Sunday 28 September 2014

Research and planning: what to expect from a trailer

After analysing and watching some horror trailers, I have decided what I think is important to include when making my trailer.

In terms of sound, I think that stereotypical high pitched music is important for a horror trailer, or even if it's not high pitched it should definitely create an eerie atmosphere and put the viewers on edge.

In terms of cinematography, when watching trailers I found that we see a lot of long shots to show how isolated the characters often are, and I also realised that I saw a high number of close up shots to show fear / emotion of the characters.

For editing, there is often jump cuts to speed up the pace in areas of high action / chasing. Also, I noticed that there was a lot of cut away shots to show what was happening to each character as they often get split up, along with the long shots for isolation and the high pitch score this creates a rather creepy trailer.

For  mise-en-scene, this tends to vary on the type of horror film and where its set, for example if it's set in an isolated farmhouse in a field you would see smashed cars and the main villain would probably be an old drunken man with a shotgun chasing the characters for being in his land.

This is the type of information I get from watching horror trailers which helps me gather information for my own trailer because I know what styles to go for and this will make the genre stand out right from the beginning.

Friday 26 September 2014

Research and planning: audience interview video 3



This is an interview with someone from within our target audience. From this interview we can gather information for how we can attract our audience and find what they expect to see from a horror film.

Research and planning: audience interview video 2

This is another interview video that me and my group did to get research together for when we make our film trailer we asked the same questions as in the first so that we can compare results, we interviewed someone from our media class who is within our target audience. We came up with the questions together to make sure we got the best information possible.

Research and planning: audience interview video 1


This is an interview video that me and my group did to get research together for when we make our film trailer, we interviewed someone from our media class who is within our target audience. We came up with the questions together to make sure we got the best information possible.

Friday 19 September 2014

Research and planning: top 20 horror films




Above are the top 20 films from the horror genre of all time. This will help me because it gives me a lot of sources to look at when making my own trailer, I could write a conclusion on what is repeated throughout each trailer in terms of sound, mis-en-scene, editing, cinematography so that when I am filming mine I know what style works best with this genre.

From looking at the films up to now I know that all of the films include murder weapons and have some type of psycho villain, the villain varies throughout the movies, some are a child for example The Omen, The Shining and The Exorcist. All rather stereotypical in terms of sound, include a non-diegetic score that is often high pitched with lots of bangs that make the viewer jump. Trailers tend to include the peaks in the narrative where the editing is fast, so horror trailers are often quick and loud, however not always they are sometimes slow to create an eerie atmosphere. 

Research and planning: slideshare with questionnaire results


This is a slideshare showing the results of my audience questionnaires, these can be used when making my trailer, magazine cover and poster.

Research and planning: complete questionnaire



This is a questionnaire completed by a classmate, it is an example. I had around 10 completed, these will help me when it comes to making my trailer, magazine cover and poster. For example I now know that this person would link a red and black colour scheme with horror so I could go for that colour scheme.

Monday 15 September 2014

Research and planning: polljunkie


Research and planning: Blank questionnaire



This is a questionnaire that I made on Microsoft word, I will hand this to people in college so that I can get so background in my audience and what they like to see in films and what they expect. 

Research and planning: Interview questions

Here are a set of questions that I am going to ask people around college when I start my audience research, which will help me create a suitable trailer, poster and magazine cover.


  • What is your favourite horror film? Why?
  • Do you ever watch film trailers? If yes where?
  • Would you say a male or female villain is scarier in a horror film?
  • What would you say is a suitable location for a horror film?
  • What colours would you say remind you of a horror film?
  • Do you prefer horror films that are more realistic or with a typical story line?
  • What music would you usually hear in a horror film?
  • Who are more important when trying to attract your audience? The actors or the producers?
  • Do you prefer creep horror films or gory horror films?
  • Do you think horror films appeal to a specific gender and why?

Research and planning: trailer analysis 2


Research and planning: trailer analysis 1



Research and planning: Pitch



This is my movie trailer that I made on Powerpoint and uploaded to Slideshare, I talk about the details needed for a horror trailer and two plot ideas I have. Also how I will link my ancillary tasks along with what skills I will need to do everything.

Research and planning: Certificate and regulations

The U certificate stands for universal, it means that a film is suitable for children over the age of 4. This would usually just apply to children's movies.

The PG certificate stands for parental guidance, films with this certificate tend to be for general viewing and shouldn't unsettle a child ages around 8 or over but haven't necessarily been made with a younger audience in mind.




The 12 and 12A certificates are very similar, however 12A tends to apply more in cinemas, meaning that a child aged under 12 couldn't watch a film with this certificate without adult supervision films with 12/12A certificate may contain moderate violence and some swearing.
Rather than being in cinemas 12 applies in DVD and Blu Ray so a child aged under 12 cannot buy that film, but the same rules apply in terms of language etc. in the film.















This certificates implies that no one under the age of 15 can watch a film with this certificate. With a 15 certificate a film can include much more swearing and no themes are prohibited. However this is as long as they apply in the correct context and apply with the theme. The amount of violence is likely to increase in a 15 certificate.






Films with an 18 certificate are for adults only and cannot be watched by anyone younger than 18. With this certificate no theme is prohibited because adults can choose freely what they want to see. There is no limitation on the amount of bad language and violence with this certificate, the idea of pain may be concentrated on and could include sadistic scenes. And there is no limitation on swearing at all.

Research and planning: Movie poster practice


This is a practise poster I created on a film that I created from random. I chose to base it on horror with the stereotypical red font that looks as though it's been smeared, slightly relating to to creepy title "machete" that is seen as a murder weapon by most people. I edited the image that is of a machete to make it a bit darker and seem scarier because I didn't want a horror poster to seem bright. At the bottom you can see the movie poster credits, for these I downloaded the font actually used on all movie posters called "steel tongs". I then put on a rhetorical question / catchphrase saying "WHO WILL SURVIVE?" the word "SURVIVE" implying that something scary is going to happen.

Research and planning: Genre research prezi



This is a prezi showing research I did based on movie genres.

Sunday 7 September 2014

Research and planning: Trailer evaluation



This is a trailer for The Breakfast Club, which is what we based our practice trailer. We used this trailer because it was rather basic for us to recreate within college and give us an idea of what we need to do when making our trailers.
Below I will discuss the similarities and differences of our trailer to the real thing:

Similarities;
  • Both set in a similar environment.
  • Clothing was similar in both trailers.
  • We emulated some scenes from their trailer.
  • Tried to use similar lines as the official trailer.
  • Ended with the title.
Differences;
  • Our trailer was a lot shorter than theirs.
  • Cinematography was as professional as theirs, a lot more shaky.
  • Sound wasn't as clear when we were speaking. 
  • Didn't start with an opening title.
  • Although we ended with the title like them, ours didn't include the voice over.
Knowing these similarities and differences we know our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to creating a trailer including what to include. For example the voice over at the end with the title.

Saturday 6 September 2014

Research and planning: Practice trailer


This is my practice trailer, based on The Breakfast Club we used this film as an example to give ourselves an idea of what has to be done when making our trailer. We worked together to actually film the trailer then edited it including sound and editing from what we started with.