FINISHED - Teaser Trailer

The finished teaser trailer - Created by Angus Bentham.
The Video was first finished and uploaded on December 12th 2012 - This is the second cut with a more successful voice-over, uploaded on February 1st 2013.

Note the attention to detail in the trailers ending - the subtle, electronic 'bleeping' sound, with each cut between cast, crew and relase date. Also at the bottom of the frame in this section, there is a band which offers some tehnical information on the film. There is a simplified logo marking for 'Twentieth Century Fox' and 'Midnight Pictures' as well as the implication that 'Dolby Digital' halp[ed with the effects. Lastly, it states that this film is not yet rated, and there is a copy-right text paragraph which is taken straight from the 'Prometheus' trailer, with some minor adjustments.

Final Note - REQUIEM

FINISHED POSTER (And Secondary Posters)

PRIMARY POSTER (FINISHED):

Above, is the final poster design for Requiem. This image went through a dozen different stages to get to where it is now, from the original guide-lines, through colour correction and finally up to the overlaying of the text. I have experimented using elements from the other posters to allow me to reach this final design. It presents the tagline "It is the Autumn of Mankind" in blue, spaced out lettering, the featuring of the company logos at the bottom, and the theatrical release date. To add icing to the cake, I even gave the poster some extra aesthetic value, with the silver linings beneath the logos and around the release date, and finally, with the addition of the most popular social networking websites used by modern Teen audiences; Facebook, Twitter and YouTube - each have their website addressed above. The attention to detail was essential in making this poster look AS OFFICIAL AS POSSIBLE.

See Previous Post to look through poster production stages: http://t1086.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/poster-composition-planning.html


SECONDARY POSTER (1):
Quickly edited together, this was the first poster I created. A screenshot of the final shot in the trailer, with text edited over. I had to use Photoshop to bring out the "Q" more vividly. Here, I thought of grasped the tagline, and then simply stated that the film would come out in 2013.

SECONDARY POSTER (2):
Again, this is material from the Magazine photo-shoot. Quite often the image on the front of a magazine is also used in posters - along with many other designs. This one interests me because it is so simple. But again I didn't put any effort into creating this as a separate item entirely to the magazine, and the attention to detail LACKS in this one, compared to the final design.

FINAL POSTER - Digital Art (development)

CREATING ORIGINAL POSTER:

I selected the fourth composition because of its focus on the 'shards' - they are up to this point the most mysterious thing about 'Requiem' - the trailer can't show much about them because of their being limited effects at my disposal. I considered attempting to use colour keying to overlay an image like this into a scene using green-screen, but eventually decided it wouldn't look professional enough.

SELECTED COMPOSITION:

I have decided to use my 'Bamboo' brand Graphics Tablet to create this poster for 'Requiem'. By simply doing a photograph I would not be able to explore the subject of the film to its full potential. However, creating Artwork gives me a new degree of creative Freedom - I have control of what I can create and do not depend on money or other people. I've set my-self this task to create the poster as a piece of concept art, not as a photograph. I have already used a photograph for the cover of the magazine.

Here I marked in the perspective lines which I could use as a guide when blocking in colour for the next stage. I'm leaving out the shards for now, because they would interfere with the landscape at this point. 

Here I have begun blocking in colour using photo-plus. I have not watched many tutorials on creating concept art but I have seen some and they always advise that colour blocking should come before adding any detail.

So here I have started adding in some lightning effects - where I imagine the shadows would be, specifically at the base of the hill on the left and around the mountains. 

At this stage I have decided to start drawing in the 'shards'. They are splinters of an alien craft which was scatted across the earth - leading to a massive, sudden loss of human life. Also, I have added in clouds.

Using colour correction and glow effects I have managed to make the scene have this warm dusk lighting. It makes the scene feel a lot more calming - which is in strong contrast with these sharp, immovable, monolithic shards.

This final stage shows the finished scene - I will most likely do some minor tampering with the image to improve it as I turn it into a poster. The last thing I added was the sun-beam effect. I copied the image as a new layer and reduced its transparency to around 50%, then used maximum 'zoom blur', with a focal point on the sun.

THE FINAL POSTER WILL BE MADE USING THIS IMAGE BUT WILL ALSO HAVE THE TITLE, TAGLINE, CAST/CREW NAMES, LOGOS AND RELEASE DATE INCLUDED - My next post will show the final Product.

COMPOSITION designs for Requiem's Poster

I am aiming to create the final poster using my Graphics Tablet - my Art abilities should be able to create a concept piece which is very close to being photo-realistic, depending on the composition. I have planned a few alternate posters which I could create.

