Narrative Theory Structure within my film trailer

Within our film teaser trailer, there is not much evidence of a multi-strand structure other than the fact of the characters getting separated within the mine, however that could be argued to be Point of View (POV) as it shows as it shows the pov of the characters rather than multiple people. I would say that our film teaser trailer is an open-ended trailer, as it doesn’t give away anything within the film but lets the audience have their own interpretation on what is going to happen; however most teaser trailers would have such cliff-hangers within the trailer as the aim of it is to “tease” the audience and make them want to see more and find out the situation. Also on this point you could say that a cliff-hanger like we have at the end of our trailer is very common within the genre type chosen of our film, as it has elements of action and thriller as well as the psychological-drama, which really needs the end of the trailer to be up for personal interpretation; on this note the trailer is very much represents the themes of the film as well, as the trailer ends on a cliff-hanger which mirrors the narrative structure of the film as we want it not to end with it set in stone and everyone lives happily ever after, but left on a note which would make the audience think after the film, therefore making it more intriguing. I also think within my trailer it gives quite an concept of verisimilitude, as within the narrative structure and plot of our film it shows a creation of a realistic world, with a plot that is also realistic which I think would make the film more effective as if a situation like our film implies could actual happen in the real world. Our trailer is also effective in a sense due to some of the rules of Todorov, as within the trailer it shows the equilibrium of the characters being fine, going on a bike ride and everything is under control, then it leads to the disruption as shown through the editing of the handheld camera where a dark figure shadows the outside of the mine, portraying the decent into darkness to come, the following shots show recognition of this problem as shown through the characters faces and the music creating the tension, however within the trailer there is no repair or a new equilibrium as that is something you must find out whilst watching the film and leaving you on this cliff-hanger really intrigues the audience to find out what’s going on.

Editing.

Editing was huge in the production of our video trailer and fufilled the potentional of our shots that we took. During editing we used Isaac's Macbook Pro and the program "Final Cut Pro" to edit our footage; even though it was slightly complicated to use at first, it gave us the effects on the shots that we wanted perfectly. A good example of this was during the discussion of the "night vision effect", because obviously we are a school and dont have access to such equipment, however what we did with some of the footage was put a green filter on it, messed around with opacity and contrast to create the same effect that the camera of real night vision does.
With the combibation of both the big cameras and the GoCam, it gave us a good outcome of footage due to the differant types of shots which could be shot with each, and during editing it seemed to show and pay off with the planning of shots that we did previously. When it came to transitions to keep the footage flowing we used techniques such as black outs and light outs to make it seem a bit more professional and look more like a trailer; an example of the light out is when we did the shot of taking a picture of the cast and what we did was do a sudden light out with the image from the shot which we had frozen and put into sepia to make it look like a picture but with connotations of the cast being lost, and maybe fortellling the storyline. The next two shots were those of an action-match, the first one being with the cyclists approaching downhill towards the camera, then going to the next shot where its the cyclists heading downhill and disappearing into the distance; editing the action-match wasn't too hard, as all we had to do is cut the shot in the first part of the action-match when all the actors go past the shot then quickly put it next to the next shot where it flows nicely. The next shot we did was the long, pan shot that shows us the surroundings and the area in which the story is based; this shot I think is very important for various reasons, one of them being it makes the actors look small compared to the area as if its almost too big and overwhelming for them, creating connotations of them being weak and small. There is also the factor of pathetic fallacy, which obviously we didn't create however it was a good effect that contributed towards the feel of the shot, as it foretells of the lost atmosphere that the film will show. The next shot is of a handheld camera the the cast are using, where we put filter on creating the effect of as if its being filmed on a handheld camera through the little battery sign and the lines around the screen; also we used the 'fuzzy screen' effect as if it has no signal, and through combination of the two shots of the walking into the mine and the shadowed figure looking into the mine works well as it is up for personal interpretation what its about, for example my interpretation of it is that it represents the decline from the normal, civilised characters to a shadowed, dark character through the silhouette. The next couple of shots are close ups of the characters expressions showing the fear that the actors portray well; again with this there is the night vision effect created through green filters, opacity and saturation. We also did the last shot of the mysterious person taking away the passed out body of our actor, and this is only shown for a split second to increase interest and also tense atmosphere created through sound etc.

