Copyright - sound effects

Searching through youtube for music and soundtracks appropriate to my trailer, I found two that would fit in perfectly with my trailer. When playing them over my in-progress trailer, they were extremely relevant and helped to enhance the feel that I wanted my product to have. In order to abide with copyright laws I will ask their permission to use their pieces of music.

I have commented on the sound tracks asking permission to use part of it in my coursework:

 

The other one however is marked as royalty free:

I will not need to ask permission for this piece of music due to this.

Further Inspirational text - Prisoners - Deconstruction

Another inspirational text for the content and editing of my trailer is the trailer for a film called Prisoners, released this year, 2013. Click below to view the trailer:

Sound

I like how the intense music starts at around about 0.51 as the scene is set to be normal at first, and the kicking in of the pulsing type music changes the tone in the trailer, prepares the audience and warns them that the action is about to happen and builds suspense and tension. I will ensure that I do this in my trailer for that desired effect.

Transitions

Aswell as lots of quick cuts the trailer includes many of its transitions as black outs that pause for longer than a quick cut. I really like this transition and how it gives the impression of eyes watching, and since I want my film to be called the 'listeners' the metaphorical message is that someone is always watching/listening to them that they are un-aware of. The black out blinking eye effect will convey it as I feel it does very well in this film trailer, it also gives it a more creepy un-easy sinister feel.

From 1.54 minutes into the trailer, there is a significant longer blackout followed by a sequence of longer blackouts after each clip within the trailer, this changes the tone again slightly for the trailer intensifying the drama present and leaving the viewer more and more on edge and engaged.

 Logo 

This is the logo for 'Prisoners' the film, the puzzle included is a poigniant element of the film, and I like how it looks dark and creepy. I will ensure that the logo for the title of my film, The Listeners, is imspired by this one and looks creepy but also includes a poigniant element of the film within like perhaps the book.



Deconstructions - Posters

Following my problem with Flickr that I detailed in my previous blog post, I had to reconstruct my deconstructions for my website homepages and posters. I will do so using a mixture of voice memos, text and video footage.

Poster deconstruction #1

The first deconstruction I have decided to complete is a poster of Sorority Row, a text that is very relevant to my product for several reasons:

Below is a deconstruction of this piece as a voice memo via Sound Cloud, followed by a further deconstruction in text form:

The image itself bears a slight sepia tone tinge, allowing the image to take a darker look and feel. I will experiment with sepia tone and other colour effects when editing my poster to construct the freaky feel this way. Sepia tone tints are relatively typical to horror film texts and the reasoning for using so could perhaps to follow this convention. 

The title in this poster appears at the bottom of the poster and in white. The significance of the title being in white, allows it to stand out from the rest of the poster. In contrast to the darker colors, white connitates purity and innocence which, when clashing with the darker can suggest the connitations of evil and terror have corrupted this innocence. 

Poster Deconstruction # 2

The Conjuring

Below is a deconstruction of this piece as a voice memo via Sound Cloud:


Poster Deconstruction #3

Insidious

 
Below is a deconstruction of this piece as a voice memo via Sound Cloud, followed by a further deconstruction in text form:

 
Alongside the review is given a star rating, the fact the film has been rated five starts emphasizes the excellence of the film further encouraging those who are perhaps slightly unsure of whether to see the film, to go and view it.

The boys eyes have been fizzled out with a lightening/white effect indicating to the audience that the sub-genre of the text is possession as this hints that the boy has been possessed. This will attract those who are interested in this type of horror as the sub-genre is easily identified.

Progress and time management

Below is a video of myself talking about where I feel like I am in terms of progress in this project so far, and where I need to progress in the coming weeks and months:

Shot list:

This was my first draft of shots that I wanted to capture during filming. It is a rough draft and therefore contains no specific features of actions intended to be taken when filming the shot. This draft helped me to construct a further and more specific shot list.

This is the next update of my shot list, however, this time I colour co-ordinated it in terms of shooting at different times of the day. In the red is the shots I wanted to take in the day light, the green are shots I wanted to take as the day got gradually darker, and the blue are the shots I wanted to take at night. This will help with time management when deciding when to shoot each shot, as I'm aware getting each shot right will be a timely process, and, as we only have three days at Hamsterly Cottage, it is important that I utilize my time as best as possible. 

