Below is the script that we created for our film trailer, indicating when and where, either dialogue or internal monologues will appear: below is also a link to the main source of our script incase you are unable to see the script below.
Script
Filming Locations
Below are some still images of the locations in which we plan to film scenes for our film trailer:
Whittlesey Cemetery:
Ferry Meadows Park:
Hayden Simmons house:
Bathroom
Living Room
Hayden's Bedroom
Dining Room
Whittlesey Cemetery:
Nene Valey Railway
Bathroom
Living Room
Hayden's Bedroom
Dining Room
Camera Angles, Techniques and Movement
Below is a list of all the camera angles and camera techniques we have planned to use in our opening scene; explaining what each of the camera angles are and why we want to use them in our media product.
Camera Angles: The camera angle marks the specific location at which a camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles.This will give different experience and sometimes emotion.Camera Angles:
Close Up Shot:
In film, a close up shot tightly frames a person or an object. Close up shots are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots. Close up shots display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving in to a close up shot or away from a close up shot is a common type of zooming.
We are planning to use a close up shot in our film trailer in order to distinguish our main character as well as to show detail; such as the characters emotion. This shot should help to create atmosphere and tension for our trailer causing it to be more dramatic and successful.Medium Shot:
In film, a medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance. A medium shot is usually a shot of a person from the knees up/waist up, however in some standard texts and professional references, a full length view of a human subject is called a medium shot.
We are planning to use a medium shot in our film trailer as they are relatively good at showing a characters facial expression and body language, depending on where the character is placed in the shot. This again will create atmosphere and tension for our opening scene causing it to be more dramatic and successful. We are also going to use a medium shot to represent the importance of the character in our opening scene to an audience.
Long Shot:
In film a long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. It has been suggested that long shot ranges usually correspond to approximately what would be the distance between the front row of the audience and the stage in live theatre. It is now common to refer to a long shot as a "wide shot" because it often requires the use of a wide angle lens. When a long shot is used to set up a location and its participants in film, it is called an establishing shot.
We may use a long shot in our film trailer to show shots of thrilling action in order to create atmosphere and tension for our trailer causing it to be more dramatic and successful.
Two Shot:
A Two shot is a type of shot employed in the film industry in which the frame encompasses a view of two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two-shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the background.
We may possibly use a two shot in our film trailer to introduce an anomalous character to our trailer and showing the emotional reactions between the two subjects. Again this will create atmosphere and tension for our trailer causing it to be more dramatic and successful and create un answered questions and confusion among an audience, captivating them from the very start of our trailer.
High Angle Shot:
In film, a high angle shot is usually when the camera is located above the eye line. With this type of angle, the camera looks down on the subject.
We may use a high angle shot in our trailer in order portray our main character to an audience as vulnerable or powerless. This should help us mislead an audience by conveying a false message on screen, making them believe our main character is powerless.
Dutch Angle:
Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman Angle are terms used for a tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side. Many Dutch angles are static shots at an obscure angle
Camera Techniques:
Tilting:
Tilting is a technique in which the camera is stationary and rotates in a vertical plane. Tilting the camera results in a motion similar to someone nodding their head.
Camera Angles: The camera angle marks the specific location at which a camera is placed to take a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles.This will give different experience and sometimes emotion.Camera Angles:
The camera angle marks the specific location at where a camera is placed to record a shot. A scene may be shot from several camera angles and produces different shots which in effect leaves us with a different feel of the overall film, characters and elements of the filming.
Close Up Shot:
In film, a close up shot tightly frames a person or an object. Close up shots are one of the standard shots used regularly with medium shots and long shots. Close up shots display the most detail, but they do not include the broader scene. Moving in to a close up shot or away from a close up shot is a common type of zooming.
We are planning to use a close up shot in our film trailer in order to distinguish our main character as well as to show detail; such as the characters emotion. This shot should help to create atmosphere and tension for our trailer causing it to be more dramatic and successful.Medium Shot:
In film, a medium shot is a camera shot from a medium distance. A medium shot is usually a shot of a person from the knees up/waist up, however in some standard texts and professional references, a full length view of a human subject is called a medium shot.
We are planning to use a medium shot in our film trailer as they are relatively good at showing a characters facial expression and body language, depending on where the character is placed in the shot. This again will create atmosphere and tension for our opening scene causing it to be more dramatic and successful. We are also going to use a medium shot to represent the importance of the character in our opening scene to an audience.
Long Shot:
In film a long shot typically shows the entire object or human figure and is usually intended to place it in some relation to its surroundings. It has been suggested that long shot ranges usually correspond to approximately what would be the distance between the front row of the audience and the stage in live theatre. It is now common to refer to a long shot as a "wide shot" because it often requires the use of a wide angle lens. When a long shot is used to set up a location and its participants in film, it is called an establishing shot.