Spence Level to Beneath

After a a lot of thought into it, we decided as a group to change the name of our film from Spence Level to Beneath, as we thought the name Beneath may connote better things towards the themes of the actual film. We decided Spence Level wasn't good enough through these connotations as its simply the name of the mine we filmed inside, and if we want a mass audience to be attracted towards a trailer and we draw them in through suspense etc, an name such as Spence Level may not live up to the expectations of the audience, nor sound as effective as Beneath; Beneath I think connotates what is beneath the mine, what secrets it may hold, what mysteries shroud the bleak landscape, and also beneath the actual characters and how they react within this situation of being stuck in the mine for a while. Beneath also sounds darker, and more sinister than Spence Level, as Spence Level is just a name, but Beneath is up for the audience to interpret, and they may ask themselves "beneath what?" and this will attract the audience, supporting the tense build-up we aim to create.

Filming.

We did our filming on the 5th of November, and we collected as many shots as we could from the location. As we couldnt go too deep into the mine, shots were slightly limited, and so we did one shot at Isaacs house in a room pitch black and Arte doing the Zippo lighter shot where the lighter is blown out. The problem with this shot (which we noticed before filming it) is that the sound will be differant obviously to the mine with the dripping water, so we recorded the sound of the water dripping from Spence Level, and we are going to edit it to the shot, to make it sound like the shot was taken from the mine. We encounterd a few slight obsticales when filming/recording our trailer, as we filmed it on saturday, and due to Reeth Estate being on one of the routes on the "Coast to Coast", there were loads of tourists around which made the shots hard to avoid them getting in them. My role during filming was to help out organise the shots, and I was also in charge of lighting and sound. Lighting wasnt really hard, as we did most of our shots in daytime, however in the mine I had a spotlight which belongs to my Dad to light up the darkness of the mine; sound wasnt too bad as well, as I was just stood by the camera making sure the boompole was in position, and to pick up the acute sounds wanted in the shot. I also did a little video with a little handheld camera, explaining the shots and techniques we were using in the process of filming our film trailer.
Within the mine as I explained before it was hard to film, especially with sound and lighting, however using the GoCam helped us alot and gave us some very effective close-up shots of the characters facial expressions which will be a good option during our editing to create the tense atmosphere. Through the day we took various photos of our progress, and a few are shown below:

Plan for filming Spence Level.

Here is a complete plan which we will use in order to get everything prepared and organized for the shooting of our Trailer. We have decided on a date, and that is going to be on the Saturday 5th November.
Equipment:

• 2 Big Cameras, for filming both the actual trailer, and the actual production and behind the scenes of the trailer filming. 
• Handheld Camera for shots inside the mine if its not possible for the bigger cameras to do so.
• Still Camera of pictures of the filming.
•  Go Cam
• Boom pole or whatever its called?
• 2 tripods for the big cameras
• Handheld Torches/ Spotlights
• Head torches
• Technical Equipment: Laptop to edit and analyze footage. Also to upload images taken.
• Helmets for mine.
• My car in order to carry equipment.

Clothing: 

• Waterproof jacket
• Leggings
• Fleece
• Wellies
• Rucksack for technical equipment
• Spare clothes.

Cast Equipment/ Clothing:

• 3x Bikes
• Cycling Equipment
• Zippo Lighter 
• Cycling Clothing - Helmets, gloves, body suit, shoes etc.

