Today we were taught how to create text that looked like it was on fire using Photoshop and this was the result. Here is how I did it:
I created a new document with 600 x 360 pixels
I set the background layer to black using the paint bucket tool
Using the text tool, I created some text saying 'DIABLO' in white.
I made a new layer above the 'DIABLO' layer by clicking on the create new layer icon.
I set the layer name to 'fire' and merged all the layers to the 'fire' layer with the keyboard shortcut: cmd, alt and shift.
I rotated the picture 90 degrees anticlockwise by using the transform tool
With the 'fire' layer active I used the wind effect in it's default settings three times.
I rotated the picture back 90 degrees clockwise.
I used the Guassain Blur tool and set the radius to 1.5 pixels so I could make the wind effect look less harsh.
I adjusted the image's hue and saturation to 40 (hue) and 100 (saturation).
I duplicated the 'fire' layer by dragging it to the create new layer icon. This created a new layer called 'fire copy' which was identical to 'fire'.
With 'fire copy' active, I changed the hue to -40.
I set the mode of 'fire copy' to the mode Colour Dodge and merged the layer down onto the 'fire' layer.
I used the Liquify filter to make the flames more realistic. I set the brush size to 50 and the brush presure to 40 and created some flame-like shapes. I then changed the brush size to 30 and the brush pressure to 35 and created some smaller flames.
I moved the original 'DIABLO' text layer to the top of the layers and set the colour of the text to black.
I used the Rasterize tool on the 'DIABLO' text layer, zoomed in and used the Polygonal Lasso tool to make cuts in each letter. This made the text appear cracked.
As the black lettering was too dull, I added some more colour and texture by adding a drop shadow to the 'DIABLO' layer. I set the Blend Mode for the shadow to Multiply and the colour to #b75c0b. I added an Inner Bevel to the 'DIABLO' layer with a highlight colour of black and a shadow of #844600. I finally added a Colour Overlay with #f57300. This gave the illusion of the text blending in with the fire.
I then duplicated the 'fire' layer once again and placed the layer 'fire copy' at the top of the layers.
I set the mode of 'fire copy' to Screen with alt, shift and S. Then I added a layer mask by clicking on the Add Layer Mask icon at the bottom of the layers palette.
With the linear Gradient tool, I ran a black to white linear gradient from the of the text area to the bottom.
I used the smudge tool to toggle with a 65 pixel brush at 70% on the layer mask, dragging up and down to reveal and hide the flames.
For this textual analysis I am going to look at other genres of film trailers as I have already analysed some horror trailers but it's important that I develop my knowledge of other genres too.
The Last Song
Genre: Drama/Romance The Last Song was produced by Touchstone Pictures and features a well-known actress, Miley Cyrus, who would attract a large audience. The production company is acknowledged briefly at the beginning of the trailer as the non-diegetic music in the trailer begins and it is mentioned again towards the end of the trailer. As I have seen this film many times, I do have a strong understanding of the storyline, the characters and the soundtrack. This trailer appears to reveal a lot of the storyline, however, the clips from the film have been put in a different order to how they take place in the film, making the storyline in the trailer slightly different. For example, when Ronnie (Miley Cyrus) reads the letters from her dad at the beginning of the trailer, in the actual film she doesn't read these letters until near the end of the film. Many of the transition effects between the film clips fade in and out, giving an impression of the audience reflecting back on a memory which frequently happens in the film. As well as the film's production company, the trailer also acknowledges that this film is a film adaption of Nicholas Sparks' novel, The Last Song. This is actually shown on the trailer for longer than the production company was, conveying that this is more important. Slightly later on, text comes up in the trailer with the same effect saying 'author of THE NOTEBOOK'. The Notebook is a well-known, popular book and film so this is likely to attract an audience. The music being played in the trailer changes a third of the way through when the romantic part of the storyline gets introduced- the music went from a casual song with guitars to a gentle, romantic song being played on the piano, completely changing the atmosphere of the trailer. The romantic clips stop and the trailer refers back to the relationship between the dad and his son, with the same song playing. The song then changes again to the main song on the film's soundtrack, 'When I Look At You' by Miley Cyrus, and the romantic clips begin again setting a mood. More hints of what the storyline is about are shown as text flashing up in the trailer such as 'a story about SECOND CHANCES', 'FIRST LOVES', 'AND THE MOMENTS IN LIFE...' and 'that lead us BACK HOME'. The title of the film is shown just before the end, this is a typical convention of any film trailer. The trailer finishes with an establishing shot of where the film takes place with text over the top of the clip acknowledging the production company, four of the actors/actresses, who created the music, the co-producer, the producers, what book the film is based on, the director and who did the screenplay as well as a few brands which contributed to making the film such as Kodak and DOLBY Digital.
