Final website

http://270349.wix.com/vortexfilms-1

Final trailer

Final Poster

Audience Feedback

After holding a private screening for our film trailer where we invited our chosen target audience to receive feedback from them. We created a questionnaire that they could fill out to show us clearly the feedback we wanted to receive and help us to clean up our trailer after the first cut.

We received a wide range of different answers from our questionnaire. There was positive comments about how the audience saw that the genre was clear for people to interpret as they watched it. Here are some of the questionnaires.

Tagline Creation

We researched in to a wide range of different quotes that related to money as it a massive concept of our film trailer. There are many different quotes that relate to money, enemies, misery and crime. we started with just searching for different quotes:

This gave us a good starting point on quotes for inspiration from many different sources ranging form actors, rappers, millionaires and age old quotes. With these we were able to make a wide range of inspirations to create a effective tagline.

We decided that as the main concept for our film was based on money we needed to include a reference to that in our film trailer, so then as a group we made a list of different tag lines we could include in our film trailer.

'Money isn't Everything' 
'Theres no such thing as enough money'
'Money can drive everyone insane'
'Violence is the only answer concerning Money'
'Stealing money is no sin'
'The Best things in life aren't free'

After looking at the 6 final possible tag lines we looked to see what they would look like on our developing poster and realised that many were too long and not quick or snappy enough. So we got down to the top three of:

'Money isn't Everything'
'Stealing money is no Sin'
'The best things in life aren't free'

We then discussed which each tagline implied and all decided that 'The Best things in life aren't free' was the most fitting as it related to the action of the trailer as the three main protagonists originally enjoy the money and the 'best' things they can do with it until it reveals a dangerous element that takes things away from them.

'The Best Things in Life aren't free'

Tagline Research

For our film trailer we needed a tagline to attract an audience to our film, so we researched in to different crime films and there famous catchphrases from the most successful films.

This is a short clip of the nine best famous crime tagline/ catchphrases that I made;

From this research we discovered that the tagline was either a famous quote from the films or something related to the story. We also discover that a successful tagline needed to be short, simple and snappy to gather attention of people and be remembered.

The Godfather Films our famous for being successful crime films with many quotes that represent the tag lines or quotes from the films. On the posters there are quotes relating to the action and events of the films. For example; 'Real Power can't be given. It must be taken' or  'All the Power on Earth can't change destiny' this refers to power which is a huge concept of the film and links to the genre well.

In White Heat they use the actors name to play on  words for the tagline.The actor is famous and this intrigues the audience that have seen previous films of his. This allows them to link the taglines in 'Cagney is red hot in white heat'

In Goodfellas it uses the quote directly from the film 'As far back as I remember I've always wanted to be a gangster' which is a famous quote from the film and straight away gives the audience an expectation of what they will see.




This research allowed us to get a good idea for what our taglines could contain and how we could make them relate to the audience, the concept and the title. We gathered together to brainstorm ideas for our own tagline.

Editing Schedule

This is the editing schedule we have created to help us ensure we complete all post-production in time for the final deadline, and allow enough time for each section.

Technologies Used

We used a variety of different technologies within the production and post production of our trailer, helping us to create our final piece.

Garage Band:

We looked at this Garage Band tutorial before we began working on the sound within our trailer, as this refreshed our knowledge of basic skills involved in using Garage Band, ensuring we could use it effectively to construct the sound we wanted for our trailer.

A lot of the skills we mastered on Garage Band came through experimentation and looking up tutorials to find ways of doing particular things we were unsure of, for example increasing the volume of only a certain part of the track.


iMovie:

We used iMovie to edit our trailer together, this was successful for us as we all have previous editing skills from AS coursework and previous experience of using iMovie. The fact we were not all in the same group last year meant that we had different skills to contribute to the editing process, this helped us to resolve any problems we had when using the software.

We again also used YouTube tutorials to help us master any skills we were unsure of, this combined with experimentation allowed us to create the track sounding as we wished it to.

Poster Design Theory

Before creating our poster,  we decided to look into design theory of posters, in order to help us create an effective poster for our production.

From this video we came across on YouTube, we noticed the significance of having key elements of the film in the centre of the poster's design, making it a focus of the poster. We also have from this considered how important it is to have appropriate colours and image to suit the genre of the film, so that when people look at the poster, they immediately are interested and have an understanding of the genre.

From this design theory video we considered the important aspects of our film poster and what needs to be included and how, as shown below.

