Second Draft Trailer

Soundtrack First Draft

Our final confirmed songs to constuct our soundtrack are:
Plane - Jason Mraz
A Thousand Years - Christini Perri
Ulysses - Franz Ferdinand
Kick Ass Sound Score.
Here is a draft construction of what we hope our final soundtrack to soundlike and the style we want to achieve:

 

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Soundtrack Construction

When constructing our soundtrack we looked for songs which haven't been in the top charts and which include large musical interludes. This is to prevent any lyrics distracting the content of action and also we're considering including a voice over and if our soundtrack includes lyrics they could clash.
When You Tubing different action scenes we came across a really exciting piece which we feel would work well for the action we're attempting to create: Kick Ass soundtrack Hit Girl rescue scene by Kick ass soundtrack on Grooveshark
This instrumental is approximately 4 minuets long which means it's far too long for our trailer as a whole and also it's only appropriate for the end climaxing action scene. Because of this Mel and I have decided to cut this down to a section just under a minuet which we can use for the end.

Our next task was to now find several other tracks which will blend together nicely to create a strong sound track and compliment the separate emotions within the trailer at different times. We are now looking for a mellow tune to symbolise sadness at the beginning of the trailer this is to symbolise our lead characters sad emotion of neglect as she's cast our as a geek. Also we need an up tempo excitable tune we can blend through to as the action increases pace without yet hitting the vital climaxing scene. To find these we sat for a few hours searching iTunes and YouTube for tracks we feel could be appropriate. Here are a few we chose from:

-Talking To The Moon by Bruno Mars on GroovesharkLove
-Death Birth by Carter Burwell on Grooveshark
-Ulysses by Franz Ferdinand on Grooveshark
-Plane by Jason Mraz on Grooveshark
-A Thousand Years by Christina Perri on Grooveshark
-Too little too late by JoJo on Grooveshark
-Do You Remember The First Time? by Pulp on Grooveshark

Soundtrack Ideas

The soundtrack is something Mel and I decided would need much thought over. As our genre of film is a fast high tempo action filled moving image we needed an accompaniment which will compliment this style. However due to the relaxed beginning we can already see some difficulty in finding a score which will fit exactly in time, with the appropriate rhythm and style of music.
Our decision is to construct the score ourselves. We had already thought of several things we want our track to include which we feel will be successfull:

-Avoiding mainstream, chart topping songs and also famously known old classics. This is so the audience can't relate the music in a different style than intended.
-Merge together several different tracks which blend nicely and create an appropriate flowing tune to compliment all action, movement and emotion within the trailer.
-Include a range of tempos, rhythms and textures.
-Make sure that the finish product helps the trailer move at a smooth and appropriate pace.

Recording the naration

Sunshine radio

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As we we're unable to film any extra shoots which will include appropriate diagetic speech which will help move the plot along. As the next best thing Mel and I thought non diagetic narration over the top of the entire trailer will push along the plot and also create something interesting for the audience. It also shows in our research that the audience connects with this style of advertising as well.
We were lucky enough that Mel has access to a radio recording room which we were lucky enough to have access to one afternoon with Henry and Bella to record narration which we felt will work best to represent the characters and widen the plot we want the audience to connect too.
Here is the finished outcome of narration we have have to choose from:

Invisibility cloak

Our fist Invisibility idea was to use the mask. The invisibility item could be represented as the 'The Helper' in Prop's theory the item/person which is always at the heroes side to help them conquer their quest. This small scene was created using faded into 3 separate shots all shot in the same place but with different mis en scene to make the invisibility scene work. This shot however is slightly too long.

We have however decided that we don't like the how tatty this looks so we wanted to change 'The helper' we have changed our helper to the cloak. This idea came from researching invisibility items and J.K.Rowling and English novelist who's books have become best seller and also turned into award winning films includes an invisibility cloak which we both thought would be something interesting to tackle and will be a task and a great success if we manage to achieve the out come at a professional level.

insert mel cloak

This cloak video is a test shot of what we hope to achieve. Mel has created this on After Effects by taking shots of the same scene but with a different things missing such as the main character. We can then overlap the two shots and create a mask which moves in time with the cloak to reveal the second video underneath which is the shot without the character in it there fore creating the invisible effect. I'm really pleased with how this looks, much more professional than the mask and the fade effects. I'm also really proud how we managed to create such a high level piece of editing.

