The process of the animatic consisted of two main stages; the camera shoots and the editing process. To complete our animatic it took us a total of 22 hours over a period of three months due to other commitments. The camera shots took a total of 12 hours, as a group we took time to plan the shooting process; we listed the locations, and the shots needed in this setting and the took note of the actor/actress’ and props we may also need to include in this setting. We then listed the days where we all had free time, and scheduled to meet at the locations for the particular shots in the time we believe needed, this saved us time.
Creating and editing the animatic took 10 hours to complete, this included decisions on what shots to use, once uploaded onto the computer, we also rearranged the shots into a particular order following our storyboard, and decided upon the sound track, the order of our titles and the audio. The Animatic gave us overall view on whether or not the film trailer would work, it highlighted certain camera angles and transitions we should use, it showed us what was missing for its audience and what points we could improve on.
During the process of the animatic we used our storyboards to organize our schedule, listing locations, characters needed, props and costume. Altogether we had a range of 8 locations and a total of 30 shots to capture, which took us 9 shoots to complete, one for each location and one for anything we missed, added or believed was not good enough quality and therefore needed to be re-taken.
Our aim is to create a film trailer that captured the audience making them empathise with our main character (Nicole) we also needed to create the sense of her being trapped therefore our props are essential, such as the mobile phone which creates the low lighting onto the paniced face of the victim suggesting she is trapped the iconic image of the key also suggests this leaving the audience questioning who is the protagonist? Nicole is to be portrayed as a ‘girl who has everything’, therefore key props to suggest this are the car (mini cooper), her phone, jewellery, nice clothing etc. We also used the props of the clock and the monitors to show that Nicole is rapidly running out of time.
The actors were chosen amougst and within’ the group as we found this conveinient, as it is easier to create a schedule knowing we could rely on one another, having an actor/actress outside the group proved difficult as their commitments were their priority.
During each shoot we made decisions such as camera angles and lighting as we had to make our victim look vulnerable. We used shots from high angles looking down, point of view, over the shoulder – creating a sense of being followed. The low lighting also suggested fear. There were no shots we found we were unable to do, however some were much more difficult that others, especially the shot which included the photographs falling from the vent, this was extremely hard to capture as it was an unreliable shot of which patience was a necessity.
Changes and creative improvements were made throughout the animatic, as we realized the order needed to be changed slightly as the flash backs appeared all together they needed to be more distorted. Titles were also slightly changed such as the word ‘has’ to ‘had’ which created a past tense causing a deeper sense of fear for the audience in the title ‘A girl who had everything…’. We had to change some of our chosen shots as we found the difficult to carry out, we wanted to have a birds eye shot of Nicole being trapped in the quadrangle however we found this difficult and due to safety issues had to take the shot from a high angle looking down.
During the editing process we constructed the animatic by firstly rearranging the shots into order following the storyboards, however slight changes were made such as the titles which were re-arranged to tell the story along with the images, such as the title “A girl who had everything”, shows Nicole with her parents being given a car for her birthday. We added our choice of sound tracks which indicated the length of shots and transitions as we cut the shots to compliment the timing and beat of the music. Finally we put in the audio on top, the heavy breathing we decided should be continuous over the changing shots to create a sense of constant panic and fear for the audience, however the dialogue we created matched up with the shots, for example “Help, Help, let me out!!” we edited over the shot of Nicole banging on the door, we did this appose to putting a voice over of the dialogue throughout.
The choice of titles are supposed to reveal a little information about the main character and give a basic narrative of what the film without revealing too much. The titles also form an intellectual puzzle leaving questions such as where is she? Who’s done this to her? Why have they done this to her? The titles end on a cliff hanger to leave the audience intruged, making them want to find out what happens to her. We chose for the titles to be on a blank, black background, therefore the audience would not be distracted by other images on the screen and have to concentrate on the words they are reading. The font is bold and distinctive so that it is easy to read, also as we are creating a psychological thriller we wanted to keep the lettering simple and not misleading as the trailer could be persued as a Horror if we focused too much on making the lettering disfigured and creepy. The colour’s black and white together are very bold, simplistic and clear to read, although perhaps not viewed as horrific, or thriller related like red, we believed the colours chosen are dreary and leaves more to the imagination. Our audio and soundtrack create a sense of horror as the music starts slow and increases causing intensity, it is also jumpy and perhaps misleads the audience making the trailer scary for them. We purposely spilt the titles among the clips as they tell a story alongside the shots as the animatic plays.