Storyboard

The Decent Trailer

First of all I am going to analyze the trailer for the film "The Descent", which is a British Horror, and is basically six women in an unmapped cave system, whom get trapped and are pursued by flesh-eating humanoids. The main reason why I picked this film to Analise is that it is in a cave, and therefore relevant to our idea, as of the themes linked with darkness, close-up shots, emphasized sounds and also the cast and how they suffer with the effects of claustrophobia etc. However when reading about the information Ive read on the internet about the film during the filming it explains how they found it too hard and time-consuming to film in an actual cave, and so they filmed most of it in a studio, which obviously is going to be a problem with the filming of our trailer. As of this "barrier" which holds us back slightly we're going to have to not go very deep into the mine, as of the reasons being that it will be more of a risk and also harder to film, so I am going to look into maybe using a green screen for certain shots if the facilities are available to do so. I have watched the film before, and it was quite freaky with some powerful horror scenes which I got scared in, but then again when it comes to horror films I am pathetic! Anyways I'm going to analyze the trailer and pick out some points that may be relevant to our trailer and see if we can apply some of their ideas to our own. Here is the link for The Descent Theatrical Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5I1q4KhKNU
At the beginning of the trailer, it starts of with quite a nice calm atmosphere through camera shots, as you can see with the group shot of all the girls getting a picture together all happy and showing the relationship they have which seems good; however almost straight away the editing is foretelling the audience what is to come as of the quick fade into darkness, with the sound of the camera emphasized, that draws the audience' attention in order to watch the rest of the trailer. After this, there is the quick clip of the scene of them in the car, where one of them says "Ive never been lost in my life!" which again is telling us that this will obviously be a new experience for her, even before the events of the humanoids come into play. It also has a good effect when they start the noise a split second before the shot while it is still in fade, which we could apply in our film trailer, for example the noise of rustling starts during the fade which draws the audience' attention, which then goes on to show the shot of them getting prepared to go down the cave, which is giving it a more tense atmosphere which is relevant to their genre of the film, as well as our genre of our idea. There is more talking between the girls at the beginning of the film trailer compared to the end of the trailer that I have picked up on, and this shows us that the relationship between the girls is broken showing the downhill from the beginning to the end of the film. Sound is possibly the biggest part I think in this trailer, and I to prove this point I watched it with and without sound, and the difference is amazing in the sense of fear and tension that is created upon the audience. Without sound when watching this it seems quite interesting, as you want to know what is going on however that is given even better with sound in the trailer, as it gives you slight hints that the soundless trailer doesn't. Also another note during this trailer whilst being watched without sound, when it gets to the dramatic part where the humanoids are first introduced, it doesn't have the same scary effect, just has an almost monotone feeling throughout, unlike when there is sound introduced to the trailer, it has the tension building from the beginning, which is suddenly converted to the horror aspect when the humanoids are introduced, and makes the trailer more jumpy, giving the feeling the target audience are seeking for when they go and see a horror film. Throughout the trailer there are words that pop up on the blacked-out screen that are basically the themes and feelings of the characters that are portrayed in the film (e.g. Claustrophobia, Disorientation, Fear etc). I think this effective as it registers in your mind, and this is followed by the next clip of the scene which is relevant to the word, and meets the expectations that the target audience want a horror film to achieve, so when applied to a film trailer I think it is a good aspect and makes people want to go see it. From 1:10 of the trailer, it starts to get at its most freaky, and starts of with the word "Fear" in the blacked-out screen that begins to shake violently with a tense noise, which goes to the mid-shot of the woman with the use of night-vision camera, shouting "Is anybody there!" in a stressed out voice, that sends shivers down your spine, and this is followed by the monster standing behind one of the women, and very quick editing of it striking, jumping around and my favorite shot of the trailer of the headlight falling, and smashing on the ground which leads the light to slowly dim out into the next black-out fade. I think we will use a shot like this in our trailer and we have discussed already before using this technique with a lighter to light up the darkness which gets blown out. Following this there is tense noises that are played however not as up-beat as the part when the monster strikes, and it is when the women are almost reuniting in the cave, however all the words that have been shown in the fades before are all in action creating this stressed, hysterical atmosphere. Also within this part of the trailer there is the line of "The battery's on our lights will run out" which is showing how they have little time before there is no hope whatsoever. I think in our trailer we should have some effective lines such as this that doesn't give anything away, yet gives it the effect that there is little hope for the characters. From here on the trailer I think isn't that great in order to apply to our film, as it is mainly screaming of pain that the monsters have inflicted on the characters, and them fighting them, but that wont be in our film.

