Research - Taken

I chose to research taken because in the first scenes of the trailer it shows a young girl about to get kidnapped. I thought this would be useful for our production because it shows the type of emotion and feel we want for our trailer.

Generally the beginning of the trailer is slow paced with the camera at eye-level of the young girl and the camera moves smoothly. The colours are all warm which could be represented as a safe place, the sound is also harmonising in the background and with the use of editing and camera some scenes are set in slow motion. This is all to set the scene for the viewer, so they get to know the characters at a personal level and the father's and daughter's relationship. Then when the camera flashes the mood of the trailer changes. Using editing the cuts are quick and flash white to black and even sometimes using the negative image to cut from the scene. This gives an unsteady feel to the audience. When the girl is in the hotel room the sound really emphasises the unease as the only sounds are deep drumming which synchronises with the flashing cuts in the editing.

When the girl is on the phone with her father they split the screen so the audience can see each of their reactions at the same time, however using editing they move the frames around emphasising the uneasy and unsteady feel for the viewer. Also this sets a distance between them as they are on the phone.Looking at the mis en scene when the daughter and father are on the phone he is in a warm looking setting but the girl's setting is in cold tones making them feel far apart visually also could give an unsafe mood where the girl is for the viewer.

When the girl sees the men take her friend, it's through a window so it makes it very difficult for the viewer to see what is happening which creates mystery, but with the girl saying what is happening they know some detail to what is going on. Also because the screen is split showing her reaction and with a close up her emotion is clearly shown and makes the audience feel more personal to her. All the time the trailer cuts back to the father on the phone instructing what to do, to his daughter. Also during the split screens when this is happening, the camera pans quickly making it blur slightly, this makes the trailer feel more rushed and fast paced.

When the girl is taken from under the bed, there are flashes of white and black quickly while she is being dragged away. Also her scream echoes which gives more of an impact to the viewer as the sound carries on for a while even when the scene is over.

After the girl has been taken it becomes quiet and you can hear breathing on the other end of the phone and when the man says "I don't know who your are" it quickly cuts and flashes clips of a man, however you can't see his face. The viewer assumes this is who is on the phone, then cuts back to the father. during this part of the trailer there is classical music playing over and as the trailer goes on the music heightens and gets louder, it almost sounds heroic. The scenes then cut from action and back to the man on the phone with his voice over all the scenes. The action scenes are fast paced and cut quickly making it difficult to see what is happening, however when it cuts back to him it there is a long cut so the viewer can keep focus to what he is saying. The action shown is related to what he is saying on the phone which gives the audience an understanding of what the film is about and what is expected to happen. Although the main question for this film is 'Will he find her?' and this is what the audience want to find out so they will go and see it.

I think for our trailer we will need this type of main question that the audience want to know the answer to. For example 'Will they survive?’ The audience will also want to know how. All from this trailer, the audience will want to see the film to know what happens next.

Research - Creep

I am working with Beth on the coursework and together we have chosen to do a thriller/horror themed trailor because the codes and conventions (camera, editing, sound and mis en scene) are clear to undertand how they are shown together to an audience. We have a general idea of a girl being chased by something or someone for our own production, so we used this idea to find some trailers that will involve this and then analyse the use of camera, editing, sound and mis en scene to help produce our own trailer.



The first trailor we chose to research was from the film Creep.
I really like the beginning as it is very slow, which will draw the suspence up from the audience. The camera is hand held making the viewer feel unstable when watching, also because it is slow moving, hand held and with the heavy breathing the viewer assumes they are watching through another person's point of view (most likely the person who is chasing the girl in the trailer). What makes it scary is the fact that the audience doesn't know who's view it is. The sound is also a key componant to the beginning, by having the heavy breathing and the droning sound of the underground makes the viewer feel on-edge. The trailer starts with a well lit environment then gets darker as you carry on watching this makes it scarier because less is seen when its dark making the viewer want to see more than what is shown from the trailer.

