Drafting and planning: raw footage

This is one of the additional scenes I added in to my storyboard to make my trailer longer, and I recently filmed it when finishing the filming for my trailer. This clip will need editing however I cannot do that till 7th January as that is when I next have access to MoviePlusX6. However despite this I feel that this is a strong clip.  For starters I feel that I got the lighting correct here as there are hints at light but most of Poezzi is in darkness showing how despite him having a chance to be good he still chooses to do bad. I also opted for a close up of Poezzi to show how serious he is about Castro, and the detectives coming for him as shown by his line 'I love it when they try.' However there is a sense of smugness there to show the audience that he believes in his own ability. The way he looks as well was also planned as I got my actor to not shave off his beard. This is to contrast with the previous statement, as while he believes in his own ability he is not clean shaved, as in previous clips, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience_24.html, to show that Castro is defiantly causing him some stress and trouble. Overall I am happy with this clip and feel it will be even better when I can edit it.

Drafting and planning:

Here are some picture of the editing I am doing for Poezzi's gang scene. At the moment I am just trying to figure out the best way the clips will work and whether or not I need things like a fade shot. Also I am trying to fit in my copyrighted song of Shipping Up To Boston, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/organisation-choice-of-songs.html, to fit in with the clips. I plant to use around 10 seconds of the song so I fit in with the guidelines of just 15 seconds of copyrighted music. This is a simple enough procedure as I just drop the song file onto the audio track as shown by my first image. Now I am focusing on the frames looking good and the best order for the clips to go in, but feel I am in a strong position in making a key part in my trailer.

Drafting and planning: more editing

As shown by my previous blog,http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/blog-post_18.html, I have recently started editing my trailer and have recently been focusing on the starting part of the trailer. This is the bit where Poezzi gives his orders, before quick segements of his gang causing trouble, and then him being informed about Castro. I decided to skip one scene for this as I felt it would be best to edit all of Poezzi's clips and once so I can see if he looks menacing enough. I opted for the clips my target audience approved off in previous blog posts, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience_24.html, as they felt they were the best clips to portray Poezzi how I want him to be portrayed, and as I am trying to attract this audience to my film I decided to listing to them. I decided to keep the Poezzi 'do it' scene as I felt it was the perfect clip for that bit with the lighting portraying him as intimidating and it being a nice short introduction to the protagonist. For the quick segment of clips of his gang causing trouble I decided to join around 5 separate short clips together before adding in 'Shipping up to Boston' on top of it. I showed in a previous blog post why I opted for this song, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/organisation-choice-of-songs.html. I got this song by using Youtube Converter to download it then added it into MoviePlusX6. I then selected the file and cut it to about 9 seconds as I am only allowed 15 seconds of copyrighted music, and also because the segment is only that long so the main/ best bit of the song is used to symbolize the havoc they are creating. I then just added in the music over the clips, by putting the file under the clip files on overlay soundtrack 2 (its the file right at the bottom). Finally I cut the scene where Poezzi is informed of Castro just a little bit as I felt if I did not it would be too long, but I still feel it is a strong clip. I still have a lot to learn about the editing software on MoviePlusX6 but at the moment I find the basic things easy to use and feel I am in a strong position for the rest of my trailer.

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I have decided to analyse the 1983 gangster film 'Scarface' to have a look at what effective editing techniques they use in their trailer, which I can perhaps add into my trailer to make it as effective as I can. This trailer only has one real editing technique which is just a load of cut shots throughout, yet this is still very effective. This is because it leads to slow paced editing which mirrors Al Pacino's mood throughout most the trailer, as he is quite calm and cool about everything and seems to know what he's doing and enjoys life. Even 2 minutes 48 seconds when there are short snippets of action the slow paced editing and cut shots remain implying to the audience that Al Pacino is still very calm and confident despite people shooting at him.

This is an effect I could use in my trailer for possibly the start, to feature a lot of cut shots and slow paced editing to show how Poezzi is in control and loving life. This could work well especially if I make my trailer fast paced once Castro comes into it to show the audience how Poezzi's life has gone from being very easy, to being quite difficult. I also like how the eerie music slowly comes in as it adds mystery and fear around the character and that music lingers througout. I could use this again towards the start to make my audience fear Poezzi before adding in other music which is what this trailer does.

This trailer has shown me how by simply using just a few editing techniques and the right sounds and music you can still make a really effective trailer and has helped give me some ideas on how to edit the first part of my trailer.

Drafting and planning

As I have now finished filming for my trailer I have started editing all my clips to combine my trailer together. As shown by the image above I have recently been editing just the start of the trailer with the film distributors title and the age certification. This was quite a simple procedure as I found a load of film identifications and saved them into a folder as shown here. This allowed me to simply select the BBC identification as they are the company distributing my film as shown by my previous blog post,  http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience-and-organisation-who.html. However as the clips featured sound I had to edit it out and add in the sounds I want to feature in my trailer. As shown by my picture I simply selected the file and then selected the mute overlay track located on the left of the files. I then cut down the film identifications original clips to around 6 seconds (combined) by cutting the file. This will allow me to show the audience who is distributing my film for a certain length but it won't be on to much, as this will bore them and they are more interested in the action taking place in the trailer.

