Shooting Schedule

It is necessary to have a shooting schedule to ensure that the project gets completed and that there is a sense of 'structure' with the group, the main location for the trailer is Ffion's house, so, realistically, things will have to revolve around her as it's her property etc, we have numerous frees together, double lessons in school shared and have devoted most Sundays to getting the animatic and then filming done.

Music for the Animatic/trailer

By analysing other trailers, as a group we have concluded that the music for the trailers, can often include "popular" music at the opening 30-40 seconds to establish the trailer, then go into the 'eerie and creepy' type of music later on. For the animatic and trailer will possibly vary, for example, music in the trailer has to be copyright free, however, in the animatic we can use copyrighted music, as an EXAMPLE of the genre/style that will be used in the real thing, there will be 2/3 soundtracks  one snippet of dance/chart music at the start where the trailer is established (uni students living a normal life partying) then one or two snippets of music, possibly classical in a minor key, to show signs of horror.

Survey for our film title example

Here is an overview of our plot:

Katie is a 20 year old student living with her friends her in old family home. Her father had died in the home because of an accident when she turned 18. Her mother killed herself in prison when Katie was 5 but she never understood why her mother was in prison. She knew she had killed her best friend in the house she was living in but never understood why. When she starts to investigate her mother’s life she discovers that her mother Elizabeth was a kind person and the murder couldn’t be explained by anyone. Her friend Lucas finds a diary in the attic which is written by a woman called Helena in 1936 and describes her affair with a married man named William. William’s wife Katherine was Helena’s best friend. She wrote about how scared she was becoming because of Katherine’s behaviour, Katherine seemed to be acting very suspicious and often screamed at her in a wild temper. Katie is concerned about her past and paranoid because she realises Katherine was her ancestor. Her best friend Lucy says there is nothing to worry about and she should forget about what had happened but then strange events unfold. The house grows cold, they hear distant screams and photos of her mother and father are moved around and broken. One morning the students come down into the kitchen and everything has been trashed except for the diary Lucas found which is untouched open on the floor. She looks in the mirror and it smashes over her. Matthew is paranoid about what has happened and tries to convince everyone they should leave and as he drags Katie out of the door with bags in the hallway he flies out of the door and is hit by a car. Only a scream and the skid of the car are heard. A few months later (shots would show a change from summer to winter) Katherine says she is pregnant and they all notice that the haunting has stopped but a year later after her son is born Katherine gets frustrated and is upset constantly. She sees Lucas with Lucy together and thinks Lucas is cheating on her. As her suspicions build she follows Lucy to her lectures etc. Lucas connects her suspicions with those of her ancestor Katherine from in the diary. He researches the past events and realises that Katie’s mother killed her best friend because she thought she was having an affair. He rushes back to the house and sees Katie stood behind Lucy with a knife as he fights her to steal the knife he is stabbed in the chest and falls to the floor. As he is dying he says to her it’s Helena who has been haunting them and he loves her alone. As he says this, there is a yell from upstairs footsteps can be heard as the ghost rushes down to kill Lucy and Katie, glasses fly everywhere the doors are locking and as they rush out to the window they decide to jump together. Katie apologies for her acts, apologises to her baby who is crying upstairs, pushes Lucy into the room to jump out of the window alone, because she knows the Ghost only wants her. At the end of the film Lucy would be seen older and looking after the son named Lucas who is sat studying a box of items from his old house including Helena’s diary.

So judging on this plot, which film title do you think would be most relevant for the plot? (mark next to)

Knives

Entity revenge

Shatters

A human beast

Hidden deaths

Approaching (The Approach) 

Lost bones

Helena

The unseen

Vengeful dead

Prop list

For our film trailer, use of props is advised as it adds a genuine feel to the trailer, here are some props that most probably will be used:

Diary - probably created ourselves.

Ornaments and mirrors - for smashing, these can becoming expensive by keep buying and smashing ornaments, for the animatic, we possibly will have to not smash the ornaments, or, re-buy cheaply from charity shops.

Drink bottles - alcoholic, to reflect 'typical uni life'

Text books - again, to reflet uni life.

Playing Cards

Blair Witch Project film analysis

Immediately at the start of the film, the horror stereotypes are met when there's text about 3 students that have gone missing on the woods to find the 'Blair Witch', personally due to the use of hand-held cameras thus keeping production costs and budget down, because of this, I think the Paranormal Activity series has taken a lot of influence from The Blair Witch Project. The film target audience again is around 15-25 because the use of students, so the audience can relate to their age and their actions, I think the film also plays on people's fears because of the scariness of 'being lost in woods' and the idea of it being a wilderness. Personally, I didn't find the film all that scary, however there were many jumpy and eerie parts such as when the stick figures were found and when I could hear the sounds of the children, the film was also good at strange moments, such as when they went over log on the stream twice, despite heading south continuously, and there appearing to be slime on one of the characters possessions.

