Storyboard

To give  us an idea of what our trailer would look like, we made a rough storyboard with all the shots we wanted to use. (shots go downwards) 

 

Changes: Script

Despite not having a long or extravagant script in the first place, we found that when it came to filming some of the speech we had written seemed unnatural, so we made a few subtle changes to the script. The final script is:

[film production logo fading to black]

Holly (voiceover): Weird things keep happening to me. [show scenes of Holly looking happy, with friends and family]

[cut to black screen]
Amy (voiceover): What do you mean?
[fast cuts of bad things happening to Holly and her friends]
[cut to black]
[film title]
[institutional information]
[cut to Holly]
Holly (looking scared, talking to the camera): Help me.
[cut to black]

Changes: Production Company Logo

When creating our production company logo, we felt that it didn't completely fit with the genre of film. We had a few ideas of how to adapt it, and we decided that darkening the colours would be the best thing to do. I feel that the darker colour create a more sinister atmosphere than the bright colours of the original logo.

Editing: Footage

The film trailer for In The Shadows was edited on Adobe Premiere Pro. We selected the clips we wanted to use, as we filmed more than we needed and did several takes of some scenes. We then cut them down to a suitable length. We had already planned that the first section of our trailer would feature slow paced editing and the second section would consist of fast paced editing. In addition, we had obviously decided that our trailer was going to be a montage with non-chronological editing, as most trailers are.

Once we had selected and cut the clips, we were able to arrange them in a rough order based on our storyboard. It then became easier to visuale what our trailer was going to look like. Some of the clips were filmed when it was still light, however we wanted it to appear to be night time, so we changed the opacity to create this illusion. We found this was very effective.

At only one point did we have two consecutive shots depicting the same event - we had a high angle shot and then a mid shot of Holly waking up. Due to the fact that we only had one camera we had to film these shots at seperate times, meaning that when we came to edit it we had to ensure that the timing was perfect and that the shot looked natural.

The main transition used in the trailer is a fade to black, although we only used this transition a few times. It tended to be at the end of a group of clips, such as at the end of the slower section. At one stage, we tried adding a fade to balck between every clip but we thought that this was too cliche as well as not actually adding anything to the experience of watching the trailer.




Despite the fact that we created the title on Adobe Photoshop rather than Premiere Pro, we still used a transition on the title. As the last clip before the title is a candle being blown out, we continued with this theme and the effect on the title makes it appear that it has been blown in. 

Editing: Music and Sound

The main type of sound we used in our trailer was non-diegetic which meant it was added on in post production. Therefore, a lot of our sound had to be edited in order to flow within the trailer.

The first instance of non-diegetic sound was a voiceover. We added small fades at the beginning and end of the short clip so that it sounded more natural, which then went into our first music track.

For our slow track (If She's An Angel by Charlotte Campbell), we had to make it fit with the length of our first section. Originally, we planned to used the first four lines of the song, which are:

"If she's an angel what am I?
If she's an angel what am I supposed to be?
If she's an angel what am I, how can I match her light?
If she's an angel what am I?"

However, we had already selected and roughly edited together the clips we were using for the first section and when adding the track we realised that the section of music we wanted to use was too long. Therefore we made the decision to cut the track further so that we only had the first two lines.

To extend the shortened version of the track to fit the selected section, we decided to slow it down to 80%. This gave the track an eerie feel, which fitted with our genre and the mood we wanted to create. We then added a fade at the end of the track so that the end of track didn't sound abrupt.

The second voiceover then plays, and we edited this in the same way as we did the first: small fades at the beginning and end.

The second track (Pretty Parties) then fades in. We sped this track up to 120% so the beat was faster: we wanted to edit the clips in time with the music but we wanted the clips to be fast paced. In addition, there was a clear contrast between the first and second track. The track fades at the end. 

The last instance of sound is Holly saying "Help me" at the very end of the trailer, however this sound is diegetic and required no editing.

 

Risk Assessment

It was important that before we started filming, we carried out a risk assessment. We didn't want anything to go wrong so by assessing the situation first we were able to reduce the risk.

• The first risk came from filming a lit candle being blown out. Obviously this was a fire hazard, so to make sure nothing caught on fire, we cleared the area and ensured that the camera or any other equipment were not too close to the candle. We only kept the candle lit when we were filming it to prevent anyone from accidently knocking. 
• Another hazard came from when we filmed the attack on my character. Michael, played by my brother, had to pull on my character Amy's hair and drag her backwards, and so there was clearly a risk of me getting actually injured. We realised that there would be no way of faking the hair pulling, so to make sure I didn't injure myself we changed the shot slightly so that you could only see a hand pull on the hair and I was then dragged out of shot. This meant I was only visible for a second and the 'attack' didn't need to be forceful at all - as soon as I was out of shot I was completely in control.
• We filmed a lot of our film outside, which brought two risks. The first was that if it rained, the camera could get wet and potentially damaged. To stop this from happening, we made sure that on the few occasions that it did rain during filming, we covered the camera with an umbrella to protect it.
• The second hazard is the terrain in which we were working on. There were muddy hills, ditches, uneven paths etc that could have caused one of us to lose our footing and injure ourselves or drop the equipment that we were carrying. All we could do to reduce this risk was watch where we were going and check that we were taking the safest route. 
• Lastly, I had to lie down in some bushes in order to create the illusion that I had died (my character in the film dies).  The area we wanted to use was covered in sharp branches and stinging nettles so to avoid any injury I wore my coat to cover as much skin as possible. I did get a tiny injury from a stinging nettle but obviously it wasn't serious so it was okay. 

Music and Sound

For the slow paced section of our trailer, we needed a slow and calm song. After looking at some royalty free music sites we decided that nothing we had found was suitable. Instead, we found a track called 'If She's An Angel' by busker Charlotte Campbell, who I know through Twitter. She has previously allowed us to use her music in projects so we decided to ask her for permission to use this song in our trailer (see picture).

 

Despite only using a short section of this song, the lyrics we have included have two connotations that link to our film. The lyrics are "If she's an angel what am I? If she's an angel what am I supposed to be?" Firstly, the word angel connotes that Holly, the girl that is being focused on is innocent and naïve. However it also connotes something not human, which suggests to the audience that there is a supernatural theme in our film, which is something that we want the audience to think.

 

However the second track had to be far more upbeat. Once again, we looked through royalty free music sites and found a track we liked called 'Pretty Parties'. We downloaded this and added it to our trailer.

 

We also used two small voiceover clips in our trailer. The first was of our main character, Holly, (played by Shauna Ellis) saying "Weird things have been happening to me." The second was Amy (played by me) saying "What do you mean?"

 

There is only one piece of diegetic sound in our trailer, which is from the final clip. Holly is shown looking very scared, and she says "Help me." The idea of this was that it continued on from the voiceover conversation between Amy and Holly near the beginning of the trailer. Originally, Holly saying this was also going to be a voiceover, however we wanted to emphasise her fear and felt that the best way to do this was by showing her saying this.

Communication

As a group, we communicated mainly on Facebook group chat. This was useful as every time we had any questions, needed to organise timings or needed to send any photos or other information, we could very easily.