Research and Planning: Questionnaire Results

2. Do you think we should have a voice over for our trailer?

6. Do you prefer films in first, second or third person?

Research and Planning: Suitable and Unsuitable Trailers

This Paranormal Activity trailer would not be too hard to achieve. The simple location and filming techniques mean that it is easy to do. No extreme weapons or locations are used, meaning that the acting would be simple enough and and I feel that we could achieve this type of trailer. 


This Saw trailer would be difficult to achieve with the facilities and equipment that are available to us. The extreme weapons and strange locations would be hard to get hold of, and are dangerous. The characters would also be difficult to achieve as the makeup/masks wouldn't be something we could get hold of.

Research and Planning: Questionnaires Screenshots

This is a blank questionnaire before it was filled in.

This is a completed questionnaire, the results of all questionnaires are in a different post.

Research and Planning: What Is a Trailer?

A trailer is promotional tool for a film. A teaser trailer is usually in between about 1 minute and 1 minute 30 seconds. A full length trailer is about 3 minutes long. They are shown on TV and screening before a film and include clips from the actual film to show what the film is about.


Typical codes and conventions of a trailer can include:

• Montage
• Voice over
• Titles
• Title of Film
• Release Date
• Certificate
• Studio Name
• Peak Scenes from Narrative

Research and Planning: Most Popular Horror FIlms

I went on IMBD and searched the top most current horror movies, and these are the first 14 most popular results.

Research and Planning: Audience Research Theories

The Hypodermic Needle Model
-The audience receive the message that and accept the message unconciously.

The Cultivation Theory
-The more time the audience spend watching TV and playing games, there more they begin to believe that it's real.

Desensitisation
-The more people watch a certain genre of film, they will become immune to it and it will no longer affect them, for example, horror films won't scare someone who has watched so many and become immune to them.

Modelling or Copycat Theory
-People copy things that they see on films or games and blame the film/game for the reason they did it. For example, criminals can commit crimes and blame a violent game for it, as they have copied it.

Uses and Gratifications Theory
-The audience take out what they need from the film, and dismiss or reject what they don't need and what they know isn't real.

Research and Planning: 2nd Trailer Analysis

The Blair Witch Project

Genre

The genre of this film is horror. This is very clearly seen throughout the trailer, but is made very obvious at the start where there is titles shown on the black background telling the scary story of how the film was discovered. 

The questioning of the people from the town also begins to show the horror as they are telling the characters their creepy encounters with the 'Blair Witch'. The footage from in the woods then shows the main horror of the film and where it begins to go wrong.

Most of the lighting throughout the trailer is low key, showing the scary, dull events that happen in the film showing the audience that it is dark and sinister.

The Carol Glover theory is quite relevant to this trailer/film as it shows that the main girl, who was the person who planned the whole thing is the one who is terrorised throughout the film until the end.

Representation

In this trailer, the representation of men and women is quite typical. When the map gets lost the trailer shows the male character blaming the female character for losing it and by him having the stronger side of the argument, it makes him look stronger than her. This make the female character look weak and vulnerable, being a stereotypical representation of male and female characters.

Narrative

A very clear narrative is shown through just the trailer to this film as the title tell the story and move on time, and the footage does the same whilst giving drama to the story.

The narrative is typical to this genre of film as it shows people who are unprepared and unaware for what is coming, therefore it is obvious that something bad is going to happen to the characters. The events that happen are predictable, for example; something going wrong = losing the map, and the characters dying was always going to happen from an audience point of view.

Todorov's theory occurs in this trailer as the beginning of the trailer the is equilibrium and everything is calm from the footage before the adventure starts. The disruption occurs when the map becomes lost and there is conflict within the group of the three people. The climax then happens when the girl is screaming whilst running through the woods, but it then goes quiet again which could be seen and the equilibrium resolved, although the actual resolved equilibrium will be shown in the film.

Audience

As the certificate of this film is a 15, the audience will obviously be people aged 15 and above up to people in about their late 20's. I don't this film has particular gender in it's target audience as none of the characters are sexualised, therefore is doesn't attract a certain gender.

