First Day Editing

Editing this film was difficult as we were changing platforms. Previously we have worked on final cut pro therefore the change meant we had to familiarise ourselves with new software. We adapted quickly after a short lesson from a teacher familiar with this software, however there have been several times when we have been slowed down by our lack of experience on this software. With Georgia being the main editor in the group she found this most testing as it was her that took the lead role in the area. Problems we encountered seem relatively simple such as adding zooms, making text move and finding certain transitions. However, now that the film is finished I feel we have all benefited from using this software as we are all now fluent in the use of two types of editing software.

Planning - Sound Effects

We originally planned to have 2 sound effects in order to compliment our trailer as we did not feel the soundtrack alone would be enough. We wanted one when the ghost disappears and one at the end of the trailer to end emphatically. We chose 'crashing metal' as we believed it would have the desired emphatic effect. However, when placed during the trailer on the scene where the spirit disappears it clashed too boldly with the music therefore we were not able to include this. The use of this sound effect at the end of the trailer was effective though. It allows us to cut the music off ending it cleanly with one noise.

Applying Representation Theories to D.O.B

Stereotypes

Our four main characters are all teenager therefore are still seen as young and vulnerable. This is an important part of our trailer as this allows us to create the sense of danger needed around these main characters. The antagonist is a dark, tall figure which is stereotypically intimidating allowing for us to give the inference that the four teenagers are in danger.

Present

Our target audience is aged 15-25 therefore all the characters present fit into this age group. Throughout our trailer the only character shown outside of this age group is the woman who offers help to Hayley. The fact that she is an adult offers reassurance and comfort to the younger generation, however due to the fact that she is female it is not as reassuring as if a male came into play.

Absent

Adult males are absent in our film as this adds to the sense of danger for the younger generation and the audience. Due to the lack of adult males the characters have no one of real reassurance to turn to and therefore their situation and the danger of it is further emphasised.

World Created

Thrillers stereotypically create a world of danger and violence and that is what we aimed for with D.O.B. We aimed to do this through the use of a spirit which would allow for us to tap into our demographics fear of the unknown. This is effective as almost everyone is afraid of the unknown, particularly the younger generation as they are stereotypically not and knowledgeable as the older generations.

What is Valued

Relationships are the key value in our film. This is shown early on through the use of relationships between the characters and their partners are what put them all in the same location. However, the importance of building effective friendships quickly is shown as crucial when they are stranded in the barn and need to work together in order to deal with the situation.

Applying Audience Theories To D.O.B.

Stuart Hall's Readings

The preferred reading of our text is for the viewer to feel the fear that anyone could be targeted for something as simple, and out of their control, as the day they are born. Due to the specific ages of our characters I believe that teenagers aged 16-19 will most likely get the preferred reading due to them being similar ages to the characters.
 The negotiated/oppositional reading would suggest that the spirit just wants to rest and can not do this until it feels it has got even. This will allow for the audience to relate to the antagonist due to his personal loss. Through the negotiated reading the audience would take the antagonist's side and support the fact that he just feels he is doing what is necessary. Adults are most likely to get this negotiated/oppositional reading due to a potentially similar sense of loss.

Uses and Gratifications Theory

Personal relationships can be seen in D.O.B however they vary in how they are shown. Early on they are shown through the fact that each character is invited out for their birthday, offering the inference that they have large friendship circles and live relatively comfortable lives. This then changes drastically when they are throw into the unknown with four strangers. However, these characters quickly form bonds and this is shown most effectively when my character, George, rescues Sean in his car. From this the audience will be able to detect a friendship growing. Personal identity can also be seen in our film as the audience may put themselves in he shoes of one of our main characters. This is also shown in our film as we use some familiar settings such as my house, and the school.

Ideas For Poster

The poster has proved much more difficult to do as I am looking for inspiration from the images I am using and it relies much more on creativity rather than logic. My original plan is to have a background of the hand on the window and I will look to combine this with a shot of the barn as well as perhaps one of the main characters. The most likely to feature at the moment is Sean as I have a shot of him that would fit the poster effectively. My other option is to incorporate a shot of India hanging in the barn but this is currently proving difficult due to the awkward lighting of the image. I want to have a dark focus on my poster however there is a bright window behind India hanging therefore in order to incorporate that image I will have to alter this.