Deadlines

Cartoon Creations

I created both of these cartoons on Adobe's After Effects. We decided that we wanted to include something that can show off our skills to create other styles of moving image through digital media programs but something different and audience gripping. This also fits with our superhero comic strip theme we're running with, I'm really impressed with how well it fits with the style and the correct codes and conventions they follow for the theme.
Both were created by cuddling and editing the images of the characters by cutting them out of the original image and then inserting a postorized filter over the top to create the comic strip cartoon idea. The background was edits were also made on Photoshop by changing the hue and saturation to change the colour of the booming image. The final part of the construction was to insert each still image into After Effects as separate layers. From here I was able to edit each one to move rotate and increase in scale across the screen. This could then be inserted into the film trailer to brake it up and create an interesting section. These are also used to keep the audience involved and informed of the characters and there genres styles.

First Draft Trailer

Our first draft opens with a panning shot which I really like, we got our inspiration for this from 'The Amazing Spiderman' and also 'Kick Ass', as most superhero films tend to open their establishing shot with a high wide angled Pan Shot to enforce the power of the characters we're about to consume. As Mel worked extremely hard on creating a title sequence in After Effects we both agreed this must be included, following standard codes and conventions of film trailers we waited a few seconds in before inserting this as it creates a longer lasting effect on the audience. We then stitched together a sequence of shots we took of our protagonist around school this would hopefully introduce the character well as a stereotypical geek to our audience without any non diejetic/diejetic sound. The problem with these shots is the zoom. I dislike the zoom so much it brings the entire piece down from a professional standard.We're considering re filming this or editing it in a different way so as the zoom is unrecognisable.

0.31-0.34 - This is my favourite shot in the draft trailer as there's no zoom and the room is lit well with natural lighting, overall i thought this shot to be extremely professional, I'm pleased we included it in our draft trailer however in our final piece we won't be able to as we made a mutual agreement to change the object of into a cape rather than a mask as you will see the impact we wanted to create doesn't work.

1.06-1.12 - The invisibility section dragged on far to long which would make the views lose interest and also the invisibility transition we created on 'after effects' wasn't so effective after all and looked quite tacky pulling down the professionalism level we're attempting to achieve. So as I mentioned both Mel and I agreed to change the object in question, this will need some re filming.

Towards the end of the trailer it got better the shots were more interesting fitting with codes and conventions however the entire first draft was extremely slow to get across and for the amount of action going on in the trailer it's way to slow. I also feel alot of the shots are in the wrong order which brings the piece down.

Firestone shoot.

As it's a film trailer and we are only to include snippets of action from throughout the film,  we wanted to film in several different locations to show the progression of time. Because we intended to film a fight scene we needed to film somewhere quite remote as to not disturb the public and that people wouldn't mistake our stage combat for serious harm. Mel and I decided to film at Firestone Copse Forest, we decided we can use the area to our advantage in filming creating use of the trees and the colouring of the shots for example hidden within the drees the shots were darkened I fell the darkness works well to symbolise the darkness within the action of the shots while we see the forces of good and evil battle.

Bella took us though some stage combat she had learnt during her experience over the summer at New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (NYCD), we then adapted these to perceive a realistic look when we viewed the footage later on on a larger computer screen. Mel and I then attempted to shoot several stage combat techniques in a variety of shots ranging from 'CU'-'LS' all tried out at different angles to see which would capture most light and which would make it look most realistic.



0.00-0.08- Zooming out establishing shot.
0.08-0.17- Over shoulder shots.
0.38-0.42- Low angled 'MS'.
0.43-0.55- Low angled 'CU'. -Creates authority and power.

0.56-1.08- These are standard 'MS' Which don't work very well due to the dark natural lighting, we could have attempted to include artificial lighting but unfortunately we are on a low budget. Using the Adobe creative suite Mel and I are going to attempt to lighten these clips.

1.08-1.12- Dark over shoulder shots.

1.17-1.21- This is my favourite shot Mel and I captured due to the angling, this action shot is to capture an under punch, where the hand comes up from underneath towards the chin, forcing the opponents head to fling back from impact. Filming this from the side we would see that the hand and chin never actually make contact so supporting the name of the 'under punch' I thought it would be better to film this from beneath so Mel positioned the camera below the actors by their feet creating a style of 'MS' and angled it upwards about 80°. This captures the remaining natural lighting through the treetops. I really love this effect especially how it becomes visible as Henry flings his head back from the impact of the shot. I also appreciated the actors effort to work with us and really characterise with sound effects and emotion.

