Poster Variations

Magazine Cover Variations

Props

The genre of our film was action and crime. These types of movies generally contain a lot of props and outfits for their characters. However since my group was going for a realistic, small scale production about a thug that is out for vengeance after his friends money was stolen, we did not require a massive amount of props. The props that we ended up using were a rounders bat; a bike; a poker table and cards; a bag; a list of names and outfits for Jason Dyer and Sam Williams.

The rounders bat was used as the primary weapon of Jason Dyer as he enjoys fighting with blunt weapons. In addition to this guns are illegal and very hard for people to obtain in the UK, therefore it is unlikely that Jason Dyer would have been in possession of one.

The bicycle was used as a means of transport of Rory Macbride. In addition to providing him with transport it was used to subconsciously remind the audiences that his money had been stolen and he was therefore unable to afford to use his car.

The poker table and cards were used so as to make the poker scene believable. We chose to use poker as the character’s game of choice since it is extremely well known and is often used for gambling. In addition to this, there are similar gambling scenes in many other crime related movies.

The bag that Rory Macbride used was to carry his possessions. It was also used as a reminder that he had lost everything and now carries everything he owns with him.

The list of names was used to show the targets of Jason Dyer. The title of the film relates to this list as it plays a major part in the movie. In the trailer, Jason Dyer shall be shown crossing names of the list thus symbolising that he has eliminated his targets.

We decided that some of the characters needed unique clothing. We therefore decided to give Sam Williams a leather jacket and Jason Dyer his iconic clothing. These can be considered props as the actors were required to wear them in the majority of the footage.

Photography Session

One of the activities that we decided to do for our project was a photography session. This session was done because be required a set of different pictures for usage in our film posters and magazine covers. We had to take pictures of the models in a range of different poses so that we would have enough images to each be able to use a different one for our projects. In addition to this, taking a lot of photos would give us a greater selection of images to choose from. The more photos there were to choose from, the greater the chances of us producing a high quality product were.

In the photography session we used two separate models, Tom Nelson and Joseph Inns. These were the two main characters in the film trailer and were therefore the most appropriate people to use. We had a limited amount of resources and space to use for this photoshoot as we decided to do it at school. The area in which we did this was an empty classroom. We cleared a section of the classroom and covered a window with a white sheet. This was done so as to provide us with a blank background. A blank background would allow us to easily be able to replace it with other graphics such as picture of the locations that we filmed at. The window allowed a nice amount of natural lighting into the room, as well as this we had a large bright light that we borrowed from the school’s photography department.

Below is an image of the set up that we used and a diagram of how it was put together:

Film Script

Due to the nature of our film we opted for the usage of narration entirely instead of using character dialogue within the actual video footage. One of the major positive aspects of this was that it allowed us to get a crisper and nicer sounding set of audio as we were able to use microphones instead of talking straight into the video camera. The sound was therefore vastly improved as it eliminated most of the background noise that we would have otherwise had to face.


Script:


Rory Macbride (Intro) - I was involved with some bad people. And one game, a fixed game, was where it all went downhill.

Rory Macbride - Sometimes it just takes a few phone calls and all your problems are gone, just like that.

Jason Dyer - I don’t care who they are or where they are. You give me their locations and I’ll find them.

Rory Macbride - So I wrote a list and gave it to the only person I knew who could deal with the problem. Jason Dyer!

Jason Dyer (Credits) - The world’s a dangerous place to live in, you’ve got to constantly be looking over your shoulder.

Below you can listen to the script being read by computer generated voices:

 Here is a picture of what the script looked like when it was printed off. We used this sheet for reference when the lines were being recorded.

Below is an image of Joseph Inns reading through the script. He was one of the main voice talents in our trailer.

Font Selection

One of the main designing aspects of the project was deciding which font should be used for the logo of the film. The font would go on to be used in the poster, film trailer and possibly even the magazine cover. To decide what font was to be chosen I selected ten different fonts that would be appropriate. I then showed these fonts to the various group members to get their opinions on them. We after the discussion we decided to choose the font titled ‘Bank Gothic’. This font was selected primarily because it was smart and seemed as though it would fit nicely onto a range of different promotional film products. In addition to this it was similar to fonts from other successful action and crime movies such as Hot Fuzz, Django unchained, the Bourne identity and In Time. The other fonts in the list had various undesirable qualities. Font 2 seemed too tribal; fonts 6 and 7 portrait the wrong message as they didn’t seem serious enough and font 8 and 9 were too difficult to read. Fonts 3, 4, 5 and 10 were all good enough to be chosen but font 1 was the favourite of all the members of our group.