Transformers Trailer Analysis

Transformer: Dark of the Moon
Directed by: Michael Bay.
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Markiss McFadden, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Patrick Dempsey.
Plot: The Autobots led by Optimus Prime, are back in action, taking on the evil Decepticons, who are determined to avenge their defeat in 2009’s "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". In this new film, the Autobots and Decepticons become involved in a great space race between the U.S. and Russia, with a focus on the Cold War and the moment man walked on the moon in 1969, and once again human Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf )  has to come to the aid of his robot friends. There’s new characters too, including a new villain in the form of "Shockwave", a longtime ‘Transformers’ character who rules Cybertron while the Autobots and Decepticons battle it out on Earth.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H8bnKdf654
Analyzing the Trailer: At the beginning of the trailer it starts of with setting the scene with a small description on the screen telling us the time zone the film is setting, being "July 20th 1969". Quickly after this the use of Camera Angles are effective as we see a Metallic cylinder object flying quickly through space, drawing the audiences attention quickly to find out what it actually is. You see the object land on the Moon, which again at this point most of the audience realise it maybe mankind landing on the moon, which is shortly followed by the dialogue saying "A Generations greatest Achievement" and "Our nations proudest moment". This written information now has verified in the audience's mind this is the Americans landing on the Moon as well as the real life footage of the reaction on some Americans when this took place. There is a close up of a Spaceman's foot landing on the moon with the emphasised noise to make it more dramatic. The non-diagetic sounds at this point is a trumpet giving you a slight sense of pride at this moment, which suddenly changes to a silence and back to the offices in the States, and hearing the Spacemen through their communications, which makes the audience feel tense as if what is to happen, as it has changed in  a quite dramatic fashion. From here on the sound starts to gradually get even more tenser, and more robotic noises are heard and sounds which are non-diagetic causing the audience to be intrigued. The Spacemen also talk within this tense moment, saying things like "Your not gonna believe this" and "You can not believe what we're seeing", again not giving anything away to the audience yet, keeping the audiences attention drawn to the trailer. Both through the zooming in from a establishing shot to about a mid shot, and the talking in the background saying "No sir, we are not alone" it gives you a feeling that there is something hidden within the trailer, which you will find out if u carry on watching. There is a close up and an extreme close up of the Robot withing the metallic alien spaceship, which isn't activated but seems as though it is not in action, but then the eye lights up blue, and through going deep into the robot through its eye we see all the gears and cogs starting to move as if it is going to start up now, but infact it starts to build itself into the "Transformers" title of the film, which is a great effect as it goes with the whole transforming theme.

127 Hours Film Trailer Analysis

The next film trailer I am going to analyze is going to be "127 Hours", which is a biographical-adventure film that is about a mountain climber called Aron Ralston, who becomes trapped by a boulder. I really want to see this film as it is based on a true story and the plot is basically the same as what happened, other than in the film they have added obviously some more dramatic bits to make it into a blockbuster. Although the theme is different to our film as well as The Descent's genre are different to ours which is a Psychological-Drama, it has various different thing that we can apply for example what Aron Ralston will be going through mentally, and hopefully we can try and get this mental state on the same par in our trailer and if so I think that our trailer will work very sufficiently. Here is the link for the 127 Hours Full Length Official Trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ
The trailer for this film is very differant to "The Descent", and in a way I prefer this trailer, as its mainly more my type of film, and it isnt all blood and guts, and actually has a decent, real life plot. It starts off with a good atmosphere, even though the first shot is with Aron with his arm trapped in the boulder, he starts with the line "Good Morning Everyone, it is 7 o'clock in Canyon Land USA!" which I think would draw any audience' attention as it isn't branded with a target audience like The Descent is. Also there are a few glances that are establishing shots of where the film is going to be based of the Canyon, which I think is a good touch as Ill expand on my point before it isn't going for a niche target audience but for a mass audience; yes you could argue that both films are rated at 15, however you can tell through this trailer yes it will have some very potent scenes in it, but in the end it will be alright, unlike the typical horror style that The Descent has where practically everyone dies, which doesn't really appeal to me or the majority of people. Although this film isn't the normal comedy as I explained before the genre is a biographical-drama, there are some comedy elements in the film, and positive parts which appeals to every audience. In the trailer at the beginning there is the part where there is an answerphone message saying that he hasnt called his mum, and to call her please etc, even though this message is while he is trapped by the boulder its still this upbeat atmosphere, that doesn't freak the audience out and no tension is created. Aron also in this trailer is creating his own amusement in a way, which is comical in a sense, when he is saying "This morning on the boulder we have a very special guest Aron Ralston!" which even though portrayed positive in the trailer, actually has a basic mental aspect if you think about it, and he is simply trying to imagine he is not there trapped under a boulder, well he knows he is there but he is trying to make it out its fine down here in his mind. In the trailer there are also some very good editing combined with shots that speeds up the process the character is going through whilst making it different and interesting, for example at 0:37 there are 3 parts to the screen with different shots; he is parking up his bike and heading towards the mountain in the central shot, then on the left of the screen is him walking up the mountain and the shot on the right is him on top of the mountain. I think this is effective as its quick but not tense quick, just showing excitement and also different techniques in filming and editing which gives the trailer a slight edge to others on at the time, as its using completely different ways to draw attention, and I find this very effective and interesting. Then later on in the trailer, he is carrying on this TV Show style act on his handheld camera, saying "Is it true that you didn't tell anyone where you were going?" followed by quick editing of him falling and his arm getting wedged between the rock-face and the boulder, which then he comments "Oops" which is slowed down to show the expression of his face, showing his teary face. He starts to get emotional and saying how much his parents mean to him etc, and wish they knew he appreciated them, with flashbacks of his past and his parents introducing him to the Grand Canyon. The Close-Up shot that his hand-held camera does is very effective as it shows his exact feelings which makes the film trailer I think. Then pathetic fallacy begins and the weather changes, and a thunderstorm begins with heavy downpour and lightning, which gives the dramatic effect which obviously we would like to apply to our film but we have limited days we can do it, and the weather purely depends on the day. It also finishes with the line "Dont Give Up" which I think we need an effective line or metaphorical phrase for our film trailer to make it stand out from the crowd like this film trailer.

