Audience and questionnaire for target group

conclusion

My conclusions before pre-production is that I have good knowledge of film trailers, posters & magazines conventions. I have also considered what my target group would want to see from when I created a questionnaire and got them filled out to get my information I have annotated posters and film magazine covers to get more knowledge, know conventions for these as well and I wrote about/researched the BBFC as they will fictionally rate my film, I have also looked at film companies that may be interested in my film/trailer. I think I am well set up to start pre-production next week.

FILM POSTERS

I think that the “my bloody valentine” poster is effective because it shows the theme of death and partial narrative (through the use of the big weapon and the 3d effect) also it features the death convention by the use of dark colours (except for text which is red). I think that the use of dark colours is a common convention of horror and an effective one, (for example: If a film poster had mainly white, blue or pink, it would not give  or have the same effect) that is why I will most likely use the darker colours. As for the negatives, there are hardly any but maybe the use of a variety of colours would  make it more interesting and eye catching but over all it has all the conventions that a horror poster would need.

As for the partial narrative displayed on the poster, the layout of the poster consists of mainly having a head and a prom crown would assume half way down almost like it is being pushed down and  this may cause her to scream in pain and you get the feeling the crown enforces the destruction/death theme of ‘death’ and the slow killing of people. And this partial narrative displayed on the poster relates to the film as the title of the film is “prom night”.

I think this poster is effective because it immediately gives the audience an insight of what to expect i.e. screaming  and pain, The use of dark colours again connote horror.

FILM MAGAZINES

 

Film companies

I have looked at quite as few film companies and I have looked at British and both ( examples) American and I have come to a conclusion that I think Fox searchlight pictures would be an ideal production company as they have worked with a British director and produced a horror film called 28 days later, which was shot in London. I think that they would be interested to help produce and distribute my film/trailer because they have only produced one other film of the same genre, most of the films they have are of  comedy/drama/action based genre so there would not be any competition. 

Fox Searchlight Pictures and Working Title Films

•Fox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1994, is a film division of Fox Filmed Entertainment alongside the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox. It specializes in independent and British films, alongside dramedy and horror as well as non-English-language films, and is variously involved with the production and/or distribution of these films.

•In the early-to-mid 1980s, prior to the creation of Searchlight, Fox previously released independent films under the banner of 20th Century-Fox International Classics; the most notable of the releases under this banner include Bill Cosby: Himself, Reuben, Reuben, and Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.

•In 2006, a sub-label, Fox Atomic, was created to produce and/or distribute genre films. Its first release was Turistas. Fox Atomic closed down in 2009.

•As is the case with Fox's television unit, all copyright notices of programming produced by a Fox-related company (with some exceptions) read "© (respective year) Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation".

•Fox Searchlight's Slumdog Millionaire won the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 81st Academy Awards as well as a further 7 academy awards. Other Fox Searchlight films receiving Best Picture nominations include The Full Monty, Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine and Juno.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Century_Fox

•Working Title Films is a British film production company, based in London, UK. The company was founded by Tim Bevan and Sarah Radclyffe in 1983. It produces feature films and several television productions. Eric Fellner and Bevan are now the co-owners of the company.

•Touchstone Pictures, established in 1984, is one of several alternate film labels of The Walt Disney Company. Its releases typically feature more mature themes than those that are released under the Walt Disney Pictures banner.

•Touchstone Pictures is merely a label and does not exist as a separate company: the two companies behind it are the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group and Walt Disney Pictures and Television.[1]

•Their most commercially successful production partners in later years has been Caravan Pictures, Summit Entertainment, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Icon Productions, Imagine Entertainment, Mandeville Films and Spyglass Entertainment, Focus Features,

•The Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group entered into a long-term, 30-picture distribution deal with DreamWorks by which DreamWorks' productions would be released through the Touchstone Pictures banner over the next five years beginning in 2011

•http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Company

Conventions of horror films

•The genre horror is initially to be gruesome and to be made fearful, it can grab an audiences attention by the suspense, and  the unknowing what will happen next where as in other film genres for example romantic, and comedy they tend to predictable and usually have happy ending where horror films can have a variety of different endings but usually they are ,left as a cliff hangers or a bad ending, for example all the victims die or all the villains are court.

•The editing and format of which of most horror trailers are, is that they can be very fast pace and include a great deal of special effects, up to 60% of special effects in whole film.

•films made nowadays include over up to 60% of horror films made   today special effects in especially over the last few year CGI  has become very popular compared to say horror films in the  20th century.  