Magazine Cover Inspiration

One of the tasks of creating a promotional package for a new film was to create a front cover for a film magazine. To achieve this I had to look at a selection of different film magazines as that I would be able to use an existing magazine as the basis for my work and to make use of their codes and conventions. I decided to look at ‘Empire’, ‘Total Film’ and ‘Little White Lies’ for this. Below are a selection of different film magazine covers and my opinions on them:

This is the first magazine cover that I looked at. I liked the strong logo that ‘Empire’ used and their decision to have text both in front and behind their model (which is Wolverine). It seems as though the style would be easy to replicate due to the simplicity of the image and the masses of basic text that are present. Unfortunately I did not like their decision to have such a large amount of text present on their front cover and have therefore decided to use a different magazine for my magazine cover.

The second magazine cover that I looked at was one for ‘Total Film’. This was possibly my least favorite design due to the amount of text and images that cluttered the front page. On a positive note, it contained most of the conventions of a standard magazine cover. However I think that the style would be very difficult to replicate and would end up looking dreadful if I were to base my magazine cover on this type of design. In addition to this, it would be hard to find images for other films such as the ones that they are promoting on this issue of the magazine.

The third magazine cover that I looked at was one for ‘Little White Lies’. This magazine defies most conventions of common film magazine via its choice to use only their logo, main image, title and occasionally a small amount of additional cover lines. This results in a very simplistic style of magazine cover. This simplicity would make it very easy to replicate the style of a ‘Little White Lies’ magazine cover. However their covers are highly stylised, this would add difficulty to creating a magazine cover of this type but at the same time would give me a high level of creative freedom.

This next magazine cover is another from ‘Little White Lies’. Unlike the previous cover it has a set of cover lines. In addition to this it had a different art style to the previous magazine.

This version of ‘Little White Lies’ features a different logo to the other copies. The logo’s text takes up more space and it looks a lot stronger than the other type of logo that they use.

This copy of ‘Little White Lies’ shows yet another art style that they used.

In conclusion, I have decided that I shall be creating a magazine cover for a ‘Little White Lies’ magazine. I liked their cover design the most due to its simplicity, stylized graphics and the amount of creative freedom that I would be allowed if chose to design a cover for their magazine.

Poster Inspiration

In preparation for the creation of my film poster I decided to take a look at a range of existing film posters. This was done so as to allow me to see a range of different types of posters so as to inspire me and to give me an understanding of the general conventions of a movie poster.

1: The Dark Knight:

The first poster was for the Dark Knight. This is a very basic poster and only contains a limited amount of text due to the focus on the main image and the logo of Batman. I am unlikely to have such a small model for my main character as I do not feel that I have a background strong enough to carry the image, as is the case in this poster. One of the other interesting features of this poster was the selection of credits at the bottom. These are included because it is a theatrical poster; I shall not be including these in my poster as I intend to create a teaser poster.

2: Rise Of The Guardians:

This is a teaser poster for Rise of The Guardians. It has large bold writing and the primary focus is on the character Jack Frost. To emphasise his importance they have used a simple background so that the attention shall be drawn to the character. At the top of the poster is a simple statement which says “Jack Frost is more than a myth”, this helps with drawing attention to the film and provides a mild insight into what it is about.

3: Orphan:

This teaser poster for Orphan features a strong image of a child staring directly towards the camera. The expression of the character hints that the character is sinister. This is then supported by the line “There’s something wrong with Esther” thus telling audiences that it is indeed a horror movie. The message is supported by the dull background of the poster.

4: Drive

This theatrical poster for drive is simple yet very effective. The character’s thuggish appearance symbolizes the genre of the film and the city setting tells the audiences what sort of location it is primarily set in. There is an emphasis on the name of the primary actor ‘Ryan Gosling’ thus attracting people that are fans of the actor. The positive message at the top of the page is used to spark an interest with people as it certifies that other people consider it to be a good movie.

Film Poster Initial Variations

Here are two initial variations I did of my film poster:

Version 1:

This first version looks very nice, but it has a lot of blank space. To improve this I could either add text to the top of the image or change the background of the poster.

Version 2:

This second version of the poster didn't come out very well. The main issue that I had was cropping the white background from the image. I accidentally did it poorly and therefore the character has sections of his face and body missing. I shall need to change this if I am to improve it or even have it qualify as a proper film poster.

