FILMING

NEW LOCATION

 

CHARACTERS AND COSTUMES

George Roberts - Age 7 plays himself

 

Outfit 1

 

Cheryl - age 34 plays mum

 

Outfit 1

 

NEW SHOOTING SCRIPT

A mum comes home from a boot fair and brings home a toy for her 7 year old son, George.

George loves his new toy and takes it to bed with him. He wakes up in the middle of the night crying because of a nightmare he has had. His new toy has moved across the room. Mum comes and put George back into bed a places the toy back in his arms.  

George wakes up the next morning looking very drained and blank. At breakfast mum tries to talk to him and he doesn't respond.

Later on that day, mum finds a trail of fluff down to the summer house in the back garden. She is then faced by George stabbing a collection of teddies in the summer house. The new toy she brought him is looking down towards him and the trailer ends with him coming towards the camera with a knife. 

UPDATE

Unfortunately, my actress are very busy or unwell and i'm panicking about how much time I don't have left. So I have decided I am still going to do a horror trailer based on possession but I will not include an Ouija bored, i will be based on childhood possession.  

PROBLEMS

I am having problems with getting my actors/actress to all be avalible at the same time. One of my actress has fallen very ill and has put me even thurther behind. I am having to rethink locations and actors becuase I need to film as soon as possible. Due to these problems I am going to carry on with my ancillary tasks and get them completed.

REFLECTION ON RESULTS

I created this questionnaire to give to my target audience of boys and girls between the ages of 15-18. The answers they give will help me understand what my audience want to see on my magazine front cover.

Firstly I asked 'How often do you buy magazines?' The most chosen answer was 'never' This makes selling my magazine to my target audience hard, but this just means I will have to make sure that the magazine looks amazing and makes my target audience want to buy it. The second best answer was monthly, so when it comes to creating my magazine I will make it so that it is published monthly.

I then asked 'how much would you be willing to spend on a magazine?' The most popluar answer was 51p - £1. I will set the price of my magazine as £1. Teenagers are not willing to spend a lot of money on magazines as they can get the majority of the infomation online. Becuase of this I will make sure my magazine has web links to make it more up to date with the target auidence.

I asked 'What sort of articles would you like to find in my magazine?' There was a range of different answers but the two most popular were reviews and cinema ratings. As im not making the whole magazine these will just appear as sell lines on the front cover enougraging them to buy it and read the inside.

Next i asked about the colour scheme and the chosen answer was black and brown. I think this is a good choice and ouija boards are often dark brown colours. I will use brown fonts throughout the magazine and poster and also in the main image show the colour brown.

Finally, the last question I asked was 'which of the following do you think is the most important?' The chosen answer was the main image, however some felt that the mast head was. I will make sure both are to a high standard and stand out as professional.



QUESTIONNAIRE RESULTS

 

QUESTIONNAIRE OF FILM MAGAZINE

As part of my media course work I have to make a film magazine front cover and the main story is my new and upcoming film. The genre is my film is horror.

Please tick or circle your answers.

1) How often do you buy magazines?

    Never

    Weekly

    Monthly

    More than the above

2) How much would you be willing to spend on a magazine?

    50p or less

    51p - £1

    £1.01 - £2

    £2.01 - £2.50

    More than £2.50

3) What sort of articles would you like to see in my magazine?

     Reviews

     Upcoming films

     Cinema ratings

     Upcoming actors/actresses 

     Other

4) Which of the following do you think is the most important to a film magazine?

    Masthead

    Main image

    Articles 
   
    Other

5) What colour scheme should my magazine cover?

     Black and Brown

     Black and red

     Black and Grey

     Other

     

REFLECTION OF RESULTS

I created a questionnaire to hand out to a focus group of boys and girls between the ages of 15-18. This questionnaire will help me decide on what I will do when it comes to my ancillary task. Below is an analysis of my results.

