I spoke to my teacher about my blog after she'd looked through it and there are a few elements and ideas that we've agreed need to be added.
Location shots and summary for each image explaining where it will be used.
Scripting- Just rough/basic as it will most likely be modified at a later date.
Costumes- Some pictures of characters costumes to exemplify the kind of character they will be.
Analysis of results from questionnaires- Maybe a collection of pie charts/graphs or just bullet points. I will then comment on how the feedback will influence my work and production.
I will then move onto the production stage. The first thing I will start to film is the flashback scene of the night before. This will be the establishment of what has previously happened and will therefore be the basis of the story.
"Music is a universal language. It inspires common human feelings and bridges gaps between cultures that spoken languages cannot. It brings people together and creates universal community.Music inspires and evokes emotion in a healthy way. It touches our emotional being and evokes moods and feelings that are sometimes difficult to express. It can change a difficult mood and make it happy or excited; it can change a light mood and take it deeper and more profound."
Me and my team member decided that it was inevitable that music would be used in our trailer as we feel it's crucial in creating ambiance and tension. However, when we searched various songs we couldn't find one that would be appropriate for our trailer; tense yet provocative. We have decided that we are going to use Garage Band to create a piece of music or sound that is appropriate and fully fitting for our film. We will do this in the editing stage of our work because once we have all the footage in the right order it'll be easier to work out what sounds and music will be relevant.
We toyed with the idea of using music from the band The Cinematic Orchestra. Initially we really liked the mechanical sounds at the begining however we soon came to relaise there was not enough tension in this peice and it never seemed to heighten or esculate. It only become more jazz like and relaxing. We started to research other music...
Me and my partner both studied English at GCSE level together. As part of one of our coursework tasks we studied the film Vanilla Sky. We both recall the music by radio head being quite eerie, mechanic and alternative. This is enough option for us to possibly use.
This is the music used in the Obsessed trailer that we resarched. It was very interesting to recognise some of the sounds out of this music but other layers like the singing and some of the actual melody had been dubbed out. We soon realised that we could edit bits out of peices of music that we found that were perfect up until a certain point. After finding this we then went on to research otherDavid Gahan Music.
The initial soud in this song was exactly what we were looking for, something quite techno and mechanical sounding. However the artist began to sing so i researched the music's lyrics and found that this peice was even more perfect than we'd initially realised.
"I scattered the pictures
On the bedroom floor
I should have told you
Oh, many times before
I should have listened
When you were mine
It could be too late
I've already crossed the line
My angel
When you are whispering in my ear
You have nothing to fear"
This is very apparopriate as this could be interpreted as Isabella singing this song about Martin. As an alternative choice to this if we felt that the singing was too much we found an instrumental version of the song to work with. We're very excited to edit this music into our project and see if this works better than the The Cinematic Orchestra's piece.
Because our film is a thriller we have researched into using a heart beat sound clip to dub into either the scene where Martin recieves the picture of Isabella and Anna walks in or when Martin and Isabella are engaging in their sexual liason. We don't want this to sound overly non diegetic so we will edit this in and see if it descreases the realism of the trailer dramatically.
Isabella Valentine IIsabella is a character that will embody all of these emotions and attributes:
Lust
Envy
Revenge
Jealousy
Obsession
Sexual Appeal
Manipulation
Costume
Isabella's costume and dress is going to be very provocative and sexual. It's not however going to be trashy or lack class. Although she's provocative she is also a successful business women so we want her dress to portray that.
Colour
The colour in which will be prominent for this character is red as she is a character full of lust and revenge. Her clothing and lipstick will be this colour.
Props
A women's choice of footwear can often be sexual as high heels are powerful and dominant. Isabella's footwear will be very sexy and provocative and will feature in one of the shots towards the end of her walking away from the mess she's caused high and strong in her heels.
This is a picture that is going to feature in our trailer. It is the picture that Isabella sends to Martin.
