Questionnaire results about teaser trailer

When I finished my trailer, I selected approx. 11 people, who had never seen the trailer before, to help me evaluate it and give me their opinion. Here are the quesions I asked and te results.

Questionnaire results

1. The title of the film is “Split”. What are your impressions of the trailer from the title?
 Emotional, to the point
 Horror
 Simple yet good, implies a split personality/mental problem
 Split personality/mental problem
 Split personality
 High energy trailer
 Emotional turmoil
 Something will break down e.g. a friendship, relationship or people might die
 Horror
 Something cutting someone in half
 Short, simple title

2. What are your immediate reactions to the trailer? (Please write down any words that pop into your head, you don’t need to write fully structured sentences).
 Full of emotion
 Scary
 Doesn’t give much away, flashing, dark.
 Fear, makes me want to see it
 Disturbing, chilling
 Scary but alluring!
 Dramatic, emotional
 Interesting, I want to know how a boy turn into a killer
 Kept in suspense from the lighting effects, atmosphere has a gloomy feel to it
 Spooky, mysterious
 Leaves much to the imagination, abrupt nature allows for much more character development

3. Could you rank the following in the order 1-5 which stood out the most and then rate the following five categories out of 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest). I have averaged these results.

Lighting - 3

7/10
Camera shots - 2

8/10
Music - 4

8/10
Acting - 5

7/10
Costumes - 1

9/10

4. On a scale of 1 – 10 (1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest) how well did you think the trailer was put together?
I have averaged this result. The average was 8. People also wrote down some comments:
 Jumpy
 Flowed well, music was perfectly timed
 The music complimented the trailer in a way that made it flow well
 The editing was smoothly done
 The shortness of the trailer added to the tension
 Very good
 Interesting nature of the film
 Important scenes were focused on without giving too much away

5. Did the music fit the genre of the trailer? (Tick the box below and add comments if you so wish)
Yes – 11
No – 0
Comments:
 Children singing was scary
 It fit very well
 Chilling
 Dramatic
 Did fit the scary nature of the film but could be a little better
 The heartbeats and child singing complimented the genre, very frightening
 I liked the music when the scenes changed
 Dark, sing-song beginning belies innocence, abrupt noises were good

6. Do you think the actors played their parts well?
Yes - 11
No – 0
Comments:
 Madness definitely portrayed
 The clown was scary!
 The clown part was played well, very disturbing
 Little opportunity for stage time
 They didn’t say much, however, I am not complaining!!
 Altogether they played their roles well
 They expressed their emotions and motives well
 Grant (who played Freddy) played his part really well, partly because he looked the part

7. What was your favourite part in the trailer?
 Flashy clown bit in the doorway, excellently done and with appropriate sound effects
 When Joey (played by Harry) walked into the house and Freddy (played by Grant) was behind him
 Flashing Freddy and the clown
 Flashing, very effective and scary
 The shot with Freddy changing into the clown in the doorway, where the shot shows the boy becoming his alter ego. It was chokingly disturbing!
 The boy turning into the clown repeatedly with the scary music
 The beginning where Freddy turns into the clown with the scary child singing in the background
 The flashing of the torchlight with the clown behind the girl

8. Is there anything else you would like to add?
 I would definitely watch this film, pretty much professional
 Really scary
 Very exciting
 Fantastic job
 Good
 Change the font at the beginning if possible

Why I didn't use the scream in my trailer

Here is the video clip of Grant standing behind Abby in a dark room. When the lights go off she is supposed to scream. The scream sounds very grainy because of the poor quality of the microphone on the camera (and I wasn't allowed to use an exterior microphone becuase we don't have any in our media department).

Script:

[Dark room] Camera angle, head shot - medium close up

Abby: [holding torch which is starting to flicker, Grant is behind her as the clown. the torch turns off and she screams]

However, I did start to use the scream. I thought if I took the clip, extracted the audio, cut the audio down so it was only the scream and went onto audio filter I could get rid of the grainy audio that was caused by the bad quailty microphone on the camera. But how ever many times I tampered with the sound it either made it worse or didn't change the grainy sound.

