Influences

Below is our Prezi of our main influences for our trailer that we will be making.  For influences based on sound we chose Devil. In terms of structure we looked at the Trailer for War of the Worlds however the trailer for Devil also fits with the type of structure we want as it starts off calm and slow and then builds up finishing with fast cuts as well as a scary figure appearing at the end. Therefore we will be looking at both when structuring our trailer. In terms of micro and visual aspects we looked at 1408 we were originally going to look at Paranormal Activity but the film is shot with a handheld camera, something that we want to try and avoid. Many of the film trailers we looked at were based on the genre of a supernatural thriller, except for War of the Worlds which is a sci-fi film. We tried to not stick to one particular genre area when writing about are influences so that we could make comparisons and contrasts between the two styles. However this is difficult as many comedies, romances etc. do not share the same qualities and styles as that of a thriller.

 

Production Company Logo

These are our ideas for our production logo. We wanted to have a production logo that reflected on our genre of film which is Supernatural Thriller and came up with the following ideas.  Production logo 1 will be an eye looking through a key hole and the key creating the letter K for the name 'Key Productions'.  The 2nd production logo will be an eye which blinks and when it opens again the letter 'I' will be in the pupil of the eye and our production name will be 'I studios'.  Our 3rd logo idea is fairly simple, as you can see from the picture above, it is just the letters 'L' and 'J' back to back and our production name will be LJ studios as an abbreviation of our names Lily and Jessica.  The 4th idea is to be called 'Paranormal Productions' and the logo will be a child who appears on the screen and then quickly vanishes, with the text for 'Paranormal Productions' flickering on the screen.  The 5th and final idea is to have 'Paranormal studios' on a TV, which has a fuzzy grey screen, the TV would then turn off by gradually turning into a small pinhole.

After asking different peoples opinions on which production logo is the best, we have chosen ideas 4 & 2 to take forward as our production logo.  We have chosen these two production logo ideas as we feel that they both fit the genre of our trailer.  As well as these 2 we are including another one which is going to be the Paramount production logo, as we want our film to be a mainstream film.

Synopsis

This is a video of us discussing how we got to our final synopsis for our Feature Trailer.

No one can explain the events in Highcliff Manor, that lead to a double murder.  When teenage heart throbs Jason and Ella return from a party drunk they make a bet with each other they could last the night in the house.  After a couple of hours snooping in draws, Ella goes to the bathroom whilst looking in the mirror a figure appears behind her, when Ella turns around the figure is gone.  Ella goes to find Jason but he doesn't believe her and says she's just drunk.  Soon after more strange things happen, TVs turn on, even though it's unplugged, curtains move and footsteps are heard from above.  After 2 hours of the strange events Jason sees something, he then becomes possessed and commits suicide.  Ella finds Jason and collapses next to him, only to end up with the same fate.

NEW- 25 Word Pitch

After having a discussion together, we have decided that our initial idea for our 25 word pitch will not work. This is because we would be using teenage actors playing adult characters, we thought this would not be very believable and could take away the atmosphere of a Supernatural Thriller instead we have decided to change the two main characters that were adults, to teenagers. Below we have posted our new 25 word pitch and feel this will work better and make more available to a wider audience.

Teenage couple stay in a house, recently deserted for a double murder. 2 hours later they wish they hadn't. Some place are better left alone.

(25 words)

Mood Board

Below is my Mood Board of ideas for what we will include in our trailer. We have decided to head down the path towards creating a sci-fi, supernatural thriller.

Mood board

As we our planning on making a supernatural thriller Trailer, I have created a mood board of different things that may influence us with more ideas for out trailer.  I have looked at lighting and generally ideas and aspects to do with Thrillers.

25 Word Pitch

To help us come up with a synopsis we firstly created a 25 word pitch of a summary of what type of film we wanted to make our trailer for. Using our ideas page on the previous post, we drafted up 4 pitches and finally choose our favourite. 

Here is a clearer version of our 25 word pitch;

Supernaturally obsessed couple move to a new home, said to be haunted. In 48 hours they're dead. Some places are better left alone.

