Ancillary Task- Final Magazine Front Cover.

Final draft of script / editing.

There has been lots of changes to the script after several discussions. We decied that the first draft of the script included lots of things that were not nessiserly needed in the trailer. We wanted to change it so that the footage in the trailer would be the most important and would show the story without giving too much away.

This is the final script:

Location- Kitchen

*Matt on phone in kitchen*
Matt: Ok, ok I gotta go, bye.
*Hangs up phone as Shannon enters*

*CUT*
Location- Bedroom


*Cut to Shannon finding paper*


Location: Top of stairs
*Both characters at the top of the stairs*
(Short clips of argument, including Matt reaching for baseball bat beside him)
*Matt hits Shannon with bat*

*CUT to Shannon falling down stairs* (Camera angle shot from top of stairs)


*CUT to Matt digging (Long shot)
*CUT to Matt dropping Shannon (with cloth wrapped around)*


Location: House and Woods.
-Matt pulls car into drive
-Opens and enters front door
*CUT *
-Shannon's hand appearing to come out of the ground
-Bare feet moving on mud (with cloth around legs)*
*CUT*
-Matt turning off  (bedroom) light
-Matt walks past mirror and sits on bed
 (As above action happens, Shannon will walk past other side of bed but only been shown in the mirror not in main shot.
*CUT to Shannon stood over bed going to hit with the bat* (Towards camera as it blacks out)


*CUT to end title then fades into actors names and film company details*

Ancillary Task- Drafts- Magazine Front Cover.



When researching magazine front covers, we came across these two. They both use a feature we would like to use, which is the reel that includes several pictures. The only problem is both magazines are for a completely different genre so in our first draft we have tried to make the reel our own and changed the reason that it is there.

Draft 1:

In this draft we have kept a simple title and placed the text around the sides so that we can easily place the image and move the text around afterwards. We have added the film reel and have used it to include pictures of backstage when filming.

Draft 2:We decided the bar code, issue number and price should all be closer together and by the title so all of the purchasing information is in one area and does not distract from the rest of the features on the cover. 

Draft 3&4:
The image has been added and we have tried different puff shapes to include text in. I don't like either of these as they doesn't really have any relation to the theme of our front cover and they also don't stand out as much as we want it to.

Draft 5:
This draft is work in progress. The image has been moved which means the title is now covering too much of the face. In the final cover we will edit the title and head so the head overlaps the title, this gives a professional finish. We have placed a puff, I like the shape as it's in your face, I'm just not sure that the red text works as we already have the red title above it. Also in this draft we have added a strip of colour down the side of the cover at the opening, inspiration for this came from the total FILM magazine except that had have it on the other side of the cover, I prefer were we have chosen to place it as the reader will notice it more as they go to open the magazine, the text on the strip however will be the same way as the total FILM cover as the reader will not have to turn to the magazine slightly to read it.

Draft 6:
The head is now over lapping the title, but not too much so the viewer can see the title clearly.

Draft 7:

The red text in the puff now looks so much better white, it matches the background and the black behind it brings it out. Also we have started to add the sub titles with coloured backgrounds, similar to how the total FILM text is displayed. I had the idea to use colours that are included in the pictures on the reel, so that there are not too many colours going on around the cover. Our eyes will be used to seeing the same colour.

Draft 8:
Again any other sub title has been added with another colour that has been included in the pictures below. I still think this is a good idea, on the other hand I do not think the two colours work together both being sub titles.

Draft 9:
The last sub title has been added to organise the text into it's correct order and location although I think two of them are too extended, so that will be changed.

Draft 10:Squares have been shortened.

Draft 11:
Because having two different colour subtitles didn't look right, we moved the yellowy colour to be the end of page strip and kept the grey for the subtitles, I think this works well, because we can use both colours and they now compliment each other.          

Draft 12:
The text has been added to the strip. The colours in the strip have already been used throughout so there is not lots of new colours being added.

Draft 13:We felt as if there were to many gaps in between the bottom of the picture. We didn't want to have too much going on but we did place another puff in the bottom right so there was just the right amount of white background being shown. We used the same colour as the puff so it was just as obvious but didn't use white round the edges so they look different. We put the added one overlapping the strip so it jumps out more.

-FINAL MAGAZINE FRONT COVER-

Devloping ideas - Poster

This is the poster for horror/thriller film 'The Crazies'.
The face isn't shown in it, which creates a feeling of wanting to know what the face looks like. I think this would be easy and cheap to re create something simiular. It does not give anything away or show the story line at all, you get a slight peek into the type of location and weapons, I would like to bring this across in our final poster design. Having all the text together at the bottom does not distract from the image which creates a clean layout. There is a slight vanishing point to the picture as your eyes follow along the blood to the door, when taking the picture for our poster I will think carefully about where everything is placed.

