What happens next?

In the end we both put a lot of effort into producing these sequences.


The general reception was better than we expected: without much advertising we hit around 500 youtube and vimeo views in the first week within posting.


At this point I am not sure how co-operation with Radek will continue yet I would love to produce further clip of his performances.
This sequence was meant to be a classic and dynamic promotional reel.
An idea for further co-operation I have would be to put aside the luxurious modern image of sleight of hand and produce a different piece of image which would resemble a more traditional approach to magic: more towards dark arts, something unknown instead of bold, something mysterious rather than classy.


I remember how I enjoyed the meditation sequence from the Sherlock Holmes movie.





It creates an unique, supernatural atmosphere by adding together a low-lit room with grungy walls and the echoing voices.
Setting up similar atmosphere with 'dark' music and more sophisticated tricks (this would be more explosions and levitating objects instead of cards and coins) to make it look as a ritual of some sort.


The one I was particularly interested in was If I had a heart by Fever Ray. See the video for reference, it is dark enough already, yet we could make it stand out even further.





If we have enough time and manage to secure a location to match our setting, I am sure we will produce another succesful project.

The final product.

The final corrections from the previous post were to credit the musician and myself.
Also as Radek noticed, the Terry Halford's statement took too much screen space so I shrunk it a bit.
Here, it is finished and ready to go!

Development: titles 02

Radek was very happy with the result however he insisted on adding the client statements much like in the teaser. His another suggestion was to have the hyper-link of his facebook page.









I corrected some captions (the 'underground artist' part) was present twice in the previous file.


The final statement I decided to include at the end of the sequence as it includes Radek's name in it. In this way the statement could then 'evaporate' into the facebook page title which also has 'Radek' in it.
Looks cool, I think.

Development: titles 01

After numerous attempts to get everything right, all correcting, releasing the teaser trailer, the time has come for the final step.


As the main sequence was approved long time ago, what was missing was to add the informative titles and labels etc.


My plan was to include some creative text effects instead of just 'raw' information.
For this purpose I used the evaporate filter in After effects which in my opinion matches the idea of illusions/tricks. The text going in and out in smoke is pretty visually attractive as well.

Teaser: the final edit.

This is the final edit we published 'all over the internet'.






After some reconsideration we decided to shorten it: now instead of three sequences with the client reviews, there is only one sequence that features two opinions.

Also to make it look more like a theatrical trailer we decided to add the final 'epic' informative sequence.

Teaser: no titles

This is yet another edit (closer to the final).
What is left at this point is to add captions and appropriate titles which would describe the sequence.

Development: Teaser second edit

This version already features the sequences from the main sequence.


An after effects error has render some of the final bits 'useless' for the reasons unknown. The version however upon correcting has been approved by the client.

Development: teaser - first edit

This is a basic edit of the funny footage with slight color corrections

Development: Third day/ slow-motion

Finally, the long awaited last day of shooting.

We had some delays due to technical difficulties at Social Sciences building and had to postpone the production by a whole week (mainly due to both of us being preoccupied with day-to-day life and work).

This features the remaining sequences we needed.

It opens with  Radek pulling an earphone out  - this was necessary for the reverb effect. This sort of effect is used mainly in transitions between rooms (e.g. affecting the quality of the background music – incorporating the soundtrack in the production) or in conversation over a telephone – where person 1 speaks normally and person 2 has a reverb effect if person 1 is visible. Or the other way round if the camera is on the room where person 2 is. That was pretty chaotic I assume, but hope it did get the message across.

Anyway.

We needed this shot, we got it, and it was  high time to replace it in the video.

Furthermore we got the funny sequences (you can’t miss them).

The final part is the 550D footage already slowed down. As said above, since the framerate was correct this time, there was not much twixtor involved. Seems that framerate is most crucial setting for creating slow-motion: even with shutter speed around 1/100 the effect was amazing, even though the tutorials insisted on aiming between 1/1000 and 1/4000. This was impossible due to low-light conditions – even when using the external lighting 1/800 was the highest I could go for without underexposing the details.

Development: Sixth edit

Corrected back the unfortunate color filters for majority of sequences. Added one extra sequence at (0:29) and shortened the nearby ones for keeping the dynamics of the clip.

Corrected the gap between 1:20 and 1:21

Development: Fifth edit

Tried to push the mojo filters further. It did not work out too good. (0:28)

Added another sequence to match the where*is*everybody vocal division (0:45).