I was going to put the audio clip of the scream after the flashing clip of Grant and the clown when there is a fade to black before the title comes up. I was going to put the audio so it would scream as the title came up.

After trying and failing to get the scream audio to work I didn't use it. I then continued editting my trailer and found that the trailer is more effective without the scream. This is because you don't need to add a scream to imply fear or horror.

Below is a trailer to a new horror film that is coming out soon, if it isn't out already. It is called "Insidious". There are no screams in this trailer and yet I believe it is quite terrifying.

Completed teaser trailer!

At the start of my trailer are two shots from ‘Lionsgate’ and the Motion Picture Filming Association rating images, which I have used for effect in my trailer and I do not take any credit for them as my own work as I have downloaded them.

The text “How can normal boy, turn into a Killer” is the first part of the trailer the audience sees. The text itself sets the tone and genre as well as possible plot lines. I also put it over two shots to both split the question and also to make it easier to read. The font is red and the background is black so that the font is able to stand out whilst maintain its dark tone. It also gives the audience the idea of danger in darkness because of reds association with blood and danger and its position in the black background. This automatically sets the scene without even seeing a shot from the film.

The opening clip, which is when Grant turns into the Clown, was done by using two images but the subjects in both of these images were at different heights and therefore their eyes were not in line with one another. I went into PhotoShop (a new media technology) and selected the two pictures I wanted and firstly I cropped both of the images to the size I was using for the videos (which is 16:9). I then used rulers on PhotoShop to mark out where the eyes on the clown started, finished and where the pupil is. I then put those measurements onto Grant’s picture and saw I had to move them over to the left by two centimetres. I then used the quick select tool to select Grant and I moved him over to where he was supposed to be. This left me with a white background where Grant used to be so I went to select and then inverse so the background was now selected. This meant I could fill in the background using the clown stamp tool without getting the original background colour on Grant. For this opening scene I decided to use images rather than video because images are easy to manipulate on PhotoShop as there is no movement to interfere with the desired effect. To give the effect that Freddy was transforming into the Clown I used a cross-fading effect on Coral Video Editor 12.

Following a hard cut the next shot shows Freddy drawing what seems to be the face of the clown. This shows his descent into the split personality, which is helped by the costume which I have already discussed. The camera is a slight high-angle shot which suggests looking down on his fall, encouraging pity. His expression however promotes fear. The lighting is normal lighting, showing he is to an extent still in control but it is slightly dimmed to give the feeling that he is losing that control. The chair next Freddy is pulled out, though this is subtle it suggests that there are two minds at work here, the helpless Freddy and the more sinister Clown. More noticeably the large windows in the background shows the dark night sky, contrasting to the white walls, again symbolising good and bad. The reflection of Freddy in the window also shows the split again. This is achieved as only half of his body can be seen in the reflection and suggests to the audience that he is not all himself and is losing that grip on reality. In terms of editing, when Freddy raises his head I increased the speed of the frames by 10% so that the audience can see his eyes. Then when he lowers his head I decreased the speed of the frames by 20% for effect.

There is then a cross fade into the next scene which shows the passing of time. The shot is slightly low angled because it shows that Harry’s character, Joey, is in full control of himself. The opaque windows also shows that he is unaware of what is happening to Freddy inside. They also provide a physical marker of him leaving the light into the darkness. There is no light in the corridor where the camera is, the only light source is from the porch. His lines then show his innocence and obliviousness in the situation. I used audio editing software on Corel Video Editor 12 to make his voice deeper by 10%, so that it is more powerful.
There is then a fade to black which shows an over the shoulder shot which shows Freddy’s perspective. This reveals the words “Kill Her” which are written in blood on the bottom half of his paper. This is, to an extent, a convention in horror films, the writing of important messages in blood, which shows the audience the danger of what is to come. The lighting is the same as the previous shot of Freddy in the same room.

