Creating the Trailer

   I have created the a new file in Premier in AVCHD, 720p25. I have chosen to use the Advanced Video Codec High Definition format as it is an efficient, high quality video codec.   The first thing I did was to add bins for 'Clips', 'Source', 'Music', 'Text' and 'Sequence' to keep my files and clips in a sensible order. I then created a new sequence to work on, this I put in the sequence bin. I decided to make the music clip that I will be using first. As per my planning, I will no longer be using 'Life Vest' by The Material, I have made a last minute change to use a Bruce Willis song instead - "Love makes the World go around". It took me a while to settle on a 1 min clip of the music that I thought would work well with the project. Another reason that I am glad to have changed the music is unfortunately, I was unable to crop the 'Life vest' mp3 to 1 minute exactly, it is 1 minute and 1 frame. The reason for this is when I tried to skip back 1 frame from 1:00:01, it was jumping back more than 1 frame to 59:25, this is as close as I could get the clip for this project without it being too short. Luckily, I didn't have the same issues when creating the clip of the Bruce Willis song that I will be using for my trailer. I used the Mark in and out buttons to select the sample of the clip that I will use then saved the new clip to my music bin.

    Now that I have the background music for the trailer, I can add the clips and images that I will use as a basis to work on. During my research I watched a few Bruce Willis films and have decided to take some clips from the movie 'The Fifth Element'. There are a few shots of him in a vest top, that I will obviously use as it is in line with my theme. I have also decided to use a few images of him in a suit that I think I can add in well. I began the process by importing The Fifth Element into the source folder. Next I started scrolling through the scenes of the movie. As I found parts that I thought I could use(using the mark in out buttons), I created clips and named them aptly before dragging them into my Clips bin (there is one close up to a serious looking face which I have called 'serious close up'). I thought the best approach would be to create lots of useful clips and then see which ones I can use.


    One of my ideas was to have a heart with a picture of a vest top over it. Although this is the last clip in my sequence, I have decided to create this clip first. I have located a nice background (Rogivan Carvalho, 2013, My Heart In After Effect You Tube.[video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncujA0CExCU&list=PLsOQa-Lgyf1eXYpUqUX8htE3cnCddzR6M> [Accessed 22 April 2014].)              
which I will use behind the vest top to create the desired effect. First I created a clip of the heart background and then I imported the photoshop picture of the vest top that I used for my dvd inlay. I put this into a new bin called 'Images'. Next I used the scale tool in the effect controls to resize the image to 45.0 so that it will fit inside the centre of the inner heart of the background picture. I continued to adjust the position of the vest top so it is centered within the inner heart, the position is now 627.0 - 350.0. Instead of the vest top just appearing, I wanted it to fade in. I created this effect by using the opacity video effect. I created anchor points in the opacity effect controls so the vest top image fades in from 0% - 100%. I also marked out when the vest top will fade out again from 100% - 0%. Initially I had this configured to match the fading of the background heart, however after some adjusting, I have decided to start the fading of the vest top a few frames afterwards. This gives an image burn effect of the vest top, which means that for a few seconds after the vest top has faded away, it continues to appear to be on screen (like an optical illusion).

    When I looked at the final clip I had just created, I felt that it lacked something and decided that this would be a good point to add some text. A lot of trailers have "Coming Soon", so I chose that as the next part of the project. I wanted to create an effect that would happen to both words "Coming" and "Soon" simultaneously. To achieve this, I created a new sequence and within that I created a new title > Default still called 'Coming'. I then used the type tool to write 'Coming' I created a new text style which I have called project. I intend to use the same style for all the text in the trailer so I saved the style to avoid repetition. I duplicated the title and renamed the copy 'Soon'. I then edited the text of the new text file to 'Soon'. Now that the two titles have been created, I placed them both in the new sequence. I needed to adjust the position of the titles for them to appear how I wanted them displayed. When I had the two titles in position, I added a video effect > Lens Flare to both titles. I then went into the effect controls for each of them individually to customise the Lens Flare. I set the flare centre start point as the start of the title clip (left side of the text) and the end point at the end of the clip(right side of the text). I then moved the Lens Flare tools so the flare will scroll horizontally across the centre of each word. Finally, I added this newly created sequence to the main sequence. I positioned it to appear on the top left hand side of the heart after it has been fully drawn, it then moves down slowly and remains after the heart and vest top disappear.    

