Once we got the footage it was time to edit. Once the editing was done, the trailer was complete and ready for viewing. This is the final render for our game trailer based off of the game Dead By Daylight.
I feel like a good amount of people might understand the narrative of what is going on. I guess the thing that would confuse the viewer would be the running as they may ask themselves, “who are they running from?” Or “Why are they running?” though the music may help emphasise the fact that the girl is running from someone. It is better represented when the killer actually comes into view and when the camera shows a close up of the bear trap.
In my opinion, I think the close ups on the camera are a nice feature as it emphasises on the objects and people on how scary the scenario is. Getting these camera shots were difficult in some areas especially for the tracking shot on the feet and the final killer reveal. I feel like I could have improved on those shots in particular due to the fact that I don’t think they are very neatly done. Though despite this I am okay with the outcome of those shots. I think I did an okay job on the other running shots, and with the tracking on some of them.
I think the mise-en-scene is fine. It captures that slight isolation feels whilst still looking gloomy in the environment. Though in terms of mise-en-scene there isn’t a lot to say, seeing as the scenery is mostly filled with trees. However, I still think it’s good enough to a point where people will understand that its a horror game we are referencing, due to the props we used.
The sound was good too. The music is from the dead by daylight soundtrack and was very fitting in my opinion. It was good to go for something that is scary and intense but not so much to a point where it just doesn’t fit, I think this helps with the atmosphere of the scenario. And as for the sounds, I like the emphasis on the footsteps as it represents the struggle and fears the runner has. A lot of the shots don’t have sound but I think it’s for the best as not every shot needs sound.
My main roles in this project were
Cameraman
Financial support
Lighting planner
Additional support (with paperwork and general ideas)
I feel like my strongest role was being the cameraman as I did the most for that specifically out of the roles I had. However, despite this, I feel like I could have both inputted more and have done better with my roles, compared to my partner’s roles and inputs.
If I were to change anything about the final outcome, I would probably shorten the length of the pov shot as I feel like it lasts for too long. Another thing I would include would be more motion when it came to the running shots, possibly even a tracking side view of the running to give the intensity of the situation a little push. With our current shots, they kind of seem less intense, but nonetheless, I’m still happy with the shots that have been gathered.
Next time I work on a project like this, I will try to improve upon inputting more ideas and working more in general. Because I didn’t play an insane role I figured I would just do as the director says, however, it’s not completely based on that and is instead based on teamwork. I did input ideas and help out when I needed to, however, I need to do more of that, more than I did in this project.
This is the live action trailer for Call Of Duty Black Ops 3 which is on pc/Xbox/PlayStation 4, a futuristic First Person Shooter. This trailer specifically is a TV advert and is targeted towards male gamers who are teens to adults aged 16-18.
The trailer acts like a man narrating the life story of how “epic” this specific soldier named Kevin is whilst referencing lots of features from the game, including the environment. The trailer then goes through a compilation of different sectors and scenarios based on the game, each of which shows the character doing cool things. At the end of the trailer, the character is then taken out by a new character, and the suited man then narrates about the new character, just like he did with Kevin.
Most of the camera shots in this trailer are very fast paced and contain fast cuts throughout the middle of the trailer. This is to emphasise on the fast-paced action that usually happens within the game and is a good representation of war in general. There seem to be lots of wide shots and more than one establishing shot due to the trailer being a compilation of cool moments from the character. This is to get a good view of the scenery and to visually show how rough and intense war can be. It starts slowly at the beginning to introduce us to the chaos of the trailer, before jumping us in. And slow-mo shots are often used as they are associated with being cool which is what the trailer is emphasising on about the character Kevin.
As for the Mise-en-scene, everything within the trailer is very chaotic and so is the environment. Most, if not, all of the building are run down and partly destroyed. From Explosions, gunfire, in game machines, robots, debris, fire and future tech, all referencing the in-game experience and how violent and chaotic the game is.
Special effects and visual effects are used a lot in this trailer. Most of the visuals are particles effects like bullet tracers, explosions, fire and the eyes on the zombies. As for Sound effects, the sounds would have been made for what I just listed. Things like robots, zombies, gunfire and tech. The quantity of each of these things put lots of emphasis on the chaotic nature of the game and trailer. You see a pattern here? The music was pretty fitting oddly enough.
I’d say more filming was done than actual in-game footage. In fact, it was completely filmed on set. But the trailer did a good job of balancing the in-game visuals with the actual filming of real people.
The titling appeared at the end of the trailer. It came up with the slogan for the game which is “there’s a soldier in all of us” before showing the title of the game and its contents.
ARK: Survival Evolved
This is ARK: Survival Evolved, a survival game based on the Xbox, PlayStation, PC and Nintendo Switch. This specifically is a tv advert aimed towards teens to adults, as the game rating usually is.
It starts with a primal looking man waking up on a beachside. He looks at his wrist only to find a stone specimen attached to his wrist. A foot of a dinosaur comes into frame and it later reveals there is a woman riding the dinosaur with militaristic gear. The man responds with a greeting before being eaten by the dinosaur and then waking up on the same beach, referencing the playstyle of the game. The same events then occur and the woman shows up with the same dinosaur only this time, she hands the man a weapon before it cuts to the title screen.
In terms of camera work, this trailer doesn’t do anything super creative or mindblowing, but it does have good simple camerawork. My favourite parts, in particular, would be the extreme close up of the man’s eye as he wakes up, possibly giving us the illusion of the initial shock he experienced waking up as if we witnessed it too. Though throughout most of the trailer it contains lots of close-ups and medium shots whilst using close-ups on important references or objects.