I asked my focus group ' What do you think is the main purpose of a film poster is?' The majority of them chose all of the above which includes Inform, Persuade and entertain. This means that I will have to include magazines rating persuading them to come and watch it, information about the film so that will be the title, a tag line and a main image which relates to the trailer, and finally I will entertain them by using a great main image which draws in their attention.

I then asked them 'What draws your attention to a film poster?' The answers which was picked the most were the main image and the title. Along with filming, I am also going to do a photo shoot of my setting, characters and the main prop. This will give me a range of images to choose from for the main image. As for title, I am going to ask my media class for some feedback on what titles relate the best to my trailer as they are all in the age and genders of my target audience.

Finding out what my target audience would prefer for the main image on my poster was hard as their was a mixed amount of answers, the most popular was the setting, however, the prop and victims were very close behind. I am going to explore more into what would make my poster the most interesting.

The colours that should dominate my poster were chosen as black and brown. I agree with these answers and were happy that my audience also think this is a good idea. Black is a common colour for horror films and brown can be in relation to the ouija board. The Ouija board is going to be old and dusty and I think brown with represent this well.

Finally, I learnt that 100% of my focus group felt that film posters encourage them to go and see the film. Many people left notes saying that the posters on buses, in train stations and in magazines are all great ways of publicising the film to people in my target audience, this is because 15-18 year old use public transport a lot and will see these on a daily basis.

RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAURE

SENDING OUT MY QUESTIONNAIRE.

I gave my questionnaire to a focus group of boys and girls between the ages of 15-18.

I handed out around 30 to get a fair set of answers.

 

QUESTIONNAIRE FOR POSTER

As part of my A2 media course, along with a teaser trailer, I need to create a film poster for it. 

Please tick or circle your answers.

1) What do you think is the main purpose of a film poster?

    Entertain

    Persuade

    Inform

    All of the above

    Other

      -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2) What draws your attention the a film poster most?

     Main image

     Title 

     Fonts

     Other

     ------------------------------------------------------------------

3) Do poster encourage you to go see new films?

    Yes

    No

    Other

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

4) Which colours should dominate the poster?

     Red

     Black

     Brown

     Grey

     Other

     ----------------------------------------------------------------------

5) What should be the main image on the poster?

    The setting (House)

    The victims

    The prop (Ouija Board)

    Other

    --------------------------------------------------------------------

EQUIPMENT

The main subject of my horror trailer is the Ouija Board so this is an essential prop I will need.

I will be using a Canon E05 camera to film with. This camera has a range of zooming and shutter speed adjustments which I will experiment with whilst using a range of angles and camera movements. 

I will use a tripod when filming so that my hands don't shake whilst moving the camera around. This will make sure the trailer looks professional and not amateur. 

I am filming the beginning scene at one of my actress house as she has a small and simple table and chairs. This will make them seem as if they are trapped in a small area. When it comes to filming I will clear the room of any clutter.

BEFORE FILMING

•  Make sure camera/phone is fully charged.
•  Refer to story board throughout.
•  Make sure actress make up/costume is perfect.
•  Adjust lighting.
•  Shoot the same shot from different angles.
•  Reduce background noise as much as possible.
•  The background is the same in every shot. (No rubbish, clocks, general, clutter)
•  A list of what needs to be shot on that day.
•  Have enough memory on camera/phone.
•  Have backup equipment in case of an emergency.
•  Check the whether so that it is similar in all shots.

CHARACTERS

 

Jordanna Lewis - Eden

Rhea Killick - Anna-Belle

 

I asked my A2 media class which names they though would suit my main character these were they're answers: 

Eden

Anna-belle

Eve

Rachel

Caroline

Edgar

I have chosen the name Eden as this represents the garden of Eden where the devil played. This links with the theme of my trailer.

My two other characters will go with the names Anna-belle and Rachel. 

