Influential Trailers

These are the influential trailers which I have analysed via Voicethread

Trailer 1: Woman in Black






Trailer 2: Scream 4






Trailer 3: Paranormal Activity 4

Test Photos

These are the test photos that I took on Friday 27th September 2013. These are photos of the woods that are around me which have lots of different sceneries including hills, bushes, ditches etc which I would have lots of chase scenes and panoramic shots. I also have photos of the sixth form where there is a balcony which I hope to also use.

 

 

Trailer Idea 3: The Creature of Crowthorne

My idea for my trailer The Creature of Crowthorne was inspiried by horror and murder

/detective shows like Jonathan Creek where there is a mystery built in to keep the audience intrigued and keep them guessing of what will jappen within the film. The film would be about a murder in the town Crowthorne, which is where I live. There would be speculations of local beadt sightings and the asumption is that he beast roams the town at night and preys on unfortunate ones, but is this all superstition or is there something sinister going on?

 

The charetars in this film would involve a local teen who is drawn into the death of their neighbour, their group of friends who helps out and a murderer whi has a motive and is on the kill, using the beast as a cover to draw the townspeople in a false sense of fear, while the corpses pile up one by one. 

 

Mood Board

This is the mood board that I have created which has given me inpiration for some of my ideas for my horror trailer. Below are images of famous and iconic chasrectars from horror films over the years such as Ghoast Face from the Scream series, Jason Voohres from Friday 13th, Michael myers from Halloween, Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Freddy Kruger from Nightmare Elm Street. I also have images of a haunted abondoned house, a dark forest and a graveyard. The graveyard is an iconic background for scary movies as this where dead bodies go to rest. This could build the idea that not everything there is dead so it gives us as an audience a shock when we see something that is meant to be dead alive. The Haunted house is very traditional in a sense that it has been used in many films as a home for the unatural, e.g. a ghost or a psychotic killer. The dark forest was going to be good in my trailer as there is one close by so I can easily film there, and that it is very good for a wide range of shots such as closeups, medium shots and subjective shots.

 

Trailer Idea 2: What is It

 

The second idea for my horror movie is called What is it? where it would be about a enthusiastic photographer who when she submits her final photograhs for her course, see's something strange in on of the photos: a shadow of something tall and humanoid. Soon the charectar starts seeing the same figure around her house, the park, her school etc and soon starts to panic. They eventually start to go on a quest for the stange creature with a few friends and eventually die tragically in horrific deaths as they uncover the truth as they ask: What is it?

 

The creature in my film would not be fully revaled to keep the mystery of the charectar and play on the idea of fear of the unkown which would use the audience's imagination of what the creature is. A short glimpse of the face would be included, as well as shots of various body parts. The potetntial idea is to have the figure with raw, rancid flesh covered in blood, to build tension furing the trailer.

 

The idea was to ask one of my friends who takes photogoraphy to take the role, with a few other friends to star as well. The charectars would mostly consist teenagers with maybe an adult to star as a parent. The locations would be similar to the first idea which would be using the surroundsings around me; the woods, the school and a house, as well as maybe using a lake that is near me as well.

 

 

 

 

 

Trailer Analysis: Lordi

Lordi are a Finnish rock band that have a gimmick which involves dressing up as monsters. The current band members include Mr Lordi the main singer,  Ox the bass guitarist, Amen the guitarist, Mana the dummer and Hella on the keyboards. These members all based on monsters such as a minotaur, a mummy, a doll and many more over the years. Hopefully I can use some of their music in my trailer to promote the film as the songs and the band suit the monster/horror genre my film will be based on.

Music:
Lordi have released 6 albums, the latest released this year, including songs such as The Chainsaw Buffet, ZombieRawkMachine, Biomechanic Man, Would You Love A Monsterman and Horrifiction to name a few. These songs will add extra inspiration to my ideas for films, maybe suing these song titles as a background layer for whatever movie I choose to create.