Martin Jenkins
Martin is a character that will embody all of these emotions and attributes:
Family orientated
Lust
Unfaithful
Vulnerability
The ideology of the 'Natural Man'
Costume
The costume for Martin will predominantly be his uniform as this shows authority and power which ironically contrast with his weak character.
Anna Jenkins
Anna is a character that will embody all of these emotions and attributes:
Loving Nature
Caring
Ideal Wife
Protective
Has a temper when taunted
Costume
Anna's character won't have any specific costume in terms of clothing but her natural beauty is enough to portray this character excellently. The fact she is so natural will be very good in emitting the fact she's a stay at home mom and a devoting wife. It also allows the audience to understand the turmoil Martin will face as his wife is perfect and because of his reckless behaviour he has ruined his perfect family.
In order to make our production as professional and well structured as we can we are ensuring we use a range of technical equipment. Here is a list of what we will use:
What is the Target Audience for our Media Production?
After much research, we discovered that thrillers don't just appeal to a select age group. We foudn that it appeals to people fromt eh age range of 15-50+. This was quite suprising to find as we niavely thought it would only appeal to the 15-18 age group catergory. We found that when we asked people within the 11-14 age group category to compelte a questionaire they simple expressed the fact they were not interested in this film genre as they find it 'boring' and 'too complicated'.
Here is an example of an elderly women who enjoys the thriller genre.
I then furthered my research by looking on IMDB. I wanted to further clarify that older people do enjoy the Thriller Genre. Whilst looking for evidence to support this idea I found some statistics on the film Inception.
These statistics show that from 9.3 (under 18 year olds) to 7.9 (over 45) there is a 1.4 decrease. However I do not feel this is a very significant drop, there are still a lot of over 45 year olds that enjoy the thriller genre. Although it is more popular with under 18 year olds the thriller genre is quite universal and appeals to lots of different age groups.
Although there are going to be a wide range of different camera shots used, the main three me and my co-worker decided to exploit the most are:
Over the shoulder shot
Establishing Shot
Close up
Close Up
A close up shot allows a characters emotion to be exploited fully, allowing the viewers to get a full sense of the emotion. Being as our film trailer is a thriller, using these type of shots would be appropriate as the viewers will be able to feel the characters tension.
Establishing Shots
Establishing shots are a way of familiarising the viewer with where the story is going to take place, it allows viewers to be kept on track with the ongoings of a story line. Being as our production isa film trailer, allowing the viewers short insights into what point the trailer is at will be effective as it will decrease confusion.
Over The Shoulder Shot
Over the shoulder shots are a good way of relaying a scenario in a way that you can witness a bit of both of the characters reactions. Being as our production is a thriller we felt there would be many tense moments where it would be approporiate and interesting to witness both characters reactions.
After researching the usual, conventional camera shots used I payed close attention to seeing what thriller trailers put these to practise when doing my research.
I found three examples of these shots in the three films we were planning to base our trailer upon.
We decided that for our media trailer we were going to ask for funding of our head of 6th form. I wrote an email requesting for us to receive funding for our media project. Below is the email that was sent Dear Mr Gibson As part of mine and Charlotte Elliott's medias studies main coursework task, we are planning to create a two minute film trailer based on a thriller genre. We have had a group discussion and have decided that we will need funding for our media film to be completed to a standard of excellence. We feel that with the current resources we have, we will not be able to make a media product that will look professional. We are asking if we could have a small fund of £50 this aid us in getting a high grade for our media A level. We need this money for props and costumes. We are completely understanding if we don't receive this funding but it would help us achieve maximum grades. Yours Sincerely Jordan Brown Charlotte Elliott
This clip has a lot of elements in which I think are well constructed and a lot that lack in professionalism and conforming to the genre of a thriller trailer. I liked in this clip the use of diegetic and non diegetic sound together, it adds verisimilitude to the clip as well as creating the mysterious and eerie feel that is needed for a thriller trailer. What i liked about this trailer is how it showed and indicated the subject of the trailer at the beginning and then separated this from how they then were going to solve the issue, this allowed viewers to have an insight to the problem. The pulsating music paralleled with the fast paced hand held shots made it very tense and achieved the feel of a Thriller very well. However the use of voiceover in this trailer is not very good. The balance between the music playing and the volume of the voice over isn't balanced and it's hard to hear what the dialogue being spoken is. When watching a trailer you don't want to have to make a conscious effort to understand and interpret it, it should just be an easy watch. The use of establishing shots in this trailer are very good.