Shutter Island Analysis :)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZF2Lc_KCW_s

Here is a video of me and Isaac, which Charlie recorded observing the four key areas of the film being Mise En Scene,  Camera Angles and Shots, Editing and Sound :) We also discuss the film as a whole and talk about the ending and how that is effective, and how we could potentially apply these to our trailer.
I also made notes whilst watching the film which I will write down on here:
Random Infomation:
At the beginning it opens with editing fades with the Production Company, which we will use in our trailer. Also throughout the film the colours are very dark, which connotates the sinister film that Shutter Island is, so I think when applying this idea to our film trailer, we should start with the brighter colours then later on in the trailer start using darker colours. They also use pathetic falicy in the film, as during the film it is mainly a hurraciane, which stops at the end of the film when the storm stops and the last scene where the residents of Shutter Island are cleaning up the debrie of the storm, showing that the main character has accepted reality of him being a resident of Shutter Island. Throughout Shutter Island, there is vaious little hints that imply the events to come at the end, and I think when applying this to our film trailer we should reveal only a few little bits but not alot.
Mise En Scene:
Through mise-en-scene I think that Shutter Island portrayed it very well as it was around about the beginning/during the Cold War era, and the clothing of suits with hats as such were very effective. I think in the mise-en-scene section there wasn't much that we could exactly apply to our film. The actors were also good for the part as they looked the part as in the actual people looked like in their face features that they were from that era, which again made the film more believable.
Camera Angles:
There was at the beginning a kind of establishing shot, of the boat coming out of the fog which I thought was very effective, which as I discussed before works with pathetic falicy, as the fog almost reduces your vision of the film, not giving any infomation away. Also it has quite a long screen time during this shot, which creates tension from the beginning shot. Close-ups were used during the scene when they are in the Shutter Island graveyard, which also with the mixture of editing of the lightning in the scene that creates the more tense atmosphere.Again another close up which comes with the lightning, is when he is in the Wardens office, which flashes up on screen of these freaky pictures from the American Civil War.
Editing:
Editing in Shutter Island is very important, as it shows the strange moods and feelings during the film. There are various differant things which I think are effective, for example when the triggering of the flashback, there is that record playing, which goes instantly to the scene with the main character and a Nazi officer. During the film there are multipule times where there is dreams, and in these dreams the editing starts to blend with reality for example during the scene where he is in the old American Civel War headquarters, and the smoke from the ciggerette is going back into the cigerette and he is inhaling the smoke rather than breathing it out which is a really good effect.
Sound:
As I mentioned in the video above, sound is cruicial, and there is alot of use of big bass sounds, and also softer noises whcih creates tension for example violins etc.

the video footage on location.

Here is the video footage that exaplains what we did at the Mine and also just practicing the editing through the macbook pro that Isaac owns. We attempted to edit the camera shots and play around with the effects, which gave us the idea of later on when we are inside the mine, as we cant get hold of a night vision camera, we are going to use a negative effect with a green screen to make it look like night vision.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/QwIrr7_j4XI

Location.

Plan for Monday 3rd October: Mining

• Lighting: handheld torches, head torches.
• Video: Handheld Camera, "Go Cam".
• Photo shoot: Still Camera
• Clothing: Waterproof jacket and leggings, fleece, wellies, rucksack for technical equipment, spare clothes so I don't get my car wet.
• Technical Equipment: Laptop to edit and analyze footage. Also to upload images taken.