1.25-1.32- Standard 'LS' however as this was the last shot we took the darkness had now fully taken over making it almost impossible to view.

Problems we encountered and how we over came them:
-As we filmed in the middle of winter and the clocks were moved forwards an hour it became alot darker much sooner in the day at about 4:30pm
We filmed as soon as we finished school to take full advantage of the remaining natural lighting.
-Costume detail wasn't so visible.
Painting over the brighter colours to increase the visibility.
-Health and Safety around the woodland area.
Checking the location we decided to film in and removing any objects around that may cause harm, damage or injury.
-The tripod not standing steady on the uneven ground.
Creating a steady platform to place on the ground which then the tripod can stand upon.

Invisibility

From the results of our questionnaire it shows that invisibility is the most desired superpower, therefore we looked into different ways we could show our main character disappear on screen as though they had gained an invisibility power. I did some research into other pre-existing characters within books and films who have acquired the invisibility power and how it works for them.

Harry Potter- J.K.Rowling - Invisibility cloak
Lord of the Rings- J. R. R. Tolkien- When the ring is worn
Invisible Girl- Marvel - The ability to become invisible whenever accustom to the character

Mel and I wanted to attempt all three of these ways of invisibility with our character to see which one would be most successful. However due to our given facilities and technology by the school we are unable at this time to create an invisibility cloak up to a professional standard which Mel and I are aiming to work at.

-Invisible girl consisted of filing the mis en sine with out the character and also no other movement. This was to be done using a tripod so that there is no camera shake and also when filming the next shot when we add the character the mis en sin is in exactly the same place as the blank shot before. Then with editing of fast cuts between shots. Shot one to two then back to one creates a snappy invisibility technique. However this was the weakest of all attempts as there is no imagination behind the idea and it's quite obvious that she has simply moved out of shot rather than becoming unseen within the shot.

-Lord of the Rings contains an object which once worn can turn the character invisible, in this film the case is the ring. Me and Mel thought long and hard what it could be that would be clearly obvious and resemble a superheroes look for our character. It soon became clear that an object worn by most superheros are an eye mask which could work if we imply that the invisibility powers lays within the mask.

As you can see below this attempt is filmed in the same way on a tripod to avoid camera shake and to keep the mis en sine in the exact same position. We also agreed to film this shot through the mirror as a reflection, the reflection idea is a spin off idea that came from my independent research into "The Amazing Spinderman" trailer when the progression of time is filmed though a fade of reflection in the window and change of character. I like how this shot has turned out and the mirror reflection is really interesting to watch. We got Bella to bring the mask up to her face and freeze in the exact position for about five seconds, then getting her to panic and fling the mask away from her face as though she has now reappeared to herself in front of the mirror. It's important for Bella to stay in exactly the same position so that when we do place her back into the shot she's in exactly the same place from where she disappeared from.

Co-op Shoot.

For one of our shots Mel and I wanted to create the stereotypical superhero stance to represent power and authority within our character. These have been found in our research into other trailers, such as 'Kick Ass' at the beginning where we see the 'MS' of the character from behind. These shots are stereotypically taken as high angled 'CU', looking down to show the height which the character is positioned or shot from below looking up at superhero as a steep angled 'LS', this supports authority in the character making us look up to them or showing them looking down upon others represents their power. To support this the shot should consist of an authoritative stance and the full superhero costume to create impact and recognition for the audience.

Googles stereotype of a superhero stance,
something the audience will recognise,
 understand and connect with.

What I like about these shots is the perception of height. Bella was very understanding and worked well with the direction we gave to her. I wanted her stance to be as powerful as possible which meant keeping her posture strong and her stereotypical superhero 'hands on hips' stance in full strength throughout the shoot.
  We chose a four story high car park in our local town to shoot from, here we were sure to be safe at the height as we couldn't get past a waist high wall that had been placed around the edges. Working carefully and safely at this height we were able to position the camera high enough that we were able to create a downwards over view shot of the street below which also included Bella looking over the town in her heroic stance. I like how the shot turned out and the 'CU' of Bella flicking her hair then staring to the camera worked extremal well, her eye contact creates a true strength and connection with the audience.