This is a shot list I made for the main shots I aim to get when filming at Hamsterly cottage. I gave a copy of this shot list to my actors to ensure they knew the basis of what shots we would be doing when at the cottage. I am also aware that not all of these shots may be used and I may decide to capture alternate shots/more shots when there. I aim to include other shots in my trailer however these are the shots that I need to film, as a priority, when at my location of Hamsterly cottage. I aim to do a mixture of 'home footage' and real film footage throughout, and my shots will be a mixture of each.

Type of Shot	Reason for shot	Characters in Shot
Mid-close up from behind	Show sarah looking vulnerable and locked in the toilet, from behind to create the illusion someone is watching her	Sarah
Long shot	Home footage - show lauren playing with torch and door slamming behind her - convey realism	Lauren
Pan	Establish location	none
Close up/incremental zoom	Zoom into a sign saying "You are being watched" establish freaky feel and again, convey feel that characters are not alone and are being watched and listened	none
Two shot	show a bond between two of the characters as they are both feeling the same emotions and have to establish a closer bond in order to find their friends	Lauren Sarah
Long shot	show location - forest aswell as the characters looking around - conveys the extent of the size of location - huge and hard to find	lauren and sarah
Long shot	emphasise contrast - show chatacters before disaster strikes - show forest in a good happy daylight to enhance the fear it brings when forest is shown on a night.	Kate Lauren Sarah
Medium close up	show chloe possesed - give audience a close up view, enhance fear	Chloe
Long Shot	Lauren locking Sarah in toilet - establish another one of the groups possession and clearly show how it turns them against one and other	Lauren and Sarah
Close up	Show a letter left by cottage owners saying "good luck" - sets freaky tone	Lauren
Medium close up	Sarah getting dragged out of bed - show freaky happenings in a realistic way	Sarah

Form

Below is a post on Prezi that I made regarding my chosen form:

http://prezi.com/e6gpfriw59tu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Moving Image planning

What emotional impact do you want your filming do have upon the reader? How?


I want audience members to warm to the four main characters and identify with the girls so they feel as though they can somewhat relate to them. Due to this, when tragedy strikes in my horror movie, I want the audience to be taken through the same emotions as the characters are, to feel worried, panicked, afraid, apprehensive and on edge. I think that it is vital that my main characters are likeable and ensure that they are as identifiable with my target audience as possible, I also aim to have my characters giving a genuine and thought provoking performance in order for the target audience to relate and really believe what is happening.

What personnel do you need? Who are you going to film?
I need four main girl characters to act in my film, which will be myself and three of my friends. I have already disgussed this with them and they have agreed to help me and participate. I will email them prior for confirmation. 

How are you going to emphasize colour?

I plan to empahsise colour mostly throughout my editing when filming is complete. I aim to have the trailer edited in a very bleak almost washed out effect to create a freaky and uneasy feel to the trailer. This will result in most of the colour not being very prominent and impacting, I think this however is more appropriate for my selected genre of a horror movie as the bleak effect and lack of eye catching colour connitates uncertainty and fear of the unknown. I will be filming alot of my trailer and night so dark colours will be mostly dominant allowing for the lights and lighter colours to automatically be enhanced. This makes it easier for me to draw attention to any colours that I may want to give certian connitations as my trailer will not be, as a whole, very colourful, so when I want selected colours to be empahsised and stand out, I will be able to do this fairly easily.
When I want most colourful scenes however, I will be sure to film in the day light, outside to ensure that the lighting illuminates the scene and characters are well lit and colour is enhanced. 

Have you briefed your personnel/models?

Prior to filming, I will ensure my actors are briefed in that they know timings, costumes, props and basic layout of the day and filming. I will ensure that they are given a copy of my script and shot list too so they are aware of the basics, before we start filming:

What lighting will you need? Any other equipment?

As alot my filming will take place outside, lighting will not be a problem for those aspects, daylight will be used. However when I film parts of the trailer later on at night I will use candles and torches to appear as realistic and as in character as possible, yet to still light up the shots appropriately at night. As I want my film to be naturalistic, when needed, the lights in the cottage at my location will be appropriate for lighting up the inside shots when daylight can not be used.

Where will you shoot? Will you need a backdrop?

I am shooting my trailer at Hamsterly cottage and around this area, I will not need a back drop as my trailer will be shot in all natural surroundings and any backdrop would subvert my aimed feel of naturalism and realistic happenings.

Make-up? Costume?

For my selected genre, costume makeup will not be appropriate for most scenes throughout. However as the strange happenings start to commence and tragedy and horror strikes, pale makeup and exaggerated eyeliner and eyeshadow will be used to create a worried sick, sleepless, and terrified feel. Costume will be winter clothing, mostly hoodies and jumpers to look realistic as they are suited to the location. 