MOCK OF FILM POSTER

MOCK OF FILM MAGAZINE

SHOOTING SCRIPT

I am going to start my teaser trailer with an establishing shot of Eden's house. Establishing shots are often used at the beginning of trailers to set the scene.

I will then pan across the loft whilst Eden is stood surrounded by clutter and boxes.

Next will be a close up of Eden's face looking down towards her hands.

Then I will have a mid shot of Eden holding the board in her hands.

Finally, I will continue with a mid shot whilst he blows dust from the bored.

The camera will the cut onto the next scene.

The next scene starts with an establishing shot of the three girls sat around the dining table with the bored central.

I will then show a birds eye view of the table while Eden tells the other girls what she has found.

I will then show a close up of all the girls faces to show their fear.

The shot speed will now increase and events start to take place. 
I will have shots of paranormal events taking place to the girls in their own houses for example, doors slamming on their own, bed covers being moved and objects falling.

To end the trailer I will have an establishing shot of the table with the ouija bored sitting covered in blood.

LOCATION

STORY BOARD

FEED BACK ON FINAL IDEA

I told my idea of using an ouija bored in my teaser trailer to a focus group of boys and girls between 15 to 18 and this were there response. Overall, it seems to be a good idea however I need to be carefull of not making it cheesy and look professional.

FINAL IDEA

I have decided to go with my ouija bored idea for my horror trailer. I can think of more ideas for this trailer then I can any other of my inital ideas and I know I can rely on my actress to be there whereas children can be harder to work with. 

Below shows what an Ouija bored looks like:

They are used to make contact with the dead and spirts. In my trailer one of the girls find this bored in their loft. They take it home and convince her friends to play and see what happens. As they begin to play strange things begin to happen to them. As the days go on strange events keep occuring to they realse they have let in a bad spirit.



EDITING

Editing

Cutting: One shot is immediately replaced by another on screen.

Eye line match: This shows a character looking at an object that is not seen on screen in the first shot, then you see the object and space around it in the next shot.

Shot reverse shot: This is used to show interaction between charcters. It will show one charcter looking at what we believe is another charcter, then we will see the next shot which is a character looking back at them.

Crosscutting: This is used to show action accuring in different places at the same time.

CAMERA WORK

Camera shots

Close up: Captures emotions and engages the audience to share this emotion.

Extreme close up: Very dramatic this may only show the actors/actress eyes. For example to show fear.

Point of view: This is a shot of what the actor/actress can see. This puts the audience into their shoes so that they can understand what they are feeling/seeing.

Long shot: This is when the audience can see the top of the actors/actress head to the bottom of their feet. Used to show body language.

Establishing shot: Used at the beginning of a scene showing the setting.

Mid shot: Most common shot. From the waist to the top of the head.

Angles

Birds eye view: Directly overhead, also used to set a scene and show the audience everything that is happening.

Low angle: Shows the subject from below looking up to it.

High angle: Shows the subject from looking down to it.

Canted angle: The camera is tilted to one side. This represent chaos in the scene.



SOUND

Sound

Diegetic: This is natural sound that is in the scene for example, a characters voice, cars in the background or noises made my objects within the scene.

Non diegtic: This is artificial sound added to the scene such as a voice over, sound effects or added music.

Synchronus Sound: Sound that is added to match the events that are taking place in the scene.

Asynchronous Sound: Sound that doesn't match the events that are taking place for example, an object dropping that is not on the screen.

MISE EN SCENE AND LIGHTING

Mise en scene

Location: Where the trailer is set. This is essential for portraying the genre.

Costumes: The actors/actress you used but my dressed appropriately for their role. For example, if you are filming during the day, they cant be wearing pyjamas.

Colour: The use of colours to portray moods. For example, red and black represent death and blood so they would be ideal for my trailer. However yellow represents sunshine and happiness and wouldn't fit well within my scenes.

Lighting

Natural light: Natural light from the sun to empathise realism. Coming through windows to create shadows or to highlight a characters face.