There is another fade to black, which again shows the passing of time and into darkness. It reveals a long shot of Freddy and Abby in low key lighting. The main source of light is a desk lamp which highlights Abby and shows her to be innocent but surrounded by darkness and furthermore the danger she shall soon be in. This is further emphasised by the her relaxed position and the fact that she is oblivious to Freddy standing over her as she reads. The light in effect framing Abby contrasts her with Freddy further as he is framed by the darkness. His position allows him to look down upon her giving him the power in the shot.

There is another fade to black which goes back to the shot of Joey entering the house, but from the other side which gives a two shot. In the previous shot you will notice that Freddy was not there, and this is another convention of horror films e.g. The Strangers which unsettles the audience. Freddy is again positioned in front of the black background whilst Joey is now walking into the darkness, and away from the light. This symbolises his movement away from safety and towards what is hiding in the dark.

Once Joey has left the shot Freddy still remains and the split is shown visually and clearly for the first time by a series of hard cuts between identical shots except for the costume. The flashing images between the two split personalities shows that Freddy is not sane as the flashing is unsettling. It ultimately finishes upon Freddy which shows the monster is within but because it finishes on Freddy it shows there is a slight chance of hope.

There is a fade to black following the previous scene which then fades in to the title of the film. This title is the same as what appears on my poster and on the film magazine front cover. This links the three media texts together. I have already explained the connotations and how I made this title in the analysis of my poster.

A fade to black then occurs to show a low key lighted room and a two shot, mid shot of Abby and the Clown. This shows audience what is to come in the film, and Abby’s scared expression heightens the danger of her situation. I used strobe light to create this lighting effect, and it highlights the two faces, contrasting Abby’s freighted face with the demonic features of the clown. The lighting also means you still do not fully or clearly see the clown, which gives the audience the fear of the unknown hiding in the darkness.

There is then a sequence of three shots, which contain quick hard cuts, and cross fades. The speed makes it unnerving and is again a convention of the horror genre as it shows a lot without showing much and allowing for the audiences imagination to take over and want to fill in the gaps and see the film. Two of the shots have already been used, the two shot of Joey entering the house with Freddy over his shoulder and Freddy drawing at the kitchen table. These two shots frame the centre shot, which has very little lighting outside. It is an extreme low angle shot, giving Freddy all of the power, as he forces the shovel into the ground. The darkness does not allow the audience to see his features, which means they cannot identify or sympathise with him as a human.

The trailer then finishes with a fade to black into black background with red text (which connotations have previously been discusses) saying “Coming Soon”. This is a convention of teaser trailers as they are released before the release date is known and they are merely to attract audience’s attention and speculation about the film. This is then followed by the credits of the film, also seen on the poster, and the website which audiences can find more out about the film, as another part of an all rounded advertising package.

Teaser drafts

The problem with trying to produce a teaser trailer in our media lessons is we only have 2 hours of media twice a week and the only computers that have the software we used are in the media department. Below are 2 of the drafts that I have picked out that I believe show my work progressing (I do have around about 7 drafts of this trailer but some are just slightly different).

This is the first 28seconds of my teaser trailer. It has very little sound added because I was more concerned about putting the clips together and then I could worry about music.

Below is another draft of my teaser trail. I have added a bit of music to it and the scenes are virtually in the same order as the final and complete draft.

In the next post I will upload my complete version of my teaser trailer and I will analyse each clip of there connotations and how I put them together.

Filming 2

As the first filming evening I had didn't really go according to plan I had another night set aside for filming (November 12th). I redid almost every scene and I was able to do the scene outside this time (I wasn't able to do it last time because it was raining and I didn't want to damage the camera). This filming evening went really well and we were able to finish filming within 4 hours! In this blog post I will upload the original film clips that were taken from that night and I will explain them as I go along.

November 12th: We met up at Harry's house where we had previously filmed. I didn't change the location because I was happy with it, it was how the characters acted that needed to be changed and some of the scenes. I went through the script one last time with the actors and told them about specific things that I wanted to happen.