Development: Fourth edit

Added a filmburn at 0:26 – very useful on dark areas (the suit) as it allows a crisp transition into a similar coloured scene yet with different focal distance.

Added another ‘Angel’ sequence at 0:33 – this was so that when the song is divided by ‘where * is * everybody’ to keep it with three clips – it’s a better link between the music and the footage.

Filled some light in the ring sequences which were underexposed (shot in the corner of Union Plaza – very low light).

Development: third edit

Opened with additional filler sequence.

Further color corrections (0:12) turned out to be too much; the filters were too strong and too cold and rendered all the dark areas ‘blueish’. This has to be reverted.

Added filmburn at 0:40

Added card-flip sequence at 0:43 (Radek’s request)

Changed the switching aces sequence at 0:46

Blurred out at 0:48

Further color corrections mainly using Red Giant’s Magic Bullet: Mojo.

I had to correct the filter at certain points. It does give a lot of control mainly by changing the skin smoothness and area – in this way by applying smaller color range to the skin tones, the skin is not affected as much as the background (or has a different tint – extremely useful when one intends to change the background a lot).

Reversed the cards direction at 0:51. We decided this part was not crucial to the footage and might add this little extra when reversed.

Development: second edit:

Added flares to the 0:11 sequence

Added soft blur to 0:14 sequence

Applied colour corrections to majority of the footage

Corrected the reverb effect for the audio

Development: first edit

This was as the initial concept was put together. This featured only a couple of chosen sequences. As we agreed on the slow motion, some of the spaces were intentionally left blank in the video. Some of this was left still with no color corrections.

Added a ‘fade to black’ between two ‘Angel’ tricks (0:34-0:36 they were different in size and direct cut transition was visually not a good idea)

I tested the audio on several desktops and laptops and turns out that even of decent speakers the reverb section was barely audible. The only way to hear the music was by using the headphones. This has to be corrected.

Development: session 1

This is the compressed footage from the first shooting session.
The purpose of this filming was to obtain majority of the 'main' footage which is Radek performing variety of his tricks and see what else is missing/what is needed for the filler footage.


After analyzing the case studies thoroughly, we decided to follow in the footsteps and have Radek do his best a couple of times and using different scenery that the Social Sciences building had to offer. Radek brought in a variety of equipment he is using but in the end we limited it to cards coin and couple of other accesories.
Due to the dynamic nature of the movie we could not have included the tricks that require longer to prepare.




After analyzing the footage and picking the best bits, I composed this sequence:

This then could be viewed by Radek so he could decide which sequences are more appealing to him and in which clips he is presented better.


This sequence would be shortened greatly as some of the performances overlap.


See the case studies we were inspired with:

Development: structure

referring to the case studies I decided it would be good to have subsection in the video (calm, fast, then calm etc.)

The initial structure as of now is:

1. Intro

This is meant to feature a series of sequences without revealing the main character. Ideally this would be details of the items, basic information, some sequences without including the face etc.

2. Tricks 1

This is where I want to include the casual sequences with more ‘ordinary’ tricks. Normal pace, obviously good cinematography, but this is not where I want to use the best footage.

3. ‘Break’ /Second build-up

This part would be good to insert some of the written info as the visual content would not be as crucial. Here I will use the filler footage, more close-ups. In general good scenes, although the ones which could be omitted.

4. Tricks 2: final

This is where the most spectacular (either in terms of image quality/scenery or difficulty to perform) tricks would take place. I want pace of this sequence to be considerably faster from the previous ones.

Development: audio

The tricky part here is the commercial issues.

As this is a university project, I might get away with using a licensed track for the purpose of showcasing my editing skills.

When it comes to publishing it ‘world-wide-webly’ it gets a bit more complicated, as technically the purpose of the promo is commercial (so that Radek expands his audience, gets more offers for performances etc.).

After careful consideration and browsing my entire library, I chose Nine Inch Nails – Where is everybody.

I believe this song matches the atmosphere of the video footage we have at the moment, is very dynamic and has this ‘epic’ thing to it. Plus the lyrics look as if they were meant for a magical performance: “trying, denying, defying” etc. It is the magic tricks that are supposed to ‘defy’ an ordinary person’s logic.

This is true for the chorus though.

Since the final movie will not be longer than 2 minutes, I had to edit the audio to match this length.

First step was to cut the verses out.

