Initial Storyboard

These are a view key scenes from our initial storyboard. We also included the type of transition we intended to use and the duration and location of each shot. 

Top horror production companies

Responsible for the production of horror films including : The Grudge, Drag Me To Hell, 30 Days Of Night and The Possession.

Responsible for the production of horror films including: The Strangers, The Strangers 2, The Unborn and Cry Wolf.

Responsible for the production of horror films including: Shutter, Dark Water, Ring 2 and Quarantine.

Responsible for the production of horror films including: Saw, Saw 3D and Dead Silence.

Top Horror Directors

Top Horror Directors from bonniewilson

Filming Schedule

We have decided on a rough filming schedule for early January, including the locations where we plan to shoot and which shots we plan to film.

Developing a script for our trailer

Whilst developing the script for our trailer, we came to realise that most of our trailer, if not all, would involve no diagetic sound. All our trailer would contain is non-diagetic music to keep our audience intrigued. Therefore we did not need to create or deliver a script to our actors. Also we felt that without diagetic sound, it would add a sense of mystery to our trailer and make our audience want to know more.

Music for our trailer

Currently we are debating which type of music/song to include in our trailer. We have decided we are most likely to use a well known song using a copyright free version such as a cover. We want to do this to make our trailer more recognisable for our audience and to attract them more to want to see our film.

Although we are currently debating which soundtrack to use, a few we have looked at include:

Analysis of The boy next door

Mise en Scene 

• Main feature in trailer - running- breathy noises
• Mum cast as famous actress Jennifer Lopez
• Lighting - Lighter at the beginning when mood is happy, becomes darker towards end as his obsession with her grows, (e.g- classroom, black and white pictures)
• A lot of casting male- singles mum (Jennifer Lopez) out as vulnerable
• Setting - normal town- based in school/house- relatable for audience so more intense

Sound

Non-diagetic sound

• Music- played throughout- very subtle at beginning- lyrics enter at end suggesting building fear and tension
• Music beats in time with fearful moments for the mum displaying her emotions (e.g- Noah saying 'it got pretty wet here'.
• Voiceover- mainly of mum- displays her fear of noah especially towards end-increases sympathy for her from audience
• Mum shouts over many shots - helplessness

Diagetic sound

• running - breathing- intense- as if she's trying to run away from it all- links to sex scene as if that one night meant she is now trapped
• Whispered tones when talking e.g- noah- ' You're beautiful'. - hints at the secrecy of their relationship
• When teacher goes to knock on door the knocking is silent- as if to represent her being seduced by Noah because she wasn't listening to other people

Camera shots/angles

• Frequent mid shots used - introduces character but possibly only showing half the story?
• Cuts become faster paced towards end of trailer - depicts tension/drama reaching climax
• Car crash - very quick flash- as if fatal or a flashback in a characters mind
• Shot after title - adds humour- Intrigue younger audience looking for a film that will also make them laugh not just frightened

Pace/Colours

• Pace - builds towards end in sync with music tempo increasing and dynamics rising
• Beginning of trailer - Mainly blue tones used, e.g- The mum character was wearing a blue top and so was her son. May suggest the innocence of the family at the beginning
• End of trailer/climax- Mainly brown tones used e.g- Her jacket was brown and the woods - trees/earthy colours. May suggest that innocence has been tarnished by Noah and what the mum has got herself into by falling for temptation. 

Potential actors and actresses

Supernatural theme

Our original idea was for our trailer to be a supernatural thriller. However, we reconsidered the disadvantages of including the ghost character in our trailer. Once we had done this, we decided that we no longer wanted to include the supernatural theme due to these.

Disadvantages of supernatural theme: 

• Lack of suitable filming equipment
• Lack of available special effects
• Concept may confuse audience too much
• May overcomplicate our storyline and over rule other important elements
• Difficult to cast
• Lots of shots needed to create fading effects
• Requires a lot of our time to create correct effect

                                                                             

Genre - Thriller or Horror

The Thriller Genre conventions:

• Action packed
• Tense Music
• Crime based
• Battle between Antagonist and Protagonist
• Shadows
• Low key lighting
• Various angle shots
• Black and White shots
• Fights or car chases

Our trailer was originally aimed to fit the thriller genre. However after considering the look and feel of our trailer carefully, we decided that our trailer and concept was more suited to the horror genre, specifically a psychological horror sub genre. 

History of the Horror genre

1890's-1920's

• First depictions of supernatural events- e.g- by Georges Melies in the late 1890's
• In 1898, Japan made two horror films - 'Bake Jizo' and 'Shinin no Sosei'
• In 1922, first ever vampire film made - 'Nosferatu'

1930's-1940's

• Universal pictures began creating successful horror films- e.g- 'Dracula' in 1931
• Shortly after, 'Frankenstein' was released in 1931
• In 1932, Tom Browning made controversial film 'Freaks' about a group of circus freaks

1950's-1960's

• Advances in technology meant the emergence of two sub genres: Armageddon films and Demonic films
• During late 1950's, Great Britain became main producer of horror films-e.g- Alfred Hitchcocks 'Psycho'(1960) was first 'slasher' film
• In 1968, 'Night of the living dead' was released by George A Romero - very influential 

