After researching similar titles, I made my own in Adobe Photoshop. The soft glow makes the title seem out of focus, mysterious and otherworldly. The lens flare is reminiscent of the UFO in the trailer. Other examples of lens flares in sci-fi films can be seen in much of J.J. Abrams' work such as Super 8 and Star Trek. The next thing I wanted to do was animate it; I wanted the lens flare to appear on the 'I'. To do this I made a second version without the flare and then took the two images into Adobe Premier Elements. I stitched them together and used a 'cross dissolve' which gave a good fade in effect.
There are a couple of different props I will need for my trailer. These include things that will appear on screen and things that won't.
The story centres around the main character finding a strange glowing object outside his house. The difficulty is finding an object that fits the criteria of being small, light emitting and not instantly recognizable like a light bulb or torch. It also cannot have a wire running from it because the scene it appears in is outdoors. Having looked at my options, I think the best choice is to use light-up plastic rings. These little toys come in a variety of shapes and colours and, as long as the 'ring' part is obscured, look like abstract, alien glowing objects.
In addition to the little lights, I will also need a bigger, brighter light to represent the UFO in the sky. For this something as simple as a torch or light on a phone will do the trick. As long as the hand holding the object and the object it's self are obscured through clever shot placement, and as long as it gives off a strong light, it doesn't matter what the object is.
My first day of filming took place in London. I went to London without any of my actors so I couldn't film any shots with people in them, but what I could get was a lot of establishing and atmospheric shots. The area of London I focused on was the bank around the Tate Modern and St Paul's Cathedral. I like this area because it fuses the modern metropolitan parts of London with the iconic tourist spots. The weather on the day was perfect for the mood I was aiming for: cold and foggy. It makes the footage feel gloomy and moody. Above I have compiled all the usable footage I took, not all of which will be used in the final film. Some of my favourite shots are the shot at 0:30 which was taken from the balcony of the Tate Modern, which has good composition and features both the cathedral and the bridge, as well as moving elements like the people and the boat. This makes the shot seem dynamic and bustling. I also like the 0:45 shot which pans up to reveal St Paul's; it has good depth and the passers by look like they could be extras or background characters. I like the shot at 1:26 because of the way the shore goes back in space. The final shot at 1:27 is taken on an escalator inside the Tate Modern. Through the glass window, you can see my character walking back and forth; I think was was a creative way of doing a vertical panning shot. The issue is that I had my brother film it and the results are somewhat shaky and bad quality. The audio is not an issue as it will be cut out and have music over it in the final film.
An antagonist can be a lot of things: a maniacal villain; a natural disaster; even a disease. In my case, the antagonists will be a secret organisation who operate from the shadows. Since my antagonists are people, not abstract concepts, they are going to need costumes. To me, antagonists are almost always more interesting characters than protagonists. I like working out what makes them tick; why they do what they do and how they got to where they are. On top of this, they are often more creatively or uniquely designed because, as I talk about in my other costume post, they do not fall into the protagonist's problem of having to please and be relatable to the whole audience. I need my villains to look smart, intimidating, professional and dangerous. Looking at similar villains from other movies, the clear theme is suits. Suits fit all the criteria I am looking for for my characters.
Suits are the perfect fit for my villains, but the issue I will encounter is that it may be hard to distinguish the two characters; especially since they are identical twins. To combat this, the suits will have to be distinctly different. Grey and navy blue are the two most common suit colours other than black, which should be reserved for funerals. Another piece of costume I may want to consider depending on the weather is sunglasses, as they can add mysteriousness.
The protagonist of my film needs to be relatable and accessible, so that the audience attach to them. The best ways to achieve this are through dialogue and appearance, and here I will be focusing on appearance.
Most movie protagonists are white males; this is because in society they are considered by many to be the 'default' or 'average' person. While this is obviously not true, as modern society is diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, sexuality and many other aspects, it is a trope of almost all genres to have a white male protagonist. In terms of costume, having a character dressed too formally of too shabbily will make them unrelatable. They need to be as average as possible without being boring. Looking at other 'average' characters in film, you can see they dress inoffensively and casually. The other issue I will encounter is having the lead be a teenager. Teenagers come with their own stereotypes, many of which negative, so I will have to take into consideration whether I want to conform to or subvert stereotypes such as lazy and violent through costume.