FIRST COMPOSITION:

This first design is possibly my favourite. I think the canted frame with the dramatic background and silhouetted figures running AT you, out of the picture looks really Exciting. However - it may be a bit too revealing, I'd use this for a Theatrical Poster. The main reason I'll reject this is that this composition would take a lot longer to create and be much more difficult.

SECOND COMPOSITION:

This composition, similarly to the first seems like a really good option - it is dramatic and revealing. But again it might be too difficult to create - I don't want to push my-self beyond my abilities. The main thing I would criticise about this is it seems too controlled - the 'shards' are facing in different directions. However, this does create a nice 'Frame within a Frame' setup. I'll consider this option but will most likely reject it.

THIRD COMPOSITION:

This third poster composition was designed to be more surreal - dreamlike. A line of characters walk across a vast expanse of still water, their reflections not distorted greatly, except by the ripples coming from the figure at the front. In the sky, more shards are falling out the sky and the 'Q' is glowing on the moon - for Aesthetic Value. I'll reject this one because I want mainly to focus on what these 'Shards' are - speaking with people about the plot, they seem most curious with them. These objects which are at the centre of the plot.

FOURTH COMPOSITION:

This Fourth composition is my final - taken from a different angle it is being presented in a 'landscape' format, rather than 'portrait'. I think this one is really interested, although not as dramatic and exciting as the first. This shows a glimpse into the devastated world or requiem, just after the 'shards' have collided. I chose a country scene to show some juxtaposition with the theme - Apocalypse usually makes people imagine a city being destroyed or a desolated wasteland covered in skeletons. Instead, I like how this shows a tranquil landscape at dusk - but devoid of human life. Scattered across this warm landscape are some jagged, horrible obstructions, which stab into the scenery violently, adding an uneasy but entertaining feature to the scene.

Poster - SOURCES

I would describe the poster as:
-SIMPLE
-BOLD
-VIBRANT

The list of cast and crew names at the bottom of the poster is something I will have to use in my own poster. I take note of the release date featured on the poster 'JUNE 29'.

I would describe this poster as:
-ENIGMATIC
-EERIE
-SURREAL

I like the minimalised use of colour to create a more eerie atmosphere. The spaced out lettering in this also inspired the style in which the title 'REQUIEM' is featured.

 I would describe this poster as:
-SIMPLE
-MYSTERIOUS
-DARK

The darkness shrouds the character featured on the poster in darkness. This uses minimal lighting similarly to the photographs I took for the magazine cover. I could re-use that photo for another poster I make.

I would describe this poster as:
-VIBRANT
-REVEALING
-EPIC

It tells us a lot about the film, very visually epic, fantasical and alien. It presents the title with the directors name being used as a brand to promote the film. I have been working on some concept art which I can use as a poster which resembles this design.

FINISHED - Magazine Cover

Here is the final Magazine Cover Design; FILM ECHO MAGAZINE featuring an exclusive first-look at 'Angus Bentham's REQUIEM'.
 

MAGAZINE EVALUATION

 

COLOUR SCHEME: 

PREDOMINANTLY BLACK

SECONDARY BLUE

FOR ATTENTION USES RED

 

FONT:

CORBEL (Spaced out lettering in places)

 

It was important to try and make this magazine cover look as proffessional as possible. I used other Film Magazine Covers from 'Empire' and 'Total Film' as inspiration. These provided a guideline on the layout and showed what kind of content is usually advertised on these Magazines. It needed to display varying content with bold lettering offering insight into the magazines actual content. The key selling words being 'NEW', 'ULTIMATE' and 'EXCLUSIVE'.

 

There was also a lot of technical detail which I needed to pay attention to. Such as the barcode, the labeling of the Magazine Issue (223) and the pricing, both in pounds (£)

and US Dollars ($).

The magazine features an statement offereing 'New Pics' on the films 'Dead Prince, 'Icarus XIII', Dragon of the North and 'Metropolis'.

 

Metropolis is a classic Sci-Fi film from 1926, Directed by Fritz Lang. Theis magazine suggests there is a remake going ahead - so I created a simple poster-like image which I was consiering assind go the Magazine Cover - but eventually rejected this idea because it would over-complicate the thing.

Seen here is a poster of the original 'Metropolis Film. Just for fun I created a New poster which is seen below. For a change of style it moved away from the Art-Deco aesthetic and more towards a Dubai Related look - modern architecture. Also the lettering is simplified and spaced out - in a modern style.

HERE IS THE 'METROPOLIS' Poster I started Creating. This content was Rejected from the final Magazine Cover...

