Trailer - Journal of Critical Reflections

To make our trailer we did seven separate shoots. Each shoot allowed us to progress and make sure we had the high quality shots we wanted for the trailer to make a professional and successful product that attracted the target audience. For the first few shoots we made quite a few mistakes and weren't very happy with a lot of the shots we had but over time we definitely improved and became more productive which allowed us to get more professional looking shots. After each shoot we showed the footage to our target audience and got feedback which really helped as they suggested many improvements that we took onboard. Alongside the challenge to make professional looking shots we found it quite difficult to be able to get the crew and cast organised to set days for shooting as we are all very busy people and we had to work around college and working hours which was not easy. Even though we struggled slightly to organise times to shoot we still got together at most opportunities that we were all free and managed to form ideas for the trailer and shoot for it.

Shoot One:

For our first shoot we weren't very prepared but got together at a time when Lewis was working which gave us a chance to record shots of scenes where his character was not needed.
We got:

• The mirror shot
• The record player shot
• Graveyard shots
• The establishing shots 
• The fireplace shot

These shots were quite valuable for us to film as they gave us practise of filming without having to direct an actor as well. For the shots we both researched how to record effective looking shots and learned how to use the aperture ring on the prime lens (we both had very little experience with a prime lens). The outdoor shots proved difficult as the daylight was very bright even with the aperture right down, this meant we had to manipulate the clips later on in premiere pro to make them darker to follow the dark conventions of current products. We also had trouble using the tripod to get the shots we wanted so reverted to using the camera handheld which led to stability problems which we then had to correct in the post production stages.

We then showed the audience the clips and got feedback which made us want to reshoot some of the shots as they were conventional and didn't look effective enough.

Shoot Two:

For our second shoot we were able to film with Lewis, this was new to us and we had to get used to directing him and we found it quite difficult at first, which was visible in some of the shots.
Some of the shots we got included:

• The drinking shots
• Smashing a bottle 
• Lewis in bed 
• Some audio recordings 

This shoot was quite a rushed one as we were very unorganised and were having difficulty getting the exact shots we wanted. We found this frustrating and it meant that many of our shots didnt look as nice as we would have like but we did also get quite a good collection of shots with Lewis in them going. These shots worked well with the narrative and looked good after post productive manipulation. We also took a few audio clips during this shoot but afterwards we figured that they seemed more like the narrative to a short film than for a trailer and the audio clips of Lewis talking would have lasted too long for us to build sufficient suspense which would mean that the conventions weren't followed and the target audience may not have liked our product. It wasn't until the later shoots that we decided to change the audio of the Protagonist talking as we weren't too sure, this is where the audience feedback was very valuable.

Shoot Three:

Shoot three was a shoot that we used to refilm shots that weren't good enough. By shoot three we had a lot more experience with the equipment and started to get to grips with what we had to do to get effective and professional shots. After shooting some of the video clips for the trailer we also did a photoshop for our ancillary tasks to get good photos to begin the editing process on them too.

Shoot Four:The fourth shoot allowed us to get more shots in the house that were used in the trailer. Shots like the CCTV footage and the shots of Lewis walking around the house and doing different tasks were filmed during this shoot. Beforehand we looked at existing trailers to keep us creative and allow us to get more ideas of shots we could get for our trailer that would be useful. This shoot was a very productive one and you can really see how we progressed as we went. The shots were all a really high quality and were quite creative compared to some of the stuff we had done before hand which meant the trailer research we had done had really helped.

Shoot Five:
Shoot five was quite tough. This was the shoot that the hitchcock zoom from the attic was filmed. This shot took many many attempts and was very time consuming as we didnt have any special equipment so had to do the zoom manually with our hands and adjust the height of the camera by stating from a crouched position or crouching from a standing position. We got a couple of good shots so finally came down and decided to go on to other shots of Lewis looking up into the attic and the Intruder looking down from the attic. Whilst in post production we manipulated the hitchcock zoom by stabilising it, reversing it and speeding it up but it ended up looking really good considering who difficult it was. It also resembled the first ever hitchcock zoom which was also a shot looking down stairs. After the attic shots we re-recorded the script using the rhode mic and the zoom mic to allow us to use the best. We also got the shots of Lewis picking up the phone and any other remaining shots that included him as this was our last shoot involving him. After the shoot our audience feedback was great and they said our cinematography and creativity skills improve at every shoot.

Shoot Six:
This was the final shoot in the location and we got the final clips for the trailer. We managed to get bloody/gory shots and creepy shots which contributed to the genre more and made our trailer really feel like a thriller/horror trailer. We also filmed a couple of jumpscares which proved difficult but looked effective in the final trailer. We managed our time and were very productive during this shoot as we knew we wouldn't have very many more opportunities to film again and the final trailer was nearing its finish. The shots we got allowed us to build more tension during the trailer and were high quality apart from the lighting and colouring that was corrected in post production

Shoot Seven:
This shoot was for the evaluation of the products we made. We filmed it using the Canon 5D Mark III and with a blue screen behind us to display screen caps on after editing in post production. It took a long time to film and we used the projector behind the camera as a teleprompter to read off as we went. We made a few mistakes during the filming but in the end we finished with a great evaluation that could be uploaded to youtube.