Final Cut Fonts Experiments

Inspiration- 'Prisoners' Trailer

This is the trailer for the film 'Prisoners' This includes two main male characters both played by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal.

We came across this trailer, and after watching this we were instantly inspired to so something similar. The trailer is based around the idea of abduction. It is Thanksgiving in America, and a family are going over to a friends.

Both families have a young daughter, these two go outside to play, this is when we then see an old RV, a very quick glance. This is the criminals. The parents get panicky and eventually phone a detective. I think although this is a thriller based genre, it has a hint of action with the fights, weapons and 'hard' looking men. Especially the detective, he is shown to be a strong character. His hair is slicked back, and has a tattoo on is neck. this gives him a cool attitude towards what he does and who he deals with.

I think that if characters like this are shown, I would watch the trailer. When characters are attractive the audience will be more drawn to watch. Whether its a certain actor they like, or someone they like the look of.

Weather conditions in this, are ones we would like to use in our trailer. It gives off a weird feeling and we want this trailer to make the audience feel uncomfortable.  We are using the ideas of rainy, dull and grey conditions. If the weather was sunny and bright, this would make the atmosphere brighter and this is not what we are aiming for.

We have decided that we are going to do something similar to this for our final trailer.

Film Poster- White Chicks

This is our version of a film poster, this isn't the best work and we could improve but it shows basic conventions.

We took an image of Beverly Hills from Google and blurred it using an effect in PowerPoint. This gave the background a bit of mystery. This also ties in with the identity badges of the FBI. Taking another image of the main characters, we put this in Photoshop and took away the white background so it fits nicely onto the background.

We needed to add the title and names of the actors, We chose to use white because of the title 'White Chicks'. Looking at examples of film posters online, some have a star rating, we added this in and pretended that it was by a newspaper, as a lot of newspapers do ratings on films.

 

Looking at other examples, they all have the billing block at the very bottom. We had trouble putting this in, but finally it worked. It doesn't look perfect, and its a bit blurred but it shows the basic convention.

I think that to improve this, the main image could have been a lot bigger, this may have made the poster and excess background come to use.

Our Plot Summary

 

This is our plot summary as of now, we decided to go with this idea.

 

We decided to call this 'The Taking' This is the most suitable as two young children are being taken and will not be found. 'Abandoned' and 'Left At Home' did not fit nicely into our plot.

We knew we wanted to film outside, so we said the two young children were playing outside in the streets, because we have a dead end road that we can film in with an alley at the bottom, this was ideal. we want our audience to feel drawn in and want more from the film trailer, this is going to be brief and to the point. We don't want it to give too much away, but we don't want it to stay hidden. We want something in between. The two older siblings are more mature, however the eldest is the most responsible. The second eldest, is known as a strong character, however this isn't shown verbally. The eldest is shown as a strong character verbally but physically she will not be able to defend herself. This is why we want her to go search for the children, as when the audience find that the second youngest is stronger in defending himself they will feel gutted that it wasn't him and think of a possible, happy ending to the film.

I think that the plot summary is more for a whole film, so we are going to shorten this so that less is given away and more mystery is shown. We said that the criminal will be shown in the trailer, we still aren't sure whether to show them or not. If we were too, it would be a glimpse. Very quick cuts. We want this to be a surprise, or maybe even a shock to our audience.

 

To conclude, we want this to be short and sweet. The problem last year, is we over-complicated our storyline too much, this didn't fit into the two minutes we had and made it quite confusing to understand. This year, we are going to create it so that it flows nicely and is easier for the audience to grasp what is going on.

15 characters & 15 locations

15 characters,
(Names)

• Emily
• Conor
• Michael
• Holly
• Sophie
• Grace
• Mark
• Ayyaz
• Kerry
• Rebecca
• Katie
• Tom
• Extras from filming areas, e.g Busy streets..

We didn't count exactly 15, as in our ideas we don't have a lot of characters. Although in the early stages of planning we have lots of extras, this may change in the future.

15 locations,

• Parks
• House
• Bedroom
• Forests/woods
• Other relatives houses
• Shed
• Garage
• Garden
• End of the road
• Busy streets
• Shops
• Dead ends
• Alleyways
• Fields
• Dark pathways w/ streetlights

These will all be filmed in dim lighting and in grey, dull or rainy weather conditions, this adds to the feel of the trailer and story and we want the audience to feel the atmosphere too.
As explained in our initial ideas, we chose these as we feel they are similar to what would be shown in a thriller/horror trailer, and is different to other locations. If we were doing something like Romance, bright lighting, sunny weather and locations such as parks and beaches would be idea for this.
this comes to conclude that different locations are expected to be seen in different genres of film.

