Experimenting with more photos

We were worried our poster was too simple and plain so we experimented by taking screen shots of Emily in our film and putting them onto our poster very faintly to add a bit more detail.  However we felt it cheapened the look of our unusual poster.  We also felt it gave the poster more of a horror element which isn't the genre of film we have made and would give a false impression.  We decided to remove them and instead work hard on creating really professional looking text.

TA DA .... WE FINISHED IT !!!!!!!!

Finally after weeks of planning, filming, editing and stressing we have finally finished our teaser trailer.  The 'finishing touches' took us a lot longer today then we had hoped! We thought our music would be a straight forward affair of recording a music student playing the piano to fit the song Molly had sang.  WE WERE SO WRONG. Trying to fit music to the singing was so difficult and we ended up with a piano piece we really weren't happy with.  We then played around in garage band ourselves to try and come up with something to go with the singing.  Finally after a couple of hours of stressing we decided to use a backing track to the original song.  Although it is sort of like using the original music we have tried so hard with our sound.  Making sure some parts are louder or more quiet and making all the singing fit perfectly was a challenge too.  We have also included voiceovers which needed adjusting once the music was in place.
   We are so pleased with our final outcome.  It is better then any of us expected because of the music, the interesting shots and the titles with the beautiful underwater photos we took.

text text text text text

Today we have been working on our text.  As our picture for our poster is quite subtle and mysterious we have to work especially hard on our titles to make the poster look professional.  Using the 'Rabbit Hole' for guidance we came up with our credits.  We liked the layout most posters use of having the persons title e.g directed by in very small lettering and on word being on top of the other.  And then their name e.g Daisy Sloman to be larger an more prominent.
   This has been quite challenging as it has required us to have each work on a new layer and this has become quite confusing.  Particularly when we decided we wanted to move it all slightly to the left.  We are now happy though with what we have achieved and we do think it looks like existing posters credits.
    We also like the layout of this poster and are now beginning to think about where the rest of the text for our poster should go.  We think having all the text at the bottom or on the left of the poster as it is the plainer side.  We have also thought about experimenting with the colours of our titles.

 We originally thought we wanted the titles all in white but as we want to draw attention to Emily's face which it might take viewers a while to spot on our poster we thought using an orange or red might help make her face more obvious.  We will begin to experiment with colours next week.

Completion of Titles

Me and Molly stayed behind tonight, and applied the photos to the titles with the correct font. They look really nice, better then we could have expected. We exported these and applied them to our teaser trailer. They go exceptionally well with the overall aesthetic appearance and mood of the trailer.
They add depth to the titles, allowing them to be more integrated with the teaser trailer as suppose to being individual from it.
We have watched our pretty much completed teaser trailer through and are really pleased and proud of the outcome, a massive improvement from our already good attempts at AS level.
The only things left to do tomorrow, will be the music which has already been sung, we just need to apply the piano to the music.
We would then be FINISHED !!

Titles

Seeing as the photos have come out unexpectedly dark and mysterious we have decided to use them for the background behind our titles, as we still wanted to incorporate them into our teaser. Here are some screen shots of how we have combined them with our titles. We are really pleased with the outcome of them, as they make the titles more interesting and give them a unique look.

Fav photos

Here is our shortlist of the photos we want to use for our poster.  We were unsure as to whether we liked the photos when we first saw them as they weren't what we were expecting.  However because they are so dark they have an exciting mysterious feel that will really work well for a poster and magazine cover. We have narrowed it down now to 3 that we think will work really well for a poster and 3 for a magazine cover and can now begin experimenting on photoshop.  We are hoping to overlay the photos and use the transparency tool to combine our photos and make an really intriguing and unusual poster.  We will also experiment with text and layouts and using the photos in different combinations to see what works best.

When shortlisting our photos we began to get really excited about the photos we have taken.  Also they are all upside down and turning them the right way round gave us completely different visuals and made us notice things that completely change the look of the photo.  For instance one of our favourite photos actually has Emily's face on it but we didn't even notice until we turned it the right way.

The top image is the original image that was turned upside down, we really liked it this way. 

The image below is the rotation of the image above, when we discovered that you could see the outline of Emily's face and expression we liked it even more. Initially we would like to use this as a main image for our poster.

Under Water Photos !!!!!

We have at last received our underwater photos, however how we thought they would look is not how they have come out. The issue is that the light level of the photos have distorted the overall appearance of the photos, but there is always a silver lining. The pictures that we have got are abstract, mysterious and actually quite beautiful. they are not necessarily appropriate to be in our teaser trailer but are entirely perfect for our poster and film magazine cover.  

