To Do:

And now I need to create a To-Do list to get some things sorted out for filming over the Christmas holidays:

- Get some people together to take part in the filming
- Sort out who will be what character taken from the plot
- Put this into action, on location by the shore, and in the woods
- Take some still images of locations and characters for a movie poster to work on after the holidays

Plot..

I'm not very happy with the trailer I've created so far, as it lacks characters for the audience to empathise with and a real convincing plot.
So I've taken the time to properly map out the plot for The Shore so I can work out who I need to film with and how to make this more real. This is what I have so far:


The Shore.
Teaser trailer plot break-down:

Four friends decide to go on a camping trip to the shore and want to film their trip. It starts raining as they are travelling to the location, an early sign that things are to go wrong. The shore is deserted it seems, except for themselves. They start hearing noises, but dismiss it as the rain making sounds around them. The four are all drinking when Katie turns around and sees a figure standing in a field in the distance. She tells the others in a panic but when they all turn around, the figure has disappeared and the others believe Katie was trying to scare them.
Tom goes back to the car to get some blankets when he sees someone is sat in the passenger seat. The figure’s head turns and Tom panics when he sees that their face is covered. He tries to run back towards the group but falls. A pair of feet can be seen as he looks up.
A scream is heard back at the camp where the other three are still drinking. It is getting dark now, and the three decide they need to look for Tom. They make it back to the car where the boot is open but Tom cannot be seen, except for his hat, which is on the muddy ground.

YouTube

I'm about to post part of the trailer on YouTube for everyone to see. Whilst it's not very good, it shows I've been playing around with iMovie and getting used to the program; seeing what I can do to create effect.

Research.

Whilst I'm waiting for help with this hard drive, I've decided to do a little research on the films that are inspiring my own.

I will begin with The Blair Witch Project. I'm using this film for inspiration because of the use of handheld shots throughout the film, as it makes it look like the film is captured by a character as opposed to an actor or somebody operating a camera.

Filming began in October 1997 and went for eight days. Most of the movie was filmed in tiny Seneca Creek State Park in Montgomery County, Maryland, although a few scenes were filmed in the real town of Burkittsville. Some of the townspeople interviewed in the film were not actors, and some were planted actors, unknown to the main cast. Donahue had never operated a camera before, and spent two days in a "crash course". Donahue said she modeled her character after a director she once worked with, citing the character's self assuredness when everything went as planned, and confusion during crisis.

During filming, the actors were given clues as to their next location through messages given in milk crates found with Global Positioning Satellite systems. They were given individual instructions that they would use to help improvise the action of the day. The directors rationed the food of the cast, causing Donahue to suffer eczema outbreaks as filming progressed. Teeth were obtained from a Maryland dentist for use as human remains in the film. Influenced by producer Gregg Hale's memories of his military training, in which "enemy soldiers" would hunt a trainee through wild terrain for three days, the directors moved the characters far during the day, harassing them by night and depriving them of food. No legal actions were ever taken against the director or the film crew.

Almost 19 hours of usable footage was recorded which had to be edited down to 90 minutes. The editing in post production took more than eight months. Originally it was hoped that the movie would make it on to cable television, and the filmmakers did not anticipate wide release. The initial investment by the three University of Central Florida filmmakers was about US$35,000. Artisan acquired the film for US$1.1 million but spent US$25 million to market it. The actors signed a "small" agreement to receive some of the profits from the film's release.

^{[Taken from Wikipedia]}

Hmm

The idea of today was to spent a couple of hours editing my footage in iMovie, to eventually be able to put something onto YouTube for feedback.
However I'm currently having problems with a hard drive, so this action has been suspended for now..

iMovie

I've started putting different pieces of footage together using the program iMovie. I toyed with using sound effects on top of the footage to see what I could create. It doesn't look brilliant just yet, but I needed some time to play around and get used to the program. My next step will be to create a YouTube channel so I can upload some prototypes I have created and hopefully gain some feedback from others.

Putting my skills to the test..

Yesterday I visited the shore near me to capture some footage for the trailer. I will probably only use these ones as establishing shots but I need to practice editing footage. So this is what I'm going to be doing today.
I wish I could have gotten some more filming done but it was very windy and raining heavily! I will have to make a few more trips back there, at least it isn't far.

The Plot.

I've had a few ideas about the plot for the trailer. I'm pretty set on the locations, involving Gundymore wood by the South Downs college and a shore near by where I live, so I've built the plot around these places.
I want to use a lot of handheld camera shots to go for that Blair Witch/Cloverfield style and it adds to the realism.

Okay so the plot isn't 100% just yet but it will involve several friends around 18/19, taking a trip to the beach to go camping. The film will be shot as if they are filming the whole trip on their own camera, thus they will capture something on their camera which will cause them all to panic.
I'm trying to think of what that something could be at the moment!

Plan B in action..