We may use a long shot in our film trailer to show shots of thrilling action in order to create atmosphere and tension for our trailer causing it to be more dramatic and successful.
Two Shot:
A Two shot is a type of shot employed in the film industry in which the frame encompasses a view of two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two-shots which have one subject in the foreground and the other subject in the background.
We may possibly use a two shot in our film trailer to introduce an anomalous character to our trailer and showing the emotional reactions between the two subjects. Again this will create atmosphere and tension for our trailer causing it to be more dramatic and successful and create un answered questions and confusion among an audience, captivating them from the very start of our trailer.
High Angle Shot:
In film, a high angle shot is usually when the camera is located above the eye line. With this type of angle, the camera looks down on the subject.
We may use a high angle shot in our trailer in order portray our main character to an audience as vulnerable or powerless. This should help us mislead an audience by conveying a false message on screen, making them believe our main character is powerless.
Dutch Angle:
Dutch tilt, Dutch angle, oblique angle, German angle, canted angle, or Batman Angle are terms used for a tactic often used to portray the psychological uneasiness or tension in the subject being filmed. A Dutch angle is achieved by tilting the camera off to the side. Many Dutch angles are static shots at an obscure angle
Camera Techniques:
Tilting:
Tilting is a technique in which the camera is stationary and rotates in a vertical plane. Tilting the camera results in a motion similar to someone nodding their head.
Panning:
Panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or moving video camera. Panning may also be referred to as the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device. Panning a camera results in a motion similar to that of someone shaking their head.
Panning refers to the horizontal movement or rotation of a still or moving video camera. Panning may also be referred to as the scanning of a subject horizontally on video or a display device. Panning a camera results in a motion similar to that of someone shaking their head.
180 Degree Rule
The 180° rule is a guideline in film making that says that two characters (or other subjects) in the same scene should always have the same left/right relationship to each other
Storyboard
Our storyboard shows our filming locations, an indication of where our titles are going to be, and where our footage is going to be set and placed in our film trailer. Below is a storyboard for the opening scene that we are going to produce:
Question 11 from my audience research questionnaire asked if an audience likes to see action interspersed with actor/director credits throughout the film trailer. 65% of the people in my sample answered 'yes.' Furthermore all three film trailer deconstructions I previously did interspersed action with actor/director credits, suggesting that this was a common film trailer convention. Due to the results from this question and my three film trailer deconstructions we decided to intersperse our film trailer with action/director credits which has been indicated above in our storyboard.
Conclusion:
Our audience research questionnaire and our film trailer deconstructions enabled us to gain a greater depth of understanding about what an audience wants to see in a film trailer and what is already existing in the industry. We created our storyboard for our film trailer based on this knowledge we have gained in hope to both please our audience and create a film trailer that can be compared to existing products, ensuring that our film trailer is going to be a success.
(Click to enlarge)
Conclusion:
Our audience research questionnaire and our film trailer deconstructions enabled us to gain a greater depth of understanding about what an audience wants to see in a film trailer and what is already existing in the industry. We created our storyboard for our film trailer based on this knowledge we have gained in hope to both please our audience and create a film trailer that can be compared to existing products, ensuring that our film trailer is going to be a success.
Genre Theory
Genre - "a class or category of artistic endeavor having a particular form, context, technique, or the like."
Genre can be represented to many things; for example genre painting, genre film and genre fiction. For terms of my coursework I will only be focusing on the film aspect of genre.
In film theory, genre refers to the primary method of film categorization. A "genre" basically refers to films that share similar story lines. For example the basis of a horror movie is to frighten the audience via various techniques such as characters actions and the narrative being told. Showing graphic content and sensitive narrative is a technique that works in to days horror film industry where films such as the Saw films are very popular and are notorious for there graphical bloody scenes. These films have brought up controversy in issues regarding there violence and 'gore', this is because clearly if you watch the 'scariest' film of the 70's or 80's and compare it to present day you can see that over just 20/30 years there has been a massive difference in the sensitivity of the audience, they are becoming more and more 'numb' as time progresses.
I found this video below very interesting and has helped me develop my knowledge of film genre's as it shows various types of films.
The life cycle of a genre:
i. A certain number of media products that share common characteristics
ii. Neologism - Media items share similarities and come up with a name
iii. the name is accepted by the audience and a genre is born
iv. producers start to make products to fit the new genre classification
v. parodies are created
vi. Exception to these rules in case of a manifesto
The Concept of Genre in Film:
Examination of the main debates surrounding the functions and purposes of genre in film, including how, why, definitions of particular genres change according to the contexts of their production.
