Progress - Research and Planning

Today we are editing at school after more filming was completed during the week. We still have to complete more shots such as a mirror shot and re take some of the darker shots that we have previously filmed.

Some shots of the enterance filmed this week are still too dark so we have scheduled to film again this week.

Choices Of Shots

During our planning and research we had to discuss and choose what shots we were going to use. All of our group are film fans so we kind of already know what to expect from horror films. There will be the usuall handheld camera shots and of course the jumpy moments which make everyone jump.



Due to a big mistake our first lot of filming had to be done again. The problem was once we uploaded the footage onto the camera we found out that most of shots outside were way too dark to use and if we did use them it would not reflect our ability of film making. Our choice of Establishing shot was down to a couple of reasons. Firstly in horror trailers we have looked at, involving homes and couples, they all used a quick snippet of a establishing shot of the house. Some have used high costing lighting equipment which we have no chance of doing however if we could film at just the right time during the day then hopefully it will come out well. The second reason to why we're going to use an establishing shot is so that we can show the audience the location of the film and where all the action will take place.



As a group we spent a lot of time choosing how to film the conversation between the couple and currently we have only filmed two of the ideas we've had. One way we would like to film it would be using the usual over the shoulder shots helping show the layout of the room and the characters facial expressions. Another idea we've had is have a two shot of the couple and then cut to a Point Of View shot from the garden looking through the eyes of a deep breathing stranger. We will upload all of the footage and decide which one works out better.



Other shots we are using are extreme close ups of characters facial expressions. We are using these beacuse it shows to the audience the terror on the actors faces and by making it an extreme close up it can make the audience feel uneasy.

Filming Progress

Today we have re-filmed our shots which, in the end, we decided were too dark to use. The shots that we filmed again were the establishing shot and the long shot of the garden. Hopefully now once we've uploaded all of the footage, we can start cutting together all of the scenes.

Results from Questionnaire

Finally I have got all the results back from the questionnaire I made a few months ago. I had aimed to get these done quicker but due to weather conditions and

unforeseen events I haven't had sufficient time to properly analyse the results. I handed it out to family members, other sixth formers, teachers and work colleagues. Not everyone filled them in but I feel most people helped me out and filled it out.I have looked at the results and from the most important questions I have made graphs to portray the results in the easiest fashion. Below is just one of the many Questionnaires.

Every questionnaire I got back had different opinions and here are the graphs to show some of the results:

From the results I can gather many things. We must make sure that the length is between 1 - 2 minutes for a couple of reasons. Firstly we must keep in this time scale as teaser trailers are usually this length and for ours to be as professional as possible we should keep it in the appropriate time limit. Secondly the majority of people who answered the questionnaire felt that this was their ideal time of a teaser trailer. I also think this would be a good time and that's what were going to do.

When we look at more of the results I also found out that most of the people who did it, like to see action scenes the most in a teaser trailer. Therefore we need to make sure that our sequence of fast shots and the montage is packed full of quick intensified shots, scaring the audience and keeping them on the edge of their seats wanting more. If we do this I believe that our standard of trailer will be very high, looking as professional as possible.

Finally most people saw their trailers on the internet and if we were going to make our film properly we would have to ideally target the 'Youtube' generation and entice them with release of snippets of trailers. By conducting this questionnaire we can conclude that we have to include many professional aspects to make it work properly. If we can do this our trailer will be very good and be something to remember.

Halloween trailer analysis : Research and Planning

The trailer begins with a title fading in with a voice over of a man saying what the title is saying which is “Inside every one of us.” It cuts to a close up a young girl who is shown in 3 different shots using a handheld camera, whilst these shots are being played there is diegetic sound of the girl laughing. It fades to black with another title appearing with the same mans voice over but this time saying “There exists a dark side.” The trailer then cuts to an establishing shot of a house which is completely dark with no lights turned on inside the house. Natural lighting from the moon is used which creates a very creepy shot of the house, the camera tilts down then cutting to a long shot of a woman looking out of the window, with back lit lighting from a lamp inside the room she is looking out of. There is tense non diegetic sound whilst these shots are being played creating a tense, creepy atmosphere from the beginning.

