Film Name Title

Creating the correct font for the title is important. Below is a video of me choosing between my favourite custom fonts I used. Here is also a screen-shot of me creating different colour gradients. I decided to use shades of green in the end as it was the colour that best represented nature, the environment and exploration. In the video, the last title is the one I will use; I find the use of capitals adds to power of the trailer.

First Full Edit Feedback

With several groups of four-or-five people at a time giving me verbal feedback after watching my trailer I have picked up many points to change in my trailer - including title advice.

-Fade to black throughout the slower paced opening scene and display titles here
-Also display film name and release date (with small credits at bottom) at very end
-Start tinnitus sound earlier

Edit Post

Here is the edit after a few tweaks and without titles. View full-screen and turn the resolution up using the 'cog' at the bottom-right of the full-screen display.

Edit Update

The full edit has been made and tweaked many times. After deleting unnecessary/unusable I was left with 76GB of video recordings, of which I only used 2:07 minutes of! The upload has started and will take some hours... Stay tuned.

Too Much Footage Cont. 2

Here is the next edit on the 1:05 scene, with contrast, white point, white balance and unsharp mask effects applied (although they may not be visible due to the poor quality video for blogger). The final edit will be posted on YouTube with a link for good quality.

Opening Scene

The opening scene required a surprising amount of work considering how minimalistic the editing is. I had my crew round an hour ago along with some of my classmates from school who all fit into my target demographic bracket. Tim/Tom, Jack, Harry, Mike, Ollie, Ben, Dave, Luke, Mitch, Tabs, Lawrence, Shent and Tom were involved in this audience feedback (some of these people were identified previously: http://jamieprouta2media.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/audience-profiling.html) although Dave and Ben do not live nearby so they talked to use over a Skype call.
After spontaneous changes including using fewer shots, lowering the general exposure and increases the volume of certain sounds, I ended up with the opening scene...

Too Much Footage, Cont.

Following yesterday's post I have begun cutting the clips down. This section of the video has to be 1:05 minutes long. Here is yesterday's version.

Three 19-year old male locals came to see how the editing is going along with the characters seen in my film. From their feedback I created a list of changes for this section:
-Lengthen the last clip of Jack climbing for fluidity
-Completely delete a few various clips
-Cut the clip of harry turning on the slackline in a balance so we do not see him turn
-Maintain audio synchronisation as the effect is powerful
-Add another nature shot at start

Too Much Wanted Footage - Too Little Time

I have a one-minute gap of sound space where I can create the build-up scene. I have already matched the entire scene with video clips yet I still have twice as much extra footage spare that I previously rated 8, 9 or 10 out of 10. I will go through the footage again, give it a new rating and prioritise the clips from rating 10 downwards. Before I was using footage that had a rating of 7,8,9 or 10 in any order.

Synchronising image to sound

Matching the beginning of bars or specific beats to the video requires patience but is an effective way to cut between two clips without any technical transition. This will only be the case at the beginning of the music as I intend for the video clips to be more frequent and faster paced towards the climax.

End Scene

 The ProcAmp tool was particularly useful here as I could accurately apply different contrast, exposure (black/white gain) values as well as hue/saturation algorithms to this scene to create a more powerful and dynamic video.

To increase suspense and create a more gritty and grungy feel to the diegesis I added artificial noise. To enhance the effect I created large noise particles with small colour ranges to resemble that of old film.

Here is a video of the ending after much attention and editing - it is shown twice: the first time with the effects and the second time without. No credits or titles have been added yet.

(Apologies for Blogger's appalling quality video converter)

Hitting Whites

'Hitting whites' means the pixels with the greatest value (greatest 'brightness') are valued at 255,255,255 (meaning they are completely white). This process is not simple - it requires calibrating your monitor (I use Spyder3Utility as it is well-known and calibrates colour efficiently) using a sensor that is placed on your screen and following many instructions. Once this is done you can read pixel values on Premiere Pro (below) to ensure you are hitting whites and it will actually look correct! Unfortunately I cannot show using screen-shots what major difference this process made!

Identifying Wobbles

Here I have lowered the dubstep drop speed to 25% so I can more easily count how many 'wobbles' there are. Upon discovering that 8 wobbles occur in under two seconds I decided to use four different video clips as a mini-montage (previous posts).

Framerate Drop

I have lowered the framerate in the final clip of the climax to 50% (15fps) to emulate the pre-shock phase humans experience when witnessing extreme trauma. This commonly used technique is very effective and simple to do.

