Editing ideas

Recently we have been changing and altering our main idea, and playing with different editing ideas. One of our main editing ideas was a split screen however this is not possible on iMovie '09 and the closest we would be able to use is picture in picture which is explained in this youtube clip:



We had this inspiration of an idea after watching requiem for a dream, it had a lot of indifferent and effective editing which we would really love to try and include in our teaser trailer.

Make Up Practice - Bruises

We had a bit of a play around with dark eyeshadow and came up with this bruise. I think we got the colours right, so when we film a death scene, this is the technique we will use.

Storyboard changes

Our basic idea for the storyboard has chaned a little. Instead of the trailer focusing on the victim, we're now focusing on the victim's friend, which means the narrative will be about the friend abandoning the victim. This means the narrative changes from being about bullying to bullying and betrayal, which will be reflected in the trailer. This gives us more of a chance to add ideas, because the narrative is more open, and add in lots more camera shots, as it can be from different points of view.

Start: Equilibrium of main character walking into a party scene. Loud, fast paced, upbeat music, lots of people.

Walks through, editing switches from fast to slow, blurry, clear, black and white, etc. This will be done to emphasise drug and alcohol use. As the camera focuses on different people, we edit the scene to quickly flash to those people's deaths. Camera sound, etc.

(None of this is very clear, so that not too much of the narrative is given away.)

End: Yet to be confirmed...

We still need to decide actors, as they need to be perfect for the part and reasonably good at acting, storyboard completely, and play around with the macs more so we know we can actually achieve this effect.

Poster Analysis - Tormented

This poster is unusual compared to others, as it is presented landscape. The title is still in the Golden Section, as is the tag line "A New Class of Terror." This also shows the audience that the setting for the film is in a school, and most of the characters will be of school age. The main colour scheme of the poster is black, showing that the genre of the film is going to be quite ominous. "Tormented" is written in red, to mkae it stand out, and to lead the audience to believe there is going to be blood in the film. The only other writing in red on the poster is the year that the film is released, suggesting that the makers thought that this is as important as the title. The seemingly dead bodies lying around adds to the idea that there will be blood. The main character is in the middle of the poster, and he doesn't stand out very much. He is only visibly different because he is clearly alive, he has his shirt off and he is looking directly at the camera. The position of the dead bodies around him suggest that he might be the cause of them. They are positioned randomly, suggesting that the deaths are all different. All the characters are in school uniform, suggesting that they all know each other, and that there is a common reason for their deaths.

Magazine Cover Analysis - The Dark Knight

Both of these Empire covers were for the same month, letting the reader choose which cover they wanted. The actors are both in the same pose in the centre of the page, showing power and authority. Their faces fill most of the screen, showing that a large proportion of the magazine is about The Dark Knight. The layout of the cover is exactly the same, just with different colour schemes; blue for Batman and green for the Joker. This clearly relates to the film, appealing to the fan base. Also, as both these covers were released in the same month, this made the audience choose "sides", much like fans of Twilight have had to choose between Edward and Jacob. This idea of having to choose is commonly used in other Dark Knight related media, and helps add to the fanbase. The title of the film is clearly placed under the title of the magazine, showing that, although the Dark Knight is important, the magazine is more important in this circumstance. The colour of the title is black on one cover and white on the other. Although this could just be the colourscheme, so that the reader can clearly see the writing, it could also be related to the fact that Batman is good (white) and the Joker is bad (black.)

Website Analysis - The Unborn

This website is very user-friendly, as it is very clearly labelled. The picture in the middle changes into a series of clips from the film at regular intervals. The blue-ish tinge to the screen shows that the genre of this film is going to be psychological and the movie clips show us that it is a horror film. Down the sides of the screen, there are blood streaks, adding to the genre. When you hover over the options at the bottom of the screen, they turn gold, to show the user what they are about to click on. The title and the options are both within the golden circle, and the person in the chair is directly in the centre of the screen. Although this person is not in the golden circle, we still look at them anyway, as they are clearly an important part of the film. The whole screen seems to be in a large blurred circle. This could mean that the fillm revolves one person, and this could be the person shown. There is one window in the centre of the screen with light showing through it. This could represent the "light at the end of the tunnel" for the person seated on the chair, or as a means of escape for the viewer.

The Grudge website analysis

The Grudge website has a picture of the main character backed into a corner in the background, showing that fear is a big part of this movie. The main character is shown on the DVD which is being advertised, the title is in red and the website is mostly black, again colours which are associated with the horror genre. Advertising is a big part of this home page as 'now available on DVD' is capatalised and brightly coloured in comparison to its background. the links to other parts of the website glow when the mouse is hovered over it, which makes it quite user friendly.

