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.