PLANNING: Inital Ideas

This is some creepy music that I thought would go well with the theme and atmosphere is our trailer.

FILMING: Getting started

Today we tested and tired out the new equipment  the school has provided for us. For our trailers we are using big and better technology than any other year before and so we will have the best coursework of any year before.

PLANNING: Target Market

To give more of an insight into my target market I have created an pice of what our target markets interests are:

Demographics and Pyshographics

My target market will be the mass market of working class urban males and females aged 15-20, that enjoy watching films, especially horror films and love the thrill of horror films. This is because I believe their is a gap in the market for London/UK based youth horror films and if marketed and put together well could be extremely successful.My film poster will most likely more marketed and placed in popular urban areas where people of this age would be like:

- A Bus Stop In Camden Town

- A Billboard in Angel Islington, this aswell as Camden are filled with young people shopping during the day and partying during the night and will be perfect places to market my film.

- On the 29 as this bus travels to Wood Green, Finsbury Park, Camden Town which are urban areas populated with thousands of people of my target market. It also goes to Trafalgar Square which is a consumer filed area in central London.

Uses and Gratifications

The uses and gratifications of my trailer would be to escape from the troubles and the world of reality and watch something entertains our audience. Another use and gratification would be to identify with the characters and  or even t be able to socialise with friends and talk about the movie and how it was.

The use and gratification ofthe trailer itself is for surveillence an to be informed.

PLANNING: Certificate

The British Board of Film Classification is the organisation that gives all films, videos, DVDs and video games in th UK there age certificate in the UK.

As our film is targeted at an adolescent, young adult audience the certifate for our film will be 15.

This means no one under the age of 15 can legally watch this movie as it will contain some/all of these below:

• Adult themes
• Hard drugs
• Strong language
• Moderate violence
• Mild non-detailed sexual activity

Our film will contain all of the above

PLANNING: Adobe After Effects

In class we experimented with a program called Adobe After Effects. With this program we used different fonts, effects and layouts we could use for any writing that we will use in our trailer.

This program will give us a chance to be able to play the writing as film and add it to our trailer easily.

PLANNING: Storyboard

These are storyboards of our trailer...

Here we can see that the characters begin at heath next to a tree drinking, smoking, celebrating etc. It then cuts to a midshot of  Bess and Jack. The scene from the heath is quickly followed by a scene of them climbing over the school wall. Here there will be a voice over of Jerome saying "Lets break into the school". There will be a point of view shot from the inside of the building as well as a establishing shot of the actually building to show the audience that someone is watching them.

In this scene their is a couple that wander off into the toilets.

Here they hear a noise and the girl asks him to go see what is it. This is scene where the boy looks around is the hallways similar to the scene from the Saw trailer. There will be shots from the front, back and side of him before he is attacked.

The girl left in the toilet then sees the killer past the toilet door and running back into herr cubile. You do not see the killer however a hang grabs her foot and she screams.

Their other friends hear her scream and turn their heads. This is when the trailer pace becomes very fast and is filled with quick shots and lots of cuts.

PLANNING: Marketing Strategy

To create a huge buzz for our movie we must step out outside of the box, instead of doing just the normal conventional film trailer and movie poster we will creating a marketing campaign that will bring our character to life and blur the line between fact and fiction. The purpose of a horror film is to scare and to do some the film must as realistic as possible to make the audience feel a real fright.

To do so we have use social networking site Facebook to bring our killer to life and install a sense of fear into the public. Using Facebook we have started a petition against the release of a killer in North London. This will generate talk of this killer as if he is real and make people see this fiction as reality.  We have included newspaper articles on the killer, recordings of the killer talking to his psychologist, a police sketch and more.