We started with the shovel scene first because it looked like it was going to rain outside and it was rather cold so I thought we'd do it first to get it out of the way. This sceen was quite difficult to get right because there was virtually no where to do this shot that had the right sort of lighting. We tried it first on the grass area. I was lying on a plank of wood holding the camera up (low camera angle) looking at Grant who was standing over the camera holding a shovel. There was little light from the house even when we turned on the outside lighting. Grant had brought his strobe light for another scene so we decided to plug that in (in the outside plug) and use that as a light sorce. The strobe light was quite small and only really gave us a spotlight effect but we took a few clips using that and then decided to re-think this idea.
(A clip of this is to the left). I walked around the garden to see if there was a better place to do the shot. There was a brick wall which stood at half a metre with an outside light near that area. I laid on the brick wall whilte Grant stood over me with the shovel. (pictured left). I decided that the clip where I am lying on a small brick wall was a better clip than the other one that was taken of the grass. This was because the lighting was better and you could actually see Grant instead of just seeing his arm. (clip linked below).


The next scene I filmed was when Grant is in the clown costume and is standing behind Abby in a dark room. This scene was done by all the lights being off, we used the strobe light for this scene. Step by step: all lights off, strobe light is turned on, you see Abby and the clown, the person controlling the strobe light then moved their hand over the light slowly and then gradually getting faster so it looked like the 'torch' is flickering, the light is then turned off at the plug so there is no complete darkness and Abby then screams. (clip linked below)


The next scene I film was down in the living room where Abby is sitting on the sofa reading and Grant appears outside the window. I had to do this fairly early on in the evening because it still looked like it was going to rain. (clip linked below)

The next two scenes follow on from each other. The first one is Joey (played by Harry) walking into the house from outside saying, "Freddy, are you alright?" and the second clip is where Joey walks into the house looking for Freddy and Freddy appears behind him. (Both clips are below)




That drew my filming night to a close and I was really pleased with the work we had all done. It was a really good night and all of us enjoyed filming it. In my next post I will start explaining how I edited the clips and I will also upload some of the drafts of my actual teaser trailer and talk through them.

Film Poster

In between the first filming night and the second filming night I was able to complete my film poster on paper and then on the computer. My ideas have been attached below.

First draft of Film Poster

I liked the second idea more than the first. On my filming night I took some pictures and I chose to use this picture (pictured left) for the poster. I took the photo of the reflection of the clown in a mirror with my DSLR camera and a Pentax slave flash. This created over exposure in the photo and the shadow and background was black and half the clown was also covered by the darkness, which gave the effect that the clown was appearing out of the darkness, the light from the flash also further highlighted the clown and its menacing features. I decided to use this picture because of the natural effect and unease feeling it gave off. This is my original concept design of my film poster. I chose a black background because it symbolised the film being mysterious, dark and unsettling which are connotations of the film. It is also allows the target audience to identify that this is a horror film based on just a few factors which are conventional in the genre. I chose title Split because the protagonist in the trailer has a split personality, and that is the main narrative of the film. This is also both appealing and daunting to an audience because it is both an exaggeration and an extreme case of a mental disorder which can anyone. The title then sums this up, and its simplicity grabs the attention of the audience. I chose the font Myriad Pro (regular, size 250pt, sharp) in a deep red. The red most noticeably refers to danger and blood, and its darker tone reflects the narrative of the film. The red and the black are also the only colours which really stand out in the poster, which due its simplicity of the two colours is more effective than overwhelming the target audience. The size and position of the title is important because it stands out and because it is slightly off centre and to the left again unsettles the audience. To really make the font stand out I used several effects in Adobe PhotoShop such as general blending and outer glow:

General Blending: Opacity – 78%

Advanced Blending – Fill Opacity 62% Channels – R Blend Chipped Layers as Group Transparency Shapes Layers

Outer Glow: Structure – Opacity 72% - Noise 27% - Red

Quality: Range – 51%

Colour Overlay: Blending mode – Normal, Black Opacity – 26%

The rating stars are conventional to show the audience how good the film is. I made the stars myself by going on Google images and finding a picture of one star. I then coloured it red to match the colour scheme I’ve already discussed. I thought, however, this was slightly dull and to make it more striking and slightly unconventional to stand out and I put in stripes. This also further reflects the title as it emphasises the word Spilt as the main narrative of the film.