What with my recent setback of not being able to get any footage abroad, I've had to think locally. I've decided to use a nearby shore as one of my locations, as I think this area, teamed with the current weather conditions, could create something quite dark and hopefully even a little scary.
The main problem I'm having is trying to think up a decent storyline to go with what I have available. I'm limited with people to use in the trailer, and they are mainly all in the same age bracket.

A few 'minor' set-backs..

I'm back from a holiday in Turkey but I've found myself very behind with my work after a few set-backs. Firstly, having left my camera at home when I'd planned to get as much footage abroad as possible, and secondly due to becoming ill earlier last week.
Now I have a lot of work to catch up on, and will have to think of a Plan B for new footage, as I had intended on capturing footage of the plane and different locations in Turkey, as they would have been very different to what I would find at home.

S.

"Thought Shower"

After learning that the term brain storm is actually insulting, I've spent the lesson creating 'thought showers' of ideas.
I've been thinking of what is available around me to use to make this trailer, and began making mind maps for different genres, starting with the Thriller genre.

Locations?

Whilst I haven't started filming just yet, I've taken some photos of some locations, whilst being out and about, that could be used in the trailer, that have an eerie look to them. I'm hoping these will give me some ideas to a narrative.

Trailers

• What is a trailer?

A trailer is a short film clip, used to advertise an upcoming film to audiences. There are two types of trailer, teaser and theatrical trailers. A teaser trailer’s purpose is a clip usually lasting around a minute in length, and is released a long time before the film itself is due to be released, between 12 and 18 months. The teaser often contains little actual film footage or information, so to ‘tease’ the audience with it, but generate interest.

A theatrical trailer is full length, usually lasting a few minutes, and will contain more footage from the film and dialogue, sometimes including voiceovers to deliver a narrative.

For example, here are two trailers for , the first being a teaser trailer and the second is the full length theatrical trailer.

• Where might a trailer be seen? How will different formats affect the viewing of the trailer?

A trailer might be seen on television, as well as on the internet, and even on mobile phones and iPods. The increasing way of viewing trailers means it is accessible to more people and can attract a bigger audience. Viewing trailers on the Internet and mobile phones means that people are able to view with others, sending trailers on to people after having seen it themselves.  Trailers are shown in places where people are guaranteed to see them, such as the television. They are often used in advert breaks to gain attention and generate interest, and with more and more people accessing the internet, trailers are very likely to be viewed on there as well.

• What are genre conventions?

Genre conventions are what are typically linked with a genre in film, for example how a typical convention for a horror film would be the colour red, often symbolising danger, blood, anger or death. A horror film could not be a horror film without most of the typical conventions.
 I've decided to use the horror/thriller genre for the film package, as I think I will be more able to produce a convincing trailer as opposed to creating a drama or romantic comedy etc. I also think it will be easier to produce as opposed to a sci-fi, as it would be hard to find locations and make it look realistic.

• Watch 3 trailers for films in your chosen genre, Analyse them in terms of their style, music, stars, plot, editing, graphics etc. Upload them from you tube to your blog if possible.

Case 39

This trailer stars several well known movie stars including Bridget Jones' Renee Zellweger, which is important because it attracts different audiences to the film who may be fans of the actors. A film will be successful depending on how large an audience it attracts so it is important to include different aspects that will attract varying audiences.
The trailer uses music that builds suspense, which adds to the tension of the horror film. This, combined with a lot of fast-paced editing creates drama and adds to the suspense.

"Chain Letter"



As with Case 39, this film uses dramatic music to build suspense, and teams it with a lot of fast cuts to create effect. Chain Letter uses typical horror conventions, involving a lot of blood and violence. In terms of the films stars, Nikki Reed features in this trailer, famously known from teen movie Twilight. Fans of hers may be attracted to this film, which would attract a larger target audience.

"Scream 4"



Finally, this trailer stems from the well known Scream series of films. This would attract fans of the previous films, and includes several of the original stars, which would maintain much of the original audience.
As this film is a sequel, the first few shots are of the protagonists, as the audience would recognise these characters.
 The trailer doesn't give a lot about the narrative away, but uses music that builds suspense, as commonly seen with the other trailers. The cuts become faster throughout to add to the drama, and create that uneasy feeling in the audience.


 

• List five events that we see in the trailer and alongside these, the questions that each event raises.

• Which of the trailers you have seen gives a strong indication of the narrative in

the film? Make a list of the features that are needed for this to happen.

• Which trailers do NOT give you a great deal of information about the narrative?
• What DO they convey? What elements do they use to do this?
•  Analyse the posters for your 3 trailers, do they follow a consistent theme?
•  Can you find a magazine cover for one of the 3 films, if so who does it include, what are

the tag line used, does it follow a consistent theme?

Advanced Portfolio: The Film Package

My task for the A2 Media Advanced Portfolio is to create a film package, including a teaser trailer, film poster and a magazine cover.

To begin with, I am researching into trailers to gain an insight that will help me when it comes to creating the teaser trailer.

S.