Products Before Break

We are now taking a break from our products for a few weeks. They are far from finished, but we learned last year that taking a break allowed us to come back to our work with a more critical perspective and new ideas. This is where we are with the products so far:

Magazine Cover

We like:

- the overall look
- the way the film title works on the cover
- the impact of the main photo
- a lot of the formal features - the masthead, cover line etc

We will work on:

- the text  - colour choices need work
- choice of language and layout for text
- layout of smaller images
- adding a light source to make main image stand out more

Poster

We like:

- the overall layout
- the tagline
- strong main image
- the colour palette and overall look / feel

We will work on:

- making the X stand out a bit more
- choice of image for 'blog' on computer screen

Trailer

Music and sound remix - we have been working on this but it still isn't right.

Snappiness of images - we can still trim down a little more

Mixing the right sound track

We like:

- the basic order / structure
- the clarity of the narrative (we hope)
- the sense of pace at the end

We will work on:

- formal elements - end credits, title slide, ident, intertitles
- sound mix
- non-diegetic music
- rebalancing elements at end - Jess on phone section
- dramatic ending - needs enhancing through music

Progress With Poster

 

 

A key change here is deciding to go with a portrait instead of landscape format - we felt that we were leaving too mcuh room for text on the older format and taking away the impact of our poster. Now the main image is much more dominant. We are also starting to formulate a look for the title which can act almost as a logo and be a defining feature across the products - the shattered glass effect for the X helps convey the genre and add to the feeling of suspense. We like the idea of having the computer screen behind, but the photo is just a placeholder - we will need something which conveys more of the narrative.

Progress with Mag Cover

 

 

The background has changed here and we are all happier. We have also resized and changed the masthead and we prefer this also. We are now starting to add in the text and other details. The text doesn't look right and on going back to the research, it is unusual to centre text so we need to look again at this. We also need to work out a clear colour palette and combination of fonts for the text. The addition of smaller pictures helps the overall look but we need to work out a background and how we are going to anchor them to the teaser text.

Progress with Magazine Cover

This is our first draft of our magazine cover:

There are many things that need adjustments in this draft.

First of all the masthead is too small for the title of a magazine. This need to be enlarged to become more prominent.

 

Secondly, the blue band over the bottom of the magazine would need to be infrount of our main image of our three main characters. This band is there to be a base for text and images and when it is behind our main image there is no room to put this on there.

 

Lastly, there is text that needs to be added, but as this is just a first draft to work out compostion, this can be added later. We quite like the shot and the blending effect also works well. We used the wall background to reflect the scene in the trailer where the photographer explains that his girlfriend has been kidnapped and because it creates quite a useful neutral but textured background. Here we have extacted the characters, made the whole photo lighter and reduced the opacity, and then copied the characters back over the top to make them stand out. However, we are all starting to think that a darker background might be better.

Mixing Sound in the Trailer

The sound mix has been complex. We had to revoice some scenes to overcome the difficulties of wind, traffic noise, distant camera etc. We have also added in sound effects such as the camera click and punches to make the fight scene more dramatic. The music is our main issue. We have a very clear idea of what we want and are mixing various tracks and drum loops without getting quite the mix we are looking for. One difficulty is that we want a big change in pace / intensity in the second hald of the trailer, so this might require a complete change of music.

Creating BBC News Report

This was one of the more complex bits of editing as we wanted our footage to look as much like a real news report as possible, so over the main filming, which was just a newscaster with a blank screen behind and a laptop just to the side, we added the BBC logo and a picture of Michael as a kind of TV 'mug shot'. We also added a time.

Progress on Ident

 

The ident is being made using a background and cartoon character made in Photoshop and then animated in Flash. When this is finished, we will put the Flash movie into Final Cut and add the text using Livetype. We will also need to add sound.

Progress on Poster

In order to create the poster, we started by using the blog we had created to be Anonymous X as an outline:

This is an example of one of the posts we created on our anonomous X blog and we

want the poster to follow a similar format / look. We used this post as an example of how to layout our poster, however instead of using a photo to portray a story we wanted to use photos as credits.



We created a similar format using Photoshop, this was just to see how the blog post would work whilst including things such as the billing block, newspaper reviews and a tagline:

The problem with these examples was that the whole thing looks flat and didn't look realistic enough as a blog post and it didn't porpray enough of the storyline for an audience to know what the film is going to be about.

Here we have added in our chosen main photo:

However, there is still a lot to do to get this as we would like it. Our initial idea as a whole is to use this blog post that we have created to use as a screensaver to a computer. Then to take a photo of the computer with the blog post on it to use as the poster. Then the frame of the computer would frame our poster. The concerns are that as this is a blog post there would be a lot of extra text as well as standard poster text and this would be a lot to read and if the poster. however without the extra text the poster wouln't be relavant enough to the narrative of our film.



Reshoot for Poster Photos

These photos are our second effort at taking the main poster photo. We have tried to learn from the last attempt; we have reduced the lighting effect and also moved it to a more sideways on position to create a less flat effect and add interesting shadows to the face. We have also avoided reflecting the screen in the glasses as this did not quite work. We are planning on amalgamating the main photo with a blog layout as the background to the poster.