Drafting and Planning

Here are 3 unedited clips for my trailer and is a re-shoot of the detective scene. Despite some positive feedback from my target audience about the original detective scene, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/target-audience-response-to-detective.html, I felt that it was not long enough or dramatic enough so decided to re-shoot it. This gives off a better effect due to their being 3 different camera shots/ techniques. Therefore when I edit it it will start off with the original long shot, before cutting to a close up of the detective saying 'gangs' then cutting away to the gang leaders as shown by their pictures on the board. Therefore when I edit it all together it will be like one bit off footage, and this way you get to see how serious the detective is about catching both gangs as well as showing the audience a view of them. Also by doing this technique I also can make the classroom look more like a detectives office as the long shot will show the audience the desk, and chairs etc and then the close up and cut away will show them the board and the pictures off the two gang leaders. I feel that when I edit this it will look much better than the original footage, and will help make my trailer look more effective.

Drafting and planning

Here is a clip I filmed of some of the detectives talking about Poezzi and his gang. This scene will feature at the start of the trailer and I did it to give the audience an idea of how dangerous Poezzi is before seeing him. This is why the detective talking pauses slightly and talks a bit slow to add that mystery and fear around Poezzi and his gang.  I picked my teacher's classroom to film this and used his whiteboard to try and make it look like a detectives office. However I left the board blank and this conversation is supposed to be just casual talk between the detectives as Poezzi's troubles are causing news in the city. When it comes to editing I think that I will start and end this with a fade out as it will feature at the start of my trailer as this will make it more dramatic when setting the idea of Poezzi in the audiences mind. Also by mentioning Poezzi's name and how dangerous his gang is it will reveal to the audience why the film is simply called Poezzi as his name is not mentioned for the rest of the trailer, which is a simple thing to add in but is needed to join the whole thing together and not confuse my audience. Overall I am happy with how this clip came out as I feel the cast are wearing the right clothes for just a causal conversation and feel that they look the part as does the location, as it does look a bit like a detectives office.

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This is the trailer for the film 'the business.' This film is sort of a comedy about gangsters as shown by the trailer throughout, so is not very similar to my trailer 'Poezzi.' However there are a few things I like from this trailer which I feel I can add in for filming in the last few days before my deadline. For starters I like the character development of Frankie through the trailer as it starts of with him not having much and then having loads as shown here.

 This shows how he goes from a standard low time gangster to a major one with a lot of money and how he seems more relaxed with that way of life as well as enjoying it. This is a charchter development I could use with Poezzi. As shown by a previous blog post, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience.html, my target audience feels I should add some character development into my trailer. Therefore as shown by this scene I could do it briefly as simply as this one by starting the trailer as the confident, unbeatable leader he is, before showing how stressed and pressured he is by Castro challenging him implying to the audience he might be about to loose his tag as the best gang leader.

Another thing I like about this trailer is the brief voice overs they use in it at certain bits. For example simply from 36 seconds to 39 seconds there is one. This is something I could use in my trailer to describe Castro's gang once he appears to let the audience know some information on him thus getting their attention more. This could be a useful technique I will probably used.

While this trailer is not similar to mine, it has shown me two very good techniques as well as how I can use/add them in to my trailer, which will prove very useful for when I finally finish making my trailer and hopefully it will make it a very effective trailer.

Target Audience: Response to raw footage

As shown by my recent blog post, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/drafting-and-planning-raw-footage.html, I filmed some raw footage of Poezzi being informed off a problem by one of his gang members a few days ago. I really liked both the shots used but did not know which one would be more suitable to my genre so decided to ask a few of my target audience what they thought.

As shown by the positive feedback I received my target audience believe that the second clip is the best one to use for my trailer highlighting a number of reasons why, such as the contrast between the low key lighting and the flames to make it seem he is thinking of something, as well as the lighting creating mystery through a shady effect. Also Steve points out that the build up to the dialog suits my drama as it present Poezzi as dangerous and authoritative. All of these are excellent points as to why the second clip is the best to use for my trailer and I am glad that my target audience showed me this as I could not decided which clip was the most suitable to use.

Organisation/ drafting and planning

**Insert Picture**

As shown by the image above I have decided to draft 5 more scenes for my trailer, tweaking two and adding in an extra three. I did this because I felt that original storyboard did not feature much of Poezzi so decided to add in two extra scenes featuring him as well as tweaking the two detective scenes so that my trailer is longer, and builds up more tension and suspense around Poezzi. The extra Poezzi scenes I have added will include a close up of him saying I love it when they try, to fit in after the detective scene where they declare going after both gangs, then it will cut to him punching a few men. Finally I will add in a bit where Poezzi is struggling to cope with Castro and have one of his men shout they are loosing the way to show the struggle Poezzi has as the trailer goes goes on. The detective scenes I have tweaked a bit. As shown by my previous blog post, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/drafting-and-planning-detective-scene.html, I will use this mid shot but then cut to a close up of the detective and the gang as he says 'both gangs' thus showing how serious the mission at hand is. Finally I have shot the scene where some of the detectives are talking about Poezzi so that the guy talking pauses to build suspense and fear around the gang.