Poster in the making

Music stress

 So we were hoping to have our music all done by Monday but unfortunately the a level music students we were counting on told us today they were unable to commit to our project with so much other work going on.  So this has left us in a bit of a muddle, none of us being musicians.
 So tonight i have had a play around on my piano and tried playing around with lyrics that could fit with our film based on the Lana Del Ray Video Game song that we have all fallen in love with.

   Playing with lyrics by Verity Lies

Inspire me

The thing that attracted us to this poster is the shattered effect it has. We think the effect of using a few images and cutting them up would give a disjointed, confusing feel and intrigue the audience.  It would also go with the subject of our film as our main character is meant be suffering from weird, scary dreams which leave her disillusioned and vulnerable.  We also like this idea as we have used face pace images of Emily in the pool and using a few of these would link in our poster and our film together.  Although we really like this poster we think the text is too small and subtle.  We want our title Verity Lies and our tag line of Do you ever question reality to be quite bold and grab audiences attention.

This poster was not one we initially liked, however there was a certain aspect of this poster we liked. The three characters that are featured in the film, are placed over each other, each being slightly transparent at the points in which it meets. We have considered this for our poster, where multiple images of Emily would appear on top of each other. These images in themselves would tell a story that relates to our film, for example the process of Emily being sad to happy, to angry to confused. All over each other to allow the viewer to know that there is something questionable about the mental heath of 'Verity'. We also liked the subtle landscape of New York, however this will not be used in our poster we liked the hidden image allowing more depth in the poster, this we will try and include in our poster, the sense of mystery that surrounds Verity.


We saw this film poster in a tube station whilst we were filming in London, we really liked the layout and idea of it as it has an interesting look and structure. We mainly liked how half of the magazine was one main character, which then matched up to another main character from the film. As the person viewing it you are automatically drawn towards the image and then find yourself looking at the titles. The actors and actresses' names are displayed in a small font at the top but they are actually slightly too small, we only have one actresses' name to display and we want this to be clear to the viewer. The name of the film itself is very bold and the font is quite harsh and square looking. The release date of the film is highlighted red, which matches the colour scheme of the magazine. This tactic draws the viewer directly to the bold title and red release date at a first glance of the poster. The credits below the title are quite transparent and are not really acknowledged by someone briefly looking at the poster. Overall we really like this poster and are going to attempt to have a similar initial idea for our own poster.


This poster shows a woman sitting in a closed body language position on the floor, surrounding her are many things to do with the film. We like it because it is bright and colourful and very hectic. The text differs from a banner effect to bright sparkly letters, this captures your attention as it is nearly the only text on the poster. We could use this as an influence because it shows layering and over lapping of pictures to make one big poster. They have focused on sizing and transparency to make it all fit together to make it look more realistic rather than lots of images scattered on a page. The colour are vibrant and contrast with the pale whiteness of the girl. Even though our film is a different genre and deals with different scenarios we could incorporate factors that relate to our trailer for example the main character's positioning. She is a young female who looks vulnerable much like our main character.   

POSTER PRODUCTION

This week we have began making our poster.  We have decided we want to use the underwater photos for our poster as they are really mysterious and would make a very quirky poster.  Today we have uploaded two of the photos and began to merge them together.  Using the brush tool we are blending the two layers until we get the effect we like.  Today we have found using photoshop a bit tricky and frustrating at times as none of us have used it in a while and it is quite a complicated programme.

Trouble in Paradise ?

I am afraid to say that there is a rift in the water, there is a delay in the development of the photos taken under water, however we shall not fear as using our superior detective skills we now know the photos will most defiantly be done by Wednesday.
This then gives us time to upload them and apply them in a rapid sequence, at the moment there are many film clips of the hands underwater, but they are currently in place in substitute of the photos.
We have already scheduled days in which we are able to stay during frees, and after school to make sure this is done.
We have edited the voice over so the words being said correspond to what is on screen as well as the volume being loud enough to be heard, with sufficient impact.
We are really pleased with our teaser trailer, and are proud of our efforts and the ultimate result.