Chosen picture and it's changes.

   Before

After

This is the chosen picture. We have chosen this as the most preferred pose as the actress (me) is herself and not the character starring in the film, the inspiration for including the bat was from the total FILM front cover were the actor is himself but with blood on his face suggesting the violence from a film that he is featured in.

This picture went through a few changes on different editing software.

Background - The original photo was taken against a plain background, this background however was not a solid white, so using the Photoshop pen tool and magic wand I removed the background so it was transparent ,meaning when placed on a white background, it looks as if that was how it was originally taken. Editing the hair was difficult, as the magic wand could not do this properly, however I used a tool called Refine Edge, which does a good job at working out where each strand of hair was. There is a small issue with bits being left around the hair but these can be removed by a eraser or can be hidden by well placed puffs or text.

Lighting - The lighting in the original photo was bad, we wanted to shoot on a flat background so it was easy to edit but that means being inside with less natural light. Due to not being able to afford expensive lighting equipment we tried our best to put light on the face, knowing a lot of brightening would need to be done on Photoshop. We were not completely uncomfortable with this idea, as several magazine front covers are heavily edited.


Body-  I have edited the body ever so slightly, bringing in the waist so there is an equal shape on each side. It came out well, as it does not look like I have edited the body at all. I used the bulge and pinch tool on fotoflexer.com.
The pose is sexualised slightly because of were the hand is placed and the plain facial expression. Viewers of magazines are used to seeing this so using this pose will help give the cover a professional look like other top magazines. Red lipstick, dress and nails has purposely been used to show fear, death and violence. It also matches the colouring on the bat and will suit the red title we plan on using,

Ancillary Task- Final Film poster.

Ancillary Task - Drafts - Film Poster.

Draft 1:
This is draft one of the magazine poster, it's quite plain and does not have the image added yet. We have decided that we do not like the way some of the text is stacked in this draft.

Draft 2:
This draft looks a lot more organised. We lost the slogan and featured the time that the film will be released as we think think this is an import feature to include in a film poster

Draft 3: We felt in the last draft that there was too much happening at the top of the poster so made the actors names and other important information smaller and added it to the bottom. We want it to be readable but not distract from the image when added.

Draft 4:
The image has been added and more information has been included at the bottom of the poster. I can't help but notice that in this draft there is too many red tones, although we wanted to have red colours throughout our poster and magazine front cover to symbolise death, fear and blood I would like to see what colours we could change the text to.

Draft 5:
We have changed the title to white to stand out more from the dark background at the top and have changed the other text to black so it does not stand out as much. I want to include more red in the picture although I did not like the text in red. I would like to do something like the poster with the rake being carried with a trail of blood on it, in photoshop.

Draft 6:
Just a re-arrange of the title to a place we think works better.

Draft 7:
This is where the blood has been added. We carefully chose the right shapes that would suit the bat best and fit neatly.

Draft 8:
Here there has just been a few highlights and colours added to the blood using the brush tool, to make them stand out more and look more life like.

Draft 9:
After debating which looked better we decied to remove the second blood stain as, in real life you wouldn't have blood placed there as gravity would mean it would only be at the end of the bat in thoery.

Draft 10:
One small change before the final poster is completed. Although we don't want the text at the bottom of the poster to be too ovbious, we felt the opacity was a little too low, so we brought it up a bit to the perfect percent.

-FINAL FILM POSTER-

Photoshopping blood on bat.





This is the image I am using for the blood effects. As you can see, here I have used the lasso tool to go round the chosen shape and copied it ready to be pasted onto the poster picture.

Here the blood splat has been posted onto the image.



 



I have made the shape smaller and placed it on the bat using the move tool.

I've adapted the opacity on the shape to create a blended in look. There are further steps to make the blood more blended in, but we decided we liked how it is like this and that we want it to stand out from the picture anyway.

Just a picture of anything blood splat being added above the other one, to see if it looked even better with more than one.
I think I like it with more than one as it stands out more and looks more realistic.

Flat plans for Ancillary task - Magazine front cover

Grouping the three pieces of text together on the left hand side could risk covering the picture too much. We want the picture to be an important part to the cover, so the text must be kept simple and relevant to the magazine itself.

Although I like this design because the image will be seen clearly and the layout works. I think too many puffs are included. I like that there is a strip of information or pictures at the bottom, on the other hand there may be too much at the bottom in this layout.

We wanted the front cover design to be simple but I think this version is too simple and the layout doesn't work.

This design, in my opnion, works best because it does not include too much unlike the others. It's keeps it simple but pleasing to look at.

Possible Locations.

