I began by opening

Adobe Premiere Pro and

importing all the video
and sound footage I
wanted to use in my
trailer. Once I had all the
media in my library
ready to use, it made
editing more efficient.

A challenge of filming by the sea

BEFORE
and in such rainy, windy
conditions was that water was
constantly getting on the lens.
Therefore for this shot to be
useable, I needed to edit out a
lot of the rain drops. To do this I
opened the footage in
Photoshop, made a layer outside
of the video group and used a
combination of the clone stamp
and the quick selection tool. For
AFTER covering up rain drops that were
on a rather consistent colour
background (like parts of the sky)
I used the clone stamp, selecting
the space next to it and pasting it
on top of the bit I wanted to
remove. For more complicated
blemishes that covered different
colours (such as being over sand
and water) I selected specific
portions nearby with a small
selection brush, applied a smart
radius to the edge to make it more subtle, then copy and pasted it to a new layer and moved it over
the blemish. I also applied a blur filter to a few stubborn layers and make then blend more naturally
with the background (Filter -> blur -> Gaussian blur). When I was happy with how it looked, I merged
the new layers together and rendered
the video out in a QuickTime format. I
then imported the new footage into
premiere pro and positioned it where
I wanted in the timeline.
 A key part of the editing process was the colour
grading. It plays a primary role in setting the tone
and mood and allows extra control over the how
the story and characters are perceived on an
emotional level by the audience. Primarily I
reduced the temperature across most footage to
increase the prominence of blue colour in the
scenes and reduce warmer tones. This worked in
emphasizing the overcast coastal setting and
adding to the mysterious atmosphere by giving it
a cold overtone; blue has connotations of cold,
sadness, detachment and isolation, all themes
prominent in the trailers story and conventional of
the genre. By employing these natural
associations with other features like the editing
style, it works to create a prominent atmosphere
and immediately tells the audience the sort of film being advertised. Each shot needed different
amounts to have a consistent look across the trailer, and I also had to adjust other factors such as
the black and white levels. For example, shots outside with a lot of sky were occasionally over
exposed so bringing down the white levels made the picture look more natural.
 To make the logo I started with a simple google images search for a half or
crescent moon with the filter Labeled for noncommercial reuse with
modification applied. This meant that any image I found I knew I would be
able to use for my logo however if I had been creating a real brand for a new
production company I would have had to either create my own image or find
one licenced for commercial reuse and modification. Once I found one I liked
of high resolution, I imported it into a new document in Photoshop with the
Film&Video preset so the dimensions would be similar to my film footage
and avoid distortion.
Then, I created a new
layer under the photo
and using the fill tool I
filled the page with the
matching black colour to
surround the picture
and create a
background for the logo.
I experimented with the
text style itself by right
clicking on the layer and
going to blending
options which opened
the layer style panel.

My main focus was on the Bevel & Emboss and Stroke options as I wanted to give the text a slightly
shadowed/3D look that gave it the appearance of being in the shadow of the moon. I adjusted the depth and
opacity until I was happy with the effect.

I decided upon the sans serif font Century Gothic as its

smooth and simplistic appearance suits the logos
minimalistic colour scheme. Upon review I also adjusted
the text spacing to look more professional and fill a
specific block of space that was aesthetically pleasing to
look at.

The white/grey colour matched the moon and gave a

minimalistic theme that I could base the intertitles text
off to match.
 It is conventional for information to be
presented in trailers between
sequences, and include things like the
production company, title cards, an
age certificate and billing block. The
billing block is present usually at the
very end of the trailer and is shown
only briefly to show the key cast/crew
involved. I created my own in
Photoshop which I later imported into
Adobe Premiere.

I used the same font (century gothic) across the intertitles and billing block to keep a uniform look across the
trailer, but also in my poster, magazine and trailer to maintain the same style present across all of them. The
black and white colour scheme is commonly used in mystery and horror genres partly due its connotations
with good vs evil and truth vs deception. By having all three mediums of advertisement for the film adhering
to this in-house colour scheme with the same primary font it helps provide a theme that is recognisable to
this film and provides clues to its genre, making it more likely to draw attention from viewers across multiple
platforms and generate interest. I decreased the spacing between the words in the billing block to create a
more block-like page of text that is typical in trailers. Adhering to this common convention creates
something familiar for the audience and reinforces the trailer narrative that they expect.

To create smoother, more natural links between sequences

and improve the overall fluidity of the story I added the
video transition cross dissolve to the ends and beginnings
of clips. This was more common in the beginning of the
trailer because as the action increases quicker editing and
shorter clips help build tension and create the feeling of lead
up to a climax. For example in the montage near the end,
each video clip lasts approximately a second each and by
having a hard cut between each clip it makes the transitions
seem even faster and adds to the sense of urgency, making
 To create the eerie sound in
the beginning of my trailer, I
edited the recorded sounds
of the printer in Adobe
Audition. Firstly I stretched
the audio to deepen the
pitch and emphasise the
creaking noises. Irregular
and screeching noises are
similar to those made by
humans and other animals
in distress, and are a
biologically routed trigger
for fear. I also amplified
certain sections where
louder and more extreme
noises were heard to
augment the tension
hopefully felt by the listener
and help put them on edge.

Reversed

To create the build-up in the opening section I listened to different

parts of the distorted printer recording and layered sections on top
of each other that I think worked well. I used parts that featured
louder and different types of disconcerting noises to increase their
frequency and create the sense of there being a build up to a
climax.
I added the audio effect exponential gain to the end of a couple of
the clips I layered to slowly increase their volume. This provides an
audio cue to the viewer that something is about to happen
however when the build-up is cut off as Ava wakes up suddenly in
hospital, it poses a lot of questions for the audience, and the
sudden silence that follows is disconcerting. As exposition of the
story starts I introduced the piano cover. In the beginning it helps
set the tone of the trailer; the minor key and slow tempo is
generally associated with sadness, anxiety and unease. However as
it stays consistent as the action picks up, it becomes contrapuntal
to the rising action and introduces on an emotional level that what the audience see is not always the full truth -
this is a common theme in psychological thrillers and is prominent in my story-line.
Zooming in on the timeline and making sure the spikes in wavelengths matched with cuts between edits made it
easier to match the scene transitions with music cues. This helped increase the impact of what was happening
on screen and reinforce the trailers psychological thriller genre.