Media Languages Forms and Conventions:
Codes and conventions of different genres (Stuart Hall's Encode - Decode), historical origins and development over time, construction of realism and other codes, strengths and weaknesses of genre theory.
Media Institutions:
Film industries ‘Hollywood studios’ production line approach to genre associated with specific studios, pre-/post production, distribution, exhibition; genre as marketing tool Media Audiences: pleasures, expectations, audience identification, fans; cults, Media Representations: character types-stereotypes and archetypes, representations of gender, race, nationality, age, sexuality etc, ideological dominant values, typecasting and genre as a ‘reading’ device.
Genre is seen to be 'fundamental to communication' this means that a piece's genre is directly relational to how the piece communicates and what is communicated. Genre makes information more controllable, more rule-bound. Genre makes characters predictable (as they already know what type of character they are), and therefore transforming the world into something more controllable; it offers imaginary solutions to real problems. In film, genres are structures used by film-makers and audience for making meaning. To construct a film within a genre, specific selections are made:- e.g. Western Horses, guns, saloons e.g. Sci-Fi Spaceships, Robots, Laser guns. e.g. Gangster Speakeasy, the moll, black suits. These selections (or paradigms) are Iconongraphical. They are Signifiers. (Iconography/mise en scene) Genre and narrative Beyond the surface features of any genre are Themetic Precoccupations and Ideological Emphases. e.g Jurassic Park is about responsible application of science and technology, where Scream is a preoccupation with the morality of teenagers.
ref.
Genre can be represented to many things; for example genre painting, genre film and genre fiction. For terms of my coursework I will only be focusing on the film aspect of genre.
In film theory, genre refers to the primary method of film categorization. A "genre" basically refers to films that share similar story lines. For example the basis of a horror movie is to frighten the audience via various techniques such as characters actions and the narrative being told. Showing graphic content and sensitive narrative is a technique that works in to days horror film industry where films such as the Saw films are very popular and are notorious for there graphical bloody scenes. These films have brought up controversy in issues regarding there violence and 'gore', this is because clearly if you watch the 'scariest' film of the 70's or 80's and compare it to present day you can see that over just 20/30 years there has been a massive difference in the sensitivity of the audience, they are becoming more and more 'numb' as time progresses.
I found this video below very interesting and has helped me develop my knowledge of film genre's as it shows various types of films.
The life cycle of a genre:
i. A certain number of media products that share common characteristics
ii. Neologism - Media items share similarities and come up with a name
iii. the name is accepted by the audience and a genre is born
iv. producers start to make products to fit the new genre classification
v. parodies are created
vi. Exception to these rules in case of a manifesto
The Concept of Genre in Film:
Examination of the main debates surrounding the functions and purposes of genre in film, including how, why, definitions of particular genres change according to the contexts of their production.
Media Languages Forms and Conventions:
Codes and conventions of different genres (Stuart Hall's Encode - Decode), historical origins and development over time, construction of realism and other codes, strengths and weaknesses of genre theory.
Media Institutions:
Film industries ‘Hollywood studios’ production line approach to genre associated with specific studios, pre-/post production, distribution, exhibition; genre as marketing tool Media Audiences: pleasures, expectations, audience identification, fans; cults, Media Representations: character types-stereotypes and archetypes, representations of gender, race, nationality, age, sexuality etc, ideological dominant values, typecasting and genre as a ‘reading’ device.
Genre is seen to be 'fundamental to communication' this means that a piece's genre is directly relational to how the piece communicates and what is communicated. Genre makes information more controllable, more rule-bound. Genre makes characters predictable (as they already know what type of character they are), and therefore transforming the world into something more controllable; it offers imaginary solutions to real problems. In film, genres are structures used by film-makers and audience for making meaning. To construct a film within a genre, specific selections are made:- e.g. Western Horses, guns, saloons e.g. Sci-Fi Spaceships, Robots, Laser guns. e.g. Gangster Speakeasy, the moll, black suits. These selections (or paradigms) are Iconongraphical. They are Signifiers. (Iconography/mise en scene) Genre and narrative Beyond the surface features of any genre are Themetic Precoccupations and Ideological Emphases. e.g Jurassic Park is about responsible application of science and technology, where Scream is a preoccupation with the morality of teenagers.
ref.
Characters
Our film trailer is going to be based on one main character whom the storyline and plot is going to be based around. The main character is going to be in a relationship, the male role being played by, Hayden Simmons (group member), and the female role being played, Karen Smith.