Depending on the script this could be a possible shot of someone walking into the toilets shown at the bottom

This is a shot of what there is behind the photo above, if we shot someone walking past into the toilets we could switch between this view and the top angle.

This desk area would be good to shot the scene with the opening of the letter, although we do want to avoid using lots of locations in the trailer, so it would be best to do it in a location we see again.

This bedroom will look good on film as it is simply decorated and it is easy to move things around if needed.

We both liked the horror, dull look that these public toilets give. The metal makes it an almost uncomfortable environment to be in. Although there is a problem with filming in a public toilet, so if we chose this as our location we would have to ask permission first.

First draft of script.

Location- Kitchen

*Matt on phone in kitchen*
Matt: Come on, not tomorrow it's my little girl's birthday.
*pauses*
Matt: Ok, Ok I got to go!
*Hangs up phone*
*Shannon enters*

Shannon: Who was that?
*CUT*
Location- By the front door
Matt: (shouting) I'm off to baseball, have you seen my keys?

*CUT to extreme close up of Shannon's hand picking up keys *
*CUT to Shannon running down stairs*
Shannon: Here you go
*Matt turns to walk off but Shannon grabs his arm*
Shannon: Where's my kiss?
*Matt sighs. Kisses Shannon on cheek and walks out of shot*
*Cut to Matt playingn with friends*
*Cut to Shannon finding paper*
*Cut back to Matt plaing*
*Cut back to Shannon opening letter*
*Back to matt in playing field*-
Matt: (Shouting) Bye guys!
(waves behiend him

Location: House
*Matt walks in front door*
Matt: (shouting) I'm home!

Location: Top of stairs
*Both characters at the top of the stairs*
Shannon: I would like to know what this is?
*SLOW MOTION ARGUING* (including matt reaching for baseball bat beside him)
*Matt hits Shannon with bat*

 

*CUT to shannon falling down stairs* (Camera angle shot from top of stairs)

*CUT to Matt digging (Long shot)
- then close up of spade*

*CUT to Matt dropping Shannon (with cloth wrapped around)*
*CUT to Shannon's hand appearing to come out of the ground*
*CUT to bare feet moving on mud (with cloth on ground)*
*CUT to matt turning off light*
*CUT to matt layed asleep*
*CUT to Shannon stood over bed going to hit with the bat*

*CUT to end title then fades into actors names and film company details*










 

Our film in 25 words.

A wife confronts her husband about a suspicious letter, what he doesn't realise is, his plan failed and she will find out .... alive or dead.

Film poster research.

-What I like about this poster is that the face has not been shown, it makes the viewer want to watch the film to know what his face looks like. It's like a cliffhanger but in picture form. The layout on this poster is my favourite out of the three, yours eyes are set on the picture first then you follow down to the title. I like that all the text is one area so there is not too much going on, I want to avoid our poster looking similar to a magazine front cover. The red edited into the picture matches the title perfectly, I like that all the main features are the same colour, so you can easily ignore the white parts if you wanted.

- I wanted to analyse this poster as the mirror idea is similar to the idea we used in the trailer with the mirror trick. I think using a mirror in the poster would suit our trailer and people would recognise the poster from the trailer, or the other way round. On the other hand I think more simple posters are more effective in wider range of places and this poster has a lot going on, including the fact the text is in two different areas.

- Although this poster is extremely simple, it works really well as your main focus is drawn towards the characters and what they are wearing. The title is clear and matches the picture well, I would like to achieve something that is this effective with a low budget. The actor/actresses names being above them introduces them well and is important to include in a poster as people are more tempted to watch a film if they know and like the actor or actress in it.

Magazine front cover research.

  I wanted to compare two magazine front covers. One horror themed and one with only a hint of the film included within the picture used (below). In my opinion I think the 'total FILM' cover works better as you get to clearly see the actor that is featuring in the film but there is a slight horror look to it without being too over the top.

The title:  If we decide that our magazine cover will be of a popular film magazine like 'Total FILM' then we will have the picture as it is displayed here, were the picture has been placed over the top. This gives a very professional look to the magazine as people already know the style title enough to know the magazine itself.

Top banner:
The thing you will notice with both of these front covers is that they both include a banner above the title. It can give small but important information to the viewer of the magazine before they buy.
Colours:I think the use of colours on a front cover is one of the most important things, as its what gives the cover its overall look. The red suits the horror themed cover has it suggests fear and violence. I think if that red was used instead of the blue on the FILM cover it would have been much more effective .

Features:
Something that caught my eye straight away was the film roll on the horror magazine, I really like the way this is used and I would like to include this in our final front cover as it brings your eye towards the bar code and price,, which will interest the viewer further into buying it.