This trailer/film has it's uses and gratifications as the audience will dismiss the fact that there is a 'ghost/witch' involved as many will not believe in this, although they will take in the fact that the character as killed and is an important aspect.

The storyline in this film can sometimes get quite complicated, meaning that the audience will need to concentrate, all though this is only a small proportion of the film meaning that for most of it they can sit back and relax. This type of film is always the same as the jumpy/scary bits are when concentration is needed. This could attract the audience to watch it more as a lot of younger people prefer something that they can just sit back and watch.

I think the lifestyle of people that watch this film would probably be people in college or university that will watch it with friends rather than on their own, so they will be people who socialise. 

Media Language

Cinematography

There is some very effective cinematography is this trailer. The hand held camera throughout shows that the film is supposed to be viewed as 'real footage', therefore this makes it more believable  It also makes the footage more dramatic as the audience get the see what is happening from the characters point of view.

The close up on Heather, the main girl face when she is crying in the tent is very dramatic as it is close up on her eye with tears, this make the image very creepy and dramatic and makes the viewer tense.

As the characters are running with camera, is gives the impression that they are being chased, and as the audience get the characters point of view, the audience feel as though they are part of it.

Editing

The many fades to black after each snippet of footage makes the trailer very dramatic as it doesn't show the whole scene so the viewer wants to know what happens next in the scene.

The fades to black also show the progression of time throughout the trailer, therefore it makes sense and doesn't get confusing.

There isn't a lot of editing in this trailer which makes the fact that it is supposedly 'real footage' more believable and more realistic, therefore little editing will achieve the effect wanted.

Sound

With each fade to black comes a a deep heavy drum sound. This none diegetic sound shows the darkness and drama within this film. 

Through the diegetic sounds in the woods around them make the footage natural, but also dramatic as the woods brings lots of unexpected noises, making some parts of the footage jumpy. This can be used cleverly, as a branch can snap, making them jump, although that it a natural sound in the woods but then a noise that isn't supposed to be there can be used straight after as it is even less expected, this can make the audience even more tense.

The dialogue throughout is very important as it not only tells the story but also the mood of the characters. The fear in the characters voices is huge aspect in this trailer, as the shouting and the language used shows just how scared they actually are, giving the audience more insight into how they are feeling.

The diegetic sound when they are running is very dramatic as you can hear the breathing of the characters showing the fear.

Mise-en-scene

The location in this trailer is the biggest aspect of mise-en-scene. The woods are the main location being where most of the time is spent, but it is also a very effective location as anything unexpected can happen. As everything is hidden behind trees etc., the audience don't know what will happen next, therefore the suspense is kept throughout.

The house at the beginning of the trailer also shows the ordinary lives of the characters involved, which again, makes it more believable.

The costumes of the characters are just ordinary, casual and suitable for their adventure in woods. They also show that the characters are just ordinary people and make the plot believable.

The low key lighting throughout gives away the dull sinister plot to the film. The scenes that are filmed in the dark are made obvious by the dark, black and white camera shots. These shots are very dramatic as the dark is perceived as scary, therefore these scenes are a lot more scary.

The low key lighting also portrays the mood of the characters, which is scared and tense.

Research and Planning: Group Meeting

My group and I have discussed what roles each of us will have in the production of this trailer. We have decided that Amy will be in charge of Mise-en-Scene, Sam will be in charge of editing, and I will be in charge of cinematography. We will share between us sound and all input work into it to share out the roles evenly.

Research and Planning: Genre Change

After speaking to my group about the genre of our film, we have decided that it would be more suitable to change the genre to Fantasy/Horror rather than Fantasy/Thriller. We figured that horror would be more suitable that thriller as the aspects of it are easier to create. We will keep the location the same, as it is mostly in the woods, and the story line will be very similar, just with more horror aspects. The rating will also be kept the same, as will most aspects of the film.

Research and Planning: Trailer Research.

I asked some people on facebook for advice about which fantasy/thriller film so analyse for my second trailer analysis, and these are the suggestions I got. As the trailer my group will be making will include mythical creatures, I think the film 'Fright Night' or 'Interview with a Vampire' as these involve vampires.
The trailer I have chosen to analyse is 'Fright Night'.

