Research and Planning - Sound Research

When thinking about the kind of sound we wanted for our teaser trailer that would fit in with its genre and storyline I decided to go on to youtube and research into some video of a similar genre of horror search for something similar that we would possibly take inspiration from when it comes to us creating our own film sound track.

Research and Planning - Weather outlook for filming

This is a screen grab of the weather for the week. From this we can see that the best days for filming our outside scenes will be Tuesday and Wednesday. This is when it looks as though we are going to get some dry weather and so it will be the perfect time to film. It is important that the weather on this day is going to be dry as we are filming outside and dont want any damage to come to the equipment. It also may affect the quality of the filming and so the best days to shoot our scene are the dry and preferabley sunny days

Research and Planning - Actress Profile 2

 

 This is the actress we chose to feature at the very start of our teaser trailer, her interviewing process was not as thorough as the main actress's was because her speaking part was only very small.

But here below are the reasons why we chose her.

•  Laura Hurst
• 17
• Blue Eyes
• Blonde Hair 
• 5.8 
• Studies at Hyde Clarenden
• English Language, Media, Film Studies.
• Lives Locally (Hyde)

The above is just some of the reasons, why we chose Laura to be in our film. She is the correct age and has the correct look. Also she studies at the same college as us and so we know her at that she is reliable. She lives locally which is a plus point when trying to arrange a meeting.
Another important factor is the the subjects she studies are of a similar field to us and so she will understand all our filming schedules and requirements of her when we do do the filming.

Research and Planning - Actress Profile

This is the girl we chose to be our main actress, after having interviewed her together for the part.

We analised her personality and the way she looks and decided that she fit the criteris perfectly.

Below is a small profile of her which helps to see why we chose her for the role...

•  Sophie Louise Ballagher
• 17
• Green Eyes 
• Blonde Hair
• 5.5
• 7 stone 9 pounds
• Lives locally (Denton Manchester)
• Studies at Hyde Clarenden College
• Media Studies Level 3

All of the above are reasons which swayed myself and Naomi to choose Sophie. She was the correct age and had a good look. Shew lives locally which will be a bonus when trying to organise filming. Also the one thing which cemented our decision was that she already studies media herself and so understands the filming, acting and camera work. Which is important.

Research and Planning - Shooting Schedule

 

Here is the shooting schedule that me and Naomi have put together to organise when we will be doing our filming. We carefully organised the dates beforehand to make sure we would have plenty of time to film and re film the scene so we had enough shots that we could choose the perfect ones for our teaser trailer. Also we had to hire out one of the locations for a day so it was important that the dates were planned and stuck to so this could be arranged. As for the other location we are going to try hard to stick to the arranged dates weather permitting.

Research and Planning - Group Meeting

Research and Planning - Risk Assesment

Here we have put together a list of all the risks we may come across when attempting to film our teaser trailer. Taking into account where the locations were, as some were outside and some were inside we had to assess two different sets of risks for each and so above are all those we found were relevant to the filming we would be doing. We assessed the risks against the location we wanted to film, for example on the outside one we took into account the weather and also whether we would be a disruption to any members of the public or a public area and then we went on with caution from there.

Research and Planning - Preparation Of Props and Scene

 

 This video shows us preparing the props at the scene of where we filmed our first shot.  It was located in a bedroom at an apartment which we used for the day. There was minimal furniture and possessions in the room which was extremely handy as it allowed us to dress the room specifically the way that we wanted it to look in the scene. This was like a boys bedroom, so we positioned the coat on the wardrobe door and the laptop on the dressing table to show it showed the audience it was a males room. The pictures on the wall were placed carefully to look similar to the practice 'stalker board' posted earlies in my blog. It was important that we got the props perfectly positioned so that it was clear to the audience when watching it that this was the bedroom of the stalker. All the images against the blank walls show nothing about his personality, no posters, no colours all we see is the laptop, the coat and the images. This gives across a message to the audience as to what this boys 'hobbies' and 'interest' are. It gives a clear indication of what he is actually doing here which is in fact stalker the girl whether he realises it or not.

Research and Planning - Group meeting, - Storyboard

 

This is an improved version of the storyboard that we constructed together on one of our group meetings. We discussed the scenes and decided that these were the basic scenes that were definatley going to be appearing in the teaser trailer. We have added colour and given a lot more detail to the shots and scenes. Here you can see just how each scene is going to look and what kind of shots are going to be taken.
We are going to try hard to stick to the schedule but we might possibly be adding in a scene or two in which case an updated version of the storyboard will be placed on here with reasons as to why the shots were added.