Magazine Cover - Image Material

The Magazine Cover required several layers of development, including the brands logo design and background design, as well as font, colour and content choice (Photograph).

HERE IS THE CONTACT SHEET FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS I HAD TAKEN FOR THE COVER:

THIS IS THE LOGO DESIGN FOR 'FILM ECHO':

HERE IS THE SELECTED PHOTOGRAPH:

I chose this one because it was one of the clearest photo's I could get, it was difficult to get a good shot with such low lighting. I used a low quality camera deliberately to make it seem more faded, after all it is featuring a film in which human civilization has collapsed. I also added some white speccling to the image to make it look the character was superimposed into space, with stars behind him, to emphasise his loneliness, in a world which is devoid of order - also, it is a Sci-Fi film, and outerspace is an important part of the story.








MAGAZINE STAGE 1:

MAGAZINE STAGE 2:

MAGAZINE STAGE 3:

THE NEXT POST WILL REVEAL THE FINAL POSTER DESIGN!


Magazine Cover - Composition Planning

MAGAZINE COVER COMPOSITION PLANS:

To prepare for the Magazine cover which I need to create, I thought I'd create some rough drawings to outline what the magazine may look like and help me understand better how the photographs should be taken. I will be the one posing in the photograph for the cover.

I Decided to call my Magazine 'ECHO'. There was no particular reason for this name, I just thought I shouldn't spend a long time thinking about something such as this, and besides, the word echo has relevant connotations as it implies notions of 'Rumour' 'Unreleased Information' and 'Leaks', which is what this magazine would be, since it is along side a teaser trailer. This would come out very early on, perhaps at the start of a 6-month marketing campaign.

Composition Plan 1:

What I like about this set-up is the Medium Close Up, it shows us who the character is, and therefore Actor, who for now will be Dubbed 'James Craig' - Star of the Movie.

Also I think the title 'REQUIEM' should be used in the actual Font of the franchise, with the glowing 'Q' and spaced out lettering in 'Simplified Arabic' Font.

From studying the Magazine Sources by 'Total Film' I thought the logo for the Magazine, 'ECHO' in this case, makes the magazine look more professional if it is placed behind the head of the character. I will try to do this when I make the magazine.








Composition Plan 2:

This Magazine is very similar to the first one in terms of layout - the 'ECHO' logo placed behind the head of the character. However, I wanted this to be in Medium Shot of the protagonist so as to give more chance to show something happening in the background, which is why it shows the 'SHARDS' of the alien craft breaking up in the sky behind him. Also he has a helmet and a rifle.

The problem with this is that I felt it showed too much about the world and I wanted to keep it vaguer since it is only a teaser reveal.

I took inspiration from the 'Total Film' Magazines and some separate 'Empire' Magazines which led me to add the circular label on the cover which informs the reader there is an exclusive look at the films Concept Art. I chose this as the alternative to an interview with cast or crew members because I have am actually working on some real concept art which I may use as the poster for the film.



Composition 3:

This composition was meant to look more minimalist in comparison to the previous one however it didn't turn out that way. Again it shows the shards falling through the sky except instead has a reflection in a pool with ripples in beneath the 'REQUIEM' title showing the 'AFTER' state of the world as opposed to the day the disaster happened. In the bottom half the place is a wasteland and the wrecks of the shards scatter the landscape.

I think I will keep the phrase 'Angus Bentham's Requiem' on the magazine because it is short and catchy, like for 'James Cameron's Avatar'. Also the title has the signature font and glowing 'Q'.

The long-shot looks good in this, however I think that Close-Ups of faces are more powerful on Magazine Covers as opposed to Landscapes.





Composition Plan 4:

This cover has been more developed than the others. It is similar to the first one except tha the character is looking into the lens, and therefore at 'you'. He again has the ammo belt and the dagger, two props which are shown in an earlier post. I think this would look good if photographed with high contrast lighting and heavy shadows over the eyes - making it look more enigmatic. The background, would have a repeating pattern on, most likely of interlocking hexagons, these would not be brightly coloured and would instead act as part of the background, if the colour of the background is too vibrant it may push the character into the background which would not look as effective as if he seemed to be the closer feature on the cover.

Again, this design has the circular 'EXCLUSIVE' sticker on and also a logo for 'Midnight Pictures' a logo which I really like the look of. Lastly, I will  have small paragraphs of text strategically placed on the cover in areas which seem too blank.

Magazine Cover - Source 2

Total Film is a good example of a magazine which promotes film and offers information into the major releases of the month or coming year.