Things still to do

Our deadline is only a week away and fortunately we are nearly finished. The things we have left to do are getting our actress Emily to come in and do the voiceover for reality and dream, as the ones we are currently using are not the best quality. We also need to add in the underwater photos taken from the pool scene. We are hoping to have all this done by tomorrow. We have asked two A level music students to compose something similar to the Lana Del Ray Video Game song we are currently using. We hope this will be done by Monday so we can add it to our trailer and play around with it. We also need to add our newest title to the piece. We are confident that we will meet the deadline and will have produced a teaser we are proud of.

Improvements

Today we received feedback from the go go about our trailer. In response to this we have taken out a section of clips which contains crazy laughing close ups, as these ran on to long and audiences could loose interest, also because we had a title in between in stopped the flow of the clip and didn't fit. We also wanted our reverse part to stand out more, to achieve this we added a white screen shot after the title and before the reverse clips then applied a wash out effect to this. Starting with the white screen shot adds emphasis to the reverse, this gives it a  dream like feeling that compliments the theme. We also increased the volume of the sound track at the reverse point, creating a gradual build up. By creating the emphasis on the volume of the soundtrack it creates a climax within the teaser. We also cut our voiceover as we decided we didn't want any speech over the reverse. Finally we are working on putting in another title. This one will read 'Is truth something only imaginary?' we feel that by adding another questionable title we will get the audience thinking and more interested in the film.

This my friend is what you call a 'Double Edged Sword'

Collectively as a group we have fallen in love with the temporary soundtrack of Lana Del Rey, alongside our teaser trailer however, due to the song being copyright and the frowns of the lack of musical editing, we are unable to use the sound track as a hum to our teaser trailer. Daisy asked a couple of music students whether they would be able to create a track similar to the one currently in place, however this shall be used in the same way, as the one currently in place so its a bitter sweet solution, as its not going to be the same as the current one. We have a running voice over which consists of the definitions of reality and a dream, however this needs to be re-done as the voice is too soft against the soundtrack.
The soundtrack to date has been the largest struggle in terms of creating a convincing teaser trailer, and personally i shall be praying that the in progress soundtrack is going to blow the current one out of the water !

Progression of editing

As we are in the process of editing our footage we have actually got a lot done and everything seems to be going to plan! So far all the aspects of the editing process we wanted to succeed have been completed. We are trying really hard to make our teaser trailer look as professional and good as possible.
So far we have cut down all the shots we want to use and put them into order. The time lapse has been completed and looks very good, we have added the voiceover from Emily and have finished and added the titles to the teaser. When it came to the bed/field scene we had a few minor problems as we did not think it suited the teaser in a sense and so we decided to cut that scene and we feel that our teaser looks better because of it. We are using a temporary soundtrack that we are hoping can be recreated in a similar style, thanks to two A level music students and are hoping that it will be ready for next week. We are in the process of scanning our disposable photos from the swimming pool onto the computer and once they have been uploaded we will be able to add that to the trailer.
Today in class we achieved quite a lot, we took on the advice from the screening the other day. The main success of today was rearranging the whole of the teaser and then speeding it up, from the end of the teaser back to the beginning, we were really pleased with the outcome of it. We also began editing our production logo but after watching and cutting the footage we are indecisive about whether we want to keep this logo or not as we feel it does not fit the genre and style of our teaser trailer.

Screening Feedback

On Friday we screened our teaser trailer to the class. We got really positive feedback from the class, particularly about our water scenes and our voiceover. They also commented on our reuse of our whole teaser trailer being reversed in a matter of seconds. Although all the classes teaser trailers were unfinished we were pleased to see we were further along than others and are on our way to finishing ready for the deadline.

The advice we received was to shorten the length of the laughing scenes to prevent the audience from losing interest and re record our voice overs as the second voiceover of dream was too quiet. We have amended the laughing shots and made it shorter and we are going to re record the voice overs of Emily this week.

Upon reflection the music that will be best suited to our teaser trailer, would be  a song much like the one in the video above. The softness and calm nature of the song beautifully juxtapositions against the chaos of our teaser trailer. It reflects the mental state of Both the character, Verity as well as complimenting the water scenes very well. The simplistic melody contrasts against the scenes of Verity (Emily) laughing hysterically which we feel allows the audience to perhaps feel sympathy for Verity.
We shall attempt to create a song much like the one above to compliment our teaser tailer, as well as adding atmosphere.