Stroyboarding

Here is the Storyboard for our film trailer, as of now there are 63 shots, this is, however, without any form of inter titles, the pictures aren't coloured or in detail in simply to save time.

Shaun Of The Dead Film analysis

Although this isn't exactly a horror (more of a zombie comedy), I've decided to analyse this film because it's a 'sub-genre' or Horror, the film focuses on an uprising of zombies, but with numerous jokes and funny moments, there aren't any scary or jumpy parts, but the graphical content of the zombies can be a little gruesome at times, the film rating is a 15, which is down to the use of bad language and violence more than the fright content, like most horror films, the target audience is 15-25, despite this film using 30+ actors, the main actor Simon Pegg has starred in a lot of comedies which appeal to this age range. The Music isn't typical of the horror genre, it's more action based, which is probably because of the cross-over of genres and it's less seriousness

.

Sinister film analysis

Probably the most disturbing film I've ever watched. Right from the start there is a long shot of four people getting hung which immediately set the scene for the rest of the film. The film revolves around a family of four moving into a house which was a crime scene (only the father knew this)as he is a writer and was looking for influence. The father finds old film reels in the attic, labeled as innocent and normal home movies, however, when the movies are played, it shows very eerie and disturbing scenes of past families being murdered, this is a good way to 'trick' the audience as any viewer who hadn't read the plot, would know about these scenes and will be caught by surprise. Toward the end of the film the audience see that the father is murdered by his coffee being poisoned by the daughter. Overall the film, however disturbing, in my opinion was fantasticly directed and used great ideas and twists. The film follows the 15-25 target audience which is seen in a lot of horror films, with stereotypical eerie soundtrack creating suspense and scaring the viewer

Paranormal Activity 1 Trailer Analysis

Spanning 1 minute 46 and 51 shots, the Paranormal Activity trailer is a supernatural horror, which identified by the audience in the the trailer due to the non diegetic slow paced, intense soundtrack, the use of long times between camera shots and through the use of the diegetic dialogue “somebodies here, I feel them breathing on me.” (which hints at the idea of ghosts) The audience is targeted at 15-25 though the use of young adults which could in a way, show resemblance, and also an age 15 rating is more beneficial to an age 18 rating to gain more viewers and then profit, Along with the basic transitions of cuts, a fade in/out transition is used 6 times between shots when the camera is viewing the audience, this technique is used to help ease the viewer in and out of shots. The majority of the sound is diegetic dialogue, the diegetic dialogue of“windows are locked, doors are locked, alarm is on” could create a false sense of assurance for the viewers, giving off the impression that the family are safe. The diegetic dialogue of 'screaming' is used with long shots of the audience to show their fear, which give off a good impression for the film being scary, also, the diegetic dialogue “if you do try to play games with it, thats inviting it in” is followed by silence, then a non diegetic sound of a door being slammed shut. Slow paced, Non Diegetic soundtrack is used at the start to resemble a heart beat, emphasising intensity. The trailer represents the characters as a couple living in a haunted house, we are shown that they are a couple through the long shot of the bedroom showing them sleeping together, showing that they have a string relationship, they represent both characters to be early to mid 20's which is part of the target audience. A sense of narrative is created through the trailer by camera shots showing that there is a 'ghost, demon or poltergeist' a POV shot linking with diegetic dialogue “there's footsteps in but there's no footsteps out” shows what appear to be footsteps of this unidentified thing, scaring the characters, which in turn makes the audience feel scared. The trailer creates a code of enigma by never showing the 'ghost, demon or poltergeist' the trailer ends on a female character being thrown across the room into the camera, which leaves the audience in suspense as it is left a mystery to them as to what it looks like, making the viewer want to watch the film in a hope to find out. Titles are used to communicate with the audience, the main one being “experience it for yourself” this is linked with non diegetic sounds of loud bangs and crashes, this, and the titles of “one of the scariest movies of all time” establish the mood and the very high expectations of the film. The camera shots and angles most commonly used in trailers are often the most important ones, but they don't have to be in order of the film, I think usually the most common will be an establishing shot at the start of trailers to set the scene, along with various Medium close ups and medium long shots to show emotion on faces and for general dialogue, mise-en-scene is costructed in trailers often in regards to their genres, for example, an action film such as the 'A-team' can feature lots of explosions, helicopters and planes, fast cars and props such as guns, where-as Paranormal Activity doesn't have any 'stereotypical' Mise-en-scene, the characters are wearing everyday clothes, and the props go as far as the handheld camera and ouija board. The film studio has used the trailer to market its product to gain an audience, people aren't likely to see a film unless they've had a 'preview' beforehand, a trailer is a great way to gain a potential audience, possibly, the trailer will be shown before other films of the similar genre or similar age bracket to appeal to the target audience. The film trailer was a high success in targeting an audience with a whole franchise of 1-4 and a fifth announced, it's one of the most profitable films ever, earning $194 million worldwide. Codes and conventions: - Studio information, Paramount. - Slow pace, gradually speeding up, similar to other trailers. - Title of the film, simple yet effective at the end of the film to keep 'fresh in viewers minds'. - No mention of actors unlike other trailers, could suggest actors not popular/known. - Eerie music used, typical of the genre. - only 1 minute 46, which is shorter than the average (2:30) could be because they weren't sure of the success of the film. - Finished with a 'sting' which is used to make the audience jump, typical of the horror genre. - Shots of the film are shown in a linear pattern and not in the order of the film, this is used to not give too much of the story away and not to spoil the ending. - Titles are used many times, often of 'reviews' never bad reviews as they want to give the film a good name, titles used to give information and to keep them stuck in the viewers memory. - British board of film classification determined the film '15' I think film trailers are hugely effective as a promotional device for films, if done well, it could bring in millions of viewers, because of the popularity of the internet, each trailer can be viewed by millions, which as well as showing the trailer before a similar movie, could bring in huge profits and then lead to sequals.

