Research & Planning

Here I will upload all my Research and Planning I have done in order to develop my knowledge in order to make my trailer I will spit this into differernt sections with thier title's.

Research & Planning - Trailer Analysis

The Goods
• We see the name of the film at the end of the trailer this is because it shows the clips of the film and leaves the names till last as it usually has the release date with it.
• We are told who is starring in the film as it might decide people to watch the movie or not as some people watch the film because of who stars in it.
• We see the best comedy clips of the film, which highlight to the audience it’s going to be comical movie throughout, this clearly indicate the specific audience that who is going to watch the movie.
• The music in the trailer is symphony orchestra which senses seriousness in the film, shows the characters intentions are serious and not a joke, with the mix of comedy, this could be seen as a convention of comedy movies.
• The voiceover has a deep and serious voice, this could be because of the theme of the movie and the intentions of the characters, which shows the movie is a comedy but the actions that are dealt with are serious.
• The trailer show 5 seconds maximum snippets of the best funny bits of the film with the main characters, this is what attracts the viewers to go and see the movie, this doesn’t give away the story line but it allows viewers to have an slight understanding of what the film is about.
• The information that we are given in the last frame of the trailer is the release date in the middle of the frame in white bold writing this is a clear indication of a convention of a trailer. Also on the bottom of the screen we can see other information that can will relates to the film and publicity campaign, under the release date there is the main website to the movie. Other information included in the last frame is the restrictions to the movie where it points out what type of language and imagery there is to point out what audience are restricted to go and watch the movie.
• Trailer is more effective in me wanting to go and see the movie because it allows moving image to be shown in order to get the intentions across and also allows me to see if it’s a movie I would like to go and see by watching small snippets that are put together from the movie.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount_vantage/thegoods/

The Final Destination
• We are told the name of the film at the end of the trailer, this is because it points out a trailer’s conventions and it is together with the release date.
• The trailer doesn’t say who is starring in the movie this could be due to the actors are new and there isn’t a star system to point out to the audience the specific actors playing the roles in the movie.
• The actions we see in the film are crashes, burning fire, death, shattered action such as glass breaking, etc.
• The music gives us a clue to this trailer being about life and death, this is with the fast pace of the racing cars zooming past, the sharp sounds and the fast drum beats in the music connotes panic and death.
• The is no voiceover in the trailer this is because there are previous sequels of the movie so the movie doesn’t need introducing once again, the dialogue on the trailer outlines the storyline the film this effect gives us a sense of realism.
• The speed of the trailer is fast snippets of the best bits of the movie; this is to only get viewer attentions. Fast pace clips allows viewers to be stuck to their seats as it shows clips from different scenes of the film, whereas from the film they seem longer clips. The clips on the trailer aren’t the same all the way through the film as shorter clips are part of the film, whereas where in the trailer there is dialogue the clips seem to be longer.
• The name of the film and the release date are given in the end of the trailer as well as the films website for the publicity campaign, and the production company that produced the film.
• Trailer is more effective in making me wanting to go and see the movie because it shows small snippets of the film and the combination of imagery and sound is more effective and grabs my attention more.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/thefinaldestination/

Terminator 4
• We are told the name of the film at the end of the trailer; this is because it points out a trailer’s conventions and it indicates together with the release time but doesn’t give a specific date.
• We are told who is starring in the film after we see each of the actors on the screen for the first time, they have done this to show that these are really popular actors and they are in this movie whereas they haven’t been in the last 3 Terminator movies.
• The action we see from the film in the teaser trailer is machinery’s attacking, explosions, and escapes, the actions is shown through the future and as action as they screen is fuzzy to connote that this isn’t the present time, also the fuzziness could connote the final Terminator movie as its fuzzy which shows that the Terminator is terminated.
• The music in the background are dramatic drums this gives us an indication to that this movie is going to be a action adventure based movie, as the drum are loud and carried on repeatedly near the end of the trailer and fades out the fade could connote the end.
• The voiceover of this trailer is the main character himself telling the audience his journey with the terminator, this creates a sense of his journey and realism as he himself is telling the story.
• The speed of the clips in this case really quick in the trailer as there is a lot of action so the fast clips make this more effective with the action of escapes, explosions, and adventure.
• The information we are given in the very last frame of the film is the release time as a specific date isn’t given, and the marketing campaign website which is the films website.
• Trailer is more effective in me wanting to go and see the movie because it allows moving image to be shown in order to get the story of what the movies is about and it also indicated in this case that this could be the last Terminator movie as near the end it says ‘THE END BEGIN’S’ whereas the poster wouldn’t have pointed that out to me.
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/terminatorsalvation/large.html


Here I have learnt something which I didn’t realise before about the difference between a trailer and a teaser trailer, which is that trailers come out when the date of the release is nearby and always has the specific date of when the film is to be released whereas a teaser trailer is released more well before the film is planned to be released sometimes even a year or over. I have also learnt that in teaser trailers the footage that gets released isn’t actually part of the film. An example of this which I have seen is Spiderman 3.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-r7qymfa0Q

Research & Planning - Todorov’s Narrative Structure

The conventional narrative structure pointed out by Todorov as a rule has five stages though this can be broken down to three stages; a beginning (state of equilibrium), middle (disruption to the equilibrium) and end (reinstate the equilibrium).
Equilibrium – it’s simply just a state of balance, normality in which the characters find themselves at the beginning.

Below is Todorov conventional narrative structure complete with five stages:

Stage 1
Equilibrium – A state of equilibrium is defined.

Stage 2
Problem introduced – Disruption to the equilibrium by some action or crisis.