Ideas for Trailer

To help us come up with ideas on what type of things we could include in our 25 word pitch, synopsis and Trailer in general, we drafted up some ideas. Below is a screenshot of our drafted ideas. We started by looking at different aspects of sci-fi films and we wanted to do something that was supernatural. We have listed films that have a thriller, sci-fi, supernatural genre and ticked the ones that we see relevent to our ideas. In the box are the different types of events that could take part in the plot this is so that we have a rough idea of what our plot will entail, so we are abled to write a detailed synopsis in which will aid us when drafting up a storyboard.

Initial Ideas prezi

This is a Prezi of our intial ideas. The words in bold represent the main path we are heading towards. At the moment we are looking to work towards making a feature trailer for a supernatural thriller.

What is a Trailer? What is a Teaser Trailer? (part 3)

The Master

This Teaser Trailer firstly begins with the 'Appropriate Audiences' certificate, however it does say that the film is rated R (restricted) and ages 17+ should only be accompanied by an adult. This shows the film is not suitable for all and instead of being a mainstream film, could infact be an Arthouse film.Soon after the 'Appropriate Audiences' certificate the production logos then flash up for TWC and Annapurna Pictures.

These productions logos flash up in time with a loud banging sound effect created by a man banging his fists against the table shown in the first clip of the teaser trailer. This banging sound than contunues througout the whole trailer and blends in slowly into a quiet musical score. The banging also increases in tempo as the trailer goes on which creates rising tension along with the clips seen in the trailer.

From the type of things that happen in the clip and the diologue used which is 'old' in the sense that the actors speak in well spoken English Grammar suggests that the genre of the film is a Drama. Many of the scenes shown in the trailer such is fighting and suggestions of intimate scenes between couples may be seen as unsuitable for all audiences again suggesting the film may be an Arthouse film. Another suggestion that the film is Arthouse is at the end when the Title of the film is shown and the actors names that are in it, the Director's and Writer's names are also shown at the end of the film, this is something not normally shown on a mainstream film, instead it reminded me a bit like credits for a film.  

Robocop

What is a Trailer? What is a Teaser Trailer? (part 2)

The Human Centipede II

From watching this Teaser Trailer, it is clear from the very beginning that the genre of the film is a 'Horror'. The production logo is the first thing we see and it fits the genre very well as it is 'Monster Pictures' and monsters are something found in traditional horrors. The production logo is also shown as being part of the trailer itself as it is shown on the side of the van in which holds the video that members of the public watch which is the film 'The Human Centipede II .
The trailer goes straight into the action of someone running out of the van making the audience questionable as to what they are running away from. The trailer then cuts to titles across the screen and different people sitting in a room watching something with headphones on. Diagetic sound is then used so the audience can hear what the people are watching but can not see it. I think this is a good idea as it adds more tension to the trailer and it helps entice the audience of the trailer to go and see the film as they may be intrigued to see what the people are watching on the screen.

There are many titles used in this Teaser Trailer, as well as many sound effects. The production logo is shown at the start and there is a 'spooky' sound effect used, suggesting it is a horror. When the titles come up on the screen, there is another sound effect used to create a more dramatic horror effect. As well as this, when the actual title of the film comes up there is an electric current sound and there are sounds of a woman in distress in the background, helping to create more tension. Towards the end of the Trailer there are titles that come up faster and faster and eventually they are all up on the screen at once, as well as this the cuts between all the people become faster increasing the suspense of the trailer that the film is trying to get across to the audience, that this horror film is different from all the others.

Overall, I think this is an ok Teaser Trailer because of all the titles and the sound effects used, but I feel there isn't much happening in the trailer so it may not be clear to some of the audience as the plot of the film is not given away at all.

The campaign

Like the Feature Trailer and other Teaser Trailers it is clear from the start of the Trailer that the genre of this film is meant to be a 'comedy'.  The trailer starts with the 'Appropriate Audiences' certificate showing that the film is suitable for all ages to watch, and it then flashes up with the production logo of Warner Bros. From then on there is dialogue throughout the Trailer and a prominent score.  The music is upbeat and this suggests that the film is fairly lighthearted and nothing too serious and is more than likely a comedy film.
After the production logo there are scenes from the film and titles appear through out, breaking up some of the Trailer. The titles fit the genre of the film as they are fairly bold, as you can see from these screen grabs of a couple of the titles. The title of the film comes up towards the end of the Trailer and there is a voice over telling the audience what the film is called. This voice over just for the title is different to the other four Teaser Trailers, apart from Robocop which has a voice over throughout, as none of them have a voice over when the title of the film comes up.

