Director Research: John McTiernan

John McTiernan is best known for creating the modern action. He has created films that are listed under  the "Modern Great" genre, such as the "Die Hard" franchise, "The Hunt for Red October", and "Predator". He has worked with big action stars such as;

Piers Brosnan,  Sean Connery,  Alec Baldwin, Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

He is most known for the way he creates a tense atmosphere throughout his films and in the way he portrays his story lines. Die Hard has been said to not only be a Box Office Smash but a genuine game-changer for the landscape of cinema.

John Mctiernan's creations have been known to have an influence on a massive number of big hollywood films in the recent years, including; "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford, "Mission Impossible" and even modern films such as "White House Down" which was released in 2013.

The way in which McTiernan changed the action scene was by altering the face of it. Before "Die Hard, action films were associated with large, supernatural stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean Claude Van Damme. But enter Bruce Willis, who plays a normal, everyday police officer visiting his wife and ends up taking on a group of terrorists, single handedly. This was the beginning of underdog victory films and changed the action genre dramatically. 

Visible Conventions of an Action/Thriller Trailer

Stars
Action/Thriller trailers are all very similar in the way that they portray their story and the method of editing used to keep the audience enticed. It usually starts out by showing the main character of the film who is usually the biggest star and is likely to be a big cause for people going to see the film.

i.e.
Fans of Shia LeBeouf would instantly be attracted the the Eagle Eye trailer as he is in the very first shot of the trailer.

 

The "End of Watch" trailer would catch the eye of Jake Gyllenhaal fans

and Mark Wahlberg fans would be enticed to watch the trailer for "Contraband".

Pace

Eagle Eye

Some trailers try to portray the action in the way that they pace the editing. For example, "Eagle Eye" starts out quite slow (Picture 1) but builds up in the middle (Picture 2), to a faster paced scene. It then rapidly declines again to a slower pace. (Picture 3)

 Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Here is a chart of the change in pace within the trailer;

End of Watch

End of Watch starts out with an introduction to the main characters. The style of the film is half cinematic and half self-documented from the perspective of the characters. Therefore the opening scene is the characters talking to a video camera, introducing themselves. (Picture 1) It then picks up, informing the viewers of previous films that the writer has created, therefore if they are true fans of the genre and have seen these films, they are very likely to enjoy the one being advertised. We then get a real idea of the characters as we see them in police uniform and being briefed with other officers, as well as loading gun equipment, all in one montage (Picture 2). The pace then begins to pick up as the plot of the film begins to unravel as they find a load of gold plated weapons in a vehicle after being shot at. The up-beat music starts and the pace increases.(Picture 3) The pace is constantly growing throughout the trailer and the intensity keeps building up with the use of music and sound effects. The very last scene is the most intense as it leaves on a cliff hanger and the viewer is left unaware of what is going to happen. (Video 1)

Picture 1 

Picture 2

Picture 3

Video 1

Trailer Analysis | Eagle Eye

Sound FX

Below are a few, of the many, different sound effects I have downloaded which are Royalty Free. These sound effects will be incorporated in to our trailer. As we will will obviously be using prop guns, we won't have the legitimate effect of sound, therefore It is required we use third-party sound effects.

Narration Style
Being an action film, we have decided that we don't want a narration from a third-person perspective, as heard on comedy trailers, more frequently in older generations. However, from my research, I have picked up that the most common style is the use in-film dialogue in order to convey the plot of the film to the audience. I have re-edited a trailer for a tv show called "Strike Back" that has the exact style I have in mind for the trailer.

Production Logo

Every film trailer has the logo's of the Production company(s) that create the film. Therefore I feel to add the effect to our trailer, I have created a small intro myself with a fictional production company, shown below. The video won't be silent in our trailer as the intro music/narrative will play over.

Target Audience

After doing thorough research into target audiences and the series of different stereotypes of todays youth, It is apparent hat although some heavily rely on magazines, music, internet etc in order to stay entertained but none of these groups are reliant on cinema.

