Above are the props used to create our media film trailer - INSANE.
Gun - This was used as the main weapon for the killer, we believe that this toy gun was suitable for our trailer as it looked realistic, this gun was used in many different scenes.
Car - This was used for the final scene of the trailer, we decided to use a car as it was a suitable get away for the escapee, all roads were checked for on coming traffic before hand.
Newspaper - We decided to use the newspaper to give the scene of the escapee at home some realistic relaxation time.
House Phone - We used this in similar scenes to the newspaper this was also used to show normality.
Knife - The knife was used to create extra anxiety in the trailer and leave the viewers with extra suspense, we made sure the knife was secure with the actor for safety reasons. This type of knife was used as it is a typical style used in most drama's and horror films.
This is a copy of our group storyboard that we designed and drew out before we started filming. This was required as it gave us a detailed plan of what scenes we needed to shoot in a certain day and in what order. If we use this storyboard through out then our media trailer will be easier to produce and look more professional. We have edited some scenes differently in the trailer than portrayed on the storyboard above.
Anthony Gibbons plays the role of the mass murderer who commits the massacre, David Norbury is the final death on the massacre list, but he manages to escape.
For our media trailer we have decided to use the 'instrumental' soundtrack to Evanescence's 'Bring me too life'. We decided to use this track as it is dark and fast paced, this brings suspense to the trailer. The 'instrumental' track was used instead of the original as without the wording it gives extra intensity and makes the trailer look more realistic and professional. The track is perfect also as it fits in with our genre of psychological horror/drama, there are certain points in the track were the music level drops, this was perfect for our trailer as there were parts of dialogue that could fit around the music.
I have created a questionnaire to help me decide on what sub-genre to use for my horror film trailer, aswell as the music genre I should use and the relevant information that should be placed in the film. This is for my A level media coursework so it would be deeply appreciated if you could fill it in here, many thanks.
This is the first 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' poster that I will implement. The poster is very basic, yet remains relevant to the horror genre and keeps in touch with the stereotypical side of horror films. The poster shows us a picture of the 'villain' in the film 'Leather face'. The picture makes it look like 'Leather Face' is watching the audience and coming after them with the chainsaw this can scare people (the main point of a horror film) but can also build intense anxiety. The picture has low lighting to add mystery to the plot, it also has a yellow fade on the picture, probably completed on Adobe Photoshop to give the poster a unique twist. The title of the film 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' is shown in a lit up yellow/orange font, in my opinion this font doesn't do the poster justice has it has no real relevance as it looks like a clean text, I believe that the text should have been more rugged looking like it had been carved out with a chainsaw for example.
This is the second poster for 'Texas Chain Saw Massacre' as you can see immediately the font style, colour and size of the title is very similar to the first poster. This is to show intertextuality between the two posters. In this poster another picture of 'Leather Face' has been used but this time the lighting around the picture is much darker making everything seem more terrifying in the picture, a black line fade has been used on the picture as well to give the picture a darker tone and definition. Unlike the first poster this one has the names of actors, actresses, producers and directors as well as including the companies and institutions directly involved with the film. One strange comparison between both posters is that there is no date release on either posters, this is quite strange for the advertising and marketing side to do, in my opinion there should be a release date on at least one and therefore I will make it part of my criteria to add a release date to my film poster.
I decided to analyse this trailer as I felt it had a lot of relevance to the film trailer that I will be producing shortly. The genre of this film fits in perfectly with what we are trying to achieve for our coursework and the trailer is 2:21 long, this is good as our trailer must be 2 minutes long so we can use this trailer also to see what extent of detail needs to be in the trailer.
The trailer starts with the institutions and companies involved with the film, typically. It then quickly cuts to an establishing shot showing the vehicle on the road in the middle of nowhere, the sound in the background is quite soothing near the start, rather unusual for a horror film. There are then a couple of quick cuts between the different actors & actresses in the vehicle and then there is a bit more sound when the couple are talking, these quick cuts of the various people are to establish the characters that will be involved in the film at some point to the audience. The next clip, at 0:40 the backing track takes a dramatic turn, it starts to use a heartbeat rhythm, this has been cleverly synced with numerous quick cuts that keep in time with the beats in the background, this is used to build suspension. Numerous other establishing shots are used to now show the house were all of the horror will take place. More and more quick cuts are used and the lighting is dark, this is used to create a greater feeling of anxiety. At 1:32 the film disappears for a few seconds and the producer, directors names etc are displayed but still enticing the audience by using some dialogue (mostly screaming) in the background. The last 50 seconds or so are when the trailer becomes more upbeat and the cuts and music begin to get faster, most of the shot types used near the end are close ups/ extreme to show extent of horror in the faces of the people. As the trailer begins to gain maximum tempo it cuts to the name of the film and then shows the credits and finishes with 'Coming Soon' for the date, this will also get people talking about it as there are now more questions to be answered.
I believe this is a suitable analysis for our group as it has all the important parts of a psychological horror film, the cuts, dialogue, shot types and all other key information is there and all in the right places, to make my film trailer to a high professional standard I will need to include all of the above criteria shown.
As a group we have decided to make a 'Horror' film trailer, to sub categorise this we will be making it into a 'psychological horror'.