The scenery is also quite simple, but it represents the game well. Ark is about starting from the primal age and surviving your way while progressing from primal to technology. The mise-en-scene represents the start of every ark game well as its accurate. The weapons and dinosaur gear are also replicated well and this in contrast to the gear the man has, which is none, is shown well and shows the power and experience the woman has in the environment.
The music is quite atmospheric and the sounds used sound strong. The music also doesn’t play often and could emphasise on the isolation the man must feel. This is another good representation of the game as you explore a lot in the game. The only bit of sound that catches my ear would be the dinosaur roar due to its realism. It is possible a modified scream from a person or roar from an existing animal was used to make it.
Visual effects such as CGI have been used for the dinosaur, but other than that, there aren’t a lot of VFX. Sound effects have been used like the ringing noise after being killed by the dinosaur which is a feature I like. The trailer is only 34 seconds long, but despite this length, it still references the game well. This is completely live action and no gameplay is shown within the trailer.
The titling tries to be dynamic as the title of the game literally pieces itself together very sharply. I think this is cool as the game itself is suspenseful and could be a representation of how quick you have to be in the game as something unexpected could happen.
Fallout 4
This is the live action trailer for Fallout 4, on PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This is a first-person free-roaming game with a story arc in it. It is aimed at male teens to adult gamers.
The trailer starts by showcasing the town that Fallout takes place in before it was struck by a nuke. A man then comes out of a fallout shelter, noticing the town he once knew in ruins. It is then followed up by shots of him exploring the town and during those sequences, he is equipped with more and more gear. He is then shown fighting mutated monsters and later equips himself with a mech suit as he prepares himself for tougher scenarios. He continues to explore before the title of the game appears.
In terms of camerawork, most of it looks handheld. The camerawork at the beginning is smooth and clean before it showcases the wasteland where the camerawork looks handheld. I believe this is to represent the damage done to the quality of the town and how unsafe it now is. Another shot I like is the camera panning upwards as the man puts on his suit, it shows all the mechanical parts operating revealing its power and usefulness.
The mise-en-scene is contrasting to one another. The beginning of the trailer, everything is very colourful and clean, not to mention the 90’s styled scenery. Then all of a sudden everything is rundown and destroyed, emphasising on the impact the nuke had. Tech is also in many places, as seen in a few of the shots by the robots roaming the wasteland.
There is no sound at all in the trailer. But the music is fitting as the song is about roaming and the man in the trailer is doing exactly that. It fits the 90’s theme and it contrasts with the environment as the song sounds upbeat and relaxing, but the environment doesn’t. This could be to represent the peaceful lives of the survivors in the game. As rundown as the town looks, the man looks unbothered by it.
This trailer is completely filmed and no gameplay is included. However, it does reference the game quite a bit, for example, the mech suit, the uniform the survivor wears, the monsters, the dog, etc.
The titling isn’t very special, it’s in a dark environment wich I assume is meant to look dynamic and mysterious. It has been designed to look like a metal sign, possibly referencing the mech suit, which is what the game is mostly known for
Today, our objective was to choose a location for us to film our shots. Our initial plan was to film in an abandoned building as that would give us a creepy setting which is something we hoped to achieve. Later we decided that it may be a little ambitious as there aren’t many abandoned places we can go to.
Next, we decided on filming it in a park or a big field. Later we decided that it was too open and that there were too many people passing by. Having filmed in the open park would have ruined the atmosphere we were trying to convey. It could suggest isolation but we wanted scary.
So we went with plan b and filmed in a forest nearby instead, which ended up better anyway seeing as a forest is creepier and more fitting. The forest was also more cramped hinting that there weren’t many places the victim could hide. This made sense. Once the forest idea came along, so did the ideas for shot types.
Today was the chance to create the required props needed for our game trailer. At first, I thought creating these props was a little ambitious but after seeing some progress I doubted myself on that. We needed a bear trap and a cleaver.
We started on the bear trap as that would be quicker to make. The process was not very hard. We drew the claw shape of the beartrap on 2 different pieces of cardboard with a black sharpie before cutting out the shape and sticking the two together with a pin. After that, we cut out the base and stuck the remaining pieces together to complete the bear trap shape. Finally, we painted it.
And as for the cleaver, a large cleaver shape similar to the one in the game our trailer is based on was cut out of cardboard. We stuck paper mache onto it to keep the cleaver from being wobbly and to make it easier to paint for us. This process was VERY time-consuming. After that, we painted it and we considered it done from there.
A problem we came across was the fact that the cleaver was wobbly still, specifically by the handle. So we came up with the idea of using clay instead to secure it. However, we didn’t have the time to continue on it so we would have to do it another day.
Today was the day we set out to film our shots for our live-action game trailer. This included getting the equipment ready and quickly learning how to use it properly. As the cameraman, my job was to film the shots. This meant I would have to keep the camera steady when needed to and get good shots.
But beforehand, we needed to set up one of the actors to make him look like the killer we were referencing. By doing that, we had to put makeup on him to make him look like he had scars and wounds. This part was time-consuming as we had to set it up and wait for it to dry. Once that was done, we set out to start filming.
The most difficult part of this was getting a good version of the running tracking shot as there wasn’t much space for me to run. Not only that but getting the camera setup well was just as difficult. It’s not easy getting a tracking shot with a still camera. A technique we decided on was to use the stabiliser upside down which would help reduce the shakiness of the camera when running. The footage would appear upside down but we can easily change that in premiere pro.
The majority of these shots that I gathered I felt like I could have done better. Something about the way I did it feels lower in quality. In some cases, I think its the camera work. Although I do like some of the shots too, for example, the tracking shots I do like as they help with motion and framing the important aspects of the shot. An input I would make would be to have shots that track the running as I feel this would help emphasise the fact that the character is being chased, rather than just still running shots.
My journey through college 