Other anomalous characters may be used in our film trailer. These characters would be of both genders, and portrayed to the audience as surgeons and friends of the couple. These characters will not be seen in the film trailer, only heard by the use of a voice over, therefore we felt that we didnt really need to develop these characters in more depth.
Although our storyline involves a couple, our storyline and film trailer will be mainly based around the female character. We chose to base our storyline around a couple because that is one of the main themes of a romantic genre, however due to our hybrid genre involving tragedy, we made the decision to make the female character the victim in our storyline and plot, this is because we felt that females are stereotypically portrayed as the victim in films of any genre.
Above, and in our final ideas, we have outlined the actor/actresses who will be playing the role of our main character and our mains characters partner. We decided that Karen Smith was the best suited actress for the female part because she is a very talented, experienced actress, who is a quick learner and takes good direction and is extremely versatile. Hayden (Group member) have chosen to take on the role of the male part because he has some acting experience and because Karen Smith is a close friend of mine and Hayden's; meaning we could easily create the chemistry needed between the couple, in order to make their relationship look believable to the audience.
We felt as a group that we needed to create a character profile for our main character whom, Karen Smith will be playing. This is so we can create a fully crafted, three dimensional character, in order for Karen Smith to have a better understanding of the role she is going to be acting out. In theory we are hoping this will produce a more realistic, believable character on screen, that an audience can build a close relationship with, feeling sympathy for her, and therefore interacting with the film more.
We hope that the chemistry between our main character and her partner, as well as the relationship with the audience, will produce a more successful film trailer, as the audience will interact and identify more with the main character and her partner, letting their guard down, and making it easier to create atmosphere and tension that relates to the nature of our film trailer.
Below is a simple character profile that I have produced for our main character. There is a picture of the actress in the middle so you can visualise what the character is going to look like, as well as being able to understand the type of role our actress will be playing.
Character Profile of Main Character:
Karen Smith:
Other anomalous characters may be used in our film trailer. These characters would be of both genders, and portrayed to the audience as surgeons and friends of the couple. These characters will not be seen in the film trailer, only heard by the use of a voice over, therefore we felt that we didnt really need to develop these characters in more depth.
Although our storyline involves a couple, our storyline and film trailer will be mainly based around the female character. We chose to base our storyline around a couple because that is one of the main themes of a romantic genre, however due to our hybrid genre involving tragedy, we made the decision to make the female character the victim in our storyline and plot, this is because we felt that females are stereotypically portrayed as the victim in films of any genre.
Above, and in our final ideas, we have outlined the actor/actresses who will be playing the role of our main character and our mains characters partner. We decided that Karen Smith was the best suited actress for the female part because she is a very talented, experienced actress, who is a quick learner and takes good direction and is extremely versatile. Hayden (Group member) have chosen to take on the role of the male part because he has some acting experience and because Karen Smith is a close friend of mine and Hayden's; meaning we could easily create the chemistry needed between the couple, in order to make their relationship look believable to the audience.
We felt as a group that we needed to create a character profile for our main character whom, Karen Smith will be playing. This is so we can create a fully crafted, three dimensional character, in order for Karen Smith to have a better understanding of the role she is going to be acting out. In theory we are hoping this will produce a more realistic, believable character on screen, that an audience can build a close relationship with, feeling sympathy for her, and therefore interacting with the film more.
We hope that the chemistry between our main character and her partner, as well as the relationship with the audience, will produce a more successful film trailer, as the audience will interact and identify more with the main character and her partner, letting their guard down, and making it easier to create atmosphere and tension that relates to the nature of our film trailer.
Below is a simple character profile that I have produced for our main character. There is a picture of the actress in the middle so you can visualise what the character is going to look like, as well as being able to understand the type of role our actress will be playing.
Character Profile of Main Character:
Karen Smith:
Plot Summary
Our brief states that we have to produce a promotional package for a film; one of the aspects included in this promotional package is to produce a film trailer. A film trailer is structured around the most appealing aspects of a whole film, without taking conventional narrative order into consideration. Therefore we needed to have a clear idea of what our whole film would entail, in order for us to structure our film trailer around the most appealing aspects, causing it to be comparable to existing media products on the market.
Before we wrote our plot summary, we decided to research into what the objectives of a plot summary were, enabling me to write a more professional plot summary for our audience.
The Objectives of a Plot Summary:
The objective of a summary is to condense a large amount of information into a short, accessible format. It is not to reproduce the experience of watching a film, nor to cover every detail. For those who have not seen the film, it should serve as a general overview of the major points. For those who have, it should be detailed enough to refresh their memory – no more.
Below is a plot summary for our film.
Plot Summary:
Set in England
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