It was a shame as some of the lyrics were matching the content unbelievably well too (“did you manage to catch, or did it happen so fast”)

As of now I am not entirely sure on the informative content (build up who Radek is, what he specializes in, quoting reviews and references etc.) and how long it would take that is why in the initial mix I left considerable space at the beginning of the audio (the build up/intro).

Furthermore, for the sake of keeping the dynamics up I used the 'reverb' effect to artificially introduce

Research: teaser - plan

Back to the magician’s trailer.

This would be something rather unexpected;

For the teaser we shoot the lamest combination of tricks Radek and I could think of. Also we put together a compilation of failures and mistakes

The aim of the teaser is to use the shock value – Radek is already considered a skilled performer among his peers and clients. By compiling a performance consisting of mistakes and basic coin flips, we would aim for the viewer to say ‘Oh my god, what is that?!’

Naturally the ‘lame’ sequence cannot be the only content of the production – in case someone actually would think this is serious. Radek said he is willing to take the risk, and as he has sense of humour, he does not mind presenting himself in a slightly different light.

The structure then would be:

1. The lame sequence (with some information – letter positioning etc.)
2. A short mixed sequences from the actual promo
3. Information (coming soon etc.)

Research: teasing it up: case studies

Although by default, a trailer/teaser is supposed to draw the audience to the final product by compressing a great deal of image into 2-2.30 minutes. A good trailer is meant to provide some information on the final product without giving away too much at the same time.

Since I am meant to compress 2.30 minutes into a minute (or so), I decided to add something more to it.

There have been some examples of the trailers not being actual previews or a series of dynamic cuts and voice overs.

I chose several examples from the list on ifc.com (’50 greatest trailers ever made’).

My choice was mainly reasoned whether I have seen the movie myself – how much content has the trailer showed in accordance to the actual movie is the key factor for me.

1. Cloverfield.

(from ifc.com)

Surprise is key to the “Cloverfield” teaser, which — without any marketable stars to pivot its sales pitch around — instead expertly plays up its film’s reality-caught-on-tape conceit. Opening with home movie footage of a Manhattan loft party in which revelers wish their friend Rob a fond farewell, the trailer immediately intrigues by positing a familiar scene of merry 20-somethings that could just as easily be the set-up for an indie rom-com or a serial killer thriller.

Couching its action in the sweetly ordinary is the trailer’s (as well as the film’s) grand stroke of inspiration, creating such relatable, everyday circumstances that the sudden mysterious roar that interrupts the festivities — and the subsequent, fiery explosion spied from the building’s rooftop — proves fantastically chilling. From there, one is jump-cut-plunged into an unexpected scene of chaotic monster mash terror that, taking a page from “Independence Day”’s monuments-loving playbook, culminates with one of the most chilling money shots — Wait, did something just throw that into the street? — in trailer history. There’s nary a mention of a title, in part because one wasn’t finalized yet, but also because the creators seemed perfectly confident that a release date was all that was necessary. –Nick Schager

2. Independence day

Watching the “Independence Day” teaser today, it’s impossible not to note its influence on subsequent summer blockbusters, its every facet now a bedrock cliché of the season’s cinematic entertainment. In quick, minimalistic bursts, the trailer provides the only information one requires. On July 2nd — cut to shots of enormous, ominous shadows covering beloved national monuments like the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial — “They Arrive.” Then, there are multiple shots of diverse citizens turning their eyes upward to stare in horrified awe at the sky, images that stoke the central mystery while simultaneously presenting a state of affairs the audience can naturally project themselves into.

On July 3rd, “They Attack,” a message that leads directly into the unforgettable sight of the White House being obliterated by a UFO laser blast. Still need more enticement to see the film? July 4th is “The Day We Fight Back”! Portentous tease + cataclysmic payoff + promise of all-out retribution: Roland Emmerich’s trailer laid out, for a generation of filmmakers to come, the surefire recipe for marketing a big-budget sci-fi spectacle. –Nick Schager

The independence day featured hardly any information other than the key dates and the release. It didn’t list the main characters, the key actors. What a build-up!

3. Alien

Masterfully cut and artful to boot, the first glimpse of Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-horror classic features not a single word of dialogue and begins in abstract: a ride through a star field, a hover above some sort of moon rock, blocky shapes that slowly materialize into the letters of the title, craggy landscape traversed with a macro lens before pulling back to clarify what lies on that cratered surface — the egg of an alien life form. It cracks open, releasing an ill-omened white light and the high-pitched alarm (an animalistic squeal?) that unnerves throughout the rest of the trailer.

