Sending a message to actor #1

From the above messages that I have sent out to Joseph Bailey, the person who will be playing the antagonist character, I have given him exact detail towards when we are filming from the information that he has given me about when during school time he is available. Also we will be filming in an office room were the audience will see what the antagonist character with the mask is really up to and overall this shows organisation of actors. I asked him as well if he had any electric tea lights as I needed some to borrow but because he said no I bought some myself.

Risk Assessment

Shooting Schedule #1

I have created a plan for my first shoot that will be based in school and for the first part of my trailer I am going to film the dark lit room scene, as I need this to be perfect to add a sinister atmosphere so the audience then hate this character because he is up to no good. The other scenes will be filmed at some other time because I need to check with Sarah who plays Samantha with when she is available.

The classroom scene will hopefully be filmed on the 13th because I want it to look as realistic as possible with Samantha in school. This will be filmed in my Media lesson as well.

Mise-en-scene

Representations - theorists

From the above mind map I have put loads of theorists into different categories for representation, these include text, audience and institution. Also I will be trying to us more of these theorists in my posts to help me out with my exam.



Rough drawing for my poster ancillary product - draft

By creating this poster I am trying to creating a bit of a background story through pictures towards what might exactly go off in the film, when it comes to creating the real thing I will use Photoshop that offer many effects and I will make the brightness darker to show that something bad is going to happen. As well as this my piece will use the hypodermic theory, the theory suggests that that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by 'shooting' or 'injecting' them with messages designed to trigger a response and to get them thinking towards why it might have been used in a piece of text. This links in well as I have cleverly added a quote from the trailer "she is my girl" and this makes the audience wonder who might have said this and why, in this case the culprit is the antagonist. In addition, the above idea may change but this gives me an idea of how I want my poster to look and I will still be using the double exposure effect too.

Shooting plan

Above is my shooting plan that I will use with my script to help me organise my actors so the filming can then move smoothly without any errors, this shows that my organisation skills from AS have improved as I am trying to organise exactly how everything should be filmed without making up on the spot when it comes to the filming process.

Character profiles

TV static noise for opening titles

The above sound is what I will be using for my opening titles as it links in well with the sound of the antagonist character as he sounds like a robot, I am also thinking of it starting of in the dark lit room and this character playing the music that goes really slow for a little bit then this sound kicks in to show the name of the film.

Trestle mask for antagonist character

I am wanting to use one of these trestle masks for my antagonist character, who has an unknown identity and a robotic voice. This then helps to create a sinister atmosphere because by wearing this the person then becomes more creepier and up to no good, this in turn helps the audience to understand portray this character as the villain who is gonna make someone's life living hell. As well as this by having a creepy looking face like the one on the bottom left helps to create a picture of what might be going on in this persons head and we will know that the antagonist character is a male by the way he is dressed but every other personality trait is unknown.

Technology that I am going to use

Looking back at action plan

From the above I have looked back at what I have done so far for my coursework and I am nearly ready to start filming, as I have done a lot of research and planning to help me film to a high standard.

Film treatment

Setting and Location

Masked Man scene

The above room is the scenes that I will use for when the man with the mask is looking at his pictures that he has taken and this is also his secret hide out. Also I made sure that the atmosphere was in a way calming to link with the idea that this antagonist character is a normal person with issues associated to murdering people. In addition, linking to the Propp theory I wanted to show that the person in these scenes was a danger to the innocent Samantha when it comes to the sound change in the scenes and causes a disruption in Samantha's safety.

The woods scenes

From these pictures above I wanted the audience to see that Samantha was walking home from school (evidence from mise-en-scene references, black trousers and a back pack) and minding her own business by sitting down and admiring the wildlife around her and taking her headphones out. Also using this location allows there to be created an eery atmosphere of loneliness and innocence, from the narrative theorist Todorov suggests that most narratives start with a state of equilibrium in which life is 'normal' and happy and this shown from the beginning scenes where she walks down the woods minding her own business by having everything calm and silent and then something unexpected happening which will be the antagonist character attacking her then trying to get away. 

Final script

Final storyboard without titling

From the above storyboard I have come up with the overall narrative as this is extremely important for my intended audience, I have also tried to make sure that there is evidence of a disjointed narrative that may not be in the order of the actual film if it got created.

Fonts for title of film

From the above information I have decided to go for font three as it links in very nicely to one of main antagonist characters who will have a robotic voice to make more eerie and create tension throughout the trailer.

Practice go at doing double exposure

from the above image I have done it step by step to the YouTube video that is shown below, but I then changed the brightness to vivid light to show the contrast between big ben and the main person in the image and by doing this practice run I am going to try and do something like this for my film trailer poster overall for my ancillary product.





Example of a character profile

From looking at the above video I have discovered that you need to think a lot about the tiny details of the character and the personality traits that they have throughout the film or in this case in a TV Drama 'Game Of Thrones'. Also even though one of my characters might not show their identity I will still show the personality of this person and also show personality traits, likes and dislikes etc. of Samantha as her identity is not hidden. This links to the Propp theory where typical characters need to be put into different categories:

• Hero - a character that seeks something
• Villain - who opposes or actively blocks the hero's quest
• Donor - who provides a object with magical properties
• Dispatcher - who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message
• False hero - who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims
• Helper - who aids the hero
• Princess - acts as the rewards for the hero and the object of the villains plot
• Her Father - who acts to reward the hero for his effort

In my trailer there will be a villain, however there won't be any clear evidence of a hero as this then effects the whole plot of the film and I want to show ambiguity and make the audience guess what might happen, so they then go and watch the whole film. As well as this, I need to understand exactly what my character wears, likes and dislikes and all of the other important features that they may portray but not show too much to the audience because all they are interested in is the narrative.

