Monday, 30 November 2015

Research into similar products (Text in trailers)


The use of text in trailers is mainly used for the replacement of a Narrator/ Voice over. The text used in the trailers is usually to give the audience information on the film for example it will say something about the location where the film is set and it may even talk about the reputation of said location. Using text in the replacement of a voice over is cheaper and easier but non the less i think it it outdated and awful. i think that if you cant get your story across using acting or dialogue then your story isn't going to be a very good one. if anything the use of text in trailers is just to be used as a filler so they can make their trailer longer with no real help towards the story or the promotion of the film. in my trailer i wont be using text or a voice over as i feel that it will look awful so i don't want to risk losing marks over it. i will only use text in my trailer if my target audience strongly requests or recommends it as that will be the only way i would ever consider using text.

Wednesday, 25 November 2015

Drafting & Planning (Completed Storyboard)



this is the final storyboard for my trailer. after researching into multiple film trailers i am confident that my trailer contains enough content and detail to be believable and of a decent quality. in this storyboard i have described how i will transition from one scene to the next and the most recurring transition is cut to fade which i covered in a blog post a few weeks ago which is linked at the bottom of this post. this trailer will be of a decent length so it wont class as a teaser trailer. i mainly hope to achieve suspense in this trailer through editing as using fades and quick cuts will be most effective when building towards the end of my trailer which is where the trailer will be ended on a cliff hanger. i will later create a shot list so i will know how many long shots or close ups i will use as it is good to have a balance of shots as i don't want to film my entire trailer in a long shot as it wont look good and will be associated with trailers if such quality as fan trailers. each of the shots in my trailer will be played in chronological order as i don't want to go back on myself when playing the trailer as myself and the audience will just be confused. 

Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Organisation (Deadline and Conduction of filming)

With the Christmas deadline rapidly approaching it is time to start thinking about filming. With my storyboard extremely close to completion i am setting myself the deadline to have all of my filming done by at least the 15th of December. I should be ready to start filming by the 3rd of December which will give me just under two weeks to complete my filming. i am planning to film my entire trailer in one day preferably on a Saturday, this is to give my trailer the belief that these people have been looking for their friend all day as im going to film the trailer in the correct order from start to finish so i as the day progresses the it will get darker outside and as my trailer plays it will slowly get darker and darker. we are going to start editing our footage when we come back from the Christmas holiday but i am going to edit mine during the holiday so when i get back i can focus on my exam section of the course. by filming my trailer in one day it will give me more opportunity to re-shoot scenes i am not happy with as we will be filming al day so i can shoot the same scene 20 times and there wont be any continuity errors as the light will be near enough the exact same through every one re-shoot of the same scene. im going to film Amy's (The missing girl) scenes and the group's scenes on different days as Amy is never filmed in the same shot as the large group so it would be pointless having Amy come out to film three or four scenes and then wait around for the rest of use to film the groups 20-30 scenes for the rest of the day.

Friday, 20 November 2015

Organisation (Casting)

I have decided who will be in my horror trailer. My full cast consists of three girls and two boys. The person who will play the missing girl fits the role as she is 18 and around 5ft 3inc in height which fits the role as for the few shots the missing girl is seen in i need her too look quite vulnerable and my thought is that because of her height she will be seen as vulnerable, im not trying to be mean im only following the stereotype of women and modifying it for my use of vulnerability.
The two girls that will be in the group that is looking for Amy will be my two friends in my media class, Megan and Paige. i wanted to use megan and paige because they are two very close friends and their connection might show through the trailer which will make it alot more believable which benefits me and because they are both in my media class they both understand how important this project is as they are both in the same situation as i am so i know that they will take the filming seriously so i don't have to re-shoot every scene because people were messing around. Out of the two boys i will be playing one which is believable as im 18 which fits the age range im looking for and i wanted the character im playing to show as quite dominant around the group and because im 6ft 3inc it will be easy as i can show myself looking down using high angles which will more than likely be needed because i am alot taller than my co-stars. The second boy in my trailer has unfortunately had to drop out of filming so i will need to look for someone to replace him as the missing role is needed to make the group look more believable as they need to be shown being like a family which will e hard without the second boy in the group

