This is the end slate for my trailer. I have incorporated my 'production company' name from my thriller opening from last year, as well as giving each person in my class (and my teacher) a credit.
Some of the first credits are genuine:
- A film by myself
- Actors: James and Andrew Greenhalgh
- Soundtrack by Chris Hughes
- Sound director: Hannah Faja
The rest have been made up.
I have used the classic 'SF Movie Poster' font, in order for the slate to look more authentic.
I may also change the colours of the release date, so this flashes to match the other inter-titles throughout the trailer.
In continuation from my Prezi on titles and graphics, I have chosen to use Enter The Void as my influence to how my inter-titles will actually be presented on screen.
I loved the use of vibrant, bold colouring and wanted to use the same neon tones rather than settling for black/white.
For inter-titles to work, they must move in some way on the screen in order for the 'action' and movement in the trailer to continue to flow.
Therefore, as well as having the colour flash and change, I also added another layer of writing to give a '3D' / interference effect. This gives the notion of double vision which reflects the theme of my film.
In FinalCut, I have written my inter-titles on a 'basic title' text box. To create the strobe effect, I have repeated this text over and over (in four different colours), each one lasting 0.2 seconds. On every third text box, I have added the second piece of text in order to create the interference.
You cannot see here, as these images are stills, but the colours flash as if they are a strobe.
(Please see my research and planning post on Enter The Void for detailed analysis).
This GIF gives a better idea of what the titles look like in the trailer.
I wanted to give the same strobe effect for my end title - this would give an intense, dramatic, punchy ending.
For this edit, I have created inter-titles throughout, using the same technique that I did for the title. However, with these I have added an overlay in alternating colours on top of every third piece of text - this is to give the effect of the font moving, or 'shaking'. This is in order to keep the movement rolling through the trailer, otherwise the action will appear to stop when the inter-titles appear, and would look jolty when the visuals began again.
I have also included my ident, where in which the soundtrack starts a few seconds before this ends (i.e. a sound bridge.) I may add a 'whooshing' sound effect at the start of the ident to fill the silence.
There was a slightly out of focus shot at the start (walking through China Town). This was intentional, but, to make this clear, I have added a 'blur' effect on this shot to enhance the effect.
Some of my audience feedback included the shots of the cup - they said that it appeared 'lame', and 'not dramatic enough' compared to the rest of the trailer. I am going to change these shots for something more exciting, perhaps some ink blooming through water.
I have added further superimposition as well as tightening the edit to the soundtrack. E.g., I have intercut two shots (around 0.5 seconds each) to give a 'jumpy' effect to synchronise with the guitar. This adds disorientation, and appears very jarring, which is the look that I am aiming for.
I have also extended the title slightly at the end, to give this more time to be read on the screen.
I still need to add the end slate with the credits.
In this cut I have edited the soundtrack and the visuals further so they fit together better. I have also added the 'montage' in the third section, which helps majorly to pick up the pace.
I have also changed the ending further, by adding a coloured portrait of James over the strobe - this brings the ending together well as the colour scheme (blue / red / pink) returns.
I have included the title in my chosen font, and have repeated it at 0.2 seconds in different colours in order to create this strobe / trippy effect.
In this cut, I have put the trailer to my own soundtrack. This has not been perfected - I need to chop and change the track in order to make it fit better with the visuals, i.e. the beat will be in synchronisation with the visual edit.
I have added another scene which involves running up and down staircases, as well as a 'car chase'. This has added a lot more movement to the trailer which builds atmosphere and tension.
I have changed the 'main scene' to black and white - I think this works well as it clearly shows the difference between the 'conversation' and the rest of the montage scenes. I also think that the monochrome effect helps to build the atmosphere.
I have changed the ending to something more dramatic - I felt as if the strobe close up of James's face worked much better, as the tension built throughout and so it felt wrong to slow it right back down again for the end. This is also a lot more punchy, and will keep the audience on their toes.
I still need to add another ten seconds of footage - I am planning for each clip to be one second long, meaning that this third section of the trailer will be the 'montage' part. Here I will add more superimposition to enhance the feeling of the trip, and to give the notion that everything is becoming more overwhelming. This will also help to build the speed and suspense.
Notes from feedback:
- I am going to change the 'brightly lit scenes' to black and white in order to create a more atmospheric mood. This should also give a clearer contrast between the scenes, which will solve any confusion between them.
- I am going to replace the train shot with something that appears within the conversation scene (perhaps the drug), so this transition will run much more smoothly.
- I will alter the shot length / timing of the voiceover to sync the audio and visual together.
I do not have my personal soundtrack yet, so I have used copyrighted music - the same tracks that I have used in my animatic. This will be changed in the next cut.
I still need to add the inter-titles throughout as well as think of a title for the film. (The ident needs to be added at the start - I have made this but have left it for out for now, purely to speed up the upload time).
I still need to add around 10 seconds of footage - this will be another scene intercut with the strobe lighting in the third part of the trailer.
Audience feedback from my peers included comments about the amount of movement within the trailer. Therefore I want something that will add fluidity and tension, and am planning to film a scene with a lot of movement in the camera. This will be done in some sort of stairwell / building block - this footage will give me different levels (moving up / down stairs) as well as motion (running) within the frame.
I also want to change the ending (with James drinking the tea), as it does not fit with the rest of the trailer, especially after the pace has been building throughout. I am planning to make the end more dramatic, perhaps with editing in some more of the strobe scene.
I may take out the ambient sound as it seems distracting to the soundtrack and voiceover. However, I do like the sounds of the train and the tap dripping.
My friend Chris Hughes created my soundtrack for the trailer. He describes it as manic, dissonant and an ode to the early Canterbury scene - an early British Psychedelic movement in the 60s - that experimented with different tonal dissonance and effects on electronic instruments.
We may mix the music further with the sounds on FinalCut.
Even though I did not end up using any diegetic sound from my China Town shoot in my trailer, I still recorded a lot of audio from that day. Here is some of the best sound from the shoot in the video below.