   I was not fully satisfied with the way that this looked. I felt that I should have written a date instead of the word 'Soon' to be more informative  to the audience. I decided to go back and amend this section. In the 'Coming soon sequence', I double clicked to edit the word soon to '1st June 2014'. I repositioned it so that it sat under the word 'Coming' properly (row 1). The issue that this change gave me is that the second row was too long and was cutting into the heart image even when it was on the far left side of the screen. As a quick fix, I duplicated the title '1st June 2014' and input in the new title '2014'. I then amended the title on the second row to show '1st June'. Finally, I repositioned the second and third titles so the message sat in three rows in line with each other. Next I had to amend the flare on the second title and add a Lens flare to the third title. As I had amended the title sequence and it has been placed in the main sequence as a sequence, this automatically updated my main sequence with the changes once it had been rendered. As a result of changing the title message layout, I had to amend the descent of the message so it remains on the screen without the bottom line disappearing. 

   I am happy with the way the last scene looks so for now the last adjustment I need to make is to fade out the volume of the music in the last few seconds. Not only will this hide that the last second or so of the clip sounds like it has been cut, it is also conventional to either end dramatically or fade music at the end of a trailer. In order to do this, I selected the audio clip and set a point that I wanted it to start decreasing the volume level and made the end marker in the last frame. The last few seconds of the clip now decrease in volume to fade out. 

   Having finished the end of the trailer, I have decided to do the opening clip next and then work towards the end clip. As per my planning, I want the opening scene to show the company logo as the producer of the film. To start off, I imported into the images bin the company logo from Illustrator and then added it to the start of my sequence. I cut it down to a few frames over 5 seconds. Next I created a new title > Default Still called 'Production'. I used my custom style to keep it in the same style as the text at the end of the trailer. I used the type tool to add 'A production by' title, which I placed at the start of the sequence on the video channel above the logo. I cut it down to be the same length as the logo clip. I chose to have the text scroll in from the left. To achieve this effect, I used the motion option in the video effects panel to set the starting position of the text to a minus figure so its starting position is off screen. I then selected the point in the sequence at which I wanted the text to be in the correct position and configured the motion position co-ordinates so when the sequence plays, the title scrolls in from the left. The logo is in the middle of the screen whilst the title text scrolls in, I thought it would be nice for the logo to appear once the title is in position. I have created this effect by using the video effects panel with the logo selected and adjusting the opacity. I have set the start point at the start of the clip as 0%, I have then set another keyframe of 0% at the point where I want the logo to fade in from and a final keyframe where I want the logo to be 100% opacity. 

   I like the look of this first scene but I think it would be better if I added a bit about the plot of the movie. I created another title > Default still, which I called 'Plot'. I placed this with my other titles in the text bin. I added two text boxes with the type tool and used my custom style in each. One reads 'A story of' and the other 'One Man, One Vest Top...'. I placed this new title in the sequence above the 'Production' title. I cut down the clip as before and then adjusted the position of the text however, not much alteration was needed as I had created the boxes roughly in the right positions for them to appear. I wanted the production title to fade as the plot title appears. I picked the point at which I want the production title to start to fade and marked a keyframe of 100% opacity and then marked another where I wanted it to be fully transparent at 0%. Next I selected the plot title and marked an opacity keyframe of 0% at the start of the clip in the video effects panel. I then marked another keyframe where I wanted the title to be 100% opacity. Now I have the desired effect of the production title fading into the plot title.   

  The next scene I will add in is a clip of have taken from The Fifth Element. Bruce Willis is staring in thought at a stone. I have cut down the clip and added it onto the sequence after the opening scene. I have added in a cross dissolve transition in the video effects panel. I chose this effect as the black background fades into a desert scene with the company logo and plot title fading out. I like the effect this provides. I removed the audio from this clip as it was irrelevant background noise.