•Most horror film trailers use dark screens (black) at an opening and ending of a sequence, most of them include other colours like red, blue and dark grey and even white to show the difference from pure to evil or good to bad because these colours connote red/blood and grey/grey night and blue/mid night sky all of these colour can connote different things to set a scene in horror film.

•The film techniques used in horror trailers are quite similar as fast pace clips and sequences, the editing techniques are usually just quick cuts. Mis-en-scene in horror films tend to be used in the same way for example the villain usually has an all black costume and as for the hero they tend to either be brightly coloured or they usually have some sort of colour to them same as for the victims,  as well has most props include guns, knifes usually sharp objects to hurt and to kill. 

The trailer starts with the main character (the villain) running away, after this point the clips begin to speed up an you get the feeling the beginning was some sort of flashback, as the clips keep coming they are just like flashes and very fast, the background music begins to get louder and in-between they also have sub headings for example “don't go to sleep”. There are scenes in the film for example where he is scraping his fingers across the wall where you really get the full effect of the sound and for a few seconds the background stops, soon after a voiceover begins which resembles a child voice singing a song, which I believe is a big part of the storyline in the film this soon fades away and your felt with quick clips and a lot of zooms in and outs, the music is also hard-hitting and load and sharp and gives give the jump effect on the audience.

I think the trailer is very effective, the way in which it was edited and  structured, I feel this trailer designed to really give the audience an insight to storyline of the film, making it easer to know what to expect when you are going to watch this movie, it almost tells its own narrative in the space on 2minutes. The use of dialogue was very clear and you could understand what was going on even though some clips were very short and fast,  unlike most films “Nightmare in Elms street” gives you the standard title and release date at the end of the trailer but after it gives you a small teaser right at the end which o think is exciting because it makes you alert.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97h_Oj6PotM

FILM TRAILERS

I think the trailer is effective depending on who is watching, because this film is designed to scare, also effective in being different with the using a pre recorded reaction to film by the audience and also the use of sub headings or quotes, all these in maybe causing a lot of people to talk about it.

The trailer starts with an audience being shown, however there is traditional horror sounding music. The trailer has been designed so we can see it from  an audience point of view. There are quotes about the film in the trailer for example ‘experience it for yourself’.

there are then quick shots and flashes shown of parts in the film, with the longer dialogue is used to get a better understanding of what they are saying

There is also dramatic instrumental music played in it, a lot of the music used was very sharp and hard-hitting sound to scare and frightening the audience and clips and the music went in time and give more of an effect. And has many horror films the title of the film and release date was an the end of trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

plannning

Outline of brief

We have agreed on the idea that the trailer will include 4 girls and the main shooting will be done in a house. It is basically about these for girls having a sleepover at a friend’s house, and the owner forgets and leaves the door on the latch and then the murder enters the house unknown to any of the girls, one by one the murderer will kill all the girls.

Target audience

Because the choice of genre, I have decided that it would be more suitable to have it certified a 15 because of the conventions it will include have also done some research BFFC requirements it would be more acceptable to do so. Our target audience will range from 15 to 30, this gives us a much wider target audience.

Props

We want to use a wide range of props to film with, knifes, phones, bandages and one fake blood.

Costume

We want the costume to be simple and realistic, we won’t need many costume change as it will be all set as if it happen all in one night.

Characters

We will have to main characters in the trailer, I want to have loads of little clips of them in different locations in the house, though in the establishing shot I want to have three characters all together to show the audience that all the friends were once together that night then suddenly they weren’t. 

Location

To prepare for this, me and Sapna had already prepared a storyboard for the film, but changed and added some scenes. And we also changed some more before filming to work well with the location we had planned it to be featuring the inside of a flat. To get this location, deciding where to film. We had a group talk, finding out where we could film it.  

For the filming, we borrowed one camera and a tripod, we filmed it as a narrative and the and this helped us with picking the Mise-en-scene, for each shot because we knew what order we were shooting in.  

Main shooting locations will be in a house and they will consist of the living room, dining room, bedroom, top landing, passage and kitchen. All of these locations are key and vital areas that need to be in trailer to give the viewer an insight to the storyline and plot.

Mis-en-scene is very important whilst making a trailer, it will help set the scene and make the trailer more believable. But looking at the editing side of the trailer the music is a big factor to the audience intended experience, having generic horror music will help better their experience and overall make a better horror trailer.

 Music (songs) I have looked at: Rihanna “Russian roulette”– it has a hard, strong beat and could be used for the opening sequence.

Tokio Hotel “monsoon”- it is of a rock genre and it would be of good use whist the clip of the murdering takes place is showing to give more emphasis on the horror.

I will also be looking at music sounds for example loud bang sounds and more to raise suspense and fear and shock to the audience.