22nd Dec Tilting

Readers,

Today I have been making our titling for our film using Photoshop.
Beth and I decided that we wanted to use the font Courier to make the text look like a typewriter. We liked this as it gave the trailer a more "rustic/hand held" feeling.
I started off by looking at a range of different horror film trailers and seeing when and what type of titling screens are used. I found that the newer the film the more screen titles are used as well as the trailer being longer. Jessabelle and The Possession which were made in the last 2 years both have 9 titles in their 2.30 mins trailers. While Dog Soldiers made in 2002 has 7 titles but has a shorter trailer of 1.52 mins. In our trailer we are going to use 8/9 tiles. This is to keep with the codes and conventions of film production companies.

            

To make my titles I used the programme Photoshop. I started off by creating a new project and putting it into Film & Video preset. I changed the Width to 1280, the height to 720 and the resolution to 72. The background was changed to transparent so that when I put it into the film I will be able to layer the screen over the footage easily.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

Phoebe

Title Scenes

Today Phoebe and I discussed the title scenes within a trailer and what is typically within a trailer.

We counted about 11 titles scenes including critics reviews and the name of the film plus the release date.

We watched the trailers for Paranormal Activity (2007) and the Blair Witch Project (1992) because these are handheld and amateur like our film.

We thought the trailer for Paranormal Activity was especially good because it showed the audiences reaction and is definitely a good technique because it entices the viewer to go and watch the film.

Phoebe and I considered making our trailer similar to the Blair Witch Project but we didn't want to copy it too much because we want to make a new idea.

We looked at the screens to decide on a font for our own titles. We looked at the trailer for Deliver Us From Evil (2014) and liked the type writer kind of font so we are going to use that.

The opening for the trailer for the Blair Witch Project looked believable and realistic. We've decided to put 'in November 2012, two paranormal investigators visited Westonbirt School'. However, this may change because it is really similar to this opening.

The critics make the trailer better so we are going to add some but we are going to make them up.
We are also going to add 'based on true events' to make it believable.

Beth

20th November 2014

Readers,

We have looked at many different horror genre trailers to understand the standard titling and credits. We looked at one specific video called The Conjuring 2. This trailer is for the upcoming film but still processes the same characteristics as any other horror trailer.

In any trailer there are many titling graphics that are the main feature of the trailer depicting when and where the film will be shown to its audiences. This is large part of marketing for the film as if the audience like the trailer and know where/when they can see it they are more likely to go and spend money on a box office ticket.  

In our trailer we will be using this template to follow the codes and conventions of trailers in the film industry.

The link to The Conjuring 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWnP3ZfV6lo

Phoebe

Rough Edit

So I've been doing a rough edit of our film. I've actually decided to make it into a whole film and then take the best bits and put them into the trailer as it is easier to sort it that way.

Here are some screenshots of the editing process, I am using Final Cut Pro X.

Script /dialogue

Readers,

For our trailer we needed to decide on a script/dialogue for the scenes to make the footage look as real and believable as possible. Beth and I have decided to script the drive in scene (coming into the school for the first time) and then have the interviews (with the girls) improvised while we asked them about their own experiences. We found this worked really well as they expressed themselves better.

For the other dialogue that was between myself and Beth we decided that we wanted it to be improvised but the convocation had to have a point of moving forward the story onto the next scene. Example of this is when we both go into the bathroom to discover that the taps are on full force with no one around. Beth- "We heard a loud bang from upstairs" Me (Phoebe)- "What the hell, these weren't on before." Beth- "They definitely weren't". This leads us to go and investigate the noises coming from upstairs.

The hardest part of the dialogue was to not sound too rehearsed and actually sounding shocked. (I am no actress so this was very hard for me...)

Hope this explains what we have done or are doing.

Phoebe

Making the logo for our company

I have been making our logo for our company; Psychotic Pictures using Photoshop.

I started off with a simple film strip because I wanted the logo to be relevant to the film industry without being obvious.

I then put the film strip into the P of the logo but the lines on the film strip were too short and made it look like a double white line on a road!

So I made the film strip again and made the white blocks bigger again and then filled out the P. I firstly filled the whole P but decided that the bend of the letter looked weird filled out.

Instead I filled the bend with black and added white to the logo so didn't blend it.

