Thursday 7 July 2016

Horrible Bosses Recut Trailer - Preliminary Evaluation -

1. How did you decide on the trailer you picked and why did you pick it?
I picked this trailer in particular because I had watched the film Horrible Bosses recently and felt it would be easier to edit a film that I had recently watched as I was able to easily remember certain parts of the film that could be included in a trailer of a different genre. This included the car chase scenes of the film and the certain violent scenes that would have otherwise been followed up with a comedic remark but I was able to cut these out to keep the crime thriller genre of my trailer. 

I picked this film because it already had crime thriller aspects to it though it was twisted with comedy, I felt that out of the films I had in mind for this recut, this one had the most scenes in it related to the genre I would be recutting it to. I also felt that picking a recent movie would be better than picking a movie such as The Terminator or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which were films I originally planned to recut. But the problem with these was that because they are fairly outdated, the only clips available on Youtube were of bad quality and in order to maintain a decent quality for my trailer, I was better off selecting a recent film that would also have released a lot of clips as part of its marketing campaign. Because the official trailer was fairly limited on clips to convert into a crime thriller, I did have to start using clips released for the marketing campaign to fill in the gaps and with an older or less popular movie, this would not have been possible. 

2. Why did you choose to adjust the genre of your trailer to the one you picked?
I chose this genre because not only am I a huge fan of crime thrillers, them being my favourite film genre, but I also felt this was the genre the film could be most easily adapted to. Also, due to my knowledge on great crime thriller films, I already knew which scored would go well with this styled trailer and what kind of mood I needed to adapt it to.

Another reason I chose this genre was because some of my favourite trailers from the past have come from this genre. Trailers for films such as Nightcrawler, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Gone Girl, Jason Bourne, and Prisoners are all crime thriller and crime drama films that have excellent trailer. Therefore this inspired me to opt for this genre because not only did I already know a lot about it, but I also preferred the effects and feel to these trailers above over genres such as romance or action. These trailers seemed a lot more unique than other genres as most romance and action trailers tend to be repetitive with the same kind of outline to them. Crime thriller allowed me to not only easily turn Horrible Bosses into a different genre due to the clips provided, but also be creative with what I made.

3. How did you go about the production of your trailer (editing, sound, etc.)?
I mainly edited the trailer by taking various clips off Youtube, cutting away the comedy scenes, taking away the clip sound if necessary, and then reordering them so the trailer ran smoothly and captured the audience's attention. I also had to make sure to include clips that included aspects of the storyline so the trailer could tell the audience what the film was about. I cut up the clips using the 'blade' tool in Final Cut Pro. I also used Final Cut Pro's sound editing tools to blend the sound of my clips in with the soundtrack so there was an equal balance of dialogue and soundtrack.

The soundtrack I chose was 'An Itch' by Trent Reznor and came from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo score. This also had to be edited down during trailer production as the original piece was over 4 minutes long and I needed to edit it down to an appropriate trailer length. I did this by using the 'blade' tool but also overlapping and fading out the volume of each 'bladed' score selection. This was so the score selections would blend into each other so anyone watching the trailer wouldn't notice the cut within the music.

4. How did you manage the time of your production (did you meet deadlines, etc.)?
I did not meet deadlines as searching for appropriate clips took longer than anticipated. On top of this, editing also took longer than anticipated as not only is editing a fiddly and unpredictable process if you're unsure of how it will turn out, but I also had to learn how to use the programme (Final Cut Pro) as I created the trailer as this is the first time I have ever used this programme. Overall, this slowed down the process of production. Once this was sorted out, I managed time by planning what I was going to do with the trailer before I got round to making it. I also made sure I had collected every possible clip I could use to make the trailer so I would not have to go back out and search for more clips during the process of production.

5. What problems arose during the production of your trailer and how did you overcome them?
Problems that arose during production mostly involved clip searching and the sound that came with the clips. Clip searching was difficult as I had to mostly look for clips that did not include a soundtrack already over the top of them that my own trailer soundtrack wouldn't be able to drown out. This was because my sound editing skills using this programme cannot currently diminish the soundtrack from these clips so it's still audible over my own trailer's music. The solution to this was to either mute the clip or scrap it altogether. Because of this, a lot of the clips within the trailer were unusable and rather than recutting Horrible Bosses' official trailer, I more or less had to create a new trailer based off clips from Youtube.

On top of this, I also had issues selecting a soundtrack for my trailer. The two other soundtracks I had available that would have also fitted the mood and genre of my trailer were 'Nice to Meet Me' and 'Greeting the Menace' by Zack Hemsey and also 'I'd Love to Change the World' by Jetta. These were all songs that would have gone well with my trailer and I had difficulty choosing between the four. In the end, I overcame this by choosing 'An Itch' because this song had also been used in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo USA official trailer, a film also belonging to the crime thriller genre. 

6. What have you learnt from this process and how will you improve your own final product? 
Skills I learnt from this process was how to cut and stick clips together on Final Cut Pro, the various subtitle and editing transition options available on the programme, and how to cut and blend a song onto a trailer without the cuts being audible to the trailer's audience.

I would improve my final cut by improving my editing on the soundtrack. Despite my efforts to blend in the different cuts of the music, there were still parts that were noticeable to the audience. In the future, I will improve this by learning different tips on sound editing off Youtube videos and Final Cut Pro tutorials. 

I will also improve my final product by included an introduction to the actors and actresses involved in the film towards the end of the trailer. This is done by most trailers to attract audiences that are fans of these stars. It would also help prolong the length of my trailer as it was also a very short trailer due to the limit of clips available for it.