Photoshop Practice

Before we could really start up and create our poster, we needed to brush up on our skills on photoshop. During a Media Studies Lesson, we took a few quick flicks of images similar to ones that will be on our actual poster and began to edit and mesh them together to see if our idea would infact work.

The main idea for our Poster is to have an extreme close up shot of our protagonist, Ursula, wearing her trademark midnight shades. In the reflection of the shades will be an image of the boy in the trailer as a way to create synergy for our audience and create an association between the child and our main character.

This idea will require us taking two images. With the image of the boy, we will have to use the 'Select' pencil on Photoshop to carefully draw around the boy and then press 'Cut'. If this is done successfully, we should be left with the required image of the boy cut out of the picture, leaving only a stencil behind with the rest of the image that too is unwanted.

We Tried This Out On Photoshop And Here's What We Ended Up With...

As you can see, this is very similar to what we described above. Unfortunately, the shoe has been left behind in the image and this has taught us to be very careful when selecting and to ensure that we check that all aspects of the image that we want to select is actually selected.

Once we had this image, We pasted this onto our image of Nicky of LNC impersonating our main character. This worked well and appeared somewhat realistic once the edges had been softened and smudged out. We had previously played around with the editing of Nicky and had used all sorts of effects to give us a basic idea of how we wanted our final production to look.

Either way, here's how our 'Trial Poster' turned out :

You can quite clearly see that we have put the image that we previously cut onto the main character's glasses. This works quite well although with the real image, the framing of the glasses will be more residing and so will provide a better outline for our character to sit in than the scarf used in this.

On our actual poster, our character will be wearing her signature bracelet of which is colourful, The dark editing that will be used on our poster will allow the beads of the bracelet to really stand out along with the editing on her lips that will be made a bold red.

In terms of writing, we wanted as little as possible. We want the image to be the main focus of our poster and so simply used text for the title and tagline. We will make these bright and colourful to further emphasise the childhood theme but use a smudged paint font that although appears quite innocent on the surface, still has a sinister tone to it.

The importance of Taglines on a film poster

Posters are essential to building up a voice and following for a future releasing of a film. In order for a film to be mentioned in conversations by future audiences, there must be a certain aspect of the poster that stands out substantially from other films soon to be released. Features such as a Tagline on the poster are essential to building up a following. If effective, they will be easily remembered and unintentionally fixed into the minds of the audience when the name of a film, in our case ‘Playtime’ is brought up. A successful Tagline will constantly be associated with the film and stay in the minds of future audiences.

LNC have decided that “Are You Ready To Play” will be the most effective tagline for our film. It is short and straight to the point and easily associated with the title of our film (Playtime). The tagline does not give away too much about our film but simply gives a vague idea of the playful theme. This is definitely the most effective Tagline to associate with our film

Influence for Playtime Poster

Sin city was also one of our influence as it is a crime thriller just like Playtime. The film's unique colour processing renders the film mostly in black and white but retained some bits in colour was the kind of theme we was going. Initially we wanted Playtime to be in black and white but we decided not to do this because we felt it would not appeal to our target audience so instead we used this concept in our poster. We were also attracted to the way the camera used angles to emphasise the importance of the characters. We tried to use a range of different angles from low angles to aerial shots but e then decided it would be more effective to do a close up shot of the protagonists' face.


The Movie Salt starring Anglina Jolie is one of or main influences for our poster. It has a similar genre and it also features a female protagonist which isn't very common and predictable. We were attracted to the way the main focus in the picture was her face and we thought we could develop that idea and incorporate the childlike theme we had. The eye catching feature on the salt poster is the prominence of the characters eyes and the contrast between light and dark. we tried to incorporate this by using a black background and the use of colour. We decided to make her lips bright red so they stand out and is the main focal point alongside the use of colour in the title and the young boy shown in the reflection of the glasses. The use of colour in the title depicts the relation how young children can be attracted by colour.
The simplicity of the structure of the Salt poster reminded us that clear and basic texts,fonts and boldness can elaborate the meaning and significance of how the film
can be portrayed in an exciting way without making it to busy.

