Brainstorm
After establishing our genre as a hybrid Political Horror/Action/Thriller, we started to brainstorm ideas for to develop our storyline, we chose a combination of ideas so we can develop a more interesting narrative. This brainstorm also helped us decide what key elements we need to include in our trailer, and understand the conventions we should cover.
Pitch
We presented our pitch to the rest of our classmates, this included the idea, genre, similar films, costumes, target audiences, the characters, props and locations. The feedback gained was extremely useful to us to improve our trailer. Our classmates liked the idea of the film being set in the future, they thought the economic crisis was a current theme therefore relevant and appealing to our audience. As our trailer wanted to show a clear division of the rich and poor they liked the idea of our locations being an abandoned place. We gained feedback on our main character the Piggy Banker, they thought his mask and costume fitted perfectly within the genre we were aiming for, therefore we wanted to make him our focal point in the trailer. The audience was established, however it is too vague, we wanted to aim our trailer for 18+ this was to target an older audience as our genre is horror, therefore we would be able to add more action, suspense and so on, to improve this we need to narrow down exactly who would be interested in our film. Furthermore, our pitch explained who would be an ideal actor for our antagonist, this gave our class an idea of what we wanted for our main character. We thought Derek Mears would suit this role as he played the killer in Friday The Thirteen, from our feedback we gained good research in our genre and actors. To improve our idea we need to establish what the motive is behind the Piggy Bankers revenge and why he wants to fight against the upperclass, therefore we needed to spend more time improving our narrative.
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GenreThe genre of our film is a hybrid of Political Horror/Action/Thriller. We chose such a complex genre as we wanted an unique storyline and we believed this combination would allow us to include a diverse range of shots in our trailer. Our trailer fits within the horror genre as the main character Piggy Banker is a killer, his main target is to kill the Bankers in London, we thought this would fit within the Horror Sub-genre Slasher Horror, as we were inspired by antagonists such as Freddy Kruger, Smiley and Saw. Furthermore, our trailer also fits in within the action genre as it includes fast pace shots with the gang of pigs. The idea of a conflict between two different social groups seem to be a typical convention of action films therefore we thought the rivalry between the upper class and the lower class fitted this genre perfectly. Our trailer is part of a sub-genre Political Horror, as it is based around the economy in London and the British Government and Banking system, this was inspired by The Purge as this falls under the Political Horror genre too.
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StorylineLOGLINE: Year 2024 London, world has come to an Economic Division, only one man the Piggy Banker is ready to start a revolution and fight for equality. Our film is set in London, the Year 2024, the economy has hit a huge economic division, the affluent live luxurious lifestyles whereas the lower class are left to live in slums and the horrific parts of London. Our story is based around our main antagonist Piggy Banker, his motive is to organise a revolution to obtain equality in society once and for all. His intentions are to build up a gang of pigs and kill and attack the upper class such as Bankers and the Gov in a way of violent protesting. This is triggered when the Piggy Banker is left no choice but to fight for his mothers life, she is severely ill and he wants to put a stop to the huge division as his previous family members have died due to the lack of money they have, he blames the Government and upper class in London. Therefore he is fighting for his mothers life and the lives of the poor.
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TitleAs a group we came up with a couple of names for our film, we wanted something catchy and original, this was difficult at first however we combined our ideas and came up with the name 024. The main intention behind this was due to the film being set in the year 2024, therefore we thought this title was relevant. We also thought it worked well as it was short and memorable, this is ideal for a teaser trailer as we want the audience to remember the film. Our first suggestions were titles such as 'Organisation 024' however we thought these titles were too long and not catchy enough, we also thought they gave away too much in the name and were very obvious. Another suggestion was 'Piggy' this was inspired by the film 'Smiley' as we thought having the name of our antagonist would be catchy and our narrative would become memorable to the audience, however again it was an obvious title, therefore we went with 024.
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Target AudienceWe established our target audience to be for 18+, this was the most common age group for the genres we were aiming to do our trailer. We thought this would also suit our audience as we wanted to include disturbing scenes such as innocent people getting attacked by the pigs. We also thought that our storyline would appeal to an older audience as it is about the economy and government, younger people do not have much interest in these topics, therefore we thought an older audience would suit our trailer. Although our trailer is aimed for both female and male, our trailer is suited a male audience as they are most interested in horrors and action films. We also thought the gang of pigs would stereotypically appeal to a more masculine audience as they involve violence and action. We thought a group of pigs which are played by male actors would appeal to a group of male friends going to watch the film.
