Headway Begins!

I always seem to amaze myself with the many ways that I come up with ideas. So I was in my film class and got bored so decided to become one of those stuck up people by showing off my Rubix cube skills to those who didn't already know about them. As I was passing the time, trying to solve it at slower and slower times, my friend Anna jokingly noted that I could make my movie trailer about a, Rubix cube. Before hearing her out though, I thought to myself, "This is Anna, this can't be a good idea," but I thought about it again and realized that it might just work. For those looking for a film trailer on a Rubix cube speed competition, I'm afraid to inform you that you're out of luck. What I can say is that I have a great, solid idea for my trailer and I can't wait to have it come to life. I will have a case study to compare my idea to next blog.

Group Review

I'm gonna focus this post on what I learned during a group review in class the other day. As we all take turns discussing our ideas and concepts I'm reminded yet again, that I am one of the only few people that chose the film trailer.  Other than that though, I was impressed with the some of the creative ideas that some of the students had for their short films as well as a nice main idea for a documentary. I was definitely looking forward to getting some advice from the peers about some ideas for a genre. After the conversations, another two genres came up that I didn't think too deeply about. Both Drama and Romance may compete as a genre used in the trailer even though I don't really have a lot of knowledge about them. A problem that I might be having with these genres are the actor due to the fact that I would need a slightly more skilled cast. Other than that, I keep getting opened up to different options and I believe that this is the week where I can begin the Pre-Production stage.

More Editing Inspiration

As the title suggests, I continue to find crucial tips to help me during the post-production phase. The good this is that I found someone that took a different approach to the trailer. What he decided to do is create a movie trailer using just stock images and video clips. This helped me to realize that I might be thinking too deep into this trailer. Before watching this video, I was bent on trying to make a trailer that contained a full-fledged plot that left the viewer interested, while this man literally added some stock clips and added a voiceover. Of course, I don't plan on just adding some stock vids but this definitely opened my eyes to where I wanna take my trailer. Who knows, I might do a man v. nature concept because of this video. 

An Interesting Find: The Blockbuster Template

Ok. This is pretty huge. Imagine saying outloud, "Man. I wish I could just find the parent of all Action Movie Trailers." And then out of the multiple tabs that I have opened about trailer tutorials, I literally find the formula behind a "blockbuster smash hit." There are not a lot of times where I leave a like on a Youtube video, but it seemed mandatory to do so on this one. I laughed while watching the video but it's honestly scary how true it is. Almost every internet crashing trailer I could think of seemed to have taken notes from this video, I'm calling the "Blockbuster Template." The video really helped me to find... well a template on how action trailers present their trailers. I now have an understanding of the "norm" for these type of trailers.

Going to a Theater (Minus the Movie)

Continuosly watching movie trailers makes me feel like I'm in a loop. Like I'm never going to get to the end of something. I just keep watching the birth of plots but not being given the privilege to see it through. It almost feels like torment until I remember what I'm doing this for. I'm trying to find out what genre I wanna base my trailer off of, but unfortunately, it hasn't hit me yet. Let's check off the list:

• Horror/Thriller: These have never been my forte as I am terrible with scary movies. It also seems lazy to throw a group of clips together, introduce a "scary figure," and add in a couple of jump scares. NEXT
• Comedy: This feels like its the hardest one to make. Trying to create a reasoning and meaning in a comedy trailer seems difficult, and frankly, there's a chance that interest can shrink with every "funny" joke used. NEXT
• Action/Mystery: Although this was probably the most generic genre, it seems to make the most sense. All I would have to think about is an interesting plot to drag my viewer and hopefully, the rest will come to me. (...great process of elimination, I know.)

Like I said in my last post, I have watched many videos on the process of creating a trailer, and the Youtube Channel, Film Riot (my film bible), had a lot to talk about, specifically during post-production. You can see the video below:

Brainstorming

As I attempt to think of different ideas and concepts for my film trailer, I begin to notice a problem. Every thought that comes up gets stump by an equally strong counter-argument. It doesn't help that there are only a few film trailers that I can derive inspiration from. Our teacher warned us that a film trailer was hard, but I didn't expect everyone to have taken it completely off their radar. It seems I have a lot of research ahead of me. The best idea is to probably start off by getting myself accustomed to the techniques used in the making of trailers. This includes the type of shots, the overall time of the trailer, but what I think is most important, the editing used in the trailer as well as the music. Just from the handful of videos I've seen about Trailer creation, editing and music seem to be the driving force. These two categories can make or break your trailer. I will definitely be taking this into account throughout the post-production phase. Let me stop before I get ahead of myself, as I'm not even sure what my trailer is going to be about. I will hopefully have some more information on the route that I'll choose to take.

The Challenge Begins

Welcome back to the BTS Productions Blog! For those who do not know, I had made a previous blog that explained my Final Portfolio Project for my Aice Media Studies class. I now have been assigned a Portfolio Project for my Media Studies A Level class. I decided to do a Film Trailer. My reason for this is because I feel like it is playing to my strengths. When I made a Film Opening for my AS class, it seemed to be more of a trailer than an opening. Luckily that is what I am looking to do with this project. Although there are plenty of things to look out for when making a trailer, I am ready for the challenge and am excited for the opportunity to show what I can come up with. Please enjoy reading about my journey and prepare for the results.