Health and Safety

Here is a list of health and safety issues we have identified for our filming process. This table explains what the issue may be, how many people involved and what we will do to prevent any danger.

Tom

Genre and The Shining

Genre is the type, identification and classifications of a film. There are different types of genres such as comedy,horror,romance, action and many more. Genre tidies up and reassures the audience and producer. This helps the audience to know what to expect from the movie. It creates a sense of familiarity for them. This helps the audience to know what to expect from the movie a lot easier for the producer as he/she will be able to know what to include. Genre boundary is were your genre ends.

Genre conventions include the lighting music and props and how they link to the specific type of genre. In the shining we were presented with conventions of ghosts, knives, screaming and blood, which are the typical conventions in a horror film.
All the effects help to draw in the audience. The music can be the biggest tension builder, as it helps to keep the attention of the audience full lock on the screen. As it raises and goes louder so does the suspension. This was done a lot in the Shining even in moments were it was not neccesary but it did manipulate the audience.

Psycho Film Trailer Analysis

Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock

The trailer I have decided to analyse is the trailer for the Alfred Hitchcock film, Psycho.

How can elements of the trailer help us create our own? Looking at the themes, characters, shots, sounds and mise en scene.

The elements in the trailer for Psycho can help us create our own by the use of suspense without giving too much of the story away, enough of it is shown to draw the audience in.

Only the main parts of the film are shown in the trailer, the scariest parts and the main parts of the plot are shown. From the start the setting, the music and the plot are shown to be conforming to the genre of physiological horror. The most iconic parts of the film are shown in the trailer, after seeing the film you can clearly associate the music and scenes in the film as part of Psycho.
We can use these aspects for our trailer, we could use the element of suspense to set a mood.
The themes of the film are clearly shown in the trailer as being mayhem and murder, it is shown by the iconic 'show stabbing scene' being shown, also the music is very tense and induces fear into audience. We can use these aspects in our trailer to induce the same kind of fear into audience.
There are two main characters in the trailer, Norman Bates and Lila Crane, they are shown predominately during the trailer, the main parts of the film include them so they are shown a lot, this tells the audience who will be starring in the film. Norman Bates, at the end of the trailer, is shown as looking psychotic and out of the norm. This would induce a last bit of fear to the audience before the end of the trailer, we could use this in our trailer, it would keep the audience interested and scared of the film.


In the trailer there are a lot of POV shots of the setting and characters, this give the audience the illusion that they are in the killers eyes and watching the victim, this sets up the killer as psychotic and a stalker. It also makes the audience the illusion they are being watched themselves. As our trailer has the genre  psychological horror, the same as psycho, we can use these aspects in our film trailer to make the audience think they are being watched and in turn inducing fear.

The mise en scene is used to set the scene and set up the film for the audience, in this trailer aspects like props are used to show the audience what the film is about. For example a knife is one of the props used, this plays a prominent part of the film, as one of the most iconic scenes from the film is the 'shower scene'. This shows the audience that the theme will be murder. We can use subtle aspects like this in our film trailer, by using props can show the audience what the theme will be without actually telling them.

How is Narrative Portrayed in the Trailer? Linear, Flashbacks, Cross cuts etc. How could we use them in our own trailer?

The narrative in the trailer is a mix between flashbacks and cut across, these are both used affectively to show a story line but without giving everything away in the trailer. The beginning of the trailer shows near the beginning of the film but after that there are a lot of cutting across to different scenes which aren't in linear order but still tell the story affectively.
We could use this aspect in our film trailer, the narrative doesn't have to be in order but still has to tell the story.  The parts that are shown in flashback are the parts of the film that are leading up to the horror scenes or the most important parts, we could use this aspect in our trailer so that we can achieve the same affect that this trailer has..

We were told to find three posters and analyse them, this is the film poster for 'Psycho'.

Tom

Magazine Cover Analysis: The Shining

We couldn't find any magazine covers that would go with any of our films, so we picked another film from our genre - Psychological Horror, with Empire covering The Shining being our magazine cover.

The first thing you notice from this magazine is the way that Jack Nicholson's character - Jack Torrence has carved a hole in the door and is forcing his head through with a menacing and terrifying look on his face, being a horror it is more than obvious that the menacing look symbolises his intention to kill, this image of Jack Nicholson completely contrasts the almost glamorous style Empire cover, which although made and published in 2008 is made to bring across 1980's Hollywood, with the red in the image being a lot deeper than it normal would. Also the font that runs along the top "The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time" also supports this idea that the cover is made to look and imitate 1980's Hollywood.

I find the magazine cover quite odd, because the picture, filled with emotion and the intention of violence, completely contrasts the calm, almost celebratory cover of Empire. I think that although it is odd this contrast is what provides the interest for potential audience, if you saw this cover on the shelf of a shop it would definitely stand out over other covers due to its unique style. 

We could definitely use some of these techniques in both our film poster and our magazine cover for our film trailer, for example the neat way in which the films magazine cover has been laid out, it is clean, simple but very effective. Another thing to consider would be the contrast between the image and the layout, font and colours of the magazine, this is definitely something I would like to recreate with our magazine cover as it will give an effective meaning to the magazine cover while also getting the message across effectively to the audience.

