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.