                                                                                                                              

We have decided to film the location at Reeth Moor Estate, which I went and checked out the places to film. I also got permission to film at Spence Level, Old Gang and Hard Level from the Head Gamekeeper of Reeth Estate, and we went on Monday 3rd October. Me and Isaac went in order for the photo shoot and ideas for shots, and we got 60 photo's of various ruins and mines, mainly at Old Gang and Spence Level. As well as the actual photo shoot, we recorded inside the mine, our ideas, equipment and so on, giving you an idea on what it is like outside a still image. In order to film inside a mine we had to be prepared and we did a plan for our trip as seen above, listing everything needed for shooting the footage and taking the images. We went straight after college to Old Gang, where we filmed some of our ideas for the shots of the cyclists; there is a bit of filming where we have considered a Pan Shot, where the cyclists will come around the track, which we have considered to be a high-angle shot. We took pictures of the ruins, with me and Isaac in them, as well as the shots just of the ruins, just having a bit of fun with the camera's, getting used to them and also getting ideas for the future teaser trailer. At Old Gang, there is lots of old archways which we could potentially use for our shots in the trailer, and I have footage walking through a bit of underground archway at Old Gang, which you may be able to use. Old Gang used to be a smelt mill of lead mining industry of the 18th-19th century, so the remains are reasonably old and are decaying, which gives us great potential for some freaky, ruined shots which I think will suit our genre of a psychological drama; As the walls and the location represents the minds of the people inside the mine decaying and essentially becoming "ruined" like the surroundings they will be based in. After investigating Old Gang, we got ourselves prepared for the mine, and got all the cameras set etc. Isaac owns a "Go Cam", which I think will help us in some of the shots of our trailer; the camera is only small but can be attached to the person, which will enable a good point of view shot (POV), which will portray the characters emotions in the mine, as well as an accurate view of the inside of the mine. The Go Cam also allows us to film underwater, which would be an effective POV shot if we could get the right place to do so. So we filmed ourselves before we entered Spence Level explaining what we were going to do and trying to achieve, and then we entered. Once we entered and filmed it you could automatically see that the cameras were not picking up what me and Isaac could see, and lighting was a big issue inside the mine, so on the day or another time we go into the mine, I'm going to bring a spotlight, which may help the camera actually pick up the images. After we went into Spence Level, we went into Hard Level, which is just down the road from Spence Level, but we didn't know what to expect as we haven't been down this mine before. Apparently Hard Level goes down for mines into the landscape, which was quite a cool thought we had, but then we entered and the water was up to our waste and we weren't exactly prepared for that, so we decided we may do that mine another day. However we did take the Go Cam in the entrance to show you what it is like, and it almost looks like a cave. Here we tested the underwater POV shot, which didn't exactly go to plan as lighting it up didn't work very well, but again if we got better lighting it could be much more effective shot for potentially  in the trailer.

Here are the pictures from our visit to Reeth Estate:

Preliminary Script

Through combining my ideas of the actual idea of the film, and ideas that I have seen through analysing relevant film trailers, I have come up with a potential Script/Storyboard ideas, which I will share with my group once I'm back at college, and maybe apply some of the ideas with the groups to create a potential better film trailer.
The trailer will start with a mid/long shot, which will be one of the characters getting out the car, preparing for the bike ride. There will be a shot where the camera will act as a still camera, and one of the characters are placing it on the car on a timer, then getting into place for a group photo, which will be combined with a white flash editing to reveal the still image in black and white of the characters, which will fade into the next shot. There will be a few shots which will portray the pathetic fallacy showing the dull colours both in the sky portraying the darkness to come, and also the dull colours of the moorland. Next the characters will enter the mine very jolly leaving one of the guys behind, and whilst doing so recording on a handheld camera and this will be the shot used. Then it will go to the inside the mine shooting where we could use a night vision effect showing the darkness and a tense effect.

Idea Of The Film.

Here is the idea for the film that we will use for our Trailer;

The film idea is basically that Four Cyclists are just having a leisurely bike ride out on the moors. The first shots will be basically of the Cyclists getting out of the car and getting ready for the ride. The cyclists come across an old mine, which one of them runs into for a laugh, leaving 3 of them outside this mine. They wait for a while, and after an hour of ringing him on his mobile, they decide to go into the mine to find him as he hasn’t returned. And so the rest of them go into the mine, however they go deep into the mine and can’t find their way out, and are basically trapped inside the mine which causes the four people to go slightly insane and various factors affect the people psychologically, for example one of the cyclists has a fear of claustrophobia, and this holds them back. They spend a couple of days in the mine which leads them into starvation and paranoia. The story ends with two of them surviving, and getting out the mine; however one of them is pretty messed up in his head, and through his childhood experiences which the fear has been emphasised through the events in the mine, he simply goes insane.