Astronauts tiptoe into an extraterrestrial ship, crosscut with Sigourney Weaver inexplicably running through corridors, with confounding/enticing images flashing almost subliminally in between (a space crew awakening from hyper-sleep, Harry Dean Stanton’s bewildered close-up) before all hell breaks loose (an obscured Ian Holm spurting milky blood, a cat hissing, a never-before-seen “face hugger” in a frenzy). From above the planet, an onscreen title ultimately seals the deal, seeming all the more foreboding for the vaccuum of diegetic sound that came before it: “In space, no one can hear you scream.” It’s one of the most famous taglines of all time.

4. Unbreakable

Compared to the breakneck pace of most modern trailers, the teaser for M. Night Shyamalan’s “Unbreakable” feels deliberately deliberate; heavy on atmosphere, light on edits. Instead of providing little bits from many scenes, it gives us a lot of just one, in which Bruce Willis learns that he’s the only survivor of a horrific train crash. It’s like a nightmare in miniature: disturbingly high pitched noises echoing through the soundtrack, repeated fade outs to black, characters speaking in hushed tones, the frequent image of a spinning fragment of broken glass. The cutting rhythm is unsettling and unusual. We spend uncomfortably lengthy stretches on some shots and near-subliminal ones on others. In a very short amount of time, this trailer convinces us this is one creepy friggin’ movie.

The incredible success of “The Sixth Sense” made Shyamalan the unlikeliest of household names, and with this follow-up it was imperative that he prove he wasn’t simply a flash in the pan. Because of “The Sixth Sense”‘s popularity, there was already huge interest in his next project, so the “Unbreakable” teaser didn’t have to excite the audience so much as reassure them. Ironically, the spot’s unorthodox and intensely moody aesthetic did just that. 

5. Citizen Kane

When you have arguably the greatest film of all time on your hands, it shouldn’t be hard to cut an appealing trailer, but Orson Welles doesn’t show a frame of the actual film, nor does he show himself playing the titular newspaperman Charles Foster Kane once — in fact, Kane is nowhere to be seen. Instead, Welles used only his stentorian voice to introduce the players of the Mercury Theatre like Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead in a playful tour of the RKO Studios soundstage, before admitting about his own character: “I don’t know how to tell you about him. There’s so many things to say.” So he defers to a montage of “he said, she said” scenes from the film about his controversial protagonist, resulting in the best kind of tease, even with a little sex appeal, courtesy of some chorus girls Welles throws in for “ballyhoo.” As Joe Dante, director of “Gremlins” and creator of the invaluable site Trailers From Hell, who offered us his own favorite picks to take into consideration for this list, pointed out, “Just as he challenged the bromides of Hollywood filmmaking, Orson Welles created one of the most iconoclastic trailers ever, over which the RKO marketing department must have torn their hair out. It captures the brash tone of the entire rule-breaking enterprise perfectly

Citizen Kane’s trailer revealed every character except the main one.

The examples below show that trailer is not necessarily a series of fast paced sequences with the same sort of voice-over, a series of CGI effects or a sequence of emotional stills for romantic comedies. There is more to it, if one is so inclined.

Research: teasing it up: general tips

I found some useful tips on the Internet on how a good teaser should be made

You may not be ready to make a full-length feature movie, but you can still join the fun by making your own movie teaser, or trailer. A teaser is a short film that teases the audience with information about an upcoming film. Turn your great idea into a teaser and you can create great buzz about your movie.

1

Start with the basics: a main character in a predicament. Most teasers start with the existing flaw or handicap that hampers the character from addressing the main challenge of the film. In the case of Godzilla, show Tokyo vulnerable to potential monster attack or the chaos on the ship when the unexpected monster appears.

2

Show the tension leading up to the main conflict. In Godzilla, this would include lots of shots of people on the phone, getting into tanks, running for the door or looking up and screaming.

3

Include an authoritative voice-over to tie it all together. Pick whichever friend of yours sounds the most like that voice-over guy on tape. Write down all the lines and have them practice until it sounds professional.

1

Watch lots of movie trailers and take notes. The best trailers pull the viewer into the movie's plot and characters without giving away too much. Look at trailers for comedies like "Borat" or "The Simpsons' Movie" for how to use the best bits from a funny movie without revealing the plot. For dramas or indies, look at the classy and haunting images and music in the trailer for "Requiem for a Dream."

