Filming day #2

Filming day #2

On my second day of filming I went back to the location with my main actor and myself playing the German officer. My mother came with me in order to film the parts that I could not, I directed her as to what shots I wanted and how long to shoot for. The footage I shot was a mix of shits, ranging from close-ups to long shots as I wanted to capture the sense of danger and difference between the two characters. I filmed a variety of shots in different locations in order to see which setting worked best with which shots, so that I can create the best effect on the audience.

An example of a shot I captured was an over-the-shoulder shot of me (playing the German) looking at the other character walking into the distance, this creates a sense of danger and ambiguity as it does not show the face of the German, nor does it explain his intentions with the other character.

Ancillary 2 - Film magazine front cover

Ancillary 2 - Film magazine front cover

For my second ancillary I chose to create a film magazine front cover,  chose to create this as it is a form of advertising and is also another way in which I can show the genre of my trailer other than the trailer itself. 

After I had created the main style of my poster, with the text, image and also other advertising such as the free poster I had to decide on the font of the magazine title. I was not pleased with this font as it gave the magazine a more sci-fi style, instead of a plain film magazine. I also noticed that the text on the main part of the magazine did not stand out as much as i would like, so I later changed the colour slightly and change other parts to make it stand out more against the background of the foliage.

In an attempt to make the title of the magazine stand out further I added a grey block behind the title in order for it to stand out more and so that it is clear and easily visible to the audience of the magazine. I also changed the font of the title so that it is easier to read and does not look as if it is related to a specific genre, unlike the previous font of text. 

To make my front cover more realistic and authentic I added a price in the bottom right-hand corner. I deleted the grey block behind the title as I thought that it took away too much of the image behind the titles, I also thought that it did not look right and looked out of place. I also deleted the grey block because when looking at examples of real texts, they did not have anything behind the title and the title would be on top of the background. To show the title of the trailer, I added the title and made it look as if it behind the protagonists head to give it a 3D style and make it seem more authentic.

To catch the audience's attention I altered the colour of the 'puff' so that it is brighter and more eye-caching and included the actual style of the title into the text on the right-hand side of the magazine to make it look authentic and to show implant the actual title of the film. 

I added a barcode to make the front cover realistic and official. By adding the barcode it means that if my magazine was a real media text it would be able to be sold commercially and nationally. Having a barcode means that it is quicker to find the price and being able to scan it means that it can be scanned on multiple devices. Barcodes are a simple and inexpensive way of putting a price on a product and keeping information on it.

I decided to change the font and style of the title of the magazine. I decided to do this because when looking at real examples I noticed that the text was stretched out which gave the text more impact

Changing idea from short film to trailer

Changing idea from short film to trailer

After the christmas holidays I decided to change my idea from being a short film to being a trailer. I did this because over the christmas holidays I saw some new trailers and I liked the way that they are out together and how they can portray the whole film in a short amount of time. Another factor that lead to me changing my idea was that I had a problem with sourcing 'German' actors so I thought that if  produced a trailer I would not have to show a large amount of Germans. I also liked the idea of the non-linear narrative of trailers and how well the are at capturing the audience's attention and having form of hook in order to get the audience to want to see the full film.

I also changed the narrative of my product, so instead of it being the Paratrooper against a large German squad, it is just the Paratrooper being stalked by a German SS officer. This also lead to a chase and conflict between the two characters. This narrative follows the convention of 'man vs. man' as there is two figures who are fighting with each other in order to survive. 

Location Stills

Location Stills

These stills show the genre and representation within my film. 

The genre of my film, it is clear with the location and costume within the scenes. The setting was in a woods and around bunkers, destroyed buildings and rubble. These factors adhere to the typical conventions of a WW2 war film, the location and costume work well together and make the film look realistic and professional. 

I filmed at Comm's Site 3, which is an airsoft site with a variety of military-themed settings and locations on the site. A bonus of filming at the airsoft site was the amount of destroyed and damaged buildings so that it enables me to gain a variety of effective and realistic shots.

This sot shows the colours of the uniform and the insignia that plays an important role in the trailer as it shows that the character is from an elite group of soldiers.