PLANNING: Character Profiles Name: Bess

'Final Girl' – Our final girl is played by Bessie Carter. She is an upbeat character with ambitions tolive life to the full. Name : Claire Age :17 Birth Date : 05/05/94 Birth Place : Poole, Dorset Eyes :Hazel/Green Hair: Brunette/Long Other Facial Features/Other Appearance Details: Caucasian, pretty, older looking than her actual age, tall, long legs. Dress : Trendy, casual style. Mellow neutral colours Description of Home :Large house in Easthampstead. An old exterior with a mixture of period styles in the interior. Dominant Character Trait :Sentimental Secondary Character Trait :Resourceful Best Friend :Jack Enemies :None Other Friends :Rest of cast Family :Mum and Dad still together. Has an older brother at university – doesn't see himoften but they are very close. Closer to Dad than Mum but he spends a lot of timeaway working. What kind of person is character with others :She is extremely laid back and tries her hardestto not let things get to her. She can get a littlestressed with work as she takes her futureseriously. She is kind and generous and doesn'thold grudges for longer than a minute. WithJack she is laid back and comfortable. She tellshim everything and forgives him anything nono matter what. With Jade she laughs a lot; theycheer each other up in an instant. Sees Self As :Fun, loving and passionate Seen By Others As :Caring. Generous, fun loving and laid back. Sense of Humour :Has a good sense of humour and can laugh at almost anything however shedoesn't care for humour that is got at the expense of someone else. Temper :She has a short temper with her Mum. Ambitions :Wants to be a Neurologist but enjoys painting and sketching on a regular basis. She hopes to make enough money to be independent of her parents. Educational Background :Went to a Private school from Nursery to Secondary but moved to aState school for the best education to suit her needs for the 6 th form.She would like to go to university to emulate the success of her brother. Work Experience :She works in the gallery of a family friend and has done so since theage of 14. It is a part time job and half of the money she makes thereshe saves to enable her to go on holiday with her brother eachSummer. Talents :She can draw effortlessly and has a good eye for perspective and colour. She has played both piano and cello from a young age and has taken up the guitar when shewas 15. She can sing and was in her church choir from the age of 16. Hobbies :Her talents double as hobbies. She also enjoys roller-blading but isn't very good atthis. Choice of Entertainment :She enjoys American Sitcoms and nature programmes.

PLANNING: Character Profiles. Name: Jay

PLANNING: Character Profiles

PLANNING: Character Profiles

'Hoodie' – JACK STEVENSON

Our Hoodie is played by Jack Purkis. He is a strong character but sensitive at heart, buthe'll hardly show this to anybody.

Name

: Jack  Stevenson

Age

:18

Birth Date

: 15/12/93

Birth Place

: Brighton

Eyes

:Brown

Hair:

Dark Brown, grown below his ears

Other Appearance Details:

Rosy cheeks, button nose, soft features,approx 5' 9” tall, striking full eyebrows.

Dress

: Sporty casual, hoodies and jeans. Rugged and slightly scruffy.

Description of Home

:A two storey cottage on the outskirts of Bracknall, bordering EastHampstead.

Dominant Character Trait

:Careless

Secondary Character Trait

: Sensitive

Best Friend

: Louis

Enemies

: Some groups of boys around the Bracknall/East Hampstead area.

Other Friends

:Rest of cast.

Family

:Mother and Father separated. Father lives in Brighton; he and his mother moved toBracknall – his mothers home town – when he was eight years old. No siblings buthad a brother, twelve years older than him who died from Septicaemia when Jack was four so compensates for this by his closeness to Louis.

What kind of person is character with others

: He is not demonstrative in groups. Only revealshimself to people he knows well.

Sees Self As

:Subconsciously puts himself down, shouldering the blame for his parents separation.He thinks he is smart and hopes for a good future.

Seen By Others As

:Caring, gentle, a little aloof but close friends know that he always haspeople's best interests at heart.

Sense of Humour

: Healthy sense of humour but shies away from joining in jokes that are obviousand do not involve his closer friends. He finds Louis' personality very funny,encouraging him to spend as much time as possible with him.

Temper

: Things relating to his parents or similar situations he remembers his parents beinginvolved in pushes his buttons.

Ambitions

: Wants to achieve what his brother had hoped to achieve working for charities in Africa.This was in the establishment of fertile agricultural projects that would allow theindigenous population to be self supporting.

Educational Background

: Rudolf Steiner School in Brighton for his first year (Reception), thenmoved to private school in Bracknall from which he later transferred toa state school for his sixth form years.

PLANNING: Character Profiles

'Pretty Boy' – Our 'Pretty Boy' is played by Adam Ward. He is vain and slightly arrogant howeverdoesn't let this get in the way of his personality. He hates it when others bring themselves down,especially the people he cares most about, thus always tries to raise their spirits.

