited the text, I used a solid black background with white text. I then added the purple glow as this was a colour highly relevant to our film, and added the sci-fi element to our trailer. I animated the text by adjusting the blur level and moving where the blur was directed. This worked well and our audience said they liked the text however it was on screen for too long. I went back and edited this so the text on screen was only visible for 1-2 seconds. When looking back at the trailer, we both felt that the black background and white writing perhaps made the trailer look like it was too much into the horror genre which we didn't want. Therefore I decided to experiment with different background colours such as using a white background with black writing instead. When doing this however, the white looked too bright we found. Although this was the effect we wanted to reinforce the sci-fi element to the film, we felt that a slightly more grey background may work better. 

Fourth Cut of Trailer

Third Cut Trailer

This is the third cut of our trailer which includes sound. This is our first cut with sound which includes a voiceover at the beginning. We did this as a voice-mail to get a muffled effect to make it sound more gritty. I have also combined two separate soundtracks to create the dramatic atmosphere and give the trailer more pace.

Harry Potter Film Poster Analysis

As one of the most popular global franchises, I wanted to analyse the final Harry Potter movie poster as it depicts the typical codes and conventions of a film poster. This was the official movie poster for the final film however it is also notable the amount of teaser posters that were also created. This is a common promotional technique to keep up the hype about the film and as this was so popular it acts as a constant reminder for the audience as to the films release soon. For big franchises or blockbuster films, this is probably a beneficial advertising technique, however I won't be doing this for our trailer because it is a much smaller scale film and as it is a low budget film, companies who create similar ones like this tend to stick to social media to promote their product due to insufficient funds.


From the film posters to the left, these were just a few from the masses of film posters created for the final film. Many teaser posters were created with different characters on the poster but all had the same vital inforamtion: the release date and available in IMAX and 3D with the same tag line 'It All Ends'. Although my partner and I won't be creating teaser posters we found this is becoming a much more common technique to advertise a film and create an ongoing interest with the audience.

The official poster follows the typical conventions of a film poster for example the main image. The protagonist is placed in the centre of the poster making it clear what film is being advertised. Either side of the protagonist are his two main friends and important characters in the film whom are also easily recognisable. In the background of the poster is the outline of Hogwarts castle indicating the recurring setting for all of the films and other students although these aren't distinguishable facially, it creates the idea of chaos combined with the rubble in which they are standing on and giving the sense of a big battle at the end of this film. The main colours in the poster tend to be quite dark; there is a mixture of blue and green creating an idea of fantasy linking to the genre however these are tinted with black and grey darkening the poster. Contrastingly, there is a tint of yellow and white in the background by the castle as if the sun were rising suggesting an element of hope. The characters clothing are fairly neutral colours however muddied and stained reinforcing the chaotic atmosphere and idea of a battle. One of the characters is also wearing a muted red which could connote danger.

The title of the film is included in the bottom centre of the page and is written across the main protagonist linking the character with the name of the film. The typography of this is the same font as all of the other films have used with the jagged edged writing making it clearly identifiable. Underneath 'Harry Potter' is the name of what film it is in smaller writing conforming to the layout of all the other movies and reminding the audience of the franchise. Underneath the title is the billing information. This is in a much smaller font and a darker colour making it harder to see therefore showing it isn't of much relevance in this instance in order to promote the film. However, underneath this, the tag line used in the teaser posters is also repeated 'It All Ends' followed by the released date. The tag line has already been seen numerous times on the teaser posters so audiences are familiar with this already and the release date being repeated acts as a constant reminder for audiences to not miss out. The text is in a bold font, place in the bottom centre of the poster and a slightly different font to the title making it stand out showing this is important information for audiences. Also on the poster, the fact that the film will be available at IMAX and in 3D is also stated in a small font as it isn't the most essential information but it may create more hype for the film as audiences can now experience the movie in more immerse ways.

At the bottom of the poster, red dots seem to accumulate. This has also been used on the teaser posters therefore coincides with this theme. The red could connote danger and the red seems to resemble fire, as if the sparks are flying off an explosion. This reinforces the idea of chaos and destruction creating more anticipation for the film by evoking a sense of lack of safety and fast paced thrill that will be present in the film. This also hints to the genre of the film, showing it will be dramatic and there will be a lot of action included in the film.

Movie Poster Research

Looking at Film Posters

Second Cut Feedback

This is the second cut for our trailer. This time we used Adobe After Effects instead of Serif MoviePlus x6 as it is a more complex editing software and we wanted to challenge ourselves with our editing skills to try and create a more professional looking trailer. As I was getting used to the editing software, this is cut is not completely finished however we wanted to show this to our target audience to get more improvements to add to the ones I had already set myself as to make sure we could aim to make the trailer more professional and appealing to our target audience. This was useful as we showed the rest of our media class this trailer and they identified that this had progressed from our first cut however there were still some minor errors that we needed to work on.

Positives:

1. Good use of a variety of locations
2. Good use of camera work and including different types of shots such as high angle, close-ups etc.
3. The movement of the purple glow behind the text was more creative
4. Colour and lighting was more consistent 

Improvements:

1. Some of the text was on screen for too long therefore this needs to be cut down
2. Need to add sound 
3. Some of the fades were choppy therefore need to go back and edit these to create a smoother transition
4. Need to add production logo at the beginning
5. Need to add another slide at the end with text on screen with the billing information, production logos and date of release.