The LAYOUT of this poster is one which I will use as a guideline in the conceptualization of my own. To me, the attractive features of this poster include the Bold Red text above the film logo and the small text spots where information in the inside of the magazine is displayed.

I am also inspired by the design of the 'Total Film' logo, with it's large block capitals and the small "total" boxed inside the upper half of the "F". I think I will call my magazine "FILM ECHO", and I could have the "film" part boxed inside the central section of the "E" in echo. It's ALL about aesthetics when it comes to magazine covers because if it doesn't LOOK interesting, it won't sell. I need to take this into consideration.

Audiences will most likely judge the magazine by its cover.

Magazine Cover - Source 1

Cast and Crew

WORKING ALONE:
To make the trailer look more authentic I needed a list of people's names who could be the cast and crew for the film. I was working alone so had to make them all up, otherwise every single credit would have been given to me. Here are some examples of the many important positions in film making being listed at the end of the trailers, along with their names:

THE HOBBIT:

PROMETHEUS:

HERE ARE THE CAST/CREW INFO BOARDS I have created for my film trailer 'Requiem':

I used the font 'Simplified Arabic' for this because I wanted something which didn't appear too fancy.

EDITING

Editing on adobe premiere is a process I am very familiar with, as I have created many other videos using this software before.

Here is a a basic tutorial for editing on Premiere Pro CS6 which covers most of the things I already know:

The editing style in this trailer has focused mainly on creating a more steady face; most trailers these days are very fast paced, with dramatic music, strobe light flickering between cuts and a complete summary of the film through alternating voice-overs and sound bridges consisting of key dialogue from the film - I dislike this conventional Hollywood trailer form which is used these days, where the entire plot is given away. I wish for a more ambiguous form of teaser, which is what I have attempted to give my own.

Defining features of this trailer:
-Lots of cutaways to dramatic sky scenes.
-Many fades and dissolves used, as the predominant transition effect.
-The main characters face is shadowed, or he is a silhouette.
-Music is slow, dark and entrancing. But digital sounds suggest a film of the SF genre.

Here are some screenshots of the editing process I undertook:

This screenshot shows some of the key-framing I used in order to make a still shot into one which appeared to have camera shake. I used 'positional tracking' to make the frame bounce around inside the work area without ever leaving it, there is also sound size alterations, to create the effect of zooming in and out chaotically.This is ptobably the most important shot of visial effects, as it shows the cataclysmic event which has changed the world, within the film.

This screenshot shows some of the colour corrections I used in certain shots. This shot shows the shards of alien space-ships crashing down through the atmosphere like meteors. The image on the left shows how the shot originally looked straight after the effects were applied, on the right is the shot with the key-framing and colour correction applied. These colours were made to look fiery so the aesthetic was even more apocalyptic.

This screenshot shows some of the sound control I used in order to make the trailer seem proffessional. All the sound was dubbed over - this track was a copied segment from the main track, slowed down to 50% to create a slow fading buzz which would lead the trailer to its end. Volume control was important throughout the trailer to make sure that the dialogue was not being drowned out by the music.

This screenshot shows how miltiple tracks have been overlayed. The title dissolves in over the shot with the "Q" placed over the light, creating a smoother transition. This is also were the main track; 'High Charity' fades out and is accompanied by the slower version, which reaches peak amplification when the light fades out and then slowly fades into silence.

Shard Collision - Adobe After Effects

I wanted a meteor-like collision scene for the 'shards' so I used this tutorial as a reference, it guided me on all the things I needed to know for this shot, but I just altered the instructions my-self so I wasn't just entirely copying the video.
This particular shot I thought would be relevant to the implication that something has broken up in the earths atmosphere and caused the disaster - in the case of this film, the alien object or craft, of which is now scattered across the northern hemisphere. I edited it to look like recorded footage to seem more disorientating and make it more difficult to tell how cheap the effects really are.

Here are some screenshots of the development of this effect:

Lightning Effect - Adobe After Effects

One particular shot was in need of something a little more dramatic. This shot originally showed the main character watching the sunset, the colours were not very strong and the set-up rather boring. In order to liven things up a little bit I added this lightning strike. The overall shot had some colour adejustments in Premier and so will appear much darker in the final teaser Trailer.

Creating the lightning Strike was easier than I thought it would be. This video was not the greatest tutorial but it did the job of informing me how to incorporate this effect into the video.


Here are some of the screenshots of the development of this particular effect:

I wanted to make this shot more interesting by adding a lightning strike into it. It would be added to imply a more apocalyptic tone to the film - The tutorial showed me how to control it's different forms and its colour - with a white centre and a bluish glow.

