Evaluation

Evaluation IG4 – Hannah Morse

Technical quality of final major project

When it came to filming my footage I made sure I used a high quality camera. This is why I decided to use a Nikon DSLR with it being filmed at 1080. This meant that when it got played on YouTube it was a lot clearer for the audience to watch. In my horror film trailer I wanted to use a few close ups of the victims face to show the expression on the characters face. This is the type of shots I found out that got used in horror film trailers a lot from doing my research. I also used a lot of medium shots to show off the surroundings to set the scene for the audience. By doing this is gave a sense of a storyline for my intended audience to follow and understand. Most of the medium shots that occurred were filmed in either the graveyard setting or inside the house. This showed the audience that these were the main two settings. Whilst I was filming the footage I made sure that I shot some of the scenes in different angles and shot sizes to give myself more of an option when it came to editing it together.

The use of sound in my horror film trailer was something that was important and took time to edit together. After researching and looking into various horror trailers I found out that the sound set the feel of the whole thing the most. I decided that I would start off with a slow pace music that built up to increase the tension as the trailer got to a much faster pace. I started off with just the one song which had lyrics being sung in it. I chose this song because it sounded creepy and eerie which helped the pace of the beginning bit being quite slow. I then faded this sound out suddenly and it instantly went into the fast paced music. The fast paced music helped to build up the tension and suspense of the trailer. At the very end of my trailer I decided that I would use silence instead of music. This is something that you sometimes see in horror film trailers to make the audience feel tense. By using the silence it makes the audience know something is going to happen but they don’t know what which is why it builds up more tension than using music and it a lot more effective.

To edit all the footage together and create the trailer I used Adobe Premier Pro. When it came to editing I made sure that I had my original storyboard in front of me and referred back to it when I could. Despite organically making a storyboard and using it when it came to filming I still had extra footage that wasn’t in it. This is why I started off by making a rough copy of the trailer with just random footage next to each other which I thought might work. I then watched through it, cut some footage down and also took some of it out. I had to make sure I built up the tension by using the slower footage first. I then built up the tension at the end by using quick cuts and some blackout cuts. This editing part of the trailer was quite easy to do as I had done it before. The bit of the trailer which was the hardest to edit together was the sound. I had to make sure that it was done in time with the footage and fitted in right. By making it fit in with the footage helped build the tension in the trailer. I also added a title at the end of the trailer which quickly flashed in then slowly faded out.


Production skills you have newly acquired and existing skills you have further developed

One of the main skills that I needed was to know how to work and handle a camera. Other skills that I needed for my production were to show I had clear ideas to present for my trailer and how to use editing software. Handling the camera was something that I had done before and wasn’t much of a problem for me but finding various angles to shoot at was. I had to think about what shots I wanted to shoot beforehand and how I wanted it to look. With a bit of the footage being close ups I needed to be able to hold the camera steady but having a tripod helped me with this.

When it came to my skills in editing this wasn’t a problem for most of it. I had edited a video together before on the software I used so I knew what I was doing. The only thing I had a problem with was making a title for the end as I had never done it before. Therefore, I made sure I got help by following a step by step tutorial on YouTube. This helped me a lot and I also ended up learning a new skill that I didn’t know how to do before.

Having my ideas down for the film trailer was clearly presented in a storyboard and a script. I made sure that I took my storyboard and script with me whilst shooting the footage. This helped me a lot by getting the right shots even though I added extra ones that weren’t on the storyboard. Having done a storyboard based filming before helped me think of extra shots quickly.


How closely your final product matches your original intentions

I started off the ideas generation for my final major project by making a mind map of initial ideas. I created this by researching into different horror film trailers. The main things that I was looking at were; setting, costumes and props, editing techniques, characters, codes and conventions. Once I had done this I made a survey for about horror film trailers with questions about all these different aspects. I did this to gain knowledge of what my audience wanted to see in the trailer. When I had got enough responses I evaluated the outcome of the survey and started my proposal for my final project.

