Editing

Lisa and I started editing once we had (finally and with much difficulty due to not having all the neccessary cables) uploaded the film footage.
We used Adobe Premiere to edit.
We just started putting together different shots, however, we found it difficult to do without the soundtrack because we didn't know which shots to use and when to use them.
We realised how much the sound affects the editing and how important sound is in the trailer to build up tension and make it more exciting by having the clips fit with the sound.

Filming Update

Earlier in the blog I wrote about our initial filming at the fire station and the action shots that we filmed. Since then we have filmed a lot more shots trying to vary the angles and content.
After watching the trailer, Nightmare on Elm Street, it gave us a few ideas of what we could film etc.
Below are the notes we made before going out to the filming location, we wrote the clips that we had already previously filmed in green and the clips we still need to film in red...

Scene in tower
- Running up ladder
- LS of tower (kicking and screaming)
Police
- Exit door
- Angry desk rawr
- Looking through window at tower
- Some chase scene footage
- Drawer clip, with gun and photo
- Boy looking through door

Murderer
- woods: jump out at jade
- sunset
- hair / barbed wire
- hair stuff
- jade in rain (stalker)

Thunderstorm
Dr. Avril
- canted angle shot
- sounds “do you know what started this” etc

NEED TO FILM:
CU of Police man Allen Spencer (Daniel Sloan) sleeping
Police walking (shadow)
More sleeping shots – waking up, messed up bed, someone having a troubled nights sleep, person shouting ‘wake up’.

Voice over – ‘Once Upon A Time’, ‘Sweet Dreams’ - credits
Book – turning pages, on fire

More hair scenes – nice playing with hair, running in slow motion (different angles), contrast with horrible ripping and pulling hair.
Grabbing hair from behind (filmed from the side)
More chase scenes – remember to use different angles (such as perspective)
CCTV shot
Running away – broken shots
Torch/car lights
Leaves being blown (fan?)

I found it very useful to have noted down exactly what we needed to film because it meant we could complete all the filming in about an hour, which was essential since it was starting to get too dark to film.
We had arranged with our actress, Emily Silsby, to meet at the location so that we could film the required shots and it turned out to be a successful filming session. We managed to get a variety of different shots with different angles, which would really add some interest into our trailer, i believe.

Music

For our trailer, we decided on using a track by Fellsilent called Immerse. Dan, a valued member of our production team, suggested the track and we all agreed it would be suitable. It has a slow start, which would be good for our equilibrium section and then it gets louder and quicker which would be good for the action scenes. We plan only to use the start of the track before the screaming starts as this would not go with our trailer. As our trailer is only a minute long and the intro to the song is about that length, it should work. We also thought of having some bits in silent to add tension, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Dan emailed the band to ask for their permission to use their song in our media trailer. We got the consent from them to use it which was fantastic.
Music = Sorted :D

Nightmare on Elm Street Trailer

The other day, I watched the trailer for 'Nightmare on Elm Street'. I thought it was an effective horror genre trailer with lots of quick shots, kinda like how I picture our trailer to be like. So, I thought i'd break it down to see exactly what shots are used in this trailer to try and get some inspiration etc.
Below are my notes on most of the clips shown in the trailer. It may not make sense to you but it took me ages ( and even longer to type it up on here again) but I know what I mean even if you don't... also take a look at the trailer and you might understand this break down better. If it still doesn't make sense, just skip to the analysis bit at the end... it's guaranteed to make sense!
Oh and I have put the clips that we could possibly remake in our trailer in purple.