    As I have managed to collect many clips from this film with Bruce Willis in a Vest Top, I have decided not to use clips from other films. The reason for this is the quality of the video will remain consistent and his age is the same throughout. I will now refer to The Fifth Element as the film. I would also like to note that I have removed unlinked the audio from the video clips that I am using as most of them have noise which is not in line with or distracts from the trailer. For this reason, I have decided to remove the audio from all the clips so it is consistent. I have looked at trailers on You Tube and some of them only contain an MP3 audio track that backs the trailer. I therefore don't think my trailer will look 'odd' without the original audio channels.

   The next clip I will add is also from the film, Bruce Willis is wearing a different vest top. After cropping the clip and adding it to the sequence, I linked it to the previous clip with a Dip to Black transition. The reason I selected this one is the previous scene is quite dark at the end and it flows quite nicely dipping to black and then appear on the next clip. I placed this clip next as Bruce Willis is again looking thoughtful and at this point in the music, the lyrics haven't started yet and the thoughtful expression fits well with the instrumental.

   The next clip I have added to the sequence I have called 'close up'. I have linked this to the previous clip with a film dissolve transition. I selected this transition as one picture of Bruce Willis fades into another, I liked this effect more than others that I experimented with for this particular transition. The clip itself is aptly named and is a close up of Bruce Willis watching something intently. 

   I am eager to use the animated Bruce Willis dancing against the green screen. I will add this as my next clip. I have selected the 226 heart background to have him dancing in front of. I didn't want the clip to be too long so I imported this into my source bin and made a clip as before that was around 7 seconds long. I then placed that in my clips bin and on my main sequence. I next imported into the source bin the MP4 of the animated Bruce WIllis. I created a clip that was a similar length to the background and put it into my clips bin and on the main sequence above the heart background. I added an Ultra Key effect from the video effects menu. In the video effects panel I used the eyedropper tool to select the green background. I now have a clip of an animated Bruce Willis dancing in front of the heart background. I thought this clip would look a lot better if the animation was dancing within the heart on the background. I used the motion > position tools in the video effects panel to adjust the position that the animation appears on the screen.  As I had not yet linked this clip to the previous one, I added in an Iris shape transition. I selected this transition as I like the way 3 diamonds split with the animation in the center diamond. 

   I now have about 23 seconds at the start of the trailer as well as the final clip at the end. I thought I should go back to Bruce Willis footage for my next clip in the sequence. I have added to the sequence a clip i took from the film. It shows Bruce holding up a match. I have linked this to the previous clip with a peel back transition. This happened to be the first one I tried. I did go on to look at others but I went back to my first selection as this happens to peel away the part of the screen that the animation is on as it finishes. It gives the effect of the animation being peeled away which I like. 

   At the end of the previous clip, Bruce is holding up a match. I thought if I used the Iris Star transition to link this clip to the next one, I could create some good effects. This helped me to decide what the next clip will be. The next clip in the sequence is from the film. I have created a clip from a scene with a red sparkling explosion of light which then forms a rectangular box with Bruce stood behind it. I added it to the sequence and my clips bin. I added in the Iris transition to see what it looks like. The star initially appears on the end of the match stick, you can see the next clip within the star which is an explosion of red light, the star then expands into the next clip. I really like this effect which is why I chose the transition for these clips. I decided that I could make this clip look even better if I placed my vest top image within the red sparkling light. To achieve this effect, I fist placed the vest top image onto the sequence above this clip. Next, I cut it down to the length I needed the image to remain on screen for before adjusting the position of it using the co-ordinates in the video effects panel > motion > position. Once I had it in place, it still didn't look quite right so I adjusted the opacity to 75%. This gave the effect that I was looking for, it looks as if its shimmering within the light. I wanted to take it one step further and added some opacity keyframes to fluctuate the opacity from 75% down to 50% and back up again. The reason I did this is to make it look like the vest top is shimmering within the light more realistically. 

   The next clip I have added to this sequence is from the film. In this clip Bruce is looking worriedly at something off screen. I have linked this to the previous clip with a cross zoom transition. I made this selection as it zooms into Bruce's face and then out of Bruce's face again into the new clip. I think this is a very smooth transition and I may be tempted to use it again. 