Initial Ideas.

Market Research.

Market Research
Are you male female?
Male Female
On a scale of 1 to 5 how would you rate a psychological drama? (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest)
Name a Psychological drama that you have seen/ wanted to see?

What sort of music would you expect to hear in a psychological drama?*Drum beats and heavy music
*Violin music/ classical
*Loud beats and harsh sounds
*Other... (show below)

What type of key plot events do you prefer to see in a psychological drama?*plot twists
*binary opposites (good and evil)
*Stolen identity
*government cover-up
*Split personality/roles
*Over coming personal issues
How do you find out about new films?

What do you want to see on a film webpage?*Music downloads
*Wall papers
*Trailers
*Activities
What do you want to see in a film magazine?*Film reviews
*Inside knowledge
*Film posters
*Other… (show below)

Film Magazine Front Cover Analysis

This is a front cover of the British film magazine "Empire", and I am going to analyse aspects of the front cover and maybe adopt some of the ideas that it shows us. As you cansee straight away, the colours that are shown in the image and background correlate to the colours of the font which makes the front cover look more smart and organised; for example if the font was pink, it wouldnt go with the theme of the spiderman films which are more dark, hence why the colours potray the feeling of the film. The font consists of three colours- red, black and white; the red goes with the "Empire" name itself, and this theme goes within all the front covers of Empire, and this automatically draws the target audiences attention as it stands out from the dark background. The black and white font comes from the costume that Spiderman is wearing, and this as I explained before conotates the dark theme of the film. The image of Spiderman himself is a mid-shot which shows both his emotions and his character of spiderman as it has his web wrist out. Another good effect used in the front cover is that on the left of the background, it is much more lighter than the right side which is much darker, and this potrays that spiderman has two sides to him, one more darker than the other. In white font, it also has in big letters the word "Free", which draws attention to the audience as everyone likes something thats free; it also displays little images of the posters that are given free in the issue, which also gives the audience a taste of what they are going to get. The red + sign also draws attention as it has the blackness of spidermans suit behind him and draws attention towards the font below it.

Analysing a Film Poster- Bridesmaids.

Film Ideas/ Brainstorming.

Genre

·         Horror – too boring

·         Thriller- freaky plus can be applied to an action film for an interesting twist.

·         Action- applies to a mass audience plus it will make it better than a normal, boring horror to have action and thriller combined.

Names

·         Vacant – could hint at the fact for the main character has a empty head, however you may associate the word with comedy which wouldn’t go with the thriller/action genre.

·         Void- according to Charles it sounds to “Spacey”

·         Unutilized- what does this even mean? :L

·         Bewildered- sounds like how an animal is scared when being disturbed when being hunted.

·         Cursed- Possessed theme goes well with this title.

·         Corrupt- corrupted mind, implying she is mental; however you may associate it with a crime film.

·         Extinction- one of her kind, maybe a dying breed

·         Frenzy- an sudden reaction/freaking out

·         Misplaced-

Potential setting

       ·         Spence Level, Old Gang: a old lead mine, which you can basically walk into, and a natural mist on the ground of it coming out of the entrance which is a good effect for a thriller.

·         Brandy Bottle Mine: could be used as the “exit” of Spence Level however you can’t get full access to the mine which was there however the archways and it goes about 20 meters down into the ground so it could be used for a shot.

·         Level House: was a house on the moor however it is quite in ruins now and doesn’t have much resemblance of a house, however stone foundations and walls still remain which may be used in order for some shots maybe a mid shot of close up of a frightened person

·         The moor itself is quite a bleak and remote place, and they have been known in Manchester that Jack the Ripper disposed of his victims bodies on the moors, which gives the moorlands in a horror way, scary connotations because you have nowhere to run other than more bleak moorland.

·         Old Gang Smelt Mill: this again is a ruin building from the lead mining industry; however it is more intact than other places such as Level House. Here there are big ancient walls which could be effective in a psychological thriller, and also the big distinctive chimney, which lets say portrayed in an establishing shot with a fade intrigues the audience to know what it is, however in the story it doesn’t have to be a lead smelting mill.

·         Ruined buildings by Surrender Bridge: again here it is very similar to old gang, however there is a chimney which goes all the way up the hill, however nowadays it looks like a tunnel and that tunnel maybe a good shot towards a short trailer and a tunnel has many connotations depending whether you can see the exit or not.

