Progression Plan.

What needs to be done?	By when?	How to achieve, how long will it take?
Research and Planning	16th December	Keep posting and adding too it – research different theorists ect.
All draft images and filming	23rd December	Couple of full on intense days, travelling about, and trying out different things.
Actualimages and filming	6th January	Couple of full on intense days, travelling about, and trying out different things – acting upon the drafts and making them better.
Editing finished	13th January	Couple of full on intense days, editing the clips and adding them together – still updating the blog.
Ancillary task magazine	20th January	Do the research and then draft and hopefully create actual one.
Ancillary task Film poster	27th January	Do the research and then draft and hopefully create actual one.
Evaluation	13th February	Write and finish evaluation.
Any improvements	Deadline	Leaving myself time to do improvements to get the best mark possible- use all time possible up until the final deadline.

Horror Genre Questionnaire Results.

Further information given by questionnaire:

Which films would you consider scary?

• 100 feet
• The Strangers
• Pulse
• Unborn
• The Orphanage
• Scream
• Dream House
• Insideious
• Triangle
• Red State

What would improve the film, with a bigger budget?

• Better sound effects
• Better effects
• Better quality
• Better camera work
• Better acting
• Better writers

What locations are best for horror films?

• Everyday places
• Public Toilets
• Walking along roads

What Props/ Costumes/ Characters make a horror film?

• Darkness
• Young Children
• Demons
• Aliens
• Masked people
• People in fancy dress - not knowing who they are.
• Knives
• Good make up - effect

Horror Comedy?

 One of the best examples of a horror comedy would be the 'Scary movie' films. Although some  may argue that they don't count as a horror at all because they are in fact parody's of several other action or horror films all put into one film. For example in the very first scary movie film, the story includes parody's from Scream, I know what you did last summer, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects and The Matrix.



An example of how they made a series of serious  story lines comical is the scene you see in the  trailer were you see a character throwing many  objects down stairs towards an enemy. In a serious  version of a horror film, the character would not  push her nan down the stairs to protect herself.

Annabel and I did have the idea of creating a horror comedy trailer, but we would be to very specific when it came to our target audiences sense of humour. There also is not a lot of horror comedy's in the film business that we can use information and inspiration from.

London Media Conference.

A handful of Ryde academy students had the chance to visit London university of education for a Media conference. It was deeply inspiring and gave a huge amount of information regarding different parts of the media. From the chat with media degree students to the amazing talk from the famous director Garth Jennings.

There was plenty of useful advice for our exam and coursework, which was the perfect timing as when we visited we were at the beginning of our research and planning for our A2 project.

Pete Fraser showed a few examples of what do to and what not to do during your filming. Including how to solve problems if they go wrong, for example if your dancers don't turn up. We were given tips on small things you can do to improve your grade. He pointed out a few when showing some weak and some more stronger pieces of work, we got to vote for what grade they were given and some were very different to what you would have thought. It just goes to show that our grade won't improve if we like the our piece of work more, you really have to keep focused on your target audience.
The picture above was taken with television news presenter Babita Sharma who along with Paul Lewis spoke about their career in television, I found both sides very interesting.


During the lunch break we had the choice to stay put and listen to a talk from current media studies students from universitys each in different years. They all took a different course in Media so it was interesting to hear about all types of Study included in the Media.

Change of Storyboard

These are the changes we have made to our narrative in the storyboard including camera shots:

Lamp switching on- Were are going to film the switching on the lamp scene with a close up. We are changing this by instead of having a mid-shot on the lamp we are going to have a close up to make it more dramatic.

Reading Letter- Were now, not going to film an over the shoulder shot to read the letter. I will be filmed front/side on so you can see facial expressions, we also liked the idea of filming low down so the character looks important when finding the letter, then throughout the trailer it will become clear that she is in fact not the strongest character

Sitting on bed after murder scene: Annabel and I deiced we needed to include some tension after the murder, so instead of Matt crawling into bed after I have been spotted by the viewers in the mirror, we are going to sit him on the end of the bed. The audience will know that he has thought about what he has just done. Is it regret? What else is he hiding? The viewer will want to watch on to find out.

