Film Trailer
This page will show my journey in making the film trailer for my promotional film package. I have chosen my film idea and actors to play the characters prior to making this piece. I know that I want to the two main characters on my poster and it to be set in one of the settings that I will film on and because the genre of my film is a drama, I will relate the poster and editing to fit to drama conventions.
Target Audience
The target audience for my poster is connected with the target audience for the film trailer. As the trailer is aimed mostly at teenagers going through education. It will appeal to the younger generation and be modern. The age range will be 12-21 years old and not gender specific.
Shooting Schedule
Storyboard
Another part of planning for my trailer was creating storyboards and also a script. With my original idea, I knew roughly what scenes I wanted to film so using a website called StoryboardThat, I created rough storyboards of how I wanted each scene to look like. I have 5 settings that I want to film at so I created a story board for most of the setting which I have inserted below.
This was the swing-set scene which involved the same camera angle, but of two shots that transition into the other.
Then before filming, I planned out in more detail what exact footage I wanted and how each part would fit with each other. I also put a rough time for each scene. I did this all on paper as it would be easily accessible when filming and was easier to do.
I also wrote out a rough script for both video diaries and the hallway scene. I gave these to the actors before filming each scene but asked them to improvise using my script only as a rough guideline and pointed out some key parts that they needed to mention or say exactly. I did this as I wanted a more natural and believable performance. As I found when I asked them to read it exactly, it felt scripted and forced and there was more pressure to get the lines exactly the same.
The first video diary script
Hallway scene script
The second video diary script
Footage
This was the swing-set scene which involved the same camera angle, but of two shots that transition into the other.
The other two settings involved being filmed at different times but using a similar location and angle in order to be compared to each other, however they aren't show next to each other in the trailer. These being the dinner hall and a classroom.
Then the last and longest scenes to be filmed were the video diaries set in a bedroom. These also were the same locations but they involved a longer filming time and actual dialogue.
Then before filming, I planned out in more detail what exact footage I wanted and how each part would fit with each other. I also put a rough time for each scene. I did this all on paper as it would be easily accessible when filming and was easier to do.
I also wrote out a rough script for both video diaries and the hallway scene. I gave these to the actors before filming each scene but asked them to improvise using my script only as a rough guideline and pointed out some key parts that they needed to mention or say exactly. I did this as I wanted a more natural and believable performance. As I found when I asked them to read it exactly, it felt scripted and forced and there was more pressure to get the lines exactly the same.
Footage
When creating my trailer, I will have to film scenes that are likely to have multiple takes in order to get the footage how I want it to be. Some may even have practice takes. The main aspect of the trailer is the video diaries. These will make up the majority of the sound of the trailer so they had to be just right. This involved practice runs, feedback, improvements and then the final version
The first parts that were filmed were the video diaries as they required no set up or props etc. Simply just the main actor talking to a camera in his room. This piece would take multiple attempts in order to get the right emotion to come across to the viewers. These weren't totally scripted pieces. Instead, I wrote a guideline of what to include and where top film, etc. Then let the main actor improvise but sticking to these guidelines that included either certain phrases or topics for him to say or talk about.
Take 1
Take 2
After the first two takes, I watched them and gave feedback to the actor on what to improve and what was good to continue with. He then took more takes with this feedback in mind. The feedback I gave was that he forgot to mention and focus on certain locations: the hallway, classroom and dinner hall. This was needed to act as a voice-over when the trailer cuts away to show the character in these locations.
Take 3
After taking another take of the video diary scene, the actor had taken the feedback into account and talked about the certain scenes. However, with this take there was a problem with the exposure levels; they were too high. I also noticed background sounds of static. To solve theses problems, I will use a bigger camera with an actual microphone that will allow me to adjust the amount of light that comes through and won't have any background sound and instead will record the actors voice clearly with no background noise.
Final Video Diary 1
I also had to do another video diary for the second half of the trailer, after he makes a friend. I skipped straight to filming this with a Panasonic camera and using a mic like the first video diary.
Final Video Diary 2
Final Video Diary 1
I also had to do another video diary for the second half of the trailer, after he makes a friend. I skipped straight to filming this with a Panasonic camera and using a mic like the first video diary.
Final Video Diary 2
Work in Progress
To create my trailer, I used a new software called Adobe Premiere Pro. As I hadn't used this before, I had to experiment to get used to it.
When creating my trailer, there were certain steps I followed. First I had to watch through all of my clips and take and pick out the best ones of each scene and crop them down to the appropriate length. Then I would insert them into my timeline into a sequence. This involved overlaying some scenes on top of the video diary on another level but keeping the audio for the video as the only sound as to keep them in sync and also provide a voice-over for other scenes. I also edited some scenes to change the brightness and contrast.
During this stage, I noticed that I had to do some editing. For the swing-set scene, it was too overexposed when filming so I had altered the brightness and contrast as much as I could whilst still maintain the quality of the video. However, I noticed that there was no differentiation between Cammerons white top and jacket. In order to get around this problem, I remembered that I had filmed him on his own wearing a perfectly visible black top. So I cropped this video just as much to see only Cam and not the empty swing next to him, and then overlaid this recording on top of the recording of the both of them on the swing. This worked because I had filmed both scenes using the exact same angle. So by overlaying the other recording, the audience cant see that there is actually two different images, but instead there is both of them together on the swings and Cam's jacket and top don't seem to blend into each other.
I then added in the title images into appropriate spots. I also added in the three end titles at the end of the trailer. I made the title screen with the name of the film last the longest so that people would look at it longer and pay more attention to the name.
