Head cut makeup test

At one point in our film, there is a scene where Adrian (Sean) trips over and cuts his head open. This injury is a vital part of our film, so it needs to look convincing in close-up shots.

To see how difficult it might be to create a prosthetic cut, Matthew used a simple halloween makeup kit consisting of red, black and purple paint, a sachet of fake blood, a fine brush, and a blending sponge.

The finished result is good enough to use in our film, although it might not be as big in the final piece as Adrian only trips and bangs his head on the floor so it wouldn't need to be that serious of a wound.

Simple Film Test - I'll Get the Next One

This is a very short film we made to test a number of techniques and methods such as manual focusing (shown in very first shot), match-on-action (shown throughout the first 20 seconds) and deliberately & correctly breaking the 180 degree rule (shown at 16 seconds in).

The manual focus in the very first shot is used to give the film a professional, modern look. It is also a good introductory shot as the foreground is static, giving room to add a title with all the activity happening in the out-of-focus background.

The match-on-actions throughout the first 20 seconds help link the shots together and make for successful continuity. It also enables us to seamlessly link together shots that were filmed in different locations, as he walks through the door at 16 seconds.

Finally, breaking the 180 degree rule usually should never be done either deliberately or accidentally, but there are a few exceptions; walking up stairs (you can only go up one way and down one way), moving the camera around without a cut at all, to cut on the line so there are 2 cuts altogether, or to cut through a door like we did.

Director - Connor Jackson
Main actor - Sean Martin
Cameraman - Matthew Jones
Editor - Kieran Charlesworth

Research into Film Trailers

In my research of different movie trailers i have noticed what the producers and editors include. The main aim of a trailer is to not give to much away and to make the audience want to go see the film. Usually the trailer will explain what the film is about and sometimes show scenes near the end of the film to grad the audiences attention. In the horror genre this is normally common where they have parts near the end of the film showing. As well as that they also include a scary scene to make the audience jump bringing in the horror genre. A good example of this is the new film called Sinister. Throughout the trailer the story is explained through text on the screen. There are a couple of scenes showing the mysterious character to make the trailer scary. The reason why its a good example is because the final scene of the trailer is where all the children are sat in a dark room. You notice the children and keep your eye only on them. Next thing that happens is the scary character jumps out from the left. Adding this right at the end of the trailer makes the audience jump and remember the trailer after the film they are watching.

Research on Film Posters

Many Hollywood films tend to follow similar patterns in the way their posters are made and advertised to the audience, common trends pop up such as; the main character of the film centred in the middle, the title below the character, a wall paper in the background, the name of the actors in the film located at the top of the page, its release date and a slogan to promote the themes of the film.

Examples from modern cinema include:

The Dark Knight Rises

SkyFall

Final Destination

However, in the past, and in different countries, there have been a lot of abstract and more unique ideas for certain posters, which I believe would be useful for the story in our film.

Pull Focus Research

In our short film we are hoping to use the pull focus technique when Adrian starts to drive off in the car. The first part of focus will be on Adrian looking forward while slowly driving off. The camera will then pull focus to the shadowed figure in the back of the car. The reason why we are doing this is to make the scene look more effective. Doing this means the audience will wonder whats in the back of the car until the camera focuses on the back. Below is a Youtube video of what a pull focus is and whats the best way to do it to make it look professional.