Poster : Initial Ideas

Intial Teaser Trailer-Playtime

Just from 2 shooting sessions, LNC can already smell the progress from their previous opening sequence. The shots are of a higher standard and the simplicity that is our trailer in some ways enhances the quality of our production.

By sticking to our storyboard, we have been able to get our sessions done efficiently and this work has been produced. It all goes hand in hand and once adding the shots from our final shooting session, our teaser trailer should really start piecing together.

Although this is a bit long, the shots here are prolonged and will be cut down dramatically to create the pace that we want our trailer to be. The shots with Ursula as a child may be deleted as we are not sure if this will tie in the way we want it to in our trailer. All major decisions like this will be made once we've edited everything together.

XOXO
LNC

Titles

Filming Schedule

Casting shots and location shots

Dami(Ursula) touching up on her evil villain costume

Lydia applying Dami (Ursula's) trademark

lipstick for the first few shots

Having a look at the work filmed so far

Me working the camera,(what I do best ;)...our main shots of the villain were taking by the front door of our main setting.

Creative Risks

When producing a "Teaser Trailer' there are many risks involved and I am not only talking about practical factors such as health and safety but the technical and social factors such as offending people.
In Playtime some of these factors may be incorporated in the images. Some viewers may find this disturbing as they may not agree with the concept of the storyline which is why age rating is needed in order for people underage to not to watch it.
The cost of this is losing some potential viewers of other age ranges and viewers who may find the concept inappropriate.
Benefits of this maybe it builds up suspense for viewers.

Another potential benefit maybe the stereotypical barriers we've broken of a villain, which tends to either be different sex eg. a man or someone of an older age. This may cost us some viewers if they take offence to the concept being based on child cruelty or even see it as setting a bad example, as the villain uses children toys to attack their victims.

Audience Profiling By LNC

User Ratings For "The Crazies"
Above, We have a graph showing the audience that attended the opening week screening and rated (/10) of "The Crazies". From looking at the data, we can see a variety of different members of the audience. Immediately, we can confirm that Males U18 Aare definitely members that dominate the audience. Females were also a main attender of the movie with 7% being under 18 and 7.2% being 45+. This is a surprise for females to be so interested in a thriller movie and we at LNC definitely believe that females will dominate the audience of Playtime as our protagonist is a vindicting, menacing woman seeking revenge.

Women like to see other women in higher positions especially those that are usually posed by males. Ursula Montgomerry will intrigue many viewers and hopefully males also will be interested in viewing what a female killer is capable of.

U18's dominated the audience overall, so we must ensure that our film is rated at an acceptable rating of 15 as some of the content is not suitable for a 12 year old.

LNC's Imaginative Thinking

It was just our luck that the clocks decided to go back an hour the day before our filming session. Unfortunately, this meant that outside got darker a whole hour earlier and so by 5pm, we were in darkness. We tried to grab lighting from nearby cars passing by with their headbeams and brakelights but this was shortlived. It was time for us to take our final shot of Ursula's victim and there was no chance of getting a clear shot of him even with the help of the lamp posts.

Just as we were about to give up on the shot completely, I had the idea of using my phone to take pictures and as the flash begun and ended, we could get a quick clear image of what we needed on the camera. Many pictures were taken but this proved to be a success and we managed to get a perfectly, clear image.

Here are some pictures taken to get a clear shot:

Produced By LNC

We Finally got our studio session and this is the music that we created.

10/11/10 LNC : In The Studio ( Finally !! )

Coretta and Nickie of LNC are the singers of their sountrack for playtime. Both have not had much experience in the studio and for this reason, the whole atmosphere is a little new to them. :) They are full of excitement and cannot wait to get in the booth. First as a group LNC have to discuss with the professional technician and give him the information he needs to create a soundtrack that matches their criteria. LNC are very specific and watch the music technician work his magic !



