Evaluation Task 2

In the preliminary stages of producing a post-apocalyptic thriller genre trailer we required knowledge of conventions and techniques used in the trailers of same said genre, otherwise we would risk incorporating more general trailer conventions of trailers into ours when potentially there is little justification/no justification for them. This meant using websites such as YouTube, IMDB and Google Images for research, as well as utilising the computer program, Printkey, to take screen shots of any necessary frame of a trailer or poster.  

To begin with, in order to construct the trailer we produced a mind map with the program Open Mind 2, allowing us to organise our ideas into categories e.g. genres. We also overcame the problem of being unable to embed the image into Blogger by uploading it to the photo-sharing website imgur.

On YouTube and IMDB we watched a multitude of existing post-apocalyptic genres so that we could gather information on trailer attributes and conventions observe and note the most predominant features in all, whilst considering the differences if there were any. This stage proved crucial for us to adequately represent and establish themes and genre. This additional knowledge of post-apocalyptic trailers not only maximised the effectiveness of our trailer by meeting conventions, and therefore audience expectations, but also incorporate slight differences in accordance with our hybrid genre and ‘low budget’. For instance, we utilized Chiaroscuro lighting in our trailer for both effect and it being a recurring convention of thrillers (our production is a post-apocalyptic thriller), even though other post-apocalyptic films do not, such as Mad Max and The Road.

One quite fundamental inspiration, that turned out to be integral to the feel of authenticity and flow of the trailer, was the static transitions; if we hadn’t watched The Road trailer on YouTube and IMDB we probably wouldn’t have decided to include static transitions (which can be seen in use at the start of the trailer). The static transitions are both dynamically engaging and correspond with our post-apocalyptic genre, due to connotations of technological failure and disruption in society. This inclusion, therefore, also helped represent the genre to the audience then. Conclusively, our research here was vital for the final product to excel. 

We also used YouTube for instructions on how to make a practical ‘Hobo Stove’, which is basically an improvised cooking apparatus when resources are low, and how to make realistic looking bruises and lacerations. Later in the production process, it became clear that our use of ‘makeup’ would be limited due to the inconvenience of application being time consuming and requiring constant maintenance – we didn’t have the time or funds for this and had to settle with dirt and basic laceration make up.

Google Images became pivotal when designing the poster for one of our ancillary tasks; getting insight into how professionals incorporate necessary information such as slogans, credits and institutional information gave us vital insight for making our own. It was important to look at mainly post-apocalyptic posters as they would be the most valid representation of what we’d wanted ours to look like. We looked at posters for Monsters, The Road, I Am Legend, The Divide and Mad Max.

In the search for music to complement our trailer we started looking for music with the creative commons certification, allowing us to use it in our trailer without any legal issues, on sites such as Bandcamp and Soundcloud.  It was on Bandcamp that I discovered Cloudkicker, a progressive rock artist, that I believed would fit our trailer with both his slower melodies and grittier metal sounds. However, being fans of progressive rock we knew the perfect song to accompany the trailer was ‘’Malabar Front’’ by If These Trees Could Talk and thus I set out to email them, using Google Mail, enquiring for the permission to use the song in our trailer; much to our joy, they permitted its use. We also sent an enquiry for permission to use a song by The Ink Spots, inspired by the fallout series blend of both nostalgic wartime music and 50’s sci fi/post-apocalyptic theme, to EMI but this was withdrawn after they informed us that we would have to pay a fairly hefty sum of around £200 just to use in a short clip.

We used school's Panasonic mini camcorder, this was capable of high definition 1080p which was definitely useful for getting the most detail out of our locations for the audience’s viewing pleasure; the camera could, after all, capture picture with vast depth and field which was both enjoyable to use, from a cameraman’s perspective, and instrumental to making the best looking trailer possible. The battery life of the camera was excellent too, reaching around 300 mins. We could film for hours a day and not really worry about the equipment failing on us. This was especially useful in dark conditions where we had to utilize the camera to its full extent by incorporating several lighting and focus settings whilst simultaneously filming, which would no doubt use up battery quite quickly. The camera was also versatile in both respects of practicality, where it could attach to the flycam, various tripods and an external microphone. We could also adjust the picture to most environmental conditions, zoom, augment the lighting conditions and use filters.

However, due to the size of HD film, the SD card the camera had for memory storage filled aggravatingly quickly, which limited our ability to shoot lots of shots at a time. In other words, we had to be careful not to film too much and risk deleting previous shots, although you could argue this made us more efficient with our filming – a real world skill practiced by real producers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t until the editing process that we discovered that the HD film wasn’t always compatible with Pinnacle which therefore took away the appeal of glossy shots. This wasn’t a fault of the camera obviously, but an incompatibility between the school computer network and more up to date equipment.  Another drawback in regards to recording was a slight distortion of the picture, which occurred during the Office scene. Luckily for us however, it doesn’t affect the scene which we used the camera for, perhaps because Pinnacle rectified the shot or because it was merely a fault in the camera view-screen and not the actual shot. 