The target audiences for action films or films in general, are very different to the target audience of music genres.  You can usually associate a person with a specific stereotype by knowing what music they listen to, i.e. Fans of Metal are likely to be very Gothic and have a dark fashion sense, where as a fan of chart music is likely to be a trend follower and have a liking mainstream pop culture. But when it comes to films, it is very difficult to stereotype it’s audience and if so, it is very generalised, such as girls liking Romantic Comedies and boys liking Action Films. That appears to be as narrow as it can get due to the widespread variety of personalities and genres.

I asked a few peers why they thought this was the case and a couple of their responses were;

“People use music as an expression, and to communicate and interact with people of the same personality as them, whereas film doesn't have that same level of connectivity with it’s audience.”


“People go to see a film usually because of the person who is starring in it, or because of the person who has directed it, it’s less of an expression and more of a following, unlike music. Like, being a fan of Judd Appatow doesn't come with its own sense of fashion or physical appearance.” 

Below are some Audience Interviews for different genre's of film, and you can see the difference in appearance and age of the interviewee's, who give their feedback on the same films.

Below is a video I have put together, interviewing a few friends who agreed that action/thriller is their favourite genre of film. I asked them questions such as their favourite action/thriller film, their favourite actors who star in this specific genre and specifically why action/thriller films take their liking.

Cinematic Effects

Here, I have created a video to display the difference between two clips. One that is just the RAW video file and then one that has been edited to look more cinematic by changing the ratio and colour correcting it. I added these effects very easily with the built in functions of Sony Vegas.

The main reason for testing these effects are to portray how simple changes can add more atmosphere and intense tone to a simple clip.

How I Done It

Letter boxing

 Changing the screen ratio is extremely easy within Sony Vegas. Each clip on the timeline has a set of buttons, and to change the ratio you select the "Event/Pan Crop" button. This will take you to the screen shown (left)

 You can drag the guidelines manually to your liking. Your result is shown in the preview screen on the right hand side so you can see what changes are being made. You can also change the ratio by typing/editing the "height" & "width" on the left of the screen. The ratio is 2:35.1, which turns 1280x720 to 1280x544.7 and creates the cinematic wide screen which is shown below.

Colour Correction

 There are several different ways of manipulating the colour and tone of a video. This could be via changing the brightness/contrast, colour curves, saturation etc. The way I edited my clip was by the basic colour correction plug-ins, built in to Sony Vegas. There are hundreds of third party applications for more precises correction but the basics are all integrated within every editor.

The way you colour cortrect, is by adjusting the "Low", "Mid", and "High" colours as well as the saturation, alpha, gain, offset and gama. The best way to get the best result is just by trial and error as each clip is lit differently and will require unique settings.

Second Pitch

This is the poster i have made for my second pitch as we agreed our initial idea was too far fetched and would be to hard to accomplish at a good level. But we wanted to integrate some of the same elements such as the props we have    i.e. air soft guns.

Therefore I believed that this was the best concept that we could do, without having to stretch our resources too much. I was inspired by a series of different films I have seen in terms of the camera angles and concept of the story. Examples of these films are;

 "Paranormal Activity"

This inspired me to create a cinematic trailer with the use of hand held/POV camera shots, such as the surveillance cameras and the protagonist holding the camera themselves.

The other trailer that I used for inspiration was;

"End Of Watch"



This trailer portrays the anti-plot of the trailer I have in mind. The perspective is based on the police going after the criminals. The plot I want to portray is the criminals over powering the police and government in a rebellion, however I do plan on the main character base to be policemen, however, they are implied to be the one's losing and appear weaker.

The use of Dash-Cam's is also an effect I wanted to go for and try and use the surroundings such as CCTV and Police Cameras to be used as a resource, but manipulated to my group and I's liking.

The soundtrack used is also a factor that stuck out the most to me. The use of the high pitched, long noted guitar has a very fast paced and action packed effect on the atmosphere.