0.00-0.05- 'MS' establishing height and the character in hand.
0.12-0.16- 'CU' moving to 'ECU' to capture the strength within the eye contact.  
0.15-0.26- Camera panning down to then reveal the 'MS' I like this idea and the connection made with the 'MS' flows allot better making the overall shot stronger.

    Another Idea we had was to slowly pan the camera down from the sky indicating that the fist thing we saw was the top of the church working well to create a feeling of great height. My favourite aspect about this shot was the depth of field change as the camera tilted downwards and everything came into focus. As the camera panned down it reviled the standard 'MS' we'd been working in then we smoothly zoomed into an 'ECU' to capture the strength of eye contact.

This was created between 0.26-0.47 and 0.48-1.04 we had to attempt this in a few takes as the wind wasn't on our side and kept blowing her hair across her eyes interfering with the eye contact.

Problems and our solutions:
-Wind blew Bella's hair into her face, ruining the shot.
Tucking her hair into the back of the cape so that she could flick it out when appropriate
-The street below wasn't very busy not creating a powerful impact on the character.
Consider filming again another day or a different location.
-The tripod was on uneven ground, causing some of the shots to be shaky.
Find more stable ground or create an even stand for is to secure the tripod upon

Our next attempt to create height and authority was to capture the shots from below looking up, these had to be Long shots to really grasp the height of the car park we had Bella standing upon these did work rather well. Also some of the direction in this was for Bella to whip her hair and stare straight into the camera again to obtain her powerful characteristics, this did have a few takes as we needed to make sure not only the eye contact was correct but also her stance didn't lose strength which was noticeable in some of the takes we got.


These shots mainly consist of several takes leading from a low anlged 'LS' moving in to 'CU' to capture the facial expression on the character at the high angle.

Problems and our solutions:
-Cobbled pathing making the tripod shake, especially during 'CU' shots where the camera becomes harder to control.
Creating a smooth stand for the tripod to stand upon.
-Bella being so minuscule in the 'LS' shes not noticed as the centre of attention.
Creating extras to stand in and point towards her appearance more recognisable to the audience. (Shown between 1.28-1.45)
-Making Bella stand closer to the edge. (Health and safety)
Keeping her 1/2 meters away from the side at all time and having her near a wall she can hold onto, also making sure we filmed where there is a barrier around the ledge.
-Communicating with Bella from such a distance.
Having someone with her hidden behind the wall on the phone to us on the ground (like walkie-talkies)allowed us to communicate with her and give her appropriate direction as shoot was taking place.
-Public interfering with the action as we were filming. (This did only happen once)
A sign exclaiming that it was for our exam work and if they would be so kind not to cause un-natural behaviour blatantly into the camera.
Things I learnt from this shoot:
-I did find that we were a little trigger 'un-happy' Mel and I both made the mistake of leaving the camera rolling between takes which when we came to look through the footage later when we got back it took an awful long time to go through it and decide which shots will be useful to us and which wouldn't as we had to look for 5 second snippets of great footage within some shots up to 5 minuets long.
-Another flaw I obtain is using the zoom. Only after did I realise how much it ruins the good shots and I wasn't following one of the main rules of no zooms during a mid shot.

Atherfield Shoot

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For the intoduction of our villian (antagonist) character we wanted to film somewhere dark and destroyed with an eerie atmosphere. This is to symbolise and represent the negativity within the character. Atherfield shown below is a now abandoned holiday park. The once lovely facilitys and bedsit rooms have been vandilised and destroyed making the setting perfect for what we want to create. We checked the weather on our way out and forecast suggested wind and slight rain, as we were inside the weather wasn't much of an impact on our filming however due to the broken windows and other mistreatments it allowed a breeze through the building creating a draft which worked well with the cape component of the costumes.
Here are some pictures of the set before we started filimg.

Atherfield Images

Atherfield Shoot.

School shoot.

The first section of our story board is made up of shots taken within a school surrounding, this is perfect as we re still currently studying at a school, Ryde Academy creates the perfect Mis en Scene. Setting the scene within a school automatically creates a connection for our target audience to relate for as the main age range is aimed towards those still in a stereotypical full time education lifestyle; this also automatically says what age range the characters are most likely to be. We tried out a variety of different shots in different stereotypical school situations.

One of my personal favorites - The school canteen.

