Animatic Analysis

An animatic is a series of still images that show the shots that will be within the trailer, unlike the storyboard the animatic uses actual photos to portray the images rather than just handwritten pictures. The animatic creates a better experience than the storyboard as it offers a better visual experience, it also has the soundtrack as well as finished intertitles, which gives the animatic a professional feel. The function of the animatic is to entice the viewer into watching the real trailer this could be compared to a teaser trailer, where it’s used as a way of hyping up the film. The animatic is a way for the filmmaker to plan each shot and how they are going to angle or position it.

The process of creating animatic started with the finished storyboard as we needed to know what pictures to develop into images that we used for the actual animatic. An animatic works by using still images to try and promote the trailer as best as possible. For my group the Storyboard was the easy bit as getting everyone and everything we needed for the animatic was challenging as people had other commitments in afterschool time. As we were discussing the availability of everyone we realised that the location that we had chosen would be impractical as it was too far away, we decided to choose a location that was closer. When we scouted for a soundtrack, we wanted chanting to be at the start with the intertitles and we wanted us to be chanting welsh words but we didn’t realised that it wouldn’t sound scary enough for the trailer, we found a YouTube video of monks chanting which fitted perfectly with style that we wanted to use for our real trailer.

We used the storyboard to group the pictures according to their mise-en-scene location and the time of day we need it to be so it would be easier to take them as we would have an organised set of shots to take. We had a picture of the storyboard when we were at the shoot so we could use it as a reference when taking the still images but we also used it to know what we wanted within the shot as we wrote an explanation on all the shots to help us. Once we got to the shoots we realised that the organisation that we put in wasn’t enough as the first of the shoots we weren’t sure who some of the characters were going to be so we couldn’t do some shots but most of the characters were in our group which made it easier to organise dates for shoots and to get most of the shots done. In the our other two shoots we were better prepared as we knew what shots we were going to do, the second shoot we did shots that included closes ups of some characters, Vinnie and Sam, establishing shots of the rugby field we decided that we needed more props for us to continue with anymore shots. On our third shoot we had all the actors and actresses ready and with us so we got most of the shots within the woods done, we had some props such as tents. The third shoot was the most productive as it was the most organised with everyone, there but we couldn’t some shots as they were at night and we were advised not to take any shots at night as the lighting would be poor but also for health and safety reasons.

We initially only planned on two locations but as the time went on and we changed one location from forest coal pit to a little wood in the Mardy, we ended up with three locations, the wood and a car park outside the school and a small passage with some trees which we used to take some of the important pictures like Vinnie’s death with Sam coming up from behind him. The props we chose were tents which were most important as most of the trailer was set around the campsite. Another prop is the book as it is important as it gives Sam the ability to release the demon. We had other props which we didn’t have enough time to put in for example a fake rifle which we were going to use in Marcus’s death with fake blood. We were going to use a campfire but we decided against as at the time where wasn’t any space. The main changes we made were adding more shots for example we placed shots of monks standing in a circle within a wood in between the starting intertitles so the viewers keep their interest fixed on the trailer.

In the editing process we originally use Adobe Premier and we placed the images that we had taken into the software. It was difficult so Josh did most of the editing as he knew the software the best. After that we roughly marked out how long each shot would be then we added the soundtrack which was of chanting monks which we got from YouTube but this meant we had to rearrange the timings on some shots within the montage as they didn’t line up with the pace of the track. We only saved it on to a memory stick which meant that we had to make a new animatic, luckily josh still had the photos on his memory stick so he made the new animatic but he had to change the soundtrack, the new soundtrack creates a greater affect upon the audience and it fits nearly perfectly with the montage because with each drum beat it changes to a new shot which is what we wanted from the start. Before we started our animatic and we were doing the storyboard and explaining each shot I thought we should also do the timings for each shot on there also so it made it easier for us then in the editing. We toughly put down what we thought would be the correct amount of time needed but we thought about the trailer only and not the animatic, so the animatic is shorter because the shots are only images and not videos. We decided on the transitions after we all did some research into other trailers, I did 2 Guns, it isn’t a horror but I like the editing in the trailer and I wanted to use it in our trailer. We used fade to black when there was something mysterious and then after the break of equilibrium we used jump cuts and occasionally fade to white to revealing, which added professionalism to our animatic.

We used intertitles that would get the most frightened reaction from the audience but also would tell some of the story for example “something was disturbed” adding a sense of mystery into the trailer as the audience member doesn’t know what it might be, a person or something else. We used a metal type of font to create a feeling of strength in the words and almost seeing it as a threat or warning to the audience. We used the words “Demons”, “Never”, “Die” we were planning to place them in between but as our planning was to par we didn’t have enough time to take them. This explains to the audience that even though the story in the first intertitles are based along time ago, demons don’t just leave they might go somewhere else or go into someone else.

My animatic relates to my target audience as the characters are about the same age and we have both sexes on there so it could appeal to both genders. They’re going camping showing that they are probably students with a little amount of money. They all speak English so it is based in Britain and they also all speak with a Welsh dialect which shows that the animatic/trailer is based in Wales, unfortly we were able to add the dialogue into the animatic but we will add it into the real trailer. The style of our animatic has lots of jumps cuts and the fast pace of the editing really connects with the audience as it links with the code and conventions of a real media text like some of the ones we looked at such as the Conjuring or the Evil Dead. With our narrative also the setting is very conventional as it’s based inside a woods but we weren’t able to film at night. What we need to change before doing the real trailer is timings for the shoots as not everyone knew when or where we would be doing them and we need to get the props as fast as possible, as I realised that they were the biggest things we had to change this is because we were unable to finish our animatic due to a lack of productive shoots. We also need more soundtracks as on our animatic there is only one or at least add different sounds into the trailer like some high pitched strings.

Five key images from my animatic, one would be the three from the end intertitles “Demons”, “Never”, “Die” these words are key in our trailer as the whole idea is based on an ancient tribe and the demons they worshiped. The wall behind the text looks broken like the story of this trailer as the equilibrium isn’t restored at the end which is good for a trailer/ animatic as it draws the audience in.

Another image would be when Vinnie gets killed and Sam is right behind him it gives a very disturbing look to the trailer as no one moves in that fashion normally. Next image would be of Sam touching the tree as it’s the key moment just before the break. A key shot would be the long shot of the hooded monks flashing in between the first intertitles. The fifth key Image I feel is the close up of Ben get possessed as it shows that truly demon never die and links in with all of our intertitles and the main story if the film.

My involvement with the group has mostly been in before production, but I did do the filming shots. I did the explanations of the shot in the storyboard and also the timings with the help of the others. I gave my opinion on shots and also what shots I wanted in the trailer which sometimes all thought of the same shot like the shot when the car boot closes. I also did the first draft of our audience. I also did the non-digital version of the billing block and we all created the names for the production companies.