   Next I decided to add another clip from the film. I have another clip similar to the one with an explosion of red light, only this one has yellow light. I have added it to the main sequence and linked it to the previous clip with an Additive dissolve transition. I have selected this transition as I like the way the first clip fades out and the new clip fades in. There is a yellow explosion of light over Bruce's worried face as he fades away. Much like the previous clip, this one shows the yellow explosion of light form a rectangular box with Bruce stood behind it. Again I saw an opportunity to include the vest top within the sparkling light. I added the Vest top image to the sequence above the clip of Bruce and the yellow light. I then cut it down to the length of the clip below. Next, I needed this images to fade in so I used the video effect panel to adjust the opacity of the Vest Top image. I set a keyframe at the start at 0% and then set a keyframe where I wanted the Vest top to have reached 75% opacity. I then replicated the shimmer effect that I used earlier by setting additional keyframes to drop the opacity to 50% then back up to 75%. I am happy with the way this clip looks. 

   I moved onto the next clip in the sequence, which is also from the film. In this scene Bruce is running along a balcony and then jumps over it (there is an explosion behind him), he crashes into a bar. I have linked this to the previous clip using a Multi Spin transition. 

   I have a clip of Bruce just waking up and seeming dazed. I wanted to add this in next so I added it to the main sequence. I linked it to the previous clip with a cross zoom transition. I think it fits in nicely between these two clips and I have used it once before in the trailer. I don't think it will be too repetitive if I use it twice. 

   The next clip I added to the sequence was Rogivan Carvalho's background. It has a spinning silver heart on the left side of the purple and white background. There is also another heart on the right hand side. I thought this would be an ideal opportunity to add in the starring actors names and make further use of the animated Bruce Willis. Firstly I added to the sequence the animated Bruce Willis clip above the purple heart background. I then added an Ultra Key video effect to the animation clip and selected the green background colour as the key using the eyedropper tool in the video effects panel. Once I had eliminated the green screen, I used the scale tool in the video effects panel to reduce the animation size to 25%. I needed to do this in order for it to fit into the spinning silver heart in the top left of the background. I then amended the position of the animation so it appeared to be dancing in the silver heart. Next I looked at the heart on the right side of the screen. As I will be displaying the starring actors here, I need to include the image of the vest top to represent Mila Kunis. I have added the vest top image to the sequence above the animation on the 3rd video channel and cut it down to the right length. I adjusted the position of the image using the video effects panel > motion > position to sit inside the right heart next to the animated Bruce Willis. I also used the video effects panel > motion > scale tool to scale down the image to 50% to better fit within the heart. I wanted link the clip to the previous clip next to see how the clip transitions. I tried a few then settled on the paint splatter transition. I have chosen this one as I like the effect and it fits in well with the rest of the trailer. As the right side of the clip 'paint splatters' into view after the left, I have set opacity keyframes on the vest top image so that it appears as that section of the image appears. The last thing I need to add to this clip is the starring actors names. I have created a new title > Default still and called it 'Starring'. Within this title, I used the type tool to create 2 new text boxes. One at the top above the animated Bruce Willis "Starring, Bruce Willis" and one positioned below the vest top "and Mila Kunis". I used my custom style for both of these texts. I added the title to the sequence in the 4th video channel. 

   The penultimate clip has been linked to the previous one with a dip to white transition. This transition was selected as some of the other options were very difficult to implement. As I am making use of 4 video channels and only one of them is dipping to white, the other things on screen also need to dip to white or become transparent. To work around this, I have created a keyframe at the same point on the vest top, the title and the animation. They all fade from 100% opacity at this point to 0% opacity at the frame where the background has become completely white. I like this because it gives the impression that they also faded to white. 

   The penultimate clip is short and is a quick image of Bruce looking scared holding a gun. This then transitions into the final clip (documented at the start of this section) with a cube spin. I like this particular transition as it is very different from the others that I have in my trailer. I think it also looks a little bit like a book being closed so it fits in nicely with the end section of the trailer.