This was our second most successful take as the first encountered alot of camera shake which ruined the overall shot. My favorite part of this one is the 'CU' on Bella's face as she takes a bite out of the apple, as we zoom out from this you see the neglect and loneliness surrounding the character, who we have placed alone. I feel this decision works positively to portray her as a geek, and is also backed up when the canteen staff tidy the table around her, for example when she pushes the chair in under the table next to her.

INSERT CANTEEN SHOT -2

As you would have noticed the shot is potentonly unusable becasue of the boy who obstructs the vision as we zoom in to take a 'CU' shot of Bella's face. I understand how it could create a negative outlook on the shot however the rest of the text work so well that maybe this could be overlooked. The only way we'll be able to tell is during the post-production and editing stage.  



Panning shot.

Opening with a high angled, wide panning shot seemed to be a common similarity popping up in several of the 20th Century film trailers Mel and I deconstructed.

The Amazing Sipderman- Downwards facing, high angled, night time shot above the city.

Kick Ass- Shots downwards, high angles panning shot of the high street below.

The Avengers- High angled shot across the skyscrapers of the city mid day.

Mel and I took inspiration from these films and decided that as it's the most common opening we wanted our first major establishing shot to be a high angled panning shot. Here are a couple of ideas we came up with to achieve our high angled shot and the problems we could encounter.

*As we live on an island with cliffs near the beach we would have access to walk along the cliff top and film out onto the horizon.

Problems

- This would create a good height but without getting close to the edge the height wouldn't be visible as you'd only see the cliff edge and the sky. We would need to be at the edge so that we could angle the camera downwards achieving the correct effect for the height.

-Health and Safety.

-Wrong mis en sin. Mel and I were thinking either a city scape, which is impractical due to the island we live on or either a countryside view as we are using another mis en sin for out characters house down a country track.

*From the window of a tall building (However the only one were able to gain access from was the school window from the tower block).

Problems

-Filming young children who may be within shot without there consent or parental consent.

-Any marks, dust or smears which may be on the window which we are filing through appearing on the camera.

-Height not being to the excessive extent that we wanted to achieve.

Then we had a break through which would allow Mel and I to acheive outstanding high angled shots through using a crane. Going up 100ft in the air using a crane would allow us to capture perfect high angled shots and also enable us to choose the appropriate setting. We were lucky enough that Mel's Step-Dad works with cranes and was able to arrange this facility, a time and place and also the safety precautions needed to undertake this task.

Mel and I both agreed that due to the style of camera and also the editing software available to us we were going to capture these shots in the day light because attempting to create a shot at night capturing the natural light of the buildings below would be practically impossible to see on the camera we are filming on because it's not industry standard. Because we're now entering the winter season it's getting darker and gloomier towards the end of the day we booked our crane filming in the early hours of the morning so that it would be much brighter and create a positive vibe we wanted at the beginning like the brightness we see in the trailer of "Kick Ass". We shot our crane scenes on Forest Road 7:30am, Mel also had the idea to check the weather was appropriate on Met check before hand so that the mis en sin would be correct for the atmosphere we wanted to create. I agreed with this and we came to an agreement this should be done for every outdoor shot we encounter over the project.

Crane

120ft Crane used to capture our high angles panning shot

The box attached to the crane which
Mel had to go up in and harnessed to

Now we started to begin filming we agreed only one of us should go up into the crane, this was also another safety precaution. As Mel is designated as the main camera operator and I as main director we sent Mel up in the crane (Also because as it's her Step-Dad controlling the crane he's still the responsible supervisor and if anything was to wrong it could effect legal issues). Mel and I discussed the type of shots we wanted to capture before she went up so we used our small amount of time in the crane to our benefit. Mel was then lifted 120ft into the air which Andy  (Mels Stepdad and the professionally trained supervisor with us) was operating. She was harnessed up, with the camera also secured tightly around her neck and was given a walkie-talkie so if there were any problems or she needed to contact me or Andy to discuss anything she was able to and visa versa.

I was really pleased with the shots Mel and I managed to capture in the crane and they look exactly as we discussed. The mis en sin is quite empty however shows clear countryside and hidden country roads within the trees which is perfect for the connection with other shots we plan to undertake down a country lane to the house of our lead character. There was some zooming to focus on different aspects of the shot however if these don't work it's easy to edit them out as we have a wide selection and over 2minuets of footage. The height is beyond anything we thought we were capable of achieving also we don't have to worry about the sound of the wind in these shots as we inteand on muting the clip sound so we can insert a backing track or narration over the top to make the trailer more interesting and grasping for the audience as it proves this is best.