Research and Planning - Production meeting cancellation

Due to un foreseen weather circumstances, on the week that we had planned to film a scene from our teaser trailer. We had to cancel the filming because it was out doors and it had in fact forecast snow for the first two days of the week. Which it is not possible to film in for obvious reasons. We thought maybe we could continue to film later on in the week but then we were not sure whether or not the snow would have cleared by the end of the week so we decided not to take a chance and risk making mistakes on the filming and delayed it for another week until the snow clears and we are able to get back to filming in normal weather conditions.

Research and Planning - Auditions

Once Me and my team member Naomi had decided on the type of person that we would like to play the role of the girl being followed, we decided to hold a number of auditions, we decided that physically Sophie looked the part and so decided it was best to have a verbal interview with her to determine whether or not her personality matched the part she would be playing. Also we wanted to see whether she was motivated and most of all reliable so that we could agree to meet on a certain date and be confident that she would not disrupt and shooting schedule by not showing up.We put together a number of relevant questions to ask her whilst filming the interview. We were impressed with the answers she gave and also her appearance was tidy, smart and just the right kind of image we wanted for the girl in our teaser trailer. So we decided to cast Sophie as the part of the stalked girl.

Research and Planning - Stalker board mock up

This is a mock-up of the 'stalker board' that will be used in one of the scenes in our teaser trailer. In preparation for filming over the last few weeks I have been taking the neccessary photos on different days in certain locations to make it look as if Sophie is being followed as she carries out her daily routine. The main image shows the girl that is going to be stalked in our trailer. All the images shown are going to be seen on the bedroom wall of the stalker where there will be a number of different shots used to show him standing over the bed with a hooded jumper on hiding his identity.

Research and Planning - The Strangers Trailer

This is the teaser trailer for the horror movie 'The Strangers'.  The reason I have chosen to post this on here is because when watching it I found that the first few scenes were really catchy and would possibly be something I would like to put into my teaser trailer. Not in the same context of the houses. But in a similar format such as three scenes of people or things that aren't necessarily in the film but set the theme for the audience. Like in this video we see the different houses and straight away the audience know that this film is gonna be based on a house. Whereas in our trailer we may do a similar thing but instead of a house we are going to have three couples breaking up which wont necessarily be in the trailer but it is important to the story.

Research & Planning - Call sheet

 

This is the call sheet I put out using  the social networking site facebook. It was posted onto my facebook status to be seen by friends who attend the college asking whether anyone wanted to take part in our teaser trailer. From this we will then audition the people who are interested, asking them a number of questions, then looking at their answers and their personal skills and appearance to determine who is the right actor/actress that fits the criteria we are looking for.

Research and Planning - Animatic Storyboard

Research and Planning - (Group Meeting) Draft Storyboard

Here we have drawn up a rough sketch of the scenes we want to be in our teaser trailer. We will be developing upon our ideas further and going into much more detail than we have here but this is simply showing a couple of the scenes that will be included in the trailer. We also have some scenes that will be added and maybe taken away.

Research and planning - Publication plan for film magazine

Publication Plan on Prezi

Research and Planning - Film magazine draft

This is a draft of the 'film magazine' I am going to construct

Research and Planning - Analysis of film magazine 2

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• The film advertised on the front of this magazine, you can clearly tell is a horror/thriller.
  
• This is because of its dark lighting and colours, also the use of the colour red indicates the devil and blood.
  
• The background of the magazine shows half of the page as a view from above and half of the image and a view of what looks like new york city form the eyes of someone. This is most probably where the film is set and gives the readers a look at what the films setting is going to look like.
• Also the view from above gives the impression that there is always someone watching and gives the magazine quite a creepy feel.
  
• The Main image is a long shot of a man in a dark suit who is quite professional looking.
  
• The long shot allows us to see a full view of his body showing his suit.
• The lighting is in darkness with only one shadow of light across his face indicating to the readers that he is most probably the main character and is maybe someone who isn't often seen.
  

Research and Planning - Analysis of film magazine

• The genre of this film magazine is horror, you can tell this by the colours used, for example the gray/black background. The red used for the indicates blood and also the font used is freehand which looks like graffiti as if it has been vandalised.
  
• The lighting is low key, which goes well with the idea of horrors being dark and scary.
  
