Final Typography design

We combined our two typography ideas to create a final typography for our poster, website and teaser trailer. We kept the "scrawl" like effect to mirror the gothic elements in our film and kept the tree "Y" to make the connection to our tree shots in the trailer.

Shooting schedule

3rd October
Coffin scenes at Georgies house
Main shots

Need:

• Coffin
• Costume
• Equipment (camera, tripod, tape, batteries)
• Actress
• Crew

Problems that arose:

• Trains weren't working properly so Jenny was 2 hours late.
•  But we allowed plenty of time for filming and were controlling the light anyway so it didn't set us back much.
• Didn't sand down lid properly
• There were splinters that fell on Jenny so we had to stop filming to them clean up

24th October
Woods,  "chase" scenes
Last shots

Need:

• The appropriate location
• Costume
• Equipment (camera, tripod, tape, batteries)
• Actress
• Crew

Problems that arose:

• Georgie couldn't make it
• But we had the plan so we could just follow it
• The chase scenes looked bad on the Mac so we couldn't use most of them

21st November
Last minute decision end shot replacements
Photographs for the website and poster

Need:

• Coffin
• Make-up
• Costume
• Equipment (camera, tripod, tape, batteries)
• Actress
• Crew

Problems that arose:

• Some photos looked too posed
• Jenny got cold so we couldn't film outside for too long because she shivered in the shots

Further Poster Designs

These are refined poster ideas using Serif DrawPlus8 and our new photography!

More filming, more photography

We have successfully done more filming and photography for our posters :) yay! So a BIG thank you to our actress Jenny, who once again had to clamber into a damp coffin, and cover her beautiful face in "dead" make up. Thanks :)



The following images have been slightly edited to contrast the light to create a more cinematic effect. For the make up we darkend around the eyes, paled up the skin and lips, and back combed the hair. We attempted to create the "gothic" look.   

Storyboard 2

Film Production Companies

Warner Bros. Pictures produced films such as 'The Shining', 'House of Wax' and 'The Exorcist', which are highly popular horror movies. However, I feel that the use of this production company may induce preconceptions of our film being 'childlike', as the company is also well known for producing films such as 'Harry Potter' and classic Warner Bros. cartoons.

Paramount pictures distributed films such as 'Paranormal Activity', 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'Friday the 13th'. As a company they are very well known, and have produced popular horror films for decades. The same issue exists however, as the introduction may seem too upbeat for our psychological horror. The company does have associations with family films such as 'Mean Girls'. For this reason, we will probably research into more independent production companies that specialise in horror.


Twisted Pictures have produced films such as the 'Saw' series and 'Repo! The Genetic Opera', and are known for producing films that have a dark quality. I feel this production company's logo will look appropriate before our teaser trailer as it is on a black screen, which is how our teaser trailer opens. We will download this production logo and see how well they integrate together.

Website principles

When learning about website designs, we found out that there are 5 basic principles to creating a good website:
- Functionality

• Speed
• Legality
• Access

- Design

• Typography- range, styles
• Aesthetics
• Artistry
• User-friendliness
• Clarity/ layering

- Content

• Purpose
• Fan base
• Information process
• Attention to detail
• Verbal expression

- Originality

• Animation
• Destictivness
• Quality of predictive research (design, user preferences, content)

- Overall Effecitveness

• Where the strengths are

Website analysis - The Ring

"The Ring" website is particularly intriguing as a web page because it is completely original and creative. The home page feels personal and relative to the film due to the hand drawn art design. It imitates a note pad of sorts or doodles, but remains distinctively Gothic and quirky. The website is engaging and fun, for example the images become animated when the viewer's mouse hovers over them. It is relatively user friendly, however because the text gives the impression of handwritten scrawl, it is sometimes difficult to read.

http://www.thering.jp/

Website links

Possible link ideas:

Trailer
We will either have the trailer as part of the main home page of the website or as a link. From research we have found that most websites include the trailer as part of the design. However, this can become an annoyance to the viewer if there is not a "skip" or a pause option.

Summary/ about the plot
This link is vital to inform the viewer about the film, and will ultimately persuade the viewer to see the film.

Gallery
Having a gallery is necessary to satisfy the interests of fans, creating intrigue about the film, without giving too much away. They further give glimpses of  the mood and atmosphere of the film.

Meet the cast and crew
Again, this can satisfy fans who want more background information about the film. We can even interview our actress on how she felt filming, which will help to promote our film.

Behind the scenes pictures
This will hopefully create interest on how we filmed the teaser trailer - particularly the coffin scenes.

Link to the blog, facebook...
These sort of links are essential in engaging with fans of the film. They make the fans feel more involved and up to date. They are a great form of conversion.

Website draft



This is our first draft of our web design. We wanted our site to look unique and original. Our favourite design, which we think could work well, is using links around the image of the coffin. The image will look isolated and will satisfy the conventions of our horror genre. The coffin image also has a clear link with our teaser trailer narrative. However, this is just a basic idea, so to take it further we need to experiment on actual websites to create the best layout.

Typography research

http://www.alwayswatching.net/features/great-scenes-television-and-film-told-using-only-typography
This website tells famous and classic films ONLY through the use of typography and sound. I thought this would be brilliant for research.

I thought "The fight club version" was the most effective. It was the particularly engaging with the use of animation. The use of script and diegetic sound is flawless, and having no visuals heightens the sound and entices the viewer's imagination. The lettering becomes more broken up with "splattering" effects, which imitates the use of graffiti, to reflect the voice over. Different colours are used for different characters so that the conversation is clear and easy to follow. Different font sizes are also used to dramatise certain words.