Artificial light: This is light from studio lights, lamps or torches. This will be used a lot throughout my trailer to highlight objects in the dark and to create shadows in certain places. 

Three point lighting: This is used to create depth on an object. Three different lights are used, a back light, a fill light and a key light as shown below.

IDEAS

For my horror trailer I have been thinking of what I would like the scary event to be. I have thought about this for months over the summer and this half term and these are my initial ideas.

My first idea was to use a young actor/actress to play a possessed child. I thought that this was a good idea, however, working with children may be hard as they cant be reliable to act and behave.

My second idea was to do a documentary type of horror. A group of friends out having fun and a horrific event takes place such as they get followed, or they get murdered one by one.

My final idea was to create a story around a group of friends finding an ouija bored in a loft and playing it together. Once they play it bad things will start to happen to all of them.

TYPICAL HORROR CONVENTIONS

Horrors tend to follow the same sort of structure. At the beginning they are very normal, everything and everyone gets on with their every day lives, then suddenly and event happens where this all changes. They like to play with the views fears and show them what they don't like to see. 

Iconography of a horror:

Blood

Death

Knifes

Screaming

Masks

spirits

TIME LINE

Research into existing media complete: 1st September 2014

Research into target audience complete: 10th September 2014

Planning: At the latest 30th September 2014

Main task complete: At the latest 31st October 2014

Ancillary task complete: At the latest 10th November 2014

Audience feed back: At the latest 1st December 2014

Final changes: At least 6th December 2014

Evaluation: At least 15th December 2014

Submission: 20th December 2014



REFLECTION ON RESULTS

I created a Questionnaire and sent it put to 30 students who match my audience profile via my school email. The answers will give an indication on where to start. Below is an analysis of the Questionnaire.

55% of the people I sent it out too were boys and the rest were girls. 65% were aged between 15-18. This will help me decide what age to classify my film as. I think the age will be 15 and I will make sure that my trailer is age appropriate.

I asked my audience 'what is the best quality for a teaser trailer to have?' The the popular answer was 'Lots of suspence' Therefore I need to ensure that my trailer has lots of suspence. To do this I will have scary music and lots of short shots one after another.

I asked 'Should the colour scheme be continous throught three media platforms?' 93% of the people said yes. I will make sure that my trailer, poster and magazine all look similar so that everyone can relate them all together. This also looks very professional.

The most popular sub-genre of horror was psychological and supernatural. These types of horror films are very popular at the moment, including things such as spirts and demons. I will include these aspects in my trailer to make people want to watch it.

The most popular answer for which location was a house. I think people have chosen it to be in a house so that it seems more realistic. I will set my trailer in a house but in many different rooms and prehaps the garden. This will make people fear of what might happen in everyday senarios.

Doing this questionnaire has allowed me to understand what my target auidence like and what they want to see in my teaser trailer.  

RESULTS OF QUESTIONNAIRE

SENDING OUT MY QUESTIONNAIRE

To find out what my target audience like and dislike in teaser trailers I have sent out a questionnaire from my school address to 30 of my friends at school to fill out for me to get a fair results.
I have sent them to girls and boys between the age of 15-18.



QUESTIONNAIRE

I am currently studying media studies at A2 level. I am going to be creating a horror trailer along with a poster advertising the film and the front cover of a  film magazine promoting the film. I would appreciate it very much if you could answer the following questions as your input is very important to me. 

Thank you.

Please tick or circle your answers.

1. Are you male or female?

   

    Male

    Female

2. How old are you?

    15-18 

    19-25

    26-30

    31+

3. What are your favourite horror sub-genres? 

    Action horror

    Science fiction horror

    Psychological horror

    Gothic horror

    Natural horror

    Other

    ....................................................

    ...................................................................

4. What location would you prefer a horror to be set in?

    Woods

    House

    Graveyard

    Garden

    Other

    ...........................................................................

    ......................................................................................