Completed permission slips

Here are the completed permission slips, filled out by all the actors we're using within our film trailer.

Compleated forms

View more documents from TaylerRebecca.

Costume.

       The Villain  (Antagonist) who will be the second major feature within the film is only a minor character within the trailer. I feel it's necessary to include him to help construct the plot but he's not the main focus. Because of this we felt best not to go into as much background detail as we did with our antagonist.

Marvel Villians

As you can see from this image of Marvel villains they are notorious for there dark characteristics. Still possessing the main functions within costume as heroes however there is a clear difference in shape and stance, some including harmful spikes, dangerous weapons; swords, blades, fire and also there menacing expressions.

       The Infinitive role which is to be performed by Mr Henry George possesses only the basics provided to stereotype him as a Villain. I feel this is fine for his character as he will only be seen in about third of the overall trailer. I do feel however we made a good job in representing his character correctly.

Like Topaz Spectre we made The Infinitive a cape as his main feature to identify him by. We decided the best contrast would be a black cape which represeants the dark eivil nature villians posses. So that the cape didn't look bare we went on impulse and thought what logo we could create for the character it only seemed obvious to choose the shape which represeants the name infinity.

Mel painting the infinity symbols

This is a google image of the infinitive sign, the bright colour facinated me and it seemed a good idea to choose a colour which isnt a bold primary colour for the cape, needing to be something that would go well with green we settled on the colour silver as it's quite a misterious colour with the shine to it. It's normally quite a negative colour however it I think it works fantastically in finished product.

      As you can see in the image to the right we deceided to differ from our protaganists cape with the main logo printed in the center large and bold we would spread out the infinity symbol all over the cape in various sizes and angles, this just adds a bit of interest to the item and makes it clearer for the audience to see on camera, as the colour isn't as bright or bold as the ones used on the other cape. 

Costume 

Cape - Black in contrast to out heroes white to symbolise the darkness and evil within the character also our research proves that the villains attire is notoriously dark coloured.
Mask - Green a popular choice to represent evil, acid or poison I feel this is supported well with how dark the green is ensuring it's supporting the negative character. We also decided to only have the mask covering one eye to create suspicion within the character and the strong Independence the character not to protect his true identity I feel this makes the villain a more fearful character which is what we're trying to achieve.

Shirt - Plain dark green to support the colour scheme
Trousers- Plain black to support the colour scheme and the dark character

Boots - Dark boots supporting the research into superheroes and villains all tend to wear boots as a protection method and also for authority.

Front of villian costume

Back of villian costume

As a finishing touch we wanted to spice things up with the hair. Henry then suggested a black wig he owns, so we had a play around with it to see what we could come up with and decided on the bigger the better and this wig is big. I really like the wig it completes the character with the mad look of evil.

Complete costume- Front on

Complete costume- Behind

Geek costume

After attending the Media conference with Pete Fraser and watching several examples of previous work we now understand how important characterisation is and what you can do to define the differences between characters. The first step in characterisation is costume to achieve this successfully we had to look at the stereotypes of the character we're trying to portray, then include appropriate colouring and styles. We decided our protagonist is to be seen as an unpopular geek like girl .

 

Dictionary Definition:
Geek- a peculiar or otherwise dis-likable person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual.
Nerd-   1. a stupid, irritating, ineffectual, or unattractive person. 2. an intelligent but single-minded person obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nerd

 

Here are a few of the classic images which appeared when researching generic images of "Geeks/Nerds" into google. The common trends in this stereotype, think framed glasses;with a pristine dressed attire although with a cringe, old-fashioned look to it e.g. bow-ties, sweaters, shirts all worn buttoned to the top/tucked in to trousers worn appropriately above the hips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

From this extreme stereotype we have taken certain influences to create our own stereotypical Geek/Nerd outfit consisting of:

• Home made blue and white woolen knitted Christmas jumper
• Black skirt
• Bright yellow tights
• Converse shoes
• Rucksack
• Thin rimmed large thick glasses

 

Costume from behind

Costume from the front

      

 

        If you look at these images you can see the complete costume. I feel the costume works really well to portray the stereotype for this character and the colour scheme is relevant mimicking the chosen colours for her as the superhero character. I'm also proud of the fine detail within costume e.g hair.