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Characters
As part of developing our storyline we started to establish our characters and build up a story around them. Our antagonist is the Piggy Banker, we created a character profile so it was clear what the intentions of the Piggy Banker is. We also developed profiles for our other characters such as the Bankers, other Pigs and the victim.
Storyboard Draft
We started with a draft storyboard, this helped us get an idea of what shots, camera angles and transitions we should use for our trailer. We drafted where we wanted to include the inter titles and what we should have before and after them. This was a brief sketch of our ideas:
Storyboard Final
As we developed our storyline, our ideas changed and some scenes were not practical. Therefore we made some changed to our storyboard. We wanted to include more establishing shots to show the contrast between the rich and poor and we included some more inter titles to establish our setting. This was much easier to follow whilst we were filming and we could go through each scenes and discuss locations and costume to suit them.
Script
After watching many Action/Thriller trailers, we established a clear convention in each one included some form of dialogue, it was effective as it helped build up the tension in the clip and gave the audience an idea of the characters intentions. We decided to include dialogue in our trailer as we thought it would add to the suspense. We also thought it would help the audience establish the narrative more clearer, we included dialogue from three different people, this was to help the audience understand the different characters intentions and the conflict within the story.
We came up with a few lines the Piggy Banker could say, wanted the Piggy Banker to reveal he wanted revenge. We wanted a punchy line which gave away abit of the storyline. However from our feedback this line was misleading and not clear enough to the audience what the narrative was.
We thought this line would suit our trailer better. We thought the idea of two flags would represent the two different worlds. The words rich and poor stood out as it demonstrates to the audience the contrast in people, and makes the conflict in the storyline more obvious.
We thought this dialogue would be appropriate for the Banker to say as it emphasises on the higher class panic towards the revolution taking place. We chose the voice to be loud and strong to suggest the person saying it is from a higher authority.
We were inspired by the scene from Batman of Bane being interrogated. We thought we would replicate this with the Piggy Banker being interrogated. This would be effective as it would be clear to the audience that the Piggy Banker is the antagonist, wanting revenge. We thought this would establish his character more and help us understand that he is forming an attack against the higher class.
Mise En Scene
The Mise En Scene in our trailer was a key element as it creates an atmosphere for the audience, this being an action thrilling feel, taking into consideration the location, props, lighting and costume it makes the over all trailer more realistic and professional.
Location
As we are producing a trailer we wanted to include a variety of locations to give audiences an insight of the narrative, we thought this would built up the pace in our trailer if we could switch from different locations and also make it intriguing. The combination of locations are ideal for our genre as it is an hybrid of action, thriller and horror. We wanted to show a contrast of rich and poor areas to represent where the Piggy Banker lives compared to where the upper class live such as the Bankers. This was done by going to a range of places in London with my group and looking for ideal locations, we had to go a few times to perfect shots and look for ideal spots to suit our scenes.
London BridgeOur first location was London Bridge, we went here to get a view of the buildings you could see from the bridge; we wanted to create a panning shot- panning over the river. We thought this would be an ideal establishing shot to show the wealthy areas in which the Bankers and upper class live. We also ventured down the bridge to look for impressive buildings we could take an establishing shot of.The big buildings and built up area would be a big contrast to the run down poorer areas we wanted to portray in the trailer. However we did not use the panning shot from the bridge as we thought the lighting was too dull and the area did not portray the futuristic, wealthy areas we wanted to show. Therefore we went to The Shard which was close by to London Bridge Station to get a few great shots. This location was good as it was in the middle of London and we were able to get to our other locations from here easily.
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The ShardWe chose to film here as The Shard is a modern building recently built in London. We thought this would represent the futuristic style we were going for as the trailer is set in 2024, the glass windows and the point makes the building look stylish, we thought this would be ideal to use in our trailer as we wanted our film to be produced by a big Hollywood production company and we thought this would look professional in our trailer. The building is also the tallest building in London, we thought this could be a representation for the upper class as they are superior in the film. Therefore the height of this building represents the power of all the Bankers and upperclass. We wanted to shoot a tilt shot of this building from a low angle, however we had to be aware of where it was and it was difficulty trying to get a perfect shot due to the lack of areas and space we had to film, therefore we used our Tri Pod at an angle and managed to shoot a tilt shot. We went to the top of the Shard to get an establishing shot of London.