Magazine Cover First Draft

This is the first draft of my magazine cover. I have chosen Little White Lies as the magazine that the film is to feature on. I chose Little White Lies as their covers are generally simplistic, yet highly stylised. I felt that this would allow me far more creative freedom than other magazines such as Empire and Total Film would have. In addition to this I felt I would be able to focus far more so on the promotional image since I would not need to worry about the content of the text included on the page.

Unfortunately I felt that I did an extremely bad job on the image, even for a first draft. I feel that my main issue was attempting to simply add filters and effects to a photograph rather than drawing a picture of the main character (the standard convention of the magazine). The image of the model was poorly cut out and clashed with the background, thus giving the impression that it was done by an artist that had very little experience. I am therefore very unhappy with the design and plan on redoing it completely.

Trailer Audio

In the end my group decided to use different music to songs that we had originally intended to use. The two songs that made it into the final production were ‘Genesis’ by ‘Justice’ and ‘Tick of the clock’ by ‘The Chromatics’. We decided to change the music after receiving some negative feedback about the previous selection of songs. The criticism was that the songs used were too repetitive and that they did not fit well with the video footage. After watching the previous version of the trailer again, I could see that their points were valid and that the audio did need to change. I feel that our new selection of songs works far better in the trailer and that overall the decision to change the music was positive.

Justice – Genesis

The Chromatics – Tick of the clock

The other audio used in the production was a selection of different sound effects. These sound effects were found on a variety of different websites including soundbible.com, soundjay.com and Youtube. The only issue with using these sound effects would be that we could have got into trouble for possibly breaching copyright laws if our trailer was to have been created for an actual film that was to be sold.

Planning Methods

Mood Boards:

A mood board is a collage of text, images and other objects. Mood boards help people to visualise the general feel and direction in which they are wishing to take their product. In addition to this they can be used to communicate people’s ideas to other project members. One of the purposes of a mood board is to map out the ideas which they have had and aid them with deciding what to do. In the pre-production process, mood boards generally come before even the storyboard. In terms of usefulness they are rather useful but I would consider the other methods of pre-production to be far more effective, as mood boards are essentially just a collage of assorted images and text made simply to convey the general themes, ideas and flow of the product. The mood board I created was of relatively little use as my group and I already had a strong idea of what we wanted to achieve with the product and the ideas, themes and direction were largely decided in conversation.

Software which can be used to make mood boards includes: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Photoshop, Pintrest and more.

Mind Maps:

Mind maps are a type of diagram used to display a set of information. They usually start with one word in the centre (generally the theme or name of project) and have words branching out from it (generally divided into themed clusters), connected to other relevant words with lines. Mind maps can include a range of other things as well such as different images and colours. They are one of the most popular forms of pre-production and are taught to students in many schools. In addition to this they are also able to be created either digitally or by hand. In the pre-production process they are used to map out the ideas, themes and a variety of other information (e.g. characters, props and locations). They can be used to easily communicate the ideas to other project members as well as giving the creator a stronger idea of what they wish to create. They are generally used before creating the storyboard or script.

Software which can be used to make mind maps includes: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Word, Photoshop, Prezi and more.

Visualization Diagrams:

Visualization diagrams are diagrams which use visual imagery to communicate their ideas. They are used in a range of things such as engineering, science, education, animation and more. The term visualization is extremely broad as it simply means visual imagery, therefore visualization diagrams can be any images which aid in communicating ideas. In the preproduction process, visualization diagrams can be used in many different ways and at a range of different stages. For example a visualization diagram could be created to show what the stage is supposed to look like and what props should be included. Another use for example could be to display the technical elements of a prop (e.g. a robotic model such as Yoda from the early Star Wars movies).

 The range of software which can be used to create visualisation diagrams is extremely broad. I used adobe flash (for the drawing) and adobe Photoshop (to label the image) to create the visualization diagram for my project.

Storyboards:

Storyboards are sequences of images and text which display the key moments of a story. The storyboarding process in the form which it is known today was originally invented by Walt Disney Studios (a large company which specialised in animation) in the early 1930s. Storyboards can be created either digitally or by hand and can contain either drawn images or photographs. The purpose of storyboards is to display what is actually going to happen to happen in the film or advert. They can show a range of things such as the stage directions, expressions of actors, peoples positions, props, camera shots and the location which is being filmed. In the preproduction process they generally are made after the creation of mood boards and mind maps and can come either before or after the script.