2

Master the use of popular editing software like iMovie or Ulead Video Studio. These software packages contain storyboard, trimming and title functions, and provide access to quick and easy frame transitions. They'll provide most of the visual and audio functions an independent filmmaker needs.

3
Sketch a storyboard for your trailer. You can use editing software or do it the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper. If you're clear with your concept at the outset, it'll save you time and frustration at the computer later.

4

Set a budget to make your movie trailer. Decide whether you can use existing footage and music. If you need original music or edited scenes for use in the movie trailer, figure the cost and stick to it.

5

Contact theaters and movie marketing firms. You'll need to place your trailer in appropriate theaters anywhere from a few months to a year before its release. You may also consider including it on DVD releases of similar films.

Development: Session 3

Session 3.

This was an easy one – as all we needed was slow-motion sequences (as everything else was done) we had plenty of time to shoot different angles with different decks (I particularly liked the special black deck with inverted colours).

What I got out of this session was that for 60fps shutter speed should be different.

I did not aim to slow down the sequence much below the natural (60fps -> 24fps) which gave less than half the natural speed, so I got away with shooting at 1/100 of a second. (Technically it should be closer to 1/125, but due to light frequency the image was flicking, so most of it was shot at 1/100).

Another piece of equipment I had a chance to test was a macro lens converter.

This is particularly useful on zoom lenses, with the prime lenses I had the possibilities were somehow limited.

It did help though.

Using the lens we could film the detailed sequences as well as close-ups of the items (cards.)

This could be used in the intro sequence without revealing Radek or as some filler footage.

Other than shooting for the slow-motion, I had an idea for releasing a teaser. More about it in the next post.

Research: slow motion- prepared for final session

Before I progressed to the final shooting I tried working on slow-motion with the footage I had already. This is  example footage from previous production I used to attempt slow-motion.

Although the effect is quite satisfactory in the first part, part two is misinterpreted by the Twixtor: in the extra frames generated by the software the coin flashes through Radek's hand instead of following on top of his fingers ( 0:11 - 0:12)

In order to get smooth slow-motion I need to film in fixed conditions first.

(from Philip Bloom’s blog):

Here are a few key things to consider when working with Twixtor:

Shooting Workflow:

1. Shoot at a fast shutter: anything 1/2000 - 1/4000s. [so your lighting needs to be good]

2. Shoot against a plain/solid colored background – sky/wall etc etc.

3. Shoot at the highest point of action. The law of nature is that what must goes up, must come down. Its the movement at the top of an arc/trajectory that works best for Twixtor because that’s when things generally move the slowest, more frames of the relevant action for Twixtor to work with.

4. When you shoot really close/tight, slow the action down manually ie – move slower and fake slow motion [all the tight sequences in 'Gravity' was done this way and then slowed down a little more with the tools]. Its easier to get good results with Twixtor when the action is shot from a distance, because of the fact that the action will happen across more frames – ie – Imagine moving your arms up and down – a distance 50 centimeters right in front of the camera – the camera will only catch SOME of that action as your arms pass by the front of the lens, for maybe 1-3 frames. However if you move away from the camera and shoot say 10-15 meters away from the lens, you would catch the ENTIRE action across say 7-10 frames – giving Twixtor more information to work with

5. Shoot at 50 or 60fps. When you shoot high-speed you give Twixtor more info to work with – it is a shame that you have to forgo resolution

6. Shoot as much as you can – try to get the action from different angles – reshoot stuff if wasn’t working, or if your settings weren’t correct. SHOOT MUCH!

Post Workflow:

1. Use Twixtor in After Effects – for some reason Twixtor works best in After Effects – for me at least. Probably because After Effects’ ability to manipulate time is so effective.

So here’s what I do in a typical scenario.

- Edit the entire piece in an NLE [Non-linear Editor - like Final Cut] and then I’d

leave sections in the timeline open, or maybe reference clips that I want to

work with eventually in After Effects using Twixtor – you can’t do too much in

FCP at this stage because we’re going to be playing with time-changes – which

can screw up things if you don’t work carefully]

- Move the whole piece over to After Effects via an XML script called Popcorn

Island FCPtoAE. You need to export an XML from FCP by going to File >

Export > XML [ for FORMAT click Apple XML Interchange Format, Version 5]

- Open AE and go to scripts – look for FCPtoAE and then pull up the exported

XML

- Now click on the clip you want to use Twixtor on:  from the MENU go to LAYER

> TIME > ENABLE TIME REMAPPING. This allows you to extend a clip our for

longer – because when you start slowing stuff down, the clip needs to become

longer, which you can now easily do by enabling time remapping – just pull out

the edges using the drag function on the clip

2. Check that your Twixtor settings match your footage ie – Make sure your frame rate is correct when you set up Twixtor’s settings. If its not correct then Twixtor will stutter across your footage

- I typically shoot and edit in 23.976fps because I like the film aesthetic.

