During the research stages of my coursework I used the website QuestionPro that allows users to freely create a survey and then look at and analyse all the data received from participants. This was a critical part of the research process as it is when my group and I first started to form a clear idea of our demographic and when we began to make important decisions concerning the plot, characters and even release period. Because of the survey we were able to make well informed, balanced choices ensuring our film reached its full capabilities. The main reason we chose to do an online survey is because the most common age range that go and view Slasher films are adolescents and it is them who primarily spend most of their recreational time online and on social media. Once we had typed in the ten questions and chosen a design for the questionnaire we were provided with a link which we could easily upload to social networking sites such as 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' for all our friends and followers to fill out. QuestionPro calculated the ratios and percentages and presented all the information to us in an easily comprehensible pie chart. I then went on to use Microsoft Excel to create various attractive graphs and presented them on Microsoft PowerPoint along with a brief analysis and interpretation of the results.
In particular, the construction of my 'Fangoria' magazine front cover and film poster had to be completed using Abode Photoshop in which many of my skills were able to flourish given the complexities of my two texts. I had to create hyper real representations of the photos I had taken by editing them to a point at which they looked professional.
'Fangoria's main images tend to have an almost garish aesthetic making them eye catching and ironically tacky looking in reminiscence of the notorious video nasty era. I first had to use the magic wand and lasso tool to have the background removed and replaced with the colour black. Following this I felt that the black was too plain and so decided to replace it with an imported image of a dark forest to provide the whole cover with an eerie, spooky tone. I also added a filter to the image to reinforce the cheap, tacky look. The supplementary images used had to be cropped to fit into the film reel running down the left hand side of the page and they were accompanied by short feature stories so the audience had a clear idea of what each image represented. As there were so many text and image layers for both my texts it was tricky at times to have everything aesthetically pleasing. The colour of my film title typography was difficult to work with as when it was white not all the letters were decipherable and the same happened when the typography was all black. In the end, I decided it was best to duplicate the layer of text and have the forth most layer black and the other layer white creating almost a shadow behind it.
As for the poster I used the same form of typography to create the shadowy effect. As for the main image I used the same one that had been used on the magazine but without the filters. Also, there was a camera set up on a tripod which obscured the image but had the killer and final girl on the screen of the camera itself. The screen had a textured layer to make it look more pixelated but still decipherable. I then used 'Google images' to locate logos of various film festivals and pasted them at the top of the poster so the audience is aware of the quality of 'Knife Camera Action'.
The trailer is where most technology was required. My group and I used hand held battery operated lights to create and effective shot when the scenes were particularly dark and a Canon 500D camera in sports mode for all of the filming (and photos) but as some shots were filmed from the killer's camera we had to make it clear that these were different shots. We did this using Serif Movie Plus (a non-linear digital video editing) where we applied a red recording button and frame to all of the killer's footage so the audience could easily differentiate between any normal shots. Also for a few scenes they took place from the killer's perspective in the dark meaning that we had to use a night vision filter just for that added fear factor and tension. We also put the words 'REC' and 'NIGHT VISION' into the shot using a text tool. All our editing was conducted using Serif in which we were able to easily create montage sequences and install flashing black out screens between some shots to disorient the audience and make them feel like they are truly caught up in the action of trailer. We were able to view each piece of footage separately and manipulate it according to our own desires and vision for the finished product. We cut clips and slowed some down as well as speeding some up where was necessary. For some of the brighter shots we had tone down the contrast especially in one shot in particular where our final girl walks past a church in bright sunlight. During this shot we had also accidentally crossed the line which we managed to somewhat fix by flipping the shot. Using Serif it was also easy to shift shots around so that by juxtaposition they all portrayed a certain narrative which was not necessarily done in the order in which we filmed the footage.
After the editing was all complete, some sound had to be re-recorded and placed over the footage. We mainly recorded various screams and heavy breathing as well as a piece of dialogue we used as a sound bridge. We chose to re-record so that all sound was as clear as possible, especially the voiceover used at the start and end of the trailer. One piece of sound we spent a lot of time on was the merging of the voice of our benefactor with the killer's which accompanied the footage on screen.
'Youtube' and other social media sites such as 'Facebook' played a prominent role throughout the coursework. As well as just using 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' as platforms for my group's questionnaire we also used it to keep in contact with each other to make decisions when we were not all in the same place and to arrange meetings for filming or editing sessions. Furthermore, on completion of our trailer it was posted to 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' for our friends and followers to see. Once it was put onto 'Youtube' it received 122 views within three days which is quite an accomplishment for an amateur trailer.
I also used 'Youtube' during the research stage of my coursework when I had to analyse various trailer to form an understanding of what it was exactly that I wanted to create. When it came to the film poster and magazine analysis I had to use 'Google' and websites such as fangoria.com to locate the images and begin my annotations.
This website, 'Blogger', was used extensively to upload 'Prezi' presentations, 'PowerPoint's, images and text. It took a fair amount of time to do this as it was important the layout was cohesive and attractive meaning that (for example) image size and position had to be formerly previewed and then published to keep the blog aesthetically pleasing.
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