Evaluation Ancillary Magazine Front Cover

Production: Location

During the February half term we were lucky enough to go on a school trip to New York City. While there we were adamant that we would get a shot of the Statute of liberty, the symbol of freedom, for our trailer to symbolise a gleam of redemption in John Walters life. Originally we were meant to get on a ferry and travel all the way to Ellis island, where the statue is, that way we could have had very dynamic shots of our actor up close and personal with the statue. but we missed our ferry by a matter of minutes. So instead we went on the Staten Island ferry which took us all the way around Ellis island. This actually worked to our advantage because instead of just fitting a small section of the statue into the frame I was able to get the statue from head to toe making it instantly recognisable to the audience. In hindsight I much prefer the shot we have now because it allows the beauty and scale of the statue to be viewed all at once which leaves a greater impact on the audience as they acknowledge the symbolic message of hope.

Production: Glass Table Shot

One of the shots filmed for our trailer was a panning shot of the character John Walters drinking a glass of whiskey through a glass table. We achieved this shot by using a pane of glass, that i had previously purchased for a past production, as the glass table. We elevated the glass to an appropriate height to allow me, the cameraman, to slide comfortable underneath with enough room for movement and for my HD camera. Two Chairs and a stack of books were used to set up the pane of glass this allowed the 'glass table' to be very easy to set up and clear away afterwards.

There was a carfeul amount of consideration that went into what props should be placed on the table and how they would be laid out. the props used were medicine bottle, fake tablets, a whiskey glass, apple juice, cigarettes, ashtray, US dollar and flour (cocaine). We chose these items because we intended to make the characters addiction and weakness known to the audience. This makes them feel sympathy towards John Walters as they see he is a damaged individual who is poisoning his life and harming his chances of ever redeeming himself.

the original idea was to have the props spread right across the table by due to the limited amount of space below the glass the only motion i was capable of was an up and down motion meaning we could achieve a pan shot if all the props were placed closer together.

I used the focus on my camera to slightly blur the props in the foreground this strengthend the image of John Walters drinking his whiskey in the background. We made this creative decision because by blurring the foreground we didn't allow the audience to dwell on all the sinful things John walters is doing in his life. Instead by strengthening the image of him in the background it reminded the audience that he is only human and that he makes mistakes.

The location for the shot was in my kitchen. We chose this location because there are fluorescent lights situated in the ceiling which lit the scene perfectly allowing all the prop details to be illuminated. it also gave us a lot of room to set up the glasss table without completely rearranging the room.

Walk The Line- Annotated Poster

Magazine Cover conventions

After looking at several magazine conventions I decided to create this visual template to show how a magazine front cover is able to successful spread their information across the page and capture the attention of any passing consumer. (Please click on the image above) I have created the template in this fashion because humans read from left to right that is why the magazines main information is situated on the left hand side because it is going to be the first thing people are going to read. Also the magazine front cover needs to have is own unique personality that way it can be easily distinguished if it is surrounded by other magazines in a newsagents.

Crazy Heart - Official Trailer

This teaser trailer for the film 'Crazy Heart' is consturcted the same way as many other teasers. This includes the mention of the 'Motion Picture Association of America' which is then quickly followed by the production company 'Fox Searchlight Pictures'. As soon as the logo is shown the music for the trailer begins immediatly and sets the tone for the entire trailer which is quite slow and relaxed.

The trailer quickly sets up the main characters by having them introduce themselves 'Jean Craddock' and 'Bad Blake' this is so that the viewer starts to feel some connection with them beacsue otherwise they wouldn't relate to them if they remained unnamed. This is then quickly followed by graphics repeating the production companys name and naming the main actors and their achievements e.g. '4 Time Academy Award Nominee Jeff Bridges' this is to try and engage the viewer and make them want to see the film if they are a fan of Jeff Bridges who is an amazing actor.

The trailer continues with several shots revealing the progression of Bad Blakes life as he experiences the highs and lows with the people he encounters. Also it is quite clear to the viewer that his appearance changes because during the trailer they see him as a drunk with nothing and then they see him as a respectable man loving life this is to show that the film follows his life.

This is what we want to do with our trailer because we want to show that our charcter of John Walters goes through many hardships in his life and that the film will document how he has or hasn't coped with all that has happened to him.

Locations

Over the past few lessons we as a group have gone location scouting in the Howard school to find suitable areas where we can film John Walters. Initially we looked at the boys hall wanting to test out the stage lights and see what kind of resolution we get on my HD camera. None of us new how to turn the lights on so we tried a few switches on the main board but nothing happened. Then about ten people from reception and the finance department came into the hall and informed us that we had switched off all their computers and phones. We quickly put all the switches back and all the power was restored. We then left and went to talk to some drama technicians who work the lights for school plays so that in the future we know how to work them.

Liam Fitzpatrick

Filming

Here are several photos from The Barge pub in Gillingham where several scenes for our trailer were shot. The photos taken maybe used for some sort of advertisment in the future.

It was good that we actually went to a location to film because the mise-en-scene was fantastic which gives the trailer a sense of realism as opposed to craeting a fake bar in an empty classroom. This also shows our commitment to the film because as memory serves we were filming into the early hours of the morning so that we were able to get decent looking shots.

Liam Fitzpatrick

Research Into Backing Track

Ain't No Grave (can hold my body down) by Johnny cash


This is one of many songs that we have thought about using for our trailer for John Walters. I particularly like this song because I believe it represents our main character John Walters very well because he is a man that abuses his own life by indulging in alcohol and drug abuse for long periods of time and yet he has not killed himself. So thats why i think the song would be suitable for the trailer because essential John Walters is mocking the fact that even though he is living a sinful lifestyle he is going unpunished while other innocent people are suffering.

Due to copy right purposes we wouldn't use the original version of this song but instead create our own rendition with the main actor Jimmy Gore singing the lyrics giving the whole song a much deeper meaning which hopefully provokes an emotional response from the viewers.

Liam Fitzpatrick

Production: Wednesday 8th June 2011

Today as a group we went to one of the locations for our teaser trailer for John walters. The location was an abandoned classroom situated in the music block. The room was an utter mess with dirt and crisp packets covering the floor and graffiti all over the walls, luckily we were able accquire a large tub of white paint so that we could cover all the unnecessary blemishes that littered the walls. We also found a dustbag and two brooms so by working as a group we quickly tieded up the room until finally it was clean and in a presentable state so that we could start putting in all the furbtiture needed to complete the mise-en-scene for our trailer.

We then brought in several objects so that Jimmy, who is playing John walters, had something to interact with during the scene. To make the set seem like a dressing room we added in a table and chair to show that it is supposed to be a place for John walters to relax before and after a show. We also found an old television set that would later be smashed in a fit of rage, along with an old writing board that was left in the room. We also discussed what other props we needed to complete the mis-en-scene and they were a cigarete, an ash tray, a mirror, a whiskey bottle and a photograph which infuriates John and sets him on his destructiove war path.

After much discussion we locked the room so that no one else could enter and possible wreck what we had all worked very hard on. We then agreed to come back at a later date and film the scene that we needed for the trailer.