Analysing Saw website homepage

This is the homepage for the 'Saw 1' movie webiste.
When you first log onto the site it has a introductory clip of a TV with Saw's face on (this is largely associated with the Saw movies and therefore a type of branding). The homepage uses dark colours, with the centre a silver colour and in the shape of a circular saw, iconic to the movie and also associated with slasher and gore movies. The title is positioned in the top right hand corner of the page, so the eye is immediately drawn to it. It is very user friendly as all the links to other parts of the site are easily seen and the image shakes when you hover the mouse over it. The typography still keeps with the codes and conventions of the genre. Links to the other Saw sites are easily accesable, and all in the traditional 'Saw' font which is unique to the saw films.The homepage has advertisments for saw merchandise and interviews with the cast which involves viewers more and gains interest and tempts them to buy it.

Magazine Cover Analysis - Empire

The use of colour is very prominent in this magazine cover. The film "Tron Legacy" is quite obviously a sci-fi film, because of the use of a robot. The blue-ish and grey colours add a futuristic look to the cover and adds to the authenticity of the genre. The main writing on the page is in white, to contrast the blue and grey, and to highlight certain words, they have used yellow. They also changed the colour of the title "Empire" from the typical red to the same colour as the rest of the cover, and to make it stand out, they have outlined each letter in neon-looking light. They have placed the title "Tron Legacy" in the golden section. As the eye is automatically drawn to a third of the page either up or down, this is the perfect place to draw attention to the title. After reading the title, the reader would look straight at the person's head, as they want to know more about the film. The way the person is placed and the look of his face leads the reader to believe that he is the main character in the film.

Codes and conventions of thriller posters

The poster places the name of the famous actor at the top of the image, this will draw in fans of dicaprio so his fan base will be inticed to see the movie. The font is clear and bold, and in red which is a typical colour for the thriller and horror genres, The red most obviously suggests blood or death. The image is cleverly photographed and edited to show the many different layers and complications in the film. The main character is typically placed as the most prominent in the picture. The colour scheme of the picture is mostly blue and white and black which gives a futuristic and technological feel, and also makes the red title stand out.

This poster contains some relevent text to the film. The text is at the top of the poster suggesting that the image is a result of the quote. The text seems to immerge from the clouds. Typically the actor/actress names are placed along the bottom of the poster, they are just above the title making them stand out, as the actors have big fan bases it is important for the success of the film, to have their names visible. As with most movie posters the main character of the film is the closest in the image to the front of the poster. Both inception and the Dark night include skyscrapers in the background of the image. The typical logo for the branded batman is also cleverly placed on the building. The angle of the shot is a low angle shot, so the viewer is looking up at the main character "Batman" showing he is superior to the audience and "superhuman". The Batman logo is also placed at the "golden section" of the poster.

From psycho we are planning on using the idea of a death in shower scene. This poster draws on the most famous aspect of the movie psycho therefore marketing itself typically, the shower picture with her hand on the glass shows she is reaching for help, with the blood on her hands it shows desperation and therefore inticing the audience and suggesting the genre. The title is again apparent at the bottom of the poster along with the release date in red, the black and red colours are typical of the horror genre. The text is very simple and plain which draws the audiences eye to the picture. The picture of the hand is located at the "golden section" of the poster. The title is ripped suggesting destruction.

Poster Analysis - Lucky Number Slevin

These two posters are for the same film, and they clearly display similar aspects to the film in very different ways. Red is used in both the images. The first poster has a small splash of red in the title of the film, whereas red is used as the main background colour in the second. Usage of this colour suggests that there might be blood in this film, and the guns in both posters reinforces this.

After a general discussion, the second poster is preferred, as it is much clearer and tells the audience more about the film. In the first poster, the audience are led to believe that the main character is the person in front holding the guns. This, in fact, is not true.

The first poster is mainly black, white and grey. The use of the silhouette is very effective, as this reminds the audience of 1960's horrors, and gives more clues as to the narrative of the film. The colour in the second poster includes more red, and the use of the gun to indicate the letter "L" is very effective. The positioning of the large gun also looks like a "7", confirming the audiences' belief that "Slevin" is supposed to sound like "Seven".

The posters are similar, however, because of the rule of thirds. The tag lines are at the top, the characters are in the middle and the title near the bottom. In the first poster, the eye is automatically drawn to the title, as the use of red and white stand out against the black and grey background. In the second poster, the eye is drawn to the characters and the guns, as these are the main details in an otherwise very simple poster. The character names are listed in both posters in a fairly large font. This shows the audience who is starring in the film, adding to the quality of the film. If the audience has seen the actors in other films, this may make them want to see this one also.

