Change of Idea

Over a short break, I have decided to change my idea to a completely new concept, in order to improve the ease of shooting, and make full use of the technology available. Seeing many different types of film and TV recently involving magic and illusion has made me realise just how much is possible in the editing suite. The actors involved in these films, such as Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman in 'The Prestige' or Edward Norton in 'The illusionist', can't possibly learn all the tricks of a top quality magician for this role, and therefore a large amount of computer special effects must be used.

Even though I don't have the availability of sets and green screens to complete large scale illusions such as in these films, it is still possible to complete the tasks that i've devised within final cut.

Shock

Shock and Horror are different attributes to a Horror film, and create different effects within the picture.

Shock - Something that jars the mind or emotions as if with a violent unexpected blow.

In the film 'Un Chien Andalou' there is a scene where a woman's eye appears to be cut open. This creates a sense of unease for the audience, because the event is completely unexpected and shocking for them. When watching this, i personally felt shocked because of the fact that it appeared to happen to another human being, and is therefore something that could possibly happen to me.

A good way of creating shock is to create a sense of calm before the surprising event occurs. This lulls the audience into a false sense of security, and makes them feel safe. This is a common technique, used in nearly every horror film i researched. For example, the opening of '28 Weeks Later' includes a scene where one of 'the infected' appears suddenly, incredibly close to one of the characters. The character and the audience have very little expectation of the infected human being so close to the house, and it is used to create a shocking effect.

The clip can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE, and the event occurs approximately 3 minutes through

Wonder How To

www.wonderhowto.com

This is a website I came across when searching for techniques and tips for shooting in darkness and what lights I should use to light the set, the website contained a number of tips on lighting from other people. All the videos about lighting are done by people instead of companies, however the credibility ratings given by users allow you to see which videos are the most useful. Away from lighting, there are hundreds of other videos from other aspects of film making from home made special effects to steady cams and dollys.

Planning the Shoot

Having only the two main characters in the trailer, it makes it slightly easier to film due to there being less people to plan a shoot around. It is possible to shoot the single character scenes without anyone else present, and it is possible to complete all the filming within only three shoots. This means that there will only have to be one occasion where everyone needs to be in the same place at the same time, making it easier to film. As this is a montage trailer sequence, continuity is less of a problem and the scenes will be from different days and will have differing weather conditions.

As I already have a suitable camera and tripod for the shoots, so I'm already ready to go out and film whenever the opportunity arises.

Dark Knight Magazine Cover

The Magazine covers i've found for this particular film only contain one of the main characters, with Empire magazine releasing two covers to promote the film's release, containing the two different main characters, and meaning that there are two different colour schemes in use. Whenever the joker is used on the front cover, the magazines choose to use the greens and red from the Joker's costume to make up the front cover, (with one of the Empire magazine front covers also employing purple as it makes up a large part of his suit). Whenever Batman is used however, the colours are more monochrome, and often different shades of blue (as mentioned before, fitting with the light and the logo from the teaser trailer) or with just different shades of black and grey. In the total film cover example, the font is black, along with the background. This suggests that this text was made glossy when the magazine was printed to allow the text to be readable. This makes the cover, from a distance, look plan black, with just an image of the main character on, promoting the film completely.Below are examples of the magazine covers I've mentioned, a single edition of Total Film magazine, and two editions of Empire Magazine, one with a choice of front cover.

The Dark Knight Posters

There is a clear link between the teaser trailer released for 'the dark knight', and the posters released to advertise the film's release. The logo that was used in the teaser trailer is featured in most of the posters used to advertise the film, creating a link between the different forms of media.

Above are examples of 3 posters used to advertise the film and a reminder of the logo used on the teaser trailer. The same black symbol backlit by by blue light is clear on each example of the poster, which allows the audience to see that all are interlinked, and the trailer and poster are both advertising the same film, as opposed to the first batman film in the current series, which used a monochrome black and brown advertising campaign.

The Dark Knight Teaser Trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRCwnLrrxyQ&feature=related

The above link is to a teaser trailer released in 2007 for 'The Dark Knight' film, and is made in a very unusual style. The trailer starts of as a black screen, and flashes of light reveal the newly made and marketed batman logo. The logo then begins to disintegrate to reveal the source of the light, and a shard of the logo has a joker card on the back of it, giving the audience an idea of who else will be included in the movie. All the way through the trailer, voices of the characters are playing and giving the audience some idea of what the story will be, and under this is some dramatic music, which appears to be associated with the film.

This is the look of the trailer all the way through, with the light intensifying throughout, and the logo beginning to disintegrate.