Now all this research had been done I had enough information to start creating my storyboard and script. My initial idea was to create a trailer that consisted of just two main characters with one being the victim and the other being the stalker. I wanted my target audience to be both male and females that are young adults and enjoy getting a thrill out of horror films. The trailer would contain two main settings, the graveyard and a house. The music would start off slowly and increase as the trailer gets up temp and fast paced creating tension for the target audience. I’d use various types of shots and angles with the trailer starting off with a home video of the two main characters to set the story.

The overall final product matches nearly exactly to my original intentions. The main thing that didn’t get put into the trailer was the home videos at the beginning. This happened because when I came to film I couldn’t get it to look realistic therefore I decided to cut it out and work around not using this scene.


Time management and problem solving

When I was doing all of my pre-production work I found it easy to kept to a schedule and get it done in a reasonable amount of time. I made sure that I did this so I wasn’t rushing the production part of my work. Before I started the production side of my final major project I made sure I scheduled a suitable time with everyone I needed to be involved with it. I also had to make sure when it came to filming outside that I picked a time that meant the lighting was right and it wasn’t too dark.

Once I had scheduled times with everyone I needed I could start the production of the film trailer. When I came to filming I ended up having a problem with the lighting outside. Even though it wasn’t pitch black outside you couldn’t see any of the footage clearly on the camera. This meant that I had to re-schedule a different time to film. When I re-filmed the footage that you couldn’t see properly I decided to film quite early during the day so that it was light. Due to wanting my footage to look like it was dusk meant that I had to change some of it in the editing process. I did this by changing the brightness of the food to make it look darker. Even though it didn’t look exactly like dusk it was the best that I could do.

Now that I had got all the footage filmed I could go on to the editing process of the trailer. Putting all the footage together for a rough copy by looking back at my storyboard and script didn’t take up much of my time. The bit that took up most of the time was fitting the music into the final edit I had made. The reason for this is because I wasn’t sure on what music I wanted to use and it took me a while to edit the music.


Reaching your target audience

Reaching my target audience was something I thought about through the whole production process of the horror film trailer. I first showed spoke about my target audience in my proposal form. I wrote about the demographic target audience, their needs and how the project will meet their needs. The demographic of my target audience are both male and female young adults that enjoy and get a thrill out of horror films. I wanted their needs to be satisfied from watching the trailer but I also wanted them to go away feeling scared and feel a sense of thrill from it. To meet the needs of the audience I wanted to include typical codes and conventions of a horror film trailer. I did this by including a knife, darkness and creepy locations.

I also created a survey on survey monkey to find out what my audience wanted. From this I found out my target audience would prefer it to me a supernatural horror. The main three settings they wanted to see were graveyard, woods and house. They wanted to see and unknown villain and for it to be set at night. After finding this out I made sure I considered these results to reach the needs of my target audience.

When I had completed my film trailer I made a feedback group. I did this so I could get feedback in more detail and discuss my horror film trailer. The feedback that I received was both positive and negative. I got some structured criticism about what I could improve about the trailer. The main criticism I got was that I didn’t edit my footage enough but overall the feedback said that my trailer had a good sense of a storyline and the music that has been used is very good.


Summary conclusion of how you would respond to your project brief if you were to do it again

Now that I have read through my feedback and thought about it I would change and make some of my film trailer different. I would have liked to film the home video style footage to give the overall storyline of the trailer a better feel to it. Looking back at the finished trailer I would agree with the feedback I was given and edit some of the footage more. I would do this by adding more effects to the footage like flickers and a grain effect. This would have given the overall trailer a more professional feel to it. Being able to shoot when it was dusk would have made the trailer look better as the editing I used to try and do this doesn’t look realistic. As well as this, giving the stalker character better make up at the end of the trailer would have made it look scarier to the audience.

However, without making any of these changes to my trailer I think that it still turned out quite well and is effective towards the audience. The storyline is clear to the audience without giving too much away which is important for a trailer. The way that I have used the music and sound effects creates the right tension that I wanted throughout. The music did this by building the tension up at the right moments. So overall I think that my horror film trailer has worked well and effectively towards the intended target audience that I wanted.

Entertainment & Humor

Evaluation