Poster Analysis - The Ring Two

The image looks static, like a television, which is iconic in the movie. This image is also seen in the first movie, so the audience will recognise it. This is a form of branding. The 'o' in two is a large circle, which is also branding. It also looks like a halo around the girl's head, making her seem angelic, which is ironic, as she is the villain.

The colours are typical of the horror genre. The poster uses black, white and grey, with a blue-ish tinge. This could tell the audience that the film is quite dark, and the lack of any colour indicates that the film is not a slasher.

The blurring is effective, and, depending on what we decide as our narrative, it could have some influence on what we include on our poster.

Fake Wounds

A good idea for the wounds we would like to use!

More Fake Blood...

Looks realistic and its cheap, we just need to make it in mass, we will experiment with the recipe and upload pictures and videos.

Analysis of Questionnaire Results

Question 1: Please select yout gender

As you can see, around two thirds of the participants were female.

Question 7: For the thriller genre, what would be the best location for most of the action?

The most popular locations are somewhere dark and creppy, and in the park. This tells us that these would be good places to film some of our scenes.

Question 8: Our basic narrative idea is loosely based around bullying. Where do you think bullying is most likely to occur?

The results clearly show that school is the most obvious place where bullying is most likely to occur. This is good, because this helps us plan our narrative into something the audience would expect to see.

Question 9: As the audience, would it be more interesting for the bully/bullies to attack a single person or a group of people?

Most of the participants feel that it would be more effective for the bullies to attack a single person, which helps us to decide our narrative.




The last two questions refer to the bully/bullies and the victim. Most of the answers oppose each other, such as the bully's characteristics would be aggressive and the victims' weak. This suggests that when we show the bullies and the victim, they need to be opposing each other. The bullies need to be fat, unintelligent, scruffy and rude whereas the victim needs to be skinny, smart, well-dressed and kind. We need to think about this when we come to casting, as the physical appearance of the people clearly matters to the audience. They also need to be good actors, as the whole quality of the teaser trailer will decrease if the acting is bad.

Questionnaire Results

We posted our questionnaire on our facebook page, twitter, our blog and on our actual facebook statuses, so we got lots of interesting results.

Question 1: Please select your gender

67% Female

33% Male

Question 2: Please select your age

0% Under 14

78% 15-18

0% 19-25

22% 26-39

0% 40+

Question 3: Out of all the thrillers you have seen, which, in your opinion, was the best and why?

These were the main films mentioned - Cujo - "made me afraid of dogs"

Inception (mentioned a number of times) - " there was always something new that the audience was learning and it just kept you involved in the story line the whole time"

"its so unusual and has you thinking. the storyline is amazing and there isn't too much gun violence (like action gun scenes), but there are still loads of action, edge of your seat scenes. it draws you in, and isn't hard to watch"

Paranormal Activity - " tense, jumpy, makes you think after"

Saw - "the storylines are really intresting and get me into the films, the places the film is set e.g in a dark creepy underground place make it someones kind of worst nightmare"

The Number 23 - "as jim carrey is a good actor and he brought a lot to the film. story line is good an the twist at the end leaves the audience thinking."

Question 4: Out of all the teaser trailers for thrillers you have seen, which, in your opinion, was your favourite and why?

nception - "it showed you enough action to enable us to understand a bit about the storyline, but still kept some parts back to make you want to watch the film to find out more about the film like when they show the street curling up above their heads in the trailer"

"it leaves the audience wondering what the film is about and makes them want to find out more, making them look on the internet to find out more"

"it doesnt give you too much information but it gives you just enough to want to see more. the music is dramatic and makes you feel that the trailer is advertising excitement"

Paranormal Activity 2 - "If you've seen the first one, you know what to expect in the second one, making the audience see links between the two. If they enjoyed the first one, they automatically want to watch the second one"

Seed of Chucky - "have a guess"

The Others - "family tied up by physco's and they asked why us and the answer was "because you were home" pure class."
"Can't remember the film, sorry, but it started with like a fuzzy screen which makes it really freaky and then has kind of a creepy voice which really freaked me out and then went into some action of some scenes wi
th people screaming and blood going across the screen at the end."

Question 5: In your opinion, what are the three most important features in any thriller teaser trailer?

Editing, music, sound, action, atmosphere, date of release, doesn't give too much away, intriguing, music, plot, "scariness", shock factor, shows main characters, tension, name of film, the way it finishes, ie, making the audience want to come and see the film.

Question 6: What features would you not want to see in a thriller teaser trailer?

Bad acting, the ending, it being too long, boring music, not saying release date, the whole film in 30 seconds, boring scenes, inappropriate sound for the genre, too much dialogue, too much or too little storyline, all creepy bits shown, leaving nothing to the imagination.