5. What is the best quality a trailer can have? 

    Lots of suspense

    Good use of music

    Engaging story line

    Good actors/actress'

    Other

    ........................................................................

    ..................................................................................

6. Should the colour scheme be continuous throughout all three media platforms? 

    Yes

    No

7. What age should the antagonist be?

    0-10

    11-16

    17-21

    22+

MY TARGET AUDIENCE

Target audience is a very important part in creating media products. For products to sell they must be suitable for the correct audience and it't a good idea how to promote your product depending on your target audience. Producers will carry out primary and secondary research to understand who their target audience is. 

AUDIENCE THEORY

Hypodermic Syringe Model

The model states that the content of a media product has an intimidate effect on the audience, similar to the effect of a drug being directly put into you. For example, if you watch something romantic you then become more romantic yourself, or if you watch something violent, you then become violent. 

Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were found guilty of murder at age ten. They abducted and violently killed two year old toddler, james Bulger. The two boys had apparently watched 'Child's Play 3' before the murder. As the acts they performed on the toddler were similar to those in the film news papers such as 'The Sun' began debates whether violence like this should be exposed in the media.

Two-Step Flow Theory
There are two steps to this theory, first, the 'Opinion Leader' gains the information from the media source. 
Second, the opinion leader then passes the information on to the influential's. This information may be changed slightly to their opinion. 
Examples of this are; Elections and advertisement.   

REFLECTION ON EXISTING MEDIA RESEARCH

The secondary research that I have been doing is based on what I will produce. The first thing I researched was the teaser trailer which gave me the inspiration for what type of horror film I would like to do. I then researched into the ancillary tasks and analysed film posters and magazines. This then helped me understand what makes a good front cover and poster for advertisement.

FILM MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

Empire magazine

Empire is also a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Media. The first issue was released in July 1989 and is now known as the biggest film magazine in the UK, towering over the sales of Total Film magazine.

The layout of this Empire over follows the rule of thirds. This rule indicates how the images and text should be composed to be able to catch the audiences attention. For example, where the lines meet at a point are main focus points for the audience, such as the eyes of the actors and the anchorage text. These are the first things the audience will look at now these essential points.

In comparison to the total film magazine empire is more simplistic, it isn't covered in a number of different pictures there is one main image. The colour scheme is red, white, black and yellow. Although many magazines only have three colours this cover looks neat and professional.   

FILM MAGAZINE ANALYSIS

Total Film

Total Film is a British magazine which releases a new issue every four weeks. They review; films, cinemas, and blue-ray DVD's. You can either have a print version or a interactive version on Ipads or Iphones.

This cover follows the route of eye layout. The masthead is at the top of the page so it is the first thing the audience see. They will then move onto the main image looking into the persons eyes and then through their bodies. Then finally the cover story is the last thing they will read as it is situated at the bottom of the page. The less relevant information surrounds the route of the eye for example, the bar code and tag lines.
 This front cover looks very busy and is full of colour, this makes this magazine stand out and catch the attention of the audience.
The masthead 'TOTAL FILM' is capitalised and in a bold, white font, this makes it stand out against the colourful background and makes it the first thing the audience see.     

FILM POSTER ANALYSIS

House of Wax

The main image on this poster looks very sinister and disturbing. We can see that it is a girl who's body dissolves into the black background by the use of dripping wax. This relates back to the title 'House of Wax' This immediately grabs the audiences attention as this is very unusual.

The black background connotes death and terror helping the audience identify the horror genre.

'House of Wax' is shadowed creating the sense of ghost or spirits being a part of the film. The allows the audiences imagination to wonder what they film may be about as this poster do give them a lot to go by. The would make them want to go and see the film to find out what its all about. 

I think this poster is easily identified as horror and does show signs of scary imagery, however, it doesn't give you any incite of what the film may include. This isn't the best poster I have seen but I think its gives the audience a lot to think about.