Lastly I tested out if the P looked best in white or black and after a few trails I decided that black looked more effective and to have the second part of the logo in white.

Beth

Update on filming for our trailer

Readers,

On 28th and 29th September Beth and I started filming our horror trailer. We first started by filming on Sunday (28th Sept) evening. We decided as the night was dark we should star with the evening/night scenes with our actress Keira as the dark entity.

In the first scene we decided to do the bedroom scene where Beth and I are asleep and the bathroom door opens on its own. The next shot is of a dark figure standing at the end of the bed. The door slams and we both wake. We had difficulties with this scene as the camcorder wouldn't film in such low light. To counter this we had to face a lamp the in another direction so shed enough light on the set so that the filming would be successful.
After a few false starts and being interrupted we finally filmed the whole scene from two different directions. One of which was filming with the camera pointed at our bed and the other was filming the bathroom door.

The second scene we did was the bathroom scene where Beth and I walk in using dialogue and find that the taps are on full stream but there is no one there. This scene was quite easy to film as we only had to use our improvised speech wondering why, how and who had done this.

After we did these two scenes we walked all the way up to the top of the school tower to film the "north tower scene". This scene consisted of seeing the dark entity in the mirror and also walking to the tower store rooms. All three of us found this scene quite hard to film as we all started to jump at shadows. We filmed the tower rooms by just walking and film around them without anything happening to us in the scene. The last scene we did of the night was walking down the stairs but then something happens to Beth and I and we drop the camera to only have it picked up and turned off by a back hand. This scene was the hardest as we didn't want to damage the camera but still wanted the effect to look like it was being dropped. We had to film this scene several times before we were happy with the final out come.

The whole nights footage was a success and we are happy with the quality of acting and cinematography.

The next morning we decided to film four scenes that revolved around the main house and also outside in the grounds. The first scene we wanted to film was Lady Holfords room which we look around but then get trapped in the cupboard by something.... We filmed this a couple of times so that the dialogue sounded realistic for the viewer.

Beth and I decided that as we were in this room we would quickly do the outside filming that showed something dark move towards the window and then move away again. We had to do this several times as we had to have a phone on speaker so that Keira (dark entity) could hear her prompt to get into position and when to move again.

The next scene was of the mirror on the balcony which we could see the reflection of something dark standing by the entrance to Lady Holford's room. This scene took a couple of tries as we kept on being interrupted by people moving around the school or walking straight into our shoot.

We moved downstairs and into the Library where we decided that we wanted Keira to be more in the shot so that it shows her ever there presence. We decided to film ourselves by putting down the camera on a table while looking at something. This gave Keira time to walk very close to the camera without either of us noticing. We had to test which direction Keira was going to walk from as her looking like an "alive human" would ruin the plot of the story.

Over all, the two days footage was well filmed and now needs to be edited for meaning. We are planning on filing more this week with our other actress who takes the role of our guide for the school.


Phoebe

The beginning of filming

Readers,

Phoebe and I began to film our coursework today. As you know, we are making a horror film trailer and so we have done the previous research on trailers, we planned out our trailer scene by scene and began to film the footage. We are actually making it into a short film then cutting out the best bits, that way we have enough footage to edit.

We started off with a few night shots around the school, we want to make the trailer look like its been filmed by amateurs so we have the "handheld" effect. However, we do want use a tripod so not all the footage is shaky. Some of the night shots ended up too dark and so we had to put a light behind the camera. We had to be careful not to make the room too light and take away the element of vulnerability in the darkness. We had to be really careful not too speed up our dialogue and give our actor time to move from one place to the next.

We decided that a really good shot was one where we filmed the door slowly opening but no one was behind it. The shot worked really well because the room was dark but a dim light was focused on the door so when it opened, the whole door disappeared into darkness which was incredibly effective.

We then started day shots but found out that when we filmed the outside of the building and tried to show a figure in the window, it didn't work as well as we planned. We had to co-ordinate so that the figure moved backwards slowly and zoom in on the camera and capture her face but not too obviously so that it ruins the effect.

We also had a lot of difficulty when we filmed the last scene where the camera drops on the floor and a hand picks it up. We couldn't just drop the camera on the floor because it would break but when we dropped it on clothes it would snap shut and turn off, resulting in the footage being cut off. After lots of tries of dropping it at different heights and onto clothes, we ended up filming it falling then cutting and filming it hitting the ground separately, so we didn't break the camera.