Initial Ideas

Initial Ideas for Film Trailer:
Our inspiration was the film trailer for 'Prisoners' shown in another blog post.

We have a range of ideas that we had and put them all together to see what we came up with, we came up with ideas for the genre, title, characters and locations. We also had props ideas that we thought of using that would benefit and add to our general ideas.

We knew that we wanted to go with a thriller/ action genre, as we researched different trailers such as 'Wanted', 'Olympus Has Fallen' and 'Collateral Damage' these were all examples of action films. As the thought process went on and we gathered more ideas, we started to change our genre slightly. As of now we are doing Thriller/Horror. We are happy with this new genre as we have new ideas to incorporate.

We may base our trailer around the idea of 'Abduction' which is shown in the trailer 'Prisoners'. We wanted something to do with missing characters and a main criminal. Our first idea was having four younger children in a house, who's parents say they will be back at a certain time as they are going out for  a bit. Then the parents never return, after their due time home bad things start to happen to the children. We expanded our thoughts:

• Whispering voices to add tension and eery-ness
• Blackouts and quick cuts
• Eyes looking out of the blinds into the darkness
• Raindrops sliding down the window pane

We thought of these as additions to our original ideas. We thought that this would add more mystery and could create these using good editing skills.
After these ideas, we found some that would work better than the ones we already had. Taking the idea of abduction from 'Prisoners' we knew we wanted to expand ideas in this area. Previously before this, we had the parents going missing. Following the lines of Prisoners, we are now having the two youngest siblings, Male and Female to go missing. We have a basic plot summary (Separate Blog Post) we didn't want to copy this completely, so we have two older siblings involved and no parents.

We had initial ideas for locations, but they weren't big in this area. We had a house, garages, gardens, alleyways, streets and more. These are just a few as we need a lot of locations if we are using quick cuts. We don't want the audience to get bored of the same location in multiple shots. We thought gardens and garages would be idea for this genre, they are mysterious and anything could happen around these. Especially near garages, these are known to be a target in rough areas.
Another idea was a shed with tools inside. This gives a touch of creepiness and violence without using any action.
I found an example of what we would like to create, basing this only on the editing, sound and titles. This is tense and exciting to watch. Our aim is to get something like this.

 

Magazine Conventions

 

This shows the conventions of a film magazine, this one is by Empire.

The film being advertised is 'The Avengers' which is all of the Marvel superheroes in one film. Conventions mentioned are,

Masthead

Sky-line

Features

Cover Image

Puff

Websites

Titles

Dates

 

They are all shown on the front cover of the magazine. The Masthead is the make of the magazine, compared to other brands such as 'Film' The font is much wider than Empires. Also the colour is white, which I think is more readable than red sometimes depending on the cover image In the background. The Sky-line is shown at the very top and is any extra information, this draws the readers eye in as this is right above the Masthead. The font is usually bold and readable. Features include other information that is read inside the magazine about other films, actors and merchandise. The puff is promotional and sells other things. This could include contests, merchandise for sale and other offers when you buy the magazine. Websites are shown so that viewers attend them and take a look at the facilities available, this can include merchandise to buy and information on the film and actors. The main film title should be shown in a bold font, that is readable from a distance to grab the readers attention. The dates of release are shown, this is so viewers can keep track of this information as well.

 

Three Film Trailers-Action Genre

Genre- Action

 

The genre I chose to look at was Action, I chose the three different trailers of,
Collateral Damage (2002)
Wanted (2008)
Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

I watched these to look out for,
Amount of cuts
Amount of locations/ Mise- en scene
Titles
Sound
Editing


I purposely chose these films to compare them with each other, I wanted to do something along the lines of this genre for my film trailer, but looking at these I found barriers that would stop me from achieving this.
In Collateral Damage I counted around 95 cuts, 27 different locations, fading, slow motion and black and white effects. This trailer includes the main character (Played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is to be shown as someone to take revenge, he is strong and capable of dealing with other criminals. Different weapons and explosions are shown in this, the music appears to be slow and tense in the beginning, and narration of the news is being heard. An explosion is shown and the music becomes faster and more upbeat, when the characters are shown to be conversing with the main character, the music then slows back down again. Slow motion effect is shown on the killer, which could show he is still lingering. Fast and upbeat comes in again and narration is introduced back into the trailer, and is now talking about the main character.
Throughout the whole trailer, it draws you in because of the upbeat sound and the explosions and the fast cuts. I think this is good for an action film trailer, although I think the titles could have been in  a different font that didn't shadow behind as I find them a little boring to read, and maybe a different ending. I think a different ending would have been better because the original seems a bit too much. It doesn't seem very realistic having that part at the end of the trailer. It needed a bit more mystery so that the viewers are 'wowed'.
Other than that, I think this is a good trailer, it also shows the director that had created another film, this may draw people in if they have seen the film mentioned.