Matt being dragged: Like many trailers we wanted to include something after the end title, almost to make the audience jump as they may not have expected a clip after the end title. So far the only time you see my characters face after rising from the dead is a small clip toward the end, the rest of the clips have not revealed my face, so for the end clip we also wanted to include this method, by knowing my presence is there but not actually seeing me. We watched a trailer where a character was being dragged out of the camera shot, we liked the way this shows the violence that could be include within the film. Want it to not be an overall clear shot, as we want the audience to work out just what and who it is.

Results of questionnaire.

Storyboard.

General Questionnaire.

Film Questionnaire

1. Are you…
   

(Please circle one)

Male Female

2. How old are you?

(Please circle one)

0-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 31+

3. What is your favourite film genre?

4. What elements draw you into a trailer?

5. How do you find out about new films?

6. How often do you go to the cinema, if you go?

(Please circle one)

More than once a week Once a week Every Fortnight Once a month

Once every two month Once every six months Once a year Never

Other

7. How long do you think trailers should be?

8. What do you think is the best form of advertisement for films?

9. Do you think the budget of a film matters?

10. Do you think music or a voice over matters in a film? If yes why?

Music .....

Voiceover .....

Location.

Location is important when filming, it's what can make the difference between looking homemade or professional. We had to also pick a location that was spacey enough to film in, so we could take different shots from different angles. We wanted somewhere dark to create a sense of night throughout the trailer, but we also need enough light to be able to get good quality shots. We liked the idea of some of the trailer to be shot walking inside a public place at night, so the viewer knows it's night but the majority of the trailer will have better lighting. We will visit certain locations and take pictures of possible locations and angles, using our storyboard.

Costumes/Outfits and Makeup.

 Mum: As the mum character that I play in the trailer will need quite a lot of makeup to give the appearance of a dead person towards the end. I have researched a few different characters from horror films that we can take inspiration from. Including The exorcist,  zombie films

Most of the makeup designs have a white face and include some sort of wound, strong veins or cuts. They all have dark rings around the eyes, and have contacts that effect the colour in the eye.

The mum will of course throughout the trailer have to be dressed like a sterotypical mum. We will be testing out a few outfits, of plain colours and no accessories, so it doesn't take focus away from the character and the story itself.

Dad: There is not really any change in the outfit that the dad wears throughout the trailer, although we had thought about the outfit carefully too. We spoke about a suit, but agreed that would most likely be an outfit you would see that character wearing in the week day. We liked the idea of filming as if it was at the weekend, so they would all have the day off and be in the comfortable home. Which we knew was the perfect setting for the horror to take place.

What is a teaser trailer?

A teaser trailer is clips from a film put together in a sequence to create understanding of what the film looks like, is about and should (by the clips included) show the correct target audience that may want to watch it. A trailers main purpose is to draw the viewer into wanting to see the film advertised, as the small clips tease them into wanting to see more. Trailers are played at the cinema before other films, on TV and are always available on the Internet. This makes them widespread and popular, so it is in my opinion one of the best forms of advertising.

You get the occasional trailer that is not necessarily clips from the film. But maybe a longer clip of a certain part of the film, or just the beginning. I think putting just the beginning of the film as the trailer is a good idea to draw in the audience but I think it would have to make sense as to what the rest of the film is about, other wise they may lose interest in the film altogether.

Most trailers that are seen most commonly include the following:

- A song/ tune/ sound effects to suite the genre.
-Strong in your face titles and text.
-Main characters only (usually to show what popular actors/actress's are featured).
- Fast pace to keep the viewer interested.
-Clever, professional editing.
-Abrupt endings.
-Small amount of text so no focus is taken away from the footage.


And sometimes:

- A narrative
-A voice over

My trailer has to be low budget.

One of the main reasons for producing a low budget trailer, is that as a student I do not have a high budget to put towards it. Although not being able to make a high budget trailer, there are many good low budget trailers out there, they just have to be effective. However I would like my trailer to look as professional as possible with the budget set by carefully planning, filming and editing it.

High budget horror trailers.

A nightmare on Elm street
Horror

This fantastic re-make ( the original being made in 1984) started off with a budget of $35 million and the box office budget is now $115,664,037. One of my favourite parts about this film,where you can see were the money went to good use, is the location of many of the scenes and the small but very effective special effects. When choosing our location I think this film is good inspiration when picturing different locations and what effect the viewer will have on where the clips are filmed. We can really bring across the horror genre in the right location, without having the high budget. Another point about this movie that I liked is, that there are scenes similar to the 1984 version of the film. No one wants to watch a re-make of there favourite film to find that all the storyline has been changed.

