ATTENTION PLEASE BEFORE VIEWING .....

I'll be handing in my Final Major Project tomorrow. At this moment, I feel like one of the characters in my zombie trailer, without the blood!

What I will include:

Final film trailer, 'Payback'. Edited by Stephanie Bourke

A blog displaying my Reflective Diary

In Appendices:

Directors cut of the trailer
Final edit of Directors cut
Final Images of Trailer Designs
Printed copy of Reflective Diary
Sketchbook of Designs

I request for my Trailers to be viewed on a good quality projector with high volume and dimmed lights to improve the intense atmosphere. Thank you.

My Reflective Diary blog shows some images that relate to what I am writing about, however I've decided to include my 'final designs' in a separate appendices along with both versions of Anthony's cuts of the trailer so that they are easier to be viewed and referred to.

Click on the link below to view the three zombie trailer versions such as the Directors cut, Final Directors cut and The final zombie trailer edited by Stephanie Bourke.

http://www.youtube.com/user/HayleyGittins

I hope you enjoy it...

Final Trailer

Today I picked up both trailers, from Steph and Anthony, which I'm extremely pleased with, especially Steph's.

Final Trailer: I like the way it tells the story and focuses on the make up, and at the same time makes your heart race with excitement. It ticks all the boxes on the brief exactly as I intended. It showcases my make up really well, in a visually entertaining way and in keeping with the zombie theme. In producing this trailer I've learnt so much from being involved in the whole process of making a trailer from start to finish, and in doing so learnt a great deal about film production techniques from having to do it myself, such as filming, lighting, camera operating, editing, organisation skills as well as working as part of a team and creative thinking. Throughout this process, I have also come a long way in fine-tuning my skills as a make up designer. These are all skills that I intend to build on and will apply to work in the film industry, when I finish, which is the path I wish to take. Undertaking this project and working as part of a film production team, has made me even more determined to pursue a career in this area of the industry.

I have also really enjoyed the editorial aspect through practicing all my shoots and have undoubtedly improved my photographic make up skills. This has also given me an eye for detail which is especially vital on still photographs as every fine detail shows up and has to be absolutely perfect. I have also learnt that you must look out for these minute details like wayward hair, or shiny skin, from behind the camera as often the photographer doesn't see them at the time. As a make up artist I have learnt that you work with the photographer to get everything as near to perfection as possible, as re-touching afterwards is time consuming and expensive.

I've also learnt how to be really quick with make up both for photography as well as film. I had a restricted time of 20 minutes per zombie when we shot the trailer, and in industry speed is really important as you don't want everyone on set to be waiting for the make up artist.

'Payback'

I decided to call my trailer 'Payback' as I wanted something that was going to short and snappy and something that would relate to the trailer.

Payback Definition:

1. The act or process of paying back
2. A benefit gained as the result of a previous action

Both these definitions of the word 'Payback' are evident within the narrative of my trailer. In the directors cut you see Anthony putting money back in the till which is a form of paying back. He is warned that if he doesn't put things right then he will have to suffer the consequences, which in other words means he will have to pay for what he has done.

In Steph's trailer edit, 'Payback' isn't an obvious connection as her trailer edit doesn't follow a strong narrative but shows 'payback' more visually as at the beginning Ant takes a pill he thinks will allow him to do whatever he wants, there's 'payback' as more zombies start to appear.

Its all about the 'payback' he receives for doing a deal with the 'dark side'.

It is an enigmatic word that doesn't give too much away, and as it is only a one word title, is quite punchy.

Music for the trailer

Anthony's cut:

I didn't like his choice of music; he edited the first half of the trailer to the song Woo hoo by Blur!! Although the lyrics and beat went with the storyline of Ant's character racing round taking money, stealing cars and laptops because the city was frozen and he could do what he liked, I found the song too 'cheesy'. I wanted music without lyrics as I feel they distract from the visual content. Therefore, I have been trying to find suitable music. I want something upbeat to keep the underlying tension going and something that gives a strong beat relating to a heartbeat. This will pre-empt the shock of the first zombie appearance. Then the music changes, and I've chosen a steady drum beat to build the tension even further to fit the horror genre.

Steph's cut:

I have been up all night trying to find music for Steph's version of the trailer. I have looked at electro, drum and bass and dubstep as they have strong underlying beats which works well for creating tension. I have looked at artists such as The Prodigy, Fake Blood, Plump Djs and Subfocus. However I have decided to stick to the genre Dubstep as it is a unique sound described as 'tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns'. It is gives an intense vibe to the sound and I can relate it to horror because of the increasing drum and constant beat building to a climax and a sudden beat drop, that creates a similar sensation to a fast heartbeat.

I found the most intense and heavy dubstep I could find and listened to a selection from 16 Bit who produces music that has a hardcore beat. I used 16 Bit's 'Chainsaw Calligraphy' in my dissertation horror clip which worked extremely well, building up the shock and horror factor.

Here's the shortlist sent Steph. These are the ones that I think would fit the best:

Machine Gun (16 Bit remix) - Noisia

Thieves - Self Similar

Stuck in the System - Joker

Demolion - Goldfinger

Mafia - KOAN sound

Note: I really wanted to use 'Chainsaw Calligraphy' - 16 Bit as it is really scary because they use the sound effects of a chainsaw, which somehow you automatically associate with murder! However I have already used that music before in my dissertation clip and because I will upload both onto my website in my next project, I don't want to use the same thing twice.

