Practice Makeup

Also whilst planning, and i had worked out my costumes i wanted to have a practice makeup session to work out how i would show the variation in looks between the two personalities and the two different looks, for the normal personality and her as a murder. 

This first look would be the look for when the girl is herself in her normal day to day look.

And this look is for when she is the ghostly killer, still as the same character but showing the two personalities.

Film Classification

I also am going to give my film the rating of 15. This is because my thriller is more of a pyschological thriller than a thriller full or gore and blood. Pyschological thrillers such as 'What Lies Beneath" and the sixth Sense have ratings simular to the one i have chosen.I also wanted to do some initial research into film clasification and how films are giving their ratings in the real film industry, so i looked ont the Britisih Board of Film classification website.

All classification decisions are based on the BBFC’s published and regularly updated Guidelines. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is an independent, non-governmental body funded through the fees it charges to those who submit films and video works for classification. The BBFC classifies films on behalf of the local authorities who license cinemas under the Licensing Act 2003. The BBFC will not classify material which it believes to be in breach of the criminal law. 

As i have decided to rate my film 15, i wanted to also see how they break down the rating of a 15. This is what i found out;

15 – 

Suitable only for 15 years 

and over 

No one younger than 15 may 

see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. 

No one younger than 15 may 

rent or buy a ‘15’ rated 

video work. 

The BBFC also split how they rate a film into a number of different catergories, and for a 15 they have narrowed it down to these catergories and what they can show within each one;Discrimination, Drugs,Horror, language,  Nudity,  Sex,  Theme and Violence.

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/download/guidelines/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202009.pdf

Filming thoughts

As i am collecting together my final thoughts for my teaser trailer, and i am working out the composition of my shots, i am also looking at things that could potentially go wrong and how i could prevent it.

• When filming and setting up the composition of the shots, i need to make sure that everything in the shot stays the same as i am going to use spit screen editing techniques to have my main female character in the shot at the sam time, so i need to ensure that nothing changed or moves within the shots,not any leafs or anything. To try and prevent this i am going to make makings on the floor with tape f where my tripod will be, and if i have to move then it will be in exactly the same place. Also its a particualy windy day and there is leaves on the floor than i may sweep them away to stop them blowing when i filming.
• Also i may have problems when filming because i am filming in public. This means that anything unpredictable could happen, so i need to be prepared to stop filming and points. For example anyone could walk up the lane where i am filming, or a car could also drive up. Again marking out on the floor with tape where my tripod and camera is going to be positioned will help to put the camera back in the correct place.
• I will also have to think about certain props that i need to use in my trailer. For example, i wanted my character to be holding a kitchen knife with fake blood on it, however i have to re think this as its breaking the law to have a knife in public, so i am going to have to re think a effective way of showing murder.
• The weather will also effect my filming, as if its raining or really windy i will have to postpone my filming.
• Because i am using the same character the whole way through, but in two different perspectives, personalities and looks, i am going to have carefully plan how i film, and film on look of the character first, then the second look after and then place it all in order when i edit it.

Analysing FIlm Posters - The Road

Analysing Film Posters - Buried

This is a teaser poster for the film Buried, released in september 2010. 

Film poster conventions

Film posters are a vital part of the marketing campaign for many films. They will attract huge volume of people wanting to see the film. They have many conventions that are the same thorughout all posters. They attract an audience as they are a major form of visual communication and are of interest to many people of all ages. The main forms and conventions of film posters include:

• A large title which attracts the eye, bold colours which stand out from the background
•  intriguing picture which would attract viewers to the film
•  persuasive language which might persuade the viewers to go and see the film, using the main character's name for promotion
• the certification will either to ensure that the right type of people are watching the film.
• Attract the auidnce into watching the whole film
• Sets the genre
• Suggestion of the storyline
• Comming soon or release date
• Director and production company usually displayed

Planning

I hope to Film my teaser trailer over the weekend starting Friday the 5th of Novemeber. As alot of my filming is going to be done outside i want to film very early morning, where the sun light is just right and the air is misty. I have also had a thought about what props and costumes that i am going to need in order for my teaser trailer to be sucesesfull, these are;

Newspaper cuttings of Murder Articles
Plain white long tshirt x 2
Fake red blood
Fake Knife
Black tights x2
Black eye make up
Chair
Desk
Lamp

For filming, i am going to need Camera, Flip Camera, Tripod and SD memory Card.