• The target audience of this film is people who like the film or are interested in the film featured on the cover but also people who are interested in films in general as their are other stories in this magazine.
• The main image of the man is dark he is wearing an all-in-one dark suit with his face covered which shows mystery and keeps the audience in suspense as to who is behind the mask.
  
• The main image is a long shot which allows us to see his whole body, therefore we see the full outfit and see he is all in black.
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Research and Planning - Micro Elements.

In my group I am in charge of the Cinematography, Mise-En-Scene and editing. These are some of my initial ideas.
Mise-En-Scene - We know at this stage that the girls clothes and going to be normal clothes. Winter coats as it will be cold and possibly we will be filming at night.
We will be needing a mobile phone, some photographs to be taken at various locations of the girl.
A hooded jumper to be worn by the stalker.
A video camera and normal camera.
Editing - At the beginning of the trailer we are going to have three jump cuts of three different shots. One of the shots is going to be a remake of the one i found during some research on my previous blog.

Research and Planning - Mise-en-scene research

This is a still from the dido music video for 'white flag', it relates to the what we are doing as the story in the video is about a man who is obsessed with a woman. He follows her and has a wall full of photos of her from various locations. When i spotted this scene I thought it looked exactly like what I had envisaged I wanted in our teaser trailer. The images and the postick notes make the wall look exactly like a stalkers bedroom wall.
This shot is something that we would possibly feature in our trailer, to get across the 'stalker' idea to the audience.

Research and Planning - My Plan for the week

Come up with a title for our teaser trailer.
Complete my storyboard of the teaser trailer.

Research and Planning - Conventions of a film poster

The conventions of a film poster,
Title - The title of the film is very important as, it is a way getting the audience to remember the film. A catchy title means it will stick in the minds of the audience, therefore more people will come to see the film.
Tag Line - Used to summarise the film for the audience in one sentence.
Image - The front image on the poster is important as it usually introduces the characters/actors to the audience, it also introduces the genre of the film it is important this comes across in the poster, as this is a way of the film attracting their target audience.
Colours - The colours used in the film poster are another way of reflecting its genre. For example, If you see a dark film poster with lots of uses of the colours black, brown, grays etc then we usually know as the audience that its a horror film. This is the same with romances for the colour red. Different colours have different connotations with them.

Research and Planning - Analysis of film poster

• This film poster, I have chosen to put on my blog because it is similar to the one I will be creating to advertise the teaser trailer I am also in the process of making.
  
• The Genre of this poster is horror as is the teaser trailer I am making. You can tell this posters genre from its use of dark colours and by the images used.
• It has a typical layout of the image being central in the page. The catchy slogan and title down at the bottom, whilst also having the adding bonus of a review at the top. This is something I would consider having on my film poster as it shows what other peoples opinions of the film were and hopefully encourages them to go and watch the film.
• The reason I chose this poster on here is because i liked the idea of the eye in the background watching over the person down below. Its similar to the theme I will be doing in my teaser trailer. The idea of being watched wherever you go, and this poster really reflected this idea.
  

Research and Planning - Location Recces Number 1

 
These images Show the locations that we are planning to film some of the scenes for our teaser trailer. We are using the train station and the bridge to show a 'stalking scene'in our teaser trailer. We are going to film on the opposite side of the tracks to where we took our pictures, this is so we make sure that we have avoided filming the construction site that is located next to the train station. The bridge and the train station are all in the same location which is one of the reasons why we chose this particular place. Because it allows us to show the girl walking from the bridge and to be followed with the camera all the way up to the train station without the audience noticing any slight change of set. It will also allow us to shoot it all in one go. Which then means we have more chance of the weather being exactly the sam eon all shot which may have proven difficult had we have been having to shoot on seperate days. We chose this location because it looked a safe place to film but we will alo sbe carrying out a risk assesment on the area before any filming takes place to make sure the place is suitable.

Research and Planning: Group Meeting 2

We had a group meeting and discussed our teaser trailer idea. By the end of the meeting we had decided on our storyline. At the beginning of the trailer it is going to start with two couples breaking up in separate scenes and then the third couple breaking up is going to be the one that will be the main characters in our teaser trailer.

Research and Planning - Film Poster

Whilst doing some research into my Props and costumes on the internet I came across this film poster.
I liked this poster because it is similar to the one that we will be creating to go along side our teaser trailer. Although it is similar i think that many improvements could be made to this poster to make it more eye-catching. However i really liked the tag line along the bottom as it was pretty much along the lines on the story line we will be following in the making of our teaser trailer.