This screenshot shows what the shot looked like once I had desided on a kind of strike, controlling it's intensity and the forking, scattering effect. It still looked too artificial though so I felt it would be better without its blue glow - the blue looks too artificial in this duller environment, and seems too bold, despite the sun being in shot.

This screenshot shows the selection of colours available for the lightning - I had a wide range of options. Also, it's position in the frame had to be controlled via key-frames. I couldn't have the strike start somewhere within the frame unless I could crate a whole cloud illumination effect - this, I wanted top avoid, to simplify the shot.

Globe Effect - Adobe After Effects

Here is the video Tutorial I used as a guide to create the 'Rising Sun over Earth' Effect on 'Adobe After Effects'.


This shot was inspired by the shot of the planet in the teaser for 'THE HOST' as well as the opening shot in 'PROMETHEUS' of the earth. I must have spent about 2 hours figuring out how to create it and in the end it proved beneficial to my overall understanding of After Effects as a program. This was a perfect tutorial to ease me into the world of Simple Special Effects.

Here are screenshots of the development of the GLOBE RENDER I created:

This image shows the first stage in the earth Creation. I had a world map fixed onto a basic SPHERE. I then keyed in a 'light side' of which I had total control of, including it's x,y, and x axis. I Used Key Frames to track the movement of the light and the rotation of the Globe.

This creenshot show how the Globe Render was looking once I was getting confident with the whole light direction task. I thought a horizontal crescent would be the most effective, with the Sun rising over the top - this could be the best transition to the extreme close up shot of the eye.

This screenshot shows how I was tinkering with the control panel to get all the right qualities I was after in the shot. The composition was central and I didn't want the Globe to appear to big in the frame - I wanted there to be enough almost  enough space for a copy both on top of it and above.



Here I am nearing the end of the shot - I am still experimenting on the glow effect which comes of of the earth atmosphere, and felt that the 'halo' light around the edge didn't look realistic enough. Also, you can see the rotation marker at the centre - this full circular glow was removed to give it a crescent form.

This screenshot shows what I call the 'space fog' surrounding the planet, I managed to give it a crimson colour once I placed the light source (sun) behind it, then also added a lens-flare for extra aesthetic value. Here the globe is still in early stages but it could not have been finished without trangressing through each of these stages.

SCRIPT - Soundtrack

INITIAL VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

"Broken and burning, it came from the sky. Shards scattered across a desolated landscape. Monuments to the end of human civilization. It’s been 20 years since, since the fall of human civilization. You are strong, son, moving from mountain to mountain, through fierce heat, relentless blizzards and rivers of blood. The blood of the dead. Requiem."

"The hive-mind has their memories, don’t let him find you."

MUSIC:
"HIGH CHARITY" - from 'HALO 2 SOUNDTRACK'.


FINAL VOICE-OVER SCRIPT
LATER, I decided to improvise the trailer script, so it sounded more realistic and enigmatic. I went for a run with a small mic-recorder, and had my-self speak into it as if I were the character within the film, logging some information down.

The subject changed to explain certain points:
-Northern Network Compromised.
-Currently moving to outpost 13-A.
-Remembering the day everything changed.
-Remembering how everything used to be, a long time ago.

I think these points are a better guideline because they suggest something a little more catastrophic has happened to the world, and the fact that it is being recorded by the character within the film would explain why not much is revealed - for that, people would have to pick out what they can from the trailer.

Editing Video

Not much editing was required because of the style I chose for this trailer. If it was intended to be fast paced, I'd need shots with really dynamic movements and to cut between clips very frequently.

Instead I have used more dissolves, but simple cutting is done where necessary. If all clip transitions where dissolves it would be too slow.

The trailer BEGINS with the 'GREEN BAND' approval notice. Most standard film trailers begin with this, to confirm that the material is appropriate to the given audience. I clocked the time period which this is shown to be around 4 seconds. If the trailer were to contain material which was too extreme for younger audiences, then it would instead open with the 'RED BAND' notice, which informs viewers if the material is restricted.

In the TIMELINE, you can see the opening logo's follow this approval board after a period of blackness - this dark period is where the music builds up and then the logos begin to show, TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX first, which then fades into my-own MIDNIGHT PICTURES.

The first shot of the trailer had to be eye catching. I was lucky enough to find a disused coldwar BUNKER on Helsby Hill in which I could get footage similar to what I had story-boarded, only with the character ascending a grotty ladder instead of leaving a door, which bleaches out to white,

The editing process from here on out was fairly repetative. I used the footage I had gathered and created to splice together in an order which felt appropriate to the soundtrack and made sure there was no break in continuity.