1. Establishment shot- factory, warehouse, blue, misty, rubbish on the floor, broken windows, deserted, smoke.
2. Action- running, chase scene, looking back, long shot.
3. midshot of runner- fast, flat out, see emotion.
4. Long shot, show car's near, head lights.
5. Runner looking back, light on face, slow motion.
6. Shouting, tension.
7. Fire, action, suspense, makes audience ask why?, explosion.
8. Black out.
9. Producer name- red, red splats, blood?
10. Girls skipping, slow motion, all in white dresses, pure, innocent, relevance?
11. Black out, fade in, bedroom, looks like snow, woman, voiceover, blackout.
12. Shot from behind, following woman walking down a corridor, low light, shadowed.
13. Close up, frightened, panicked, helpless, sharing, afraid.
14. Pipes, long shot, man with light behind, sillhouette, blackout.
15. Cue music, pan across to road sign 'Elm'- reference to the title.
16. Creepy rhyme in the background :S
17. Empty road, night, street lights, fade transition to shot of house- shadowy, empty?
18. black then lots of candles, what?
19. two people walking on the left, right is dark, caustious.
20. iron hand scraping against side, sparks, woman ahead, fade to black.
21. shock, woman wakes up, black.
22. two creepy girls behind bars looking out.
23. Naked, wet, cold man, blue colours.
24. Hand coming out of bath water, woman asleep.
25. Quick flashes of black, woman wakes.
26. Man, dark, saying something 'don't fall asleep'.
27. Woman in car, trying to stay awake, what is she doing?
28. Really quick shot of sillhouette.
29. Sillhouette of woman.
30. Panning in on the funeral, crying, little girl again.
31. Man looking at fire.
32. Shadowy figure on stairs.
33. Screaming on floor.
34. Party, swimming pool, zoom out, slow motion in water.
35. Deserted, destroyed school, tables, light streaming in through, woman at desk- childhood?
36. Claw coming down on the back of man.
37. Fade into warehouse, big, min light.
38. Scared expressions from the man.
39. Attack from behind.
40. Iron claw.
41. Running away- broken shots, black in between, like blinking...
42.Spitting out water.
43. Claw.
44.Close up of eye.
45. Running, looking back, torch.
46. car.
47. Scream.
48. Putting hands up, shot from below.
49. Jump through glass roof, filmed from above.
50. Shaking in bed, nightmare.
51. Claw.
52. Man trying to help woman, shot from above.
53. Sillhouette.
54. Wake up!- shouting.
55. Floating up.
56. Black
57. Scream while still blackout.
58. Very quick shots of woman, law, sillhouette.
59. Title, voiceover.
60. Woman, scared, claw, "you have nothing to worry about, this won't hurt one little bit", scream, see face of man with claw for the first time (not just the sillhouette), shocking, black, filmed from below, inferior, scary.
61. text- "don't fall asleep", date.

Analysis bit at the end (for those who can't make sense of the above... and for those who can)

Having broken down the entire trailer of Nightmare on Elm Street, pausing on each and every clip to see what's going on and noting down effective elements, I have noticed a lot that I would not otherwise have noticed by simply watching the trailer. I never realised how much thought is put into these trailers. I always thought a few clips from the film are thrown together but looking more closely I have noticed that everything relates and some things are consistant throughout the trailer. For example, Fire is shown throughout- explosion at the start and the candles. The iron claw makes many appearances. Young girls are shown- skipping, at the funeral, behind the bars. Sillhouettes- there are plenty. Water- swimming pool, wet cold man, spitting out water. I think this repetition is very effective because it gives the viewer an idea of what is going to feature in the film.
On many occasions thoughout this 2min 8 sec long trailer, where audiences are left to ponder about it, and I was left to wonder what the relevance something had to the film and why they bothered putting it in the trailer for example the young girls skipping. It makes the audience want to go and watch the film, which is what a successful trailer should do!
This trailer also adopts a variety of different angles with a variety of quick shots, which I must say are very effective as they make the trailer fexciting!
The trailer effectively builds up tension with it's dramatic pauses and fast paced editing. Especially at the end. From the shots 41 to 56, the shots are extremely short, making it super fast paced. There is then a blackout and a slight pause to build up tension and suspense, and then a few extremely extremely quick shots to finish. It's kind of like a rollercoaster when you get to the top of a massive drop and you brace yourself for the drop. If you were to just go straight down, it doesn't leave much time to build up tension. That is why I think this trailer is effective in using the change in pace to build up tension.
We should remember all this when editing to make sure we show just enough to intrigue the audience. Also to watch the pace of the trailer to build up tension. Regular black outs are also quite effective because it keeps retricting the view of the audience and it helps to speed things up and keep the shots snappy. OK i'm done :)