Magazine Cover

We changed our cover complete as i listed in a previous post, however even the second copy had some errors once we properly evaluated it, small touches which make all the difference.
So we have re-evaluated with our media teacher and noted down once again all the things that we feel need to be changed, Comparing it also to the professional edition of Empire.

This was the second edition of our poster, Compared to the last one we added all the necessary information such as the date etc. Then added the white strip as you can see towards the bottom of the image.
One way we looked to see if it was perfect was by looking at it from a distance, then we realised the writing in the circle on the right hand side was not easily read so we then got to work and changed things around, more so then planned.











           
This is the new improved version of our magazine cover. As you can see we changed the writing and removed the smaller image. And fully changed the main image. The reason is because simply this image looked better, we used a different effect and made the image lighter and it just seemed more outgoing.

This is the new improved poster,   There is a lot more text on it and also we needed a catch line which we have also come up with.
One thing we missed through evaluation to give the poster substance was reviews from different magazines eg. We added these few details and they made a big difference.

Filming To Be Done

Although we were very ahead of the game in the beginning with filming, every time we watch over the footage in the order we have put it, it gives us the impression that something is missing and there is something we can add. So now we have gone through what we have slowly and taken notes of what we feel we can add and move around.
We have created many transitions and effects from scratch which we are very proud off however to have them separated correctly and put in a proper place throughout the film we are going to have to film more footage.
Most of our footage was filmed in a house which was empty and so we managed to achieve an eery effect with it, then we moved into a woodland area which was meant to be the lead up. and although we are filming a trailer, we have no real concluding point towards the end which i personally feel is needed.
I also feel we need some more scenes in the middle of the footage, not only because we have more room for it, but because we as a group feel there needs to be more because when it comes to a trailer, although you don't want to give all of the story away, its important to give the viewer enough so they want to see more, this is one point i think we need to work on.

Magazine Cover

This is our magazine cover. We have just done an evaluation as we did on the poster and aligned it with a professional copy of Empire magazine and realised although we had come up with something which we thought was very good, we had missed a few details.

The first thing we forgot was the price, as previously mentioned these are just technicalities however they are what give the magazine that professional look.
Another small thing we forgot is the date. By putting the date on we can show we paid attention to detail. Also we have a bar code, a bar code is scanned to give the employee the price and so it looks better if there is a price on the cover.










We currently have 3 images on our magazine cover, however when comparing ours with a professional edition of Empire, we realised that they ten to have 2 slightly broader images and then more text. So we are currently working on removing one of the images.

Another problem we are having is with the text. The text that is currently on the page is proving to be confusing compared to a real edition of Empire. So as well as taking things off the page we are re-arranging the text in contrast to the image so its clear what each piece of text is for.
Also one one of the chosen images has been removed and the text  organised, we are going to have a lot of space on the cover. So while looking at Empire's layout we saw they had less images and more text, the text they had was all of different colours, sizes and fonts however still proved to catch the readers eye. This is what we intend to do get rid of things and make space for more text.
We have also decided to make the images we are keeping smaller, or have one of them large and one significantly smaller.

This is the edition of Empire we are comparing our cover with. 

Movie Poster

Here we have our final finished edition of our movie poster. One of the highlights of our coursework last year was our poster, so this year we had to see what we could do differently, to make sure the poster is as good but so it didn't look like we had taken to much from the last poster.

What you see on the left hand side is what we came up with. Compared to the poster which we had last year, this is very simple, the poster last year had much more going on with regards to detail and colours.

So we went for the total opposite for this year. This time the colour scheme = Black&White. Detail very limited and writing also limited. And as you can see we managed to create something as effective using much less activity.









Another thing is the text right at the bottom. Usually, we what we did last year was take it off another poster. However in this poster we edited out all the information and replaced it with our actual information, this shows professionalism and attention to detail.