Costume and Props

For our three different characters we have contrasting fashion styles which allow us to explore all elements of the fashion world. Also there are different shots and locations that are meant to be based over a couple of days and so the character must have different clothes, this are the options we chose.
 

Grunge Costume(s):

For the grunge girl we want her to match stereotypical view of her by having the character on drugs. The character is also not from a privileged background so her clothes are all similar and she wears the same thing more often.

 The character will look casual and laid-back with either leggings or jeans and boots. The jeans and leggings are items that can have so many different looks with them giving the impression she has many different aspects of her.

 

For the top half the character would have different t-shirts that would match with her jeans or leggings and show a lot about her personality. The character would have shirts that showed what she liked. For example music shirts like Guns N Roses, Eminem etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Grunge Girl would also wear a parka coat that would represent the cold weather of London as well as her fashion sense. It s a popular style of coat as well as very similar to the character. The character would have all these different items to make her completed 'Grunge' Look.

Skater Boy Costume(s):

With the male character, who will be dressed in a skater boy fashion style we want him to be a character who is friendly and easy to get along with as he is the character who's going to be the one who unites the others to become friends / team and to work together. The way he's dressed is going to be casual, laidback and calm showing him to be chilled out and not to worry to much, with this all in mind we looked in to what the characters costume would be like.

The male character would wear jeans to complement his looks and look fashionable. The blue jeans are casual and laidback which is desired for our characterisation.

The male character would wear jackets and coats to represent the cold London weather. This would range from a Red varsity jacket to a blue parka coat they are both  fashionable and stand out. His shoes will be practical trainers that are bright and fashionable for our film trailer.

The Girly Girl (s) :

For our film trailer we want our three characters contrasting in there different fashion styles and as we had two girls we wanted one to be a dark grunge style where the other to be girly girl. The Girly Girl would be in bright colours, cute skirts and fashionable outfits which would represent her character, personality and her social class. This character would be of a higher social class as she comes from a better more privileged background.

 

 

 

 

 

The character would wear a skater skirt which can be seen in the picture above as its fashionable, cute and also goes with a range of different fashion styles; like shirts, jumpers and blouses which show her girly style.

 

The character will wear a bright pink jumper to show her personality as being bright, caring and bubbly as she is sweet when defending other characters as well as being vocal and opinionated on events of the trailers. The character would also wear a jumper similar to the one on the left but with a brighter colour that gathers the attention of the audience and shows that she is fashionable.

Social Media

For our film trailer we wanted to be able to promote throughout the filming, editing and production process so we made a twitter for our film trailer.

Making Our Own Trailer Rating Card

When we originally were working on our trailer, we included the rating card below at the beginning of the trailer.

We later decided that instead of using this pre-created screen, we wanted to make our own. We also did this as the rating on the original is Restricted, however the BBFC classification we have chosen for our trailer is a 15.

We began by finding a black rating card, we used this as a template to help us create our own.

We created ours in word by inserting a black rectangle and adding text boxes over this in order to created the spaces for the appropriate text. Once we had the layout accurately worked out, we adjusted the text in each of the sections to suit our trailer, resulting in our finished rating card being specifically designed to suit our trailer.

Problem Resolution

We used a font specific to iMovie as our recurring font throughout the trailer, we wanted to make sure we continued this theme and therefore linked our ancillary texts to our trailer effectively, however this was made more difficult as the font itself was not possible to download onto any Macs or PCs.

We overcame this problem by entering all text we wanted in this font, in our ancillary texts, onto a black screen on iMovie, we then screen shot each piece of text, saving it as an image before we could use it. 

We also had to upload the image to LunaPic, a free online photo editor, this allowed us to make the background of the text transparent, making it more easy to insert into our poster and website.

CAP£TAL Inspiration

When creating our poster, we looked at a variety of other posters and techniques they had used to make their poster stand out and appear unique.

We took specific inspiration from the Se7en poster:

For this poster we looked at how the title of the film had been made into an iconic image which stands out, capturing people's attention. We decided this was something we wanted to include in our own poster design.

We chose to change the title Capital to be written as Cap£tal, as this highlighted the dominant theme of our trailer, money, as well as making the pound sign stand out as it is a central image, as used in the Se7en poster. We were also conscious to ensure that the word was still readable, as we wanted to make sure our film's name is easy to remember from our poster.

Trailer Title

For our film trailer we wanted to have a title that linked to the plot concept so we looked at different words that related to money or crime. So we made a list of all names relating to money which we could use.

Then we shortlisted the final five possible titles from our personal choices;

 Dosh
Capital
Assets
Coins
Buck

We then asked a large group of our target audience who gave us a clear view of which title they thought best fit the trailer as we showed them a small teaser.

