We had used garage band to create the different element of music on our trailer. The audio we were going to have within our trailer will be consistent and sharp shown in most documentary thriller trailers. Often the audio heard within the trailer will be the dialogue that the characters will say. Using Garage band and iTunes we had created dark suspenseful music for our trailer, this would often occur when the crucial scenes were happening to capture the audiences attention. The melody we had made had been successful and after our target markets feedback we then added an extra walkie talkie garble during our billing block to finalise our trailer.
Before we had started editing our footages for a trailer we decided as a group to experience the tools on iMovie as some of my group members have not used iMovie in their AS but had used final cut express. By going through iMovie it had allowed us to understand the variety of tools that we could use for our film media trailer which therefore allowed us to create a professional finish for our trailer that somehow I could not achieve during my AS when I used final cut express. We had used youtube to look into effects that was not obvious when we looked into iMovie, by using youtube it allowed us to broaden the knowledge we had on iMovie as we were not experience, by finding different tools we could then apply it for our trailer. For Example; we had used youtube to figure out how to delete the audio but keep on the film. We had tried different methods until we used youtube. By clicking on the right mouse iMovie will give you the option to remove audio from the film, this will allow us to see the audio separate underneath the film which we can delete without deleting the audio. Therefore this allowed us to have the film playing without the voices which we could then place the itunes music on.
When researching into trailer I believed that this very scene in the bale witch project was captivating. The angle and close up position of the hand held camera allows us as the audience to be pulled out from our reality and understand the pain she is going through at that very moment. As a group we had decided that we want to create a similar scene like this, as our genre is documentary thriller we ha wanted to create a way for our target audience to know that it is a documentary by having the camera angle like this they will comprehend because a professional movie would not do an angle like this. However our context and scene for this will not be the same as the Blair witch project but the camera angle and positioning will be so our main character is the focal point within this scene.
Paranormal Activity (Left) , Shady Woods (Right)
During our trailer I had noticed that most documentary thriller had the location of the characters. Both catfish and paranormal activity showed their location and we had wanted to apply this convention into our trailer as we believed that the location would make our target audience interested and make the movie relatable for them if they came from the location or they knew it. We had changed the font and size of our text compared to the paranormal activity one as theirs had been narrow and we had wanted it bold and bigger to capture the audiences attention.
Blair Witch project (Left) , Shady Woods (Right)
Having a mid shot of another character is also important for any trailer. It allows the audience to see the location, often with an establishing shot, but also the character itself. Non verbal action from a character can tell an audience about how the character is feeling at the scene. In this scene Ayyaz is standing in a tough position but with a confused look on his face, combining this with Laura Mulveys theory of active male this scene further on shows how Ayyaz protects Lauren.
During the process of creating a trailer we had decided that the name of our media product will relate to the narrative or location of our medial film trailer. Before creating a focus group we had asked people their opinion on the following possible title for our trailer. these were:
No Entry
Shady Woods
The point of no return
Restricted
The Holiday
The final decision for our titles had been the point of no return, but was soon changed to shady woods as there had been copyright restriction for 'the point of no return'. We had rejected the others as our target market had believed that 'The Holiday' gave them the impression that it was a Christmas festive film, No entry and Restricted had been rejected also as it looked too simple. We had researched into different trailers from different genres and realised that there had been different ways as to why a movie had a particular name for example when looking into animated films, as a group we had realised that often the name of the character will be incoperated with the title itself such as James and the Giant Peach and Matilda. However we have decided not to do this as we had many characters in our movie and it was not just focused on one protagonist. The name of our film trailer will be:
We were inspired by many thriller movie poster, from the Blair Witch Project to the Paranormal Activity to create this however we had decided that we really wanted to make sure that our target audience understood that it will be a paranormal thriller that will be documented from the actors and actresses perspective. This is why we had come up with different ideas that our movie posters will be. Our original image will be developed differently as we want to put other images into our poster too. We had drawn different ideas of the magazine
We have experimented with filming in different locations to understand how the ambient lighting will effect the way our filming will be done. Often if the lighting is too bright then the faces of our actors will not be clear and we will not notice until we have uploaded the filming. The location is very important for our filming. We had taken these image with a professional canon camera because if we decided to use the location as part of our movie or poster cover then it should be clear and professionally done. It should create the right atmosphere for our movie. As our narrative is mostly based in the woods we had decided to check out several different points where we can possibly do it. It would not be beneficial for us to just check out one location as it restricts us from filming different parts of the movie. However we are not only using the woods as part of our trailer, as some of our scenes we will take shots of the actor and actresses in different places where they are hanging out, although the main focal point will not be the location it is very important that the location relates to the scene and relates the conventions.
As a group we have decided that the genre that we have chosen to do is a documentary thriller, we have decided to do some secondary research into this and view trailers that have documentary and thriller aspects towards it. Although some of the trailers we have research does not specifically fit into our genre we have decided that it would still benefit us to look at it because it would still be a documentary, it will give us an idea of the different shots and angles used by the director to make the movie seem as if it is a documentary. The trailers will also give us an insight of the location that most thrillers are used and the type of actor/ actress, prop and lighting used to make these thriller documentary successful. I will then compare and contrast these and use the conventions and apply it to our movie trailer.