Scream 4

When researching high budget movies I couldn't help but write about Scream 4. I can't help but think, on a budget of  $40 million that they could have made this film so much better. In my opinion the trailer is very weak for quite a high budget also. It brings across that the film is about young people looking worried and a man chasing them around in a mask, that I can buy up tesco at Halloween for a fiver. Of course, scream 4 did have such a high budget because it is a successful company that have made lots of scream films before making the 4th one. I'm not sure how, because when watching the trailer for Scream 1, it's still worried teenagers being chased. They also seem to be on the phone an awful lot of the time. As a viewer of the trailers I didn't feel as if I wanted to watch these films. I like to think that a good trailer would be interesting to watch even with the sound muted.

Scream 4

Scream 1

Low budget horror trailers.

Primer: 2004
Science fiction drama.

I didn't just want to research a low budget trailer. I thought it would be interesting to look at trailers and films that had a low budget but also made a very big profit, as this would show the popularity and what type of low budget trailers do best. This will help with my project as Annabel and I will want to make a trailer with a low budget but with the potential to make a profit like these films mentioned. I did some research and came across a film called 'Primer' made in 2004, although I haven seen it myself, I didn't like the trailer too much. I felt as if the story line was not presented to the viewer clearly and I think if this was done on purpose to want the viewer to watch on, then it was incorrectly brought across. However this film was made with a low budget of $7,000 and made a worldwide gross of $565,000, which doesn't sound like too much compared to the film industry these days, but considering the companies budget was $7,000, it's a pretty impressive profit. One point I did like about this trailer is that it includes lots of text, maybe too much in some cases. But I did like the use of it as it can replace scenes in a low budget film that meanwhile in high budget films would be effect expensive clips of the film.

Halloween: 1978
Horror.
Another example of a low budget trailer and film that made a good profit was Halloween, this is mainly because so mainly sequels have been created since 1978. It was interesting to watch as it is the same genre that Annabel and I will be looking at closely. This is a good trailer in terms of creating a dramatic and captivating trailer without using special effects or expensive lighting or makeup. The budget for this film was $325,000 and has now (after all the sequels) made $70,000,000 worldwide.

Trailers Relating to the Horror Genre.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1929288729/ This is a trailer me and Annabel came across when doing some research on horror teaser trailers. We really like the short clips joined together with loud and ever changing audio. It really creates a horror like feel to the trailer, however the offical longer trailer is not as 'scary' as these elements that are not included. We would like to use the method of using short jolting clips in our trailer.

Horror Genre Questionnaire Results.

Horror Genre Questionnaire.

Horror Film Questionnaire 

Do you enjoy watching films of the horror genre? (Please circle)

Yes      No


Roughly how many horror films have you seen?

None      One-Three      Four - Six    More than Six


Please circle which films you would consider 'scary' .

Harry Potter     Saw     Lor of the rings       Paranormal Activity 
Sixth Sense      The exorcist     Any others? .......


Do you think the budget of the film, has an effect on the quality and overal effect of the film?

Yes      No

If yes - what would improve with having a bigger budget?


What props/costumes/ characters do you find scary?


What locations are the best for horror films, in you opinion?

Fields       Public Places    Houses     Abandoned Places   
Any others? ......


What things do you find scary? Clowns, spiders ect?

....

Results of questionnaire.

Further information given by the questionnaire: What elements draw you into a trailer?

• Good story line
• Celebrity's
• Violence (specific to genre)
• Known actors
• Action (specific to genre)
• Music
• Funny
• Easy to follow
• Wanting to know more

How do you find out about new films?

• TV
• Friends
• People
• DVD'S
• Websites
• Magazines
• Internet
• Reviews
• Posters
• Facebook
• Youtube
• Cinema Adverts / Trailers

How often do you go to the cinema? Answer More than once a week - 1 Once a week - 5 Every Fortnight - 3 Once a month - 3 Once every two months - 6 Once ever six months - 1 Once a year - 1 Never - 0 What do you think the best form of advertisment is?