Research and Planning - Prop List

Research and Planning - Equipment and Software

This is a list of all the equipment and software that I am going to need to make my teaser trailer.

• Video Camera
  
• IMac - Photoshop, Garageband, I movie, Final cut express.
• Lighting
  
• Microphones
• Digital Camera
  

Research and Planning- Production Schedule

This is my production schedule, that I plan to follow during the production of my teaser trailer.
I created this with Naomi, who I am working with, to make sure we were both clear about the stages of production and when they will be taking place.

Research and Planning - Cinema Trip

This picture here shows me taking a trip to my local cinema to see a newly released film.
While I was there I particularly analysed the different film trailers that were shown before the film. There were about four or five film trailers shown all appropriate for the age rating of the film i was watching. The film trailers were different lengths depending on their purpose. If the film was about to come out fairly soon then the full length trailer would be shown which would last about 3 minutes long, whereas if the film was just being introduced to the audience, it would only be about a minute long and would be purely there to make the audience aware of the film leaving them wanting more.

Research and Planning - Regulation

These are the selection of film ratings that the bbfc use when grading new films.
It begins at with U which is colour coded green. U for universal.This indicates to parents that the film is suitable for all audiences and wont contain anything that is likey to upsey small children.
Then Its PG which stands for 'Parental Guidance' - Similar to U it shouldnt upset a child over 8 years old but parents are adviced to consider whether the film may upset sensitive children.
The next band is 12a and 12. 12 alone means that the film is only suitable for children of 12 years and over whereas 12a is slightly different and exists only for cinema fims. It indicates to the audience that it is suitable for children over 12 years old but if children under 12 years old would wish to see the film then they would have to go with a parent or guardian.
15 is the next age rating and simply means that the film is only suitable for people over the age of 15 and noone younger should be allowed to see the film as it would be unsuitable for them. This is the same with the age rating 18. Simply meaning the same as 15, nobody under that age group is permitted to watch the film.
Finally R18 the highest film rating, is completely restricted for adults only and is to be sold only in certain shops.

Research and Planning - Music

This is theme music that I created with my partner on the software garage band. We were given a genre and asked to create a small piece of music that we thought matched that genre best. Ours was Sci-Fi and above is the finished piece. We think overall it was successfull and gave us an experience of using garage band so that we can then use this when we come to make our teaser trailer.

Research and Planning - Treatment

The main idea we had for our trailer teaser trailer is focused on jealousy,
The plot is about a girl who breaks it off with her boyfriend via text, we see a high angle of his phone as he receives the text message from the girl.. at first his reaction is calm and he looks upset. But then he sees the girl out with her new boyfriend and we see his hurt turn to anger as he goes into a destructive rage,
The music changes at this point and the whole tone of the teaser trailer changes from the audience feeling sorry for the boy who has just had his 'heartbroken' to wondering what his next move is going to be .

Research and Planning: The Pitch

Research and Planning - My Preferred Audience

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• Above is the questionnaire I constructed to discover my target audience and what they expect a teaser trailer to be like. From this I found that Horror movies attract both males and females between the ages of 17 - 25, so I will be aiming my teaser trailer at the younger generation.
  
• The occupations of people of the above ages are usually students so this gives me the idea of maybe having the trailer set in a school/college environment. This way it relates to the audience.
• The majority of people said that they would like a teaser trailer to be about a minute long, this makes it so it gives just enough information to keep you hooked without giving too much away.
• The target audience of my teaser trailer will probably be in the socio-economic groups D and E, these are unskilled workers, students and the unemployed.
  
• The psycho-graphics of my audience would be students who enjoy socialising, and would go to watch the film as a social event.
  

Research and Planning - Conventions

A teaser trailer is a short clip used to advertise an up and coming new film. It gives the audience a small glimpse of the new film designed to leave them wanting more. This then encourages them to look out for the actual film trailer and then to eventually go and watch the film.  - This is the trailer for the new 'Saw 3D' film, it is a good trailer as it has lots of special effects and gory scenes that although I would like my horror trailer to be similar to this it would be too difficult to create with the resources available to me.
This is the trailer for the 2006 film, 'when a stranger calls' it is a more realistic example of something I could base my teaser trailer on. It doesn't have loads of blood and gore that i would be unable to recreate. For example, the first scene is simply a close-up shot of a telephone, with the background music and the fast shots that follow it is relatively easy to do. Also it is set in a house and so that would also be an available set. I am going to keep the basics of the second trailer but have the first trailer as something i aspire to achieve aspects off.