 http://www.slideshare.net/LauraaRobinson/propp-theory

Survey - possible name for my film trailer

Overall for the name of my Film trailer I have gone for "Samantha" as this creates an enigma code towards who might be in the film and why this name may be significant. From doing this questionnaire with my peers, they thought this name would be the best as it gives connotations towards this girl being the main character. Also, it got a total of 5 overall and I decided not to name the trailer"My Girl" because there is already a film out their called this and I wanted something different to be used so it would make the product unconventional and stand out to the public. 

idea for ancillary poster

Double exposure examples:

 

Step-by-step instructions on how to make a double exposure picture:

From these examples and tutorial I have come to a decision that I will do this for my poster as I can have two contrasting features from elements of the film and this also links to postmodernism of Bricolage, which refers to the adaption of improvisation where aspects of one style are given quite different meanings when compared with stylistic features from another. Also I will add two of the main characters in one picture to show two different personalities and to make the audience wonder who the person may be in the background using the double exposure technique and this gives the poster two meanings.

Trailer examples - full marks

From looking at the above trailer it shows shooting material that is appropriate to the trailer task that this person decided to do and it includes controlled use of the camera, very high attention to framing the different scenes by focusing on the different issues at hand rather than on a particular topic and giving 

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; including controlled use of the camera, attention to framing, variety of shot sizes and close attention to mise-en-scene

• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer and making selective and appropriate use of shot transitions, captions and other effects

• recording and editing sound with images appropriately.

This has helped me to understand exactly what a trailer on the top mark sheet band needs to look like and I will use this example to help create a trailer that goes with its connotations of how a trailer should be shown.

Non-Linear storytelling

Storyboard - draft

Draft storyboard

Above I have done a draft storyboard but focusing on the narrative and plot at the moment for my trailer as this is important for my intended audience and I want to get this accurate for when I film.

Sarah's opinion

There needs to be establishing shots at the beginning with trees and the forest - no music needs to be played in these parts and there should be silence and then after this to make it creepy the record player should start playing the slow scary version. As well as this there needs to be scenes back and forth between the person with the mask and the young girl Samantha. After that, there needs to be close ups for the second to last clip of the man with the mask saying "She will never get away from me, she is my girl!" then near the end the picture of Samantha needs to be shown. However, to show different parts of a film there needs to be a bit evidenced where Samantha tries to get away from her kidnapper, but at the same time doesn't give anything away whether she does or not. Finally, needs to be less like a short story and jumbled up a lot more so the audience have to watch the film to know what order it goes in.

Sam Howard's opinion

Too much like a short film and needs to have snippets of bits of scenes from the film, as if I have actually made a blockbuster film, without giving too much away.

Mrs Fisher's opinion

Attempt to repair something but not show an exact happy ending and to also do more research on filming at night. Like the other ideas from Sam and Sarah there needs to be more snippets from the film to make it more exciting.

Stylistic influence - The Missing

From watching this program and absolutely loving how it is shot, as well as this when you think you have the answer then something else happens, I want to do my film a bit like this TV drama The Missing, as it helps the audience to want to understand what has exactly happened to this girl and whether there is anyone else? Also it helps me to create my own narrative but without making it too similar but there is a girl who will get kidnapped in my trailer so this will help me a lot.

Script - draft

Haven't come to a decision yet towards production company names and the name of the film, at the moment just focusing on the plot and the narrative because from my Questionnaire my intended audience said that this is important when it comes to a trailer.

Questionnaire and results analysis

From the above many people don't enjoy most Horror trailers and that is why I have come up with the idea of making sure it isn't too scary and shows two genre elements of a Horror and a Thriller trailer. As it would be a lot more easier to present a 15 rating, without the extremely scary elements with blood guts and gore from Horror.

Mainly needs to be 3-4 minutes long showing snippets of exciting parts of the film. Also even though my intended audience suggested they like US films, my trailer won't represent any particular region/area.

Even though there is mixed opinions, 4 people really like a Horror genre and even though 3 people liked the Thriller genre I am going to use this genre in the trailer too. Also many people prefer a good narrative to the trailer as this will help them to become more likely to watch the film, linking to Todorov's Narrative theory of most narratives starting with a state of equilibrium in which life is normal, this is then disrupted and fought against in order to return to a state of equilibrium and I will try and show bits of this in my trailer while remembering to not give everything away.

In my trailer the antagonist will have an unknown identity as that is very popular from my intended audience, the antagonist should be shown but briefly or hinted at and finally I am not going to use a predictable scary location and it will be unconventional and not expected or seen in the trailer.

Fianlly, I will use a voice over to help the audience understand exactly what is going on giving little tiny hints a long the way and this sets up an array of proaeretic questions such as "will the young girl ever get away from this person?" and "Who exactly is the unknown person?".

Advanced google search for music - my girl by the temptations

Above I have made sure that I looked for a song that can be free to use or share, this is important because all my songs need to be copyright free. At the moment I am now editing this song to make it slow and spooky for my Horror/Thriller trailer.



Asking for permission for using "My Girl - The Temptations"

From the above I have sent an email to Motown company for the music that was created by The Temptations and I made sure that I said how much I enjoyed the music as well to help the produce understand that it is useful for my work, and I will reference this song underneath my trailer that I have created when publishing it on YouTube.

Music idea for trailer

By having this song I am going to slow it down to 0.5 for the speed and to see how it is done you can click on watch on YouTube, then settings and click speed to 0.5 because I want to have the music quite slow and right at the end it will go even slower to 0.25. Also in one scene I will have a record player playing music with with candles around it like a shrine to add a bit more of a creepy atmosphere, near the end the antagonist character will blow the candles out and everything goes pitch black.