Software which can be used to make mind maps includes: Photoshop, StoryboardThat, Toon Boom, Storyboard Pro and more.

First Version of A2 Film Trailer

This is the first version of my group’s film trailer. I believe that so far our trailer is looking good. However I feel that there are a selection of improvements that we could add to it to get a better trailer overall. The issues I identified in this first version are as follows:

• The music is repetitive and does not properly convey the intended message of the film. To improve this we should replace the song with a more suitable one.

• The narrative of the movie is not fully clear. To solve this issue we will need to add more text to the scenes and addition narration from our voice actors.

• The sound effects used are poor at times. This can be solved by replacing or removing the sound effects that don’t fit in well with the movie or rearranging them on the video’s timeline.

I also intend to ask a selection of people for their feedback on this copy of the trailer. Their insight may provide us with new ideas and allow us identify any areas that may be weak.

Project Group Members

For the trailer project this year it was recommended that people worked together in groups of up to three people on their practical pieces of coursework (a trailer for a nonexistent film). The group which I have chosen to work with consists of Joseph Inns, Thomas Nelson and myself (Joseph Dunkerley). Due to the group working on the project together, the work which has been worked on collaboratively (such as the location shots and scenes films) may appear on multiple blogs, however the majority of the work posted to the blogs shall have been worked on by the owner of whichever blog happens to be in question. Below are pictures of each of the group members as well as links to their A2 Media Studies blogs:

Name: Joseph Dunkerley (myself)

A2 Media Blog Address: http://dunkerleya2mediablog.blogspot.co.uk/

Key Skills: Video Editing, Camera Work, Photo Manipulation, Sound Manipulation

Name: Thomas Nelson

A2 Media Blog Address: http://nellysa2media.blogspot.co.uk/

Key Skills: Video Editing, Photography, Acting, Sound Manipulation

 Name: Joseph Inns

A2 Media Blog Address: http://whohasdonethatwiththetoiletseat.blogspot.co.uk/

Key Skills: Acting, Script Writing, Drawing, Camera Work

Filming Session 5

Location: Southborough (Near to the Sports Center)

Group Members Present: Joseph Dunkerley and Joseph Inns

Additional People Present: Alex Fox (Actor) and Stanley Pugh (Actor)

Scenes Shot: Fight Scenes, Additional Chase Scene, Meeting Scene, Stairway Scene

The fifth session was filmed in Southborough at locations close to the school. The primary objective of this session was to get additional shots that we felt we still needed. This was because the majority of the footage needed for the trailer had already been obtained. We were able to film a selection of short clips that would add to excitement of the trailer and would allow us to do more believable montage scenes in time with the music.

Filming Session 4

Location: Southborough (St Gregory's Catholic Comprehensive School)

Group Members Present: Joseph Dunkerley, Joseph Inns and Tom Nelson

Additional People Present: Kieran Brown (Camera Man), Dominic Williams (Actor), Stanley Pugh (Actor), Alex Fox (Actor), Christian Turner (Actor) and Micah Hills (Actor)

Scenes Shot: Poker Scenes, Fight Scenes, Chase Scene

The fourth filming session was done at St Gregory’s Catholic Comprehensive School in Southborough. Due to the session being done in school, we were able to obtain a large amount of addition actors for our scenes. We used the school’s stage as it provided an ideal location for fight scenes and the poker scene. In addition to this, we were able to film the scenes in a matter than would not lead people to believe that they had been shot in a school. One of the most positive factors of this session was that we had access to mats and cushions thus allowing us to explore a greater range of fighting styles for our fight scenes without people getting injured. The stage’s lights also allowed us to toggle the lighting of the scenes at will.

Filming Session 3

Location: Tunbridge Wells

Group Members Present: Joseph Dunkerley, Joseph Inns and Tom Nelson

Additional People Present: Kieran Brown (Camera Man) and Alex Fox (Actor)

Scenes Shot: Tunnel Scene, Chase Scenes, Hiding Scene, Others

The third filming session was done in Tunbridge Wells. All of the group members were present for this session as well as an addition actor and an extra camera man. We had a limited amount of time in this session due to peoples other arrangements. However we were able to film a lot of important scenes in the short amount of time due to effective planning and good coordination. The location we were filming at was ideal as it contained a lot of unique looking locations within a short area of space. The most important scenes filmed in this session were the chase scenes and conflicts between Jason Dyer and Sam Williams.