Name:   Adil                           Adams

Age: 18

Birth Date: 16/10/93

Birth Place: Bracknall

Eyes:Blue

Hair: Mousy Brown

Other Appearance Details: Caucasian, Slim and medium height.

Dress: Casual designer (Hollister, Abercrombie etc)

Description of Home:  3 floor maisonette in Warfield, décor consists of bold expensive furnitureand ornaments. Main entrance hall taken up by large central staircase breaking into two to follow round, joining at the halls.

Dominant Character Trait

:Thinks he's always right – and usually is.

Secondary Character Trait

: Clumsy drunk

Best Friend

: Out of school family friend, Jason, known since reception.

Enemies

: None

Other Friends

: Rest of cast

Family

: Parents still together, lives with his three sisters – one older, his twin and one younger - andhis baby brother Gareth. Father works as a lawyer whilst Mother works from home,renting out rooms in their home for magazine photo shoots.

What kind of person is character with others

: Very patient and accepting of others. Sees familyas very important thus always works to maintainkeep the affairs of the family smooth and happy.

Sees Self As

: Kind and giving. Thinks he's hilarious - although some may argue against this due tothe fact that most laugh at him rather than with him.

Seen By Others As

:            generous, loving and funny

Sense of Humour

: Enjoys making jokes although can fail to get a response from others.

Temper

: Keeps his temper to himself

Ambitions

: Wants to become a professional model and hopes to start his own clothes line whenhe finishes school..

Educational Background

: Attended state schools in Bracknall from reception – his family do not believe in private education.

Work Experience

: Has Modelled for Hollister for the past 2 years, before that worked andmodelled for H&M and Gap from an early age with his twin sister.

RESEARCH: Adorno Culture Theory

According to Adorno's theory the trailer I am creating would be classified as Low Art. To Adorno any popular media product such as trailers are Low Art and creates false needs such as the desire to be distracted from our everyday lives rather than engage in them. He also says that the culture and media industry encourage commodity fettishism as being good. He said things such as opera, plays and Shakespeare were forms of high art as they make you think and stimulate the audience, rather than making the audience obsessed with objects and materialism. He said that all media popular products may appear to be different but the same thing and do not offer anything new. He would disapprove of my film trailer and say is it 'Low art'

I do agree that some types of media can be quite mind numbing, however I do not think he has the place to choose what high and low art is. I believe art is art and there is no high and low, but different art speaks to people in different ways.

PLANNING: Casting

When casting our trailer we were lucky enough to know two great young aspiring actors to play the main parts in our trailer/film, Bessie Carter and Samuel Adewunmi. For the other 3 roles we casted myself, Jade Igilima and another boy who was a part of our group, Adam Ward.

Our Synopsis

A group of five youths spent their friday night getting drunk in a local park. One of them suggests to the others that it would be fun to break into their school. Reluctant at first, they are soon persuaded. They gain access over the front wall and in through a back window. The couple of the group make for the girls toilets to indulge in some smooching. They are disturbed by the sound of a door closing in the hall. The buy leaves to check it out. He does not return. Increasingly anxious, the girl goes to investigate and finds her boyfriend's blood-soaked body lying on the corridor floor. She screams.

The rest of the group hear the scream from a far. They are unable to find the source of the screaming and one by one they are murdered in like fashion, leaving the 'final girl' alone and terrified. We, the viewers, know through a cutaway sequence of a television news report being viewed by a member of the group's parents, that a psychopath has escaped from Broadmoor Prison. After the grueling experience of being bound and captured by this man, the girl manages to escape, hurdle herself back over the wall and to a nearby pay phone where she calls for help.

RESEARCH: Make-up & Effects

I had an oppotunity to speak to an industry professional about make-up and special effects.
She showed us

Using a volunteer she showed us how to create the illusion of a cut/slash on someone using make up. She also showed us how dummies and prosthetics are used to create more effects. She told us that the makeup used on the character must reflect their personality, dislikes interests and more.

PLANNING: Inital Ideas

After thinking about making our movie realistic by using hand-held camera movement I watch a horror film that does just that called Quarantine, about people who are purposely trapped by a higher authority into a building where there us a vicious disease which turns people into zombie like creatures and one by one everyone is turned into the Zombie like creature.