·         Birk Park Woods: At my house there is a quite big stretch of woodland for Swaledale, which again could be used in a psychological thriller though many shots, maybe a hand-held POV, which gives us the feeling of the victim running through the woods and shows their emotions, and you could also use a high angle shot, which could be the hunter watching his victim.

·         Reeth High Moor: there is very large rock features at the top of the moor, which has the names of the miners engraved onto, which also could be a good shot, and aswell as a establishing shot on the top of them.

·         Carver Hill, Low Moor: there is a great view from there which could be used very effectively to shot the bleakness of the moor, however you would have to be careful with such shots, as you can see villages below so selecting the right angle fro mthis point is essential.

13 Week Plan

Week 1

Group whole film analysis for shot and editing ideas

¾     Shutter island

Including promotional package

Week 2

Research:

¾     Market research: Questionnaires, surveys etc. (video them?)

¾     Magazine research

¾     Poster Research

¾     Research suitable trailers for our type of film

¾     Analyse film trailer

Week 3

¾     Storyboards – initial ideas

¾     Ideas for locations/props/actors

¾     Analyse films trailers

Week 5

¾     Photo shoot of locations

¾     Photograph actors and costumes

¾     Practice with equipment

¾     Analyse film trailers

Week 6

¾     Writing script

¾     Write cast list and order

¾     Finalise storyboard

¾     Research magazine and posters

Week7

¾     Analyse promotional posters and institutional information

¾     Blog of final things and a quick list of things that need to be done

¾     Work on poster and magazine ideas eg what the shot  will look like etc.

Week8

¾     have a storyboard and script completely finalised

¾     kit list finalised

¾     Start shooting

¾     Look at what sounds we are going to use during editing

Week 9

¾     Start editing

¾     Have a soundtrack and any diagetic or non diagetic sound eg. enhanced sound of rain drips etc.

¾     Adding in shot transitions remember to refer to script/storyboard!

Week 10

¾     Editing of film

¾     If finished with film edit magazine and poster

Week 11

¾     Final editing of magazine and poster

¾     Double check trailer

Week 12

¾     Double check everything

¾     Evaluate everything on blog

Week 13

¾     Corrections to blog

¾     Add anything missing

Company Logo

Here is the final logo we created ^


As you can see this is the company logo of Dawstop Productions which will be shown in our trailer at the beginning. The name Dawstop is all three of the members of our group's names, as Dawson being Isaac's surname creating the Daw; then me being called Tom having the To and also my middle name being Paul hence the P, and Charlie's surname being Smith hence the S. I think the logo is good as of the Clapperboard obviously represents film and the name represents the group through synergy of names.

Earlier ideas of the logo we drew below:

Editing.

Editing plays a massive role in creating the genre and the themes of the film come to life within a few minutes of a trailer. The use of fast-paced editing is used often in film trailers, which gives you lots of images from the film which makes you want to know what they actually are, which is a great effect of getting the audience's attention. However normal-paced editing can be used for a family film, maybe a quicker edit such as a jump-cut to speed the process up. There are also use of editing in matters such as fades and blurrs, which again switches the scene in a trailer either fast or slow for a certain effect according to the genre. Here are some example trailers I have analysied specifically about Editing:

Planet of the Apes

Use of fades at the beginning of the trailer gives us the impression of something both out of the ordinary and maybe a dark side to the film?

Fades after every shot creates a strange but good effect

With mixture of sound, editing and camera shots you get a good effect, for example close ups of the monkeys cages, then a fade with tense/dramatic music followed by the next close-up

Pathetic fallacy is also used in this trailer, when there is the shot of the monkeys running out from the roof, the sky is black and cloudy which signifies the film and its connotations of the scene being bad.

Editing in this also shows you writing on the screen, giving you an idea of the film.

The Guard

Editing was quite an average pace and not too quick as it is a comedy genre, so they want you to hear the jokes made in the film in order to draw the certain type of audience in.

Music was average and not too “in your face” and loud, just background music to make it sound like how a comedy would, for example if it had really tense/loud music it may come across as a horror.

Harry Potter: Deathly hallows part 2

After the first shot there is a sudden black-out, which gives you a quite scary effect, which is followed by fast-paced editing of various shots, mainly close-ups giving images of random events in the film, which draws the attention of the audience as they are wondering what they are.

There is a close-up of voldemorts head with a strange breathing noise which gives a freaky effect

This is followed by another fade which also has a building-up type of noise in the background, creating a slightly scary effect.