Filming Session 2

Location: Rusthall

Group Members Present: Joseph Inns and Tom Nelson

Additional People Present: Kieran Brown (Camera Man)

Scenes Shot: Forest Scenes

The second filming session was done in Rusthall. I was not able to attend this session unfortunately and only a small amount of footage was taken. In addition to Joseph Inns and Tom Nelson, a friend named Kieran Brown was able to act as the camera man thus allowing group shots to be filmed. All of the footage taken in this session occurred in a forest setting. The most important shot that was filmed in the session was a meeting between Jason Dyer and Rory Macbride.

Filming Session 1

Location: Pembury

Group Members Present: Joseph Dunkerley and Tom Nelson

Additional People Present: None

Scenes Shot: Church Scene, Bridge Scene, Telephone Scene, Path Scene, Attacking Unseen Person Scene

The first filming session was done in Pembury. The members of the group that were present were Tom Nelson and I. In this session we primarily filmed shots of the main character in situations where he was alone. This was due to the limitations of only having two group members present. I was on camera duty and Tom had the responsibility of acting. Despite the limitations we were able to get some fantastic shots such as the church scene, bridge scene and path scene done. We will be able to edit the footage in a fast paced manner to show both the singularity of the character Jason Dyer (e.g. via the church scene) and scenes where he is interacting with others.

Actors Roles

Name: Tom Nelson

Role: Jason Dyer (The Main Character)

Information:

Tom is set to play as the main character Jason Dyer. Jason Dyer is an aggressive cockney character with a personality that takes inspiration from movies such as Snatch. He wears an iconic jacket and has a recognisable hairstyle throughout the production. The main role of the character is to act as the hitman of Rory Macbride (a close friend of his). In general Jason Dyer is an unpleasant person, this is displayed via his willingness to hunt down and murder the people that wronged Rory Macbride.

Name: Joseph Inns

Role: Rory Macbride (Major Character)

Information:

Joseph Inns is playing the second most important character in the film, Rory Macbride. Rory is a relatively timid character that turns to Jason Dyer after his money is stolen in a fixed poker match. Despite seeming weak in comparison to Jason, Rory will essentially be acting as his sidekick and shall develop as a character throughout the film. He tends to wear plain, rugged clothing and is seen to change his clothes on various different occasions throughout the trailer whereas Jason primarily stays with his signature look.

Name: Alex Fox

Role: Sam Williams (Major Character)

Information:

Alex Fox is playing as Sam Williams. Sam Williams is a dealer on the black market and a heavy gambler. He is thought to have stolen Rory’s money and is therefore on the list of people Jason Dyer is setting about killing. One of the scenes in the trailer will show Jason Dyer attacking him.

Name: Dominic Williams

Role: Bouncer (Minor Character)

Information:

Dominic Williams is going to be playing as the bouncer. The bouncer is an incredibly strong man and is practically invisible throughout the film. He works for David Wilkins and has a short temper as well as being a very violent person.

Name: Christian Turner

Role: Extra (Minor Character)

Information:

Christian Turner is set to be an extra. His role will be to fill up space in a few of the scenes that need it. He will primarily feature in the poker scene.

Name: Stanley Pugh

Role: James Bowen (Minor Character)

Information:

Stanley Pugh has the role of James Bowen. James Bowen is a dim-witted small time crook and a henchman. He appears on Jason Dyer’s list of target and can be seen getting into a range of situations that involve fighting.

Name: Joseph Dunkerley

Role: Extra (Minor Character)

Information:

Joseph Dunkerley is appearing in the film as an extra. This means that he shall only be appearing in the background of scenes such as the poker match.

Name: Micah Hills

Role: Barry Bright (Major Character)

Information:

Micah Hills is playing as Barry Bright and is a major character. He is seen as being the main gang leader and is high on the list of Jason’s targets. He will end up escaping from most of the encounters with Jason Dyer and will be the last of his targets to die thus leading to the end of the film. His death will not be shown in the trailer however as it would spoil the story for the viewers.

Name: Mark Rowland

Role: David Wilkins (Minor Character)

Information:

Mark Rowland will be appearing as David Wilkins. David Wilkins is the owner of the location in which the poker match occurs and has an intimidating bouncer working for him. He heavily relies on his bodyguard for protection and is also after the stolen money. However his intentions are to take the money for himself once he is able to find it.