Music Drop, Frame Matching

Here I am synchronising the frames with the elongated drop I used earlier. For every two dubstep 'wobbles' I am showing two frames from the same scene (each frame lasting a 1/30th of a second). This means the image is displayed for 1/15th of a second at a time (0.6 seconds) which is just long enough to recognise what is happening without revealing so much that the suspense of the montage vanishes. The final, elongated 'wobble' will be mentioned in the next post.

Heart-Beat

I am using the heart-beat non-diegetic library sound here to create suspension, help the viewer relate to the characters and allow brief exposures of the clips. For one second at a time a clip is shown at the same time as the heart beat. The time span between heart beats increases to enhance the seriousness of the situation as well as planting questions in the viewers' heads such as "did he survive?".

Car, Tinnitus, Heart

I have used the tinnitus noise in conjunction with a recorded car noise I took the other day (that will also be used at the beginning of my trailer). These sound tracks will be used as a transition between the song drop (the trailer climax) and the following, gripping scene where a Final Cut Pro X library heart-beat sound is used. Only the simple heart-beat sound is used in the short, gripping scene to help enhance the suspense. The car and tinnitus sounds are used as background sounds and represent the kind of trauma our character was going through. This will be clear once I upload the video.

Slowing the Drop

Here I am slowing the 'drop' of the song where an energetic dubstep 'wobble' occurs. By slowing it down it better fits the montage concept I had in mind. I am using a tool to maintain the pitch whilst slowing the drop down to ensure the music still sounds right.

Cutting Song

Cutting the song into appropriate chunks is crucial not only to make best use of the most vibrant and energetic parts but also so the video, when edited around the music, fits the two minute guide

Video Transitions

My most commonly used transition is the basic cut. Other than that I cannot see any use for technical transitions as they do not conform to my genre. Instead I have been using fade to (and from) black transitions between videos and constant gain transitions between audio clips.

Rig in Use

A quick clip of my camera rig in use:

Tinnitus Noise

I have generated a tinnitus noise for a key scene in my trailer using Fruity Loops. Once created I used Adobe Premier Pro's 'Pitch Shifter' tool to create several samples of the audio clip that I can test alongside the key scene video footage.
Here is the audio clip:

Sound-track

After much thought and analyse of modern trailers (seen in previous posts) I have chosen to use a single, cut-down version of a song with no other sound apart from diegetic inserts and special effects.

I emailed various labels, groups and friends to ask for advice and gave them a short summary of what my project is. My contacts and I had discussed several options including my own choices of music, and many of those people, including "TheBBCmusic", continually referred to "TheCapitanMan" as the best choice. There decision was largely down to the balance between quality music that suits my project and ease of accessing rights.

Out of the contacts I wanted to pursue, I gained rights for use of Netsky music (thanks to Matt at Hospital Records), RJD2's new album "The Colossus" and any of TheCapitanMan's work.

I emailed OCR to confirm that use of songs like this is allowed in this course (as it is in the real world).

---
OCR.GeneralQualifications@ocr.org.uk

Dear Jamie Prout,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The GCE Media qualification manager advises yes, as long as you clearly show you have sought permission as directed in the specification.

...

Kind regards

David
Qualifications Support

---

Here is the most important email from Andrew (TheCapitanMan) on Hotmail:

---

From: peewee36@hotmail.com
To: jamieprout@hotmail.co.uk
Subject: Alps Project Music
Date: Mon , 26 Nov 2012 8:20:04

Hey Jamie yeah not a problem at all, great to get my music out there! So long as its non commercial its cool. I think your song choices are good but Awaken The Orchestra particularly fits the bill. The build up and drop are a good match for your project but may need slight tweaking.
Hope that helps, Andrew

---

From: jamieprout@hotmail.co.uk
To: peewee36@hotmail.com
Subject: Alps Project Music
Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:47:36 +0100

Hi Andrew,
Sounds great! I agree, Awaken The Orchestra has the perfect crescendo for a trailer. Thanks for your help in the past - some cutting down and re-figuring of the song will happen on my end to fit my project.

Cheers again, I'll send you a link on Facebook when I'm done!

Jamie

---

The song we are talking about can be found here:

Reviewing Footage

Viewing all of the footage and rating it in priority order takes a very long time... But it is crucial for efficient editing - especially when you are not editing chronologically!

Camera Rig Construction

I decided to build a camera rig for my DSLR as I will need my camera and had at all times and, due to the fast-paced nature of this trip, I may not have time to set up a tripod all of the time. A more dynamic and moving, hand held-camera effect will be effective in my trailer too.