Movie 1: The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project is a American Thriller Movie created in 1999. It is a non- fiction movie depicted as a documentary. Three film students go missing after travelling into the woods in Maryland to make a documentary about the local Blair Witch legend only leaving the footage behind as evidence of their journey within the woods whilst still missing a year later.
The beginning of the trailer starts off with the independent institution that has created the movie, this allows the audience to acknowledge who had produced the movie, often in most trailer an institution would not be followed or the the institution will be well known and will come out with sound effect however this one does not, considering our trailer will be independent we will now take into consideration whether our movie should have an institution too so it will allow our audience to know who had created it before the billing block. The footage and scene afterwards is just black however there is a voice over in the background of muffled crying and hushed voices the beginning of the voice over starts with 'I would like to apoligise to my mum and...'this often happens in movies when a character is about to die, listening to this in the beginning immediately allows us to know that the genre of the movie will not be Comedy or Romance but one of horror and thrill. A text post comes up giving us the date, location and information that they have found the camera from a group of friends that are missing from Maryland. This is a good idea for any movie because it is essential information that the audience will have to know but the actors cannot say it also makes it scarier because it is not a voice over so you would have to concentrate, read it and acknowledge it. Footage of the woman speaking allows us to now see that the filming that has been found it starting at the beginning. Already she had given us an introduction of why she is leaving the 'comfort of her home' and with whom. We can also see that it is in style of a documentary due to the amateurish like filming, the shaking of the hand and the voice over from the man taking the video. This makes it even more effective because it is showing the convention and idealistic way of how the video had been taken to make it look like a documentary from the group. It then gives the audience an idea of what the Blair Witch Project is from Strangers willing to talk to the camera. The trailer then shows reviews from different companies showing the viewer how professional companies have watched it and gave them a positive review towards the movie that they should watch, something that we could do for our own trailer too. During the end of the film there are quick cuts of the scene of the group arguing and lost, then running and screaming. The camera then allows us to see the woman at the beginning filming herself with the following dialogue 'It is all because of me that I am here, hungry, cold and hunted' before the camera falls to the floor only allowing us to see mud as the end footage. This leaves it to a cliffhanger making the audience wanting to see the movie from the powerful footage.
Movie 2: Paranormal Activity - The Marked Ones
Paranormal Activity: The Marked ones is a sequel from a documentary supernatural thriller following the life of a young man Jesse experiencing a number of disturbing and unexplained things after the death of his neighbor. When Jesse and a group of friend decide to investigate it does not take long for him to be marked as a possession by a demonic entity and soon becomes out of control from everyone.
Before we start filming for our movie we have decided that we would create a storyboard in order to organise our thoughts within the groups. The narrative has allowed us to have different perspective of the scenes we could have for our genre but overall the storyboard would essentially allow us to know which part of the filming needs to be done as soon as possible and is time efficient so we do not waste time on filming different scenes that we would not need. The storyboard was created by each of us however we had decided to just use one member to draw the images so there are no confusions when we are putting it together. When researching other trailer we had made sure we wrote important conventions in the trailer so we can add it in and make it seem professional.
Storyboard for our Trailer
We added many quick cuts during the end as many paranormal thriller documentaries do this compared to romantic or comedy trailers that have long shots because they do not have to create the suspense that thrillers have to do. The individual story board that are coloured in black often have a voiceover or dialogue in the background in order for the narrative to follow just in case the scenes that we want cannot be produced. The storyboard essentially allows us to see how the film will turn out in an animated version. We had decided to hand draw our storyboard instead of digitally using it as often digital storyboards restrict the way we can make our scenes, especially if we had decided to film in different angles which we will be doing as it fits in the conventions of it. We have not put audio in our storyboard yet as we are still developing our movie in garage band. The beginning of the shots will be long cuts, this allows the target audience to understand the background information between the characters and when the quick cuts appears this will make the suspense and thrill higher making them want to watch it without giving much narrative away, which most target markets hate about watching trailers. We have decided that we will film in different locations to make the documentary look realistic. Overall the storyboard will allow us to understand what the filming we will be doing will hopefully turn out.
The target audience for our magazine will differ from our movie poster. The text and features used in a magazine will determine the target audience that you want to come across. The language used in a magazine has to be chosen carefully in order for the target market to understand what is being said. For example; if the target market for the magazine is towards teenagers from 13-19 then the language used in the magazine should allow them to understand what is being said, so it should not be as literal like 'the guardian' newspaper. When we create our magazine we would have to be careful on the types of features that we would have to use on our magazine, the colours that we would use relating on the genre and the other subheadings that will link into our magazine that would capture our target markets interests. As shown from our secondary research, my group had gone through different types of magazine for each target market. Whilst one magazine had the actor not as his character to interest the girls in the target market (Robert Paterson - Twilight) another one would have just an image on the female character that would interest boys more (Megan Fox - Jennifers body) The colours we choose have to be professional and relatable to our genre. For Example; the colour red often refers too thriller and horror, if we were to use this in an animated disney story it would not look right due to the steretypical conventions often used in magazines.
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