In the trailer for Wanted, I counted around 155 cuts, 33 different locations, zooms, extreme close-ups, quick fades, slow motions and a ripple effect. The trailer includes three main characters and their roles are mentioned and shown at the climax, however their names aren't metioned. This could be because they are covering their identity and the director wants them to be known for their role played. They are shown all the way throughout. The trailer shows the first main character as weak and boring, (Played by James McAvoy) however though it progresses we see that he becomes stronger with the help of his new master and teacher. These two characters are then shown, (Played by Morgan Freeman and Angelina Jolie). Sounds at the beginning begins slowly and gets faster and more upbeat throughout, narration is also used in the beginning by the first main character shown. the trailer shows how he progresses and is able to fend for himself. We don't know the plot as it doesn't give too much away but we know a basic outline which will draw viewers in.
When he is being trained, a gun is shown in the Masters hand in which the student is looking at. A ripple effect is being used on this, could portray the student in unsure and confused. He may not feel right picking up the gun and using it.
Also, he is asked to shoot flies, which is different from other action films as it is not just shooting human beings. This may draw viewers in and think that this is interesting. I think the titles that introduce their individual roles are effective because they swipe in a fast motion with them in  film action ,on both the top of the bottom half of the screen. This is different to normal titles. The release date is also shown before this, in a simple readable white font.
overall, I think this trailer is better than Collateral Damage because of the amount of cuts and action and the use of fonts to show the actors, However the only downside is I think it gives too much of the plot away to the viewers.


Olympus Has Fallen was the very last trailer. I counted around 168 cuts, 50 different locations, quick fades, action with audio and voice over the top, birds eye view and slow motion. The trailer shows the main character from the beginning, however we don't know that he is the star of the film until we get into the trailer itself. the second character is shown, however he isn't as important as the first, although he is important in the film as he is the President. The third main character is shown and he is the criminal. The hero, the main character (Played by Gerard Butler) is the President's secret service agent. He is shown to be protective, fearless and strong. I think this will appeal to the audience as he is a well known and good-looking actor who plays his part well. He is also shown to be smart and loyal to the people he is working for. The President, (Played by Aaron Eckhart) I think could have been shown more in the trailer as I think his importance and the White House should be shown to alert the audience of his importance throughout the trailer. I think we know that he is important from the beginning but as the trailer goes on, he becomes weaker to the enemy and the cuts show this well. They are quick and to the point. The sound over the top works well, as does the effect when the crash happens in the beginning. The scene plays slowly with a dramatic sound over the top and voices are deepened and almost muffled. This creates a dead atmosphere and tension for the viewers themselves, the President is unable to save his wife from the crash. The criminal then comes into the trailer, shown as good at first sight, but sends in terrorist planes. The criminal (Played by Rick Yune) is portrayed as a violent, strong character who gets what he wants. The fast and many cuts, show the violence and torture being shown to the members of the White House that is being caused by him, This shows he is in control over everybody. The planes colliding and the news being shown is all due to the criminal himself and he may feel he is in power. The text is shown in a blocked and simple white font, which is easy to read. it also has the texture of broken debris which could portray the destroyed White House. Actors names aren't shown and I think this is effective as it makes us as an audience believe their roles. it also has another film mentioned that the director has filmed. If the audience have seen the film mentioned, they are more likely to watch this film as well.

Trailer Presentation: The Heat

Our Trailer Presentation- The Heat

To start with, in a pair we had to give a short presentation on a film trailer of our choice. We chose to go with the genre of action/comedy because we felt that in this there would be more to analyse and conventions to pick out.

We had to look for conventions such as,

Titles

Font style

Colour

Sound

Promotional Package

The trailer for High school Musical 2, this is aimed at young teens. The trailer gives out a good amount of the actual film and not too much, the main characters are shown in this and because its a musical, it shows a range of the music itself.
Promotional packages usually include posters and magazines as well as merchandise, for example this is the film poster. I believe this isn't a very poster, it has the main image and title but no other conventions are seen. There is no release date or buzz words. This isn't a very good example and I wouldn't go to see this film if this was the poster.

