Completed Storyboard

This is a photograph of my completed storyboard that I used during filming so that I could film the shots efficiently and I am also using this storyboard during the editing process so that I can edit the shots in the order that I have placed them on the storyboard. This storyboard as part of the planning makes the practical task a lot easier and enjoyable.

Stills of set and props

These are my recce shots that I took before my filming so that I could establish the types of shots I would use in the teaser trailer. For example, low angle long shot of the flat exterior and long shots of the individual rooms as well as close ups of certain aspects of the set such as the lock of the door (to establish a focus on security)


This is going to be similar to my establishing shot of the exterior of the flat, it is dark, and the high angle shot portrays a dominance of the flat and makes the audience feel vulnerable and inferior


In my teaser trailer I am going to have a close up of the female character looking and latching the door. This ensures that a focus is on security and is some what ironic as the audience will establish from the trailer that perhaps the inside of the flat in which the character is not safe.


This is an example of one of the long shots I am going to be filming of three different rooms in the flat, in the teaser trailer they will be black and white as to give the trailer a more horror genre sinister feel and to connote that the rooms are not safe. The three photographs will straight cut from one another to establish a quiet yet tense atmousphere within the flat, some what foreshadowing an event that will disturb the peace.

Set/Props/Costume/Actor ideas

Set
The set I am planning to use is the exterior and interior of a flat. It will appear quite isolated as it is surrounded by vegetation and no other buildings which will effectively convey the vulnerability and isolation I wish to portray. I plan to use the exterior of the flat to establish location and to establish that this flat has great significance regarding the narrative and I plan to use the interior of the flat to delve deeper into the narrative and show a complex series of events, for example, draws being opened, doors being slammed, chairs being moved. I plan to focus a lot on security and to portray the notion that even when you feel secure, you may be putting yourself at greater risk.

Props
I am planning to use very naturalistic props to convey a realistic lifestyle so that the audience will be able to relate and therefore become more frightened when things begin to take a turn for the worst. As I am focusing alot on security I plan to shoot a lot of extreme close ups of door latches, keys, door locks. I plan to use chairs, kitchen drawers (as part of the set) the television fuzzing to portray supernatural events occuring. A significant prop that I am going to be using is newspaper clippings that I am going to create to use at the start of the teaser trailer, fading onto the long shots of friends walking into the flat. I will be using these so that the audience have prior knowledge of an event that has happened in this flat and they can therefore establish that something bad is going to happen.

Costume
I plan to use naturalistic costumes such as 'normal' everyday clothes for the friends and I am particularly going to concentrate on the female character and make her dress in predominantly white clothes to potray that she is the potential victim and is vulnerable (gender will contribute to the vulnerability also). As the trailer progresses however I plan for the female character to wear darker clothes to portray that she is adopting a darker side and is therefore not so vulnerable anymore but frightening and dangerous.

Actors
Building upon the gender idea discussed above, my main character is going to be a female victim. Traditionally in films females have always been able to portray a victim very successfully (Drew Barrymore in Scream for example) So i have decided to build upon this stereotype and cast a female as the vulnerable character. I have decided to use two male flatmates as the 'extras', the female's friends who live in the flat with her, I have decided to use two males to show that even when men are present, this will not stop the female becoming more vulnerable and effected by the supernatural. Males will help to enhance the fright and worry.

Ancillary product planning

As part of the promotion package I am going to be making, I have to create a film magazine front cover featuring the film and a film poster. The ancillary products will advertise my film just as effectively as the teaser trailer.

Initial poster ideas
For my poster I am planning to use a dominant image of the flat. I have decided that it would be interesting to use a few layers of graphology on the poster to portray that the narrative of my film has many layers and is not just a simple plot. For one of the layers I am planning to have the flat number '39' somewhere on the poster to draw the audiences attention to that specific flat number and it's significance. As well as the exterior of the flat and the number '39' I am planning to use a close up image of the female protagonist/victim who will be featured throughout the trailer. By using a close up image of her, a particular emotion can be conveyed through her worried facial expression and with the effect of the layer onto the flat it will show that something inside the flat or perhaps the flat itself is making her troubled. I have decided to use very dark colours on the film poster, similar to that on the shutter island poster. I am going to use a lot of black surrounding the flat and the girl, perhaps to convey that the flat itself is part of a bigger 'evil' than first percieved. I have decided to use the bold colour red on my film poster as red has connotations of danger which is what I wish to convey on my film poster so that the genre can be easily established. I think that the composition of images on my poster is going to be one of the most important things as my main aim is to convey a complex plot and to attract my target audience by allowing them to realize that there is a lot to the narrative which makes it appear interesting and intruiging.

