Final Cut - first test

Today the Mac technician had downloaded Final Cut onto a number of the computers in our Media room, as there are a number of students , including me, that need to use Final Cut to edit their work. Along with this, we were given a Guide book for Final Cut. In my teaser trailer, I need to use Final Cut to create a coloursplash effect, similar to the effect used in the film Sin City, which just shows one colour while the rest of the shot is in black and white. Of course I had to test out Final Cut to see if it worked, I searched online a guide to create this effect as it wasn't mentioned in the handbook, I found an informative Youtube video which I can't link or embed into my post yet as Youtube is restricted within school.

Age Rating BBFC

15 | Age Rating

(all copied from http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15)

What might I see in a 15 rated film or video?

Any of the following:

•   strong violence
•  frequent strong language (e.g. 'f***').
•   portrayals of sexual activity
•   strong verbal references to sex
•   sexual nudity
•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence
•   discriminatory language or behaviour
•   drug taking

• Conventionally zombie horror films will only include the first 2 bullet points, I'm planning to only include these. On the website, "strong violence" is described as "It should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury, however, and the strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable." This is fine also for my genre, as the shots wouldn't linger and the violence itself wouldn't be sadistic, the zombies causing the violence wouldn't be doing it for fun, they'd be doing it as part of their nature and to survive. 
• On the website it says "At 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat." Again, this is sufficient for my film as there will be an overwhelming threat of the undead Zombies, but it won't be sexualised or sadistic. 
• Lastly the website quotes "We consider the risk of potential harm to impressionable teenagers. For example, dangerous behaviour such as hanging, suicide and self-harming should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting." In my film there won't be suicide or hanging etc. Also, the weapons would only be easily accessible because the characters are in danger and need the weapons to survive, the weapons used will most probably be household items.

Examples of zombie horror films of a 15 age rating or lower:

28 Days Later

World War Z

Zombieland

Shaun of the Dead

Audience

Presentation to be here when I've finished it.................................



Links:

Audience pete buckingham what people go to see from Elaine Humpleby

Researching Horror Audiences from zarabutterworth

Horrors are usually aimed at the working class, due to their conventionality they are usually cheap to make, and so they can be a cheap thrill for the audience.

Magazine
Gossip magazines are usually aimed at women between the ages of 16 - 34.

magazines.bauermediaadvertising.com/magazines/detail/heat

Narrative

Definitions...

Narrative: The events directly incorporated into the action of the text and the order in
which they are presented
Plot: The events directly incorporated into the action of the text and the order in
which they are presented
Story: all events referenced both explicitly in a narrative and inferred (including
backstory as well as those projected beyond the action)

My teaser trailer will have a restricted narrative, as not all the information of the film will be shown through the trailer, as the whole point of a teaser trailer is to give a little amount of information, to tease the audience into being persuaded to watch the film when it is exhibited.

Unrestricted examples:
Bridesmaids
Comedy trailers tend to

Restricted:
Man of Steel
Godzilla

I researched trailers that gave examples of unrestricted and restricted narratives. Unrestricted narrative trailers usually give way too much of the story away and therefore spoil the film. The link for the website that gives examples is here. Restricted narrative trailers give little information, and are said to be misleading. Here's a link to the website I found of examples. As I'm in school I can't link to YouTube videos as it's restricted, so below I'll include screenshots.

Restricted / unrestricted narrative trailers screenshot.

In my teaser trailer, objective character identification as a point of view shots. However, as it's a teaser trailer form, not all information of the film will be given.

I would like to include, Anachronic modular narratives, as it involves flash backs and flash forwards. For a teaser trailer, I believe this form of narrative may be shown as a teaser trailer conventionally only shows small segments of the film itself, not specifically in order. an example of a film that uses this, is Pulp Fiction, and this is my favourite film. I believe the main reason Pulp Fiction is my favourite film is because of the continuity, as it makes the audience think. As I really like this technique, I feel inspired to use this narrative technique.

Pulp Fiction still.

Here is an image which shows Pulp Fiction in chronological order.

Below I've embeded a SlideShare that I found online which is very helpful, as the language is quite simplistic and easy to understand. At first I found the difference between narrative, plot and story quite hard to understand but this SlideShare helped a lot.

Narrative theorists from Sarah mediafilm

Green and blue screen fail

After researching online techniques to create a colour splash of red in a clip with black and white, like in Sin City, I found I could do it using iMovie and Final Cut. In school, we have iMovie downloaded on all computers within the class but Final Cut is only on one at the minute. Although it should be installed on more computers soon, I know I shouldn't rely on someone else (like the technician) because it may end up that there is a problem. 

So, after researching online, I found I can create the effect on iMovie, but difficultly. The parts I want to be shown red, I must have as actually green or blue, so I can use the green/blue screen tool to change it's colour. For me, this is hard because I don't know where to get green or blue lipstick or something that will look like blood. I can improvise, with food colouring in some way, I'm unsure how I'll do this yet but if I need to use iMovie then I will find a way. For me, it's easier to film the parts I want in red, in red, using the red lipstick and fake blood props I already have, to create the clip. On Final Cut I can use the red lipstick and fake blood, and just use editing software to change the rest black and white, without going to the trouble of finding different props.

While in a lesson, I recorded a clip of blue and green pens, so I could edit the clip using both blue and green screen to see which one was better. Below is a screen shot and video of me using blue screen, as you can see, the blue pen looks red due to the red over or under lay. So it does work, but the green screen didn't. This causes problems as I'm unsure which colour will work for my clip, so I may need to buy/create both blue and green lipstick and "blood".

The video seems like it won't load, but it says it's loading, so you may have to wait a while.

Another problem, as you can see in the video, is the red colour is messy due to the quality of the camera and the other blue tones in the video. I did end up adjusting the saturation, contrast and red green and blue tones to make it look better, but for me it still looks unprofessional. 

After trying this editing technique, I really feel against it. I think if I try and use the blue or green screen, it will either not work for my final clip or look like an amateur scene, which of course I don't want. 

Hopefully I'll be able to use Final Cut by the time I need to film/edit my footage.

Genre

Below is my presentation of genre within my brief.

What is a Film Website Homepage?

One of my ancillary tasks is to create a website homepage for my film. After some research I've found the main purpose of this website will  be to promote the film, and so my language will need to be persuasive. However, it will also need to be informative, on where the film will be exhibited for example.

At AS, I created an evaluation website, on WIX.com. I think this will help me create my film website homepage.

Below I have embeded resources I've found online that have helped me understand the conventions of a film website homepage. As my genre is Horror, I wanted to research only Horror films:

Conventions of Film Websites

More PowerPoint presentations from Sheryl Teather

Below are some screenshots of Horror movie homepages I have found

I chose to create a Prezi in which I analysed one of the Horror movies above. I chose to analyse Godzilla as it was the most recent, and I found it to be the most aesthetically pleasing.



Conventions I've found:

• A video clip, image or sound for audience interaction, and the website is for entertainment purposes.
• An introduction or brief synopsis of the film, such as the quote on the Blair Witch Project poster, to intrigue the audience.

• Clear navigation, like a list.
• Little text, the image or video must be the main vocal point.
• For the Horror genre, the website must include a dark colour scheme. For my teaser trailer, I'm already planning to have a black and red colour scheme, and so will continue this in my website.
• Must have links to social networking sites, as these are online and encourage word of mouth.