- I generally find that manipulating the image to a slower speed – say anything

between 2-5% yields better results than trying to get something workable at

30%. I don’t know why that is, but I reckon it has something to do with the fact

that with many more frames created it uses those created frames to reference

from in order to create more ‘interpolated/guessed’ frames.

3. Consider using an aspect matte to hide warping. I often use an aspect ratio of 2.4:1 in my work as a lot of my warping happens at the edges of my shots, thus a matte will hide the really bad sections. One instance of this was a shot in the short of mine called [Fo'tis'ma], where my good friend Franzwa is taking off from a ledge [Its the tight - slightly angled down shot at 34s]. The warping on his hand was REALLY bad – especially because the shot was rather tight and he was coming down at such a pace. It was because of that shot not working at 16:9 that I decided to make the whole piece 2.4:1 [IMAGE 1 & 2]

4. Avoid warping by editing well. Many times Twixtor works for only a few frames – if that’s the case I’ll only use it for a few frames and will cut to the next image – to avoid things looking crappy [obviously this must be done tastefully]. Don’t hang on too long on a shot that was good to start with but warped into mush at the end – EDIT WELL.”

The difficult part in owning 5d Mark II (other than being amazing) is the fact that it cannot go above 30 frames per second.

For this reason, I had to step down several models and get Canon d550 which will allow this except I will for-go the resolution (720 contrary to the crisp 1080 5d provides).

The drawback of this is that I won’t be able to make any amendments to the composition afterwards – while I shoot at 1080 I still work in 720 project files due to two reasons. One being that 1080 is not yet widely accepted and most of the internet services will either ask for 720 pix or “downgrade” it to this.

The second reason is that by placing 1080 footage onto 720 project it allows me to reposition the footage the way I like best or allow zoom-ins without the loss of quality.

Development: Session 2

Shooting session 2:

22/03/2012 at Union Plaza

Contrary to our first session at the Social Sciences building of RGU, this was shot outdoors.

I chose the Union Plaza area because it is one of the most urban/big city areas of Aberdeen. And again we want to promote an image of modern luxury, except our budgets would not allow us to travel too far.

Ironic.

This time I had another lens to test, Canon 85mm f1.8.

Contrary to what the price might suggest (approx 260, compared to ‘mere’ 80 pounds for 50mm 1.8), I could not tell any difference except the focal length of course.

Since during our first session we covered most of the ‘trick side’, this session was meant to provide us with the filler footage (see in Case studies section, mainly the first parts of analysis) for the build up part.

As we discovered the area though, we happened to come up with some interesting ideas for using the urban landscape and the Union Plaza’s architecture to our benefit. The low-light square, strong red light of the entrance wall and reflective surfaces of the building walls were among the elements we took advantage of.

Still, this session was mainly about getting ‘extra’ footage and material that looks nice by itself.

This is the footage we got in the process (the best bits compiled together):

What I learnt in the process:

The repulsive nature of Aberdeen’s weather has not helped us much.

As the performance took place outside, it was difficult for Radek to do much with the cards due to the strong wind.

Also as the temperature surprisingly dropped to 2 degrees not long after our arrival, again cold hands get in the way of executing sleight of hand smoothly.

Research: Case study 02: Monarch

MONARCH PLAYING CARDS - new preview! source:youtube.com - 

This is just to follow the previous case study and emphasize the trailer stylization. Putting the title aside the sequence does not suggest until about 0:47 that it is actually advertising a set of cards.

The clip is structured like an action-movie trailer again featuring a lot of rapid scenes of a busy city. The dynamic music again speeds up in the second part, as mentioned in the example above. Unlike the previous production it features some more close-ups on the deck of cards as after all this is the advertised product.

The best way to sum it up is to quote one of the comments on the video: 'it's hard to believe this is just a playing card commercial..".

