Thriller - mood board

Moodboard on Prezi

Preliminary task: Continuity editing - Teacher's marks

Preliminary task: Continuity editing

Submarine trailer

In short, the trailer for submarine is selling its unique style and its indie feel. 
From the first image we see, the trailer is already targeting a certain market (indie); It isn't grabbing us straight away with action or music, but introducing the film too us with the sound of gentle waves, imagery of a beach and a nostalgic typewriter theme. This theme will continue throughout the trailer. The moment the music begins and we are introduced to the character, Oliver, the cuts become very fast paced, but still with little action or movement from the character. The narration from Oliver is immediately spilling his heart out to us and, as he explains his thoughts, shows us how socially confused he is and his odd and unexpected thoughts. All of this, mixed with the fast paced, unconventional editing style creates a good image of the film's unique style. Around half way through the trailer, the tone changes as it becomes apparent the film is of a love story. This seems to be achieved with the light music as opposed to the quite dark surreal music used previously. Also the setting as the two sit together is of a scenic and romantic one. However, the films odd and surreal style soon adds a twist to this with the unexpectedly forward line from Jordana, "Are you asking me to come round and have sex with you". These odd, unexpected moments throughout the trailer have quite a humorous style with the deep feelings of this boy mixed in. As the trailer edges upon its conclusion, one of the selling points of the film is introduced. The sound track. Written and performed by Alex Turner (Arctic Monkeys), the soundtrack is a heavy feature in the viral and printed marketing for the film, catching the attention of music critiques and young audiences already fans of Alex Turner. The music is used to evoke the only serious tone in the trailer, as Oliver is trying to win the love of Jordana and a montage is played over the top ranging over a variety of emotions. 
Through out the trailer, the imagery was constantly cutting between the film and reviews from high class magazines and news papers such as Empire and The Telegraph. These are used to confirm that the film is well received by critiques and is not a child's film but one to be taken seriously.
The trailer sells us, as I have said, it's unique and individual style. It highlights its use of odd and surreal humour whilst retaining the over all serious tone of a love story. Rather than selling us the film, as a blockbuster would do, it sells us the story and relationship between Oliver and Jordana, but also Oliver and himself. The use of music seems quite vital in the success of the trailer, creating several tones throughout and pausing for specific moments, whilst also continuing to demonstrate the Alex Turner soundtrack.The trailer appears to be aimed towards teenagers and young people but, also to film goers and couples. 

Final Cut and Adobe Premiere

Apple's Final Cut and Adobe's Premiere software are both semi proffesional video editing programs. There are not many differences between the two, but many people decide to take sides. For many years, Final Cut was seen as the only serious option for film makers and that when premiere was introduced, it was simply trying to mimic Final Cut. Though, in more recent years they have caught up and in some ways excelled Final Cut.
Final Cut (up to Pro 7) and Adobe Premiere both work on, more or less, the same layout. The two pieces of software are relatively simple to switch between, the biggest difference being the location of buttons and shortcuts etc. There are some times advantages to one piece of software, as it may have a feature the other doesn't but, these features are usually added in the next iteration of the other software.
However, the biggest advantage Premiere has over Final Cut is how it syncs seamlessly between the Adobe suite. This means, if you require the use of Photoshop, After Effects, Audition or anything else, it requires very little effort and is a smooth process. This is why I am transitioning from Final Cut Express to Premiere Pro CS6 and any future home editing will be done on this software.

Summary and conventions of Film Noir UNFINISHED

Film Noir is recognised around the world as one of the most recognisable film genres. The genre found itself in such a defined style through a number of techniques and an incredibly dark and enigmatic feel composed with artificial elements and met with a lot of moral ambiguity. Film Noir derives from the french word for black, noir, literally meaning films of a dark subject.

A key feature of Film Noir, that makes the style so defined, is the subject matter. Noir films often focus around themes of greed, crime and extortion, our main character will almost always be enigmatic and have an untold side to them. This untold side in the lead roles often gives a sense of moral ambiguity. The stories often revolve around gangsters, cops, detectives and perhaps a love interest or femme fatale. There is often a metaphorical meaning behind characters, where they are and how the film is edited.

Lighting in noir films is crucial in its iconic look. Every scene is lit with an intention to suggest something. Shadows are often used to create enigma around a character or to suggest they have another, darker side to them we do not know about. For example, this still from double indemnity on the right is a prime example of this. The sharp shadow looks almost as if there are two of the character, a light/ good one and a dark, silhouetted one with something to hide. The lighting in noir a scene, almost always single point lighting or backlit, is very un-natural and artificial which can really keep an audience on edge, never being able to settle into some gentle visuals. It can also be used to drag the audiences eye to where their focus is needed, such as again in the same still from double indemnity, the edges are darkened focusing our attention on the character and making us feel we have no other place to go.

The use of the camera is another recognisable trait of film noir. The way the camera is manipulated in noir films can create a disorienting experience for the viewer. For example, using  a canted angle gives the impression that events have taken a turn for the worse and makes the audience feel a certain unease and desperation. Moving shots can have a similar result to this. In many noir films, the camera is constantly moving slightly from one place to another, demonstrating a lack of stability. There are a lot of extreme angles used in noir. These angles can suggest status, make us feel disconnected from characters or can foreshadow an area of interest by being low to the ground and looking up at a high building. Techniques are continued to be used when filming characters. In noir, shots of people are primarily tight, claustrophobic close ups or wide and empty long shots. This either makes us feel up close to the character as if they have no place to go or disconnected from them exaggerating how alone they are.

A common feature in noir films is an obstruction between the audience and a character. A reoccuring example of this is bannisters. UNFINISHED

Preliminary task: Continuity editing

Preliminary task: Continuity editing