Question 7: For the thriller genre, what would be the best location for most of the action?

City

House

Everyday locations

Woods

Somewhere creepy and freaky eg, dark, empty house

In a dark and freaky place, like a dark house with no power and no way out

In a secluded area, such as the woods
Park

Question 8: Our basic narrative idea is loosely based around bullying. Where do you think bullying is most likely to occur?

Everywhere

School

Work

Internet

Park

"Somewhere grotty-looking."

Question 9: As the audience, would it be more interesting for the bully/bullies to attack a single person or a group of people?

78% single person

22% group of people

Question 10: What main characteristics do you think make up a stereotypical bully?

Aggressive, chav, dirty looking, doesn't care, emotionally unstable, fat, female, female attacking female, has no real friends, him and his "posse," in a "in crowd," is always getting in trouble, jealous of person he's bullying, large, leafey, looks the part, male, male attacking male, not alone in bullying, not very smart, quite strong, rich, rude, scruffy, single child, someone who is/was bullied, stereotypical bully, surrounded by other bullies, tall, too much make-up if female, tough looking, trouble maker, ugly, unhappy at home.

Question 11: What main characteristics do you think make up a stereotypical victim of bullying?

Bit of a loner, brainy, colour of hair, colour of skin, different, dresses too smartly, emotionally unstable, fat, ginger, girl, glasses, has problems, has something wrong with him, illiterate, intelligent, interesting background, loner, male, "nerd," nerdy, no friends, ot very popular, quiet, scared, scared to speak his mind, short, shy, skinny, small, smart, ugly, weak.

Location Research

After discussing the storyboard, we decided to have one of the death scenes in a shower, and after looking at lots of different bathrooms, we decided Jess' was the best. Here it is:

Shower

Bath

Mirror

We are either going to have a victim in the bath or shower, and then, in a different death scene, we might use the mirror. We may steam it up, clear a bit in the middle to show the victim, and then the main character will appear in the mist.

Casting

We took a long time to decide whether we wanted a male or female victim, but after looking at the results of the blog, it seems that the audience believe that being male is an important feature of being a bully, so this is what we decided to persue.

Along with that, the 47% of the people that completed the questionnaire decided that it would be more interesting for the bully/bullies to attack a single person, which fits in with the first part of our narrative, where the main character gets bullied by a big group of people.

Fake Blood

Because we have a lot of crime scenes in our teaser trailer, we need fake blood, and a lot of it so here is a recipe for a large quantity of blood.

Buckets of Blood

1 Litre Corn Syrup

5 Litres Water

2 or 3 Tablespoons Red Food Colouring

1/2 Teaspoon Green Food Colouring (optional)

A slosh of milk


Get a large pail to mix this all together. If you do not like the consistancy you can either thin it with more water, or thicken it with sugar or corn syrup. The exact amount of food colouring you require will depend on the brand you buy, so you may need to play around with the measurements. If you make it too dark, just add more water again. Adding some milk will reduce the translucent of the mixture (real blood isn't see-through, but if you want clear blood, leave the milk out of the recipe). Don't add too much milk or the blood will look pink!


Once we have tried it out we will upload pictures and videos.

Tormented

Although our storyline is similar to that of Tormented, we are making sure that the storylines differ. This is the theatrical trailer for Tormented (there isn't a teaser trailer):



As you can see, there is not a lot of emphasis on the deaths. This is how our teaser trailer is going to differ. We intend to have lots of fast-paced editing between the deaths (not showing too much gore) to show the main purpose of the film. We only hope to show a little narrative, so that the whole story isn't given away, and to make the audience want to go and see the film.

Storyline

We have a storyline for our film which will obviusly reflect on the trailer:
It is about a boy who is bullied by his classmates, then takes his revenge on them by killing them. This part of the story is reflected in the trailer, however there will be more to the narrative which is yet to be decided.

We have an idea for our first shot, which will be a pan of a full circle of bullies (from a point of view shot) laughing at the camera mockingly. The sound will be echoed and the image slightly blurred to create the effect of the victim breaking down.
We have started to cast our bullies and are sorting out costumes. The costumes will be a basic black skirt or trousers, white shirt and we are looking for school type ties to buy for our actors, (suggesting they are still at school and ages 16/17). They will need to be dressed to reflect a rebellious character; the opposite to the victim, so dressed to suggest they are rebellious, sexually active, outgoing, party goers and not academic, so the girls will have short skirts and alot of make up, and the boys will have untucked shirts, loose ties and possibly beer bottles if we shoot it in the park. If we shoot in a school setting, alcohol bottles will not be present.