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