Initial magazine cover feature ideas
As I want to establish a sense of branding across the trailer, the poster and the magazine front cover feature I must decide on a dominant idea/image to work with and alter for both the poster and the magazine cover feature. I must do this so that when my target audience views the promotion package they will be able to establish what film it is and it's genre. I plan to have a dominant image of the exterior of the flat as well as the iconic image of '39' and the close up image of the female character as my dominant idea/image. I have decided to be experimental and maybe for the magazine front cover feature, or the poster (I am yet to decide) have an extreme close up of an eye with the faded number '39' inside the pupil.
The use of these layered images will be recognisable for my target audience who would have seen the poster and it's similar style. As the poster can effectively 'speak for itself' because it just features the notion of the film and nothing else, I must establish a unique selling point when constructing my magazine front cover feature. As researched, both the 'Empire' and 'Total Film' magazine front cover features for The Dark Knight have USP's, Empire's being the interview with the character 'the joker' and Total Film's being the use of graffiti to attract the already established target audience for The Dark Knight. For my USP I am going to include 'on set' images and commentaries from characters and the director so that the target audience are intruiged by what is happening behind the scenes of this new horror film.

As well as using my creativity to construct a poster and magazine cover feature, I will also be including conventional text captions on my magazine cover feauture - "coming soon", "most anticipated film of the year", "5 ***** - Empire", "Thrilling - Total Film" are some examples I may use.



Here are some practice 'mock ups' of my initial poster and magazine front cover feature ideas.

Planning my teaser trailer technical decisions

Camerawork

-Long establishing shot of flat building at dawn
-Long Shot of three friends walking/talking into the flat
-Close up/Panning of newspaper clippings - 'Flat 39','Mysterious murder','Shocking'
-Mid shot of friends walking up the flat stairs, LS low angle of friends walking up the flat stairs
A normal atmousphere with a mystery hidden is established, foreshadowing the mystery to be revealed later on
-Close up of the flat door shutting, being locked and latched, a focus on security, are they protecting themselves from what is outside? Or should they be scared of what's on the inside?
-Long shot of individual rooms in the flat to show stillness
-Close up's/Mid shots of doors being banged, pictures being moved, chairs on the floor, LS of all cupboard doors open in the kitchen, CU of fuzzy television
-Frequent close up's of the girl who lives in the flat, focus on her, she is more involved in the narrative, show reaction
-Close up's of other friend's faces, 'what is going on?'
-Long shot of outside, nobody is there
-Long high angle shot of outside, something standing in the gardens looking up at the flat.
-LS of people running outside
-As the trailer progresses, more Point of view shots, running/breathing, a character is more involved in the narrative than first percieved, shown through camerawork
-CU of hands, nervous, on edge
-Long, low angle shot of the flats 'FLAT 39' isolation, vulnerability

Editing

-Fades from the friends walking to the flat, to newspaper clippings, fades to large print 'MYSTERY', 'SHOCKING' to show that something is going on underneath the normal, everyday life exterior.
-alot of straight cuts used to establish a narrative of some kind, quickened pace in editing as the trailer progresses
-use of graphic matching of a high angle shot of a girl in the gardens to the female flat mate standing in a dark doorway to show the possession between the murdered girl and the girl now living in the flat, this shows a complex narrative.

Sound

-Begin non diegetic with piano chords perhaps as there are fades to the newspaper clippings of the mysterious murder, extablish that the event is sad
-diegetic dialouge of laughter, talking between the friends as they enter the flat
-As there are fast paced straight cuts of the door locking etc the music becomes eerie, louder as the atmousphere transforms from natural to paranormal.
-Sharp blasts of music to accompany the discovery of strange happenings such as the chairs being on the floor, the cupboards and drawers being open in the kitchen
-At a point in the trailer when there is the graphic matching of the girl in the gardens to the girl in the doorway, the music slows right down as a tense atmousphere is created
-The pace then quickens as the non diegetic bursts quicken in pace and increase in volume as the POV shots occur and the trailer overall increases its pace therefore tension and mystery.
-As the trailer progresses there will be an underlying non diegetic sound of a girl perhaps singing/laughing to signify that the girl's presence has not left the house, this sound could accompany the straight cuts of the different rooms in the house being empty and silent.
- I will also include if i need to, non diegetic sound effects such as the banging of a door or the ringing of a doorbell to shock the viewer and make the events seem real.
- There will always be underlying non digetic music to signify that even when events seem normal there is an underlying worry/presence, something is not right.
- I plan to get my sound from sources such as records or youtube and use the program 'audacity' to manipulate the sound, change it, slow it down, speed it up to create my desired sounds

Mise en scene

-Naturalistic lighting at the beginning, as i plan to shoot the outside establishing shots at dawn
- naturalistic props will be used in the flat to establish a realistic living area, so that when events do begin to occur they are more shocking to the viewer as the set is so natural yet there events still happen.
-The lighting becomes darker as the trailer progresses symbolising the ever growing mystery and fright of the narrative
- There will be a particular focus on character's body language and facial expressions to show the change in mood, for example, they are initially laughing and smiling, but towards the end they will be nervous and tense to show the change of events, so that the genre is established.

Ancillary product research/planning

As well as constructing a teaser trailer for my film, I am also going to be creating a film magazine cover (featuring the film) and a film poster. In order to be able to do this well, I need to ensure that I understand how a promotion package works in advertising a film successfully.
The Dark Knight.


This is a poster promoting the film.


This is an Empire magazine cover featturing the film.


This is a Total Film magazine cover advertising the film.

A sense of branding is established through the two magazine cover features and the poster. The joker is the main element within all three attracting the audience and making them feel farmiliar with the film advertisements. I aim to achieve a sense of branding when i construct my trailer, magazine cover feature and poster, for example, particular images or phrares evident in the trailer will be evident on the magazine cover feature and poster. 'The joker' is a common trend evident in all three products here, this is to establish that the joker is very important to the narrative of 'the dark knight'. For my ancillary products the common trend will be an image of the flat accompnied with a close up of the female character's face to show the connection and to portray that the flat itself is very important within the narrative of my trailer.


This is the teaser trailer for the dark knight

Similar to the poster and the two magazine cover features, the joker is a very important element within the teaser trailer also. The teaser trailer begins with the voice of the batman but then accompnied with the batman symbol being demolished, the joker's voice takes over followed by a quick CU of a joker playing card. This allows the audience to establish that the joker is one of the main characters and the main antagonist within the film. Overall branding is established through the recognition of the joker as the antagonist.
In my promotion package I aim to achieve a sense of branding through including certain images in the teaser trailer, the poster and the magazine cover feature. This will allow my target audience to become familiar with the narrative and be intruiged to see more.

Target audience research

I am going to construct a teaser trailer of the thriller genre, sub genre horror. I must ensure that I have a target audience in mind so that I know how to entertain that particular age range during the teaser trailer. An understanding of target audience will ultimately mean more money is made as the type of narrative, themes and shots will link to a specific target audience.
I am going to use the website http://www.bbfc.co.uk in order to establish what are the common trends in films of different certificates.
I have researched the certificate '15' and the common adjective used is 'strong' regarding language, violence and 'threat and menace'.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/classification/guidelines/15-2
This part of the website allows me to research what is acceptable in different aspects of a film such as language, horror and discrimination regarding a certificate 15 film.
When constructing my horror trailer I must have the synopsis of my film in mind as well as the guidlines for a film of certificate 15. As I plan to include the notion of a mysterious murder in my film followed by a disturbing haunting. I think a film of the 15 certificate would be suitable as films of certificate 12 have 'infrequent' threat and I plan for my trailer/film to have more than just infrequent threat/language/horror.
Having researched into horror audiences I can establish that the target audience for most contemporary horror films is roughly aged 15 -18.
I construced a questionnaire on www.surveymonkey.com and allowed my peers and others to complete it so that I could establish the common trends and take these results into condiseration when constructing my teaser trailer.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

This is the questionnaire that I constructed and allowed people to complete so that I could then analyze the results. 10 people completed my questionnaire and the results are as follows:



The majority of people who completed my questionnaire were 14>19 years old which is a positive thing as I aim to target my teaser trailer towards 15 year olds,so their information regarding what makes a good horror film/trailer is useful.



I researched the certificates for each of the films listed above The forth kind, Paranormal activity, The last exorcism, Case 39 and Shutter Island are all horror films of certificate 15 which allows me to be confident in targeting my teaser trailer to 15 year olds. Having researched briefly the content of each film (which most of them were supernatural) this gives me another idea, that in order to attract my audience of 15 year olds,I should include elements of supernatural activity.



These results link to my results from the question earlier. The majority of the people who completed the questionnaire stated that they enjoy horror films with a supernatural element, none enjoyed violence in a horror film and a fair amount enjoyed psychological. I can now plan to include supernatural elements to plot synopsis in order to successfully attract my target audience.



The majority of the people who completed the questionnaire stated that a small amount of the narrative is to be revealed in order to intruige and grasp the audience's attention. Nobody thought that a lot of the narrative should be revealed, so when I construct my teaser trailer I will include enough narrative to evoke intruige but not too much so that the plot is given away. This links to conventions of a teaser trailer.



Half of the people established that the most important thing for them in a teaser trailer is suspense/apprehension/adrenaline, the second most popular was a sense of the characters. In my teaser trailer I aim to please my target audience by including alot of suspense/apprehension/adrenaline which will contibute well to the supernatural aspect my teaser trailer will have. Nobody stated that the most important thing for them was a lot of the plot to be revealed which will allow me to create more intruige through different camera shots/editing/pace and make them question, 'What's going on? Who is that and what are they doing?'



The most important thing regarding a horror film, according to my audience research is a gripping plot. Nobody preferred famous film stars, and only a few stated that an intruiging poster would be of importance to them regarding advertising. In my film I aim to portray a gripping plot through varying pace, diverse camera shots and low key lighting.



Effective music to set the tone and minimal lighting to enhance mystery and fright were of equal importance to my audience regarding a horror film/trailer. A very small amount stated that effective pace was important. In my teaser trailer I will aim to please my audience by using effective low key lighting to create fright and mystery and I will particularly focus on music to set the tone.


I will use all of my primary and secondary target audience research effectively to construct a successful teaser trailer that will attract my target audience of 15 year olds.

Initial teaser trailer ideas/ plot synopsis

I have decided to construct a trailer of the thiller genre, subgenre horror.
I have taken great inspiration from the trailers i have analysed, specifically the last exorcism and shutter island.
The narrative is going to revolve around a group of friends that have recently moved into a new flat. Strange events begin to occur as the friends become more and more convinced that there is something wrong.
The idea of the trailer is that small things happen such as doors banging, pictures moving, objects falling (similar to that of paranormal activity) but they all add up to a climax at the end of the film that one of the friends has actually been possessed by something (perhaps the girl) within the flat and is subconciously making these events occur.
The trailer is going to begin with the friends light heartedly talking and moving into the new place with fades onto newspaper clippings etc of information about a young girl that died in the flat before they moved in, words such as mystery and shocking fades into one another. There will then be a close up of one of the friends locking the door to the new flat. then the tone of the trailer changes as the events begin to occur (doors banging etc) Throughout the trailer the pace is going to quicken as more things start to happen and at a point within the trailer the pace is going to completely slow down as a bedroom door creaks open and there is a shadow of one of the flatmates standing in the doorway.
Within the trailer also there will be close ups of scared faces, hands picking at finger nails all to show the nervous/tense atmousphere. At some point there will be a point of view shot of somebody running and breathing heavily outside to indicate that somebody is trying to get away from something. There will also be a point in the trailer where there is a long shot of a girl standing in the flat gardens looking up at the flat accompnied with a burst of tense music, this will indicate that this is perhaps the girl who died in the flat.
The mise en scene will be quite naturalistic to indicate that this group of friends lead normal lives but as the trailer progresses the lighting will change becoming darker and indicating more mystery until the end shot of the dark figure standing in the doorway.
Throughout the trailer also sentences of texts will appear after certain camera shots in the trailer, my initial idea for this text is 'What happens when...' 'The people you trust...' 'Become the people you fear...'

Poster Analysis - The Last Exorcism

This poster is very minimal and in my opinion this is to draw the audience to the shocking image of the girl with the contorted body. The poster is also minimal as the audience will be familiar with 'the exorcist' films so they have trust in the film's brand as the other exorcism films were a success. The poster is predominantly white which suggests that exorcism has alot to do with victimisation, as we associate white with innocence and purity. There is a dark shadow underneath the girl which could portray that there is a dark side/being within her, hidden but still evident, linking back to the narrative of 'the exorcist' films. There is a crucifix above the girl and this is the only prop evident on the poster suggesting that religion is a large part of exorcisms and that makes the poster look slightly more creepy/sinister as the crucifix is placed under the simple yet effective typography 'believe in him' this minimal use of typography is used to shock and attract horror fans. The use of the word 'him' suggests that we should already know who 'he' is making the poster even more strange and creepy. The minimal use of the colour red suggests that there is danger associated with exorcisms and we associated red with danger.

Poster Analysis - The Strangers

The colours evident on the poster establish the horror genre of the film. Dark colours such as brown and black are used to indicate fright and mystery. The props used on the poster are interesting as they shock the audience, the use of white masks of the 3 individuals is effective as we cannot see their faces so we feel instantly insecure and can establish that this isn't a normal situation. The body language of the three characters standing up suggests that they dominate the other characters and this is furthur implied as we cannot see the faces of Tyler and Speedman, so we know that they are not in control. This poster is particularly effective in establishing a complex narrative. The use of the brick in the background of the poster is effective in symbolising the idea of isolation and vulnerabilty, we can establish that Tyler and Speedman are trapped within their home perhaps. The use of the typography 'BECAUSE YOU WERE HOME' is effective as it again allows the audience to establish a narrative, it is also effective in potraying a mystery.