Many of the viewers thought Capital was the most appropriate title as it references money and the location of the trailer. As it takes place in London and suits the raw action thrilled aspects of the film trailer and is now our chosen title.

Test shots

Poster development

The Powerpoint below shows the changes we made to the poster from our initial design to our end product

Research on posters

As well as analysing existing posters to find out the conventions, we also looked for advice and information about how posters are laid out.

On the Wikihow UGC site, we found a number of articles about film posters, but the one below seemed the most valuable:

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Design-a-Professional-Looking-Movie-Poster

And this is what we decided from it

 

Evaluation Question 2

This video shows how we created our ancillary texts and trailer to be as a part of one larger promotional package and the ways in which these methods were effective.

We gained knowledge on how to create successful products through our research, website, trailer and poster deconstruction work, as well as the work we have undertaken relating to theory and theorists. This allowed us to make our products effective together. 

If we were to carry out this project again, we would improve the overall effectiveness of the combination of our products by:

- creating a stronger and more consistent image for the name, 'Capital'

- including the production company logo (in all products) to create an obvious branded link

- researched further into stylistic ideas, including colour schemes, in order to make a stronger and more dominant link

Evaluation Question 3

Evaluation Question 4

How did you use new media teachnologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?
Please note this is best viewed in youtube in a sperate window.
The video below serves as a main menu to the answer to my evaluation question, I have used Youtube spotlights to make it interactive.
To view each video about the individual digital technologies, please simply play the video and click on the logo of the technology you wish to see, at the end of each video is an annotation with a link to return to the main menu so if you want to return at any point, skip to the last ten seconds of the video and click the red annotation box

Evaluation Question 1

Using this prezi, I have explored how we used, developed and challenged forms and conventions of real media products in our trailer.

Initial Storyboard

For our film trailer we drew a storyboard to aid the planning process before we went out to film. Since we created this storyboard, we developed it further and since have produced a new storyboard. This is the result of our initial storyboard;

Poster Research - Historic and contemporary examples of film posters

I have researched film posters of the past and present from varied genres, and found these examples. There is a clear evolution of film posters over time, with changes in style and use of colour. Film posters from the years 1930-1970 are presented as more of a spectacle and a theatrical production, however over time, and shown through posters from 1990-2013, posters have become less artistic with them all being photographs, and relying on technology.

A wider range of colours are used in the historic film posters, the posters appear as a piece of art work, with images being drawings, particularly in the case of the 1930's film 'Hell's Angels'. The most recognisable names associated with the film are in the largest fonts, shown in 'On The Waterfront' and 'Citizen Kane', making it an important factor in film promotion, however in more recent posters this is not shown as explicitly.

There are similarities between the two collection of posters, as genre is obvious through the colours used. The poster for 'The English Patient' is clearly a romantic film by the soft light colours, and the images of a man and a woman being joint protagonists, this is also seen in 'Casablanca', showing these features of posters having a constant meaning over time.

Questionnaire for Feedback

 

To get the necessary feedback for our trailer we wanted to have a screening. We created a questionnaire which we could hand out to ask specific questions on what we wanted to be answered.

 

 

This questions were all relevant in getting the necessary feedback for our film trailer so we could make improvements and develop it. 

Font Decisions

From our previous research we decided on a sans serif non-handwritten decorative font, so we explores some possibilities and the decision is show below

Make Up

For the girls make up we need to shows a contrast in the way they look so we wanted to try different things out for there make up. I first needed to research in to the different styles I could use that would fit the characters and the actors would be complemented too.

Grunge Make Up Research:

From this research I discovered that the grunge girl is a darker side of make up. The style focuses on dark eye make up and lipstick. From purple, red and dark pink shades of lipsticks to dark Smokey eyes with eyeliner and mascara to emphasis the eyes and lips. Other than this two elements the make up is simple with just foundation and a slight bronzer.

With the girly girl we wanted to use natural make up to promote her fashion style and personality. When researching in to the make up I found it was a lot of the same materials. It include foundation, a bit of blush on the cheeks with natural nude colours for eye shadow finished with mascara and naturally coloured lips. This look was easy to create for our actor, Jessica Henderson.

To get even more knowledge on the make up that I wanted to use I looked into online make up tutorial that I could take inspiration from.






After this tutorials I went and had a go myself with help from a friend.

The make up was successful so we decided to use the make up as we had done as it represents the two contrasting characters nicely. 

Genre Research - Crime film directors

Existing Poster Research