After evaluating our finished piece, we realised that it was lacking text. On movie posters there tends to be text which gives part of the movie away or just a rating which shows what a certain magazine or newspaper thought of it. This is something we did not add and through evaluation and criticism we realised. We are now thinking of a strap-line, rating to add onto the poster to give some more information for example.
Strap-lines tend to be very short but just enough to want someone to look further and maybe watch the film. For this reason we are going to add one and upload it once it has been completed.

Rough Cut Analysis

This is some of the filming we have done so far, we have more filming done however when we sat down to piece it together, this is what we found went best together. 

Most of which so far is in black and white, we have scenes filmed in the house where the lighting is fully natural and there has been no editing done, we intend to keep them scenes that way, by doing this we hope it will give the black and white scenes more effect and significance. A sort of contrast to show the fully lit scenes where everything is good and well with the friends, and then the darkness to show the darkness the friends face.
The noises added in are temporary, as we film further we are going to hopefully look for ways to create other suspicious noises to add in, we want to create our own, to go along with the rest of the film so far and be unique. As you saw in this footage we still need to add tag-lines, we feel that tag-lines in most other films although provide a scare in themselves, they are very similar in may horror trailers, we are still thinking of what to write and add, along with the name.
For the name, we wanted a powerful name, however a name that portrays mystery at the same time, ambiguous, inexplicable, Enigma is the one we decided to stick with in the end, as these words mean the same thing. The idea of something being unexplainable is what scares an audience, they go to the cinema to see a horror, what they expect is to see things that they would not expect to happen in their lives or in their day to day life. Which is why when at the beginning of a film when it says it is based on a true story, it tends to have more effect on the audience.

Most things are made to seem mundane in black and white, the few things moving for instance me and Hassan will stick out even more, the colours are gone, makes most of the scene seem lifeless which also ads to the horror effect. 

Filming To Be Done

A lot of what we do when filming is very spontaneous, although we have in mind the ideas the plans which we have come up with during lesson time, when we are on set so many more ideas come to mind.

Other scenes such as scary moments throughout, what he have at the moment puts more of a story to the trailer however, scary moments which appear throughout the trailer for split seconds.

Today we have been told that we have just over three weeks before the hand in date of all of our practical work. Although we have been paying significantly more attention to the blog it is now time to go back to the practical work and give it some finishing touches and possible add to it to make it that bit better.

Quick cuts: with the filming we already have, there is too many shots which take too long to kick in. There is story before something happens and although this helps the viewer understand what the story is about, when there is too much of it its almost boring, its expected in the next scene and you lose the element of surprise. Therefore it is important to have a balance, so they understand what they're actually being scared of.

Establishing shots: These shots give the audience a feel of the location. Last year we couldn't really afford to do that too much due to the locations we had chose to film in, this year we have moved right out and filming in very different locations, dark wooded areas with rocky streams, so by having an establishing shot, we can add effect to the whole of the video. Most of the filming

After effects

Transitions

Another thing we noticed was part of filming did not quite add up which means we are going to go and re-film some of the scenes and then that will allow us to put our media piece together so it makes sense.

After Effects

While creating our after effects, we came across a new effect which appealed to us. It was of a face talking and an effect in front of the face so no features of the face where seen.
As our media practical piece is based on horror this effect really appealed to us and we thought it would go perfectly with what we have currently filmed.
It was not an effect we are largely familiar with and so it took lots of research and following videos which we found on the Internet, however we have now managed to create an effect which has been finished and polished to perfection. Now when we come to arranging our footage into a full film, we are then able to add this transition where we feel it is best.

This effect as we executed it, we saw how simple it really was. We went to a dark room and filmed myself, just talking to the camera, as funny as it sounds that was the base of this whole transition. Simply talking to the camera, and i had to keep my head perfectly straight and at a certain height for the camera and just spoke with a slight aggression to the camera.
Once it was filmed we then it was uploaded to the Mac and the first thing we did was mute the sound. then, the it became an aggressive conversation with the camera as seen in the video above.
After my face was cut out so it was the only thing in shot to edit and then the editing began.