Camera Equipment

                                       Camera's we have;                                       Canon 600D

Canon 550D

Nikon D3100

GoPro HD Hero

GoPro HD Hero 2

Lenses;

18-55mm x 2

70-300mm

28-105mm

50mm

Fish Eye

Attachments;

Rode Video Mic

Tripod x 2

X-Grip

Monopod

External Flash

CCTV Effect

Here I have created a video and added a CCTV effect which I created in Adobe After Effects. It is the key effect I want to add to my trailer as our plot is the whole idea of being watched, 24/7. It is also a unique effect we can apply that will differentiate our trailer from other cinematic trailers.

Trailer Plot: Initial Pitch

Camera Techniques & Effects | ISO

Movie Trailer Analysis

The trailer I am going to analyse is "The Purge" which was released in 2012. It is a very modernised style horror film. 

The first screen we see is a green band disclaimer. This is to display that the trailer is viewable for all ages and that their isn't any inappropriate content, such as sexual scenes or violence.







We are then slowly introduced to the story and "plot" of the film  through a series of different texts. We are informed that there is a whole new tone to America as it is a "Nation Reborn", we are then informed it is because crime is at an all time low, due to all crime being legal for one night a year.

We then see an aerial shot of a small neighborhood that we can determine is where the film is set. It appears to be a wealthy area and a very closed in neighborhood. The trailer is still slow paced and doesn't contain much action.

 After seeing the text implying "all crime is legal", we hear a crackling sound in which we see several CCTV clips of various crimes being carried out in different places, such as gun shots and violent beatings. Which adds the tone of fear to the film.

30 seconds in to the trailer is when the logo of the production company is presented, which is also created to match the tone of the film.

A narrative begins which is dialogue from the film. He quotes "Tonight allows people a release". It is a focus pull shot set behind the person he is talking too. The narrative informs us how dangerous the people can be, again creating another sense of fear.

Here you can see a a scene of a man sharpening a weapon on a professional piece of equipment. This helps portray the idea of the "No Crime" factor is very normal thing and people go about it like a day to day norm. The use of three shots helps show several things. Firstly we see the main characters watching and look in disagreement, this lets us know that they are against the idea. The second shot is a closer look at the man sharpening his weapon with sparks being displayed, and the third sjot is a close up of the weapon itself, to show how dangerous it is.

These two scenes also use dialogue as a narative. The child asks his parents; "Why don't you guys kill someone tonight?". This tells us that the "no laws" rule, doesn't seem wrong to the younger generation. We hear the dad reply how he is against it and no one will be being killed, but we see the mum give a suggestive look to the idea. Whilst we listen to the dad talk about how he doesn't feel the need to commit any crimes, we see a quick montage of them collecting weapons and clearly going against their word.

We then see a long shot of the house going into lock down, displaying how much protection they require during the no crime period. A close up is also used to show the thickness of the barriers they require.

The pace of the trailer then begins to speed up and shows a series of different events from the film to create the intense and dramatic atmosphere.

The Hollywood Studio System

The Main Hollywood Studios

·         Stars were contracted to lengthy contracts but were
 offered A class feature films.

·         Studios had enormous control over stars, managing their publicity, how they looked, what roles they got and how
they lived. Often able to control and scandals and
suppress negative publicity.

·         Studios were organised around vertical integration i.e. controlled production, distribution and exhibition.

·         If cinemas wanted the main features, they had to book
other films from the studio – leaving no room for independent films.

·         All the interests necessary to create profit under one roof.

·    A tightly controlled industry maximised profits and minimised risk.



Click on the New York Times logo to be directed to a news report, discussing the 90 Years of History of "United Artists Corporation".

Each production company was associated with various genre's of film and therefore were known for their specific tone. This was also because actors were tied into contracts with these companys and obviously their own style which would fit the genre specified by the Production company.

Below is a table, showing how many films from each company were of each genre between 1991 and 2010.