We still have a few scenes to shot before we are finished, then we will edit it in Final Cut Pro X before editing the footage again and cutting the best bits and putting them together for the trailer along with music, titling and credits.

Here are some stills of the shots we are using:

In the Great Hall

The Library

Mirror shot, Phoebe represents the figure that will appear at the glass

These shots are very similar but another mirror shot. Phoebe is at the back but just enough so that you can't see her face

Beth

Trailer story board

Readers,

Here is the story board of our trailer. I have drawn the screens and described them using shot names and description.

Enjoy!

PS sorry about the terrible drawing..... ;)

Phoebe

Target audience

Our target audience has to tie in with our genre. Obviously we aren't going to target children with a horror genre so our main target audience is teenagers to adults.

We decided this by looking at the ratings on most horror movies and none were under a 12 just because of the premise of the film. We aimed our product at teenagers because they'd be able to relate to the girls at the school.

We also chose to film at a boarding school because we were very limited for our locations as we had no budget. The setting was perfect, as you can see from our location shots as it is a gothic stately home.

We found out that the usual age for someone to watch a horror movie is between 15 - 25, this is because horror movies give teenagers the rush they're looking for in their teen years.

Overall horror films are aimed at the working class community. This is because you can gain the level of thrill and excitement for a relatively cheap price. Paranormal Activity (2007) is a prime example of this. If the higher class watch horror films they are usually a sub genre in another film such as a romance genre.

Target audience

Readers,

Today I am going to talk about the target audience of our film/products and how we decided to do this.

As you all know we have decided to make the genre of the products HORROR and to make the codes and conventions of the genre understood by the audience (you) we have to look at what is needed in the products and who we are aiming them at (target market/audience).

General codes and conventions of the genre horror are:

• Darkness
• Terror
• Provoke hidden or inner fears
• Intense music to create drama + tension
• Enigma (what's going to happen next)
• Strange/mysterious person or threat 

We want to add as many of these codes and convention into our trailer as possible so that the genre is recognised easily by the viewers. Robert Stam (genre theorist) said that genres can be categorised or defined on certain things, these are:

1. Story content
2. Literature
3. Budget (Block busters or Indy films)
4. Artistic status
5. Racial identity
6. Location
7. Sexual orientation

This can be definitely said for our trailer. The location of our set (school) defines/shapes the genre as we are at an all girls boarding school set in the middle of now where in a very large Victorian building. These factors limit us to the genres we could do but we both liked the idea of horror as it is very versatile.

The target market/audience for my product would be ranging between the ages or 14-35 year olds who enjoy the adrenaline rush and the sense of the unknown in a film. To target my audience I would 'play' on their emotions and create an enigma to increase the tension and then finally reveal the enigma (mystery person or monster) at the ultimate moment to produce an emotional reaction from the audience.

Thanks everyone and next time we will have the storyboard of the film trailer posted up!

Phoebe

Textual Analysis of a Horror Film Trailer

Readers,

I decided to make a textual analysis of the trailer of 'Deliver Us From Evil' (2014).

Story line:

The film is about a cop in New York called Ralph Sarchie who investigates paranormal disturbances on the sidelines of his normal career as a cop. The trailer begins with an escaped woman who is found at the zoo, digging and scratching at the ground until her hands bleed. She is taken to a mental asylum where the demon possessing her spreads to everyone in the asylum. Ralph Sarchie is forced to make alliances with a priest who practises in exorcism in order to keep control of the demon force.

Representation:

The hero of the film is Ralph who is unintentionally responsible in the first place for the spread of the demonic force.

The villain is the demonic force which possess everyone at the asylum.

Genre and Production Company:

The genre is horror and the film is produced by Screen Gems and Jerry Bruckheimer films. This is an unlikely film from Jerry Bruckheimer who tends to be in association with Disney, making much less horrific films like Pirates of The Caribbean.

Screen gems frequently produce horror films for example: The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Mise-en-scene:

Sound:

The start of the trailer has no sound apart from the diegetic sounds of the thunderstorm in the city. A narrative begins over the top which the main character, Ralph Sarchie, says. He narrates his story with silent parts that build up the tension. One of the tense parts of the trailer is when Ralph Sarchie's daughter has a toy owl and it tweets without being touched. There is no music in the background to create the tension. The trailer ends with a possessed man using Ralph's child's voice to scare him.