Ideas For Magazine Cover

I have key images I am going to use for my film magazine cover. I am going to use images of three of the four characters, George, Sean and Hayley, in front of the image of the hand against the window. This allows for me to introduce three of the main characters to the public alongside an intimidating image which will make the public fear for the safety of the characters. This will work effectively as it will allow for the public to form a connection with the characters prior to the film coming our. This will counter the fact that the audience may struggle to create emotional attachments to the characters due to them being strangers. Through the use of these images the emotional attachment needed for my film to be successful will be formed.

Planning - Outfits

The four main characters wore stereotypical outfits for the younger generation. They wore brands such as Lacoste and Nike as these are popular with our demographic. For the scenes in the barn we kept the outfits natural, dull colours in order to link with the setting. If the characters had been wearing bright, bold colours then it would have been more difficult to create the eerie, spooky atmosphere we were looking for. Even in the scenes away from the barn we tried to keep the outfits as bland as possible in order to maintain the atmosphere we had created.

The spirit is represented as a black, ghostly figure in the background of two shots. To create the ghostly figure we used a nun fancy dress outfit with the headpiece on backwards. This worked effectively as it was fluid enough to blow in the gentle wind to create a scary, intimidating character. We chose the colour black as it links to our use of the fade to black due to fear of darkness and fear of the unknown.

Planning - Voiceover

After putting together our trailer we decided that we needed a voiceover in order to further draw our demographic into our trailer. Without the voiceover we did not feel as if the soundtrack alone would be enough. We chose our friend Max Smith to do the voiceover as we needed a deep, dramatic voice to set the tone. Having a high pitched voice do the voiceover would not have been effective as it would not have influenced our demographic in the same way. The wording for the voiceover was based on research we did watching the film 'Lucy'. This has shown previous success as Lucy was a box office hit as the trailer attracted many people to go and watch.

Planning - Changes to the Script

Previously I explained that we did not have a script prior to filming however in the end we put together a small script in order to give us a basis to work from. This was crucial in two scenes, firstly in the barn and secondly during our voiceover in which the plot was further explained whilst also being shrouded in mystery at the same time.

Planning - USP

Our USP is that our film is focused on a particular date and that it is bringing together four strangers rather than using four friends which is the stereotypical method. we have focused our film on the date 18/02 as it links the four strangers together, with the ghost. The date links them all together as they were all born on the same day, which happens to be the day that the spirit and his family were killed by a drunk driver who was just 18. This is why the spirit is targeting them now as they are the same age as the individual that killed him and his family. This makes our film unique as many horror films will use a group of friends which offers familiarity. However, we add more emphasis to the dangers faced to our characters by offering them no sense of comfort and familiarity, forcing them to create new bonds in a short time period.

Planning - Change of Title

After making our film and having previously decided to title our film after the date 18/02 that our film is based on, we decided to change the title last minute during editing due to feedback from outside of the group. Selecting the date as our title was too vague and we did not believe it would transfer the correct message to our demographic. Instead are long deliberation we chose to name our film D.O.B as this stands for 'Date Of Birth'. This still emphasises the importance of the date however it now also transfers a stronger, more direct message to our demographic.

First Draft and Response

We showed our class and teachers our first draft and they told us what they liked about our trailer and what we could improve. Our first draft had not yet been completed as the intertitles were not entirely in place and we did not yet have a title scene.

Positive Feedback:

• Fast pace of the montage, adds adrenaline.
• Good storyline to work with, will attract demographic.
• Good variation of camera shots and angles.
• Quick cuts to the barn.

What To Improve:

• Make title evident/change title to be more effective.
• Work on sound with conversation at end of trailer.
• Improve intertitles to help make story more clear.
• Cut down certain scenes to make trailer flow at an even faster pace.

Planning - Production Company

We haven chosen to use the production company that Adam and Georgia used previously for their AS film. This is called 'Pinnacle Productions' which offers the inference that our film is the peak of quality putting us above our rivals. The image for the production company shows two mountains which have the connotations of power and dominance. From this we want our demographic to see that we produce high quality and are head and shoulders above our competitors.

Planning - Props

We used a minimal amount of props in our trailer, however there were a few key props that should be mentioned.