PLANNING: Inital Ideas

This is a spider diagram of the ideas we first came up with as a group

PLANNING: Synopsis

This a short and quick paragraph about our plans for our synopsis:

5 friends are having and laugh and getting drunk on heath and then decide to break into their school on the weekend and get up to mischief. As they as there they begin to lose each other and one by one slowly die. The killer is a crazy man who was obsessed with toys and children, especially her. After stalking her as a small child he was sentenced and put in prison. Now he has escaped from prison and is back. He goes back to the school in an attempt to get alone time with her he kills all of her friends one by one. Believes he is doing no wrong as because she is over 16 she is now legal.

PLANNING: Settings

Today me and my group found a place within our school that we could use to film. It is dark, dirty and looks very scary and is a perfect setting for our movie that we could use. It has red writing on the walls and looks deserted. It is very simular to the settings of the saw movie.

PLANNING: Initial Ideas

I think that in our trailer we could use a scene similar to the first scene of this trailer where the man is looking around in his apartment and he is jumped by something/one. It builds anxiousness and tension.

Research: Stock Characters

These are conventional characters that seem to pop up  frequently in horror films that I may be able to use in my own

Coonventional Stock Characters

View more presentations from Jade Igilima

RESEARCH: Mulvey's Male Gaze

However Mulvey's Male Gaze can be challenged as in the movie Scream although the female protagonist is a victim in the end instead of a man saving her she saves herself with the help of another female, the reporter. They both stand up to the killers and are brave enough to call them "you sick fucks" and "you too dipshits" where as the male victim doesn't help in anyway and is helped and saved by the two women.

RESEARCH: Mulvey's Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey came up with a theory in 1975. This theory suggested that all films are shot in a stereotypical male point of view. And that woman are seen as sexual objects, inferior to and needing men and more vulnerable. In the trailer of A Nightmare on Elm Street we can see examples of this.

There is a woman being shot in the bath, this gratifies the male point of view of women being objectified and seen as sexual objects. There is also some cleavage and bare legs shown in the trailer.

In the trailer there is always a larger ratio of men to women, again gratifying the male point of view that women are inferior.

The women in the trailer are the most vulnerable as they are the ones screaming and their bare necks are always showing highlighter their vulnerability. The men are seen as the saviour as both policemen are men.
The movement of the camera is lingering over  the females bodies and are usually high angled shot to make them look more vulnerable and beneath the men

RESEARCH: Narrative Structure

This timeline shows the narrative structure of the When a Stranger Calls (2006) trailer according to Todorov's Theory...

As shown in my timeline in this trailer the Equilibrium is shown the most. This is to show the audience the setting and help them to relate and build a relationship with the main character. The Conflict is also shown the most as this reels in the audience and gives them snipppets of how much 'scare factor' the movie has.

RESEARCH: Narrative Structure

In my trailer I will use a simular narrative structure as Todorov's theory, including Equilibrium, Distruption, Recognition of disruption and Conflict. However I will not include the Resolution as I wouldn't want to give too much about the film away as I want audience to go and watch the film.

RESEARCH: Narrative Structure

Trailers are not necessarily in chronological order like films. They will show more of the action and stuggle in the movie rather than the ending and resolution.

For example The Final Destination trailer (as previously shown) starts with Conflict then Distruption, Recognition of Distruption and then more Conflict, completely skipping out Equilibrium and Resolution. As the equilibrium isn't very important in the horror genre as people watch horror mainly for the thrill, excitement and conflict rather than the actual story.

RESEARCH: Narrative Structure - Todorov's theory

There are several different types of narrative structure:

Linear/Chronological
This is when the sequence of events is in order of time. The story will start from A goes on to B and ends at Z giving us the sequence of events in order. This is the most common type of structure used in story telling (this includes stories, books, TV shows and films), however trailers are not usually in linear order and will quite often show us A-Z.

Circular
A circular sequence of events is when the sequence starts and ends with the same sequence. This is a unique unconventional way of telling a story and is often when a movie tells us the outcome of something and tells the audience how it came about. This structure plays on the audiences curiosity and is becoming increasing popular.

Disjointed
This is a random, non-chronilogical sequence of events that may have some type of structure however is very disjointed.

We all have some understanding and knowledge of basic narrative structure of stories/ films. It is often referred to the beginning middle and the end however there are more technical terms for the stages of narrative structure.