On a personal and not-so-related side: these guys have quite a soundtrack to accompany their products. Nice!

Research: Case study 01: Solo

Solo by Michael James (official) source:
youtube.com - 

This promotes a product which is a set of guideleines on how to perform some tricks the package features.

Opens with a sophisticated animated logo not sure if Radek has one like this.

The video features a variety of close-ups. Opens with a sequence on a luxurious watch, then centers on a tie. The next scene features a corporate skyscraper. These symbols are associated with a certain social status. The company is imposing a social image of luxury by this much like commercials always include a message 'by purchasing this product you would buy into a social standar'. However unlikely this is, works most of the time.

To follow the technical point of view, it operates heavily on bokeh sequences (very low aperture, again the prime lens is the key). (0:45) - a good example of interrupted/cut into sequence. This is contrary to slow-motion footage and gives a chance of speeding up the process a bit. This should be mostly used on the 'filler' footage rather than tricks.

When the text bits appear (e.g 0:48) they are cast over a semi-transparent solid so while being able to see what is going behind, the viewer can still read the information. This sort of 'two in one' again allows to sequeeze more information in a shorter period of time.

STRUCTURE(!):

Typically for a movie trailer the footage consists of two parts and are subsequently divided by the background music.

Part one (approx until 0:54) has a pretty sublime soundtrack on a slow-pace. This is the build-up:

This part introduces the main (and only) character as well as some key information on what product it advertises.

Part one (0:55 onwards) 'wakes you up' : from this moment the sequences are way more rapid, the music changes into more dramatic/epic (in a movie trailer this part would feature an epic fight or gunshot sequence or something). These sequences are brief and include some rapid zoom-ins. There is an easy way to achieve this. While working with digital SLRs one can shoot the full HD (1080) footage. Then, while working in 720 projects in Adobe's Premiere Pro/ Final Cut, simpy work on scaled files (720p is 67% of 1080) only to switch back to 100% for a brief moment.

At 1:07 it slows down briefly -slow-motion footage-

Further visual methods include:

the usage of a lens flare (1:11)

lighting effects (1:24)

film burns/light leaks (0:36, 0:46, 0:55, 0:59)

Research: before we shoot

Some further thoughts concerning the equipment and general approach to producing the promo.

Time remapping.  I realized that the best way to 'mesmerize' a viewer was to play something even slower. This is a good answer to the popular 'oh you just did this quickly, that's all". If even in slow-motion the audience can't tell what is going on is even better.

Color corrections: In order to raise the quality level of the project and add some dramatic/professional look I decided to use some color correction software (mainly Red Giant suite).

Lens choice: This was a bit tricky. Normally I shoot just about everything using my standard 50mm lens which gives pretty neutral output. I did have an opportunity to test Canon's 70-200mm (2.8 aperture) which is a considerably more expensive piece of equipment.

Although the quality of the picture was spectacular it was close to impossible to maintain the stability of the image. This was due to two reasons:

1. Shakes. While zoomed in on 200mm (which is *not that much* compared to 500m for instance) every even slight camera shake is multiplied on the image. So for instance if the camera experiences a rapid movement to the right by one inch, the footage will experience approx movement by 3 inches.

2. It's heavy! The weight of my 50mm lens is approximately somewhere around 100g. This giant pipe is somewhere between 2 and 3 kg. If you add the camera body to this (another kilo) it comes down to quite something (especially if one intends to shoot for several hours continuously). The funny thing for me to notice was  that the lens had an actual tripod screw, so unlike the other lenses I have seen while using tripod/shoulder rig or any other stabilizng gear one should screw it on using the lens instead of the camera body. This is due to the height and size of it. 

3. Zoom + Focus. As I am accustomed to using prime lenses, havin a zoom lens is quite a challenge. First off there are two rings to control. In theory, the zoom ring if shooting default footage is to help with a better frame and should be left in this position for the entire sequence. It did happen to me several times that while trying to adjust the focus I would often use the zoom ring instead!

4. Minimal focal distance This was a tricky again. Even though this is a zoom lens it requires somewhere around 2metres distance for the subject to come into focus. This is quite difficult especially that even on the full zoom-in 2 metres is pretty far away if one needs for instance a take with character's eye filling half of the frame.

After giving 70-200 some trials I figured I would still be better off with the prime lens (at least for the dynamic footage). On the other hand, the tripod footage is superb.

To sum up: combine 70-200 tripod footage with 50mm handheld footage