Typography research - Tim Burton

Tim Burton Typeface

Although Burton's films all have different typefaces, the style is always unique and recognisably Burton.

The "Sleepy Hollow" typeface is given a personal touch through the impression of handwriting. Yet, it has a distinctive Gothic sense. This is made apparent through the use of black and the jagged/slasher like motions that the letters create. The typography further imitates the use of calligraphy ink, thus creating a historic notion about the film.

The "Nightmare before Christmas" typeface is a lot more restrained than "Sleepy Hollow". It nonetheless has a distinct link to the film. The type is less horror related to conform to a child audience.The lettering, although not Gothic, does have a quirky feel to it, remaining recognisable to Burton's style of film. Again, the use of calligraphy is used, to make the film feel historic and original.

Typography possibility

This typography idea was completed on serifdrawplus8. It is similar to Tim Burton's style of gothic black type, and feels more personal to our teaser trailer. The symbol of the tree links with our forest shots, and satifys horror conventions.

Website Design - Misfits

On the E4 Misfits website there is an interacive 'notice board' containing videos and a game about the character Nathan, who was stuck in a coffin at the end of series 1.

This website shows good use of conversion, as fake Facebook and Twitter profiles are set up for each of the characters and are updated regularly despite series 2 having not been aired yet, which is engaging for the show's fans.
As this website is tacking a similar situational storyline to our own teaser trailer, we could take inspiration from it.



Filming Day 2

Today, we went to some woods to film "chase" scenes. It was a lovely sunny day and although we weren't there for many, many hours, we still got all our footage and hopefully won't have to re-film.

Here are some pictures:

Consulting the ACTION PLAN!

Jenny in the distance, preparing to stumble down.

Getting acquainted with the tree she was about to hide behind.

Jenny's lonely, abandoned belongings (while we filmed her)

Digging at lunch.

Going to another part of the woods to film more.

Jenny about to be dragged down the hill.

Thank you Jenny, for laying in leaves and repeatedly running down hills!

Potential poster photos

Here are some rough potential photographs for our poster, if we decide on the Blair Witch Project style of treetops: 

Sound Research

For our film teaser trailer we want much of the sound to be diegetic to suggest a sense of realism. However, to achieve maximum marks and to give our teaser an authentic feel we must also include a non-diegetic soundtrcack.



The Inception soundtrack for the teaser trailer is particularly effective as it consists of one chord getting louder at a steady pace. It grabs the viewers attention as it is very intense and dramtic. It further suggests the sound of a heart beat or a clock, of time running out. The sound itself is very mechanical, reflecting the atmosphere of the film.


The Uninvited trailer soundtrack is mostly dialouge, however the quick paced editing at the end is matched effectively to the beats, which correspond to the quick flashes of picture. The beats reflect a rapid heart beat, and heighten the atmosphere.

Abyss poster idea

Poster designs in more detail

We discussed our poster designs in more detail, paying particular attention to layout. The bottom two designs were examples of more conventional layouts, and although these satisfied the genre we thought they were not particularly unique. We therefore tried to expand our creativity in our other designs.  

Our favourite design is the top left hand sketch. It is the most relevant to our plot, whilst remaining intriguing to the viewer. We also thought a lot more about where the viewer's eye line would naturally fall. Our next step will be to take high quality photos of our actress so we can develop our ideas further.

Buried poster 2 deconstruction

Buried poster 1 deconstruction

There wasn't a great deal to say because of its simplicity- which is why it's a good poster (because it doesn't overload you with information).

Tag line research (from other media blogs)



Progeny's tag line is 'Hush little baby, don't sat a word'. This is an effective tag line because there is a child featured in the poster as the main image. Because of the way the child is positioned and dressed, she looks sinister which puts an edge on the simple nursery rhyme line and gives it a scarier feel. The line is also relevant to the film because it is the main song in the trailer, so the poster and trailer are clearly linked.





Insurgence's tag line is 'sometimes it's better to be left in the dark'. It is a good tag line because it reveals the film has a literally dark narrative, which can also be seen from the night vision style image. However, it is quite long so not particularly catchy .





Seventh Heaven's tag line is 'the hangover you'll never get over'. This is a good tag line because it is clearly related to and implies the narrative of the film being focused on alcohol. However, it is also quite long- tag lines should be short and catchy.  





This is a sketch for the Thick Skin poster. Although not the final product, it has been decided that the tag line will be a quote from the teaser trailer. This is a good idea because it directly links to the film and people will rememeber the line when they watch the film so are likely to repeat it, promoting the film. This would not work for our poster, however, because we have little dialogue and it is all 'help!' and 'get me out!' so wouldn't work very well.



Filming =D

Well I personally thought this was a jolly good days filming. Thanks to Jenny again for being our brilliant actress, who is willing to do absolutely anything, even lie in a coffin for hours while we threw dirt at her. Love you Jenny =D

Current News

Location scouting: the woods

Location photos

 The following are pictures of trees to hide behind (labelled 'Tree'), banks to be pulled down (labelled 'Bank'), paths to run along (labelled 'Path') and potential poster backgrounds (labelled 'Poster'). 

Poster

Tree



Tree



Tree



Tree and path



Path



Poster



Poster

Poster



Field

 



Bank



Poster

Tree

Path



Path





Poster or path



Tree