Progress.... it's like Take That!

We have continued editing our film 'Killing Between The Lines' We are really happy with the lighting from the kitchen scene and our new location at Thurnscoe.

On the 6th February we shall be having a lesson from a university lecturer on how to make our own film poster using photoshop to promote our film. By analysing and researching different posters, which I posted a few months ago on this blog; it has given me some idea on how to create my own.

To create the conceptualisation, design and production of an original film poster it has to:

STAND OUT

Have a catchy tagline: "Oblivious to everything."

The Lighting has to be right to promote the mood of our film and give the audience an idea on the genre of the film. IE, Thriller; Tense, Jumpy, Twist;Suspense;Tension. (Aesthetic)

The TITLE of our film must stand out to get people to recognise and watch it. (Focused))

I want the overall look of the final poster to like a we are promoting a psychological thriller.

I want the poster to be well ordered and sequenced: Large Title, large image.

I want to use a high resolution such as 300dpi. because if we were to print this off and place it on a billboard it would be in a large format. Other things I could place on the poster are:

Leading Cast

Classification

Director

Producer

Distributor

I would also like to use photography as the prominent piece of the design in order to try and explore different aspects of media.

Our poster should allow the audience to take in all this important information instantly in order for it to be a success. Therefore Psych productions can create more films in the future!...and make more profit. ;)

This website has given me inspiration for my own as these posters are bright, colourful, big photography shots and most importantly they stand out and instantly get the message across to their target audience on what the poster is promoting!

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/extremely-creative-movie-posters/

This video also helped greatly.

"The eyes will always focus on the middle of the poster."

Actors first below the title. Below that - film crew.

Director always named last.

The question I am going to ask myself when we finalise our poster is: Does this poster promote our film easily to our target audience; if I were in their shoes? I will then know if it will go on and be a success.

Film poster research

This is the poster for the film The Machinist. In the middle is an image of the main character who is looking away from the centre showing that he's looking at something, there is shadowing on one side of his face which indicate that not all is what it seems. Furthermore, there are images in front of the character with an opacity which further indicates that not everything is clear cut and suggests that the character isn't fully aware of what is happening in the film. The character has a serious expression to show that something serious is happening and definitely indicates it isn't a 'happy' film. The tag at the top 'How can you wake up from a nightmare if you're not asleep?' shows that the character is probably suffering from sleep deprivation and possibly reveals that bad things happen to him. 

The poster uses dark colours which fits in with the thriller genre, showing that it is in itself a dark film. 

The red font of the actors name provides a clear contrast to the darkness of the poster. It is in capitals to stand out. 

The title is the biggest font and in capitals to stand out, the white contrasts to the rest of the poster and is eye catching therefore clear to viewers what the title is. 

Filming update

Tuesday 24th January, we filmed the kitchen scene. We used 2 point lighting which I stated previously to increase the quality of the footage.

[images here]

Wednesday 25th January, we filmed the first killing. I decided to use Phoenix park in Thurnscoe as it is a local location so easily accessible for me and has nice scenery. The scenery increases the quality of the shots and improves the film.

[images here]

Lighting research

For filming tonight we decided it would be better if we used extra lighting rather than just the overhead fluorescent lighting. This would greatly improve the shots, thus making the film look much better.

However, as I do not have any experience with lighting and not entirely sure how to use them I thought it would be helpful to research them.



This video we found on youtube was very helpful and showed us where to place the lights. It explains and shows how to use the lighting.

Although, this video did not give great detail into setting up and we found another that explains other parts the above one doesn't.



This gave me a greater insight in how to set up the lights and how to use them for a greater effect.

Update

As we haven't posted for a while I thought I'd post a few screen shots of the filming and editing we've done so far on Final cut express software.

Medium shot of Andrew at the table

Close up of Andrew writing in the diary

These are some of the screen shots from Andrew's study room. This is the scene where he is writing in his diary and narrating the first killing.
Below are screen shots of the second killing. These shots are from a park in Thurnscoe.

Establishing shot of location 

Similar shot to first - After killing James Jones walking off

James Jones being beaten to death

James Jones walking through the park medium shot

Editing of the film

Editing in Final Cut Express. 

Filming schedule

Our filming outside of college will be finished by Wednesday

Tuesday: Kitchen scene - Bolton-upon-dearne (6pm-7:30pm)
Wednesday: Killing scene - Phoenix park - Thurnscoe (2pm-3:30pm)

The title sequence will be filmed within college and the last scene where Maria Francis is in the study room will be too. This will all hopefully be finished this week.

Progress....

Sorry for not updating our blog for a while, we have been busy filming but heres the update...

We have started filming our title opening sequence in Andrew Francis's office. However we set some of the filming accidentally to Digital video rather than 1080i so we are going to re-film that today.

For the killing of one our films we have had to change the location of the Alhambra due to too many people coming into the shot. We have had to use a male victim because we wern't able to get a female actor, at the time.

CHARACTER PROFILE

Name: James Jones

Age: 19

Occupation: Receptionist

Gender: Male

James Jones works at a reception in the Barnsley Library. He currently lives alone in a flat on the outskirts of town. He is a bit of a loner and therefore he walks much by himself alone. He gets attacked and killed by Andrew whilst walking through the park on his way to work. He is seen by people as a bit of a nerd but he is clearly bright.

Likes:

Books

Technology

Writing

Sci-Fi Films (Star Wars)

Dislikes:

Going to parties

Being the centre of Attention

Slapstick Comedy

We have started filming the Alleyway killing scene and very soon we will be filming the kitchen killing scene for the climax of our film. We have also been editing our film so far, on Final Cut Express