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SouthbankWe chose to film some shots at Southbank to get scenic views of famous London landmarks such as the London Eye and The Houses of Parliment. We wanted to capture these establishing shots in our trailer to give the audience an idea that our trailer is set in London. We thought Houses of Parliment would fit in with the narrative as it represents the Government power and that's who the 024 are fighting against aswell as the Banks of London. This gives the audience an insight of the narrative throughout the trailer. When we arrived at the Houses of Parliment the sun was setting, this created a picteresque establishing shot, we practiced a variety of shots such as panning and then a still shot. We also took an establishing shot of the London Eye. We thought this location fits within our narrative as there are well known famous London sights therefore the audience would know straight away the setting.
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KnightsbridgeWe went to Knightsbridge as this is a wealthy area in London and we thought we would be able to capture some good shoots to represent the upper class. Our main intention was to get a scene with expensive cars as we wanted to show all the upper class in the future own luxury goods such as grand cars. We went outside Harrods and there were cars parked along the road which we were able to shoot. We also walked around Knightsbridge and filmed some establishing shots of the different buildings, we thought this would be a good contrast to the poorer areas.
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Metro Bank: ChiswickWe chose to film at Metro Bank to show the pig targetting the area and his hatrid towards the banks of London. We thought Metro Bank was a perfect location as it is a new and up and coming bank therefore most people in the future will be using it. It is also clearly labelled Metro Bank so the audience understand the storyline. The building is also futuristic as it is all glass and looks new. We went to the Metro Bank in Chiswick as it was the closest and biggest one to us, here we were able to shoot scenes of the Banker so the audience understand the Piggy Banker is targetting him.
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Waterloo: Leake Street Graffiti TunnelWe went to this graffiti tunnel in Waterloo to find a run down area to film scenes with the gang of pigs. The graffiti was effective as we wanted to stick our logo onto the wall so it looked as if the Piggy Bankers revolution was taking over London. We started by doing some panning shots of the graffiti this looked effective as they were brightly coloured and vibrant, the bright colours could almost portray a warning sign for the pigs that are coming to take over. The graffiti was also eye catching, this would be memorable to include in a trailer as it would stand out to the audience. The tunnel was a good place to film a running scene of the pigs as the use of line framed the scene and looked effective on camera. We also used this location to take pictures of the Piggy Banker for our magazine and poster cover as we wanted to take advantage of the brightly eye catching backdrop.
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Derilict LocationsWe wanted to film in a derelict building or area to exaggerate the run down area the lower class lived in, we thought this would look effective in contrast to the grand buildings such as The Shard and Harrods. On the Great West Road we discovered a derelict building which looked as if it had been left abandoned for a while, this was perfect to shoot as the windows were smashed, the building looked run down and it was under a fly over, this was a good shot to frame the building and film the running traffic. The flyover was also in concrete making the area look dull and lifeless, which was what we wanted to portray the lower class as being. We also found garages in Waterloo which looked old and had a lot of character, we thought this would be interesting to include a panning shot as again the colour of the buildings were dull, we thought these locations would effectively represent the poverty in our story line.
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Abandoned BinsWe took some shots near bins with the Piggy Banker, we used this location to film the CCTV footage. We chose to film near bins as they looked run down this reflects how the lower class are portrayed. The bins we found in Chiswick looked effective as they were behind Turnham Green Station, therefore the brick wall had a train track above it and the wall itself looked old and authentic. We thought this would fit into the representation of the lower class.
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Abandoned CarWe filmed in this area as we found an abandoned car, this was effective as it shows in contrast to the cars we filmed in Knightsbridge; it shows the poor can not afford cars and have very few possesions, this was also next to a train station, we filmed scenes with the trains going past. This location was suitable for filming scenes such as close ups of the Piggy Bankers face and the burning of the flags as it was a hidden location.
