For my final project I utilized four of the software’s we used in class. I used Photoshop, Audition, Movie Maker(which would have been premiere but it still seems like my computer doesn’t like premiere), and finally I used WordPress to make the website where I have a YouTube video, a sound-cloud, and the picture from Photoshop. For my project I created a series of media for a future horror film. This included a movie poster, a backing track, and a full on movie trailer that utilizes the backing track. The poster was created in Photoshop, the backing track was created in audition, and the trailer was made by a movie maker.
For the first part I photoshopped a movie poster. I used a couple of techniques we learned in our class. First for the background is a picture of a pirate ship that is docked in a port. I changed the colors to black and white for that whole layer. I then cut out two eyes, the title, and clouds. I then proceeded to layer them atop of the background. I used the lasso tool to cut them out. For the clouds, when I was able to horizontally flip one of them so they lined up nicer, I then put them on the top of the picture and changed the colors to black and white. For the eyes I left them their red, menacing color. I then proceeded to enlarge them and place them floating in the sky overlooking the ship and directly into the viewer’s soul. Finally I put the title of this fake film “The Watcher” in the bottom middle of the picture, I also enlarged it in order for it to be easier to read.
The second part of the project I went into audition to create a backing track to go with how the movie poster made me feel, while also having the intention to use it for the movie’s trailer. For this I created a multi track in Audition in order to layer different sounds over top of each other. I then took some different sounds and cut them up: a specific example of this is a point where there is a heart racing, this was done by chopping that sound up to little bites, and piecing it back together in rapid suggestion to instil that sense of panic in the listener, I also took the sound of a dog panting and laid it over that heart race sound, this made it seem like the person was out of breath and running from something. Another sound bite I took was the point where a little kid says “bye bye” after a brief silence. This was done by recording my cousin saying “bye bye” and laying it into the track. To me this instilled a sense of fear and danger which was the vibe I was trying to go for in this horror-esque project.
The third part was made using window’s movie maker, as I found out in the last project my computer doesn’t like premiere, so I ended up using movie maker once again. This is where I created the trailer for this movie. The trailer uses my fake studio logo and name: Hooded Crow productions, this is actually a studio name I created in high school that I have decided will be the name of my studio if I ever own and run a movie studio. As mentioned before it uses the sound from audition to give the trailer ambiance. The trailer’s footage is a compilation of footage from the game Minecraft. I have been playing a lot more with some folks from Marist’s student IT department so I figured it would be the perfect setting for my trailer.The trailer starts off with a man running through mountainous terrain. Based on the music you can tell he’s in danger. The trailer cuts to black in between scenes for split seconds. This was done on purpose. I used these split second jump cuts to give a feeling of unknowing, the sound still rolls, so it leaves a viewer in suspense as they are not sure what is happening in the split seconds.Through out the trailer the man encounters monsters that are trying to attack him, but you never know what could happen because it’ll cut to black before anything happens (suspense!!). Finally the trailer cuts to the poster with the name of the film. For the clips I used the “sepia” filter in order to give it a more grainy and spooky feeling.
Finally I designed a new wordpress website with a new domain and homepage. On the homepage you see the movie poster and the title of the movie with its tag line. If you scroll down you can see two embedded links. The one to the left is a youtube video with the full trailer, and the one to the right is a soundcloud link where you can listen to the track and imagine for yourself what could be going on. The website also has an about section where this write up will be stored as well as on my rowlog site.
Overall I had a lot of fun doing this project and have had a lot of fun taking this class. It was sad for it to be cut short due to the virus. Thank you for a wonderful semester.
RowLog Inc 