• Car - We used a car scene in our to transfer the connotations of a chase and to also allowed for us to show the viewer that the characters were in danger and had to escape. The car scene worked effectively in the montage as it was fast paced and fit the horror thriller genre.
• Candles - Originally at the end of the trailer we had candles in the shape off the date the movie is focused on, 18/02, being blown out in order to create fear and to create a representation of the four characters hope being 'blown out'. We eventually cut this due to changing the title of our film.
• Rope - The rope we used to tie a pretend noose for India's character was provided by Adam. This rope was important as this shot on India's character is key for our film due to the genuine connotations of danger and death that it provides. Without these shot we would have struggled to show our demographic the true danger our main characters were in.

Planning - Sountrack

Finding soundtracks to fit our trailer difficult as we needed sound to match the fact that our trailer builds up slowly to a dramatic crescendo and then fades again. It had to begin slow and eerie and then become more emphatic. Our first track is slow and has a low tone. This allows for us to build the eerie atmosphere needed for the first half of our trailer, this draws our demographic in and allows for us to then switch to our second soundtrack. Our second track also has a slow tone however it is at the fact pace that we needed. This firmly emphasises the danger the four characters are in and gives us the general conventions of a horror trailer particularly for our montage. We had to fade it our manually at the end as we needed to fade into our final conversation whereas this soundtrack continued to build.

Planning - Editing

In order to complete our media piece to the highest quality we need to decide how we are going to use many editing techniques to transfer the general conventions of a horror thriller onto our film.

-Fade to black: This is a key feature of our thriller trailer, as well as being key in many popular film trailers such as 'Leave To Remain'. Due to the fact it cuts to darkness in allows for a stereotypical fears of the unknown and darkness to take hold of the view. We use this several times such as in our montage and most effectively in our quick cuts to a close up of the barn.

-Sequencing: We are using a basic sequence of a beginning, a middle and an end. We believe this will be the most effective way for us to get a preferred reading from our demographic. We have made this evident as our trailer begins at a slow place introducing the characters, which is then switched to a fast paced montage, which then cuts off back to a slow placed dialogue at the end. Our music choices link in with the sequencing  as they build up throughout to increase the tension, with the music fading at the end to emphasise the importance of the last discussion.

-Zoom: During our close up on Hayley with have placed key frames in order to create a slight zoom on her face. It is extremely subtle but it is a popular technique as it draws the viewers attention directly to this character with being to drastic. Subconsciously the viewer will become focused on what the character is saying.

-Synchronous Sound: During the short scene based around the car we have had raise the volume of the car as the increased volume will allow for increased adrenaline which is crucial in an action scene such as this. During our research we saw a similar technique in 1408 when they increased the volume of gushing water.

-Fast Paced Editing: 1408 has played a key part in our research and planning as we are looking to edit our trailer in a similar way. We are looking to increase the pace of our trailer therefore we will cut each clip as thin as we can and particularly in our montage, we have aimed to get in as many shots as we can in a short amount of time. This will engage our audience and works effectively with our soundtrack as we have matched the cuts with the cutting of the music.

Planning - Group Roles

In order to allow us to be most efficient we decided to allocate group roles. We were aware that we would all have to contribute in each area if we were unavailable or if we felt we had something crucial to add however in order for time management purposes we allocated roles. The roles we allocated are listed below.

Joe (me) - Mise-en-scene co ordinator/actor
Adam - Cameraman/Director
Georgia - Editor/storyboard management
Sean - Actor/make-up artist

Planning - Intertitles

We used several intertitles to fill out our trailer and to make our story evident. Our first intertitle is 'stranded in the middle of nowhere'. This builds suspense from the beginning and is often used in successful film trailers. The wording itself gives the characters a sense of vulnerability and offers the inference that they are in immediate danger. Due to ours being under a minute and being a teaser trailer it was crucial we set these factors in place from the outset.

Our second intertitle is more basic and is a generic intertitle stating that our film is 'from the producers of Karma and Rose'. Members of our group played a part in creating these two films and it has shown to be successful in previous film trailers, such as Annabelle.

Our third and fourth intertitles are linked but are placed before and after our montage. The first one is 'in the fight for survival' and it is followed by 'they must fight back'. The first intertitle begins to build adrenaline for the montage and the second one acts as a conclusion to the montage allowing for us to bring the speed back down to end our trailer on an eerie conversation about the haunting. We ensured these intertitles were short, as see in 1408, as we did not want to risk our demographic losing interest.