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Meeting RoomWe filmed a scene with the Bankers in a meeting using a room at school, we were allowed access to one of the meeting rooms used by the Headteacher at school. This room fitted our mise en scene as it was well furnished and looked professional, we thought this in contrast to the areas of where the lower class lived would emphasise the poverty. We also thought this room would show the wealthiness of the upper class and exaggerate the superiority they have.
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Lampton ParkWe filmed under the bridge in Lampton Park as it is quite dingy and was a perfect place to shoot CCTV shots of the Pigs attacking a banker. The bridge is quite narrow, it was a secluded place to the park, and the brick was run down and old, this once again reflected the poor. As it was secluded we also filmed the Pigs plotting their attacks here, it was an effective place as the pigs were able to hide in the shadows of the park, this was used to represent the action in the film.
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Props
We used relevant props in our trailer to make our scenes look more creative and believable, we did this by producing our own props and using them in our filming, this helps to have an understanding of the characters intentions and give an insight of what they are doing in the film.
Graffiti Logo PhotoshopWe created this 024 Logo on Photoshop by taking a photography of the mask and the duplicating, then flipping it on Photoshop to create a reflection, we then added writing '024' in a print font, we chose the font to look as if it had been stamped on. We created this to stick on the wall in some of our scenes, this was intended to show the audience the take over of the Piggy Banker and the revolution he is enforcing, we thought this would look as if it had been Graffiti on the wall to show them rebelling.
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Baseball BatWe used the bats in the CCTV scene to show the Pigs beating up a victim who is from a higher class. We thought bats would be effective as the pigs lack many possessions, therefore there weapons are going to be low budget. We also thought it was appropriate for the antagonists to have weapons as this follows the conventions of most horror and thriller films. For example many antagonist carry axes, blades or daggers. Fortunately for us we were able to use the bats from the sports department. We thought these would also make the Pigs look threatening.
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Tube MapWe created a tube map of London and printed mini 024 logos and scattered them across the map. Our intention behind this was to show the Pigs were plotting revenge over different parts of London. We originally took a normal London Tube Map and then photocopied it multiple times and stuck them together so the Tube Map appeared bigger on screen. We also thought this fitted in with our genre as the audience can establish the organisation is attacking London.
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Union Jack FlagsWe decided to use Union Jacks in our trailer as it fitted in with the dialogue of the 'two British flags' We thought it would be effective to show flag burning to connote that Britain is falling to pieces. We wanted to show the pigs face coming through the flag to suggest that 024 is going to take over Britain, therefore we thought it would be a threatening scene to include in our trailer. It also fitted into the setting of the film being based around London.
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GraphsWe including graphs in the scene of the Bankers having a meeting, the intention behind this was to show the decline of the economy for the lower class over the years. As you can see all the graphs are declining, this is to suggest to the audience the tragic situation that Britain has come to. We thought this would be appropriate to show the graphs in the hands of the bankers to suggest they have control over the situation therefore can be the ones to blame for this decline in the economy.
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BriefcaseThe Banker is shown holding a briefcase as he is walking, this is to suggest he is a man from a higher class. His face is not shown and the briefcase is just revealed, we wanted to slightly give away the bankers appearance. This first prop shown of a briefcase suggests he is a working man, therefore rich and intelligent. It also suggests he works in a high corporation therefore holds power and is more superior, this is shown walking past expensive cars in Harrods to emphasise on his wealth.
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Black Pillow CaseWe used a black pillow case as a cover for the Piggy Bankers head to look as though he had been kidnapped. We chose to use black as it is meant to be a black bag over his head. We thought this would be effective as it would help build suspense in our trailer. We wanted to create an interrogation scene to show the conflict taking place in the storyline. We thought this would be effectively shown by covering the Piggy Bankers head with a black pillow case.
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Costume
Piggy Banker
It is essential our main characters costume is unique and stands out. A running convention in most horror films are the unique costumes and mask designs. We wanted our Pig to look threatening and creepy to the audience. We looked at examples of masks and costumes from a variety of Horror films such as Jigsaw, Freddy Kreuger, Scream and Smiley as there identity is different from another however they are all extremely terrifying. For example Smiley and Freddy Kreugers masks look almost realistic as they are flesh coloured and have fake wounds and blood to look unappealing, where as the Scream and Jigsaw masks are more creepy and cartoon like, therefore they give a more psychotic feel.
