With every scene (five) that we shot we made sure there were establishing shots as well as a master shot from each corner of the mise-en-scene. This was mainly to test the camera, the environment and how things would look on screen etc. Also, it was to let the actors prepare a line or rehearse what they would do when recording. Therefore, with every piece of editing there was excess footage of either practice shots or failed zooms that we have decided to make into a deleted scenes video.
This is a test shot video of a train passing underneath one of our locations.
Trailer Music
'Uneasy Piano' from http://incompetech.com/
Finding a piece of music that was copyright free and fitting to our trailer was possibly one of the hardest tasks to creating the trailer.
This website was helpful because it offered exactly this and gave us an ideal piece of music, we both agreed it sounded horror like and was eerie along side our trailer.
Time Keeping
To ensure we made the best use of our time and divided it equally between parts of the horror trailer, we:
- Attended college work shops
- Used time within Media lessons
- Worked from both home and college
- Created a separate youtube account
- Created a separate blogger account
- Created a separate hotmail account
- Designed a project plan of: planning & research, filming, evaluation
- Used mobile internet, college computers and home broadband
- Had pre-existing ideas of what it would look like
- Asked people to use them as actors and locations
- Made a timetable of week 1-12
Early Storyboards
Above are the five storyboards that make up our trailer shot by shot, they each show a rough drawing of what is inside the shot (the mise-en-scene) and the name of the shot itself.
Whilst we were designing them, we changed ideas several times and shots were changed to fit the characters and locations we had chosen.
Also, whilst we were actually filming we were almost forced to changed some shots because of things we did not anticipate (the public, the weather, the location sizes, the timeframe).
Shot List
SCENE ONE
- LOW ANGLE MEDIUM SHOT OF BODYBAG BEING HIDDEN
- EXTREME CLOSE UP SHOT OF HAND OUT OF BODYBAG
- CLOSE UP SHOT OF COMPUTER SCREEN
- SLOW PAN SHOT OF GIRL MOVING ROOMS
- MEDIUM SHOT OF PERSPECTIVE OUT OF FRIDGE
- CLOSE UP OF ENVELOPE ON FLOOR
- MEDIUM SHOT OF HAND PULLING OUT THE PICTURES
- HIGH ANGLE CLOSE UP OF IMAGE LEFT ON FLOOR
- WIDE SHOT OF MAN LEAVING HIS HOUSE
- OVER THE SHOULDER SHOT OF MAN OPENING CAR DOOR
- CLOSE UP SHOT OF SIDE MIRROR
- HIGH ANGLE SHOT OF VICTIM WALKING INTO ROOM
- LOW ANGLE CLOSE UP SHOT OF VICTIM BEING ATTACKED
Institutional Research
Lionsgate
Our research on distribution companies was firstly focused towards Lionsgate, who specialise in distributing films within the Horror genre.
Lionsgate is a successful independent film and distribution company.
We used IMDB and Wikipedia to help us find out more information into Lionsgate. They are a film studio which has a track record for a number of successful blockbuster horror movies in the past decade, including:
Saw I - VII
Cabin Fever
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Hostel
The BBFC has rated all these films a clear 18 due to the heavy themes of violence, torture and bad language. Through Lionsgates success of distributing many of these successful horror films, we felt Lionsgate would be a good company to distribute our film.
MGM Films
MGM films have a track record of previous and upcoming Horror films, such as:
Jeepers Creepers
Jeepers Creepers 2
The Amityville Horror
Jeepers Creepers 3: Cathedral
The Cabin in the Woods
We would choose MGM films because of their success in distributing successful horror films.
Vertigo Films
Vertigo Films is a UK distribution company which was founded in 2002. Vertigo Films has distributed well known British films such as:
The Football Factory
The Business
The Firm
We would use Vertigo Films to distribute our film as they know how to promote our film to a UK audience.
Useful Websites
Top Ten Trailers :
Film Trailers in Wikipedia :
Advice in making Independant Film :
Recognizing horror conventions :
Horror Genre Guardian Article :
Top Ten Trailers
10. The Shining (1980)
9. Mission: Impossible (1996)
8. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)
7. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
6. Citizen Kane (1941)
5. Comedian (2002)
4. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
3. Cloverfield (2008)
2. Psycho (1960)
1. Alien (1979)
IFC - Independant Film Channel's list of the top ten trailers ever made.
This list was useful to our research into popular trailers, for it pointed us towards some of the most prominent horror releases of the past few decades. What's noticeable within the top ten is that, Psycho, Cloverfield, Texas Chain Saw and The Shining are all horror films. Perhaps, suggesting horror trailers are the most effective in teasing audiences to watch the rest of the film. These titles also provided us with advice of what content to feature in the teaser trailer.