Preperation for filming

In order for me to film a successful trailer, it was key that I, myself ensured that I had a number of things to make the filming as professional as possible. I will make sure that to the cottage I take:

• A video recording device and camera - to video the shots, plenty of footage and the stills for my poster and website home page.
• A voice recorder - for voice over running throughout the trailer
• A microphone - to pick up the sound of the actors for the dialogue that I want to be heard aside from the voice over
• A small tripod - used for close ups of objects/people where the small tripod can be placed on a flat surface close to the object, this can be used to ensure the shot is steady and professional
• A large tripod - to film the majority of my shots on to ensure that they are steady, professional and dont include any unprofessional shaking during filming when not necessary as this may harm the quality and professional feel of my trailer.

I aim to capture as much footage as I can as I am aware that there will be a large proportion of my footage that I will not chose to use due to errors that may occur or decision changes I may make along the way. This will make the editing process easier, allowing me to be very critical in selecting the shots and footage that I want to use. This will, ultimately result in the most professional, polished and impacting trailer possible.

Costume and prop list

 I have made a prop list including the props that I will need to include in my shots during filming my trailer:

·         An old book

·         Tea lights

·         Other candles

·         4 Wine glasses

·         Log & lighter

·         Marshmallows and skewers

·         Wine

·         Purple lipstick

·         Car keys

I have also made a costume list that I will message to the people appearing in my trailer so that they know what to bring and, if they do not own any of the requested items, I could sort out providing these. Due to the context of my trailer, being at a cottage in a completely naturalistic winter setting, the costume list was fairly simplistic as I want it to look as natural and realistic as possible:

·         Winter coats

·         Winter clothes – jumpers etc

·         Winter boots

·         Pyjamas

·         Everyday casual clothes

Recce:

I created a recce before going to my location of Hamsterly forest to ensure that myself and my actors are aware of any risks that may occur and how they will be minimized. It will also be to ensure that any external factors are considered aside from the filming aspects of my trailer.

• In regards to my location of Hamsterly cottage, there will be cables around the cottage and electrical equipment. As I will be shooting part of my trailer in Hamsterly forest there will be health and safety risks including rivers and dangers of slipping when climbing, when walking to the forest there could be potential dangers of traffic.

• In order to ensure that these risks are minimized I will ensure that the environment within the cottage is kept tidy and that cables a are tucked away so that nobody trips over and injures themselves. I will also make sure that my actors are aware that they must be careful around them and with regards to using electrical equipment, that no water is used near them and they are used with care. When in the forest I will ensure that me and my actors are careful when climbing and making our way through the forest and that we wear suitible clothing and footwear (wellies) to ensure that we are as safe as possible and are at he least risk of slipping or falling as possible.
  
  

  
•  In my shot list, there are several shots that need to be shot at certain times of the day when shooting outside as there is quite alot that needs to be shot outside. Due to this my time management must be very good, as we are only at the location for three days it is vital that I get all of my shots done in the time given at the time of day, I will allow extra time is given when shooting as shots may take longer to film.
• The background of the outside shots will be subject to the location and most of my outside shots will be shot in the forest so I will ensure that I include some long shots when shooting these to include a lot of this and set the feel of the location. The background for most of my shots is not something that I need to pay particular attention too as, as I am filming a trailer, a priority of mine is to ensure that the location and shots look as natural as possible and therefore I want to include completely natural props within the shots.
  
  

  
• No permission will be needed to take the photographs/filming at the venue as Hamsterly forest has been payed for so permission will be granted to take any photos and videos during our stay there. 
  
  

  
• For my ancillary tasks i need to book time at a Studio, this will be at Sunderland University and when my actors are free to do this, I will email Colin Young (responsible for this Studio) nearer the time took ask him to book a slot here for me  to ensure that my times is organized aswell as possible and that my photo-shoot can definitely take place and that all actors will be present.

Location

I have chosen to set the scene of my horror movie trailer at a cottage in Hamsterley cottage, Yorkshire Dales - North. Below is a link to the cottage:
http://www.sykescottages.co.uk/cottage/Yorkshire-Dales-North/South-Byre-11501.html

 I have chosen this location as, as demonstrated by the photographs attached bellow, it is a location possessing many interesting views and scenery that I think would be perfect to set the mysterious feel of a horror film. As I plan to set a lot of my trailer in the dark, I think that these sights will look excellent in dark and will be great in impacting on my viewers. As the location is a location away from home, it will orientate viewers into giving them that feeling of the unknown and the added fear of strange happenings away from home.