Next was to play around with the transitions. I chose mostly cross dissolve for each of the cuts. Except for the title screens in which I chose fade to black as I though this looked much better as the title screens were mainly black and gave off a dramatic look.
The final step was to add in the soundtrack. This was simple and only required me cutting it down a few seconds so it would end at the right time as the trailer. I also added a transition to make the audio fade towards the end as I didn't want the music to end abruptly.
The final sequence looked like the above.
There are other components to making this trailer other than the ones in the editing software. These are making the title screens and other images the soundtrack in the background and the opening logo of Warner Bros.
I had to create this image for the video diary scenes. This is a black box with the recording sign. I made this as to make the video diary scenes look more realistic and make them come across as what they are clearer to the viewers. This was made on Photoshop and saved as a transparent PNG and then inserted on top of the video diary scenes.
Also on Photoshop, I had to create the title scenes. This was done on Photoshop instead of the actual text inserted on Premiere Pro as I wanted to use the same font as I have used for my poster and magazine as I wanted to remain consistent with my fonts. However, it was only when I came to making my trailer on an Apple Mac that I realised the font I have been using is a Windows exclusive font and couldn't be used on a Mac. By making these title screen on Photoshop on a Windows PC, I managed to solve this issue and remain consistent with my fonts. The following pictures are of all of the title screens in my trailer.
I made three end scenes, that included the title of the film.
I made three title screens for words to accompany the footage. I also included the films tag line.
When creating my trailer, there were certain steps I followed. First I had to watch through all of my clips and take and pick out the best ones of each scene and crop them down to the appropriate length. Then I would insert them into my timeline into a sequence. This involved overlaying some scenes on top of the video diary on another level but keeping the audio for the video as the only sound as to keep them in sync and also provide a voice-over for other scenes. I also edited some scenes to change the brightness and contrast.
During this stage, I noticed that I had to do some editing. For the swing-set scene, it was too overexposed when filming so I had altered the brightness and contrast as much as I could whilst still maintain the quality of the video. However, I noticed that there was no differentiation between Cammerons white top and jacket. In order to get around this problem, I remembered that I had filmed him on his own wearing a perfectly visible black top. So I cropped this video just as much to see only Cam and not the empty swing next to him, and then overlaid this recording on top of the recording of the both of them on the swing. This worked because I had filmed both scenes using the exact same angle. So by overlaying the other recording, the audience cant see that there is actually two different images, but instead there is both of them together on the swings and Cam's jacket and top don't seem to blend into each other.
I then added in the title images into appropriate spots. I also added in the three end titles at the end of the trailer. I made the title screen with the name of the film last the longest so that people would look at it longer and pay more attention to the name.
I then had to add in the recording image on-top of the video-diary scenes but underneath the other scenes that play over the video diary as I didn't need them to have this recording sign on them; only the video diaries.
Next was to play around with the transitions. I chose mostly cross dissolve for each of the cuts. Except for the title screens in which I chose fade to black as I though this looked much better as the title screens were mainly black and gave off a dramatic look.
The final step was to add in the soundtrack. This was simple and only required me cutting it down a few seconds so it would end at the right time as the trailer. I also added a transition to make the audio fade towards the end as I didn't want the music to end abruptly.
The final sequence looked like the above.
There are other components to making this trailer other than the ones in the editing software. These are making the title screens and other images the soundtrack in the background and the opening logo of Warner Bros.
I had to create this image for the video diary scenes. This is a black box with the recording sign. I made this as to make the video diary scenes look more realistic and make them come across as what they are clearer to the viewers. This was made on Photoshop and saved as a transparent PNG and then inserted on top of the video diary scenes.
Also on Photoshop, I had to create the title scenes. This was done on Photoshop instead of the actual text inserted on Premiere Pro as I wanted to use the same font as I have used for my poster and magazine as I wanted to remain consistent with my fonts. However, it was only when I came to making my trailer on an Apple Mac that I realised the font I have been using is a Windows exclusive font and couldn't be used on a Mac. By making these title screen on Photoshop on a Windows PC, I managed to solve this issue and remain consistent with my fonts. The following pictures are of all of the title screens in my trailer.
I made three end scenes, that included the title of the film.
I made three title screens for words to accompany the footage. I also included the films tag line.
For the opening logo scene, I had to find an example of what I wanted on YouTube and then download the video so I could place it into the sequence in Premiere Pro and crop it to the content I wanted. The two film production companies I have associated with my film on the paperwork and poster are Warner Bros. and Heyday Films so I went on a search on YouTube to find a film that had either of these logos. The problem I ran into was that it was hard to find a good quality version that hadn't been altered to fit in with the film it was shown on. Such as a horror film may have made the logo red. Eventually I found one trailer that had a high quality version of the original Warner Bros. clip at the Beginning of a film called Magic In The Moonlight. I then downloaded this video as a MP4 through a sight called savefrom.net. Next was to insert it onto my sequence on Premiere Pro and crop to just the logo.
The last part of making this trailer was find a soundtrack to play throughout that fit in well with the mood and genre. I search on different royalty free music sights and found one track that I felt fitted in perfectly. The sight I found this on is called royaltyfreemusic.com and the track that I found and used for my trailer is called She Moved Across The Water Full. I had to download this and then drag onto the sequence. I wanted this track to play throughout the whole 1.55 minutes of footage so luckily the track length was long enough that I had to cut it down to fit even as it was 2.03 minutes long.
Finished Film Trailer
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