Editing Skills | Masking

  Good feature in some horror films such as "Mirrors", uses the effect of cloning. This is when the same person is in a shot, twice, and are doing different things. It can be used in a comical way, shown below;






It can also be used in a scary way, such as in "The Black Swan";




I wanted to test this effect, in order to be able to use it in our trailer when we come to film/edit. therefore I watched a couple tutorials online and found out how to do it. Our result is shown below;

 How I made it

 When you have imported your two video clips, you have to find the effect "Linear wipe". What this does is allows you to cut an overlaying clip in half, as shown below. The black section on the left hand side would usually be the underlying layer that will be displayed, making it appear as one clip.

In order to apply the cut, you use the percentage scroll on the "transition completion" setting under "Effect Controls". This will allow you to select where about the clip is cut, vertically down the middle. I put my setting to around 50% to ensure it was even and it wasn't noticeable.

After applying the effect, this was my final result.

Decision

Within my group, we have all decide that we want to create a theoretical movie trailer as out A2 media product as we feel we have more inspiration and motivation to create a trailer, opposed to a music video. We also feel that a horror film will be the best genre to follow, due to the expected conditions for when we have to film.

Below is a one link playlist, that we have watched for inspiration;

Group Dynamics - Introductory

LEWIS SOMERVILLE

Interests: Film & Television, Rugby, Wet T-shirt contests
Favorite Film(s): "FILTH", "American History X", "The Other Guys"
Favorite TV Shows: "Breaking Bad", "House of Cards",  "Scrubs", "The Office"

Favorite Quote
"Say something clever and your name lives on forever" - Anonymous

JESS SIMONDS

Interests: Fashion, Traveling, & Film
Favorite Film(s): "SAW",  "Sinister", "Harry Potter"
Favorite TV Shows: "Toddlers & Tiaras", "Gossip Girl", "Keeping Up with the Kardashians"

Favorite Quote
"If she's amazing, she wont be easy. If she's easy, she wont be amazing. If she's worth it, you won't give up. If you give up, you're not worthy... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; You just gotta find the one's worth suffering for" - Bob Marley

KANE BOORMAN

Interests: Socialising, Music, Film & Television
Favorite Film(s): "In Time", "Romeo & Juliet", "Pineapple Express"
Favorite TV Shows: "The Office", "The Walking Dead", "Lost"

Favorite Quote
"You can't believe everything you read on the internet" - Abraham Lincoln

Conventions of a Film Trailer

As part of my research,  have looked at the various different factors that make a movie trailer. These range from camera angles to narrative and even the logo of the production company. Below is a spider diagram of various different conventions in more depth.











 
Another key convention is the response that you gain from the audience. The way that they respond and feel, emotionally, about your trailer is the key to the tone of the film. If they laugh and smile, it's more than likely going to be a successful trailer for a comedy. If they are burying their head in their jacket and their heart is racing, it's definitely going to be a successful trailer for a horror film.

Here is a shot from the "Audience Reaction" for the Paranormal Activity trailer.

and here is a shot of a audience watching a comedy film.

As you can see, the atmosphere is very different in both images. The atmosphere my group is aiming for is the first image, as we are aiming to make a thriller/horror and gain a scared reaction from the audience. 
         
                                                

Sound 
The key to creating atmosphere is the sound you use. If you want to make a light-hearted atmosphere, you are likely to use soft, easy to listen music. Where as making a scary/spooky atmosphere, you are likely to use eery and haunting music and sound effects. i.e. Tip Toe Through the Tulips - Tiny Tim, which was used in the extremely successful horror film "Insidious".

 

Pace 
The pace of the editing is key to the style of video you want to make. An informative trailer that portrays a story line is likely to be slow paced, where as a fast paced trailer is less-informative but creates a more thrilling atmosphere. Some trailers aren't all one pace. They may start slow and get faster or sometimes even vice versa.

Here is an example of a fast paced trailer;

 

We get a good idea of what the trailer is about, but we aren't informed on what direction the film is going in. Where as the trailer shown below, is a lot slower and we are informed on what the film is about and the direction it takes, as well as speeding up towards the end to create the thrilling concept of the film.