I am very pleased with my choice of location.

Contacting my actors

I used facebook to contact the girls in which I want to act, alongside myself, in my horror movie trailer. This was just to get a definite confirmation for their attendance and I will brief them when I have constructed my exact storyline/prop and contact list. This is the response I recieved:

Further target audience research

To gain a broader insight into what my target audience of horror film lovers like. I looked on an online forum to see the type of responses given by those who had viewed the film Paranormal Activity 4:

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/who-is-robbie-how-paranormal-activity-4-adds-to-a-franchise-thats-already-fun-for-puzzle-lovers-ccamp.php

I gained most valuable research from the comments to the discussion at the bottom. Some commenters wrote:

"Despite the lack of good scares, I did love the movie. I liked all the characters and thought the acting was great."

This, to me, showed that although it is evident viewers like to be scared, the acting and characters likability is also very important. As my four main characters are girls, I shall try and ensure that they are all as likable as possible and as the target audience is mostly females, I will try to ensure that girls get the impression of wanting to be friends with these girls or wanting to be these girls as oppose to being irritated or forming a dislike to them.

"In my opinion, 1 and 3 were the scariest. 1 was scary because of Katie's possession and all the scary stuff going on. 3 was scary because it focused more on the demon "Toby" and the ending was pretty freaky"

This shows me that a possession of a character is what can make a horror film scary, I know this form personal viewing experience too. I have had many thoughts about making on of my main characters becomes possessed as this is something that I'm still undecided on. I will be sure to conduct more research on this area.

"Ppl say PA4 isn't scary. But scary isn't the only thing. It's the story. Focus on the story. For something to be truly terrifying you aren't going to be walking around screaming constantly with creepy music playing and things jumping out saying Aahh!" 

This comment also backed up the point that, although most viewers love to be terrified, fear isnt the only element, and a good story line is vital. I will be sure to attract my potential target audience through an attractive story line throughout the trailer.
 

Qualitative Feedback

After completing my surveys and gathering quantitative research. It was also important that I gathered some qualitative research to help me with other elements and aspects of my product. I used my smartphone to interview a member of my target audience and find out a bit more about their experiences with horror movie trailers, websites and posters. I will then take this research and apply the feedback to my product. Doing this will allow me to create are of a similar attitude and context to that of those favored by my target audience. I therefore found this element of research incredibly helpful.

Above is a video of qualitative feedback I received when interviewing a member of my target audience. This feedback will help me when determining creative decisions in the construction and process of my product.

Target Audience quantative research - survey results.

Looking at the results of my survey, I analyzed the questions that I feel had the most significance in the creation and decision making of my product and processed this data into bar and pie charts.

 

I found that Paranormal activity is the film that attracted my surveyed target audience in the most. I will ensure that I consider using elements of what Paranormal activity uses during its trailer/film, in order to attract my target audience in the most. This will include conventions such as 'home-footage' recordings, cliffhangers, frights to the audience, strange unaware happenings, and screams.

 I ensured that I asked most females as females will be predominantly my target audience for my film due to the nature of it and the fact that the four main characters will all be females. I will not extract males and dismiss them as target audience members as I understand that some males will be interested in my text and taking this into consideration, their views are important to my decision making as-well.

 From my surveys, I found that Insidious has the most impacting sound according to my target audience surveyed. I will ensure that I consider using sound conventions from Insidious in order to ensure that my text has impacting sound to my audience. Conventions from the Insidious trailer include; loud bangs, dripping tap sound, heaving breathing, whispering, children laughing, gasps and dialogue from characters.

 

I found that, from my survey results, with 12 votes, people found Paranormal Activity to be the most scary film. Paranormal activity is the production that I feel mirrors the aim of the feel I'm wanting to create in my text, being freaky, on-edge, and most importantly, containing a threat that is not seen by audience members. Despite of this, the difference in the amount of votes each text received was small, saying to me that all different people are scared by different things, and the terror a film has, depends perhaps upon the individual.

Target Audience

Considering horror movies and their terrifying and uncomfortable, and sometimes disturbing elements, it led me to ask myself and indeed conduct some research on the question:

So, why do people like Horror movies?

Obviously, horror films include fearful and terrifying element and, as a viewer choses to view the film, they are exposing themselves to the elements of horror and dread evoking a thrilling and exciting feel. As viewers are not part of the film they know that, no matter how terrified they are, they always have that somewhat subconscious comfort that they are in fact only a viewer, and their experience of the film will end when they leave the cinema. This is the beauty of horror and why, perhaps, many people love horror films, allowing themselves to be completely terrified ensuring full viewing involvement and enjoyment.