The next shot is a mid shot of someone sitting at a desk in their room. It looks like a child’s room as there are planes hanging from the ceiling and posters on the wall, the room is naturally light up by the sun. It cuts to an extreme close up of the person holding a rat in one hand and what looks like a knife in the other, the voice over of the man continues but this time he says “Most people rise above it.” There is diegetic sound of the rat squealing and the tense non diegetic music continuing. It then fades to a close up of someone holding duct tape and opening a draw, the camera cuts an extreme close up of the person pulling out a knife from the draw and there is another close up of the person walking away with it. Whilst the shot are being played the voice over continues with the man saying “But some” this time. It fades to a close up of the back of a girls head who is working at a table. It then cuts to an over the shoulder shot of someone raising a baseball bat behind the girl who is working. The voice over continues as this shot is being played saying “Are consumed by it.” The camera cuts to a close up of the working girl with the person holding the baseball bat behind her, the person holding the bat is wearing a clown mask hiding his identity. The bat then strikes down on the working girls head sending her straight to the ground. There are two more shots of the clown hitting the girl a couple more times, then cutting to a close up of the clown dropping the blooded bat. The tense non diegetic sound continues, the sound increased every time the clown was winding up to hit the girl, with the gruesome diegtic sound of the girl getting hit. Lighting from the house is used for this shot.

The next scene begins with the tense non diegetic sound, there is a close up of a woman sleeping and someone touching her leg, it fades to the next shot of the woman waking up and grabbing the hand of the person touching her, she says surprisingly “Michael.” The camera pans around and shows Michael holding a knife, with the woman screaming to end the scene. There is dimmed lighting from a lamp. The next scene begins with paramedics taking a body out of a house, the tense non diegetic sound is replaced with non diegetic sound of a heartbeat. A close up of a woman looking at a body is portrayed and shouting “no.” The non diegetic heartbeat beats again, with the mans voice over saying “Until there is nothing left.”

The next shot is of a child sitting in the back of a car with the non diegetic heartbeat beating again. The child is looking at the camera, the camera flashes quickly, during this flash the child is shown wearing a mask with it quickly cutting to an extreme close up of a the same mask that the child was wearing during the flash. It fades to another title with the mans voice over saying “But pure evil.” It fades to the next shot which is of someone holding the mask in their hand. The next few shots are of the person putting the mask on. A different type of tense non diegetic music is played through out these few shots, with a different mans voice over saying “Behind these eyes, one finds only darkness” There is a close up of the masked mans face with the voice over continuing “These are the eyes of a psychopath.”

The next shot begins with the masked man slamming open a door, then a high angle of a woman crawling on the stairs shouting for her life. The tense non diegetic music continues as the montage begins. There are quick shots of the masked man holding a knife, the man carrying a body down the street, there are also a few shots of women getting tormented by the killer. There are also shots of people running away from the killer and facial expressions of the victims showing their fear and small glimpses of the killer. As the montage is going on the voice over of the man starts again but this time he just advertising the film. After the montage is finished the title of the film appears, but there is a final shot which is a long shot of the house we saw at the beginning of the trailer, there is no sound at all and there is natural lighting from the moon. The camera quickly zooms to the front door where a woman is trying to escape but gets caught by the killer, this could be the same woman we saw looking out the window earlier in the trailer, the trailer ends with a scream of the woman getting caught and the release date appearing.

I think this is a very effective trailer as it features all aspects of what a horror film should need.