Second draft of Film Poster

From my original concept I made this poster (pictured left). I kept the design and the main focus of the picture and background the same but I changed the font of the title and added some more text (titles of the film magazines and a caption). The title has changed from red font to a red pixel distortion highlighting the black font of the title. This was done by: Font: Palatino Linotype Size 270pt Colour Red (H-0%, S-96%, B-89%, R-227, G-9, B-9)

Effects: Blending Mode – normal

Opacity 100% Fill Opacity 0 Channels R Blend, Red

Outer Glow: Blend Mode – Screen Opacity – 72% Noise – 27% Colour – Red

Elements: Softer Spread – 0% Size – 250px

Quality: Range – 51%

Colour Overload: Blend Mode - Normal Opacity 26% I chose do this as it has darker connotations as the title is almost lost in the darkness and highlighted by the red which symbolises blood and danger. Apart from the colour I kept the positioning the same because it connects with the clown figure. The caption underneath the title is another convention of the film industry as it further gets the audience’s attention as it makes them question the plot. I chose the quote “So terrifying it sends Pennywise back to clown college”, this shows intertextuality. This also will attract, not only horror fans but, the follower of Stephen King’s IT. It also, like with the star ratings, demonstrates the power of the film.

Third draft of Film Poster (finished copy)

Though I was satisfied with my poster, I thought I could improve it. I spoke to my target audience and they agreed with me and gave me some possible ideas and positive feedback. My target audience liked the back ground, the fonts, the star rating and the quotations. However they thought it was slightly cluttered and the image of the clown, however striking it was, wasn’t as scary as it could be.

The image of the clown I believe wasn’t frightening enough because the detail was lost. To solve this I thought, using the same image, to crop the image as an extreme close up would be more intimidating and terrifying. I used the lasso tool in Adobe PhotoShop on the image to cut around half the face to emphasise the split in his nature. The reason I have put it on the left is because the lighting created a strong contrast emphasising his features. This then further draws the audience’s attention to the title as the eye is lined up with the title allowing an easy natural flow. The title is the same as discussed already though with one change. My target audience did not comment on the title but I felt it could be improved. To do this I split it (again referring to the title) with an almost transparent identical font, which is slightly down and to the right of the original. This was done by:

Font: Palatino Linotype Size 270pt Colour Red (H-0%, S-96%, B-89%, R-227, G-9, B-9)

Effects: Blending Mode – normal

Opacity 100% Fill Opacity 3% Channels R,G,B Blend, Red

Outer Glow: Blend Mode – Screen

Opacity – 72% Noise – 27% Colour – Red

Elements: Softer Spread – 0% Size – 250px

Quality: Range – 51%

Colour Overload: Blend Mode Normal

Opacity 26%

Bevel & Emboss: Style – Inner Bevel Technique – Smooth Depth – 100% Size – 5pt

Shading: Angle - 60°

Altitude - 30° Shadow & Highlighting Mode – Screen Opacity 75%

Contour – Elements, range 77% In response to the feedback that the poster was cluttered, I decided to remove one of the star ratings, as I did not think that three identical ratings added to the poster. Then to balance the poster I added the conventional credits of those involved in the production of the film at the bottom of the poster. I both wrote the credits and developed their style to match that of the poster myself. I put them in white to make them stand out, contrasting the dark black and red whilst still matching the colour scheme, as they match that of the clowns face.

When I started doing the film magazine front cover I was then thinking of how it could be related to the poster. I decided it would be better to have one of the ratings as if it was from my magazine, so I've changed Total Film to Film Verdict. I have also changed the source where the description, "So terrifying it sends Pennywise back to clown college" is from. It is now from Film Verdict and not Empire. Below is the up to date poster, it is now completely finished.