Editing Meeting

Anthony is finally back, and today we had a meeting with Steph to view Anthony's directors cut, and discuss what we liked, and what could be re-edited, and to discuss how Steph's version will differ to Ant's. Somehow Ant wasn't able to send the footage over to Steph via 'you send it' so we had to upload it, then transfer it onto Steph's hard drive. She will then edit another version of the trailer showcasing my make up with a totally different style, so I have a contrast between the two. One will be a traditional trailer for a film, and shows key points of the story to draw the viewer in and make them want to watch it. It also gives an idea of the genre of the film and the viewer an idea of what they can expect the film to be roughly about. The other, edited by Steph, will showcase the make up and is to be geared towards an abstract interpretation of the trailer, collaging shots of imagery to shock the audience. Intense music will get pulses racing, and the trailer is intended to be a tense journey of emotions for the viewer, from fear right through to a visual spectacle.

I will be handing in Steph's version of the trailer as we have edited it in a way that not only showcases my make up, but is a far more edgy and contemporary than Anthony's cut. Anthony's trailer cut is longer than Steph's however hers is more to the point and contains exactly what is needed in terms of make up. I have researched other trailers to see their time duration such as 28 Days Later at 1:28, Shaun Of the Dead at 1:39 and Creep at 1:46. The majority I have looked at have been between 1 and 2 minutes therefore Steph's cut fits within the average trailer time.


However I will include Anthony's directors cut version, to the appendices to show that first edit, as it still meets my brief and satisfies my target market. I also worked with him on a final cut which I will also include to show the changes between them, and also to show the contrast between Anthony's final cut version and Stephanie's version.

Editing with Steph..

I attended the edit with Steph as much as I could, to give my input. We used final cut, which is what most editing post houses use. It is valuable for me to understand how it works and familiarise myself with the programme in case I ever need to use it in the future.

We went through all the clips to sort them into sub menus such as Zombie/London/Ant and Jeremy folders.

We marked any good or bad takes.

We mapped on paper a rough storyboard to get a whole picture and structure.

I will need to finalise the music, and lay it down so we can cut images to it as it makes it easier to pace the project. Its easier to mix the music in final cut, two mixes of the same track mix in better when you want a faster pace.

We made a different folder of voice over clips to lay down over the track and cover certain images.

Then we started bringing in clips and putting them in an order We played it through a few times to see what needed adapting, and started putting on a few effects resembling cctv cameras to make it look like someone else was watching.

To add the titles, we downloaded fonts from the internet and imported them onto final cut.

My brief was to make a trailer focusing not only the storyline, but also the make up, so we picked shots that highlighted the make up with plenty of close ups. We avoided any dark shots and underground footage as the lighting was too poor and didn't work as well. The daylight shots worked best as they showed the make up well.

Filming the last scene in Lennons

I arrived at Lennons at 11am where Sparky was already waiting for me. He helped me set up the lights in the middle of the room. It's a small venue and the spotlights we had were extremely bright, but could be dimmed down if necessary, the lighting needs to look low. Unfortunately Sparkey had to go to Bournemouth so he couldn't stay to help. So the first thing goes wrong... one of the lights Uni gave me in the kit is broken....GREAT!! There would be no time to take it back and get another one as they're really slow there so I would be waiting too long.

I've had real difficulties finding models/actors last minute. Everyone is busy with their own separate projects and I made a casting call on 'model mayhem' and 'pure storm' (where my account got suspended and the casting call cancelled for putting up my email address, which 'apparently' you can't do!). So I set my facebook status to 'actors needed' and put a notice up in the performance department at uni, a few days ago but knowone has got back to me. Therefore my flatmate Jennie and good friend Heidi agreed to help me. They arrived at 12pm where I started on their make up which took a total of an hour.

The designs were simple as I had restricted time, I applied the 'infinity wound' on both their cheeks only on opposite sides so that for the scene where they are facing each other at the table, pretending they're not quite frozen and still moving a little, the 'infinity signs' not visible, they suddenly move their heads towards the camera with a sharp movement, and both reveal their 'infinity wounds' engraved on each cheek.

ANOTHER PROBLEM...

So.. not only is one of the lights broken, but the uni camera is also broken!!!!

I wanted to cry, I had rented out Lennon's, dragged my two friends there even though they had loads of their own work to be doing, and now there's no camera!!!

I had organised yesterday, to use my friend's camera which is HD but someone else was using it till 12pm. Well the time is now 1pm so I quickly ran over the road to Uni to meet my him and get the camera. I arrived back at 12.30 and finally we began to film the first shot.

This scene was to be filmed at the bar, however because I did the lighting not Giles Andrews, it wasn't well lit at all and the footage isn't good enough. I changed one of the lights around and got it as well lit as possible for the next shots. I filmed a few shots that I was happy with and thought they looked really cool as Heidi was great at acting like a zombie. I was able to get some real close ups of the make up which was the main thing.

Overall my day didn't go as well as planned with all the problems, although I managed to turn it round and make it work. I only hope the footage I've got is good enough to go on the trailer.