 

My original idea was to simply buy a Cam Caddie rig. These are particular quick to setup and use, and are very lightweight. However it requires you to hold it from above which would prove limiting if I required an over-head shot. The rig itself doesn't suplly much horizontal wobble resistance either.

After further research I stumbled upon the Manfrotto Fig Rig. With Manfrotto being famous for their tripods and other stablisation camera equipment, it is no surprise they have used an intuitive design. Whilst the circular rim supplies a large amount of stability (as moving one hand forwards 1cm to emulate wobble only moves the camera sensor ~2mm) Manfrotto have priced the Fig Rig at around £200. Without much budget at all I decided to make my own.

 

 

Many people have posted on the internet guides as to how to make your own rig like Manfrotto's. However the designs tend to be flimsy and do not look particularly practical or protective for the camera. Here is the most common example of DIY rigs; using PVC tubing.

 

 

To save as much money as possible I used as many of my own items as I could. After some experimentation I found the rim of the floor toms for my drum kit had the perfect radius for a comfortable and effective rig. 



 

A stable camera mounting method was using a small tripod head to attach the camera to the rig. I tried mounting the camera using a tripod head but later found the camera sat too high compared to the centre of the rig, causing awkward muscle strains in order to keep the rig upright when filming. Finally I disassembled the tripod head and used the top two elements of it to as a mount. The bolt size is 3/8" (9.525cm) with 16 threads, and cannot be bought in any local hardware store. Fortunately the tripod head included a 3/8-16 bolt which I could use.
 

I heated and bent the ends of a thick aluminium ruler and bolted the ruler into the rig to create a platform across the diameter of the rig. Here we can see the two elements of the tripod I used: the mount and the quick-release plate. The two elements of the tripod head were bolted onto the ruler - I added super glue to ensure not vibrations or slight movements occur.
 

Finally I used insulation and packaging material to create ergonomic grips that were the same size as the gap created when I curl my hands as if I am grabbing something and my thumbs and fingers can only just touch each other. This size of grip means holding the rig is not streneous at all. An additional grip was added to the top of the rig for shots when I may hold the rig from above such as when skateboarding or leaning out of a car window. A scooter hand grip was used here as it supplies great friction. Zip ties were used to fasten the grips down and the ends of the zip ties that stuck out were burnt off to add comfort to the grips.
Finally I added a green removable velcro bag-tie to the top of the rig so camera straps can be secured out of the way of the lens.
 

 

Movie Poster Analysis

Here are two relevant film posters of successful films in the adventure-sport genre.

A large focus of these adventure-sport films is the awe-inspiring emphasis that is created by juxtapositioning man against mountain. The mountains here are presented as omnipotent challenges to somehow overcome. This emphasis is created in these movie posters using multiple techniques:
-Contrast in light, colour or shape between the person and the environment
-Composition of picture consists of lines pointing inwards, towards the main subject: the person
-Main subject completely centered which signifies they are engulfed in a greater force (ie. The mountains)

The titles are fairly centered and, like most movie posters, the title is placed between text. By doing this it helps exaggerate their award and nominations, creating the impression that the film has recieved many awards due to how much space the awards take up on the cover, as opposed to listing the awards which would not consume as much space, thus suggesting they did not have so many.
The titles are both using bold text that is coloured in contrast to the direct background, thus helping the title draw the eye and be easily recognisible for reference.

Due to the nature of 127 Hours, being a somewhat serious and suspensful film, the producers of the poster have decided not to include any critique quotes. By doing so they maintain a serious perception of the film which perfectly fits their intent.
Blindsight however has multiple quotes of its success plastered on the poster. These positive and carefully selected quotes help encourage an audience to convince themselves the film is worth watching.

The large bulk of text at the bottom of most movie posters, including these, contains details of distribution and production staff. It connotes professionalism and implies the film is well polished. This is an especially useful perk for films of the adventure-sport genre as often it is inpractical for professional filming teams with large amounts of equipment to film in these environments, resulting in an expetency for a lower-quality production.

Fruther Reading: Pete Fraser Article

Here is a short article by Pete Fraser that he posted on his blog some time ago - it was good reading material and helped consolidate a few of my ideas and techniques.

Once key moments from a film have been chosen the editors who cut the trailer refer to editing conventions (some might say clichés) that can provoke the intended emotions and begin to tell the story. The following are some examples that can be seen in horror, action and fantasy;

1. Long shots to establish character, setting and the 'dilemma'
2. Fades to black that suggest shifts in time
3. Transitions accompanied by booming SFX, building tension and placing significance on the text on screen – often white on black
4. Short shots and quick cuts of some of the most exciting moments from the film, the ‘events’ that lead to resolution but not necessarily in chronological order
5. Quiet music to establish story, menacing music to highlight villains, build to a crescendo
6. Sudden moments of quiet and silence between and after music and SFX, which have equal impact on mood and pace.