I also looked into how different genders respond to horror films:

Story boards

Before applying our ideas for our own trailers to our story boards, as a class we practiced using storyboards by drawing in different shot types. I learned that the focus and purpose of story boarding was not to have a specific detailed drawing but to focus on positioning, shot type and vital information to filming.

 

The story boarding exercise helped me gather my ideas for the actual storyline to my horror and indeed the trailer which helped me to really focus the vision of the creation of my product. Here is a storyboard I completed for my horror movie trailer:

Quantitative research

Quantitative

In order to get quantitative data regarding horror movies, I created a survey containing vital questions that I thought would be important in helping me create my product effectively. I have an electronic and a paper version of the questionnaire. Below is evidence of the survey:

After handing out my potential target audience a copy of the questionnaire, I then emailed them the electronic version so that they can access the links to the trailers included on the surveys. Here is an example of an email I sent to a potential target audience member.

Shot types

Abiding to a list of different shot types, we worked in groups to film and act them out.

Then, in groups we used Premier Pro to edit shots of these different shot types together:

 Below are photographs of our group holding the cameras we used to complete this task.

(Above is myself taking a shot for the sequence)

(Above is myself filming)

 

Below is our finished, edited together different shot sequence, made on premiere pro.

This was the first time that I had used premiere pro and although there are things that I am still unsure of, I find that this program is fairly easy to use and with a lot of practice I feel that I can get the hang of it enough to create an effective trailer in the long run. I acquired how to import clips, add text and use video transitions through this task.

Scenario video

In class we were asked to act out a scenario using various different shot types. I worked alongside two of my class mates, I filmed and my two class mates acted out the scenario. The purpose of this activity was to practice using different shot types and filming them effectively. We then had to edit them together meaningfully using Premier Pro. Although the finished video isn't of a very high quality, this exercise helped me feel comfortable filming and editing together different shot types in preparation from filming and editing my own film trailer together.

Deconstructions - website home pages

As I have explained previously, I had problems with Flikr leading to my previous deconstructions to have been deleted. (See link below for video detailing this problem)

I have therefore completed my Website homepage deconstructions again via video/audio/text:

Deconstruction #1 - The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button:

Below is a video of me deconstructing this website homepage:

Deconstruction #2 - Sinister

• Website is simple, co-ordinated and easily navigible. Split up into four main sections, easy for viewer to explore.

• Shows an image of a screen shot in the left near the bottom to allow viewers to feel more involved with the film, enhancing their personal interest further, whislt not giving too much of the plot away.
•  The images within the website homepage demonstrate clearly the genre of the movie, horror, as the victim is pictured with a terrified facial expression holding a bat in self deffence. This also hints a sub genre of violence to the film. I think that images hinting elements of the genre, sub genre and style of the film are very important and I will definitely ensure that I do this within my website homepage.
• The font on this website homepage is appropriate to the genre and very effective in terms of its connotations. A 'scrawny' font is used for the page titles allowing them to fit in with the genre, stand out, yet not be over ridden by the bold font of the title, which appears at the bottom.

• The website homepages states that the film is 'From the producer of Paranormal Actvity and the director of The Exorcism Of Emily Rose' which is written to advertise other films, and link this film with the succession of these films, perhaps inticing viewers who have enjoyed these films. I will definitely use this convention within my media product as I feel that this can be very effective in drawing in viewers, especially horror movie lovers. 

• The website links to social media, which allows viewers to become personally involved with the film in many interactive ways. This is important as the more personally involved viwers feel, the more likely they are to want to view the film. This is a convention I will use within my website homepage.

Deconstruction #3 - The Conjuring 

Below is a deconstruction I have completed of The Conjuring website homepage via Sound Cloud:

Horror - Genre

Here is a presentation I made using Windows Movie maker showing typical horror movie conventions that I found during researching the genre.

Below is a prezzi that I made regarding the 'Final Girl' theory (click below link):

http://prezi.com/754hglo3el1g/the-final-girl-theoryy/#

Class presentation

In order to gather my ideas regarding my Horror Movie product, I constructed a presentation including my brief, plot, intended feel of the film, my inspirational texts, intended target audience, flat plans and which institution I would like to produce my product. I included minimal text on the powerpoint and presented the majority of my ideas vocally.

http://www.slideshare.net/Chloetaylor11/media-a2-26376809

Following my presentation, my class members gave me written constructive feedback regarding my ideas: