Animatic

http://www.slideshare.net/rosiea2media/animatic-7357990

Our animatic helped us to get a quick insight into what our trailer will look like but in picture form. Obviously it did not seem as scary becuase it is hard to build tension with photographs and no sound but it gave us a guide when it came to filming, even if we did not use all of the stages in our animatic. We took the picutes using my digital slr and editied and made them into a series using an Apple mac. 

Representation in our trailer

Characters:

The characters in our trailer are supposed to represent stereo typical working class teenagers who would be likely to attend illegal raves and parties. To achieve this we carefully thought about what each character should wear and how they would act. The clothing we chose includes things like New Era caps, hoodies, jeans, and trainers. Also the way in which they wore this clothing showed that they were teens. For example jeans were worn low so boxers were visible, this is a connotation of gangster lifestyle which an American audience could also relate to if our film was to successful. By wearing well known brands like New Era, Nike, and Adidas shows that they are conscious about their image as these brands are popular with young people/teens. We also ensured that the way our characters speak accurately represents the language which modern day teenagers use.       

Mise-en-scene:

We have chosen to set most of our trailer in a forest, however we have a couple of shots from a rural village where the teens live.  The forest represents mystery as you can only see as far as the next few trees.  We also waited until there was a dull, foggy evening to film.  As when we filmed some of our original footage it did not give a scary enough feeling for a horror movie.   This location and weather contrasts with the safe, nicely weathered setting of the rural village they set off from. 

Sound:

We have chosen to use diegetic sound as well as non diegetic. the scene with me driving around a corrner with my music playing is a diegetic sound. We decided to have my music turned up loud so that it helps to portray stereo typical teenagers. The non diegetic sound that we have added is the sound track, this helps to build up the tension and makes the trailer seem more professional.  

Props:

the props we have used are a torch, some bags and an axe. the rucksacks have been used to make it look more like the teenagers are actually going to a rave in the forest. the torch adds to the uncertainty of what might be around the corner as it emphasises the fact that it is getting dark. With the axe we got verious different shots of it hanging, sticking into a tree, being held and a shot of it swinging. Although we did not use all of the shots the few selected worked towards creating a scary trailer as an axe can be seen as a murder weapon therefore it is a connotation of death.

Magazine Cover Analysis

This "Total film" poster for "Inception" has be laid out to suit the style of the film and includes information about other films.  It also includes different denotations and connotations.  These are the key factors that will effect how successful your magazine cover is and will also contribute to the total number of views your film will have.

Almost all of the magazine covers I have looked at have included a big picture of their main character set in the middle of the page with a title and short sentence beneath it.  On this particular magazine cover the main picture is of Leonardo DiCaprio wearing a suit and holding in his gloved hands a silenced pistol, although you can not actually see all of it.  The connotation of the gun along with the gloves and suit gives us the impression that this character will be sinister.  The fact that his face is shaded on one side could possibly give us the impression that Cobb, the name of the character on the cover, has two different sides to him or perhaps a hidden secret.  The title and general wording on the cover is in a font which is sharp and formal looking which means it will be taken seriously my most when the look at it.  The title of the film and magazine is bigger than the other writing on the cover.  The graphic designers would have done this so that when people glanse at it they will be able to read the title first, which may draw them into the magazine and if it doesnt then at least that word may stick in their head which will help to premote the film.  Bold colour has also been used to draw the protential customers in, however they have only used it on a couple of lines as if they use it too much of it it will create the opposite effect, so nothing will stand out.

Behind the wording and the picture of Cobb is a back ground of an urban environment.  this relates well to the film as alsmost all of it is set in these urban environments which inturn adds to the uncertenty of the film.     

Story board

This story board is our original version. However after filming these shots and watching them back on the macs we decided that they did not look scary enough because it was filmed when it was still light. After darkening the footage on "I movie" we decided that our original clips still didn't quite cut it so we did another story board. The focus of this was to think of shots that can cause more panic and uncertainty. If we could do successfully I knew along with the editing and music our trailer will be very effective which in turn will result in a thrilling trailer.

This is our second story board, some of the steps are the same as before. For example the three teens' loading up the car worked well as the urban housing estate was a stereotypical environment for teenagers who attend raves to live. When it came to filming the scenes we had added in it proved surprisingly challenging. We went out a few days after doing our new story board, but we let it get too dark, even thought we could see clearly, the camera was not picking up the moving image. Despite the camera not working very well at dust we still wanted to try and achieve an eary feel  in the new scenes, to our luck in the next couple of days there was an extremely foggy evening. This created that effect perfectly and the camera picked it up clearly.



Film classification

Certificates are given to films to help the audience choose if the film they are looking to watch will be suitable for them.  The film cannot be legally sold to the person if they are not over the age of the certificate given to the film.  Of course the bbfc cannot predict how every one is going to react to certain scenes with in a film, weather this be in a PG rated film or an 18.

U 

‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

If a work is particularly suitable for a pre-school child to view alone, this will be indicated in the Consumer Advice.

PG    

'PG' stands for 'Parental Gaurdian'.  This basically means any one can watch it but if you are a young child (about the age of 8 and under) it is advised for the parent to look at what the film contains and decide weather they think the film will be appropriate for their child.                                                                                         

                                                                                       

12A

Cinema only. Introduced in 2002.

Films under this category are considered to be unsuitable for very young people. Those aged under 12 years are only admitted if accompanied by an adult, aged at least 18 years, at all times during the motion picture. However, it is generally not recommended that children under 12 years should watch the film. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, commonly used milder swear words, and moderate violence/sex references.

12

Home media only since 2002. 12A-rated films are usually given a 12 certificate for the DVD version unless extra material has been added which makes it need a higher rating.  A 12 is likely to allow the same contents as a 12A does.  However with a 12 the bbfc may be more laid back towards certain scenes in the film.   





15

Only those over 15 years are admitted.

Nobody younger than 15 can rent or buy a 15-rated DVD, Blu-ray Disc, UMD or game, or watch a film in the cinema with this rating. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, commonly used swear words, moderate-strong violence/sex references, and mild non-detailed sex activity.

18

Like with a 12 and a 15 for people to be allowed to buy a film with the certificate of 18 they will need to be at or above the age of the certificate. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used. Hard drugs are generally allowed, and strong violence/sex references along with non-detailed sex activity is also allowed.

R18

Only adults are admitted, and can only be shown at licensed cinemas or sold at sex shops. This rating does not exist for video games yet. Films under this category has material which the bbfc does not allow for it's "18" rating but is considered acceptable by law. Thus the violence and sex activity will be stronger in R18-rated DVDs and films than those which are rated "18".

Our Trailer

We have given our media trailer a certificate of 15. This is because it will contain strong language, scenes of horror and frequent drug references. Although we want the film to appeal to strong horror fans we decided not to give it an 18 certificate as we wanted to attract a large target audience and from previous research we found out that teen to young adults go to the cinema the most.

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle:  This theory implied that mass media had a direct, immediate and powerful effect on their audiences.  Basically the idea of this theory is that the things said and acted out on television go straight into your head without you really thinking about it, (passively received).  Therefore the people that believed in this theory thought that the audience of the mass media would believe what they have viewed, heard or read.

Two step flow:  This is information that has gone through more than just one or two people, this means that people filter out the things that they don’t want the audience to see and results sometimes in a biased view.

Uses of gratifications:  The theory places more focus on the consumer, or audience, instead of the actual message itself by asking “what people do with media” rather than “what media does to people”.  The approach suggests that people use the media to fulfill specific gratifications. This theory would then imply that the media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification.   

Reception Theory:  This links the kind of person you are, your background and your own existing system of beliefs, to the way you respond to the media you see.

Desensitization:  The more shocking and violent the images and information we see, the less sensitive we become to it in real life.  For example because we have seen on the news so often that British and America soldiers have been killed it may make you less surprised and therefore maybe even care less the next time you see it in the media.

Trailer research

To get inspiration for the trailer we have to make we decided to look at a variety of trailers from lots of different genres.  We came to the conclusion that making a horror trailer would be the best genre for us because of the resources we had.  For example a farm with wood land and old looking buildings.  Another deciding factor for choosing horror was seeing how many different camera angles had been used in the already existing trailers. 

Once we had decided on our genre we started to analyse existing trailers.  By doing this it helped us to find out about the music they had used (speed, instruments, build up, etc).  We also looked at the many camera angles that the trailers had in common (Fast pans, High angle, close ups and also extreme long shots).  And finally probably one of the most important things when producing a horror trailer, the editing.  This is a very important factor in a horror film or trailer as it needs to build tension throughout so the audience gets hooked and wants to keep watching or go out and pay to see the film.

Here are the three trailers I chose to analysed:

The Blair Witch Project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZu1cTg-xUM

The Hills Have Eyes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O76m3kpgPTQ