The band's image is very grotesque and horrific as they portray monsters from old, which has given me costume ideas for my film e.g. torn clothing, bandages, chains, bloodstains, masks etc. because they are terrifying and show this in the media.


The current band below:

Trailer Idea 1: The Virus

This is my first idea for my horror film called The Virus which would be a zombie apocalypse type movie, but down scaled. The film would feature a new virus that is found where people get infected and turn into flesh eating zombies with a thirt for blood, a sort of animalstic, primeval urge. These would be the main threat in the film.

 

The film would also feature a teenager who is shy, quiet, has little friends and has social anxiety, who would be one of the few people not to be turned into a zombie, so he would eventually fight the threat. This charectar would be the main protaganist, who at this stage could either be a boy or a girl.

 

I had the idea to film around the Sixth Form e.g. in the atrium, various classrooms and woods that surround the school as my film involves a teenager at sixth form. The woods that surround the school have some excellent scenery as there are long winding paths, hills and bushes that can be used. The main atrium in sixth form would be ideal for a final battle as there is a large area where there can be some great close up shots, and a balcony that can provide a wide shot to show large the scale is.

 

 

Questionnaire

Trailer Plan

This is a mind map of the trailer I will create for my horror movie. the elements I have explored are location, weapons, villains and monsters because these are all elemts used successful films from this genre. From this planning I have decided I will either have a monster or a villain as both of these are popular and iconic, which will hopefully give my film a USP. I also explored possible locations such as woods, parks ect that I could film in as these all have scary elements to them.

 

 

Below is the first draft of the timeline that my film will follow, before it becomes a trailer. It shows how the film will chronologically will happen, revaling a plot twist in the middle, which I followd from Todorov's theory as there is an equillibrium, then gets distrubed by the plot twist which causes a state of disequillibrium which the chrectars must solve. Finally there is the showdown at the end where the antagonist faces the final threat i.e the main villain.

 

 

Target Market and Audience

The target market for my film are teenagers and young adults (age range from 15-21) as these are one of the most popular audiences for films, especially the horror/thriller genre. I feel if I market my film towards a young audience, the film will be more successful and generate a lot of profit from this.

Mrs D

Well done Jac. You have made a really good start to the project. Your analysis of RMAs are generally good, with some key elements of semiotics too. Add some specific egs from RMAs to narrative and rep theory. Keep up the good work. Use more ICT too please.

Review of our own Ring Trailer

"The Ring" Trailer that we as a group have constructed shows many codes and conventions of typical horror trailers as it  connects the closely edited footage and  music to build up the tension putting the audience in a situation that is uncomfortable. The music starts from a slow pace and builds up when something scary happens, i.e the scream at the end. The series of clips show the story line of the film in a minimalist way as we understand there is a connection with a videotape and a well and the two are dangerous. The MES is also key as it helps create a believable real life atmosphere that puts the audience in the characters place. The trailer a very good copy of the original which creates a scary atmosphere

Skills Audit

The skills I have developed from my AS research and development is that I feel that I am able to analyse a piece of media more easily than before, such as analysing a film or a TV show and how the camera, sounds, MES and editing can all link to representation and how this can make the audience feel via use of semiotic terminology, such as what certain objects represent or have connotations of.

Film Industry

I have learnt that the film industry use trailers for advertisement and marketing purposes as the trailer essentially advertises the film. The trailer also promotes actors, brands, merchandise and studios. The film industry would advertise the film about 6 months prior to release, starting out with a teaser and then a couple of trailers that would follow codes and conventions of any trailer. These trailers would  be shown in cinemas before the showing, and would link films together for example if you were watching an action movie, the trailers shown would be similar as this is targeted to specific audiences and can hopefully make more of a profit. These films would then be shown at premieres, TV, radio, and on the internet which has become more popular with sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as these media are accessible by the masses all around the world, and so a wider range of people know more about the upcoming movie. These trailers are important to institutions as they are steps to build a profit which are their main aims as large corporations. Trailers are also meant to build up excitement and tension as to receive large amounts of customers paying to see films in premieres in cinemas, which generates a larger profit for those institutions, which opens doors for new profits such as sequels, merchandise like clothing, toys, games, music but also to reach out into new audiences through other mediums such as the Transformers Trilogy including music by Linkin Park, which brings to forms of media together and new audiences to target films for.

Sources from: http://www.bfi.org.uk/education-research/film-industry-statistics-research/official-statistics-release-calendar

This is the market share of films in UK  by big name studios and small independat titles as from 2004. As you can see there is no distinct pattern as there have been peaks for major US studios in 2005, 2007 and 2012. The same can be said of the market share of UK indpenedant films as the major peaks have been at 2007, 2009 and 2011.

These are statistcs for the top 20 grossing films released in the UK of 2013 from January to June, with Les Miserables earning the highest and Jack the Giant Slayer earning the lowest.

Representation: Male Gaze

Laura Mulvey is a media theorist that had an idea of representation of Male Gaze, which was the idea of the audience watching the film through the eyse of a straight man, looking at a woman for only eroitc and sexual pleasure, ie her looks. Voyeurism, when the camera pans up and down a woman as if a man was "checking out" a woman proves her points as it is often used in many media, mostly targetd for men.


Below is a trailer that uses the male gaze for the orignial James Bond Serial Dr. No, which features actress Ursula Andres aka Honey Ryder coming out of the in a bikini, which the camera zooms in on her and pans up and down. This definatley represents Laura Mulvy's point of women being objectified for sexual pleasure.

 

 

 

 

Narrative Theory

Narrative theory is how the story line of a media is represented to an audience.

Vladimir Propp suggested that each character in a film can be clarified and what they are meant to represent:

The Hero
The Villain
The Donor
The Dispatcher
The False Hero
The Helper
The Princess
The Father

Propp also stated these situations that may occur throughout a story line

1.        The villain — struggles against the hero.

2.        The donor — prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object.

3.        The (magical) helper — helps the hero in the quest.

4.        The princess and her father — gives the task to the hero,identifies the false hero, marries the hero, often sought for during the narrative. Propp noted that functionally, the princess and the father can not be clearly distinguished.

5.        The dispatcher — character who makes the lack known and sends the hero off.

6.        The hero or victim/seeker hero — reacts to the donor, weds the princess.

7.        [False hero] — takes credit for the hero’s actions or tries to marry the princess.

Tzvetan Todorov theorised that the world where the story is set starts off in equilibrium and the protagonists are generally happy or normality. The normality can be then changed by antagonists into a new disequilibrium where everything is turned on it's head, but can be changed again into  a new equilibrium where everything is good again.

Roland Barthes stated that narrative theory works with 5 codes:

Action
Enigma- teasing/puzzling the audience, wanting the audience to guess
Symbolic- connotation
Semic- Denotation
Cultural - Audience can recognize cultures and time settings 

And finally Claude Levi-Strauss examined how binary oppositions are shown, such as black and white and rich and poor and how they are represented. 

Horror Trailer Analysis: Blair Witch Project

Function of a Trailer

A trailer is a short preview of a film showing the general story line of the film and mild information on characters, endings, twists etc as the writers want to keep the audience in speculation of what will happen. 

Trailers are also used for informing and advertising a brand or film to an audience, letting them know when the film is released and if it will appeal to them.

Codes and Conventions of a general trailer:

Basic storyline/summary

Date of release

Age Restrictions

Health and Safety

Genres constantly used throughout most trailers:

Key Characters- who the film is about and their relationships with other characters, why it involves them etc 

Music and Pace- builds up to a major part of the trailer, the pace will increase and will become louder to build tension.

Trailer Analysis: Infliction

The trailer "Infliction" has many good elements such as the varied camera shots of the church and the graveyard. The synopsis is made clear through the captions saying "will religion be the answer" done by the captions which helps identify the story line and iconography which is centered around religion and Christianity. This links to the MES as the stetting is also links in with the iconography such as the bible and the necklace. The framing is also very smooth as the varied shots transition themselves to create a believable trailer. The sounds include narration of a quote from the bible in a low whispered tone which suggested that the voice is someone who isn't of normal perception e.g. inhuman. the preacher in the church has a low monotone pitch which is quite sinister as this builds tension with the flash of images inside. 

I awarded this trailer 36 out of 40 as it able to inform the audience of the plot but advertise the film by keeping the length short and the shots varied. The trailer also creates a realistic and professional video to keep the audience interested by creating an enigma. my only criticism is that it doesn't seem to convey the codes and conventions of a horror trailer as there is no visual or verbal threat with the main character who isn't explained there just seems to be a plot where "everything falls apart" but not explained how this affects us as audience or the cast of the trailer. the audio seems t build and build but drops slowly towards the end where there is nothing out of the ordinary to frighten us which is disappointing as a story line but good footage actually recorded and editied 

Timeline Task (Scream 4)

Improvements

Concepts including storyboarding and design ideas

Filming locations that suit the genre of the films

Observing previous films and understanding what camera techniques are used and how this creates fear for the audience

Keeping to deadlines as this helps keep organized and keeps track of work done

Use of programmes such as serif and exploring NMT to analyse my work

Ring Trailer Analysis: Improved

The Ring Trailer Analysis

The trailer for “The Ring” opens with a shot of a door which slowly zooms in and get closer and closer, which creates a signified meaning as these micro elements create a sense of fear and danger related to this door, as the camera zooms towards the door. The cinematography also creates the fear as the lights are low lit and are blue, which gives a cold feel about the door.

The next shot is a wide shot of a young boy watching a TV on his own. The shot is a high angle shot which makes the boy look small and vulnerable and the TV larger and powerful, even though it is an inanimate object, the viewer still knows that the boy is in danger, as the TV is both signified and a signifier as something evil, as the audience knows that the TV stands for something evil, as no good can come out if it when the TV appears on screen. The title cards beforehand read: ‘There is a Videotape’ and ‘If you watch it’ which uses connotations that there is a connection between the TV and a videotape, which is a connotation of the viewer that something bad will happen, as bad things happen when the videotape is used, e.g. like death. The cinematography again uses very low, dim lights with a blue shade, which continues the cold theme throughout the trailer

One of the next shots is an old stone well which is a form of MES as it is a prop, which is in the centre of the frame to show it is important and that all focus is on the object. The well is actually a signifier of danger again as it is connected to the videotape, as the frame shows the crackled effect of an old videotape. The well is also intentionally for something darker as it makes the viewer believe that there is something unexpected inside with the intention of frightening us. The background behind the well is also used in iconography as the background is of an old, desolate wood, which is an iconic sing in the horror genre as it makes the viewer believe they are lost alone in an unknown territory with no sign of help.  All of these micro elements help the audience understand the genre by the use of macro elements, as the genre is horror which can be interpreted by all of these signs, and represents something dangerous, scary, fearful emotions. All of these signs can link together as they continue the cinematography throughout the trailer.

Throughout the trailer there is a crackled effect, a bit like an old tape that is blank. This is to continue the semiotics of the trailer which is of the idea of videotapes with something evil on it, and if you watch it you will die, as there are signs within the trailer referring to the tape and the TV, which gives a new sense of fear in the physical world for the viewer as the trailer makes them believe they are watching it on an old tape player.

Anlaysis of Ring Trailer

This is my first daft of "The Ring" traler anlaysis, with feedback which I have changed
and posted onto bloofer. The feedback said that I needed to explain my points from the analysissuch as develop my points.

Reflection of AS

This is the final trailer of "The Ring" trailer that was made before the summer, which has many strenghts and weaknesses for example we worked well as a team and our trailer was very close to the original, as we manages to match most of the camera shots, like the closeups on the eye and the videotape, the MES and surrounding such as the garage and the wel prop which was used in the forest. The weaknesss however were very important was me and my freind Jack were away for most of the filming and planning, which unfortunately we had a very short time to complete the editing of the outakes and had to cary on from a poor week of footage.