• People
• TV
• Internet
• Posters

My Initial Idea.

My initial idea is to work with class mate Annabel to both create together a horror teaser trailer for viewers 15+ , most likely the ages between 16-30. As comedy was a popular answer in the questionnaire we discussed the possible of doing a comedy or a comedy horror. But we found it would be difficult to create a comedy as it relies on a strong idea and pacific sense of humour. We looked at films like Shaun of the dead, which has both horror and comedy mixed. But the horror aspect of the film is never taken seriously when it has been combined with comedy. So we have stuck with the idea of doing just a horror.

We used the feed back on the questionnaires to determine our age range and gender interest, but we also think at this moment in time that our trailer will also attract a more mature audience, other than just students and that both genders could be equally as interested in our trailer. Our plans with the length of the teaser trailer could change, but at the moment we plan to aim for around 1 minute and 30 seconds. Another reason that we thought this would be best is because in the questionnaire the two most popular answers to the question ''How long do you think a trailer should be?'' Were, 101 min's- 2min's and 31 seconds-1min. Looking at recent trailers, these too are around this length.

Examples of Different Genres and what they inlcude.

Horror

Paranormal Activity-
Release date: October 14th 2007
(screamfest film festival)
September 25th 2009
(Limited)
Duration: 86 minutes
(Theatrical release)
99 minutes
(Directors cut)
Target audience: Males and Females age 15+
Country: US

- Slow start to story
- Spooky non diegetic sounds (Creaky doors for example)
- Dark camera shots

Chick flick.


Mean girls-
Release date: April 30th 2004
Duration:97 minutes
Target audience: Mainly girls age 15+
Country: US

- Narrative from main character

- Hint of comedy
- Steady storyline

Action/Adventure

Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Release date: June 12th 1981
Duration: 115 minutes
Target audience: PG film. Children and adults over the age of 5.
Country: US

- Dramatic music
- Lots of active scenes
- Fast transactions


Rom- Com



Bridget Jones dairy- The edge of reason

Release Date:16 November 2004
Duration:107 minutes
Target audience: Mainly females 15+

- Comedy even in romantic scenes
- Happy ending from a film full of disasters
- Narrative by main character

Children's


Mega mind.
Release date: November 5, 2010
Duration: 98 minutes
Target audience: Children 3+ and families.

- Happy ending
- Bright colours
- Unique personality in each character
- Cartoon gadgets

Fantasy




Harry Potter and the philosopher's stone
Release date: 4 November 2001
Duration: 152 Minutes
Target audience: Children 8+ and families

- Clever editing
- Special effects
- Unexpected storyline
- Music builds tension

Comedy

The Hangover
Release date: June 5 2009
Duration: 100 minutes
Target Audience: Ages 15+

- Slow start to story line
- Story guides viewer through understanding story
- Several funny things in a row

Research and Planning.

Firstly, I've decided to create a questionnaire to find out peoples opinion in films and what they look for in a trailer, including what they think draws them into a trailer. This is important as I will want to connect my work with my target audience, so a questionnaire is vital to find out my target audience before starting further research. The questionnaire will be given to 10 male student and 10 female students. The reason for this is as being a student myself it is easier to ask advice from the same people as students will always be available around the school incase I need to ask there opinion on my poster ect later on in the year. I will make sure to give the questionnaires to students that do not study in media studies also, as I find media studies students have a strong opinion on media like films and TV and there would be a high chance that there opinion wouldn't be a typical publics view towards trailers and films. I know this because since being a media student I can't help but notice mistakes in advertising or judging TV, magazine, film and film trailers so much more.

Introduction - Teaser Trailer

For my A2 media coursework I have chosen to a film teaser trailer. I will rely on my questionnaire results to determine which genre I will focus on whilst completing the coursework.
This means I will have to also include a magazine front cover and a poster that will appear in
public.

I aim to:

- Create these pieces to the requirements of my target audience as exact as I can to unsure
it would be successful in which ever genre gets chosen.
-Compare which films have different budgets.
-Make a storyboard to help for planning.
-Research other trailers,posters and magazine front covers that related to my chosen genre.
-Research ideas in the same genre, to insure a unique idea if that is what the target audience require. Or something simular to what the public prefer and would want to see.