Costumes

The costumes will be simplistic but also effective, because this will show the difference between the two personalities that the female character has. I want to use a white plain t-shirt for the normal perosnality, and the white thsirt covered in fake blood for her as the killer. However the main emphaisis is not on the costumes to portray the difference in the character, but will be how i composition the shot,actingm fliming,lighting and edditing techniques also. I dont want the costumes to be to busy or have to much detail as the location of where i film is also hugley important and i would like that to stand out in the scene also.

Storyboard

Practise shots

Here are a few practice shots that i took of Liane and also the locations of which i would like to film my trailer. I filmed these practise shots on a Flip Camera.

Casting and Mise en scene

I felt that for my teaser trailer it was really important to undergo casting to ensure that i had the right actor for my teaser trailer. I want to appeal to a wide range of audiences and I knew that i wanted to use a female actress, to fit with the main conventions of a thriller, where normally women are used as the main charachter because they are assoicated with being weaker and more emotional would be affective. I also wanted to use a female that would be of the simular age to the core audience watching the film, which would be 18, as my film is going to a mature pyschological thriller.For my casting, i selected a group of girls from my sixthform college as then it would be easy to select for filimg,and then i narrowed it to the 3 i have displayed below.




Aimee, I choose her for the final 3 of casting because i feel that she had a really natural look that i could work with and i would be able to create a variety of good looks.



 Liane, I choose her because she has a completley different look and she has a good variety of acting skills as she is a drama student. I overall choose her to be the female protagonist character. 



                           Dom agian has a really natural look and i think that she would look really good on camera to work with.



Mise En Scene

Mis en Scene wise, for my first shot i am going to have a exteme close up of the females eyes, showing her normal and then crying, and the next shot is going to be a close up of newspaper articles.As alot of my filming is outside, i wanto choose a really good location to film. Also because i am going to use a split screen when editing i also need to choose a location where it is going to be easy to film and not much will change, for example in a feild,compared to a busy public place. I would like to film up a country lane, where the lane is straight and just has trees covering it on either side of the road, which i feel i know the perfect location for. I also want to film a little part in a dark location, which i feel i might just use the same lane and film it at a different time during the day to get the lighting effect how i want it. I understand that i need to undergo some practise filming to see if these locations and lighting techniques etc will actually be sucessful and work. I feel that the location i have choose to film fits in really well with the conventions of a thriller film as they are usually located in iscolated and quiet creepy places or busy public places. I feel that the compostion of alot of my shots will be quite simple, and the edditing using split screen for example to put 2 shots together will really show a good result on my finished product.

Initial Ideas

My first ideas are that i want to create a Pyschological thriller involving One main characther, and the whole story line is based around her and a crime that she has commited, although only she knows that she has commited this crime, which my first initial idea would be she had commited Murder. I am going to use the one main character, however i would like to use split screen effects to have the same character shown twice like her concious is following her. As i collect togetether ideas i am going to then Build up my story board. I know i would like the trailer to begin with a close up of the main characters face, and then the ending will consist of quick montage edditing, also the shots will have Inter titles between some of the shots.

Target Audience

The age group of the target audience for a Thriller film is a mature young adult normally in the age of 15-25, and a statistic shows that around 75% of people who watch thriller film are students. For my film, I have chosen to stick to the typical target auiadnce of a thriller film having my core target auidence as teenagers-adults, from the ages of 15-22 apprx, the age of students. Although I am planning that my teaser trailer will only feature a female character, my teaser trailer and film will target both a male and female auidence, and the girl featuring in my film as the main character will be of a teenage ago of 18, providing a pathway for connection from the auidence.

1. Who is your target audience?15-22 years

2. Where is your target audience located? Anywhere

3. What is the age range and median age? 15+

4. Is the group primarily male or female? Both, although the main character is female, breaking the normal sterotype

5. What do they do for a living? Being a student

6. What level of education do they have? Standard level of education

 

7. What kind of lifestyle do they lead? They are very sociable, studying, yet would have a intrest in films, partiucalr horror movies.

 

8. What are their special interests or hobbies? Studying, hanging with friends, watching movies, watching programes such as CSI.

