P4 TV trailer

TV trailer:

Process:

After producing the storyboard, I spent a day filming some scenes to be used in my trailer. I chose to use manual focus for some shots and auto for others, this was because I wanted to have control where possible however some shots involved me being in the frame instead of behind the camera. I set the shutter speed to 1/50 as it is conventional to edit in 25 frames per second. I chose ISO 400 because this is suitable for indoor filming. Lastly, I set the white balance to auto whilst inside, when outside I changed it to cloudy because this produced the best output. 

I started by filming outside because it was forecast to rain so I needed to ensure I had chance to get these shots. The shots of the knife on the ground and the camera falling to the ground were filmed in the garden, I decided not to use the tripod as these were moving shots so I wanted to manually control the camera. I filmed multiple shots for each scene so that I had options when it came to editing. Next, I set up the tripod on the tallest height and panned it to face into an outdoor bin. I placed it in a position where only my hand was visible, this was because my protagonist is male so I needed to avoid it appearing otherwise. I filmed various shots of the bin opening and closing, some fast and others slow so that I could decide which was appropriate in post-production.

I then moved the equipment inside to film the remaining shots. Firstly, I shot the vegetable cutting scene using the knife from previously. Initially, I used an apple but this turned out harder than I imagined and after watching the clip back I decided to try something else. I tried using a cucumber and this was much more effective as it cut much easier and gave the desired effect. For these shots, I put the camera on a pile of books because I wanted it to be shot from a straight-on angle and the tripod was too tall. The next shot I needed was a birds-eye-view of a cup of coffee being poured, this was not part of my original plan but I added it in because I wanted more domestic shots to contrast the crime elements. I set up the camera on a low height and tilted it down towards the mug. I found that doing this created shadows of the tripod and camera so I adjusted it to an angle that avoided this. Again, I filmed multiple shots with the water being poured from slightly different angles. The final shot was the protagonist (played by me) looking out a window. First I filmed this in the kitchen but the lighting and background didn't match what I wanted to create. I tried another room upstairs which was much more effective, this shot needed to be filmed multiple times because I couldn't see where I needed to be stood so I gave myself a few options.

Due to the fact my show is a crime drama, I wasn't able to film all of the shots I wanted to include. I began sourcing clips from websites such as Pexels and Videvo, initially this was only the shots I had planned to include in my script and storyboard. However, I found it difficult to find certain shots so I browsed more options. When searching, I looked at videos related to crime themes to add to the montage. For each shot, I made a note of where I found them and put them into an asset table to record the copyright and legal issues. I then created a new folder on my desktop titled TV trailer and imported the footage. 

Once all of the shots had been recorded and sourced, I created a new project in Final Cut Pro titled 'Inside TV Trailer' and imported the footage as well as the music and sound effects I used for my radio trailer. To ensure I met with industry standards, I used a 16:9 aspect ratio and resolution 1920 x 1080. As with the radio trailer, the audio is 48kHz. 

Initially, I placed the same section of the music as the radio trailer and arranged the clips into order. I then decided to take out the music and adjust the length of each clip. One scene in the montage was a stopwatch with the time going up but I wanted it to be a countdown so I put the video in reverse. I also sped up the clip of the camera falling to 105% because I wanted to create the effect of someone falling and when filming I did it slowly to avoid damaging the camera. I then listened to the song and chose two separate parts to use with a slight gap in between because I wanted there to be a clear difference between the slow introduction and then fast paced montage. Once I chose the music I went back through the montage clips and made them match up with the beat of the song. I also decided to have the first clip of the ocean without the music and instead I sourced an ocean sound effect which I added in and made it fade out into the music fading in. I added in the same dialogue as the radio trailer, as the music was different the timing between each line was also slightly different. Similarly to the radio trailer, the dialogue and music needed to blend together better so I added the same atmosphere noises at a low volume. 

After placing all of the elements, I then went through and made adjustments to the visuals and audio. I started by using alt to change the volume level of the music at different points. As I did for the radio trailer, I reduced the volume where dialogue was included and increased it for the montage as there was no other sound in this section. I ensured that the dialogue was clear and at an appropriate volume, to conform with industry standards the audio does not go above -6db. For the visual effects, I changed the saturation and exposure for each clip to give it an overall mise-en-scene which was focused around cool toned and mainly dark colours. As I had split some clips in half, such as the bin shot and camera falling to the ground, I used the colour balance tool to maintain continuity. 

The final stage in producing my TV trailer was adding in an end screen and the BBC iPlayer animation. I wanted the end screen to be a video of a blue monarch butterfly flying across the screen because it is a symbol for mental health and this is a key theme in my show. I found an animation on YouTube which I downloaded and cut down. I then added my ident over the top and faded in titles with the release date of the show and the tagline. Lastly, I placed the iPlayer gfx after the end screen as this is a convention of BBC trailers.

Exporting:

I exported my final video in 1080p HD quality and a 1920 x 1080 resolution, these are key industry standards which need to be met for broadcasting on the BBC. I exported two final versions, one was a high quality master file and the other was a compressed H.264. The high quality file is used for the client whereas the compressed file can be used for YouTube and social media as it is smaller in size.