Todorov was a man who studied folk/fairy tales. He came up with a theory that every story including books, movies, episode etc. has 5 different stages...

Equilibrium

Distruption

Realisation of distruption

Conflict

Resolution

Research: Sub genres

RESEARCH: Synopsis Research - Burton's Formula

Burton's theory was quite simple really. He believed that every genre had key elements that are used time and time again. These are things that we would expect to see in the genre of the movie.

- PROTAGONISTS 
All genres have identifiable protagonists, hereo and villians. Over many genres the protagonists usually have very simular characteristics; male protangonists are always very attractive hereoic and brave. Female lead characters are usually extremely beautiful, vulnerable and weak. However sometimes films will challenge these conventions. 

-STOCK CHARACTERS
These are the 'extra' characters. These are characters such as the prevent or the wanderer who, in horrors, are usually the first people to get killed. They are not a part of the main story but do play a important part in enhancing and propelling the story. These3 characters also can often bring humour to the film.

-PLOTS AND STOCK SITUATIONS


-ICONS


-BACKGROUNDS AND DECOR


-THEMES 


One Missed Call Synopsis

Shannyn Sossamon and Ed Burns star in director Eric Valette's remake of Takashi Miike's frightful tale about a cell-phone call from the future that foreshadows one's own death. Beth Raymond (Sossamon) is a college student whose friends have all been dying in droves, and the one connecting factor between all of the incidents is that just before their deaths, each of the victims received a message in which they heard themselves being murdered. Upon receiving her own frightening phone call, Beth has only three days to solve the mystery and cheat death. Burns co-stars as a detective who is deeply troubled by the recent spate of deaths. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

RESEARCH: Research into Film Posters

Secondary research into film posters

View more PowerPoint from Jade Igilima

RESEARCH: Research into Trailers

This is a trailer for a horror film that has recently been released.  I watched this trailer 3 times, analysed it and researched more into movie trailers. A lot of my findings related back to the initial trailer discussion and my post on trailers.  The first thing that is shown in this trailer is the production company, Warner Bro's - a Time Warner company. This immediately tells the audience that this film will be high-budget and high-quality. Along with the slow piano non-diagetic music, the grey clouds and grey stone like logo give the audience an insight into the genre of the film as the colour grey has negative and dark connations. The stone logo turning around is almost like a door opening and as the camera zooms in the audience will feel as if they are being pulled into that door, thus making them feel as if they are going into another world. The sound of the gust of wind enhances this feeling.

Unlike the conventional film trailer we are not told who stars in the film. This is because instead of using celebrities and to promote and attract an audience, horror films use the genre itself and fright factor to attract an audience. Instead of staying who stars in the movie they want to create authenticity and make the audience feel as though the characters are real people and connect to them, making the movie that more scarier.

The beginning of the trailer starts with slow piano music. As soon as the optitcian says “I’ll be right back” leaves the room the music suddenly gets even quieter, this indicates that something is wrong.  The piano stops and then the violins start and begin to get faster and faster, thus building up the anxiousness and fright factor.

The camera cuts to a computer of some sort that reads “DO NOT EXCEED 5mW” in capitals, as capitals have connotations of danger/ergency. The thermometre  begins to increase and as it increases it beeps to create aniticipation and aniouxness. When it hits 5.1mW and immediately there is a loud thud the beeping gets louder and fast telling the audience that something is wrong and something bad is coming. This is accompanied by the sound of a heartbeat getting louder and faster, again creating anxiousness and frightening the audience. After this part of the trailer the music changes to rock music. This is because this part of the trailer shows all the action and exciting part of the film and rock music creates an exciting and fast paced atmosphere.

After watching this trailer I watched 2:09 of a clip of the film and then counted the amount of cuts each of these videos had. The film trailer had 87 cuts within the 2:09 however the clip from the film had only 30. This is because the trailer is deliberately made more fast paced and fits in as much action in a short amount of time to capture the attention of the audience and hold it for the whole 2:09.




The very last frames of the trailer show the film title and the release date. This it to draw the audience in with the storyline, action and fright of the film and heightens anticipation. Then when the title of the film and release date is told to the audience at the end so that the name of the film is the last thing in their head, making the film more memorable.