With this new scenes I have set myself days to film them, with the detective scenes taking place on the 8th December, one of the Poezzi scenes taking place on the 9th December, and then the rest happening on Tuesday 15th December meaning I miss out on my personal deadline of 12th December but will still have enough time to re-shoot if needed.

Drafting and Planning: Raw footage

Recently I recorded the scenes for my trailer where Poezzi is informed by his second hand man that 'there is a problem,' with the problem obviousness being Castro and his gang. Here I decided to shoot two different scenes one just a standard one where Poezzi is at his desk but then another when he has lighter in his hand. I feel that they are both good shots with the lighting just how I wanted it and I feel all the actors fit the part well.



Here is the first shot I filmed using a long shot of Poezzi at his desk and his henchman telling him there is a problem. By using this shot I am showing the audience Poezzi's office as well as the nature of Poezzi as he has his hand on a gun, as well as having an alcoholic (water in a bottle) drink and cigars (fake) on the desk. What I like about this clip is the fact that when being informed off the problem Poezzi gets a cigar out of his jacket thus showing that he is not to bothered about the information. I will use this to show character development as later on in the trailer you will see how Poezzi is struggling to cope with Castro and his gang. The cigar thing was a nice addition from my actor because when filming this shot I told him to 'do what he wants' to get a more natural action and I believe that it came out well.




This is the other clip I shot of Poezzi being informed of the problem. This clip is more practical than the other one because it is closer and more central to Poezzi and his man, meaning that you can only see the black wall, so I don't have to crop the shot thus keep the quality of the shot. Once again I like the lighting in this shot as you can see the characters faces clearly but the rest of the shot is dark and murky giving off an intimidating side. The difference with this shot is that Poezzi is messing about with his lighter before and during he is informed off the problem, thus showing that he does not think to much of the situation but then at the end he puts down the lighter and goes to get up, therefore showing the audience that despite the situation Poezzi always deals with it very swiftly.

Drafting and planning/target audience

Here are some fonts I have created to feature at the end of my trailer once all the footage is shown. This is a crucial part of the trailer despite being so simple because not only does it let the audience know the name of the film but it also needs to look professional and fit in with the film genre. Therefore I created 5 suitable fonts to feature at the end of my trailer. The only difference is that these will be in white and on a black background as that is what films I am basing 'Poezzi' off, such as  Black Mass do in their trailers as it gives it a more sinister and serious look. However I did not know which font would be the most suitable one to use at the end of my trailer so asked my target audience as they are the people I am trying to attract.

  Once again my target audience helped a lot with most of them thinking that the second font is the best and most suitable font to my genre. I can see why they picked this as it is a simple but effective font as it is big and bold but not to fancy thus showing the audience that my film is quite serious and also a bit intimidating due to how straight forward the font is. However Steve went against everyone else claiming that the first and third font are the most suitable due to them being edgy and unique. I agree with him here especially with the first font as I could keep it in black to give it a bolder approach as black is associated with darkness and fear which is what Poezzi spreads throughout the city. Also by choosing one of these fonts I will be giving my film its own image because as pointed out it is a unique font. However despite Steve's view I will not be using the third font. This is because I do not think it is serious enough, as I feel it would suit a gangster film about modern day gangs, such as 'Straight Out of Compton,' but my film is based on old school gangsters such as the one's in Legend and the Godfather and I feel this font does not reflect that serious side of the film. However I am pleased with these fonts and pleased with my target audience feedback as they have helped shown me which fonts are the most suitable to put in my trailer thus helping me finish another part of it!

Target Audience: response to detective scene

Recently I posted a blog post on the detective scene I had shot my for my trailer, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/drafting-and-planning-detective-scene.html. I was happy with this scene but had a bit of doubt over whether or not the shot I used was correct and whether on the whole it was a good clip, but luckily my target audience commented on the post to give me some useful feedback.

As shown by this image I got a very positive feedback from my target audience. I was praised for the use of the pictures I did in which I printed off pictures of the two people playing Poezzi and Castro and stuck them on the board to make it look more realistic and was also praised for the choice of casting as it looked professional and had a 'British feel' to it which I am aiming for as it is a British crime drama, http://lewisglennonmediaa2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/target-audience-and-organisation-who.html. However I was also told to do a second shot this time with medium close ups to show how serious the detectives were taking the situation and to present them better. I will do this as I was planning to re-shoot it to focus more on the gang pictures and on the lead detective. Overall though I am pleased with the positive feedback I got from my target audience and am pleased with how the clip turned out.