Second draft of film

This is my second draft of my film. I have been experimenting with the different type of music I want to use as I want to create the right kinds of emotion. As well as changing the songs a few times to make the trailer snappy and show the different stages of the film in Todorov's theory. I have also realised that I may need to change where the shots are going to be so that they match the music more.

Diary post #15

Whilst editing I have been comparing the two pieces of music to see which one suits the shots better. I have also added in some shots with contrapuntal emotion to the music so that I can tell what music track to use. As you can see I have muted the piano music (the grey music track) so that I can swap between the two in order to see which one sounds better and portrays the emotions I want the audience to feel.

I have also edited the part where the robot and Alice's brother fight. I had to film these part with the actors moving slowley to ensure that I got the shots right, therefore I have had to speed up the shots to make it look as if it were filmed in real time. I have synced the shots with the music, as all of the professional trailers sync their music with the shots. Therefore the music stops, the screen goes blank, this means that the audience are waiting for the next thing to happen. I tried putting footage where the screen goes black however it doesn't create the same adrenaline as the blank screen. I have then edited in the shot where the brother hits the robot when the music comes back in. In the music where it changes pace I have edited in different shots so that it looks snappy and create adrenaline.

Diary Post #14

I have continued to edit and I am now progressing on to telling more of the story through the trailer. At the moment I have sad piano music in the background, however it isn't giving the feel that I want for when the robot starts going to school, therefore I want to search for some happier music. I have deleted the audio out of some parts, so that there isn't any annoying background noise overlapping the music, such as wind. In some shots there is wind, therefore I plan to record voice overs so I get some clean audio.

First Draft of film

Diary post #13

Now that I have most of my footage, I have been able to experiment with it and start to put my trailer together. Whilst editing I decided that it would be a good idea to inter cut parts of the footage with the news reader to make it look more like a news program. I cut them up and added static noises behind them to create more of an eerie atmosphere, to signify that robots will hack into our lives. I then sped up some parts of it as I had to film the fight in slow motion so that the actors didn't hit each other, as well as to make it look more realistic. Through speeding it up, the actor playing the robot looks more robot like as he's moving at a faster speed. I then found a sci-fi soundtrack off of BenSound which fit the genre perfectly. However I am conscious that I will have to blend this into a different genre of music.

Diary Post #12

Today I filmed the school parts for my trailer. They went successfully as the shots weren't too difficult and there weren't too many people around which mean't that I didn't have to worry about background noise that would get in the way of my film. Originally I was going to use a classroom, however it was occupied so I had to find a different classroom. I had to work with framing to make it look like the classroom was full even when it wasn't.

Poster inspiration

These are posters that I'm taking inspiration from for my poster, I want to experiment with different styles, and what characters I would like to use in them. I like the extreme close up of the eye as its looks sinister and gives off the sci-fi look. The ex machina poster looks professional and dark, however as I don't have any electronic parts of the robot to show off , there wouldn't be enough depth and insight into the film. The Air poster is simplistic and effective. However I want the poster to mainly show the main robot character, therefore I would have to work around this. But I still want to consider this idea.

Music Research

I have found a good website called Bensound that does good royalty free music. Here are a few tracks that I am considering using in my trailer.

A song called Piano Moment  would be good to use for when the robot is alone and is still trying to figure things out, and what his purpose in life is. It could easily flow into into different music that I will be using in the trailer. This would create a beautiful cinematic feel to the trailer, it doesn't sound heavily constructed by a computer like most music you find, it will create the sombre emotion that I want the audience to experience.

I first found a song called Enigmatic  that I was considering using for the opening of the film, however it sounds too curious and sounds as if it's meant to be used on an animation. It's too upbeat and isn't serious enough for a sci-fi thriller.


I would like to find a piano sci fi track, however if I cannot find one I may be able to make a track myself.

As there is a change of music in each trailer, I need to find some gritty music that creates tension for towards the end of the trailer when it starts to get a bit violent and the robot starts to malfunction, this will help keep up the fast pace of the trailer and build up the adrenaline.

I have also started looking at a website called Shutter Stock sound that have really cinematic soundtracks. However you have to pay for the music and there are watermarks on the sound tracks which I can work around. They have some great dramatic tracks that I can  use for when the trailer gets more tense, and it would portray the tension I want the audience to feel in order for them to want to go and see the film to find out what happens.