Storyboard For Our Film Trailer

Ancillary Task Two: FINAL Design

This is the final for my poster. I changed the slogan featured on the poster as advised to do by the group who took the survey based on what there opinion was on the look of the poster. The theme of the poster is still shown as the three main colours are still used and the trademark mask is featured as the main image just as it is on the magazine cover.

Ancillary Task Two: Movie Poster Final

This is (Temporary) final design that I came up with for my second ancillary task: The movie poster. Just like the magazine, the same themes had to follow.

1. The image had to be simple.
2. The image has to be dark.
3. The colour theme has to be the same.
4. The trademark lettering for the film has to be used.

This was the FINAL design until I showed the same group of 20 that took the survey for the movie title.
I was advised to change the slogan that was featured on the poster: 'Remember. Lock your doors.'
This was the poster before it was manipulated into the final design.

Ancillary Task Two: Movie Poster Design

Just like the magazine front cover, I also to think about the layout of the poster and what the main image would be. I wanted to think of a simple image that spoke for itself. Where the 'simple image' idea came from is the Saw Movie posters.
Here is an example of a poster for one of the SAW Movies:

The image on my movie poster won't be this explicit/graphic. However, the way in which the image is used will work int he same way. This poster above shows a man sitting with a mask on. The mask is the real face of another man. This image could be interpreted in many diffrerent ways.
For example, these are just my theories:

1. A man is trying to be somebody else.
2. There is twist in the film about different identies.
3. Somebody is not who they really are.
4. We know that the main character in the film (the mask) had died but now obviously somebody is taking over his work.

These are just a few interpreations that I came up with for this one simple image.
I wanted to portray the same type of image that could say a lot of messages to the audience and also leave them with a lot of unanswered questions.

Here are some of the mock-ups that were drawn as a guideline when making my Movie Poster:

This second mock-up just above is the main one that we wanted to use in the final design. It was a much more simple photograph that will speak out more to the audience. The image shows just an arm/hand, a person who is unknown to the audience holding the mask. Nobody knowns the person who is behind the mask just as the character Katie also doesn't know. This put the character in the movie and the audience in the same position. The only words featured on the poster is the name of the movie named 'The Intruder' and the names of the main actors/actresses in the film.  

Ancillary Task One: Film Magazine Front Cover Final

This is the original image that was used to create my magazine front cover. 

This is my final design for my first ancillary task. I created my task on Photoshop CS3 Extended. Everything on the magazine was made by myself from scratch. The image took a lot of planning because not only did I need the right look for the character in the movie but I really needed it to be photo that could also be featured on a magazine. I took a series of photographs of myself in order to get the right angle. I wore a black hoodie, black leather gloves and the mask that will be featured in the movie. I had to manipulate this image quite a bit on photoshop. The image that was originally taken was very bright. I needed to make myself look darker, scarier. I needed to make an image that tied in with the genre of my trailer. I based the colours of the magazine around the colour of the mask. The main colours on the mask are black, white and red. My magazine is usuually meant ot have three main colours, so I decided to with these. The first part of editing that I did was making myself look dark. I did this by darkening the brightness on the image, darkening all the bright spots on my jacket so there is no longer shine and darkening the flesh coloured parts underneath my eyes. Darkening my eyes was the main feature that chanegd the whole look. Immediately the image look scarier, just the look I wanted to create. I wanted to brighten the mask and darken the surrouding areas, so that the image would immediately catch the audience's attention. The expression on the mask spoke for itself as I added a red colour that acted as blood on the mask so highlight the genre to the audience even further. Behind the photograph, I didn't want to leave it blank as it would be a bright colour and it would take away the shine from the main image featured. I created blood on the 'wall' behind the image to present it's darker tone. This made it look more like a set that had been photographed on. This also matched the blood around the mouth.

The title of the magazine is an original movie magazine named TotalFilm. However, I manipulated an original red background filled title into something that looked a little more dark and scary. I made cracks in the lettering as it tied in and complimented the theme I had aleady created with the mask, blood etc.

For the name of the movie incorporated into the kicker, I tried to make it stand off the page/stand out a little from the rest. This meant that I not only had to change the style of the wrtiing but I had to make it the same as 'The Intruder' would be written where ever it was featured. It would be the trademark writing for the movie. To make the writing a little scary, suspenseful I used a wind feature where the writing looks smugded, also in flame. This also helped to tie in with the themes I had already created on the magazine. All the features that I put on the magazine including other straplines, the pug etc had to fit in with the colour scheme in order to keep the image the main feature on the front cover. This meant it had to follow suit and be either red, white or black.