Progress : Research and Planning

This week we had our group discussion about changing our schedule to give us time to finish our filming and editing in good time. We initially were hoping to have all our filming finished by the end of this week to give us plenty of time to edit and make it perfect. Due to the heavy snow and exams we were unable to film last week and therefore are hoping to finish within the next 2 weeks, as group members still have exams upcoming. The weather forecast is expecting more snow to fall on Wednesday, if so then our plans may be disrupted again.

What in a trailer inspires you to go watch the film? : Research and Planning

This is a poll to see if media students have different opinions to other students. This poll was done out of 10 different media students and 10 non media students.



These were the results from the non media students. They preffered to watch films based on storylines.


These were the results from the media students. They were in favour of watching films by knowing the cast and crue involved.


As both media students and other students did not believe in the same content. I asked media students why they chose the cast and crue. They answered that trailers only show small contents of the storyline and by knowing the cast and crew, mainly the producers, they could identify what kind of film it will be, as producers use similar shots in films. An example they gave me was Steven Spielberg, as he is a great sci-fi genre film producer, if he released a new sci-fi genre film people will go watch it just because he has made fantastic films previously.

The Unborn trailer analzyed

The Unborn was released in 2009 and was directed by David S. Goyer. Rouge Pictures distributed the film and helped it make a gross revenue of over $75 million. The storyline is based around a young lady who is being tormented by a unknown being or demon.

To start off the trailer begins with a fade in establishing shot of a house in the snow and a voice over is used which is a girl speaking on the phone. It cuts to inside the house and a medium shot is used to show a girl relaxing on the sofa whilst speaking on the phone. It cuts to the other side of the room enabling the audience to see the layout of the room. The camera pans very slowly which makes the audience feel uncomfortable straight away. A diegetic sound of a bang coming from upstairs is heard and it cuts to a close up of the girl looking distressed. At this point in the trailer the audience can recognize that it is of the horror genre. A close up is then used showing a baby monitor and a creepy voice can be heard. This effect used on the audience is clever because its not a sound that you would associate with a baby monitor. It then cuts to a tracking over the shoulder shot as the woman looks in on the child she is baby sitting. His back is turned and the tension and suspense is built up even more. It cuts to a low angle shot looking up at the boy who doesn't look normal and as she says 'Matty', and suddenly he hits out at her and states that ' he wants you'. At this point the audience aren't sure at who this person is and why the child is acting in such a weird way.

A montage of shots are then used of a weird looking boy whose costume suggests that he is from the past. The special effects used make him look freaky and very frightening. Rouge pictures titles flickers in the montage as well. Non diegetic music of a piano then starts. In the old horror films music from a piano would be heard to create suspense, so by using a piano to create tension is a typical horror genre indicator. An establishing shot of a city is then used to place the next scene. The woman from before is then shown running through a park with each shot fading out. This is good because we are deciding what shot transitions we should use for our trailer. She is then told there is something wrong with her eye and a doctor explains his diagnoses of what is wrong. She is told she may of had a twin and the next series of shots is of her walking around the city being haunted by this horrible looking child. Every time he appears sound effects are used to emphasize him which makes him more scary and sinister. Quick shot of her being told she did have a twin are used and the music picks up pace. As she plays a video the non diegetic music stops suggesting that something important could be explained.

As she watches the film she is shown to be surprised at what she she's and a montage is used again involving the small boy. This continues the trend of the trailer highlighting the boy as being a key part in the film and trailer. It then cuts to the most chilling scene. As the shot tilts up to look at her, no noise can be heard at all and she begins to scream but noise comes out of her mouth. As the camera pulls away a bed is shown and she is looking at her herself sleeping. Shot reverse is used to show her terror at watching herself sleeping. As she continues to scream the covers are pulled away the kid haunting looks up and high pitched scream is heard. The director's name flashes up and sound effects accompany it, signifying his importance. It cuts to the lady looking out of a window and then using eye line match it changes to a Point of View shot of the scary little kid in her garden. A quick conversation follows and they discuss her problems. She asks a question about being haunted to her friend which also sounds like she's asking the audience. This is clever because it makes the audience feel uncomfortable and want to know what it haunting her. The steady beat, non diegetic music, keeps the pace of the scene upbeat. Suddenly it the scene changes to a split second shot of the creepy kid again who smashes some glass. This will make most people jump and is a very good surprising shot. Also in that shot it cuts to something smashing through a window and trying to attack the young lady. With the sound of the girl screaming and smashing glass it mixes together and creates a dramatic scene.