Conventions of a Teaser Trailer
After watching these teaser trailers i now know that my teaser trailer will have to include the following things;

Research and Planning: Analysis of teaser trailer 1

The opening scene of this trailer shows a little bit of history behind the film along with wartime style music which automatically entices the audience because it looks like a real life scenario instead of just a made up story (whether it is or not) which always appeals to viewers more. Following this  comes another piece of music which gets across the genre to the audience more or less. If it wasn't clear to the audience what this music is then it would be about 30 seconds in when the music cuts out and the trailer takes a more sinister turn. The camera which is focused on a man leaning against the car window shakes and freezes slightly showing the audience he does not appear to be an innocent character. From this the screen looks like a T.v gone dead the, music changes and from this is is completely clear exactly what the genre of this film is.

• The shots in this trailer starting from about half way through are incredibly fast. This was done as so the first half of the trailer introduced the film to the audience letting the audience be intrigued and come up with their own ideas as to why the strange goings on appear to be happening.
• Then the second half of the teaser trailer shows the full extent of the story in a series of flashes and screams in a montage of shots showing snippets of what looks like captive/torture. Leaving the audience wanting to watch the film. The editing is fast paced which is a classic convention of a teaser trailer.

Research and Planning - The Test

This is our mini chase sequence that we produced as a group of four, each taking on an individual roll of either acting, camera work or directing. My area was directing the actors where to stand and what to do during filming. I enjoyed this roll and i also co edited it with my partner once it was completed, this i really enjoyed doing as it allowed me to cut out all the unwanted bits and make the quality of the film better. Although i enjoyed this roll, next time i would like to play a more active roll in the filming, so i can get to know the different camera shot and positions.

Research and Planning: Photoshop recap

For this task I had to revisit Photoshop by creating a film poster. This was to see how much I had remembered and to give me a taster of making a film poster.

Research and Planning - Audience Theories

The Hypodermic Syringe Model Theory - implies that mass media has a big and powerful effect on their audience. For example, they send out their messages and they are injected straight into us as  audience members.

Cultivation Theory - This is a social theory that examines what long term effects television has on audiences of all ages.

Desensitisation Theory - Assumes that the more we watch something the less effected we become by it.

Copycat Model - Assuming that people will copy films and copy anything that they watch.

Uses and Gratifications Theory - With the rise of mass media in the last century, critics worried that its power could destroy freedom through manipulating consumers.

Research and Planning: Genre

I researched genres before deciding with my group which genre our film trailer would be.  I researched a number of genres, to make sure i had considered a wide variety before deciding on which one to choose for our film trailer. Here are a few listed below.

Romance

The genre 'romance' has the associations of the color red for love. Viewers would usually expect a happy ending where the boy gets the girl and there is also usually an element of comedy in there, which is where they get the combination name 'Romcom' from. Films such as 'P.s I love you', 'Notting hill' and 'Pretty Woman' are examples of this. Romantic genres often have actors and actresses which are associated with that genre such as Hugh Grant and Richard Gere known for their roles in many romanctic films.

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Horror

The genre 'Horror' has the associations of dark colors, For example pitch black rooms, and possibly the color red carrying the associations of blood and the devil.  Viewers usually don't expect a happy ending and they will be expecting death and gore depending on the nature of the film. This is why most horror films have the certificate 18 on them restricting viewers of a younger age from going to watch the film because of its disturbing scenes. For example the Saw films are all rated 18 for there gory nature. 

  Sci-Fi 

Science fiction is a genre dealing with science and technology. It is often set in a futuristic setting, it is different to fantasy as some of its imaginary elements are sometimes scientifically possible. It can be a setting in the future, or in the past contradicting known historic events, or in outerspace involving aliens. 

Here are some examples of sci-fi films; 

Knowing (2009)

The Happening (2008)

Also a very popular sci-fi film of 2009 was 'Avatar' 

   

Comedy

The genre 'comedy' can simply be described as something which makes you laugh. But its not actually this simple. It can be divided into different groups depending on the source of humour, the context and the method its delivered. Here are a few examples;

Black comedy - Dark comedy dealing with subjects such as death.

Blue Comedy - Based on sexism, racism or homophobic views.

Character Comedy - Mostly coming from stereotypes.

Physical Comedy - Similar to slapstick.

This is my first session on my new blogger and i am just learning how to insert pictures.