Film has always impacted me and I knew I wanted to be a part of it.
Starting mid-2024 I wrote a script for a potential TV show series. I knew I needed the right kind of people to pull this off. So after reaching out to a few others I could trust, we planned, storyboarded, set out locations, hired actors and crew, and everything else it takes to make something of this scale. Once everything was in order, filming began. With me as Director and Cinematographer on set, me and my crew filmed the first episode of the TV show, “We Are Hunted.” It was an incredible experience. We knew we had captured something truly special.
But we weren’t done yet.
A very important part of any project is the advertising. No matter how good it is, if no one sees it, it doesn’t matter. Advertising is often seen in the form of a trailer or poster. As my senior project, I wanted to help advertise this project in a way that is effective and meaningful, create excitement for the upcoming film, and showcase my variety of skills and abilities through editing, cinematography, and storytelling.
FIRST, TRAILERS
It started with organization. As an editor, it is much easier to edit effectively when everything is organized. Coming from filming the first episode, there were many hours of footage that needed to be sorted through and marked. Although it was time-consuming, it made the rest of the process much easier so I could truly concentrate on the creative side of the project.
There were many drafts throughout. I’ve seen many trailers in my day, some very good, some not so good. After some study and research, there were a couple of things that I needed to get right in order to make successful trailers.
- They needed to fit the correct “vibe” of the film
- They needed to be engaging
- They needed to feel unique in some way.
A big part of a trailer is the music. I knew that the music would either set it apart, or make it feel generic, and so music and sound was something I took a long time on to get right. Once you see the final trailers, you can see how the music helps tell the story and bring to life the setting of this world.
Another big part was the color. With the setting and world in which this story takes place, color would play a big part in bringing the visuals to life. I knew this was a more serious and gritty Western that I wanted the color to match. As you can see in the final product, the high contrast and vibrant colors bring an element of reality and dark tangibility to the story, with the warm colors bringing a nostalgic Western feel.
The last big part was the actual story being told in the trailers. I needed a balance of telling just enough to intrigue people, but not so much that it spoils the story. As you can see in the first trailer, it doesn’t tell much of the story. In fact, there’s no dialogue at all. This is because the sole purpose of this trailer is to bring you into the world, but not tell you too much about the actual plot. Just enough to get you excited for the next trailer. In the second trailer, it tells a little more of the plot, and you get a sense of the characters and setting. However, it’s still subtle enough that it doesn’t spoil anything.
I changed the flow and story that was being told many times. I wanted just enough to make sense, but not so much to spoil the story. I also wanted it to feel unique in its storytelling. Too many trailers have this pre-determined structure of how the trailer is going to go. But with this trailer, I wanted it to feel different. You get a little more about the characters, and the settings, but even still, you don’t know much about the plot, or what will happen. I think this is important because if too much of the story or plot is told, people won’t have as much interest in coming to watch it.
With both trailers, I learned that story is just as important as spectacle. You can show a cool scene, or have a great beat, but the story must also peak their interest. Ultimately story is what people come for, and the way you use sound, visuals, and editing can enhance that or take it away.
I also learned that intention needs to feel intentional. You can make a creative decision, but if people don’t see that, it can often feel like a mistake.
NOW, POSTER
The other thing I did, was create a poster. A poster is another important element of advertising your film to create interest. As a photographer myself, I wanted to showcase that skill in the best way I could. I captured lots of different pictures of the main cast, putting them in different settings and positions.
I wanted the poster to communicate a sense of grounded realism, but have a slightly twisted feel to create an uneasiness to it. What better way to feel twisted than to “twist” the angle of the camera? As you can see in the final image, the scene of them walking with it slightly angled shows the setting as well as the twisted perspective, the texture helps bring back the nostalgia of old Westerns as this is a post-apocalyptic Western, and the light creates a beautiful yet almost unsettling contrast to it.
Overall, I believe these three items (two trailers and a poster) successfully accomplished the task of advertising for a future TV show and showcased my skills as an editor, cinematographer, and photographer.