Evaluation question 4

Evaluation question 4

For this year’s coursework we used media technologies to do research, construct our blogs and plan and create our teaser trailer.

While we were doing research in preparation for our teaser trailer, we used a wide range of sources which include the internet, adverts, billboards and posters. But our main source was the internet. The internet was easily accessed at home and at college and with the technology today we could easily find important information we needed. One site we used a lot was YouTube. We used YouTube to look at already existing teaser trailers from professionals and previous trailers from other media groups to help us get an understanding of what a teaser trailer was. We watched teaser trailers from movies such as “The Ring”, “The Grudge” and many other Japanese inspired movies. During the period of planning and research members of our group watched several horror movies online or on DVD to get an idea of what really makes a horror film and how music and lighting is used etc.

As a group we made a Blog to present our work. We would anything that was relevant post images we taken for our posters and magazine to textual analysis of existing movie posters and magazines. While posting, we would also decorate our blog to make it more appealing and suited to the trailer. We chose black for the background colour to give a sense of mystery since our trailer is about an unbound spirit which cannot past onto the afterlife. The text was white, we chose white because in Japan the colour white represents either peace or sorrow.

Before creating a poster and magazine cover, we had to search for existing products. Websites such as www.Google.com and www.Empire.com were used. Empire is one of the most popular and most read movie magazines, and with this reputation it helped us with our magazine design, also we used Google images to help us. For our poster we got inspiration from “The Last Exorcism“and “The Grudge”

After we had finish planning we went onto learn how to use the video camera effectively and how to set up the equipment properly. We learnt how to set up the lights and how to set up the camera to the tripod we the aid of our teacher. Furthermore we practised using many different camera shots like over the shoulder shot, close-up, extreme close-up, medium long shot etc. Once we got used to the video camera we filmed test shots as shown below.

In addition we also learnt about various camera technologies such as white balance, focus. One of the most important things we needed and used was the lights. Without lighting the shots would turn out either too dark or with undefined colours, so we would always set up the lights and move it to the best position possible. As we got use to all the camera technologies and setting up, preparing for filming was no problem at all. Once we started filming we learnt the importance of counting in and out of the shots to give pre and post roll footage so that editing would be less stressful because we knew when we needed to cut. During the time we needed to film we were held back quite a bit because we had limited access to the LCR and we needed to film in there, LCR was not free until after school hours on Tuesdays and sometimes on a Thursday.

To advertise our trailer we created several posters. Before we started planning and creating the posters photos were needed. The cameras and lights were easily accessible and once we had the equipment at hand we went into the classroom which had a blue screen at the back. The lights were set up so that it was facing the model to make the picture seem more realistic, but for some of the photos we moved and dimmed the lights down to give a low key lighting so we would have a wide range of photos. Safety precautions were taken into account when taking the photos, for example the distance between the lights and the model (the lights would get really hot).

Software such as Adobe Photoshop was used to manipulate the photos taken. Fonts were downloaded and used from www.Dafont.com.

Photoshop