Trailers for a comedy are very different. Editors can play fast and loose with transitions to create a lighter touch. The use of split screens, wipes and sound effects become acceptable as the film is not to be taken seriously.

The voiceover and text on screen will most likely feature the film’s USP, its unique selling point. This will be something that can be communicated on a poster. If lots of the chosen moments of the film feature character dialogue then these phrases may appear on screen to read instead. Here is a selection of commonly used stock phrases;

1. 'This Season'… (creates a sense of anticipation)
2. 'From the people who brought you…' (refers to established audience)
3. 'Based on the unbelievable true story…'
4. 'Based on the bestselling book…'
5. Star Names (actors or director)
6. The Title (often heard and seen to cement in viewers' minds)
7. Official website so audiences can find out more

Besides from these persuasive features however, the language on screen and in the voiceover can also establish the narrative. Words chosen can suggest key themes and summarise the plot in a grand way to suggest the plot is timeless and universal. Some clichéd examples are:

• They will find hope where they least expect it
• One man's destiny…
• She will face her biggest challenge
• It will change their lives forever!
• Experience a new kind of fear

Music Inspiration

The film needs to fit my target audience of young, adventure-keen people including mountaineers. To do this the music needs to not only work in conjunction with the film but relate to a contemporary audience. I will do this by using 'post-dubstep eletronica-influenced urban RnB'. The success of PDEIUR is largely down to the recent proliferation of technological hardware and software. Many young people are becoming music artists of this genre as they have easy and cheap access to the tools required. Because of this many people who were very unknown yesterday are becoming rapidly famous in the genre today. Due to this I aim to use post-dubstep eletronica-influenced urban RnB style music in my video as it not only fits the high-tempo and intense nature of the activities taking place but it will also appeal and be relatable to an enormous audience.

I have played percussion and drum kits for bands for about five years. Despite this, the music we play or could orchestrate is of the wrong genre and includes the wrong instruments - PDEIUR mainly consists of heavily electronically modified or created sounds. I am somewhat unexperienced in producing my own music of this genre so I am currently looking at other options. Due to my ownly funding being personal budget I cannot afford to purchase the rights to commercial music.

After some research I have created a list of contacts I have in this music genre's industry:

-South West Connections, friends, local rap and modern hip hop artist group
     -Here's a taster example http://soundcloud.com/mc-grorty/raw-art-of-raw-instrumental
-RJD2 American Artist, worked with to make music for a short-film in the past
     -Taster:

-Mr Scruff UK Artist, met at local gig

     -Taster:



-Hospital Records, record company, worked with in the past to use music in short-film, manage big artist names such at Netsky and Camo & Krooked

http://www.hospitalrecords.com/artists/

-TheCaptainMan, dub-step orientated artist, worked with previously to make a short film, was excellent at helping me pick and fine-tune tracks to suit my film.
     -Taster:

I will continue my research outside of my contacts too and post again on this soon

Europe Update

Our filming road-trip round Europe was a great success! We learnt a lot as a team and I managed to acquire a ridiculous amount of footage. I have begun to trim and delete completely uneccessary footage, and have used a rating utility my media managing software supplies which allows me to rate footage on a scale of 0-9. By doing this I can roughly priotise shots for quick recognition and use later on.



Here are a few pictures of what was happening outside filming hours!

More photographs can be viewed here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/113237858961407281656/EuroTrip?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Logo Production

Before creating a logo for my trailer our group needed a name. We began looking at the sports we love and considering words with connotations of aspects of those sports. We later used the concept of naming ourselves after animals to signify power of some sort. Finally we agreed on the name Arrow Fish. It has connotations of power, hunting and precision. It directly links to kayaking in rivers and is easy to pronounce and spell, so internet users can easily search for us!

Arrows tend to have a sharp spike of soem kind on the end - I decided to sue this concept when creating the logo. The font is bold and completely contrasts from the background to help it stand out.
Here is the first draft:

As the logo will be placed in the video I later decided to add some video effects - whilst my screen-grab is not particularly clear, the video effect gives a refraction effect, as if water has landed on the camera lens. These water particles are moving from right-to-left.

I later decided to give the logo a darker tone to create more suspense and fit in better with the intended, intense atmosphere of the trailer. Using a black/dark maroon tint creates a powerful impression of the logo and implies tension. I have also changed the water refraction effect to a less colourful style - this time the water droplets appear greyish and do not move.