My Chosen Genre

After looking at a variety of different teaser trailers and a variety of films, i decided i would choose a Thriller genre for my teaser trailer. This is because i feel that here i can be really creative with my ideas. There are many different story lines and plots i could use to generate a really effective teaser trailer. There is a variety of different shots, lighting and edditing techniques that i can use effectivey to make a really strong teaser trailer that fit all of the conventions of a thriller teaser trailer.

Conventions of a thriller

From looking at the collection of teaser trailers, and analysing the 3 in detail previously on my blog, I think that a thriller teaser trailer would be the most exciting to make, and also a teaser trailer that can generate a buzz and anticipation. From the teaser trailers I noticed that thriller trailers have quick cuts and the camera angle constantly changes. I noticed that much of the music goes along with the action in the trailer, and builds up when tension and the story picks up. Lighting is often dark and lots of shadows are shown, and commonly the films are shot at night time or in very isolated areas, creating the sense of isolation and no escape.

However one teaser trailer that i looked at was Phone booth, which is a thriller film. This film I believe does not fit the expected conventions of a thriller film. All of the action is shot in the daylight, meaning natural lighting; it avoids darkness meaning there are no shadows. Its located and shot in a busy area within Newyork, with the majority of the film in a phone booth. In some ways it could be linked to the conventions because its all based around one male protagonist and some parts of the editing are very quick. However it does challenge the normal conventions and could be classed as a psychological thriller as it gets the audience involved in the film on the edge of there seat trying to work it all out rather than a action packed thriller.

Genre

For more initial research I wanted to look at a variety of different teaser trailers so that I could look at the different plots and conventions of a teaser trailer, but in particular to look at the different types of Genre. Genre refers to types of all different medias which are recognisable and memorable because they have a number of identifiable elements which add to create a story and characters. Genres are useful for the film industry because it helps to market films. Certain Genre’s have visual motifs or icons of that genre which make marketing films to audiences easier.

Some conventions of Genre are;
Plot
Characters
Settings
Modes of Narrative
Music
Stars
Ad Visual Imagery

All these conventions of genre make up what the audience want to see and what the audience enjoying watching. Genre of an film is key because if gives the audience a range of pleasures, including Anticipation, Expectation and Prediction.

Genre theory is the characteristics, features and conventions that make up categories, usually within film and broadcast. Each genre is recognizable by an audience because of these common features and conventions. These are not rules and are not always defined leaving genre open to innovation and overlapping. Genre itself is a French word meaning "class" or "kind" and for many years has been applied to media texts. Common film genres include Horror, Action and Comedy. It wasn't until the 50's that the actual word genre became a common term and was increased with the upsurge of film critics. It then developed from an academics only word and was widely used to help market films from the 70's onwards. Now every DVD store is laid out in order of genre to make it easier for the customer to find what they like.

I decided to look at variety of teaser trailers from all different genres to see the comparisons between them. Here is a list of the teaser trailers i watched.
The Lovely Bones
500 Days of summer
Valentines Day
Twilight
New Moon
6th Sense
Step brothers
The back up Plan
Mirrors
Inception
Silence of the lambs
Paranormal Activity
What lies beneath
Creep
The devil wears Prada
Psycho
The Hangover
Transformer
Toy Story 3

Creep Teaser Trailer

The Creep teaser trailer starts with hand held shots of someone walking through the London Underground. The diagetic sound of heavy fast breathing adds to the suspense and anticipation for the film. The inter titles at the beginning of the film saying " missed the last train home?", straight away tells the audience the basic plot of the story and that it is all going to be based around this event. The main character again is featured as a female, giving this stereotypical view of women in horrors being the weaker gender. There's a diagetic sound of a train however it cant be seen in the shots which adds to the suspense. The dark lighting from inside the carriage adds to the dramatic feeling and close up of the lady’s face also shows the fear. The non diagetic music also picks up and gets much louder as the action starts to begin. There’s a sound of a heartbeat as there is quick cuts between scenes. At the end the pace of editing really picks up and the music again gets quicker. The way in which the shots have been put together in Montage editing works very effectively and there’s a contrast between low lighting with shadows then really bright lighting.