Victim One (Isabel)
Our victims are comprised of two boys and a girl, the girl's name is Isabel and is the most stereotypical of a horror film victim.
We aimed to make her look the most like a victim as a fair proprotion of our target audience were females so they would be able to identify with her and share the same fear of the character when watching.
In order to achieve this, we needed to find somebody feminine, aged between 15-18, with physical features that confirm the female stereotype.
These character traits will make her more vulnerable both on screen and as part of the presepresntation of the other characters. For example, if the victims were bigger and less fear some towards the killer then the relationship between them would be inaccurate and thus devalue the narrative.
We aimed to make her look the most like a victim as a fair proprotion of our target audience were females so they would be able to identify with her and share the same fear of the character when watching.
In order to achieve this, we needed to find somebody feminine, aged between 15-18, with physical features that confirm the female stereotype.
These character traits will make her more vulnerable both on screen and as part of the presepresntation of the other characters. For example, if the victims were bigger and less fear some towards the killer then the relationship between them would be inaccurate and thus devalue the narrative.
Victim Three (Michael)
Michael is another character who witnessed the dead body being dumped in the railway overpass.
Later in the trailer, Michael is on his phone and receives a message from Isabel telling him that the killer is coming to get them.
When looking for someone to play the role for Michael, we needed someone who had a normal build and an average height.
No features needed to be particular, so the person that played this role needed to look around the age of 17-18.
Later in the trailer, Michael is on his phone and receives a message from Isabel telling him that the killer is coming to get them.
When looking for someone to play the role for Michael, we needed someone who had a normal build and an average height.
No features needed to be particular, so the person that played this role needed to look around the age of 17-18.
Victim Two (Reece)
Reece is the person who's driving the car when the unkown killer fell out from the boot of his car. As he pressumed the killer had died, he quickly fled from the scene.
A few weeks later when Reece is getting into his car, he is getting ready to drive off. As he is about to pull the handbreak down, he looks into his rear mirror and finds the unkown killer is in the car behind him.
A few weeks later when Reece is getting into his car, he is getting ready to drive off. As he is about to pull the handbreak down, he looks into his rear mirror and finds the unkown killer is in the car behind him.
The Killer (Unknown)
The murderer (unnamed) is the antagonist to our narrative, he is almost the main character in that he is recurring in almost every scene of the trailer.
We needed the actor behind this role to fit the physical features of the killer, somebody who was big, fairly built and who may be intimidating to other characters in the trailer.
It became obvious that we wanted a boy to play the part and found Andrew who agreed and had in mind similar ideas of what the character may be like.
He was the right age, height and build of the killer and had darker features (hair) that was accurate in representing a typical horror villain.
We needed the actor behind this role to fit the physical features of the killer, somebody who was big, fairly built and who may be intimidating to other characters in the trailer.
It became obvious that we wanted a boy to play the part and found Andrew who agreed and had in mind similar ideas of what the character may be like.
He was the right age, height and build of the killer and had darker features (hair) that was accurate in representing a typical horror villain.
Location Two
This scene only features Isabel who has recieved a message on the interent from the unknown killer. The camera then shows her reaction and shock in realising that the killer is not dead and in fact coming after them.
The location of this scene in fact is a house. We used a house because we wanted to use conventions which were commonly associated with horrors.
The reason a house was useful as it put the characters in their ordinary situations, where the horror could almost come to them instead of it already being there. By this, we mean for example when Isabel is at home on her computer she receives the message from the killer and connotations of horror manifest from there.
The location of this scene in fact is a house. We used a house because we wanted to use conventions which were commonly associated with horrors.
The reason a house was useful as it put the characters in their ordinary situations, where the horror could almost come to them instead of it already being there. By this, we mean for example when Isabel is at home on her computer she receives the message from the killer and connotations of horror manifest from there.
Location Three
The third location is in Michael's university dorm, it is where he discovers that the body is still alive and that somebody saw him dumping the body. His room is plain and ordinary, this is to give a sense of realism to the location and film, so that audiences can relate to the mise-en-scene and narrative.
An envelope is shown to be pushed through his door anonymously, as Michael walks over and reaches down to pick it up. The background of the location is subtely shown as he opens the paper to reveal that the secret is out, this was the easiest location to shoot in as there was little to adjust to how we wanted it.
An envelope is shown to be pushed through his door anonymously, as Michael walks over and reaches down to pick it up. The background of the location is subtely shown as he opens the paper to reveal that the secret is out, this was the easiest location to shoot in as there was little to adjust to how we wanted it.
Location Four
This is the final scene which includes our jump scare shot. He returns back to his car and is on his way to go home. As he is just about to drive away, he looks into his rear view mirror and finds that the killer is in the back seat.