Camera work:

The camera work in this trailer consists of close ups and long shots which display the emotions of the more 'human' characters in the film. The shots also display the emotionless people who are possessed.

Editing:

The editing is fast paced to create suspense. The cuts are in time with the sound and after every cut there is a second of a black screen which also helps build tension.




Beth

Timeline of a horror film trailer

Readers,

The horror film trailer I have decided to do is Mama. The film was released 18th Jan 2013 in the USA. The budget for the film was $20,000,000 and the box office takings in the USA alone were $71,588, 220. The running time to the film was 100 minutes.

Today I'm going to tell you the running order of the titles in the film trailer and the timeframe in which they come to be apparent. 

Timeline:
0:04 - Universal studios graphic
0:06 - Footage
0:11 - Presented by Guillermo Del Toro title
0:13 - Footage
0:18 - Creator of Pan's Labyrith title
0:20 - Voice over from psychologist
0:21 - Footage
1:18 - This January title
1:19 - Footage
2:00 - Academy award Nominee Jessica Chastain title
2:01 - Footage
2:22 - MAMA title graphic
2:27 - Coming soon title

The trailer is only 2:28. This is a standard length for any trailer is to be anything from 2 minutes to 3 minutes whether it is a horror film or not.

Phoebe

Textural analysis of The Possession trailer

Readers,

Today I am going to explain The Possession film/trailer with four titles:
Story, Representation, Genre and Media language.

Story:
The overall story is from the families point of view and the problems that happen to them. The youngest child (Emily/ Em) finds a wooden box at a car boot sale and instantly wants to buy it. The box has inscriptions and rattles like there is something inside it but the father can't open it. Em is able to open the box out of curiosity and bad things start to happen, supernatural things..... Her dad wants to help her so finds someone that can understand the inscriptions on the box. Emily starts hurting her family by stabbing her father with a fork in his hand. The parents are very concerned about Em so they get an MRI scan to see what's going on but they see something else.... Something is inside her with glowing eyes.... Emily looks down her throat and two fingers are trying to crawl their way out.

Representation:
The hero of the film is the father as he is the one who tries to fix everything that he feels is his fault as he aloud her to buy the box at the car boot sale.
The villain in this is Emily/ the demon inside her. Emily is also the victim as she can't control what she is doing to others around her.
The other people in the film are the Mother and other daughter who are smaller parts but show that this is a family trying to help their daughter.

Genre:
The genre of the film is horror as it is based around supernatural occurrences that terrify the family. The two production companies are Ghost House Pictures (very LARGE company) and North Box Productions (very SMALL company). North Box have only done one large blockbuster which was this film (The Possession) they normally do smaller Indie films. Where as Ghost House has many large horror films to its name, like: Messenger 2, Poltergeist and many more.

Media language:

Mise-en-scene:
To name all of the props, costumes and lighting would take forever as it is a full film and there are so many to name, so I am going to name the important aspects and items in the film.

The film trailer starts off at the mothers house where the father is coming to pick the children up to go to his. The two parents are obviously separated as the father says he will bring the two girls back on Sunday. The first trailer scene is of the children going with their father to his house in a car wearing comfortable clothing and homely props around them.
The next scene is of the father and the two girls at a car boot sale and Emily (the youngest) is attracted to a wooden box that has inscriptions on it. This scene is in natural light as it is outside.
The next couple of scenes are either in the dark (bad things start to happen) with street lights outside to eliminate the families faces or uses natural light to indicate that it is the day time. The costumes of all the family are causal clothes indicating they are having a relaxing weekend together.
When Emily's personality starts to change her father finds help from a Synagogue. The Jewish men are in Jewish entire with is long black robes and a Kippah (small circular hat).
The family get worried about Emily so take her to a hospital to have an MRI scan. The costumes and props are typical for a hospital. The lighting is from incident lighting which is from the halogen lights in the hospital.
The last main costume is Emily's white night dress. This is featured regally when she is possessed, this usually happens at night.