When a Stranger Calls Teaser Trailer

When a stranger calls is a good teaser trailer to show all the conventions of a good teaser trailer. The beginning of the teaser trailer firstly sets the scene, with the long drive up to the house where the girl is baby sitting. Because the house is set far away from other houses, and the time of day that the film is shot we can automatically see that the film is going to be a thriller or a horror. The main character also is a girl, again showing this representation among horrors of females being the weaker gender. The diagetic noise of the telephone ringing from the beginning also gives a creepy and suspicious feel to the film. The Inter titles between shots also help towards the genre of the film, with things like " she thought it would be a quiet night". The lighting in the shots gives a major indication to the film and that something scary is going to happen. There’s lots of fades between the shots, and also lots of close ups of the telephone gives a big indication to the plot and narrative. The music builds up and gets louder as the drama and action begins to take place in the teaser trailer, the cuts between the shots become more quicker and fast paced also. the ring of the telephone also keeps playing to, with action and cuts between each ring. Inter titles also begin to show, with words like alone, isolated, trapped, all on a red background with red being iconography of danger. The words " you cant escape the terror" also come up again, and from then the action becomes so quick its so hard for the audience to see what is going on, almost in a blinking action, therefore making the audience watching the teaser trailer to then want to go and see what happens. The trailer is 1.43 seconds a little longer than a conventional teaser trailer, so if the length was shortened it would the perfect teaser trailer. The effect of the quick pace editing, diagetic noise from the ringing of the phone and the lighting all add to the feeling and the emphasis on the thriller film.

New Moon Teaser Trailer

I choose to analyse the New Moon teaser Trailer because i found that it fitted the conventions of a teaser trailer very well. The Twilight Saga is already a well known collection of films with a book ready made audience who are already huge fans. New Moon is classed as a 2nd film franchise, a follow up to the first film Twilight. Its Genre is fantasy, but also has a hint of romance, with the typical teenage love story. The target audience for these films are teenagers, but in particular teenage girls. The use of good looking men, and the love story all relate back to the audience. Also the girls voice is the voice that dominates throughout the trailer meaning the core target audience can relate to her. The trailer also shows the emphasis on the moral dilemma from he love triangle between Bella, Jacob and Edward. The trailer also focus's more on Jacob, and Edward(Robert Patterson) is hardly featured within the trailer. This is because Robert Patterson already has a huge fan base from the first film, and fans of Robert will almost certainly go see the second film. This trailer is heavily dominated on the story line between Bella and Jacob, and shows Jacob in a new image, also featured topless. The inter titles between the cuts also are shown in a fantasy way, with the text a orange glowing colours keeping the theme the same throughout The inter titles also relate to the dialogue that was just spoken, when Edward says " you don’t belong in my world Bella" and the inter title saying 'When Forever Ends'. The trailer has cross dissolves between the scenes and the music stays at a steady pace until the drama in the trailer builds up and then the pace of the music builds up with the emphasis. The Teaser trailer is around 50 seconds fitting in with the key convention of a teaser trailer.

Conventions of a teaser trailer

Conventions
Listed below are some of the more recognisable conventions of film trailers:

• voiceovers are used to tell the story and give credit information
• the stars of the film are showcased
• key points are sometimes conveyed through titles (words on screen)
• conversations between characters often consist of one-liners
• dramatic camera angles may be chosen to show events or characters
• action is interspersed with actor or director credits on screen
• music plays an important role in creating atmosphere
• the film’s title may not appear until the end
• the trailer builds to a climax, where it ends
• montage (a series of shots from different points in the film, edited together) is often used to highlight the most dramatic, humorous or fast-paced aspects of the film

Structural conventions
A trailer will often be structured around the most appealing aspects of a film without taking conventional narrative order into consideration. For example, you might see a funny moment taken from the ending of a comedy near the beginning of the trailer for that film, or a selection of clips chosen to attract the widest possible audience, such as a romantic clip in the trailer for an action film. Some trailers will aim to provide a basic narrative structure to guide us through the film’s storyline. A trailer structure may look like this:

Opening: establishes setting and introduces character
Build-up: relationships established; development of characters and their world
Problem: a dilemma or series of complications: characters faced with an obstacle (or several) to overcome. There may be more than one ‘problem’ in the narrative
Events: a series of events as characters try to overcome obstacles and solve problems. Further complications may arise in the process.