Review of Filming

The pool shots couldn't of gone better.  We firstly shot Emily floating in the water and there was a light behind her in the pool which made the shot look quite mysterious and beautiful.  Then we filmed the close up of Emily's hands in the water, we did quite a few long takes of these to give ourselves lots of options.  Then Holly got in the pool and took photos using the underwater camera of Emily looking distressed coming towards the camera.  There were 32 photos on each camera and we used two so we have 64 photos to choose from.  Holly is going to take the cameras to be developed tomorrow so hopefully they will be done by Friday and we can upload them.  Everything went so smoothly today and I am really pleased with the footage we have got.

Final Filming Day

Tonight is our final filming day.  It is the pool scene which we are filming at Molly's Mum's friends house, this is a slight change of plan from the original.  We were hoping to use an outdoor pool but now that the weather is so cold and the days so short it would be difficult for us to get enough daylight hours, so using an indoor pool is more practical and kinder to our actress.  From today we are hoping to achieve good quality underwater shots on our disposible camera as well as interesting shots on the video camera.  We want our teaser to be really exciting and quite edgy and we hope by incorporating the use of and underwater location will make our teaser stand out.  For kit today we have all packed our towels and swimming costumes and goggles so we can see the shots we are capturing underwater.  We have set ourselves quite a long time to do this pool section as we want it to be of a really high quality and want to try our shots from lots of different angles.

First stage of Editing

Today, we exported the clips of Emily standing in Regents street whilst people surround her, this we sped up so that a time lapse is formed. It is very effective as Emily is effective as Emily is slowly moving her head from side to side, which contrasts against the fast moving background.

Here, is the screen shot of Emily turning with a sped up effect around her. We had to apply the effect several times in order for the wanted speed to be achieved, we are happy with the speed we managed to create and we are very pleased with the outcome of the clip.

Here, is a screen grab of the titles, they look really effective and have a clear resemblance to the genre of the film. The black background allows the white font to really stand out and grab the attention of the viewer.

Music Maestro (I think so)

Today, me and fellow groupie Daisy experimented with the soundtrack. We experimented with piano, guitar and layering of beats. We were really trying to find music that was both exciting and adaptable to the theme of psychological thriller. We created a piece that sound similar to the music of 'Linkin Park' for the sound track of transformer, this was not done intentionally however both our film and transformers has a sense of mystery and heart felt pace.
We layered multiple tracks including Electric guitar, Jingles and a synth. To make one possible soundtrack.







We are looking to apply a sound track as an undertone to our voice over, or in the places of silence.
We are pleased with the initial idea for our sound track and when editing is completed we shall experiment with this sound track under our actual footage

The Dreaded creation of Titles

In today's lesson, we went on live type and started experimenting. As previously stated by Daisy's post we as group like the idea of having flicker as an effect. We looked at the titles and the ones that we felt most resembled our film and its genre were, 28 Days Later, Downcome, Misproject and also String. These all hand the appearance of being jagged and rough, much like the mental state of Verity.
We have 6 titles that need to be completed:

Do You Ever Question Reality?
From The Prestigious Makers Of Against The Tide
Starring Bafta Nominated Emily Porritt
Verity
Lies
Verity Lies

We would like all titles to be completed in the same style, which is white and soft. The experimentation is difficult as we have a preemptive image of how we would like the titles to look and the actual ability to create this is proving very difficult. We want subtle soft movement but accomplishing this is easier said then done. We like the effect of zooming into a glow and zooming back out into focus, but there are many restrictions when using Live Type as the creative freedom is limited to what is already on the system.

This is our least favourite as it has the appearance of belonging to an action film, and the font style seems slightly comical and fun, which does not resemble our film.

This is the title we most like, the small faint font conforms to the belief that it suits the genre of a psychological thriller. We are going to expand on this font further.

We do not mind this font however like the first title, the actual font style is quite fun and bubble like, however the use of glow is appealing and may be used in the final title, but not to such an extreme length.
This is the same response to the one below as they are very similar in style and design.





However, we will not let this deter us from creating titles that we are both happy and proud of.
We will continue to experiment until we finally get it right !

Hallelujah

We have finally been able to come up with the title of our film !!
It was very slow going in the process of deciding the title of our film, but on the train journey to filming gold struck and the title was born. Verity Lies, its seems so simple yet there are many hiding meanings and possible interpretations. Verity means truth and lies is self explanatory, this juxtaposition reflects the mental state of Verity. Also lies could also be interpreted as actually lying down, which cleverly reflects the condition of narcolepsy.
Having the title decided prior to filming, in my opinion in fact helped in the actual filming process as a sense of closure was created. It excited us at the prospect that we actually have a title to what it is a really quirky and individual film.