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

Organisation

Although i have spoken about the start of my trailer quite alot and i have have touched on the film idents of trailers i have not yet looked into what production company i will use for my trailer. i will need to decide whether i will use a major or independent film company as this choice will determine the size of my target audience as with a major film company i will be able to attract a global audience compared to using an independent company which will attract a small audience as they don't have the funds for a large advertising campaign. i already know that i will use a major film company as i would like to think my film has the potential to attract a large audience instead of a small one so im going to make my choice out of major company's rather than independent ones. the two companies i am thinking of using are Dimension Films and New Line Cinema.
Dimension Films are a Mini Major film company that produces a wide range of films in many different genres. Dimension Films have produced plenty of famous films such as Scream, Halloween, Wolf Creek and Scary Movie which i analysed and researched as it is of the same genre as my my film http://j4ka2media.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/aaaa.html
Because Dimension Films have produced such classics like these if i decide to use this production company my audience will associate the films Dimension have produced with my film which could attract a larger audience which enjoyed the films Dimension have to their name.
New Line Cinema are the subsidiary to Warner Bros which are one of the most influential film company around and a high ranking member of the Big 6. New Line Cinema are a highly respected distribution company that has produced cult classics such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Evil Dead, A Nightmare On Elm Street and Lord Of The Rings. I needed to include New Line Cinema in my choices for a distribution company based on the fact that they distributed the best slasher film of all time A Nightmare On Elm Street. New Line would be a smart choice as they are the subsidiary of one of the biggest film company's in the world and have a reputation for producing incredibly popular films. Because New Line have the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Nightmare On Elm Street to there name by producing another slasher with this company would drag in a target audience twice the size of Dimension just because they produced the two best slashers ever made so by going with New Line i will have a major film company to back my film and a large pre set target audience waiting for the release of my film before it is even made.

Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Research into similar products (Fades)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDs_DYow7xA
The trailer for the forest uses cuts and fades to black to transition from near enough every scene in the trailer. in the trailer they don't fade out of scenes but they cut and then fade into the next shot, this is very useful when transitioning from small scenes to big ones as you have the added effect of spookiness an example of this is when they fade into the No Entry sign as it gives an added effect that it isn't just telling you to stay                                                                                         out because the land is private but its telling
                                                                                    you as a warning.

in my trailer my transitions are mainly going to consist of fades at the beginning of the trailer as the content at the start is going to be story building so it wont have alot of action to cut into so cuts to fades will work well with the beginning of the trailer but when i get near the end of my trailer i will use mainly straight cuts as towards the end of my trailer is when most of the action will happen so i will need to use fast paced cuts so i can keep the tension of the trailer flowing throughout the shots.

Friday, 13 November 2015

Target Audience


Recently i made a tweet asking my target audience (i went to twitter because all of my friends that would reply are 18+ which is my audience so i know that i can rely on their feedback) what i should call my trailer. i gave my audience three choices which were
The Path, Pista and Thanatos. the last two options are both Greek translations, my logic behind it was that if i called my film Death it sounds boring, plain and basic but by translating that to Thanatos which is the Greek God of death and the Greek translation to the word it gives my trailer a whole new meaning. i received feedback on all of the titles but i didn't include the feedback on Pista because they said it sounds like pasta so im choosing to not consider pista as people might think that is a film about pasta. From the feedback its easy to see that the majority prefer Thanatos to The Path. in my opinion i prefer The Path to Thanatos as the trailer revolves around the group straying from the path resulting in them being killed. but on the other hand i like Thanatos because of the link to the death but just from looking at the trailer it would make more sense to call it the path but i will do more questioning with my target audience to make sure im                                                                                                                not making a mistake.