Production meeting

Today we had a brief meeting with our lecture to see if we were on task and to help pull together our ideas for our trailer and film we talked about the following things:

• LOCATION- foxs forest Portsmouth
• ACTORS- Beccy, Alice and Jenna 
• SCHEDULE-  we will be doing the filming for our trailer during the half term and we booked out the camera for this
• SYNOPSIS- we finalized what the film will be about and came up with a storyline
• SCRIPT IDEAS- minimal improvised dialog and during the editing of the trailer we will put in music to increase tension 

Key elements in Blair witch project film

Today i watched Blair Witch project and noted down key points which stood out to me which made the film seen authentic and appear not to be for a movie but a home video documentary. We want our film to have the same feel as Blair witch project and more recent film paranormal activity therefore we thought this would be a productive task. 

• At the beginning of the film there is information about what the film is about 

• blurred picture that goes to focused this gives the effect of home videoing 
• Talking from the person who is filming 
• Footage of someone else filming with a camera 
• Shadow of the person filming (outline of the camera)
• Interview of people from the town about what they are making a documentary about in this case the blare witch 
• Mirror reflection of the person filming 
• Shot of the clapper board shows that its home filming and has not been edited 
• Footage of location and them in the car how getting there
• Heavy breathing when walking though forest 
• night vision shots
• People screaming for help and the camera not focused on anything 
• Half shot of a scared face 

• Change of location to an abandoned house in black and white  

• Camera has been dropped on the floor but the camera is still running 

Next step

Now that we have looked at existing horror film products it now gives us a better understanding on what we need to do to our product in order for it to follow the conventions. As well it has helped us known what type of shots to use in our trailer to fit in with excising trailers.

We also, had a brief meeting about the idea for our film. We have come up with a basic idea for our trailer which will be a couple of friends camping in a forest who are interested in paranormal activity who go looking for proof but when things start to go strange they wish they never went. The location we have decided to shoot this trailer in is fox's forest.

To help us we have also, decided to watch blair witch project and take notes on what is effective as this film has a similar bases as what our film does.

What is a trailer?

A trailer is a way of adverting a film that will be viewed in the cinema or released on DVD. Trailers use to be shown at the end of a film but this didn't last long as people left the cinema after watching the film so they never got to see the trailer but the name trailer has stuck and is shown before the film starts making it a more effective way of advertising.

Trailers consist of a series of shots from the film that it is advertising some time extra scenes are shot just for a trailer and are not shown in the film for example black Christmas 2006. Trailers main purposes are to attract people to watch the film so they use the most exciting funny or important parts of the film without giving to much away or spoiling the film. To help avoid this scene’s in trailers may not appear in the order they would in the film.

(information gathered from wikipedia)

Deconstruction of Last exorcism poster

The background of the poster for the exorcism goes from a white at the top of the poster and fades to a grey colour. The white is near the top of the poster where there is a cross on the wall. This could suggest good purity and innocence as this is what stands for it. It is saying that god is a good pure creature and since it fades to grey near the bottom near the girl bent backwards this could suggest that the girl is not, as the colour shown is not pure grey it is almost off white, suggesting that the girl is not completely pure or good but is not all bad as it is only off white. Also, white stands for hope and the whitest part of the poster is around the cross this could suggest that god offers hope to people in this case the girl who looks like she is in pain.

The girl is the main focus in this picture suggesting that she is the main character or the most important character. Also, in this picture we do not see the ‘baddie’ or the person that is causing the horrible things to happen this could suggest that this character is the victim as she looks like she is in pain but that she is also, the bad person as we do not see who is causing this to her. This could also, help us identify that the horror is a paranormal horror with ghost and bad spirits as we do not see who it is. As well the position she is looks like something is being drawn out form her in this case as the film is called the last exorcism it seems that a bad spirit is being drawn out of her as well the cross is placed directly above her and as belief in god and chanting from the bible is used to perform exorcisms it seems that the spirit is trying to be removed from her. Also, above the cross there is ‘believe in him’ this sounds like a warning that if you don’t believe in god this could happen to you.

The set were the picture is taken for this poster is in a bare room. By doing this it empathises the girl in the middle the cross and the name of the film these three important in the film therefore they are the main focus. As well, by having it in a natural environment it helps the audience connect with the character shown as they could relate to her as they live in a house as well making the film seem possibly scarier as it seems that it could happen to anyone. It would also, make it scarier to viewers that believe in ghost demons and god, as having the cross in a room could be seen to protect you yet this is still happening to the girl leaving the audience feel vulnerable and frightened, which is why people see horrors to be scared and frightened.

The writing at the bottom of the poster saying ‘the last exorcism’ goes from bigger to smaller. This film is a carry on from a number of exorcism films. This could suggest that the films are getting bigger and bigger (better, well known, or the quality of the film is getting better). Also, the writing is in bold black capitals. By having it in capitals could suggest that it is loud; an important must see film, because it’s in capitals and stands out from the rest of the films being advertised. Black writing could suggest death and fear but also, power. This could suggest that this film is powerful it will make an impact on the film industry that it will make a big profit and is a must see horror film.

Saw 3D Teaser Trailer

Teaser trailers do not give you a great deal of information about the films narrative. A teaser trailer is a short usually between 20-30 seconds used to advertise a movie they are usually released a long time before the film is out in the cinema sometimes up to a year and a half this then teases the audience. Teaser trailers simply let the audience know that the film is coming out and to build up a hype about trailer it.

What are genre conventions?

Conventions is a way of something which is accepted by the audience for a certain type of category such as  conventions of comedy genre is funny punchlines. Or a convention of a horror film is scary music; it is the way we recognize what type of film something will be. A good trailer will show conventions of a genre that the film is. For example, the trailer for saw 7 starts with eery music and dark screen with bold writing.

Where might a trailer be seen

Places trailers may be viewed

• Cinema- before a film starts, sometime linked with what genre of film you’re seeing, for example when the horror film devil was being shown in the cinema the trailer for paranormal activity 2 was being shown. They show the same kind of genre as what film that you’re about to watch as they know that the film will appeal to you. 
• Effect on viewing the trailer at the cinema- big picture good quality of the trailer, the atmosphere in the cinema may help the chances that people want to see the film being advertised, the audience that will be watching the trailer have a higher chance of being the right target audience as the trailer for a horror film would be shown at beginning of a horror film.

• Radio- film trailers are sometimes heard playing on the radio. For example radio 1 had a interview with a member of the cast from the film inception and they then played the trailer and a short snippet from the film. 
• Effect of listing to a trailer on the radio- people can listen to it when in the car when traveling this means that they are targeting another type of audience increasing the amount of people who know about the film and hopefully who will go and see it. Also, it allows people to imagine what it will look like and they may go and look on the internet to watch the trailer.

• Television- films rated over 12 are normally shown after the watershed (9 o'clock) as the people watching after this time will be old enough to see it and the audience that they are trying to aim there film at maybe watching TV at this time. As well children films such as despicable me are shown on children channels such as nickelodeon. By doing this they are targeting a specific audience.
• Effect of watching trailers on television- it is targeting the specific audience that the film is for
• Online- anyone can view any trailer at anytime from websites such as YouTube