The camera used an SD card for storage and this was a good replacement for the tape which the older school camera’s used. The SD card allowed us to simply insert it into the computer’s SD card slot and drag and drop files into Pinnacle. The only disadvantage would have to be finding relevant files, as all of the names were very similar (number code) and hard to differentiate, but this was only a trivial detail. In hindsight, we have learnt to familiarize ourselves with the computer programs capacity to work with more up to date equipment, such as the HD camera, before committing it to part of the editing process. We did overcome the majority of the problems we faced through initiative and patience though. 

The SD card, though limited by the number of HD shots proved invaluable when not using HD 1080p shots as we could film far more and consequently, we were able to film the bulk of planned shots on the day we set out to film them. The SD also proved to be very practical in the later stages of the production, the editing process. All we had to do with the SD card was remove it from its drive in the camera and insert it into the computer drive and subsequently transfer files into a saved area and then access them on Pinnacle which was very simple and facilitated the editing on Pinnacle. The already generous battery life could technically be expanded by the fact we had a couple of spare rechargeable batteries as well that we could bring with us on filming days, in the unlikely event that a battery ran out of charge. We could recharge batteries that were drained whilst we were filming or overnight and quickly use them when necessary, making the whole filming process flow seamlessly. Rechargeable batteries are definitely more reliable than disposable batteries.

School provided tripod: catered for all needs, with its useful crank for variable height adjustment of the central column, allowing for easy accessibility to relevant adjust controls when changing height and angles. Its sturdy aluminium legs also gave it increased durability and stability for the video camera proved essential for welfare of equipment whilst the rubber grips on the feet ensured no damage to the locations and gave optimum grip for the equipment, reducing the chances of any accidents. The tripod, when fully extended, reaches 120cm which is perfect for getting around intrusive and otherwise meddlesome obstructions when out filming. I would say that filming on locations with rough terrain, such as the grasslands and marshes, wouldn’t have been possible were it not for the versatility of the tripod. Another useful commodity of this tripod would be how lightweight it is, which facilitated on-the-move camera work very well, alleviating us of any need for transport to walkable filming locations. If I had to name a problem with the tripod it would have to be the stiffness of the pan head movement which made smooth panning and tilting cumbersome, although we did manage to reduce the stiffness somewhat the more we used it.

Vimeo allowed us to upload and share our draft edits of the trailer so we, our class, teacher, friends and family could critique and analyse it for any improvements needed. Vimeo also allowed us to embed any of our productions onto our blogs, offering an easier way to watch our production, and also social networking sites which gave the trailer plenty of exposure to our target audience of older teenage to middle aged audience.

We found it was quick and easy to upload a video and queue multiple videos to upload at one time and, with the updated edition, you don’t have to stay on the site for the video to upload; now videos upload autonomously and Vimeo emails you when it is finished, which is helpful. The only problem we found was that the quality was slightly degraded when the video had been uploaded, but whether this problem stems from Vimeo or Pinnacle we haven’t discovered.

Dropbox has, to the extent of communication and organisation, been one of the most instrumental tools in our media production and group work in general; it allows reliable, fast transfer of files between our home computers, school network and mobile devices. With an ample 2 Gigabytes + of storage we have had plenty of room to upload and share between us any word documents, Prezi’s, PowerPoint’s as well as our soundtrack, archive footage, actual film and any other files we may have needed. This way we could keep up to date with all of our coursework and update each of our blogs in synchrony. https://www.dropbox.com/

We used the website, Blogger, as a platform to document our progress and keep track of where we were up to during the project. Blogger was useful as a neatly organised and easily accessible platform for our coursework, with an abundance of tools and options, ranging from embedding videos to choosing from multiple template layouts – and all of this or free. This allowed us to create a polished and appealing coursework blog displaying text accentuated by pictures and links as opposed to seemingly endless blocks of text. On the whole we have found it simple to use in regards to editing text, adding links and transferring work from other programs, such as Word – despite the occasional problem with background colour, which was easily rectified by editing the code of text. However, it wasn’t without its drawbacks. Adding pictures to the blog became frustratingly difficult at times when the pictures, that aren’t flexible in their positioning anyway, obstructed or even deleted sections of text. Despite this, we all just took precautionary measures by saving a draft of our work in either Microsoft Word or NotePad, which we could then access in the case of Blogger deleting vital information. Furthermore, drafts can be saved to avoid publishing unfinished work, and we could all read each other’s blogs to check for new posts and research carried out meaning we could assist and cooperate with one another for the optimum coursework presentation possible. Finally, Slideshare allowed us to share and embed any PowerPoints produced and gave us a more unique and interesting way to share our ideas.

We used Photoshop to create our production company logo, Writer’s Bloc, and the poster for the production, Dust. For the company logo, we took a photo of a man, cut tool to remove his face and manipulated the colour of the logo to be a murky grey, using a filter and colour gradient tool option. We then rearranged the desired font that we found from urbanfonts.com around the picture in such a fashion that it was instantly recognisable but didn’t impose upon the image. We then, finally, used tools such as burn and clone to remove anything that we did not want to be in the final image, for a polished, genuine production logo.