The Magic Is Done...Time To Enter The Booth & Sing Along With The Music !

(Please Excuse Lydia's Shaky Hands, Video Was Taken From Her Blackberry)



Lovely Isn't It ?
We're So Proud Of These Talented LNC Girls !
Thanks To The Technician For Such A Sucessful Studio Session !

04/11/10

ANOTHER FAILED STUDIO SESSION :'(

Unfortunately the music technician has fallen ill and will not be in until Wednesday 10th November....2 Days before our deadline !!

It's A Risk LNC Have To Take...We've Got To Get This Done !

01/11/10 - MUSIC CRISIS !

:'( WE WERE SUPPOSED TO HAVE A STUDIO SESSION TODAY BUT THE SYSTEM WASN'T WORKING...:/

REBOOKED FOR THURSDAY 4TH NOVEMBER
FINGERS CROSSED !!

Shooting Session 3

Our final shooting session was short and sweet. We knew exactly what we needed to get done and so there was no hesitation with film set up etc. We got our cast ready quickly and steadily and ensured that they knew exactly what they were doing. All members of the cast were co-operative and with our lighting solutions, we managed to have a more than succesful shooting session

Shooting Session 2

This shooting session was another 'Set the character' session as we were introducing the younger Ursula Montgomerry to the audience. We had to ensure that the lighting was dark yet we could still see quite a vivid image of our actresses outline. The candle on the cake was used to provide lighting for the dark room in which we had to film. It was difficult to get strong lighting and we did struggle considerably. However, it did turn out to be a successful shooting session and we got all the shots that we needed in the time that we had.

Shooting Session 1

Our first Shooting Session consisted of the filming to set the scene for our main character. Here we took a variety of angled shots to show our character putting on significant items of clothing and revealing her "swagger" to the audience.
We did not really have any major issues when we were filming but getting the tripod to be at the correct height and ensuring that the camcorder was straight on the tripod was surprisingly tricky. We realised that we weren't as comfortable with the camera as we thought and if anything we were a little rusty. However, we got everything done in the end and we were happy with the work produced
We were determined to film to a better standard and so put alot of effort and time into our filming session.

Music

Our initial ideas for music/soundtrack was a voice over narrating the story. However we felt as though it was rather predictable, something the viewers would expect from a teaser trailer. We also felt it would give away too much of the story, which defeats the objective of a teaser trailer.

We tried many different sounds, and from this we came to the conclusion that a children's lullaby would suit the concept and fitted all criteria's, as we are able to change the sounded.
So we settled for the famous 'Twinkle twinkle little star' and edit it a bit, so that it adds a spooky concept to it as well as being the famous children’s lullaby.

Can we get away with this?

You're probably wondering why on earth we've posted a picture of a more than fake looking foot ! Well we saw this while Prop shopping and we thought it looked childish and oddly realistic. We are not too sure about putting it into our teaser trailer but then again if we plan it correctly, we could just get away with it.

What do you think?

Should we take the risk ?

Props

Here at LNC, we've been breaking the bank with all the props we need to make our teaser trailer as riveting as possible. Unfortunately, due to our current ages, neither of us have any childhood toys lying around the house so we made a trip to Poundland and purchased the most fun yet gruelling props available.

Here's Some Pictures Of Our Purchases:

This Here is Ursula's signature Bat which she uses on her victims. It's a soft toy and we thought that the bright designs splashed all over it really emphasised the childhood aspect of our storyline.

The Ball is essential for allowing us to travel around with our child. It is red in colour and bouncy again to highlight the significance of youth in our trailer.

It was hard to find the Candy Bracelets we needed for our main character. The bracelets are a clue left by Ursula once she commits her crime so we didn’t stop looking until we found them in the weirdest of places...Claire’s Accessories :/

For our set design, we need to put blood on our props to give the audience subtle hints as to Ursula's actions. We purchased many varieties of Fake Blood and will experiment with each of them on the most realistic purchase.