As I've said there is a prominent score throughout the trailer. However, this stops during certain points in the Trailer and I think this is a good idea as it helps to make the Trailer funnier as the music stops during a part that is meant to be particularly funny. For example, during the small scene where the family are sitting around the table and one of the boys says "one time I put a fire fly up my butt hole" and the father asks why he did that and then the boy responds and the music comes back in from that point. Another example of this would be where the man accidentally punches the baby and I think by doing that, it adds a good effect.

Overall, I think this is a good Teaser Trailer as it's characteristics help to create a good idea of the film and entice the audience to go and see it in the cinemas.

What is a Trailer? What is a Teaser Trailer?

Trailers are used to advertise films prior to release in the cinema. There are two types of trailers; teaser trailers and feature trailers. Teaser trailers are normally a lot shorter than feature trailers, this is to tease and make the audience want to go and see this particular film. In our lesson we had to watch the following; one feature trailer and four teaser trailers and write about different techniques and styles used within them.

1) Looper

There is no doubt about it by watching this trailer that the genre of the film is meant to be an 'Action'. Immediately the trailer jumps straight into the action by setting the scene of the film in a diner with Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon- Levitt. "So you're me in 30 years" is the first dialogue presented in the feature trailer, suggesting to the audience there is going to be some feature of time travel within the film. This is then proven to be correct when the trailer then switches between two periods of time, the past is presented in black and white with a vignette around the outside of the clip, whereas the present time is presented in colour (as seen by the two images on the right).

The trailer has quite a prominent score which differs in tempo and use of different dynamics, which increases tension that the audience feels whilst watching the trailer. Fast cuts are also used to help create a sense of tension and suspense. As trailers use only the best parts of their films to make it appealing to the audience the fast cuts help fit in as much plot and atmosphere of the film as they can in a trailer that is only 2 minutes and 25 seconds long.

The production logo which is presented 30 seconds into the trailer is edited in the style of the genre. In the presentation of the production logo it flashes between 3 different production titles; Tristar, Film District and Endgame Entertainment. The way it flashes between the different production logos is accompanied by an electronic sound effect, emphasising the genre of an action film which depends on many different sound effects.

A dramatic climax consisting of explosive scenes and prominent musical score helps create more of an appeal to action loving audiences. The title of the film is presented in a similar style to that of the production logo at the end of the trailer. By having a dramatic end this then has the ability to capture the audiences attention increasing the chance of a wide audience wishing to see the film and remembering the title of it.

2) Man of Steel 

This trailer is different to that of the feature trailer used for Looper, as it is a teaser trailer. The trailer starts with the 'Appropriate Audiences' certificate showing that the film is suitable for all to watch and suggesting it is maybe a mainstream film.

Immediately at the start the production logos appear for Warner Bros, Legendary, DC comics and syncopy. As well as the production logos a prominent score begins to play. This then flips between clips of a small boy playing in the garden and a young man working at the docks. The type of musical score used and the presentation of the shots slowly fading in and out give a calm feel to the audience suggesting the film maybe of a Drama type genre.


Between the clips that feature in the trailer titles appear that tell the audience when the film will be released and the director of the film as well as the actual title of the film which is featured towards the end. These titles are presented in a shiny metallic way which kind of represents the genre of the film.

However the start of the teaser trailer is deceiving as the audience then find out the calm, drama film they thought 'Man of steel' was, is actually a superhero film of Superman, presented by the well known Superman logo at the end of the teaser trailer. They're have been clues throughout the trailer but none explicitly apart from the red cape. The fact that what the actual film is about is left to the end definately teases the audience, making this a good teaser trailer. The way the teaser trailer is set out is also clever in the sense at it suggests to the audience that this film will be an unusal take on the original Superman films.