The conventional narrative of a film will normally adopt a classic storytelling structure, for example:

Beginning: order is established;
Middle: order is disrupted
End: order is restored

A voice over is also a convention of a teaser trailer. A voiceover is an instantly recognisable convention of a film trailer that;
- Helps the audience to make a sense of the narrative by giving us background information
- who the characters are
- information about the director, production or star persona
- helps to build a sense of anticipation
- reinforces the title of the film
- sets the tone for the film

Distribution
The Duration of a trailer is one defining feature, a fill theatrical thriller will generally run for 2 minutes in the cinema, where as a teaser trailer will run for no longer than 1 minute. A distribution company may decide to release more then one trailer for a film, particularly if its a big production company with a huge budget for marketing. For example, a teaser trailer may then be followed by a longer theatrical thriller which usually plays in cinemas 3-4 weeks before the film is released. Most trailers are created and produced at the same time as the film is being edited. The timing for teaser trailer campaigns must be shown far enough in advance to generate a hype about the films release.

Global releasing is where the film is being shown in a range of countries, which means it may have a range of release dates. In this case, each trailer will need to carry out the correct information to ensure that audiences know enough about the film. Sometimes the trailers may be re-cut for different countries and different audiences. In recent years, the changes in technology have had a big impact on the way that film titles are released internationally. When films are released earlier in the US for example than they are in Europe pirate copies of these films and trailers often appear in Europe before its official release date. As this can eat into potential profits and huge loss for distribution and production companies, the people involved in promoting a film have to carefully control when a film is released. For this reason films are increasingly being released on a day to day basis, meaning that the film is released around the world on the same day in order to reduce the international trade of pirated copies.

Why is the trailer important?

The trailer is a important weapon within a marketing campaign for a film. Posters and other ancillary products are important in capturing the initial interest of the audience and drawing them into the cinema, but they cannot convey the excitement and atmosphere of a film in the same way a trailer does. The combination of moving image and sound is an exciting experience, and the thrill and buzz that is created is different to what could ever be experience through a still image on a poster.

A trailer aims to give the audience information about the film, such as what the story is about, who the stars are and what genre or type of film it will be. Genre is important in film marketing because our decision about what to see will partly depend upon whether we enjoyed other similar films. When we view a trailer we are automatically decoding what we see and hear to establish the film’s genre. We call these recognisable sounds and images conventions of the genre. Occasionally a film will be a mix of more than one genre, and then it may take more time for us to decide what it is. This adds to the excitement.

Another indication as to the genre of a film is the stars. As a cinema-going audience the audience is use to associating certain stars in certain genres. A trailer will always ensure that we are made aware of whom the stars are, as this will encourage the audience to see the film and help them recognise the genre.

How does the trailer show that a film is worth going to see?
Whilst the marketing campaign uses genre to gain our interest, it must also show us how this new film is different to others in the same genre: this is known as the USP (unique selling point) of the film. The USP is what separates one film title from another released at a similar time or within the same genre. The USP could be many things. The USP is important for marketing the film as it sets each release apart from its rivals, and so is often strongly emphasised in the marketing campaign.

What is a teaser trailer?

A teaser trailer is a short version of a movie trailer which is designed to pique the interest of the audience, getting them excited about an upcoming film. Teasers, as they are called, are typically released months in advance, sometimes as much as 18 months before the expected release date of the film, and they are used to build anticipation and curiosity about the films they advertise. Teaser trailers can be seen before feature films in some movie theaters, and they are also released online and shown on television. Classically, a teaser trailer lasts between half a minute and a minute. It may include footage from the film, often in a rough stage, since the film has not been completed, or it may utilize entirely new source material. In some cases, a teaser trailer is simply an abridged version of a regular movie trailer, including the film's tagline and key footage in a condensed version which is more television-friendly.Teaser trailers may also include hints and clues which viewers can follow, if they feel so inclined. It is becoming increasingly popular to include web addresses in teaser trailers, so that viewers can go look up the film online, and some movies had used these addresses as a jumping-off point to involve viewers in an alternate reality game or series of puzzles, thereby drawing them into the story of the film. Others offer viewers the opportunity to sign up on a mailing list for news about the film, including notifications when longer movie trailers are released.

From a marketing perspective, the teaser trailer is a brilliant tool. The brief advertisement is usually not terribly costly to make or expensive to air on television, and it can suck viewers in, getting people hyped up about a movie months before it is released. Teaser trailers are often used to promote big budget films, with the goal of getting a return on the investment as quickly as possible, and they are also utilized to increase fan interest, create a buzz and anticipation. 

Introduction

For my A2 Media Studies Coursework I have chosen to create a promotional package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two ancillary products, which I have chosen to create a film magazine front cover, and a poster for the film.