Our choice of soundtrack music, consists of three different tracks of which we edited and fit together to compliment the pace of editing. The music does not start until after the first title, the audience have already established the disruption in the trailer by this point, the music starts slow pace and quietly creating a sense of misbalance as the trailer returns to ‘Nicole’s’ normal ‘perfect’ life. The music then deepens as the pace picks up getting faster and louder as the trailer intensifies creating a sense of disruption and fear. The track dramatically ends with the shot of the hand under the door reaching for the key trying to escape, leaving the audience on a cliff-hanger.
I believe our film trailer appeals to a target audience of mainly females aged 18-30. Due to the lack of other charcters such as a male ‘hero’ or a protagonist which we need to create fear amongst the audience so that they do not just empathise with the victim, this is how we can improve the narrative, the male character will also create a sense of rearrsurrance and protection as I think our trailer has no appeal to men as yet, therefore this is definatley an improvement we need to make in our moving image trailer. Other improvements would be the length of the titles as the audience easily become bored, they are much too long and only need to be around 2 seconds and are currently 6 seconds. Our shots and transitions also need to be at a quick pace to create disruption, catering to the audience, emotional pleasures and visceral pleasures; scaring the audience, making them jump, heart racing effect, making them feel for the character. Locations of the mise-en-scene need to be darker in places with darker lighting forming fear of the unknown, giving the audience a sense of abandonment. The music choice needs to be improved so that it flows better.
The five key images/shots I have chosen to analyse are;
The opening close up shot of Nicole’s face lit up by the mobile phone- the close up of Nicole’s face shows fear and despair which straight away indicates to the audience that this young girl is vulnerable and a victim therefore they empathise with her creating emotional pleasures. The darkness of the surroundings creates fear as everything is unknown and this creates an intellectual puzzle and raises questions such and where is she? Is she alone? And how did she get there? The mobile phone, which is a iphone gives the audience a sense of time and date as it is a new technology therefore the film is based around the 21st century. The mobile phone suggest that the ‘victim’ is calling for help, or looking for comfort of some kind. It also shows Nicole likes the latest, ‘coolest’ thing and can afford it. This is an iconic image as the genre is obvious to its audience immediately.
The medium long shot of the flash back of Nicole next to her car (mini) shows that Nicole is from a wealthy background, and has expensive luxuries. The location of the large, country based house in the background also leads the audience to assume it is her parents who are wealthy therefore she is clearly spoilt. This creates the sense of the “Girl who had everything…”, the audience may assume jealousy is a key factor to what has happened to this young girl.
The high angled central shot looking down onto the teacher handing Nicole her A* essay in disbelief creates the sense of a protagonist as the relationship between Nicole and the teacher is portrayed to be not good as the teacher seems to dislike Nicole showing generic types. This shot creates a sense of vulnerability clearly highlighting that Nicole is a victim. The location set in a class room is reassuring as Nicole appears to be in a safe place but the facial expression of the teacher leads the audience to question is she?
The close up of the clock clearly suggests that Nicole is running out of time. This puts the audience on edge creating suspence to whether or not the victim will escape in time. It also gives the audience a sense of time of day and how long Nicole and leaves them questioning how long has she been trapped? The setting around the clock has been black out leaving yet again the location unknown creating fear and disbelief for the character.
The final image viewed by the audience on the animatic is a close up of a hand under a door struggling to reach for a key. The hand is presumed to be Nicole as you can see a silver ring on her third finger, this suggest she is a victim and is close to escaping which comforts the audience however leaves them in suspence as they are unsure to whether or not she reaches the key. This attract the audience making them want to go and see the film. The location is yet again unknown making the audience weary, however the setting with the daylight gives the audience an idea of time of day. The red ribbon creates a sense of fear and danger and the iconic colour relates to blood, terror and disruption. The old key is an iconic prop as it is shown throughout the film it puts the audience in suspence as it the unkown is on the other side of the door it opens. The shot is a central iconic image as it as it creates the sense of the films genre, Nicole (victim) trying to escape, but it still causes a intellectual puzzle as we don’t know where she is trying to escape from, why? Or who?
During this process each of us have had a contributing role to play; Mitchell is very creative with deciding on camera angles and lighting of the shots as is Sean. Mitchell has also excelled at the technical side such as the editing of the shots, audio and soundtrack. Sean has excelled at the camera shots taking most of the images and looking at the mise-en-scene and how to create the shot. I have excelled with the organization of the shots and editing, I have made note constantly of improvements and missing components of the overall animatic. Technology is not my forte as I struggled with the editing and transitions however I am learning new skills constantly and improving with the technology. I will contribute to the moving image trailer by using my strengths in organization making sure we meet on the correct days in the correct locations with all the props and costume needed, I will also contribute my acting skills as I am the main character, and I will continue to learn new skills with the technologies. I have thouroghly enjoyed the process of our film trailer so far and I am looking forward to creating the final product.
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