After we did the trailer shoot, I took the files and edited a trailer in Avid for the Indiegogo page for Debbie. This consisted of a teaser trailer, followed by a pitch done by Lucy to give more information about the film and what we need.
For the Indiegogo page, I was in charge of compiling everything together and placing it in a relevant, interesting order.
Firstly I had to come up with a tagline, that would promote the project and gain interest from the public when viewed on the home page of Indiegogo. I quickly summarised the project into a question to get the audience's attention and make them wonder more about it : "What is a day in the life on an animated character like? We want to find out and we hope you do too!"
For the main section of the page, after observing what other successful films that were similar to our own, had pitched, I came up with a running order as follows :
1) An interesting and quirky introduction, that is relevant to the film and talks directly to the audience.
I wanted to set the scene with this section, giving a bit of a back story and showing our main aim for the film - to give characters a voice! It was written in a way that hopefully speaks more directly to the audience, to try and immerse them within the our film's world.
2) The Synopsis
This was next on the list obviously to give a brief outline of what will actually happen in the film to the audience.
3) Meet the Characters
After so much work on characterisation I wanted to give the characters a proper introduction to the audience, by describing a short paragraph for each. This hints at events that happen within the film and acts as a bit of a teaser, as well as allowing the audience to get a sense of the personalities of the characters. Concept art for both CGI and Stopmotion is included in this section.
4) Meet the Humans
I thought "Meet the Humans" would be a funny title after the previous one, playing on our reflexiveness within the project. I read on the Indiegogo website advice section about how it is good to introduce your crew, even in a personal manner, as people can often donate to people rather than projects. I thought personal statements would be a good idea for the audience to get to know us better and our relation to the film, so I wrote one for me and also for Katherine based from her learning agreement when she couldn't, and made Tom complete one as well. I hope the audience can see our passion for the project in these and it helps with the decision of whether to donate or not.
5) What we've already done...
Letting the audience know how far we have come so far and where we are at with the project.
6) What we still need to do...
A time chart showing where we are and everything ahead of us. A short description about this as well.
7) Budget
This will show where the money will go to in bettering our project. A pie chart is also here to give a quick indication.
8) Perks
9) Other ways to help...
Idea
I thought since our film is animation based it would be nice to do our trailer in a similar fashion and use animation. So far we have used quite a lot of graphics, such as of the characters, throughout much of our presentation materials (production pack, presentation etc.) and thought we could make use of them in the trailer. I thought about how we are bringing the animated characters of Chip and Clay into our world in Through the Medium, and how maybe we could reverse that to turn ourselves into animated characters and be a part of their own world, such is the reflexive nature of what we're trying to do.
Animation and Lip Sync
Trailer Inclusions :
- Motion graphic style animation
- Say my name, role and name of film
- What the film is about
- Talk about how the concept was developed
- Introduce the characters - Clay and Chip
- How much money we will need
- What it is going towards
- Thank you
Based off of these bullet points I came up with a few paragraphs to include in the trailer and then we recorded me saying them to be put in the trailer.
The trailer was animated in After Effects as seen below :
I'm very please with the result of the trailer, seeing as it was done in a very short time period - mainly working in the evenings for about a week. I think the style works well for what we're aiming to do and how the characters interact with it as well. It's amazing sometimes to see what can be done when you really knuckle down to something - hopefully all our efforts and passion for the project are being injected into everything we do, such as the trailer.
Josh asked Tom and I to help out with camera work for his documentary film, which I was very excited about as I find his project really cool and something I'd be really interested in! It meant we got to tag along and watch the performances and meet some band members which was super awesome! More film - wise it allowed me to test my camera skills on the EX1 - camera being something I haven't really been on other than in workshops and my own personal projects etc. It was nice being able to try something different and go a bit out of my normal comfort zone from roles that I've become more acquainted with. I had a great time and hopefully helped Josh a tiny bit on his way to accomplishing his amazing project!
Feedback
- Think about how the vines and branches relate to anxiety, what we want to say with them and how to incorporate them into the film.
- Is the piece meant to be fairytale - esque?
- Are we going to use an infra-red style or use elements from infra red?
Inframen is a series of portraits using an infrared technique that reveals blemishes that lie under a dancer's abused skin such as scars and sun damage. The photographic process strips away the dancers' outer shell, exposing hidden flaws - the surface of the skin becomes a metaphor for the dancer's inferiority. It represents the relationship between the strength of the body and the fragility of the soul while using male dancers subverts the heteronormative idea of emotionally suppressed masculinity.
"I use this infrared technique to challenge the model's beauty and find a great intimacy. You are seeing what is already there but it reveals and emphasises these marks."
I think this is a great inspiration for looking at male dancers and challenging the male stereotype. In Inframen we can see that despite their beauty and strength, there are flaws underneath and that everyone has them. This relates back to our film to try and subvert the idea of men always being these strong, fearless characters that are meant to protect, and in reality are just as susceptible to "flaws" as women, despite that this may be seen to be overlooked.