Camera Shots
We wanted to include a range of shots in our teaser trailer as this would build up a fast pace. As our trailer is a hybrid of Action, a variety of shots follow the conventions. After researching many trailers, we were inspired by different shots from various films such as The Purge and Elysium. We wanted to replicate these in our own trailer. Here are the following shots we included:
Establishing Shot
This shot was inspired by the establishing shot taken from The Purge trailer. It is effective in The Purge trailer as it establishes where the film is set, we can see it is going to be in a suburban area which seems wealthy with the birds eye view of the large houses and swimming pools, this gives the audience an idea of the context of the film. We thought it would be a good idea to establish our setting. We took a shot from the top of The Shard building to show the film is set in London, this was appropriate as it draws in audiences familiar with London. We also thought it was a scenic shot as London is beautifully lit up therefore as an opening scene would draw in peoples attention immediately, we faced some difficulties due to the lighting of The Shard viewing gallery- in our video clips you could see the reflection of the lighting on the window. Therefore we used the photographs we took as the lighting was much better.
High Angle Shot
This high angle shot was replicated from The Purge. Similarily our storylines both involve confict and an outburst of crime. This was shown in The Purge by a high angle shot of a CCTV camera showing a group attacking an innocent person with bats. This inspired us to re create this scene with our pigs as we thought it showed the audience the threat of 024 and the action that is going to take place in the rest of the film. We also thought the CCTV shot was effective as it suggests the audience are looking in with their own eyes.
Close Up
We included this close up of the Piggy Banker looking directly into the camera as we thought it was effective in The Purge trailer; this film also shows off there unique masks with this shot. We wanted the Piggy Banker to look as though he was directly staring at the audience, the intention behind this was to make him seem superior and threatening to our audience; this follows the conventions of an antagonist in a horror/thriller film. We took into consideration the composition of the Piggy Banker, we used the rule of thirds as visually it made our shot look more interesting.
Extreme Close Up
This extreme close up was used in our trailer as we replicated it from Elysium. This shot is effective in Elysium as we establish the main character and who the story is based around, therefore we included this in our trailer so the audience can establish our main character. It also creates suspense in the trailer, although you can not see the Pigs facial expression, giving an extreme close up of the face suggests a threatening look to the audience. We used a variety of extreme close ups at a fast pace as we thought this would emphasise the danger of the Piggy Banker.
Soundtrack
Hans ZimmerChoosing the right soundtrack for our trailer was a key element. We looked at the composer Hans Zimmer as he is famous for the soundtracks and music on films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman and Inception. He appealed to us as most of the music he has composed are for Action/Thriller/Adventure films, therefore we thought he was ideal for our trailer. We looked at the soundtrack from the Elysium teaser trailer; this appealed to us because of the range of fast and slow pace in the music. At first the music builds up, this suited our idea as we wanted to show a few establishing shots, it then builds up to fast pace music, this is where we wanted to show majority of our action e.g the attacking scenes; this is to emphasise the tension in the film. The music then fades out and slows down, this allows us to fade in scenes at a slower pace, it also allows us to explain the story in this slower piece of music so the audience have a clearer understanding. The soundtrack was important to us as we wanted to edit our clips perfectly in time with the music.
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Final Cut Pro: Experimentation
Our editing process took place on Final Cut Pro, this process was time consuming however we learnt new skills and used previous knowledge to help us edit our trailer. It took a lot of trial and error to make the flow and the style of our trailer look professional and play well. We experimented with the different effects, transitions and keying:
Effects
For this scene we wanted to create a CCTV effect to show the pigs are rebelling. We tried out a couple of effects to create a CCTV style however none of them allowed us to have running numbers on the corner of the screen to make the scene look more realistic. However we did find an effect called 'Bad TV' this made the clip fuzzy as if it was shown on a screen, this was the closest we could get to making the clip look as if it was taken on a CCTV camera. To improve it we desaturated the clip using the 'Black and White' effect, this made the clip look more distorted. The change in the colour of the clip was inspired by the scene from The Purge.