Weather Forecast

Last minute weather forecast looks ideal! Heavy rain in short periods to supply our rivers, not too hazardous winds and some sun with mediaocre cloud cover.

 

Film Pitch

My film will be of an adventure-sport docu-drama genre. The target audience will be young to middle-aged, British adventure sportsmen, particularly focusing on people who are involved in rock climbing or kayaking. This will be explained below.

I recently approached four professional athletes and pitched the idea to them that we should make a film, documenting their kayaking and rock climbing skills. We agreed that emphasising our 'British' attitude in the film would make the film more appealing to British citizens. I chose these athletes to feature in my film as they are very talented at the traditionally british sports; kayaking and rock climbing. Complimentary sports will be undertaken throughout the video - these will include typical and relatable sports that rock climbers and kayakers also do, such as slacklining and skateboarding.

I aim to promote adventure sports, support the ideology that being proud to be British is good, and hope to inspire people to take up their own adventure sports. The London Olympics 2012 is the perfect 'tent-pole' event that will help support interest in my film. Despite the usual time to release tent-pole media being in the 'pre-buzz' before the event, releasing my film before an event of such a scale would simply make my film seem inadequate in comparison and not worth watching as there is simply so much happening before and during the Olympics. Instead I aim to utilise what the olympics did not offer: non-conventional sports. This genre of sport is thrilling to watch due to the harsh nature of adventure sports, and as a result it appeals to a wide audience who don't even participate in such activities.

I aim to produce a contemporary, relatable, typically British-styled adventure-sport docu-drama. To emphasise the modern style of the film I will use music that appeals to a contemporary audience. Popular recreational music currently consists mostly of modern rock, female solo-singers and post-dubstep eletronica-influenced urban RnB (PDEIUR). The success of PDEIUR is largely down to the recent proliferation of technological hardware and software. Many young people are becoming music artists of this genre as they have easy and cheap access to the tools required. Because of this many people who were very unknown yesterday are becoming rapidly famous in the genre today.
Due to this I aim to use post-dubstep eletronica-influenced urban RnB style music in my video as it not only fits the high-tempo and intense nature of the activities taking place but it will also appeal and be relatable to an enourmous audience.

Many point of view shots will be used in conjunction with clips of myself or others using camera equipment. By doing so the trailer will create an engaging atmosphere that will make the audience feel as if they are involved in the activities whether it is setting up cameras or participating in the sports.

The trailer will be between 1:55 minutes and 2:05 minutes to allow sufficient time for a wide array of fast-paced shots. With the exception of stereotypical North-American adventure trailers, I am not aware of any adventure sport docu-dramas with a voice over. This is most likely due to the environment presented being so extreme that words do not easily describe it without sounding 'cheesy' or creating humorous effects. The only example I managed to find on the internet is (again) Touching the Void (American version):

Audience Profiling

Here is an audience profile of people within my target audience (main market 15-40 males) who all enjoy adventure sport docu-dramas. This has helped me better understand my target market and known what they look forward to in a film.

(POWERPOINT)

Audience profiling from jamedodger

Analysis of Trailer: Appealing to Target Audience

How is the trailer for "Touching the Void" constructed to appeal to its target audience?

The "Touching the Void" trailer has a target audience of young-to-middle aged people, particularly British mountaineers. It falls into the adventure-sport documentary genre and is one minute fifty seconds in length.

To engage the audience with the harsh diegesis the produces have to chosen to, unlike the film, excluded interview imagery of the characters in the trailer. Through these doing, coupled with the non-chronological order of clips to allow the editors to further emphasise scenes, the "Touching the Void" producers were capable of gripping the audience with fluid and intense action.

The unique selling point of this film is held in its somewhat nich genre. The moment where main character Joe Simpson cuts the safety rope, thus leaving his friend to the fate of death, is very well advertised. This moment is the climax in the trailer, and is shown at the end of a high-tempo, fast paced, suspense building part. The music abruptly stops as we see Simon fall into an abyss, followed by an eery, non-diegetic 'hum'. This array of editing techniques leaves us as the audience at the edge of our seats. presented with such a sense of enigma, we want to see what happens in the rest of the story.