   The last thing I need to do with the trailer is export it from Premiere Pro CC to a Quicktime .mov file. I have achieved this by going to menus File > Export > Media. I have selected Quicktime as the format. As Quicktime is a 'wrapper' or container for audio and video formats rather than being a Codec itself, I have specified the preset PAL DV - Widescreen. I have selected PAL for my trailer as PAL is a region code for transmission in Europe, DV is a digital video format which uses lossy compression for video. By selecting the codec PAL DV, the trailer will be able to be decoded and therefore viewed in the European region. I have chosen to export the trailer into widescreen as this will be a cinema release and the trailers are usually designed for a widescreen viewing. In the video tab I have selected DV25 PAL. The 25 represents the frame per second. I then checked that the Aspect Ratio is set to D1/DV PAL Widescreen 16:9 before exporting the trailer.  
    

Planning and Researching the Trailer

    I have been thinking about ideas for my trailer. I started by looking for a song or piece of music to have in the background. Ultimately I wanted to have an original song 'Ode to my Vest Top'. I really liked this idea and had a even thought of a few good lines to put in the song. Unfortunately this idea fell apart for the following reasons: 1: I can't play a musical instrument other than the recorder and don't know anyone that does. This would not be such an issue as I could put the lyrics to a song or piece of music that already exists if it weren't for point 2. 2: I can't sing and couldn't find anyone willing to do this for me. If I were making this movie for real, I would make an original song - 'Ode to my Vest Top' as this is not a possibility my search continued. The next idea I had lead me to You Tube. As it turns out, Bruce Willis sang a song called 'Respect Yourself' (Viva Las Channel, 2012, Respect Yourself - Bruce Willis, [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SqFRYW0mrI>[Accessed 12 April 2014]). I thought it would be funny to use this song and incorporate clips from the original music video. I dismissed this idea when I looked at the lyrics, they were not in line with the theme of the movie. My thoughts shifted to focusing on the vest top. I located a few songs with a 'vest' theme which also were not appropriate until I found 'Life Vest' by The Material (thematerialmusic, 2013, The Material - Life Vest [official music video], [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CRPnnSQCHE>[Accessed 12 April 2014]). I decided that this would be the music I would use for my Trailer.

   When obtaining clips for my Trailer, I discovered that Bruce Willis had released more songs than I originally thought. I have now found his version of 'Love makes the World go round'(thesoulmanoldies, 2010, Bruce Willis Love makes the World go round [official music video], [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQGea07guuc>[Accessed 22 April 2014]). As this is sang by Bruce Willis and it is a love song, I decided to use this song as it is perfect for my Rom Com theme.  

   As research, I have watched a few Bruce Willis films and have decided to use some clips from - The Fifth Element (The Fifth Element, 1997, [Film] Directed by Luc Besson.France: Patrice Ledoux). There are some scenes where he activates the elements at the end and I would like to try to put the vest top within the sparkling elements as I think this will create a cool effect for the trailer. There are also some scenes where he is wearing a vest top which should fit in perfectly.

   My aim with this trailer is to create a funny romantic themed film with a few action scenes. I want to try to really sell the Rom Com theme and add in some text along the lines of 'One man and his vest top' to give an idea of the plot line without giving too much away.  Text wise, I also want to show the names of the starring roles (Bruce WIllis and Mila Kunis) as well as some sort of 'Coming Soon' message advertising the films release.

   The opening scene for the trailer will show the company logo, I am thinking this will also be a good place to add some brief plot text.  

   During my research, I located an animation of Bruce Willis dancing with a green screen background. Varun Karkhanis, 2013, Green Screen Bruce Willis Dancing Animation, [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aYhH5K2LQ4>[Accessed 16 April 2014]

I was very pleased with this find as I have already located a few backgrounds that I could have this animation dancing in front of to give some good effects. After some consideration, I have decided to use the following backgrounds with this animation: 

VN2day Studio, 2012, Video Background 226: Love Hearts, [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2f9yq8lGCQ> [Accessed 17 April 2014]

Rogivan Carvalho, 2013, Premium HD Video Background HD0249 YouTube, [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8AzWsJD8Ps&list=PLsOQa-Lgyf1eXYpUqUX8htE3cnCddzR6M> [Accessed 17 April 2014]