Video Inspirations

Being media students me and my group member decided to draw from existing media to inspire us to create our scary ghost character to give the trailer a more scary and professional look. We mainly looked at this unofficial video of the ring showing the main scary character move from the well. The imagery is very haunting as she appears from out of a well dressed in a dirty white dress yet her face is not visible due to her dark hair covering it. This all makes it very scary as the white dress shows and her pale skin insinuates she is dead, and the fact you can't see her face makes it very scary for the audience as its hard to distinguish what or who this character is. This has inspired me and my group member to create a character to look similar to this as being a media student it will be very difficult to make someone look like they have died and appear ghostly, yet this character would be relatively easy to create as there is lack of visibility of her face. The way in which the scary character crawls along the floor is also effective as it brings a very scary element to her in that she is obviously not normal and human like, she is more like a creature. We will also use this as an inspiration in our own trailer as it would not be suitable if the ghostly character was running around or acting human like. Our ideas for our story was to show that the scary character in the film had drowned herself this video has greatly inspired us with a way how to make it look like that happened. It would be very hard to try and film that shot if we had to show the character falling in the water.

Editing Process

To edit our footage for the main production of the trailer we used software on the mac computers called 'Adobe Premiere Pro'.This was the introduction of a brand new piece of software which we needed to use in order to edit our footage, yet we were using this for the first time so therefore we had to experiment with the various different tools and how to use them correctly to get the best possible results for our production.

To actually get our footage on to the programme in order to decide which was suitable for our trailer, we had to connect it to the computer via a USB lead. We then had to click the type of connection on the camera and convert the files into BDMV files so as Premiere Pro can read the type of files that needs to be imported onto it. After this you then stream the files over into a separate file and import the files into premiere pro.


After successfully uploaded all the footage onto the programme we then had to create a new project. The picture above is what you initially see with your footage in the side bar and the editing screen. Before we could start editing our footage we needed to put the song onto the programme so we could cut and edit in time with the music. Using the import button we imported our song and dragged in to the right hand side of the screen into the editing bar. In order to start editing clips we had to drag them from the bar to the editing screen and begin to put your trailer together and try out different editing techniques that looked the best.

The first thing we began to do was cut several shots using the razor tool accordingly and then positioning them in appropriate places where they would be most effective with the song. We felt it necessary to lengthen the shots at the beginning where the video is slow and of a state of equilibrium. However we cut the shots to make short quick shots when the rise in action begins to create panic and ensure we was following the conventions of a horror film so it would appeal to our target audience. Also the change in editing throughout the trailer would ensure that the audience would not get bored and watch the trailer to the end. ALso by using slow music with slow editing up until the rise in action it builds tension and drama to the trailer which makes it much more exciting.

The tools down the left hand side of the page enabled us to dissolve different shots together to create smooth transitions between shots, we could also change shots to black and white, we could also dip shots to black and to white to again create a smooth transition between shots. At the beginning of our trailer we decided to use black and white images to distinguish the past from the present day.

We also used the speed duration tool which was accessible by right clicking the mouse over the piece of footage. We slowed down certain shots such as the victim running to add more drama and suspense to the audience. We also slowed the early shot of the girl drowning to again enhance the drama surrounding the shot.

In order to give the trailer a more professional look we used photoshop to produce the captions and title of the film, as it was important we insured there was continuity within the fonts throughout the trailer as this is a convention used in successful horror trailers.. After we created them we were able to import them and treat them in the exact same way we edited the rest of the Video using the Tools provided. We felt for the captions to look more realistic we would need them to move slightly

Developent of Mise En Scene

After changing the story so that the reason the two victims go to the lake was because they found a newspaper article about the girl who drowned in a lake and wanted to find out more, it was essential we showed this in the trailer to make this clear to the audience. As a result we needed to create a newspaper prop that we could film which clearly shows there was a real article.

Filming Schedule

In my group it was essential we discussed a suitable time in which to carry out the filming of our product, so the process of filming would be organised and straight forward. The camera we would be using was school property and had to be booked, therefore it was important we constructed a filming schedule so we could show when we would like to use the camera. We planned to carry out the filming over the course of a week as it would be effective in being able to see based on the footage we had, what other shots or sequences were needed to produce the best possible product.

Monday:

On monday we went to our first location which was the lake, and started to film opening shots to capture the surroundings as well as filming some shots of the main scary character in-front of the lake. We made sure that we went at a suitable time of 5pm, so it was light enough to set up the tripod and other camera equipment, yet it was getting dark so it created the horror mise en scene needed.

Tuesday:

We went after school at 5pm to shoot some more surroundings of the lake.

Wednesday:

We went later on when it was completely dark to the lake to film the scenes of panic with the other characters running and showing the scene of them breaking down.

Thursday:

On Thursday evening we took shots of the characters for our promotional package.

Friday:

Friday we shot footage at our second location of the forest. We filmed scenes of the scary character in this area with her chasing the victim characters also.

Saturday:

On the final day we shot the scenes of the characters traveling to the lake (the phase of the trailer where the characters are in equilibrium).