I think this film trailer is effective because it acknowledges all the things that would attract a large audience such as the author that wrote the book it is based on and the well-known actress, Miley Cyrus. It also reveals enough of the storyline to make an audience interested in seeing the film.
The Inbetweeners Movie
Genre: Comedy
This film is based on a popular television series on Channel 4 called The Inbetweeners. As this television series already has a large audience, this film is likely to receive a large audience as it already has public interest. The film company associated with Channel 4, Film 4, is acknowledged at the beginning of this trailer. Film 4 is a well known film company and television channel so this would immediately catch the audience's attention. The production company, Bwark Productions, is also introduced which is already associated with The Inbetweeners television series. For half of the trailer, it introduces the storyline of the film in order. This contrasts with the trailer for The Last Song which put the clips in a different order, revealing less of the true storyline to the audience. For the other half of The Inbetweeners Movie trailer, it shows humorous clips from the film which would make the audience laugh and make them want to see more of the film. Text comes up in the trailer occasionally in the recognisable Inbetweeners font which helps to contribute to the audience's understanding of what the film is about. Half way through the trailer, it tells the audience that the film will be released 'this summer', which would be a convenient time for the film to be released because the film itself is set in the summer. Establishing shots are frequently used to convey the settings of the film. Similarly to the trailer for The Last Song, the title of the film is not shown until the end but when it is shown it is in the same font as the previous text, the easily recognisable font from The Inbetweeners television series. Another similarity to the trailer for The Last Song is how particular companies and individuals are acknowledged at the end of the trailer such as the actors and producers.
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Genre: Fantasy/Thriller/Drama
This film is a sequel to Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1, so it is likely that the audience watching this trailer have seen the first part and they would understand the second part. As the characters are assumed by the production company to already be known, the characters' individual personalities are not introduced as much as the characters in The Last Song trailer, like The Inbetweeners Movie trailer. The storyline picks up where the first part of the film left off, giving no detail of what happened previously so for this trailer to be effective, the audience would of had to of seen part 1 of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.
The beginning of the trailer is captivating as it plays the well-known Harry Potter theme tune slowly, and for each note of this theme tune that is played, a clip from the film appears- this creates a very eerie atmosphere. The lighting throughout the majority of the trailer is very dark, creating a night-time vibe, a convention of the thriller genre. When the theme tune ends, the film's production company, Warner Brothers Pictures, is introduced but it is in a black and grey colour scheme. Usually the Warner Brothers colour scheme of their logo is gold and blue but the black and grey colour scheme is used to add to the dark, mysterious atmosphere being created in the trailer but as the Warner Brothers logo is so well-known, the audience is likely to still be familiar with the production company as it has created popular films. Dramatic orchestra music begins to play whilst the Warner Brothers logo is being shown, then clips of the film begin to be shown with an audio clip of Voldemort, a main character in this film, being played over the top. The visual clips being shown are relevant to what Voldemort is saying, developing the audience's understanding of what he is saying. The music then becomes more dramatic and more dramatic clips are played. As this film comes under the fantasy genre, much of this film is edited with effects such as adding a realistic-looking dragon and fire to some clips which is difficult to create through just capturing the footage on a camera. The film's release date is shown in the well-recognisable Harry Potter font. More text also appears in the same font, revealing more of the storyline and more of Voldemort's audio is used like a voiceover. The background music becomes increasingly dramatic, creating a more intense atmosphere. The music ends just before an intimate clip which features Harry and Voldemort begins and this is done for dramatic effect but as soon as this clip finishes, the dramatic music begins and more of the film's clips are shown- this is done twice. More text appears in the Harry Potter font which really flatters the film, using words like 'epic' and 'worldwide phenomenon', making the film appear outstanding and superior to other films. At the end of the film there is a crashing glass sound effect which conveys that it is the destructive end of the trailer, and the title of the film appears in the Harry Potter font. 'The Deathly Hallows' flashes up with a lightening bolt effect which is relevant to the well-known lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead. Then the text 'COMPLETE THE JOURNEY IN 3D' appears- 3D films are very popular at the moment so this would appeal to the audience more and by using the phrase 'complete the journey', it gives the representation that this film will complete the audience's life. The date of the film's release is repeated in text form, and cinemas that are showing the film are displayed as well as the production company and the film's website- all this information is again shown in the Harry Potter font.
This film comes under the action, adventure, sci-fi and thriller genres. Conventions of these genres are all found in this trailer. As this film is a sequel, the audience are likely to already be familiar with the characters shown in the trailer. However, if the audience hasn't seen the previous film, they are likely to be familiar with the actors anyway as they are well known (e.g.Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox).