Research and Planning: Trailer Analysis

Twilight
Genre
The genre of this film is fantasy thriller. The fantasy aspect can be seen through the fact that the film is based on vampires, which are mythical creatures. The genre of the film also includes romance as the trailer shows that there is a love story between a human and vampire.
The low key lighting throughout most of the trailer shows the genre of it being fantasy thriller as it shows the disruption and difficulties within the storyline.
The fight scene within the trailer shows the thriller aspect of this film, and as the characters that are fighting are vampires, it shows that the genre of fantasy/thriller is very strong.
The Steve Neale theory is very relevant to this film, as there are many vampire films, an example of this is 'Dracula', but this film and many other films put a twist on an original story to make each film their own, in this case, they have given their own interpretation of vampires and modernised the original vampire myth.
The Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes theory is also very relevant to this film/trailer a there is obviously conflict between two groups of people, one side being the good force and one being the 'bad guys', showing the conflict. This theory is also relevant as the vampires are the 'bad guys' as in the trailer, the main vampire says to a human character "What if i'm not the hero, what if i'm the bad guy", showing that he may actually be the villain.

Representation
Representation in this trailer is quite stereotypical when it comes to gender. The male characters are seen as the strongest, and the human female character is quite weak and needs protecting, she is also seen as the clumsy character and needs help from the male character.
By using attractive male characters, who are also dominant and strong, the Laura Mulvey theory  of the 'male gaze' has been reversed so that the male character is the desirable gender in this film. The strength of the male character is also represented, as the two main characters, being the male vampire and female human strongly show the males dominance and need to protect the female as he is always higher than her, as if he is guarding over her. His strength is shown when he is demonstrating his powers, as he pulls out a tree root and climbs up a tree.
This also points towards the target audience as using attractive males will make teenage girls interested and more likely to watch this film.
Social groups are shown in this trailer when the conflict begins as there is obviously history and conflict between the two groups of vampires, showing that they stick within their groups, as if it is an unwritten rule.

Narrative
In this trailer, Propp's theory is very relevant due to all of the stereotypical characters. The hero, being the main vampire, needs to save/protect the 'princess', being the female character. The father of the female character is stereotypical as he obviously wants to protect his daughter.
This trailer gives clues of a conflict between two social groups, backing up the Levi Strauss and Roland Barthes theory of binary opposites.
The main male character is shown as the protagonist as he acts as the hero to save the girl he loves.
This theory also supports the Todorov theory, as there is obvious equilibrium as the beginning of the trailer after the male character saves the female character from being crushed, as there is no conflict, but then there is disruption as we learn about the murders and the conflict begins. We are shown the climax of the fight between the vampires, although the audience aren't shown the resolved equilibrium as this would ruin the plot of the film.
These theories show how typical the narrative is to this genre of film, as the storyline is simple when you look at it overall and is similar to many other films involving vampires, although it has their own twist added to it. There is also a love story in between all of the action, this is very typical of this genre of film, as there is usually a love story underneath everything, being the reason for the conflict and events happening.

Audience
The main audience for this film will probably be female, due to the fantasy characters and the attractive male characters and the age of them would probably be teenagers, up until about the age of 30.
In this film/trailer, the uses and gratifications are shown, as the the audience know that vampires are not real, therefore the audience will reject that information and not take it into account in real life.
The storyline to this film can be quite complicated at times, like for example when the 'hunt' is on for the 'bad guy' vampire to find the female character, the audience will have to concentrate on what is happening to follow the storyline, therefore the audience need to be active for the majority of the film. This may encourage the audience to watch as some people enjoy watching a film with a big storyline to follow, although is may discourage them as some people also like to sit back and relax when watching a film, paying little attention.