The director David S. Goyer's name appears and is followed by some of other famous work showing that a the director has made other top quality films. The titles used fade in and out and the screen flashes away to reveal the lady consulting another person about her problem. At this point the audience know that she is being possessed or haunted by a small kid who may have been her twin, but is actually dead. Very confusing however this may make some people want to watch more so they can understand this difficult storyline. Quick shots are shown of dark houses with the lady saying its not safe to be around me and a Point Of View shot is used again to see this demented man crawling chillingly up the stairs. This makes people watching feel very uneasy. It then cuts to a man speaking into a camera stating that they are about to perform an exorcism. This confirms the audience suspicions about the lady be possessed. As the lights are turned on to kick off the ritual the shot changes to a Birds Eye View of the location and set design. A montage of shot are then used with each shot changing faster and faster making the scene very scary and top quality. Titles flash up in between the shots to add some narrative to this particular part. It then climaxes and the title appears. As the films name fades out the last shot is of the lady walking towards something which turns around and scares everyone watching.

Overall I think this trailer is good as finds the right amount of scary shots and scenes mixed in with narrative dialogue and titles. From this we can try to use the same non diegetic and diegetic sound and the clever shot transitions.

Crazies trailer analysis

The trailer begins with diagetic sounds of a phone ringing and a man answering it whilst in bed. He says "I'm coming" and then gets out of the bed; the music is somewhat eerie and creates a tense atmosphere. The next shot is of a house on fire with a man in the foreground, the focus then changes to him and it then flashes to the man who answered the phone running from his police car. He then asks a firefighter "did they get out?" with which he replies "not Deidre and Nicholas" there is then a quick shot of the house again before there conversation continues, this is used to remind the audience of the plot. There conversation continues with "There was an empty gas can just sitting out front and Bill, well, he was mowing the damn lawn" as he says the last part the camera then cuts to an over-the-shoulder shot of a man as the firefighter points at him, this introduces the audience to a potential villain in the film. The policeman's wife then approaches the man and attempts to talk to him but he just looks past her with an empty stare. He then begins to whistle as there is a close-up of him with the burning house in the background as the scene fades to a dirty black and white effect and ending with just his face in the shot, it then fades to black.

The next scene is of this same man standing in a jail cell, the camera then zooms into his face with an eerie noise playing whilst this is happening. The next shot is a tracking shot of the main policeman walking past a seating area with a man sitting on it, he tries to get the attention of the man sitting down but he has the same empty stare as the man from the burning house. This flashes out and the next scene flashes in with the policemen standing in a road with a woman riding a bike round him singing, the camera tracks with the woman and this creates a sense of confusion as the policeman looks around puzzled. As this shot ends the non-diagetic music ends which signifies a change in the mood of the trailer. Next we return to the jail to see the man lying on the floor, the camera then cuts to a low-angle shot of the two policemen crouching over the man asking "is he dead?", after this an over-the-shoulder shot is used to show the two policemen and the man on the floor, the man then jumps up and tries to grab the officers as they recoil in shock. The action then cuts to the two policemen talking at a desk with one saying "You know what? we're in trouble", this is followed by a shot montage of the main character walking down a road as clips fade in and out with non-diagetic music returning and building to a climax as he reaches two children who say "We heard something from the funeral home" and he asks "what did you hear?" they reply with "screaming".