Photo Shoot for Poster

Photo shoot for poster

Blue light looks the best.

First one is at the right distance.

Plain background could work.

Not sure what else we could put in the background but may look better if there was something there.

Words going across his face could be reflected off the screen or we could put them in afterwards on Photoshop. Not sure what would look better.

James

I don’t feel the reflections in the glasses are needed, too distracting. Some of the colours work, blue not green.

Should it be looking direct? Does look a bit strange when it isn’t.

Background need to be decided, should he smile.

The lighting needs to be sorted out.

Why sitting down? Need to work out how the poster will look.

Luke

Needs to be:

-          Blue ‘glow’

-          No reflection in glasses

-          Either lots of computers in the background or a screensaver of some sort

-          Luke needs to look at the camera

-          Closer up

Jess

Second Rough Cut

Key Changes:

• Re-ordering to connect events more clearly e.g. making sure all four main characters are introduced clearly
• Addition of shots to increase pace at end - shots suggesting action and danger
• Creation of more L-cuts to add pace - adding shots over continuing dialogue
• Addition of some ADR - revoiced dialogue which suffered from sound issues
• Addition of rough sound track created for animatic to give sense of music / pace
• Further cutting of all shots to generate pace and create trailer feel

The ordering of certain shots, such as the first Anonymous X blog post definitely helps the trailer. The use of sound builds the pace. The insertions of pictures into a previously static scene works well. The overlapping dialogue makes it seem more like a trailer. The shots don’t seem as random as in previous versions. There is a bit of narrative with the teachers and suspects. You can tell the relation between Michael and Jess. Faster paced. The hero shot establishes a main connection. Cut down shots so it’s more of a trailer than scenes from a film.

Photo Shoot for Magazine Cover

We took more than thirty photos to be used for the front cover. These are the four we have isolated as being the most promising:

Photo 1- It is not centered and everyone seems to be standing in an unnatural way. Luke is not looking at the camera. James.

Main character not looking into camera. Luke

- Photo 1 - no

- Luke isn’t looking

- Blurry

- Not centred

Jess

Photo 2- No James is looking at the camera and so is Luke but Michael isn’t. Also Michael is standing in a different way then the other two.   James

Two characters are looking into the camera whereas the other is not. Luke

- Photo 2 – no

- Everyone’s looking in different places

- Luke’s smiling

Jess

Photo 3- No Michael is standing too head on and Luke is not looking at the camera. James

Main person not looking into the camera, not everyone’s eye line in the same direction, stance of Michael is too facing forward. Luke

- Photo 3 – no

- Luke isn’t looking at camera

- Michael is too square onto the camera

Jess

Photo 4- Yes it seems symmetrical and everyone is looking at the camera. Everyone seems to have and individual look about them but is still come together well.   James

Bit too close, all directions are facing correct, eyes looking in right place. Luke

- Photo 4 - yes

- Everyone’s looking at camera

- Everyone’s in correct position

- Closer in

- Better composition

Jess

Re-ordering of beginning to clarify Plot

Here we have started to re-order the opening in particular to make sure plot and characters are firmly established. We have tried to focus on making the key plot points (the kidnapping) and the relationships (journalist and photographer already friends; photographer is kidnapped girl's boyfriend; Manovich is reluctant to help) as clear as possible.

Starting Production Ident

Early work on our animated sequence:

Draft Magazine Cover

Points to Consider:

- We think this is the right kind of grouping

- Dark clothes and background might make the whole thing too dark
- Our choice of font / colour for the title has to work across our products so we need to make some decisions about what this is

Main Points Taken from Audience Feedback

Key Points in Response to Audience Feedback

We have now watched our audience feedback and these are the main things we have taken out of it:
 

The order, it didn’t seem to flow or tell the story well so we should re-order it so it makes more sense - it was clear most of the audience were confused about plot / relationships.

Add in some action shots, this helps with the pace of the trailer toward the end.

Add music, even though it might not be our final music it still helps with the atmosphere of the piece and it's easier to tell what's working and what isn't.

Take out and cut longer shots, this helps the trailer flow better and also helps with the pace  allowing it to feel a lot more like a trailer.

Re-voice some scenes, some of the dialogue was too quiet and the re-voice will help with the telling of the story.

Add L cuts to help with pace and story telling.
Make sure we establish relationships clearly.

Draft Poster

We have chosen the idea of having our poster based around the main character's face in close up with writing on a screen reflected across it. This text should give clues as to the main plot of the film and form part of the 'tease' element of the overall campaign. We have created a draft version of this to see if it is an idea we would continue with:

One thing we have picked up on is that the writing should be flipped to suggest a reflection:

Points to Consider:

 

- an interesting idea

- playing with the text could be a creative way to add to the 'tease' element

- not sure this has the impact we want

- might appeal to established fans ie having read the book the film is supposedly based on

- but does it have the kind of instant impact needed for new fans?

- does the picture carry the narrative or do you have to read?

- how many people stand and read film posters?