In the first clip, it makes the audience aware that Sam (Shia LeBeouf) is going to college and not bringing Bumble Bee (the robot), revealing part of the storyline. This clip is also humorous as the robot dances to music, but this sound is diegetic- it hasn't been edited in to the film. The non-diegetic music does not begin until the production company, Dreamworks, appears on the screen. The Dreamworks clip has not been edited in any way to suit the film visually, but this institution is very recognisable to the audience as it has produced many other well-known films such as War Of The Worlds and Shrek. Then the second production company is shown, Paramount, which is also recognisable to the audience due to films such as Sweeney Todd and I Love You, Man. The trailer then shows a establishing shot, showing the university, and this introduces one of the film's settings to the audience. The dialogue from his mother in this clip continues throughout three shots, conveying the significance of the clip for setting the scene. This dialogue is also seen as humorous when Sam's father responds to his mother and at this point the music suddenly ends to create a dramatic effect. Then different music begins as the trailer switches to another setting featuring Sam's girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox), another main character. She is lying in a position on a motorbike that males would find sexy, appealing to a male target audience, especially seeming as she is wearing revealing clothing. Dialogue from a different scene also plays over this clip, conveying that she is his girlfriend. This dialogue continues throughout multiple clips of Mikaela (at a motorbike shop) and Sam (at college), showing the audience that they are apart. Then in the last clip in this sequence, the music and the dialogue stops as a small metal shard hits the ground, conveying the significance of this shard to the film. This metal shard also has a close-up shot adding to the importance of it as it catches the audience's attention. When the metal shard lands, a glowing effect is edited into the clip and robotic noises are played, adding to the sci-fi genre and the theme of robots. As Sam examines this shard, flashback effects are used to create a mysterious vibe and the camera zooms up close to his eye suddenly revealing a robot and ancient textual markings inside which has clearly been edited. Robotic sounds are played again. This also gives an insight into significant parts of the film's storyline whilst not revealing much about it. In the next set of clips when Sam thinks he is going mental, the same mysterious text is seen glowing above his book which has been edited in, and dialogue about what is going on in his head is playing over the shots revealing more of the storyline. More science-fiction conventions then begin to be shown when you see the clip of stars shooting in space and the clip of the main robot, Optimus Prime. This is the first time he is introduced in the trailer and there is a voiceover to make it appear that the robot is speaking. The size of the robot is conveyed in the first shot of Optimus Prime as it is a low angle shot, making the robot appear much larger than Sam. This also makes Sam appear small and weak compared to Optimus Prime. More edited clips are shown when the stars and a robot fly through buildings and boats with appropriate sound effects, making the film's action and thriller genres clear. No music is played, only sound effects, which adds suspense to the clips. As the trailer goes on, more of the storyline is revealed and it progresses, using more establishing shots to show more settings of the film and there are dramatic drumming noises which are conventions of the action genre. More and more clips of the robots are shown, conveying that robots play a significant role in this film. As this film is sci-fi, the majority of these clips have been edited to make them appear to be realistic.
Just over half way through the trailer, the trailer acknowledges Michael Bay, the director. This has been edited in and the font of the writing is metallic, adding to the robot theme of the film. Then many short clips are used parallel to each other with no transition effects, creating a dramatic effect. The amount of settings in this film are also conveyed. Then the trailer acknowledges the executive producer, Steven Spielberg, a very well known producer who produced films such as E.T and Back To The Future. His name is also shown in robotic font. More clips are shown with dramatic non-diegetic music but this ends when Sam shouts "OPTIMUS!", then a flashing transition effect is used, and a clip of Optimus Prime crashing to the ground is shown. The music ending and Sam shouting create a dramatic effect for Optimus Prime's fall, a convention of the thriller genre. Then a significant quote of dialogue by Optimus Prime is played over two clips that are also of importance to the film's storyline with no music played, drawing attention to the quote. After this, many action-themed clips are shown with flashback transitions between each clip and the change of clips gets faster and faster with a high pitched sound (often found in the thriller genre) getting higher and higher which builds a lot of suspense. The final film clip shows a huge robot sucking up lots of the desert while humans hide from it for protection. The extravagant editing of this clip creates an intense ending, especially when a robot is about to be taken into the bigger robot's mouth- this leaves the audience in suspense as they will want to know what happens next. Before the audience get the chance to see the robot get destroyed, the title of the film appears in metallic font, building itself like the way the robots transform in the film and metal-themed sound effects play. 'REVENGE OF THE FALLEN' then appears under 'TRANSFORMERS' in a smaller font, conveying that this film is a sequel. Then this text explodes and the Transformers logo appears, also appearing like it is made of metal. At the end of the trailer, some other details of the film's production are shown but they only flash up quickly, conveying that the audience does not need to know this information as the important people (Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay) have already been acknowledged previously. All this text matches all the other text used previously; a metallic font conveying the robot theme.