The magazine poster, which I think has improvement from the last poster. This includes conventions such as the film title, the image in which the characters take up the whole area, buzz words to keep the audience interested and engaged.
This has lots of different colours and fonts, the magazine is mainly about the film and there are three different images as well as the bigger one. They include the main characters, in which young teens get attached too. If they like the character and actors, they will look up to them and want to be like them. This relates to the Blumner and Katz theory. This magazine is actually in a different language, but we can tell from the sizes of the fonts that its made to attract young teens. The characters on the front are posed naturally with a smile, this makes it look welcoming.

They sell merchandise such as this party set, although this is actually for the very first HSM, they all sell together. This includes the images and title which draws attention. If the audience likes the film they will also like to get this.
They sell toys that show scenes in the film, this includes the characters in their costume they are wearing at the time and any extra props. If people enjoy a certain scene from the film, they will be tempted to get the toy. If they are wanting to see the film, they may get the toy first of all.
They sell clothing such as this t-shirt, this all comes with the promotional package, young teen girls are likely to wear this as it has the main male character on the front. Some teens will grow to like this character and even infatuation when they watch the film which will make them want the shirt even more.
This is all sold to promote the film itself and get money and viewers.

 

Film Posters

 The film poster for 'Transporter 3'. The main character is the main focus of this, he takes up the whole image, the pose and his facial expression show he is strong and independent. Which shows he is not afraid of others and knows how to deal with the criminals effectively. The colours and the way the characters are dressed show this is a violent action movie. the character is wearing as suit which shows he is smart, but also clever. He Is holding two different weapons, this shows the violence in the film, as he is not only holding them but they are pointed towards somebody. The main characters name is mentioned at the top, only his name. this could show his importance and role to the film. the font is slanted and gives the 'cool' effect, the blue colour adds to this. The image layered on top of this shows a woman holding a gun and a car,  this shows that there are female criminals and car chases. the lightning in the colour blue could show the destruction of certain characters. The main title is also at a slight slant, although this is coloured white. This could show 'purity' of the woman, although she doesn't look although she has it on the poster.

Conventions mentioned are actors name, the title, and also the billing is below the title of the film. The font is smaller in size, but still slanted to give that 'cool' effect. The release date is shown in a darker toned blue.

 This is the film poster for the 'Prince Of Persia The Sands Of Time', there are three main characters that take up the whole image. This is released by Walt Disney. The hero is positioned at the front of the image, the directors want us to focus on him more than any of the other characters. The Princess is bedside him and the Criminal beside him the other side. Their facial expressions can tell a lot about their characters for example, the main character has ambition shown in his eyes, the criminal has anger and the princess shows seductiveness. Their costumes show look very fairy-tale like, floaty fabrics and body armour. the colours are muted and very subtle. The main character is holding weapons such as swords, compared to 'Transporter 3' there are no guns. this could show that this genre is more of a fantasy adventure because of the old clothing and weapons. A convention of showing what other films were made by Disney are listed at the top of the poster. This could be advertising these films and make others want to watch them as well.

 In the background the colours are dull, which shows the destruction behind the characters. the title is in a big, bold font and coloured white. Disney's logo is shown in a smaller font on the top of this title. The word 'Persia' is bigger than the rest, so this could mean that they wanted to exaggerate this word. The billing block is shown at the bottom of the image in a small, white font, however the release date is in red which could be used to attract attention.

This is a film poster for 'Ghost Ship' which is different genre to the other two. The boat takes up the whole of the image, it is positioned in an upwards motion, this could show the danger of the boat itself. The colour theme of the poster, have many tones of blue and a black. This gives the sea and the sky a more 'eery' feel to the image. None of the characters are shown on this, this could suggest the characters are hidden and the director didn't want to ruin the film by showing the characters too early. The clouds are coming over the boat which gives the boat a mysterious feel. The boat has the image of a faint skull, this could show danger and voilence, which shows that the film genre is most probably a horror or a thriller. One side of the skull is darker than the other an could show hidden identity, a happier sideof the boat and an unhappy side of the boat. The phrase 'Sea Evil' is positioned at the top of the poster in a solid blue colour, the font is simple and easy to read This shows that the film is going to be scary and is likely to do with the sea and boats. The film title is in a white colour, which makes it stand out on top of the blue waves in the sea. The style of the font is different to the one at the top, the bottom halves of the letters fade into the waves of the sea, the font is also more wide.

At the bottom it shows the billing block, which shows all of the actors and directors names. This is in a smaller font, much similiar to the 'Prince Of Persia Sand Of Time' as that poster also has billing block in a small white font.

At the very bottom of the poster underneath the billing block, shows the word 'Halloween' in a simliar blue used throughout. This could show that the film was released near Hallloween time, as this is a horror.

 In conclusion, different conventions are used in different genres, they all have simliarities. I have analysed an Action, Adventure Fantasy and a Horror.