Media Language
This trailer uses the Kuleshov method as there is a montage of different clips to show the story moving on, and also to show the personality of certain characters, for example; when the main vampire says "What if I'm not the hero, what if I'm the bad guy?" There are different clips showing to show what he is like.
Cinematography
In the trailer a lot of close up shots are shown of each of the characters showing their moods and reactions to things. When the female characters says "I know what you are" then says "Vampire", there is an extra close up on her mouth and she reveals it, this adds extra drama and emphasis to the word.
When the characters are in the forest, there is a birds eye view of it and the camera it panning to show the views and how amazing it is, and also what it looks like from the characters view, this shows how extreme the location is, emphasising the powers of the vampires.
When the van is about the hit the female character, there are shots from many different angles to show how it looks from different points of view and make it more dramatic as this makes the event take longer to happen, but also shows how quick the vampire reacts.
The point of view shot when the characters are walking through the school parking lot is very effective as it shows the audience what the character sees, putting them in their shoes.
Editing
Throughout the trailer, there are a lot of fades to black, this sometimes shows how time moves on, but sometimes shows the drama and the dark secret of what is going on.
There is a lot of dissolves throughout, especially when they have the conversation when she reveals that she knows he's a vampire, this acts a shot reverse shot, but with more drama.
The many dissolves throughout the trailer also show that time is moving on, this is an effective way to show passing of time as the audience knows about it rather than just using a straight cut.
The writing flashing up on the black screen throughout the trailer looks effective as it gives information about the trailer and also makes it dramatic due the black screen and the font that is used.
Sound
At the beginning of this trailer, the non-diegetic eerie music makes the audience know that something out of the ordinary is going to happen, as mixed with the shots flicking between the vampire and female characters, it makes it obvious that something will happen. The music then changes to have an upbeat tempo, showing that the story has progressed on slightly and something has happened within this time, and in the case of this trailer, the female character has worked out that the other character is vampire. The dialogue adds to the tension, and as the vampire says "What if I'm the bad guy?" there is a gap in the music to emphasise the emotion behind what he is saying.
The dialogue throughout the trailer is very important and that is what the audience will focus on as it gives away very important details to the storyline.
When the mood becomes more romantic and tense when the main characters kiss, the music changes to much slower, emotional music to show the tension and fear behind the characters.
The diegetic sound effects of the sirens of the police cars add drama to the events that have happened when the murders are revealed, and then the sound effects of the fight are very dramatic, for example, the sound of the window breaking show how violent it actually is.
The many different music changes show how the different moods change in between each event and show the emotions that are there.
Mise-en-scene
The mise-en-scene throughout this trailer is very important. As a lot of the location is the forest with very tall trees, this could show the mystery behind the vampire characters as there existence is a secret, and the way that they are hidden in the forest shows this. The dramatic locations also show the strength of the vampires as he climbs a very tall tree, which a human could not do.
The audience see the school that the characters attend and the houses that they live in, giving an insight to the lives of them, showing what their lifestyle and what they are like.
The costumes of the characters are just ordinary, showing that the vampires do not want to stand out or be known as they just fit in. Although the makeup of the vampires shows that they are slightly different, as these characters are supposed to be beautiful, therefore the makeup on them makes them look mysterious and slightly different, without giving anything away.
A lot of low key lighting is used throughout the trailer, showing that the place that they live in is dull and not used to different events happening. It also shows the mood throughout the trailer as there isn't a time that the chracters are happy, show the low key lighting reflects their mood.

Research and Planning: Audience Poll

Research and Planning: Photoshop Challenge

In making this film poster, I used Photoshop. First I made the background black with the paint bucket tool, and then added a picture of a forest and darkened the edges by making the rubber less opaque and rubbing it out. I then added a photo of a girl, but the photo needed cropping, so I used the crop tool, then added it to the poster. I made the photo more opaque and used the opaque rubber again to fade the edges of the photo so it blends into the background and the trees, and before I rubbed it out, it had hard edges and didn't look smoothly blended in. I moved the photo around a few times as I didn't know where it would look best, but I decided that it looked effective in the place that it's in.
The add the test I chose the text tool, selected the suitable font, size and colour and then places the text where I wanted it to be. Then did the same with the tag line, but changed the colour to red. The information about the film production was done in the same way, although I had to reposition it by just using the move tool.