No voiceover is used in this trailer. Instead, narrative is presented through the dialogue between characters, overlayed with images of their expidition. This perfectly fits its documentary genre, thus appealing to their target audience. Text and titles are continuously used with 'fade-to-black' transitions to convey narrative and create suspense. At first the text showcases academy award winning producers. it later aids the suspensful scene by briefly showing words with powerful connotations such as "courage", "loyalty" and "fear". Towards the end text reappears, this time directly engaging the audience by showing "What would you do to survive?". Not only does this question target mountaineers and allow them to think how they would deal with the situation but it also emphasises the moral awkwardness shown when the character cuts the rope and looses his friend to the mountain. All of the text is small and in a hard-to-read font, keeping the audience focuses and increasing tension; exactly what a stereotypical mountaineer would enjoy.

Camera angles and techniques vary throughout. At first we see high-key, low aperture shots of snow equipment being prepared in a rush and icicles forming on the characters' helmets; these shots help set the scene and present character traits, for example how one of them is underprepared and has a gung-ho attitude to danger. Later the peace and equilibrium is broken in the narrative - this is also supported by the increase of low-key, high-aperture shots to create a sense of enigma. Like many trailer, this one adheres to Todorov's narrative theory but does not show Todorov's final stages: the return of equilibrium. By not revealing how the situation is dealt with the audience are hooking and left wanting to watch more. This in turn makes them want to watch the film.

The music used is not of a typical recreational genre, and as a result it does not explicitl;y appeal to a particular demographic. However, the music chosen is high-tempo, dark and mysterious, thus adding suspense to the trailer.

The dark but realistic nature of the trailer that appeals to the film's target audience of young maintaineers is also enhanced by the way characters are introduced. As there is no voiceover or text describing the characters we rely soley on imagery of the characters ice climbing and their stressed and fearful dialogue to set out impression of them. This forces us to pay close attention and as a results of us looking closely for details at the trailer, makes us more vulnerable and susceptible to the un-expected and jumpy moments in the trailer.

Similar Film Trailer Analysis



Here are two trailers of the same genre that my film will be, namely Touching The Void and 127 Hours. I have chosen to analyse these trailers in particular as they were the two most favoured films amongst my target audience (results in previous post, questionnaire).

 

These trailers share many characteristics and as a result are constructed in a similar manner. They both have real narratives as they are reenactments of true stories and present the narratives chronologically. The first minute of both trailers is spent on allowing the audience to engage with the narrative. At first establishing shots are used to show the location, then a sequence of clips to allow us to understand what the character(s) is/are like. This helps audiences, especially those who do not undertake the activities that feature in the film, to easily understand the context and setting. In touching the void we can identify the harsh nature of the particular route the team are taking and in 127 Hours we are thrown straight into the action whilst several foreshadowing elements are exposed. This foreshadowing technique is not used in Touching The Void due to its editing nature of switching between chronological events and interview shots of the real people in the story. However, foreshadowing is extremely effective in the 127 Hours trailer as the audience may notice particular things such as how he forgets his large knife and how he doesn't tell anybody where he is going. By acknowledging these elements of the narrative the audience is somewhat flattered when they work out what is going on later in the story. More to the point the audience may realise dangers and anticipate problems before the character does, creating a somewhat sympathetic or stressful effect which further enhances the experience.

 

Touching the Void has a much greater sense of abyss and tragedy which is signified by its slow pace, use of low-tempo music and fade-to-black transitions. 127 Hours on the other hand utilises a more dynamic atmosphere and uses fast paced footage in conjunctions with straight cuts between shots, high tempo music and enhanced diegetic sounds. By doing so the shocking effect on the audience is more potent at the climax, around half way through the trailer, thus making the trailer a gripping experience. Touching the Void also climaxes half way through the trailer and eventually uses a crescendo of events, music and fast-paced clips to create a similar shocking effect to 127 Hours, just using different techniques.

 

In both stories, as my target audience have shown to prefer in my questionnaire, we are not given the entire story. Rather, we are left with the climax of the story followed by continually 'dooming' events. This style of editing makes us as an audience want to discover the answer to the 'age-old question' "What happens next?". These techniques are critical to a film trailer and must feature within my production.

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Location Filming and Risk Assessment

Characters

The five athletes I will be working with, including myself, are shown below:



 Jamie Prout (myself)
-18 years of age
-Rock climber
-Slackliner
-Downhill Skateboarder
-Producer of trailer
-From Swindon

Mike Richardson (left)
-18 years of age
-Rock climber
-White water kayaker
-Slackliner
-From Isle of Wight

Jack Atkins (right)
-19 years of age
-Rock climber
-Support kayaker
-From Liverpool

Harry Shakeshaft
-17 years of age
-Rock climber
-White water kayaker
-Slackliner
-From Marlborough










 
Tim Bolton
-19 years of age
-Rock climber
-Camera assistant
-From Oxford

Questionnaire Results: Analysis

It appears the two most popular adventure-sport films from my questionnaire participants were Touching the Void, followed by 127 Hours. The participants particularly enjoyed the true-story themes and loved watching people performing at an aspirational, elite level of sport.

