Let's Talk About That A Level Project

 Alright, with all of my past projects out of the way, let's talk about that big kahuna (the biggest of all the kahunas): the A Level project. Personally, I'm leaning towards the trailer promo. I have an idea that I'll hash out in a few days, and I'm really looking forward to it. And it fits along that psychological thriller genre, so guess what this blog will mostly be. Research! I'll also go over the specifics of the promo choice, mostly to remind myself of what I need to do, but right now, it's studying time. Welp, that sounded bad. It's research o'clock! Even worse. Ok, ok, I'll just get to it.

                                                                          

 Last Night in Soho is a newer film, and it's one of my inspirations for my idea. I love that it plays with the lighting - especially sticking to that neon color scheme for that lighting. It's a more unnerving red, and I want to try to do something like that for my film trailer (well, my two trailers). Edgar Wright is known for his interesting editing style. Mine's not going to be comparable with his in any sense, but I do want to try something interesting with it. Especially for the transitioning to the title card - what Wright did with the bed sheet transition (again, that light scheme). I just can't describe how satisfying it is. I do want to have some interesting mise-en-scene elements. This trailer shows the setting really well, and develops this shiny feel for it. I don't know how else to describe it, with all the color and darkness contrasting against each other, the setting feels vibrant and glamorous in the beginning. The yellow lighting makes it shine gold. Later, however, the darkness starts to take over and there is chillier blue and sinister red. It completely changes the tone of the setting. And I love how the audio could be considered more simplistic. It is just a song that plays over the piece. But, with the editing and the horror-esque stings (conventional of the thriller genre) helps that song become frightening. It was ominous from the beginning, but the stings and the faster paced editing got it to the point of terrifying. Overall, this trailer captures the tone and the hectic nature of the actual film.

~Just an important note for myself: please include some creepy text in your trailer! Even if it might sound cheesy, especially after mulling it over for awhile, just do it! It was done well with this trailer, and if you can get a good transition between the text and the trailer (like this trailer did), it'll be worth it.

Possible text: What would you give to live in paradise? .... You might reach it ... Just make sure your past doesn't catch up to you

Now, segue aside, time for more research! Wow, I really don't think there's a way to make that exciting. Action! Nope. Sigh. I'll stop, don't worry.

Ex Machina is not as recent, being from 2015, but I really like this trailer. It doesn't have as much energy as the fast-paced editing of Last Night in Soho, but those longer shots have their own ominous feel about them. There is something dark in that mystery. It could also be because this is also more of a sci-fi thriller, but it utilizes a lot of horror conventions. Those black screen wipe transitions are frequent but also move the trailer along. The frequent transitions seem to move the trailer along. This one also plays a lot with the lighting. The sinister red is back, and looks as dapper and creepy as ever. This one also has more electronic lighting, which goes along with the deeper theme of the work. Last Night in Soho really went for that neon lighting, which relates to the deeper theme of that film. I really want to develop a motif with my lighting, but since a have a grand old budget of $0, it might be hard to accomplish. I'll try it for you, AICE peoples. And for myself. And because it would look cool. 

I also like the sound design. It is different from Soho in that it doesn't utilize a song to set that ominous tone. It uses a mix of silence, dialogue, and horror stings to set that creepy tone. It also uses some creepy background music, but it is not at the forefront of the sound design. Here, the dialogue and the stings carry the punches. And the stings are typically more robotic, again, relating to the central plot of the movie. And I just want to remind myself that text is not needed. Though it is a typical thriller convention, it isn't used here.

And just as promised, here's my reminder to myself of what I'm doing:

-Two trailers (fun!)

-Movie poster for the key art (might have an idea for that already)

-Social media (most likely Instagram, but will still have to decide)