This trailer uses a good range of establishing shots. The mix of diegetic and non diegetic sounds is very effective in keeping the viewers engaged with the tense music but also keep it eerie and mysterious with the non diegetic sounds of the wind etc. The choice of music doesn't seem to be very appropriate for a thriller film, it seems quite upbeat and doesn't create any tension. The voice over used in this clip is good however the trailer follows too much of a consecutive sequence which abolishes any sense of ambiguity.
The genre I've chosen to emulate in my movie trailer is a...
" If a thriller doesn't thrill, it's not doing its job."
Conventions of a thriller:
Use of shadows- Shadows add to the ambiguous nature of the thriller genre. It allows us to know that a person or figure is there without revealing too much about the story line and plot.
Use of staggered clips- A trailer's purpose is to wet the audiences appetite, it's not supposed to reveal in full the content of the plot.
Use of protagonist vs victim- This is a very typical convention in a thriller, there is almost always a protagonist and a victim, it's often the victim that is chasing after the protagonist after a wrong or crime they have committed.
Voice overs- Voice overs are often used in thrillers to create suspense. Listening to a voice that has been exzadurated for dramatic effect is very intriguing to listen to, it also helps viewers to stay on track with a often unjointed trailer.
Eerie music- Music is VERY important in thrillers, watching a trailer without music is very boring, it doesn't create the same suspense and mystery that trailers with music.
Non diegetic text/ Captions- The use of non diegetic text appearing on blank frames in-between clips is very effective, it poses questions and gives the viewers information to take in and ponder allowing them to have their own understanding and perspective of the trailer.
Distorted shaky camera use- This camera shot style is very effective when it comes to making the trailer seem real, it adds verisimilitude and makes the viewer feel as though they're there. It also portrays and illuminates the gritty side of a thriller.
Ghostly transition between clips- This fading effect is common in a lot of thrillers, it illuminates the eerie and ambiguous side of a thriller and makes you anticipate the next clip that is to be shown.
Fast paced editing between clips- Fast paced editing is very common in thriller films it runs parallel with the fast paced and exiting story lines, it leaves viewers on the edge of their seat predicting what will happen next.
Cut of sound- Cut of sound is sometimes as effective as having sound in a thriller film. Even if it's for a smal', brief few moments cut of sound at the right point of tension allows viewers to take in and comprehend everything that has took place throughout the trailer.
Usual themes of thriller films:
Fear, revenge, terrorism, politics , secrecy, the idea of the 'private eye', someone pursuing a goal
Alfred Hitchcock
No list of suspense films can be completed without the mention of Alfred Hitchcock. He helped to shape the modern day genre of thrillers, beginning with his early thrillers one of them being 'Wrong Man'.
"Alfred Hitchcock is considered the acknowledgedauteurmaster of the thriller or suspense genre, manipulating his audience's fears and desires, and taking viewers into a state of association with the representation of reality facing the character."
This is a key skill when creating a thriller film and one I wish to emulate when I create my thriller trailer.
Hitchcock often placed an innocent victim or an average person into an absurd, life threatening or terrorizing situation. He also established many of the conventions that still exist in thrillers to this day. Shadows are used in this clip through the contrast in low and high lighting to show the ambiguity of the situation. There are also close up shots that allow you to feel the tense and alarming position the character is in. A voice over is also used in this trailer, this is a way of emitting a tense and mysterious tone through a narrative talking the audience through what's happening. The music also helps to establish the fact this is of the thriller genre.