The music has now become high-pitched and fast tempo, the previous scene has faded to black and the next scene fades in with the policemen holding his gun walking through a hallway shouting "Jim?", this fades out and the next shot fades in. The next shot is a low angle shot with a covered up body in the foreground and the policemen in the background, the body begin to move and the policemen approaches with caution. There is then a point-of-view shot from the view of the policemen as he he pulls back the sheet covering the body, as he does so the shot flashes black and then back to the body as the man is uncovered and is struggling. The next shot is a shot of a dark corridor with a person running a knife down the wall. (this is a shot we would like to use in our film because it is a very powerful, emotive scene.) The next two scenes are silent as the policemen and his wife creep around the funeral home trying to stay alive, the lack of sound is used to make the audience concentrate on the action making it more suspenseful, the sound then returns in the form of non-diagetic music which is tense and atmospheric. the next montage starts with his wife holding a knife as she crawls round a corner, as she gets there a man appears from the darkness and makes her jump up, as she does so the same dirty black and white effect appears as earlier in the trailer with the titles "The GoOD PEOPLE oF OgDen MaRSH". As this fades out screaming and shouting is heard then a shot of burned out cars on a street is shown with a man running to a car, the shot then changes to an angle inside the car as we hear a gunshot and see the man falling down. The next shot is of the policeman taking cover behind a car with his gun out, this then fades out to a woman hiding in a cupboard as the title reappear with "ARE GOING CRAZY" as this fades out the word "CRAZY" remains. As this fades out we are greeted with a shot of a ceiling when a man wearing a gas mask appears, this is met with sounds of a woman shouting. We then see a point-of-view shot from this mans perspective as we see the policeman's wife on a stretcher with an oxygen mask on trying to fight here way free. Another montage then begins with her lying on a bed in hospital attire looking scared as she looks at a silhouette of a man behind a plastic curtain, the next shot is of another woman struggling on a bed then it flashes to a close-up of a fork being dragged across the floor as it leaves dirt behind on the floor. The montage continues with another woman struggling in bed as the action flashes between women, the next shot if of a man standing over a womans bed with the fork in his hand and this then cuts to another woman writhing in pain on a bed. This is followed by a long-take of a black screen, this is used to create tension and keep the audience in suspense. There is non-diagetic music over the top which is creepy and this is followed by a quick set of shots of the man stabbing the bed with the fork and then a close-up of a zombie-like mans face. As the music becomes faster there are quick shots of a man punching through a car window whilst the policeman is inside, then we move to a car wash where we see his wife smashing someone's head onto the bonnet of their car. The next scene is them in the car going through the car wash as she screams "GO,GO!, COME ON, COME ON!". The is followed by a shot from the middle of the car looking back as the girl in the back looks behind to see if the "creatures" have gone but as she turns back around one jumps down onto the roof and grabs her, as this happens the music becomes louder and frantic to tie in with the on-screen action. As the is dragged from the car the title "THe CRaZIES" appears and then fades out again, as it fades out the sounds of a saw grinding on the ground is heard and the action flashes back in again with the policeman crawling backwards away from a saw, as the action flashes out the saw is last seen travelling towards him and leaves the trailer as a cliffhanger which encourages the audience to go and see the moive to see how it turns out.

This trailer uses montages very well and i think it has helped us as a group to learn how to make montages and what to include in them.

Progress : Research and Planning

After returning from the Christmas holidays, our schedule showed us that we had to start filming the rest of our film within the first week of returning to school, this would enable us to have more time editing our film and making sure its perfect. We thought we would need more time with editing as last year we struggled with editing due to the lack of time.

Due to the heavy fall of snow this week our filming plans have been disrupted, when we go back to school our group will have to make a new time table to make sure we finish in time with out rushing our film.

Progress

Now Christmas and New Years are finished we shall start filming again. We are hoping to film the conversations and get the main parts of the trailer done and dusted. Once this is done we can begin to edit and discover if the footage we've recorded is of a high quality.