 

Anne Hathaway- The Princess Diaries

 

     One film which automatically came to mind when creating this stereotype was the outstanding performance by Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries (2001). This film abides by the same type of storyline as our film: A young unpopular 'Geek' girl who later learns she has to deal with a large amount of responsibility. In her 'Geek' stereotype look Anne Hathaway's hair is styled large, bushy and frizzy. Me and Mel both decided that this would be a perfect hairstyle for her and also would be a great way to show a clear contrast when we turn her into a superhero and we're able to straighten and flatten her hair portraying a strong hidden identity.   

Styling Bella's hair

       We attempted this with Bella's hair. We were careful to cast the protagonist with long hair with which we could experiment different styles with, because her hair is so long we felt the best way to go around this was back-combing and crimping. Although the crimpers were made in the 90's and took an extortinate amount of time to heat up the end result was pretty much perfect for what we were trying to achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

          

Superhero Costume & Logo

     

Creating the superhero persona involved a complete different identity to the geek we've already portrayed our character as. Our reasoning for this is that the stereotype superhero e.g. Batman, Spiderman like to keep there normal identity hidden from the world. We plan to show a complete separation from our characters ordinary mundane life to her superhero representation, and we are going to show this through contrast of costume.

Iconic superhero figures

Our geek costume

Researching superheroes I came across several items within the costume which regularly appeared:
-Cape
-Mask
-Full body Lycra suit
-Logo
-High boots
-(Mainly) Bright colours
-Belt

       These necessary costume items all represent a hidden identity with an authoritative persona as you can see by the image above,all of which are wearing the necessary items to portray a stereotype superhero. (This image is part of my research from the most iconic superhero characters that have been around since the 70's).
      The first task I undertook was looking into superhero logos and what is necessary to create a successful logo. I took into consideration the different colours; basic shapes; more detailed images; words and letters which are used to represent the name of the superhero. I learnt from this that the most successful logos contain bold relevant colours and lettering which is all relevant to said character.

Our superheroes name: Topaz Spectre

As we've already established Topaz is the colour yellow so it only seemed obvious to include yellow as one of the main colours, it also fits the criteria perfectly as a bright bold colour. To make the logo better it would involve two colours so looking at the colour wheel it states that the best contrasting colours that will work fantastically next to one another are red, blue and purple. Our final decision was blue to match our original colour scheme for her geek character. This keeps a strong connection between the two identities the character owns.

I then took on responsibility of drawing up some mock logos.

We decided on the logo which our focus group gave us the best response for.

(INSERT BAR GRAPH)

Mel and I both agreed that this was the logo with the best fit to our criteria:
-Bold colours -blue & yellow (Topaz)
-Simple shapes -Star representing what we feel to be, powerful, positive
-Lettering-T represent the characer 'Topaz' Spectre.

Foundation of the cape beinf taped together

Detail added to the mask

     Next came the easy part ... designing the costume. Sticking with our already chosen colour scheme we chose the suitable superhero costume components and figured out what was next on out agenda - The cape. We took it upon our self to make a cape out of materials we had laying around
- White sheet.  White symbolises a positive good natured superhero.

Detail being added to the cape

      Materials needed to make the cape: White material; blue and yellow acrylic paints; double sided sellotape, permanent marker and scissors. Obviously staying within the colour we included a border around the edge of the cape improvising with alternate stripes of colour, then inserted the logo in an " ....cm"-!....cm" scale into the centre of the cape and outlined the entire work with black permanent pen to neaten around the edges and also including quite a nice stereotypical pop art/comic book look to the costume which fits perfectly with our theme. I also made some adjustments to the blue mask we bought for the costume adding yellow dots and a nice poterised line around the bottom supporting the cartoon/comic book aspect to superheros and backing up the colour scheme.

      We completed the costume with electric blue leggings; luminous yellow top; knee length socks in the appropriate colouring (We did have a pair of blue and yellow welly boots which would have worked for the costume, unfortunately Bella's feet were a size to big) and lastly the obvious blue male boxers over the top for the classic superhero feature. We topped the costume off with some finishing touches including electric blue eyeshadow, bright lips and straight hair in a high ponytail centred right on top of the head. This shows the contrast in hidden identity well, as a superhero figure she's disguised behind neat, prim and proper look which is well cared for unlike her geek self.

Front of Super hero costume

Back of Super hero costume