Roughly half of the audience found their favourite film of this genre was the same as their favourite trailer of this genre; this may be due to how trailers can be tailored to different audiences as a film will barely change between where it is shown.
Here is an example of a North-American adaption of the British film, Touching the void.

We can clearly see from the voiceover alone that these two trailers are remarkably different. The second trailer, bespoke for a British audience, is true to the film in its documentary format but North-American version makes the most of all action elements of the film to help fit a stereotypical American audience. As well as this, the British will typically be more interested in the fine details of the characters as opposed to the action as the real characters from the actual event are British. Despite this, my target audience all agreed that a fast-paced trailer with suspense is extremely effective.

 

 

Almost everyone in target audience agree that characters who are of similar age to them are more relatable and make the trailer more engaging. Through point of view shots and featuring the cameramen in the film the audience felt they were involved in the adventure; an effect I will definitely use.



The target audience also prefer narratives to be presented in either a subtle way or simply not revealing much of the story in the trailer.

Questionnaire Results

Here are a few questionnaire answers that accurately reflect the many responses I recieved.

-24 questionnaires used






What is your favourite film of the adventure-sport genre?
Seasons: 1
Airspeed: 3
Sketchy Andy: 5
127 Hours: 6
Touching the Void: 9

What particular features of the film appealed to you?
-Concept of human triumph over power of nature
-Sports that I do are featured
-Elite performance
-Thrill of feeling as if you are part of the team, with the characters
-True story

Is your favourite adventure sport film trailer the same as your favourite adventure sport film?
Yes: 13
No: 11

What particular features of the film trailer appealed to you?
-Fast paced
-Intense atmosphere/lots of suspense
-Beauty and power of natural environment the characters are in
-Left me wanting more!


Within the action sport genre...

Do you relate better to film trailers with characters who are of similar age to you?
Yes: 22
No: 2
Explain:
Gives me more inspiration as I feel closer to them. As I am friends with people my age I prefer to socialise and pay attention to what people my age are doing. It is easier to empathise with the characters. I sometimes prefer seeing somebody elite embark on the adventure rather than people my age (older than target audience participant)

Do you prefer trailers that reveal the majority of the story?
Yes: 23
No: 1
Explain:
Prefer mystery, film is not as satisfying if you know what happens. I HATE spoilers. Leaving the trailer on a mysterious note and not revealing what happened is gripping. Cliff hangers make me watch films!

Do you enjoy the build up of suspense in trailers?
Yes: 20
No: 4
Explain:
Keeps you in interested, hooks you to action. Makes my palms sweat and excites me. Makes me feel energised and alive. I prefer watching films of people exploring rather than being in dangerous environments.

Do you prefer trailers that make it obvious the characters are involved with the filming, e.g. Showing the cameraman in shot, characters working with the cameraman, etc?
Yes: 20
No: 4
Explain:
Make it seem realistic and not staged, you can relate to characters and better understand the situation. The filming process is interesting as well as the sport. Takes me away from the suspense of the situation as I am aware people are filming and not 100% commiting to the situation.

Do you enjoy point of view shots in trailers?
Yes: 19
No: 5
Explain:
Makes you feel as if you're in the scene, helps relate to characters. Enables me to step into the characters' shoes.

Technical Equipment List

Camera Equipment
-Canon 600D DSLR w/ lesnes: 18-55mm f3.5-f5.6, 70-300mm f4-f8
-Nikno D5100 DSLR w/ lenses: 18-55mm f3.5-f5.6, 300mm f5.6
-Nikon D3200 DSLR w/ lenses: 18-55mm f3.5-5.6, 18-200mm f3.5-5.6, 50mm f1.8, 10.5mm f2.8
-Oregon PS w/ mount
-GoPro w/ helmet and boat mount
-Class four or faster memory cards (approx. six 16GB cards required)
-Three tripods of >160cm height
-Hand-held camera rigs (cam caddie and circular rig)
-Camera rain covers/umbrella
-Waterproof camera bags

Software
-Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5 64bit - used for video editing
-Apple Final Cut Pro X 32bit - used for video editing
-Nikon View NX 32bit - used for content managing
-Fruity Loops V2.2 64 bit - used for soundtrack creating, editing and modifying

Camera Techniques - Lines & Structure

I recently wrote an article for an online magazine to help teach fellow videographers/photographers about composition. This article is directly relevant to how I will film my trailer.