The Skipping Rope is another clue in our trailer. Supposedly one of the toys used on one of Ursula's victims, it will be filmed as background scenery, bloodstained.

The bloody Knife will not be shown in much detail as we are using it for Ursula to scrape across the railings as she follows her next victim. By hiding the content of her hands, our viewers will be wondering what it is that she is doing and for this reason, they will be more shocked when they find out what she does.

This is the Birthday Cake that the lonely childhood Ursula will be seen holding and then blowing out at the beginning and ending of our trailer. This is to show that Ursula has been trouble from an early age.

These are the various items of Ursula's Costume. The Lacy Gloves are a feminine alternative to cover up her fingerprints once committing her crime. The Bracelets are a collection of which she leaves on her victims as a sort of souvenir. The Sunglasses are to ensure that we never see the full face of Ursula and her facial identity remains hidden.

Nikkie's make up

Believe it or not but Davids' make-up was not planned the slightest, infact the amazing idea sparked from Davids' little head himself.

She started off by using the fake blood make-up kit to create the illusion of a nose bleed, Creative, aye ?
which amazingly looked believable ..
Aaaah Nicks, work of art is just amazing!!



After applying the illusionary nose bleed, David came back in and insisted we added a black eye, and boy was it a greaaat idea :D!!







And because of Davids' greaaat idea and Nicki's great work of art..
We were all satisfied and got greaaaat images..

LNC's Key Concepts

Poster scribbles

The time has come for us to start planning our poster properly. Thanks to our images, we already have a pretty good idea on how we want our poster to look but there's no harm in a little experimenting ;)

This Poster for the movie Salt is of a less traditional layout. The main character is pushed to the far right with the images providing her location blurred. This allows the audience to not only focus on the main character image but on the text also which emphasises the A-List Star, Angelina Jolie. We tried this in our sketching with our character to the far right and a blurred background of a playground but we didn't believe that this was dark and menacing enough to suit our trailer. Along with this, our film is not based on A-List celebraties and so such a big bold font highlighting the name of our main character will not have a huge effect on the turnout as the audience will not already have an idea of what to expect from her.

We ♥ this poster. The image of a strong striking female is emphasised in the lack of distraction in a background and the pure close up. The colourscheme is also very simple with a jet black background acting as the character's hair and white text. We will try and emulate the black background created by our character's hair...However, if this does not work...we will use a black sheet as background. In terms of colourscheme, whilst our background can be black, our text must be colourful for the childlike theme. We will have a tagline along with our website advertised on the bottom to have as little but important text as possible.

Storyboarding

Synopsis Of Playtime

Ursula Montgomerry may appear to be an ordinary female but this is far from the truth. Beneath her glamorous exterior lies a messed up and twisted individual who seeks revenge in the most inhumane manner!

Childhood is supposed to be a time of happiness, innocence and youthful activities. Childhood is the one time in life where personalities are developed, friendships are made and lessons are learnt. Childhood shapes your life and creates the person that one should be in the future. Ursula Montgomerry never shared this experience. Ursula's childhood was one of much loneliness, little happiness and an almost non existent development of friendship.

Abandoned as child and frequently mocked by her peers, Ursula developed a persona shaped from torment and neglection. Her childhood was not normal and this is reflected in her behaviour. Ursula seeks revenge on all the children that isolated her from the joys of childhood. Ursula marks it as her time to play and with her childhood enemies being older and easier, Ursula seeks revenge using present children that share similarities with the personalities of her tormentors.

By luring innocent souls in with invitations to play with herm Ursula uses toys to torture children to a premature death. Each time Ursula carries out this procedure she lets go of that much more of her childhood memories. This may be her idea of fun and games but is this what you call Playtime?

Ratings

Our Film will be rated as a 15 and in order not to breech any of the Terms and Conditions that the British Board of Film Classification has set. These requirements are listed below.
Suitable only for 15 years and over
No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Discrimination
The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

Imitable behaviour
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.

Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.

Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.

Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.