Sound:
The music of the trailer starts off light and sees like there is nothing wrong when in the long opening sequences. There are ambient noises throughout the trailer e.g. closing of doors, pizza van wheel screech and the rattle of the box. In a couple of scenes before we see Emily eating her pancakes, we hear the non-diegetic sound of the fork picking up the pieces of pancake. This constant slow rhythm of sound gives the sense that something is coming and as the noise gets faster we realise that the 'thing' whatever it is, is about to happen. Vocal dialogue is used throughout by the family and other characters. The music turns dark and scary when bad things happen. The faster the editing the more dramatic the music. To increase the horror aspect whispered singing with piano chords and an electric guitar riff (same notes played over and over again) in the bass is used to create tension.

Shots:
The trailer uses a wide range of shots to show different aspects of the film and draws attention to certain objects. The close up shots are to show someones emotions or to show something important e.g. the box. An establishing shot is used to show the audience where the film is set right at the start. Point of view shots are used to see from Emily's POV to the box and how entranced she is the box.

Editing:
The editing used in the trailer are: shot, reaction shot <-- this is when the characters are having a convocation so the audience can see the reaction of both people. Fading in and out are used a lot in this trailer and used the colour black whether fading in or out. Fast editing is used for the majority of the film to increase the tension.

All these aspects of the film add to the acting from the actors, as they intensify the tension and the sense of the unknown.

Phoebe

Top Ten Horror Film Production Companies

We decided to do some research on the top ten horror film companies to see whether they had any links with the films that they support.

We found these:

Benderspink-

Previous films: The Ring (2002), The Butterfly Effect (2004), Insanitrarium (2008), Kill Theory (2008)

Upcoming films: The Last Voyage of Demter (2013), Indelible (2012) Info about the company: BenderSpink is a film production and management company created by partners Chris Bender and J.C. Spink in 1998.

Blumhouse Productions-

Previous films: Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, The Purge, Dark Skies

Upcoming films: Ouija, Paranormal Activity 5, The Purge 2, Horror Camp

Info about the company: Blumhouse Productions is an American movie production company, founded and run by Jason Blum. Blumhouse produces micro and low-budget genre movies like the Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and Sinister franchises.

Circle of Confusion-

Previous films: S&Man, Senseless, Vanishing on Seventh Street

Projects in development: The Kitchen Sink, The Gatekeeper, Driving While Dead, Blood of the Innocent

Dark Castle Entertainment- 

Previous films: Thirteen Ghosts, Gothika, House of Wax, The Reaping, Orphan, The Apparition

Projects in development: Demonologist, Wxyz, The Summoner, I Saw What You Did, Bad Ronald

Ghost House Pictures-

Previous films: The Grudge, The Boogeyman, The Messengers, 30 Days of Night, Drag Me to Hell, The Posession, Evil Dead

Projects in development: Poltergeist, The Sitter, This Man, Burst 3D, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein

Platinum Dunes-

Previous films: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Amityville Horror, The Hitcher, The Unborn, Friday the 13^th, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Purge 

Projects in development: Ouija, The Monster Squad, The Birds, The Butcherhouse Chronicle

Rogue Pictures-

Previous films: Seed of Chucky, Cry Wolf, The Return,The Strangers, The Unborn, My Soul to Take

Projects in development: Half to Death, The Strangers 2,White, Sacrilege, Faces of Death

Twisted Pictures-

Previous films: Saw, Saw II-VI, Saw 3D, Dead Silence, The Tortured, Mother’s Day

Projects in development: Scanners, Wichita, The Plantation, The Body Snatcher

Vertigo Entertainment-

Previous films: The Grudge, Ring 2, Dark Water, Shutter, Quarantine, The Uninvited, The Incident
Projects in development: Hidden, The Woman in Black: Angel of Death, It (Parts 1 and 2), In a Dark Place

Worth Mentioning:

Arcade Films:

Previous films: The Last Exorcism Part 2

Projects in development: Psycho Killer, The Sacrament

Sunny Field Entertainment:

Previous films: None
Projects in development: Tape 4, Patrol, Dead Island, Blackout

The Safran Company:

Previous films: The Conjuring, ATM
Projects in development: The Atticus Institute  


Having looked at these companies, we watched some trailers on YouTube for the films but found that they were too high budget ideas for our coursework ideas.

Beth