Sunday, 21 February 2010

Evaluation

Our trailer shares many similarities with a real text such as the layout,shots,music and voiceovers. These main features directly link to the components that make up a real trailer. The layout of the trailer is conventional in the sense that it introduces the movie through a series of shots and then creates suspense by playing the other shots in quick succession. We realised that a lot of filming would have to be done as a large amount of shots are used in trailers, most of which are short and eye-catching. There are also shots with the name of our movie, its release date, the director and film companies as these were present in every trailer that we viewed in our pre-production stage. A shot of the certificate that reads 'This preview is for all audiences' was also used to add another conventional feature to the trailer.
The camera angles and movements we used were also conventional. A variety of tilts, panning across settings and shot lengths were used to make the trailer realistic and professional. On the other hand we incorporated these shot types with the less commonly used ones and handheld shots, for example, when i rushed after Haq running up the stairs, concentrating on his feet, attempting to create a simulating shot for the viewer.
The music we used was specifically chosen to relate to our genre of drama. We used tracks such as Dizzee Rascal's 'Paranoid', Dash- 'Test of A Man' and Skrein- 'Reach'. Most trailers use music to connote the genre and atmosphere of the movie. They often speed up the music or change tracks so the shots are in sync with the action. We implemented this skill to enhance the effectiveness and reach our target audience of older teenagers to people in their mid-twenties as they would recognise the music and be able to relate to it. The more niche audience of inner city youths that would be interested in our movie trailer would also appreciate some of the music as we took into consideration that the 'Grime' music genre is popular with (U.K) inner cities youths. Yeasin also used a tool to speed up certain parts of tracks and blend them together to create a perfect score for our trailer.
We also used a voiceover at the beginning of the trailer. This feature can be found in various real movie trailers. However, most of these are voiceovers that inform the audience of the general plot and lasts throughout the trailer. In our trailer, the main actor, Haq, welcomed the audience to the setting 'This is my city' (-with a long shot of the city day speeded up) and also voiced the quote we edited of Arnold Schwarzznegger,speaking about the true meaning of strengths and struggles.
Critically observing the making of our trailer, the main strengths and weaknesses are as follows: Strengths-
  • The teamwork- I felt that all members of our team were very co-operative. We were all open to ideas, making sure no-one felt like their opinion didn't count or suggestions were ridiculous. This helped us all feel like we could put any suggestions forward without any hesitation. The interactivity and friendliness is evident in how are group members have become friends rather than just class mates.
  • Enthusiasm- The team were also very enthusiastic about the trailer which made the production a fun experience rather than a forced, dull project. Everyone made themselves available and sacrificed weekends and evenings to ensure that we had sufficient filming time and could reshoot if needed.
  • Skills- Our designated roles proved to be effective. I felt comfortable filming and felt like i did a good job. Yeasin was perfect for editing as the rest of us didn't really have a clue on how to use Final Cut Express. Haq was a good actor and fitted the description we wanted for our protagonist making it easy to film the parts with him. Amina found the sounds we needed and acted as a assistant to all of us which made things run smoothly and efficiently.
  • Research- The considerably large amount of pre-production research also helped us to create a realistic trailer and use conventional features. It also made it easier to highlight what shots were exactly right for our trailer and what we needed to reshoot.
Weaknesses:
  • Lack of skills- I lack in the editing skills department. I felt that regardless of my specific role, i would have liked to contribute more in the post-production period if my skills were better with Final Cut Express.
  • Time-management- If we were to re-do this project i would make sure we made a more specific schedule so that time could be used more effectively and cast members were available when we needed them. It would have helped a lot when the days were shorter as we could only do night shots after college.
My production wasn't largely informed by my investigation as that was about how asian culture is represented in British films. This issue does not relate to our trailer however researching asian british cinema allowed me to learn about how british cinema has evolved into the twenty first century. This knowledge helped me take into consideration how we would represent the youths in our trailer.
Our trailer communicates with our target audience through many ways. The genre itself is broad but the dominating inner city settings attract the inner city youths as they can familiarise with the types of areas and issues of gang culture within them. The storyline about a teenager trying to make a life for himself with all the problems of drugs, temptations and crime allow the audience to relate to the protagonist. The music also attracts our target audience as mentioned in the first part of my evaluation.

Tuesday, 9 February 2010

To-Do List

-Film company logos.
-Party scene-reshoot.
-Pace needs sorting-isn't in sync with the music.
-Insert running up stages.
-Shorten shots of 'classroom'.
-Cut out long shots and wide shots.
-Disappearing face?
-Have close up shots at the graveyard.

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Editinggggg....

We are currently editing our trailer on final cut express. The production company shots have been put in and the voiceover. We have edited the clips to what we want to use and discarded long clips of the same thing. We need to reshoot the party scene. sort out the pace so that it is in sync with the music, shorten shots of classroom, cut out the extra long and middle shots and have close ups of the graveyard scene.

Sunday, 17 January 2010

Filming In College

We had a scene to film within the college which we completed last week. The shots were of our protagonist receiving his results and angrily casting them aside. We got plenty of volunteers to be extras for the 'pupils' of the class and filming from a few angles gace us enough to work with in the editing process.

Delays....

The first week back at college wasn't very constructive as the college was closed on various days due to the snow. However this has initiated us to be better at our time managing and stick to our schedule.