Mostly through the trailer the camera is hand held through each different scene especially near the end of the trailor with the fast pace cuts to different scenes and the music is loud building up the action, with the audience only getting glimpes of each scene because they are so quick. Looking at the sound through the clip, they are more natural by using heart beats, heavy breathing and the sound of the trains in the underground makes it feel more real to the viewer. However the camera is generally steady when they show reaction shots of the characters. There are lots of reaction shots and most are close up. In one scene with the man in the empty train the camera zooms close up to his face to emphasise his reaction making the audience feel how he is feeling.

Personal Skills Review

How has your creativity developed through using digital technology to complete your coursework?

Before I started AS I had little experience in using cameras to produce video and make a production, so AS really helped to develop my knowledge about how to create a product and when I knew how, I could then get creative with ideas and practical work when filming. When completing the preliminary exercise I was in control of filming and using the digital camera, so this helped develop my skills further through direct experience. Knowing the codes and conventions of similar products help me apply them to my own coursework and production. Also I have developed my skills in editing using Adobe Premier Pro software, once I knew the basics I could edit creatively to make the product flow well with continuity and add titles (as it was an opening sequence). These skills I have learnt through doing the AS coursework I can now apply to my A2 coursework when editing the film trailer I will produce and this will develop my skills even further.

Give detailed examples of a paper-based/research skill acquired/developed for your AS coursework that will directly be used in your A2 coursework.

In my AS coursework we had to look at other clips of opening sequences that would be similar to the genre of our own coursework. I would study the codes and conventions of each clip looking at sound, mis en scene, camera work (including movements, angles and framing) and editing. After looking through the clips you can then use the information have gathered to apply to your own production. This would be a vital part of my A2 coursework when looking at film trailers so I can apply all the research I find and use it to create my own film trailer.

Another key planning paper-based skill would be using a S.W.O.T analysis. Figuring out my own strengths and weaknesses as well as the outside factors that could effect the production. I do this because when you acknowledge all the possible problems you can then think of ways to avoid the weaknesses or solve them. This will help when planning for the film trailer filming. So we can avoid the problems and make sure that we can get a better result by doing so.

Storyboards are a key part in the coursework, when you have all the research you can then apply it to the story board to make sure the codes and conventions are suited for your coursework genre or style. They make it clearer to understand what you want shown in the frame and is very useful to show the mis en scene easily. When producing a film trailer for my A2 coursework, I will be using storyboards to plan out what I want shown to the audience. When doing the AS coursework we had missed a few scenes from the storyboard by accident which made it very difficult to edit and have good continuity. So during the A2 coursework I will keep referring to it and make sure there are no mistakes when filming.

Give detailed examples of a practical skill acquired/developed in your AS coursework that will directly be used in your A2 coursework.

General planning with other members of my group for example time management and compromising ideas and suggestions. In AS, the group I was working with had poor time management making the process of the filming and production feel rushed and messy. However this was due to outside factors (the weather) as filming became difficult. So when doing my A2 coursework I will keep organised and not leave things too late. Also look to the S.W.O.T analysis to avoid these problem happening again.

In my AS preliminary exercise I was in control of the camera and with the tripod. It was difficult to keep the camera movement smooth and at a constant speed even when using the tripod. However this gave me great experience and after filming I felt very confident that I had developed my filming skills by that experience alone. When I start filming for my A2 coursework I will use these skills I had developed in AS to create a better quality of film and maybe become more creative when filming.

In my AS coursework for the main task I had the role of editor. This meant I would have to use Adobe Premier Pro to add opening sequence titles and cut different sections of the different scenes we filmed. I had not used this program before so it was all new to me. However I managed to develop my editing skills once I knew how to use it. For my A2 coursework I will be using this program again when editing the film trailer and as I know the basics of using Premier pro I will still be able to develop my editing skills further when completing my A2 coursework.

Another editing skill I have developed is using Adobe Photoshop. However I did not use this program in the AS coursework, I have used it in other courses I am in (photography) and I know how to do basic editing of images for example adjusting contrast, brightness and using layers. Using Photoshop will directly help for my A2 coursework when producing the magazine cover and the poster for the film trailer and will help me develop my editing skills using Photoshop more.