This shot shows one of the buildings that I used during filming, it also shows the colours and aged look of the building and rubble, making the setting look realistic and effective.

In this shot, the main building of my film is seen, where a majority of the action takes place and where the second 'turning point' happens.

This shot is where we were deciding which way the actor should run towards the building and which route to take.

Filming day #1

Filming day #1

On my first day of filming at the location, Com's site 3, I filmed what I could with my main actor so that I had quite a bit of footage to start editing. I was only able to film footage of my main actor as I encountered a problem of miscommunication and a misunderstanding with the person who I thought wa organising some 'German' actors, but I had to overcome this and I did so by filming the parts with my main actor.

When I first got to the location I met with Tony to tell him my intentions and where I would be filming, as they were setting up the site for an airsoft game and we did not want to interrupt with each other's activities. Tony also showed us where the toilets were located and where he would be in case we wanted a drink.

The footage I filmed with my main actor involved a lot of mid shots and close-up shots. I filmed the opening parts of the character waking up and moving off into the woods as well. A lot of my shots took place around a destroyed building as that was where most of the action and conflict would take place within my media product. I used a variety of angles and shots to build up an affect and create different effects to be seen and interpreted by the audiences. An example is that I shot some low-angle shots in order to show the power and strength that is given off by the main character. I also used canted-angles in a few of my shots to show the distortion and to make the audience feel uneasy and as if something is not right. One of the shots, which was a close up, I shot to give a hidden meaning. The shot was a close up of the gun as the character was walking into the distance, however the slide of the gun was back, indicating it was out of ammunition. I used this shot to give the hidden meaning that the character is now defenceless and has no bullets left to defend himself, therefore allowing my audience to interpret a variety of different scenarios that could happen to the character.

Ancillary 2 - initial ideas

Ancillary 2 - initial ideas

For my second ancillary I chose to make a film magazine front cover as I felt as though it would tie-in with my poster that I chose to do for my first ancillary.

Design:
For a design I am going to have an 'action shot' as a main image in order to capture the audience's attention.
At the top of the page I will have the title of 'Film Weekly' so that the reader/audience is able to know the name of the magazine, also all real film magazines have titles/names, so this means that I will have to make one for my product.
On the front cover I will have small amounts of texts that will have information in them, such as reviews and also information about what is inside the magazine.
I will also have an advertisement on the front cover for a free poster that will be inside the film magazine, by doing this it means that it will make my product seem more original and professional as this is sometimes seen on examples of real texts.
Another thing that I will add to the front cover is a barcode,as all magazines have barcodes and prices on them. Barcodes are a cheap and easy way of identifying the price of a product.

I will have to make sure the genre of my product is clear through the use of mise-en-scene and what font style and size I use as this will make the genre easily identifiable. Mise-en-scene is important in identifying genre and it is also important in engaging with the audience as it is what the audience will notice first and base their views on the genre off.

Example of film magazine front cover:

Making a poster

Making a poster

The process of making a poster

I have made a video about the steps I took in order to make a poster and also to make it look realistic and professional. 

Making a poster required me to use a variety of techniques in photoshop in order to make my poster look professional and high-quality. The video shows the stages in which I put the poster together but it does not show all of the processes I did, such as erasing the background around the images that I used and also how I added the different effects to the images so that they all blend together and all look part of the same product.

The start and finish of my poster:

My poster began as the main images simply layered on to of each other in order for me to get an idea of what the poster would look like once it was finished. In this part of the poster I had erased to background around the image of the main actor and also placed it on top of the background that I chose to have as the background to my poster. 

This is the basic parts of my poster put together, they were unedited and did not blend together very well. I put these together just to get a sense of what my finalised poster would look like.

This is my finished poster with more images added on top to catch the audience's attention and also to give a sense of danger. I have also added a tag line so that I can capture the attention of the audience and also tell them what the film will be about.

 My poster ended up with a variety of different aspects included in it, such as the bomber, smoke and the paratroopers. In order to make my poster more effective I changed the font of the text to make it stand out more, and also 'weathered' it to make it look battered and old. I got the idea of 'weathering' the titles from other film posters such as Band of Brothers and FURY.