I think this trailer is effective because it reveals just enough of the storyline to make the audience interested, and the extravagant editing which has been done is exciting and realistic. Conventions of all the genres are conveyed and all the main characters are acknowledged so the audience will understand what type of film this is and who the important characters are. I think this film would appeal to males because the action, adventure, sci-fi and thriller genres are usually aimed at males and the Mikaela is attractive so the males would want to see more of her. The ending of the trailer creates suspense and as some of the storyline has already been revealed, the audience would want to know how the film ends. The well-known producers acknowledged in the trailer would also appeal to an audience because they would expect the film to be good due to the familiar names.
Codes and conventions are the rules and regulations of how to make the standard format of a media product.
Conventions are what you would expect to find in a media product and where; this includes:
Types of articles
Where you would expect the articles to be
Types of images
Amount of images
For magazines, this would include double page spreads (this would include conventions like big pictures, title, both pages on the same topic, standfirst, articles, columns and pull quotes), front covers (this would include conventions like a masthead, barcode, price, issue number, date, pull quotes and images).
Codes are anything purely visual that creates meaning. This includes features such as pictures, colours, layout and font (serif or sans serif).
This information was taken from a hand-out we were given by our tutor:
Task 1: Research Blog
The blog must be used to provide an analytical account of how I plan to complete all of the requirements of this coursework. The blog should detail the marketing of at least three films, devoting entries to:
the analysis of trailers (how and why they work, shots used, how the narrative is compressed, what is shown/not shown, how it is edited to appeal to a market audience etc.)
analysis of any print-based marketing material (how do you capture the tone and content of a film with a single image? what style is used? how are elements such as colour and text used to support and communicate with the tone of the film?)
synergy with other companies/products (is there any merchandise connected with the film? Does the film work with other companies in promotion?)
Analysis of the skills you are developing through your research
I must make sure that my blog includes a range of media such as videos, photos, audio files and links to other useful articles.
Task 2: Electronic Press Kit
I need to create an electronic press kit for a film that I have devised containing the following:
poster (PDF or JPEG)
press release and synopsis
trailer
marketing images for use in magazines including a mock magazine cover
I also have to update my blog with any planning and preparation I complete:
scripts
storyboards
requirements
schedules
test footage with an explanation and commentary
rough footage with an explanation and commentary
outtakes with an explanation and commentary
potential music
potential sound effects
examples of influential works and how they helped me form my ideas
sketches and designs for my poster
magazine cover ideas
Task 3: Evaluation
I must update my blog with an evaluation of each aspect of this assignment ensuring that I discuss:
how useful my research was in finding out how film marketing works and the creation of my own electronic press kit
the strengths of my electronic press kit and any areas that need developing whilst comparing them to professional works
summarise the skills I have learned in the completion of this assignment
I must include audience feedback and how I respond to it.
In a media class we learned how to give text an icy effect in Photoshop CS5 using many different tools. This was the most complicated text editing I have done and I learned many new skills.
Firstly, I created a Photoshop document with 640 x 480 dimensions and I filled in the layer black with the paint bucket tool. Then I used the text tool to write my name in white writing and the font, Georgia. This text usually works better with a thick bold style but I wanted to be experimental. I rotated the canvas 90 degrees clockwise then used the wind option under filter and stylize to add a windy effect to my text before rotating my text back 90 degrees anticlockwise. I then used the facet tool under filter and pixelate to edit the hue, saturation and lightness of my text (Hue= 210, saturation= 60 and lightness= 0) and I made sure colourize was selected. Then under blending options in layer and layer style, I changed the settings on bevel and emboss to:
Style: Emboss
Technique: Smooth
Depth: 150%
Direction: Up
Size: 10px
Soften: 0px
Then I proceeded to create an outer glow:
Blend mode: screen
Opacity: 50%
Noise: 10%
Range: 20%
Jitter: 0%
I had to repeat some steps to create a better effect on my text due to my font choice and this was the finished result:
In my media class we studied the codes and conventions of film posters. I chose to analyse the poster for Transformers 2 as it is one of my favourite films and the poster is captivating. These are the codes and conventions I found:
Codes:
The colour scheme is dark- this shows that the film's target audience is likely to be boys
The font looks metallic which suits the theme of robots in the film
The desert in the background is one of the settings in the film, giving the audience an insight into the film
The photos of flames and smoke convey that it is an action film
The layout is quite simple and spaced out so the audience can see the poster clearly
The photo of the two main human characters running conveys that it is an action film
The way the robots are positioned makes them appear tough and intimidating, adding to the action theme
Conventions:
Shows the main characters
The title is large and it stands out against the background
Shows the release date and information about the people/companies involved in production/distribution
