Trailer Props/costumes

The costumes are important for the other characters in the trailer, who are serving as protagonists in the story and therefore have to look distinct from the villain. Giving the civilians more casual clothing, with lighter colours and tones, makes the contrast between the darkly dressed villain apparent. the villain's look is the hardest to create, with a dark and intimidating costume required. I will also have to get a mask for the murderer, as a mask is a staple of the villain in a horror movie. It would be cheaper and less time consuming than applying makeup and other prosthetics whenever we shoot, which could be over the course of a number of days depending on the shots needed.

Trailer Locations

For my horror trailer i need locations that are suitable for the genre. The most obvious candidate for this is the graveyard near the school. This is convenient not only for its nearby location, but it is a very standard horror location. The problem with this is that it can be too cliche and uninspired. So to that end, i plan on looking at going to a park with density like Liscard and/or Tower Grounds or a beach. For the forest style park, i have taken inspiration from many slasher films of the past that often see the victims trapped in the woods with no escape. For the beach, i looked at another horror film, Jaws, as well as a number of other mediums. The beach can create great imagery and has the possibility of looking good in the film.

My chosen genre: Horror

I have chosen horror as my genre for my trailer, as i believe it is the most efficient genre for my level. First and foremost, the horror genre is relatively inexpensive to create, as it generally does not require  much CGI, especially in a old fashioned slasher film in the style of halloween and texas chainsaw massacre. Secondly, there are loads of style models for the genre, and there is even a choice about the style of horror movie, whether it is a slasher, a more psychological thriller in the style of the shining or silence of the lambs, or a more paranormal, found footage style like paranormal activity and the Blair witch project. Furthermore, it would be very easy to get the correct costumes, location and actors, especially at this time of year leading up to and around halloween.

My chosen Project: Movie trailer

For my coursework, i have chosen to work on a trailer, firstly because i already know and understand the majority of conventions needed in a trailer, both in theatrical and teaser form, and secondly because i am interested in film, and because of the huge amount of pressure that is on the trailer to market the movie successfully, especially on lower budget films with a little established fan base. I have chosen independently on this as i believe i can work more efficiently on my own, and have complete creative control of the trailer, and do not rely as heavily on others.

Trailer presentation

Music Video Song Choice

For my music video we chose the song,"a sky full of stars" by Coldplay. I did this because of the music video for the song having elements that can be replicated and altered in our own music video, as well as the piano featured in the song being accessible in school through the hall.

Preliminary Music Editing skills used

In the music video we created, we used Imovie to put all of our shots together in the video. We used transitions such as cross fade in between shots to keep the video progressing fluidly and not disjointedly. Lip syncing for the close up of our actor was edited in order to align it correctly with the song and we used filters, specifically the black and white one, and used it with the piano shot in order to reflect the colours on the piano.

Music video strengths

I believe that i generally composed my shots well with the camera angles, including the shots of the piano being played in sync with the music. I believe that our song choice was good as it allowed for the piano and differing shots to be incorporated.

Music video weaknesses

Overall i feel that my shot composition can be improved in my video, most notably with the clapping shot where there are chairs and tables in the background. This is not good as the chairs make it evident where it is being shot, and that the hand are not the centrepiece of the shot. Another improvement that could be made is the locations in general, with the locations being all based in and around the school, as well as the lip syncing in some areas of the video.

Music video Preliminary task