Creating Lines and Structure

 

Most people do not actively think about the effect lines have on how we see things, yet alone their impact in videography/photography! Our eyes are constantly controlled and affected by the lines, edges and structures of the array of shapes in front of them. Horizons give us balance, a lack of lines indicates an absence and invisible lines such as lines of motion indicate the direction of movement – I will explain these concepts later.

The structure of a video/photograph is defined by the way the video/photo is built up and what visual relationships subjects have with each other. Lines create the structure and, perhaps most importantly, control where the viewer looks.

I like to split lines into two categories: concrete lines and imaginary lines.

Concrete lines are the physical lines you can literally see; these include roads, people, a particular person’s body gestures etc. Many horizontal, vertical or perpendicular lines in a video/photograph create the impression of stability and control. This kind of video/photograph would work well with static subjects such as buildings. In contrast, curved lines form dynamic scenes and exaggerated atmospheres that would complement an extreme-sports video/photograph.

Here we can see the picture has been composed so most of the elements and objects within it lead the eye towards the busker

 

In this shot the curvature of the ramp signifies a dynamic environment and helps enhance the action. People conventionally look left-to-right in our society, so viewers naturally see the skater in the backgroundf on the left and follow the ramp up to the main subject on the right.

 

Imaginary lines are conceptual and invisible. A simple example of an imaginary line is ‘line of sight’: naturally people make eye contact with people in a video/photograph then follow their ‘line of sight’, perhaps out of curiosity, to discover what they are looking at. For this reason, allow viewers to complete this ‘curiosity’ process by exposing the item your subject is looking at, or have your subject looking across the entire shot (e.g. standing on the left and looking right) so the viewer will establish eye contact with the subject then look across the entire frame. Making the most of the frame's space like this is crucial; every videographer/photographer’s naïve first few snaps had their subject in the middle of the image. Note how in my ‘line-of-sight’ example I said “looking from left to right”. This is because so many things in our culture are made for ‘left-to-right’ viewing, such as the way we write and the positioning of images on product packaging – this is because ‘left-to-right’ structures are more natural and relaxing for the viewer. Whilst videos/photographs with a right-to-left structure still work, it is slightly easier to make the subjects seem awkwardly composed. However, a video/photograph using a ‘right-to-left’ structure may stand out as original and powerful amongst many more conventional images.

 

 

in the example the viewer's eye in lead in a circle. At first the viewer establishes eye contact with the subject, later to follow her 'line of sight' to see what she is looking at. Once the viewer is looking at the right-most side of the frame they notice the light is pointing, and leading the eye back to the left. This creates an efficient 'circle of movement' that makes full use of the entire frame.

Another great use of imaginary lines is implied movement. Even if the subject has been frozen in time thanks to our one-thousandth of a second exposure we can still identify where they are moving. Again, make the most of your space by letting the subject move ‘through’ the frame; this may be from the edges of the frame to the middle or from one side to another. The best images will lead the eye around several places and may even make the eye ‘loop’ and take a second look at the finer details of an image.

 



This shot uses the 'loop' structure as well. Two main imaginary lines are present here: Line of sight (showing relationship between the two motorcrossers) and movement (also enhancing the tension between them).

Common shapes can also be used ‘join-the-dots’ style, such as an imaginary triangle to suggest three subjects are linked in some way, or circles to give an organic, scattered and flowing structure to the video/photograph.

As always: experiment and you won’t have to worry about going cross-eyed from checking if that last video/photo worked  each time.

-All pictures/video shots are my own and can be found here https://picasaweb.google.com/113237858961407281656/StarredPhotos?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Camera Techniques

Target Audience Questionnaire

Results to be displayed soon

What is your favourite film of the adventure-sport genre?
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What particular features of the film appealed to you?

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Is your favourite adventure sport film trailer the same as your favourite adventure sport film?
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What particular features of the film trailer appealed to you?

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Within the action sport genre...
Do you relate better to film trailers with characters who are of similar age to you?
Y/N
Explain:

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Do you prefer trailers that reveal the majority of the story?
Y/N
Explain:
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Do you enjoy the build-up of suspense in trailers?
Y/N
Explain:
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Do you prefer trailers that make it obvious the characters are involved with the filming, e.g. Showing the cameraman in shot, characters working with the cameraman, etc?
Y/N
Explain:
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Do you enjoy point of view shots in trailers?
Y/N
Explain:
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Are you male or female?

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How old are you?

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What is your occupation?

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