Ancillary Task One: Film Magazine Front Cover Design

Before beginning to make my first ancillary product, I had to think about the layout I wanted and what kind of imahge I wanted to use. Due to the genre of the film being a suspenseful thriller, the image is the main factor that is going to speak to the audience. The image has to be the right tone, brightness, it has to say the right message to the audience otherwise the trailer, the magazine and the poster will not be in sync.
Here are a few mock-ups that were drawn for possible layouts of the magazine. On all of the them, the face had to be the main image that people will be drawn by. The image has to call out to the audience and most importantly the colours have to pop on the shelf.
Here are the mock-ups that were drawn:

On thes mock-ups only the layout of the image, the straplines, the kicker, the pug, the barcode were planned. However, what they straplines were going to say are not feeatured on the mock-up, only the positioning of them were important. The reason for this is because we had not, at this point, had an image to work with/around. This meant that the positioning of the magazine features on the final design might change, however, we used our mock-up as a guideline for us to work with.

Ancillary Tasks

Before thinking about making the movie trailer, I first decided to make my ancillary tasks which would give more inspiration for my project. The two ancillary tasks I chose to create to accompany the my trailer out of the three possible options is a Movie Poster and the front cover to a Film Magazine featuring/advertising the movie.
I chose these two options as I feel I could use my media skills more effectively. Making magazines in particular is something I really enjoy doing, so I wanted to create some ideas straight away for example, choosing the layout, the colour scheme, what to feature, what the straplines and kicker should be and most importantly how I can still establish the genre of the movie through one simple picture.
Making a movie poster for my movie would be a little more tricky because I immediatley would have to start thinking of how I could incorporate a dark image that will still be effective when seen by the audience. The most important of the poster is the image. When a person walks into a movie theatre waiting for a movie to start, the look around at all the other posters to see what movie will be coming out soon. I want to create one with a simple image that really speak out loud to the audience.

What Will My Film Trailer/Movie Be About?

The genre of my film trailer will be a supernatural thriller. From start to finish, I plan for the trailer to be very suspsenseful. I want the scenes to be very dark to create the right atmosphere for the movie.
The story for the movie consists of a yong woman who has moved into a house left to her by her Grandmother. The neighborhood where the house is based has always been safe. It is only until one night when Katie (The Young Woman) finds that an intruder finds this way into the house and tries to put her life in danger. Katie has no connection to the outside world and she has no idea who her attacker is as he wears a mysterious mask. Katie has no idea how her sitauation will end and whether she will still be alive. The idea for the movie is something that me and my project partner came up with but the main inspiration for our idea came from the 2008 movie 'The Strangers'. In my trailer, I plan to use the most suspenseful scenes (which would be the best parts in the movie) in the trailer to show to the audience as I plan to get them engaged as quickly as possible.

The title of my movie will be called 'The Intruder' - this title is simple and yet gives the basic gist of what the movie/movie trailer is about. At first me and my partner were trying to decide between two titles:
1. The Intruder
2. Anonymous

We wanted to make sure the title sounded right for the movie and due to this we decided to conduct a survey with a group of twenty people to determine which one would be the right name.
The Intruder was the one I personally came up with as I decided it followed the patterns that other movie titles do. The intruder is a simple title, but the name speaks for itself along with how I want my ancillary tasks to do, the movie poster in particular.
Here is the survey we conducted in order to choose the names of the movie:

What Makes A Good Film Trailer?

My trailer has to have the right factors in order to make it successful. I think that a trailer should establish the genre and the atmosphere in the film straight away making it easier for the audience to follow what is going on. I think a lot of shots need to be shown to give the audience an idea about the plot of the movie, however, it cannot give too much information away. The right amount of information needs to be embedded within the trailer to entertain the audience but also leave them with a lot of questions that can only be answered when they watch the full movie. A trailer needs to leave the audience thirsty to watch how the movie ends.
A full movie has to include an equilibrium at the beginning, followed by a disruption which causes the main entertainment along with an equilibirum or a resolution at the end. (Todorov's Theory)
 Having all three things within a trailer is not possible as it would give away the full story. However, the trailer can establish an equilibrium and a disruption leaving the audience to find out what the resolution is.
I want to make sure that my trailer contains these important factors in order to make it seem more professional and to follow the pattern that all other trailers do.

My Chosen Media Brief.

Media Brief Sheet

From the briefs introduced to me for Media Studies, I have decided to choose number 2 which is to make a promotion package for a new film. This brief includes the making of a teaser trailer and two ancillary tasks which can either be a poster, a film magazine front cover or a website for a homepage.

This brief was chosen as I have experience making trailers/films before and I would like to further my skills and put new ideas for my project. I enjoyed making a film trailer last year and so I would like to create one of a different genre. For this brief, I will be working with a partner as we share the same ideas and can both contribute to making a successful media project. My aim is to create a trailer that is very eye-catching to the audience, something that leaves them hooked, wanting to watch the movie.