The sort of costume I want for my protagonist will consist of jeans, trainers or sneakers, a t-shirt or collared shirt and maybe a casual jacket depending on the weather the days we film. At the beginning of the trailer, I plan for there to be a scene where the character is in his home at night. For this scene, he may be wearing pyjama bottoms and slippers.
My film trailer will have scenes in multiple, distinct
locations. I want locations that are recognisable to an international audience,
and this will come in the form of London. Of everywhere in the world, London
probably has the largest amount of famous landmarks densely packed into a small
location. This makes it a great place to film because it means that I could
shoot multiple unique scenes in the same day. The other good thing about London
is that because the landmarks are so famous, audiences from other countries
such as America and China (the two biggest consumers) will recognise them; this
draws them to the film. London is right on my doorstep and this means that me
and my actors could take a trip down there and back in a day.
The bridge from the Tate Modern that overlooks St Paul's Cathedral is one of my favourite locations in London.
Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament are some of the most iconic London landmarks. The only issue is that they are always so busy; it is difficult to film with so many people getting in the way.
It would be easy and effective to have a couple of shots with the London Eye in the background.
The other location I have chosen to use in my film is Epsom Downs.
Epsom Downs is a racecourse on a hill overlooking London. Whilst not as famous
as Big Ben or the Houses of Parliament, the Downs is recognisable to a British
audience. The hilly, grassy, countryside landscape contrasts with the dense,
metropolitan setting of London; this will create a good juxtaposition in the
trailer. Another good thing about the Downs is that, on a clear day, there is a
great view of London which would make an impressive establishing shot at the
start of the trailer.
The view of London from Epsom Downs looks very cinematic.
Open on an establishing shot of a city at
night. The setting is stereotypical of the spy genre. The time of day indicates
mystery and secrecy which help to establish some of the films themes. The
lights in the distance of the shot indicate decadence. They also imply that
there is more to be seen; that there are things going on off screen that we as
the audience do not yet know about. This is conventional of the spy genre
because it implies there is a mystery or conspiracy.
This is the first shot we get of the main
character. It is a close up of him in
the back of a car with a gun. Other than the obvious genre indicator -the gun-
this shot implies the genre of the film through the use of lighting and
character. The high volume of shadows in the shot implies mystery and secrecy.
The characters costume; his hair, ring and suit; all give off a high class,
suave, James Bond type vibe which is a stereotype of the genre.
This shot is of the ‘villain’ reaching
for his gun; a
canted angle is used. This builds tension both with the characters and audience
because the canted angle makes you feel uneasy and like you have a lack of
control. It implies the characters are tense and that the scene is building to
some kind of ultimatum.
The main trope of the spy genre in this
shot is the car chase. It is a long shot which lets the audience get a view of
all the action. It is also a high angle shot which makes the cars look small
and inconsequential, dwarfing the significance of the scene. The shot has a
clear colour palette of orange and blue. The orange implies danger which
contrasts with the calm of the blue, and this reinforces the theme that the
peril doesn’t matter.
Following the first scene, there are a
number of graphics such as this which appear on the screen for a brieftime each. The voice over they are
accompanied with explains some of the back story and context of the film. It
conforms to stereotypes of the spy genre by featuring themes of war and
international tension. The colour red implies danger and blood which are also
conventional of the genre. It could also imply love or romance, which are often
featured heavily in the genre.
This long shot gives us more of an idea
about the theme of the movie and also tells us more about the main
character.The long shot lets us look at
the surrounding environment which we can see is under military rule. We can
infer that the setting is Germany from earlier in the trailer. We also see the
protagonist in the shot. His positioning directly in the center implies he is
important. His demeanor juxtaposes with the environment making him look even
smarter. The camera is placed at the horizon line making the character seem
important, and because we see his back we are seeing a similar view to him.
This makes the audience empathise with him.
Here we can see the ‘villain’ trope.
Without any other context we can tell that the center character is the
main antagonist because
of his nefarious demeanor. The deep shadows in the surrounding
environment; the scientific lab; the evil henchmen and of course the large bomb
all help to frame the character in a powerful way. His location; directly in
the middle of the
shot also makes him look significant because he is the first thing we look at.
This is a low angle shot which makes the character seem powerful and important. His motorcycle, boots and dark clothes make the character look rugged and ready for action; we can see this is a hero type character which is stereotypical of the genre. The setting contrasts with the character by being a bright and happy countryside environment, not the place you would expect an action chase.