The way in which the scene will act is the Friction title will appear, so the audience assumes the trailer has finished but there's a fast point of view shot where a hammer is swung by the killer into the victim's face.
The way in which the scene will act is the Friction title will appear, so the audience assumes the trailer has finished but there's a fast point of view shot where a hammer is swung by the killer into the victim's face.
Location One
The first location was perhaps the most important to establish, as it is the foundation on which our trailer’s mood, style and genre can be announced.
Our earliest ideas were to use a cemetery, graveyard, motorway crossing or even a low-lit car park. However, it was soon noticeable that these places were either too busy, incident prone or not completely fitting to what we wanted to achieve in the first scene.
Instead, we found a railway bridge that had steps either side, small use of light, trains passing underneath frequently and a general feeling of eeriness as it was barely being used by the public. Also, it complied with our ideas of the scene, as before the stairs there was ample room for a car and aesthetically it was the type of place normally associated with horror.
Trees, Bushes, Darkness, Shadows, Abandoned, Hidden, Dark, Out of Sight
These are some words that describe our first location and also explain why we chose it, it fits well with what the characters are trying to achieve, that is hide the body that they have found. It was practical when filming as well because there was no risk of the public being in any of the shots or us needing permission to actually film there.
Only Michael and Reece feature in this location and we felt it was necessary to match the conventions of the mise-en-scene with the character's costumes and appearances. This meant the two males wearing dark clothing, having their hoods up and making sure the shot was only made up of horror orientated scenery and nothing that may detract from the darker meaning of the scene.
Our earliest ideas were to use a cemetery, graveyard, motorway crossing or even a low-lit car park. However, it was soon noticeable that these places were either too busy, incident prone or not completely fitting to what we wanted to achieve in the first scene.
Instead, we found a railway bridge that had steps either side, small use of light, trains passing underneath frequently and a general feeling of eeriness as it was barely being used by the public. Also, it complied with our ideas of the scene, as before the stairs there was ample room for a car and aesthetically it was the type of place normally associated with horror.
These are some words that describe our first location and also explain why we chose it, it fits well with what the characters are trying to achieve, that is hide the body that they have found. It was practical when filming as well because there was no risk of the public being in any of the shots or us needing permission to actually film there.
Only Michael and Reece feature in this location and we felt it was necessary to match the conventions of the mise-en-scene with the character's costumes and appearances. This meant the two males wearing dark clothing, having their hoods up and making sure the shot was only made up of horror orientated scenery and nothing that may detract from the darker meaning of the scene.
Student Horror Trailers
Below are two examples of student made horror trailers. They were useful in realizing what we could produce as a trailer given the time, budget and resources.
'Boo'
'Escape'
Also, as they were made by people of a similar age it allowed us to see what types of horrors other people wanted to make, as well as how they were received by audiences. This is where Youtube showed it's usefulness because each trailer was praised by people either commenting positively or rating the video out of five stars.
'Boo'
'Escape'
Also, as they were made by people of a similar age it allowed us to see what types of horrors other people wanted to make, as well as how they were received by audiences. This is where Youtube showed it's usefulness because each trailer was praised by people either commenting positively or rating the video out of five stars.
Organisation Of Actors
Choosing characters for our narrative as well as actors to play them was one of the most difficult parts of planning our horror trailer. This was mainly because it was vital to have the right person behind the character and for them to be able to represent a certain audience. For example, all of the victims were protagonists and the killer was antagonist, this was made aware by choosing people to suit or diversify the typical conventions of a victim and their murderer.
Scene Three & Four Moodboard
This moodboard is a compilation of the shots we will be using in our third and fourth scenes. We will be replicating the mood displayed in this moodboard into the mise-en-scene. We found it both effective and useful in the sense that we could use our influences from the photographs we found and try to add or improve them in our own scenes. Also, it gave a structure to each location because it made shots more detailed and thought out before hand rather than just relying on our ideas when we were already at a scene. In a way it was an additional storyboard to our reseach whilst also complimenting our screenplay for Friction.
Scene One & Two Moodboard
This image is a compilation is our main ideas for scene one, it was useful in brainstorming what to include in the mise-en-scene and how this would relate to the narrative itself. For example, two characters are seen carrying a bodybag (top right) out of the boot of a car and into a darkly lit railway bridge. Also, there are pictures of a car tyre speeding away and a man running up a block of stairs, these are all relative to the scene as once the body is dumped, the car speeds off and a character is seen running away.
Magazine Cover Analysis
We analyzed two magazines which promoted horror films. Both these magazines share similar elements to how they advertise films. For example, the image of the film which is advertised is always in the middle of the magazine to make it stick out and catch the audiences awareness.
We have a general idea now to how we want our magazine to look like.
FANGORIA, feature film: JENNIFER'S BODY
SHIVERS, feature film: SILENT HILL
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