1970's- 1980's

• More films released with Occult theme - e.g- 'The Exorcist' in 1973
• The idea's of the 1960's had began to influence films such as ' The Hills Have Eyes'
• in 1978- John Carpenter created 'Hallowen'
• 1980's- emergence of gore - e.g- Sam Raimi's Evil dead films

1990's

• Due to amount of slasher's being released in 1980's, horror genre was in decline but classic horrors like 'Silence of the lambs' were still being created
• To reconnect with audience the genre became more parodic and self-mocking
• Wes Cravens 'Scream' films began in the 2990's
• As well as films such as 'I know what you did last summer' 

History of the Thriller genre

1920's-1930's

• Alfred Hitchcock promoted thriller genre through silent film 'The Lodger'
• He was influenced by expressionist techniques in Germany

1940's

• This is when sub genres started to emerge
• In 1944, George Cukor created psychological thriller 'Gaslight'

1950's

• Alfred Hitchcock added 'technicolour' to his thrillers
• He also made 'Strangers on a train' in 1951

1960's

• In 1962, J. Lee Thompson directed 'Cape Fear'
• Michael Powell directed intense thriller 'Peeping Tom'

1970's

• Thriller films became increasingly violent
• For example, in 1972, Alfred Hitchcock released film 'Frenzy' which was given an R rating

1980's

• Phillip Noyce directed film 'Dead Calm' in 1989 which influenced a number of thrillers in following years

1990's

• One of the most famous thriller's released in this decade was Jonathon Demme's crime thriller ' The silence of the lambs' released in 1991

Casting ideas

To gain a rough idea of the kind of actors we want to cast, we created a rough character profile for each main character:

The girlfriends mum

• Brunette
• Similar look to daughter (the girlfriend)
• Needed for limited acting
• Attractive
• A younger mum (around 35-40 years old)

The girlfriend

• Innocent
• Brunette
• Sweet
• Needed for a lot of acting
• Pretty
• Young (around 17-20 years old)
• Kind
• Someone who could look vulnerable - e.g- short or thin

The boyfriend (stalker)

• Attractive
• Young (around 17-20 years old)
• Someone who can look intimidating but is mainly innocent
• Main acting role - must be able to act
• Tall
• Dark hair

Narrative ideas evaluation

The presentation above displays some of the advantages and disadvantages of our 3 narrative ideas. We thought of some of these factors and the class gave us feedback on what they felt were the pros and cons.

We considered these very carefully whilst deciding which narrative to focus on creating our promotional package around

Narrative ideas

Plot Synopsis

Narrative 1: Con artist

• Crime/thriller

• Begins with a guy who is clearly very rich and materialistic 

• Guy appears genuine and audience begin to warm to him

• Before the guy got wealthy, he was a con artist, which is revealed in the middle of the narrative

• His ex victims seek revenge and hold him hostage

Narrative 2: Time Travel 

• Drama/fantasy

• Teenage girl told on her 18th birthday that she has the power to time travel

• But every time she uses her power, someone in the world dies

• Film displays battle between her giving up her powers to prevent anymore deaths

Narrative 3: Girl stuck in the other world

• Mystery/Thriller/Supernatural

• Girl murdered by ex boyfriend because she cheated on him

• She comes back as a ghost but no one else is aware

• She tries to leave her family clues to help them solve her murder as no one else knows it was him

• Family eventually discover it was him and he gets convicted for it

Theatrical v.s Teaser Trailer

A trailer is an advert for a feature film that will later be represented at a cinema/on screen.
Trailers consist of a selection of shots from the film being advertised. The purpose is usually to attract an audience, so many of the selected shots are the most 'exciting' shots.
The MPPA allow 2 minutes and 30 seconds as the maximum length for a trailer, but each distributor or studio can exceed this once a year. They can be either of a theatrical or teaser nature,

Teaser Trailer

• Sometimes released before a theatrical trailer
• Intended to 'tease' the audience and leave them wanting more
• Usually shorter than a theatrical trailer (1 minute 30 seconds)
• Create mystery
• Usually used by big budget films with larger target audience
• Showing too much of the film at this early stage could loose audience interest
• Example below- Interstellar (2014) teaser trailer:

Theatrical Trailer

• Generally longer (2 minutes 30 seconds)
• Shown closer to the release date 
• Contains more footage from the film
• Provide more insight into the narrative
• Example below- About Last Night (2014) theatrical trailer:

Time and Space- different representations

Time and Space

In the Tv series 24, film time is depicted in real time. For example, a one hour episode is equivalent to an hour in real life. 

At the beginning of each episode, the number 24 is displayed with the sound of a ticking time bomb to represent time.

In Dr Who, time is shown through the use of the tardis. When characters enter the tardis, they are 'transported' through time and space and arrive at a different location in a different time zone. 

The film In Time uses time as a different concept. It represents time          as currency and is set in the modern day future.

Back to the future plays with the concept of time and space. This films portrays time travel as possible and demonstrates characters being able to transport themselves to a different place in a different time zone whenever they want. This is similar to the concept in Dr Who.

In the Source Code, a characters mind gets moved back in time and into a different location to try and solve a crime.

The rabbit hole in Alice in Wonderland displays location in a different way to what you'd expect. It 'transports' Alice to a different land.

The Brief

The Brief

Our brief is to create a promotional package for a film idea we create. We must include a trailer, poster and a website homepage. 

To do this successfully, we must consider how a promotional package is created to be effective in modern day society and ways in which we can achieve this.