Filming

Once I found actors I could find their costumes, and various other equipment which was needed for the shoot. For Harry I told him wear black jeans and a white shirt, the white shirt shows a contrast between Harry and the darkness. I told Abby to wear a navy top, black leggings and to also tie her hair up because it shows her face more and therefore you are able to see her emotion. For Grant I told him to wear a black top and blue jeans for the scenes where he is Freddy and I bought the clown costume which cost £40 for the scenes where Grant had to show the split. The costumes are a very important part of mise-en-scene and contain a lot of connotations. I considered these carefully as Harry was wearing the brightest colour (white) which symbolises his neutral position. This contrasts to the other two characters, especially Grant who is wearing black, which shows the audience that he is less emotionally involved with Grant, and to an extent, Abby. Abby is wearing a navy top which identifies her more with Grant showing that she is emotionally involved with him but its darker tone suggests that she is in more in danger than Harry’s character. Grant is wearing black because it symbolises the danger he is in and the danger he may inflict upon others as well as being to show the darker side to his nature.

To help me with camera work and the changing of scenes I asked George Hopkin, who is also doing A2 Media Studies, to assist me and give me continuous feedback. I used two Panasonic SDR-S26 video cameras, which film in HD for higher quality. I used these new media technologies as it makes the film quality, filming process and editing stages both easier and much more effective than the technologies which were available in the past. I also used tripod for all of my shots to maintain the camera at a level and steady position to reduce camera shake and blurring. I did not use an external microphone because I did not think it was necessary as there is not much speech and the built in HD microphone in the camera was sufficient for this.
To create the trailer I used several camera angles such as medium close-ups, over the shoulder shot and low angle shots. I will talk about the effect of these shots later, but the camera positions and angles were also important in terms of lighting. On the whole I used low-key lighting to emphasise the literal darkness of both the plot and the Freddy character.

I filmed on october 15th at Harry's house, it was the perfect location because for the low-key lighting and large rooms. I filmed all the scenes except for the scene when Grant is outside and forcing a shovel into the ground because it was raining. The evening went well, it could've gone better. I came back to school, uploaded the pictures I had taken and the film clips. While looking through the filming clips I didn't quite think they worked so I decided to film them all again on November 12th.

The first filming night didn't go according to plan but I took some pictures so I could start on my poster and I could do the first scene of the trailer (where there is an image of Grant and am image of the clown with a cross-fade in between).

The opening clip, which is when Grant turns into the Clown, was done by using two images but the subjects in both of these images were at different heights and therefore their eyes were not in line with one another. I went into PhotoShop (a new media technology) and selected the two pictures I wanted and firstly I cropped both of the images to the size I was using for the videos (which is 16:9). I then used rulers on PhotoShop to mark out where the eyes on the clown started, finished and where the pupil is. I then put those measurements onto Grant’s picture and saw I had to move them over to the left by two centimetres. I then used the quick select tool to select Grant and I moved him over to where he was supposed to be. This left me with a white background where Grant used to be so I went to select and then inverse so the background was now selected. This meant I could fill in the background using the clown stamp tool without getting the original background colour on Grant. For this opening scene I decided to use images rather than video because images are easy to manipulate on PhotoShop as there is no movement to interfere with the desired effect. To give the effect that Freddy was transforming into the Clown I used a cross-fading effect on Coral Video Editor 12.

Story board and script

After doing a spider diagram of ideas I focused on the ideas I thought were the strongest. I had decided that it would be interesting to do my teaser trailer about a boy (teenager, around 17 years old) with a split personality. I chose this because it seemed the most interesting to do. I had to research about split personality disorders and how people who had the disorder acted so that the actor that I cast for the character knew how to act. "The development of MPS (multiple personality syndrome) is almost always triggered by severe abuse, including sexual abuse. During the traumatic experience the person becomes dissociated from the experience, becomes 'not there', and an alter personality takes over the pain. For every traumatic experience an alter is created." - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A446393

Once I had planned my trailer I decided to organise the production stages. Firstly I chose my actors, I cast them on how well they performed my script and if their appearances fitted the roles of the characters. For the role of Freddy (the main character) I cast Grant Sterry, who has done GCSE Drama, is doing A Level Drama and has a Grade 8 in his LAMDA (The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art). The role of Freddy’s friend, Joey, I cast Harry White who is also doing A Level Drama. The role of Freddy’s girlfriend I cast Abby Neal, who is doing GCSE Drama.

Continuing my research I decided to draw a story board of what I would want my trailer to possibly look like. I drew it by hand but then I also drew it on Paint on the computer (pictured left). It would start with an image of Freddy (played by Grant) with a cross-fade to an image of the clown, therefore it would look like Freddy was turning into the clown. It would then go to a scene where Freddy is drawing something on a table and then cut straight to a scene of Freddy standing outside staring at his girlfriend, Abby. Scene 5, Joey (played by Harry) will walk through the door and say, "Freddy, are you alright?". Scene 6 Joey will walk into the house and Freddy will be standing behind him, scene 7 follows quickly behind when Freddy has now turned into the clown. I have an idea for this, which if I get right will work brilliantly, scenes 6 and 7 will be 1/24th secs each and will play alternately so it will look like Freddy then clown, then Freddy again, then clown and this will happen for at least 2 seconds and if done correctly it will look terrifying. Scene 8 will be Freddy (as the clown) standing behind his girlfriend, Abby, with a torch on that Abby will be holding which will flicker.

I have also put together a script.

Characters:

Grant - Freddy

Harry - Joey

Abby - Abby

[Kitchen]

Grant: [slouching at the table drawing]

Camera angle, medium close up

[Grant looks up and then looks back down at his paper - Camera angle, over the shoulder shot - to see "kill her" written in blood.

[Living room]

Abby: [sitting on sofa reading/watching TV]

Camera angle, long shot

Grant: [Standing outside of one of the windows and is looking at Abby menacingly]

[Front door and hall way]

Camera angle, medium close up, low angled shot of Harry walking through the door.

Harry: [walks through the front door] "Freddy, are you alright?"

Camera angle, long shot so you'll be able to see Grant when he comes into the shot

[Grant comes into the house after Harry and stands at the door, REPEAT SCENE IN CLOWN COSTUME.

[Outside]

Camera angle, very low

Grant: [forces shovel into the ground]

[Dark room]

Camera angle, head shot - medium close up

Abby: [holding torch which is starting to flicker, Grant is behind her as the clown. the torch turns off and she screams]

Analysis of trailers

As I was trying to think of more ideas I decided to look at three trailers specific to my trailer genre of horror. Write an overview of the genre trailer you have studied and are most likely going to pick as your own.

I have studied and analysed three trailers from the horror genre. The three trailers are: Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Paranormal Activity 2 (2010) and The Last Exorcism (2010). Although these three films are from the horror genre, there is a difference between them. Nightmare on Elm Street makes you think about the murders and how Freddy Krueger can get into all of their dreams/minds. This trailer didn't frighten me but it made it think about the storyline and what could've possibly happened. Paranormal Activity 2 was different because the trailer is there to make you jump and make you frightenend. The Last Exorcism didn't frighten me as such but the clips in it did make me feel physically sick.

The trailer for Nightmare on Elm Street had many interesting features, of which the best were the camera angles, the editing and the music. At the beginning of the trailer it shows us young Freddy Krueger running away from the town's people who are chasing him in cars. A slow motion close up was used when Freddy Krueger was running away and as he turned around to see where they were. This was to emphasis the fear in Krueger's expression or, in fact, the look of guilt. The rest of the trailer follows the conventions of a horror trailer; fast, short clips and the music building up to a climax. Probably the most shocking thing in this trailer that actually scared me was after the opening scene, when Krueger started appearing in people's dreams a little girl's voice became the voice over and she started saying a rhyme about Krueger. It started with, "One two Freddy's coming for you". The children's voices come back at the very end just before the credits, the children start laughing. This makes the trailer seem a bit more manic and disturbing because younger children are involved and that, to me, is terrifying.

The trailer for Paranormal Activity 2 is very different to the previous trailer because this trailer is more to do with making the audience jump and it is less about camera angles and positioning. There are a lot of hard cuts, done so to make you jump e.g. there is a scene where a dog is barking at a door, the camera cuts to a clip of an audience and then back to the door where now a teenage girl is stood there. It looked as if the film was being recorded from CCTV camera around the house. This is not the conventional way to record a horror film but is becoming more popular thing to do: The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity and The Fourth Kind all being documentary style horror films. I think doing a horror film as a documentary will add to the fear element and make it a more terrifying film.

The last trailer is The Last Exorcism and I believe this is the most terrifying of the three. The main reason for this is because it is filmed as a documentary which makes the experience watching it feel even more real, making the audience feel like it actually happened rather than having a script and a proper film crew. The other main reason that makes this trailer so frightening is the red coloured overlay that has been used in the last few scenes of the trailer. This red overlay really gives the audience a sense that the girl is evil and is being posest by the devil.

A2 coursework

This blog will help me publish all my ideas and finding of my A2 Media Coursework. Our task this year was to create a teaser trailer, a poster advertising the trailer and a front cover of a film magazine.
My initial ideas were to make a horror trailer in a forest about a murderer. My inspiration for this was The Blair Witch Project and The Strangers. I soon realised that it would have been difficult to make my trailer unique from these two films, it would not have been very original so I decided to leave that idea.

I then needed more inspiration for my trailer so I looked on YouTube at a few horror trailers and I looked for the conventions of a teaser trailer. The conventions are: credits, you are able to distinguish the genre of the film, title, diagetic and nondiagetic sound and the release date. I then went on to write down what I should do and shouldn't do in my trailer and what I should concentrate on the most.

• No fight scenes but you can suggest violence
• Music must be relevant e.g. if it is a horror trailer then don't chose a pop song
• Font for the captions - not too fancy or plain!
• Don't give the story line away!
• Think carefully about the scene, the costumes and the speaking parts! (no lengthy conversations)
• Clips should be non-linear
• If there is an irrelevant clip then delete it
• Try not to use "blood"

I then started on another idea and for this one I wanted to play on people's fear of being alone. If I'm home alone and I hear a creek or a noise I get scared very quickly, it happens to everyone. From this stemmed three ideas.

1. Guy is home alone, his parents have gone away for a few weeks. He has a party and after everyone leaves he falls asleep on the sofa. He wakes up and finds out there's been a powercut so he goes upstairs to sleep and hears weeping coming from his parent's room.
2. Starts with three people standing over a body. They try and cover up the accidental murder.
3. A boy with a split personality finds himself alone with no one to turn to, no one that he can trust. He believes he has turned into his other personality and that it is taking over his life. He then murders people close to him because he believes they are trying to kill him.

For my teaser trailer I started to develop ideas via a spider diagram, which I have attached, and I circled the best ideas which I came with which helped me to focus on them. I then developed my ideas further by drawing out my initial ideas for my storyboard. The main plot is a young man (aged between 17-19) developing a multiple personality disorder, suffers alone which leads to more danger for him and his loved ones. I chose the idea of a man with an multiple personality disorder because it is slightly less conventional to the typical teenage horror and shows possible real life events which could happen to anybody. This is both scarier as it follows a new trend in the horror genre focusing on real life events no matter how extreme e.g. The Strangers, Paranormal Activity and The Last Exorcism. The Strangers plays upon your paranoia about being home alone in the dark introducing the three masked intruders that say very little except powerful lines such as in response to the women who asks “Why are you doing this to us?”, one of the masked intruders replies “Because you were home.” Paranormal Activity also plays on your fear of the dark and uses noises around the house to escalate that fear e.g. stairs creaking, doors slamming and noisy pipe work. The Last Exorcism is filmed as a documentary film which makes the experience of watching it feel more realistic making the audience feel that they are true events rather than fictional created by a film crew and scripts.