Based on the disturbed human psyche. Obviously psychos on rampages fall into this category, but it is just as often more subtle. Since the reader's perception is sometimes altered by exposure to an insane viewpoint, psychological horror can also deal with ambiguous reality and seem to be supernatural.
Films we will use to help to produce our trailer which fit into the same genre and sub genre are:-
In may of each year the Golden Trailer Awards are held, these awards allow producers and marketing advertisers to gain acclaim from a film, awards can be won for trailers, film posters and television advertisements, these all link back to motion picture marketing.
"Movie trailers play an increasingly important role in entertaining us and helping us determine where to spend our leisure time. The best trailers are works of art in their own right, expertly blending elements of cinema and advertising.
Each year through an open competition judged by film industry notables, the Golden Trailer Awards recognize the creative people who make movie trailers, and the best examples of their unique art, in a gala award show.
The Golden Trailer Awards is the awards show devoted to feature film previews. Since moviegoers consistently rate movie trailers as the most entertaining part of the theater experience, the Golden Trailer Awards celebrates the craftsmanship and allure of these potent mini-epics with a fast-paced show whose frenetic and sometimes irreverent style is perfect for the post-MTV era.
Taking only 90 minutes to roll through 16 categories ranging from Best Drama to the Golden Fleece, the Golden Trailer Awards is as diverse and exciting as the art form to which it pays homage."
Some awards that can be won at the Golden Trailer Awards:-
- Best independent trailer - Best comedy - Best foreign action trailer - Best documentary poster - Best in Show - Most original
Movie trailers first appeared in front of us in 1913, with the short promotional film 'The Pleasure Seekers' which was produced by a man called 'Nils Granlund'. During the 1950's most movie trailers were produced by the national screen service, they consisted of loud music, large font, limited amounts of slow shots and unrealistic dialogue in the background, the film trailer above the 1950's original cinderella trailer is a great example of this.
Above is the first trailer of 'INCEPTION' as you can see this trailer is shorter than the second trailer below, the first trailer is similar to a 'teaser' trailer. These are prodominately short, quick cutting trailers that build suspense for the film, there is also little if any dialogue in teaser trailers, but they always have a consistent backing track.
Above is the second 'INCEPTION' trailer I have used, this trailer is not so much a teaser as my first video and gives a more detailed insight into the film. The trailer predominantly uses close to extreme close-ups and uses a lot of quick cuts this is to show various points of the film quickly and to gain suspense and get the audience questioning. Although no characters names are mentioned we can see that Leonardo DiCaprio is used on numerous occasions this is to give the belief to the audience that he is most likely the main character and that Warner Bros. have a world renowned actor in their film.
Above are three movie posters for the newly released block-buster 'Inception'. All three posters show consistent similarities throughout, here are some examples; first of all there seems to be a blue fade over all three images to keep similarities in the posters, secondly in all three posters bizarre/surreal scenery to show that the architecture is a main focus in the film. On all three posters Leonardo DiCaprio is displayed as the main focus as he is obviously an influential character and world renowned actor, all other characters in the posters are shown in similar fashion as they are all dressed relatively smart and most men are wearing suits and some of the men have guns. On all three pictures we can see that the actual title 'INCEPTION' is kept in the same colour scheme of red, but three different styles of text are being used. Finally at the top next to Leonardo DiCaprio's there is a quote that says "your mind is the scene of the crime". This leaves us with a little suspense for the actual film.
Next I have shown some intertextuality between the two pictures above which are a poster for the up-coming blockbuster 'INCEPTION' & 'The Dark Knight' the sequel to 'Batman Begins', produced in 2008. Both posters and films were produced by Warner Bros. Both posters have numerous similarities and this may be down to the Auteur theory as both films have the same producer in Christopher Nolan, therefore meaning that both will be advertised, produced and sold in a similar way/fashion. We can see from the posters that both Heath Ledger playing 'The Joker' and Leonardo DiCaprio playing 'Dom Cobb' have their backs facing the audience, revealing little and that they are also both over-powered by the vast amount of architecture shown in both posters this is similar to all of the 'INCEPTION' posters produced.
Finally I have chosen to show two magazine covers with the main article and theme being 'INCEPTION', the two film magazines are 'Total Film' and 'Empire'. Similar to the three posters I have chosen both front covers show Leonardo DiCaprio as the main figure which clearly represents him as the main character. Also both magazine covers use the theme of architecture, 'Empire' has used it in the background of the page, where as 'Total Film' uses architecture to make the title of the magazine. In my judgement the 'Total Film' magazine production is better in the way that the architecture has been incorporated in the title, but the 'Empire' magazine has a much better high quality standard of Leondardo DiCaprio.
Recently I have received the brief for my A2 Media coursework from L31 'Productions'. The task I have been set with is to complete the marketing and producing of a new film which will be released in November 2010, this date has been set to coincide with both winter and Christmas as these are specific times for 'Blockbuster' movies.
- 2 Trailers of 60 seconds length each or 1 trailer of length 120 seconds.
- A film magazine and a film poster to show how the film can be marketed.
All of the above criteria must be linked in some way to show the synergy of the product and the trailer I produce will be viewed by an audience of professional critics, therefore I need to think closely about my selection of mise en scene, sound, actors/actresses, props and finally my editing.
I will continiously update my account with new blogs on a regular basis to keep track of my progress.