Film Trailer Plot with estimation of shots

Trailer plot First 30 shots- Establishes the friendships between Katie and the students, they are all living normal student lives. Katie gives them a tour around her home to show that it is her old family home that the students are moving into. Lucas one of the students in the house finds a diary upstairs which has the name Helena on the front page. He leaves it in Katie’s room on the desk by a picture of her parents. Matthew speaks to Katie about her mother’s death in prison saying how sorry he was for her but it was nice that her parents left her their home. Second 30 shots- The objects in the house are being broken; the diary is seen again in the room which has been trashed. A mirror is broken in front of Katie’s face. There are footsteps throughout the house. It goes quiet and then Lucas, Katie and Lucy all scream out Matthews’s name. A figure is seen falling and blood can be seen spreading through the door. A baby is heard crying upstairs and Lucas runs up to see them. Singing can be heard downstairs by Lucy and Lucas. Final 30 shots- Lucas is seen running towards the house. A female is seen hidden in the dark holding a knife and then there is a scream. Lucas’s screams Katie’s name and runs in through the door and picks up the diary. It appears that Matthew is pushed out of the house and a car is seen speeding.

New finished plot

Because we couldn't come to a conclusion with a finished plot, we decided to scrap the main ideas we had and merge a few aspects of each of our plots and re-write most of it, this is the outcome.

 Katie is a 20 year old student living with her friends her in old family home. Her father had died in the home because of an accident when she turned 18. Her mother killed herself in prison when Katie was 5 but she never understood why her mother was in prison. She knew she had killed her best friend in the house she was living in but never understood why. When she starts to investigate her mother’s life she discovers that her mother Elizabeth was a kind person and the murder couldn’t be explained by anyone. Her friend Lucas finds a diary in the attic which is written by a woman called Helena in 1936 and describes her affair with a married man named William. William’s wife Katherine was Helena’s best friend. She wrote about how scared she was becoming because of Katherine’s behaviour, Katherine seemed to be acting very suspicious and often screamed at her in a wild temper. Katie is concerned about her past and paranoid because she realises Katherine was her ancestor. Her best friend Lucy says there is nothing to worry about and she should forget about what had happened but then strange events unfold. The house grows cold, they hear distant screams and photos of her mother and father are moved around and broken. One morning the students come down into the kitchen and everything has been trashed except for the diary Lucas found which is untouched open on the floor. She looks in the mirror and it smashes over her. Matthew is paranoid about what has happened and tries to convince everyone they should leave and as he drags Katie out of the door with bags in the hallway he flies out of the door and is hit by a car. Only a scream and the skid of the car are heard. A few months later (shots would show a change from summer to winter) Katherine says she is pregnant and they all notice that the haunting has stopped but a year later after her son is born Katherine gets frustrated and is upset constantly. She sees Lucas with Lucy together and thinks Lucas is cheating on her. As her suspicions build she follows Lucy to her lectures etc. Lucas connects her suspicions with those of her ancestor Katherine from in the diary. He researches the past events and realises that Katie’s mother killed her best friend because she thought she was having an affair. He rushes back to the house and sees Katie stood behind Lucy with a knife as he fights her to steal the knife he is stabbed in the chest and falls to the floor. As he is dying he says to her it’s Helena who has been haunting them and he loves her alone. As he says this, there is a yell from upstairs footsteps can be heard as the ghost rushes down to kill Lucy and Katie, glasses fly everywhere the doors are locking and as they rush out to the window they decide to jump together. Katie apologies for her acts, apologises to her baby who is crying upstairs, pushes Lucy into the room to jump out of the window alone, because she knows the Ghost only wants her. At the end of the film Lucy would be seen older and looking after the son named Lucas who is sat studying a box of items from his old house including Helena’s diary.