Stage 3
Recognition of the problem – The Character(s) recognition that there has been a disruption, setting goals to resolve problem.

Stage 4
Conflict – The Character(s) attempt to repair the disruption, obstacles need to be overcome to restore order.

Stage 5
Resolution – Reinstatement to the equilibrium. Situation is resolved, a conclusion is announced.

Research & Planning - Horror Movie Setting - Focus Group

Here I have asked a few of my friends and relatives what they think about horror movies setting and to highlight one of their favourite scene/setting in a horror film.

Me: I’ve always like a good setting locations films in horror films because it gets the mood right for it along with the music. Here are some of my favourite scene settings:

Friday the 13th (1980) - the scene on the lake towards nightfall when Kevin Bacon and his character girlfriend are sitting by the lake and she is telling him about the nightmare dream she had as a kid and then it shows the lake and the skyline going kind of orange, that scene seemed very effective to me.

Halloween 4 - the opening scenes with titles and it shows barns and scarecrows and pumpkins, etc, this scene really sets the setting and time, as soon as the film starts.

What are some of your favourite setting scenes in horror films?
___________________________________________________

Ami: There’s a lot of different setting once you start thinking about them. One of my favourite is "Jaws" the beginning scene swimming in the ocean at night as it challenges’ the conventions of a horror in some sense that ‘Has anyone really swam in the ocean at night for real?’ The only thing you will usually see at night in the water is the open water, sea life, ships/boats, etc. The thought of swimming in the night in really freaks me out.

Hiren: Friday the 13th: Part 6: In the beginning were it gives you that gothic feeling, where the fog goes through the lake and woods with the full moon and with the wolf on the road.

Jennifer: Freddy vs. Jason: At the end where there’s a scene with big clouds and Jason comes out of the water, this has a kind of heavenly feel to it.

Casey: The fall of the House of Usher: In beginning shows view going through the forest with some fog and has a great gothic feeling to it.

Kris: Vamp: when it gets dark and the business lights light up the night gives a good scene shot.

Lara: Near Dark: where the gang walks up a hill in the night to the bar to test Caleb for his last chance. This is where Caleb and Mae walking down the street in the dark and a truck start circling around them.

Kris: A few additions:
28 Days Later: abandoned London, also the fields and ruins.

Shining: the halls, especially the long shot of the hall, empty, then with live twins, then dead twins.

Suspiria: the big open ground where the blind guy gets blind sighted by his dog.

Halloween (1978): although the film was made in California the looks of the small fictional town of Haddonfield was really cool.

Darren: The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre: with the sunset in the background as leatherface is spinning around at the end. That's frameable.

I definitely agree about Halloween 4 at the beginning....it’s fantastic.

Ash: One of my favourite scenes is the innocence of Haddonfield streets in the Fall, with Michael Myers A.K.A the shape looming in the scenes.

Northern Iraq in the opening of the Exorcist: in 1973 this scene delivered a whole new, different and seemingly strange culture to the western world enhancing our fears and the feeling of the unknown.


The focus group has lead me to find out what the audience enjoy in a horror scene, or order for it to be effective for the audience, this information will help me out in order to decide my setting and scenery for my movie that I will choose. This information has lead me to find out dark, and isolated areas are the most effective in a horror movie, this is because darkness and isolation combined together lead to a psychological thought of being stranded in an unknown area. This information has lead me for my main location to be in a dark isolated area.

Research & Planning - Conventions of Trailer

A trailer is seen as a mini narrative as is outline the story in a short sequence of shots in order to grab the audience attention to the film in order for them to go and watch it.

In order to grab the audience’s attention it has to select the best bits of the movie to put together in order to give the audience a glimpse of the movie and what is expected in it.

One liner dialogue is usually in the scenes so too much of the film isn’t given away, especially in horrors as actions are important rather than dialogue, in horror trailers in any there is very little dialogue or none at all.

The mask of the killer is used in some sense to create atmosphere/pace/and tempo as the mask is seen as scary and it being on somebody’s face to cover their identity signifies that they are here to commit a sin, so the mask gives the whole trailer its atmosphere as well as the setting, pace as the clips can’t be too short or too long to create a sense of realism.

Showcasing the stars is an important part of a trailer as it brings audience attention as some people might go to watch a film because their favourite actor/actress is starring in it. This also introduces the stars as some people might have not heard of them before and is the first time they are hearing of them.

Highlighting the release date is the most important aspect of a trailer as it points out when the film is releasing in cinemas as without this information the audience wouldn’t know when the film is releasing and wouldn’t know when to go to watch it.
Dramatic camera angles are used to highlight the action and setting, this is used in different shots to connote each shot, for each example when the killer appears in the scene a low angle can be used to show that danger is appearing this angle connotes that he is in power.

Voiceover is used to tell story if the there isn’t as much speech and also if the storyline isn’t clear through the action.

The credits and text show who has been part of the making of the film this is another important aspect of a trailer as this can be another reason for why people might want to go to watch the film for example, the director might be highlighted this could drive people forward to go and watch as they might have seen a previous film made by that director and want to see their upcoming film/s.

Production details highlighted to show which company is behind the budget of the film and to give an brand identity to the films name.

Research & Planning - Questionnaire

Research & Planning - Title Research

The title research has lead me to see the commonalities in typography of a few well known movies, in this research I have found out that the films which refer to a certain day in the calendar where some sort of bad luck could occur, the font either red or has some sort of shade of red in the font, this could represent in the bad luck and blood, due to our film being on a specific day which is 1st April, we will make our font colour red to follow this commonality. An example of this is shown on Halloween, and Friday the 13th.