For our other scenes we played around with the different effects to make the our scenes look visually better. For example, the scenes which portray the 'poorer society' we used an effect called 'crisp contrast' this darkened the shot making it look more grimey and run down. This looked especially effective on the scene of the graffiti walls, altough the scene was darkened the colours of the graffiti lifted making the shot look more vibrant and eye catching. We put this effect on the scenes that portray the poor to emphasise the contrast between the richer areas. The dark colours connote gloom and can bring a completely different atmosphere in comparison to the bright scenes which portray the rich society.
For our other scenes we played around with the different effects to make the our scenes look visually better. For example, the scenes which portray the 'poorer society' we used an effect called 'crisp contrast' this darkened the shot making it look more grimey and run down. This looked especially effective on the scene of the graffiti walls, altough the scene was darkened the colours of the graffiti lifted making the shot look more vibrant and eye catching. We put this effect on the scenes that portray the poor to emphasise the contrast between the richer areas. The dark colours connote gloom and can bring a completely different atmosphere in comparison to the bright scenes which portray the rich society.
Transitions
Throughout our trailer we used two dissolve transitions; Cross Dissolve and Fade to Colour. These looked the most effective as they flowed in time with the soundtrack, for example the cross dissolve allowed us to gradually change from one scene to another by overlapping, this looked effective when changing from an establishing shot. Further more the fade to colour looked effective as it created pauses in between each of our shots, for example when the soundtrack slowed down we used fade to colour transitions as it slowed down the pace of the editing and suited the music. These transitions worked the best for us as the other transitions were too drastic and did not fit the style of our trailer.
These transitions also made our trailer looked more professional, although they are simple this worked well as they were not too much of a distraction to the eye. One of our main focuses in our trailer was to make it all flow, these simple transitions were effective as each scene dissolved into each other giving the audience a glimpse of the storyline. One difficulty we faced when dragging on our transitions were the size of the clips, we had to make sure there was enough footage on each side to be able to use the transition, therefore we had to be careful when blading scenes. We also had to alter the size of the transitions multiple times to slow down or speed up the pace. |
Keying
Voiceovers
We had three voiceovers in our trailer, it was important the dialouge was clear and well spoken. We recorded the dialogue on a flip camera and then uploaded them onto our trailer, at first Yayra was the voice of the Piggy Banker as he was playing the role of the Piggy Banker however after feedback from our class, his voice was not clear enough for the audiences to understand. Therefore we changed the voice to Sid- a much clearer speaker. The voice of the Banker was clear, we wanted it to sound alarming therefore we altered the pitch of the voice to -8; this makes the Bankers voice sound a lot more dominant. The security's voice also had to show some authority therefore we made this the same volume as the Banker.
Photoshop
Intertitles
We experimented with a variety of fonts before we came to the decision of what font to use. We wanted a simplistic font however it has to stand out from our trailer. The main intertitles we wanted to include was 'The Year 2024' to establish the setting and 'economic divison/crisis' therefore the audience will be able to understand the narrative. We used photoshop to experiment with different fonts to see which one would suit our trailer the most.
Credits/Titles
Flag
We also created a flag on photoshop and added it to one of our shots of a graffiti wall. We thought this would look effective as it would look as if the organisation are taking over Britain everywhere. We created this graffiti style by using the rubber tool and altering the opacity. We carefully blended in the edges of the picture on top of the clip to make it look as if it had been sprayed on. This was to fit in our re occurring theme of graffiti in the trailer.
Logo
We created this logo which represented the organisation to use throughout all of our media products. We were initially inspired by the film 12 Monkeys and the logo they use which looks as though it had been sprayed on in a stencil style. We made our own logo by using the same font 'Stencil' for the 024 title and placing it on top of two pigs faces. At first I experimented using one face, however this did not make it look as though it was a logo.I decided to replicate the faces because it looked as though the pigs were watching Britain with an intense stare from all angles. We thought a logo would be ideal to use to represent their revolution and the power they have. We printed of many logos and used them throughout our trailer in scenes such as the CCTV, we showed the pig placing it on the wall to look as though he has left his mark on the city. We also had practice shots of the logo being placed on cars and walls in each place we filmed.
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Here is where we used them on our Tube Map to suggest the pigs are plotting revenge all over London, we printed them off in small versions so we were able to mark their targets with the logo.
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We also got to use the logo in our evaluation, we included the text 'Special' on their to distinct that it is an 024 Special, this help make our evaluation creative.
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