Research and Planning: Interview Questions

Would you pay to see a fantasy thriller film? Why?
What aspects do you think should be involved in this genre of film?
What is your description of a mythical creature?
What locations would be suitable for a fantasy/thriller?
What do you think is the limit in terms of contents included in a film rated 15?
What do you associate with fantasy films?
What do you associate with thriller films?
What is your favourite fantasy or thriller film?

These are the questions we will ask during interviews with people to find out what will be best for our genre of film.

Research and Planning: Photoshop Challenge

In progress.

Research and Planning: Audience Interviews

After analysing my audience interviews and listening to the answers, I have found out that an audience would pay to see a fantasy thriller film due to the quality of the films and that they are just generally interested, therefore this is a good genre of film to make.

The initial plot idea that we had an idea of is very backed up during the interviews as the people being interviewed had ideas that fit very well with the aspects of the film that we would like to include. For example, the location that we would like include is a popular answer and therefore will definitely be something that we will use as the idea is backed up. The same can be said about the ‘mythical creatures’ that we would like to include. Our perception of the creatures is similar to our audience’s perception, meaning that the appearance of them is something that the audience would like to see and would enjoy watching, so we will use it as it is strongly backed up.

The audience’s perception of the limit within the regulation of the film gave us a very good idea as to what we can and can’t include, for example; we will not include a lot of bad language and the violence will not be too horrific. There will be no sexual scenes or nudity as although the film is a horror so probably wouldn’t include that anyway, we would like the trailer to be a 15 so we need to stick to the limits. As the audience that we asked are aged 17 and 18, this gave a very good understanding as they have seen films with this rating and will know what is and isn’t acceptable, therefore their answers are a very good guide.

The answers given in all questions in all interviews are very helpful and we will definitely refer back to them when actually filming and producing the trailer as we will know what our audience will want to see to be entertained.

Research and Planning: Pitch

Pitch from sammichapman

Research and Planning: Regulation and Cencorship

As the film trailer we are planning to make involves violence and some of the content is quite gory, therefore I think the trailer should be a 12A so it can be shown more on TV and parents get the option of whether they want their children to see it or not. The trailer will be advertised a lot easier if the film has a lower certificate as it can be promoted in more places. The trailer will not involve scenes as graphic as what will be in the actual film, which is why the trailer will be of a lower certificate than the film.

Making the film a 15 certificate will make the film reach quite a wide audience. I think it is necessary to make it a 15 because of the content of the film, as it is quite violent and gory, therefore would not be suitable for anyone under the ago of 15

Research and Planning: The Test

Cinematography:
I think the cinematography in this sequence was considered quite well as there is a variety of different shots to show the different angles, for example, when the main character is walking up the steps, we filmed from behind, and then from the front to show him coming up the steps from two different angles.
I also think it was used well when zoom was used whilst filming, as this showed important information within the sequence and it made certain aspects more dramatic.
Although it was used quite well, there are some weak points within the cinematography as the camera was sometimes shaky, making the quality of the filming not as good.

Sound:
The sound within the sequence isn't very strong, there is very little diegetic sound which makes is less interesting. There is some sound edited into it, like the music playing in the background, or the noise of the map showing the travelling but it doesn't add much to the sequence, so I think this sequence lacks good overall sound.
There is also unwanted background noise in some shots which makes it less dramatic.
Some of the sequence goes on with no sound at all when there is text shown on a black screen, this makes that part of it quite boring, this is something that could have been changed and the effect of the struggle would be better achieved with music in the background.

Editing:
I think some of the editing in this sequence is quite good and adds drama to it as there is a few fades and dissolves to show the struggle that the main character is going through.
Although most shots smoothly go into one another, there is some shots that just jump from one to the other without a proper editing transition, meaning that some might not make much sense.

Mise en Scene:
I don't think the mise en scene within this sequence is very effective or convincing, as it was just filmed within the college, therefore when the main character arrives at Manchester, it is very obvious that he isn't actually as an airport. Also, the sign saying 'Manchester' doesn't look very official.
The costumes weren't thought about at all as it wasn't something we had time for, although the costumes weren't crucial as it was realistic, therefore no dramatic costumes were needed.
The props in the sequence were minimal, being just a computer, which worked quite well as it made it easier to show that the character was travelling.