The poster required more work. We used a still image from the actual production as a canvas upon which to transform it into a conceivably post-apocalyptic setting, whilst maintaining conventions of posters by including appropriate institutional information, cast, reviews and slogans etc. The process of making the poster required cutting out images and layering them into our poster, then subsequently using the clone tool to meld them into the poster without leaving harsh lines and obscuring the authenticity of the poster. This included everything from the background of a destroyed city, to the mangled wreckage of the helicopter and radiation signpost. The text added to the poster had to be black for it to meet conventions and not diminish the professional feel of the poster, but this posed problems because the poster image itself was dark. To overcome this, we used a ‘glow’ tool which was manipulated to make it appear as though a pale glow was emitting from the text, making it both easier to see and reflecting the story (religious element and radioactive emission). Finally, after consultation with our class, friends and family, we opted to make the image appear more dystopian by draining as much colour out of the image as possible, without it looking absurdly bleak, by using a selective colour tool. This turned out to be very effective as it formed an ambience of desolation but also left a tint of lurid yellow after playing with the filter – green, which some would say is a symbolic colour of nuclear fallout. Finally, we also used the Burn tool to darken our storyboard, therefore making them more visible in our animation.

To make the final product come together and work as we envisioned it in the preliminary planning process, we have to edit it. Editing is a means of expression, with its own language. The editing usually works best if it is completely integrated with the other means of expression used in the given film, i.e. music, sound effects and text. We used Pinnacle Studio 15HD to edit our trailer, as we did our opening last year. Overall, the editing program was appropriately suited to our needs and, with its easily navigated interface and simple to understand layout, easy to use – especially for those not proficient with computers technicalities. There were however some problems with the program.

 Although you could argue it isn’t the most advanced editing program, you must realise that it  is well catered for beginners – intermediate editors such as Media students are. Despite this, it can be frustrating when we believe we have progressed enough to want to utilise more that we cannot access (such as more advanced effects), as we have now, by A2, used Pinnacle to its fullest extent. It would definitely have been more gratifying if we could use more complex material, yet, for all intent and purposes, Pinnacle did meet our demands – at a push. When editing at school, we found it to be very unreliable as it frequently crashed when any clip was edited frame by frame, or when effects were added to shots. We have discovered that this is more likely due to the school network being incompatible with the editing program software, which cannot be helped unfortunately.  Another problem we found early on was that the program would not save our project when prompted and even delete sections of film which caused some frustration and disarray when we couldn’t find edited footage. In order to overcome this, to a degree, we just saved our editing very frequently in the chance it would crash and we were forced to restart the computer. These faults were also likely caused by access problems due to the schools safety settings being incompatible with the software installation.

We found such editing processes as J cuts and L cuts extremely practical and easy to master. We used these techniques to isolate the audio and video on separate editing tracks, which also made it simple to add music and sound effects, and then fade them in and out of the soundtrack when appropriate. The mp3 file we chose was also recognised without any faults in the software. The edit features were also remarkably useful, enabling us to augment the shots with a ‘fallout’ ambience and subsequently making the production more authentic and believable. This ranged from Chroma Key to greyscale filters that we could place onto desired shots. In addition, overlay titles were added for slogan, institutional information and title, perfected with fade in and fade out effects used on them. We made sure to keep text white on black in order to convey mature themes and remain consistent with conventions, aside from the final title which couldn’t be manipulated to do this due to a problem transferring text on a transparent background to Pinnacle from Photoshop.

When exporting the actual file we found some problems with syncing, this was due to lower quality exporting options and so this was fixed easily and quickly. The multitude of editing options is good if you have experience and know the advantages and disadvantages of each, but for beginners this could be daunting and time consuming due to the many different devices they may want to play it on, and subsequent technical issues.

This screenshot shows us in the editing menu on colour correction where we modified the shots to look gloomier.

The above clip shows an audio dub where we locked the video timeline and spliced dialogue from another shot onto it as a voiceover – a well-recognised trope in trailers

And here we have a screenshot showing the interface on Pinnacle where we modified the speed of a shot. We did this on the given example to enhance the sense of an erratic picture distortion, for effects discussed in other parts of the blog - such as to create connotations of technological breakdown.


We probably learnt the most from the editing process overall as acquiring feedback throughout the course of editing to identify any mistakes was integral to time management and the rectification of any these mistakes.

The Wix Website builder offered a free and practical solution for promoting our trailer production in our ancillary task. For a free website, you are provided an array of useful tools to make the most appealing website possible, ranging from an assortment of themes, layouts and designs to various fonts and animations suited to a variety of purposes. We never found it difficult customising the website to look like a film website for a mature themed post-apocalyptic thriller as there was enough versatility in fonts etc. to suit this genre. What made Wix that much better, was how informative the instruction videos were; this made sure that no time was lost having to work out more complex tools, such as adding widgets and links to our website, since helpful videos are attached to every tool. If I had to find a downside to Wix, it would be that the more content you put into the website the clunkier the interface becomes due to the content having to load up every time you customise things, which can simply be dragging an image from one place to another which can get tiring.