I would expect to see this trailer before films aimed at a similar target audience. I would say this was people of a similar age to the victims of the film, from around 15 - 30 years old who have an interest in scary films. They would like films that are more exciting and thrilling so this trailer would probably be shown before other scary supernatural films such as Paranormal Acitivty.



I also think this trailer would be broadcasted before shows like Misfits that would have around the same age group, same type of people and the same target audience. It is also based around the supernatural and so is quite similar to Final Destination in that content.




There are four main uses and gratifications that media will satisfy an audience...
Diversion and escapism is one. This is when media takes the audience is taken away from their daily lives and stresses and instead their minds are diverted to a whole different world.
Personal Companionship is another and the audience being able to discuss this with their peers afterwards.
Personal identification and being able to relate to and compare their own lives with the lives of the characters.
Surveillance and to get information .
I believe that this trailer satisfies all for of these uses and gratifications as the trailer not only distracts audiences from their everyday lives and gives them information about the upcoming film, but it also allows audiences to compare their lives and relate to the characters and discuss their anticipation for the film with others, especially since the film is a sequel.

RESEARCH: Production Companies

Dennotations, Connotations and Audience Expentations

The Globe in this logo symbolises that it is a international and global brand for everyone and that 'Universal' movies maybe set in interesting and exotic place. The light being emitted from the globe shows that it is big and spectacular. The stars here may represent how it is high budget and high quality.

The bright castle in this logo may symbolise the spectacular, magical and grandness of the films produced by 'Walt Disney Pictures'. It also represents fairy tales and excitement. The big 3-D silver bubble writing has kiddy, fun, child-like connotations and tells the audience that the film will be high budget, modern and high-tech. The audience expectation will be fantastic locations, animation and child friendly (if not child aimed).

RESEARCH: Trailers

Trailers aren't short films like the preliminary task. They are put together and designed to grab the attention of the attention of the target audience and give an insight into the film and what the film will be about.They give enough information to create curiosity and heighten anticipation in the target audience, however not too much that it gives away the story of the film,just a short plot summary. They create a specific type of mood or atmosphere,re-creating the mood, atmosphere and genre of the actual film to tease the audience.

Another thing that trailers do is promote their stars, directors and producers. For two reasons...

• Well respected, known and loved actors, producers or directors will bring along a fan base who will be likely to watch the movie thus giving the movie a wider target audience.

• The film will not only promote the stars and directors but the stars and directors will also promote the film. Through various interviews, film premieres and more they will 'talk-up' the film and give the film a positive look attracting even more of an audience and persuading more people to watch the film. Above is actor Tobin Bell being interviewed about the new SAW 3D movie.

RESEARCH: Initial trailer discussion

In class we all watched this film trailer...


We then all got together and had a discussion on this film trailer and trailers in general. We asked ourselves 3 questions...

What is the purpose and intention of a film trailer?

The main purposes of a film trailer are to persuade, inform and entertain its target audience. It is to give an insight into what to expect from the movie, market the film and create publicity to attract its target audience in order to get as much people as they possibly can to go watch the film as its main overall intention in to create as much profit as possible from this movie.

What effects should a film trailer have on the audience?

From the very beginning right through to the end 'The Amazing Spiderman' trailer Conveys exact what genre and type of movie that the audience should expect to see. The lighting, sound, music, facial expressions and fast pace suggests a sense of panic, anxiousness and action. Film trailer should create a specific mood and atmosphere with enigma codes.

What does a good film trailer do?

What this particular film trailer does well is it showcases and promotes the 'Spiderman' franchise. This is because its target audience and people that are most likely to go watch the film are 'Spiderman'. Along with the enigma codes of the action genre it gives enigma codes of the 'Spiderman' franchise.

What it also does, and most good film trailers will do is promote the stars, directors and production company. This is because if the film is associated with a specific and well respected/loved actor, director or production company the fans of the actor, director or production company will go and watch the film.

A good trailer will also use the lastest and best technology (if suited to the film). The 'Spiderman' trailer shows this as it has the lastest technology used for the fast-paced action film. This is very important that 'Spiderman' is up to date like this as there have been several other 'Spiderman' films. It needs a unique selling point to make people want to watch the new one as everyone already knows the 'Spiderman' story.