Session 9 Trailer Analysis

Session 9

How can elements of these trailers be used in creating your own? Look at themes, characters, shots, sound, mise en scene.

There are 3 basic characters that appear in the film trailer, 3 characters that are actually present in the film in person, there are several that you are told about which eventually forms the plot of the story. When in the introductory stage of the trailer the sound is very normal, but when they get deeper and deeper into the hospital, uncovering what are described as ‘secrets’ you hear a lot more in the way of screaming and creepy noises. There are a lot of head and shoulder shots and mid shots used in the trailer.

I think that most of the things I have mentioned above are fairly standard things to have in a psychological horror film, the idea of the film being that it is scary and it makes you use your brain to increase how scary the film is. Using camera shots such as the ones above, head and shoulder shots, mid shots etc. are all good ways of showing emotion on people’s faces, which can just as easily give away fear as any other emotion. Sound plays a crucial element, with music being a major factor, I mean everything is a lot more scary and creepy when there’s music added to the clip. You could tell most of these things by looking at any good horror trailer, but these are the features I have picked from this one.

How is the narrative portrayed in the trailers? Linear, flashbacks, cross cuts etc. How could you use them in your trailer?

The narrative being the story itself is portrayed in a few ways. The first example of this is the use of the asbestos cleaning crew that are working on the closed down mental asylum and using fragments of their speech in the film to give a brief version of the story across to the viewer of the trailer. There is sort of one flashback in the trailer, and that is when the asbestos crew are shown old tapes of treatment from a patient who had a multiple personality disorder.

In our trailer it would be fairly easy to use these kind of techniques to portray our narrative. Our storyline isn’t one that is based on events on the past, so flashbacks wouldn’t necessarily be a useful tool, but our film is scary because of the location, so using the camera shots to change location and portray where the story is being told will be an important thing to convey to the audience.

Who is the target audience for the trailer and how does the trailer appeal to them? Give examples and then look at how this will affect your trailer and its target audience.

The trailer is aimed at most ages over the age of around 16, in the UK the film had a certificate of 15, and the trailer, while complex, had the maturity about it to match. After watching the trailer it is quite clear if you are part of a younger audience then it will be a lot harder to understand the plot due to the mature content in the film and the complexity of the story. Generally the film will be aimed at people who like horror films, the film has typical horror movie things – an abandoned building and a former mental asylum, both together are even more creepy. Usually horror films aren’t filmed anywhere, they usually have an inherent reputation for being scary/creepy places.

Horror films aren’t for younger audiences, so I think it would be best to aim our trailer at audiences with a similar age or older. Hopefully our storyline will be a lot easier to understand but as far as the maturity side of the film is concerned it would certainly be more appropriate for the older and more mature audiences. We are planning on filming in a hamlet near the village of Hambledon and Denmead called ‘World’s End’. This location will almost certainly have been used before but nevertheless it still has a creepy name which is perfect for our horror film, so as far as location I feel we have hit the nail on the head for a psychological horror.

Who does this trailer represent? Social groups, age, gender, ethnicity? who will you represent in yours? (consider stereotypes)

With most films they have a particular theme that they hold onto, for example a lot of sport films make sure they capture a precise audience, for example Green Street, although not a horror film you have to have a slight knowledge of football to get what the film is about, you have to know about British life to understand the film fully. Unlike Green Street, Session 9 is a film that although fairly complicated to understand through its complex plot, is a film that you don’t have to have any previous knowledge to be able to watch the film.

So as far as an audience is concerned, apart from age, and maybe being slightly more aimed towards males there isn’t really any more to it. Ethnicity isn’t something that really disqualifies you or qualifies you to watch the film. A typical stereotype that I would consider this film representing would be a 19/20 year old, white male, living at home with his parents, maybe going to university.  I can picture them doing well throughout their education but weren’t always that popular.

What is the difference between a teaser and a full trailer? What is the idea behind a teaser, what should it do for the audience?

A teaser is generally a small advertising campaign for a media text. A full trailer is something that is also an advertising campaign, but it shows you in detail the content of the media text. A teasers main objective is to tease the audience into wanting to know more about the media text, whereas a trailer is meant to make people want to watch the text. A teaser should give the audience a basic understanding of the media text in question, and with this the audience can decide whether they want to know more about the film or not. A teaser is a small way to get an audience to think about a media text.

Analyse the posters for your three trailers, do they follow a consistent theme? 

The first thing you see when you look at the Session 9 film poster is that it is a creepy film, for a start the colours suggest that it is dark, with the slight haze of light from the moon, slightly lighting the setting for the film, but at the same time not showing much detail. The font used on the poster would be associated with something scary, and is a font that would definitely be used for other things to show something that could be seen as scary. The chair on its own with an opaque layering of a coffee stain over it would also suggest odd things. Traditionally with horror films there is always a large building, and the same goes for this film, in this case however it is an abandoned mental asylum rather than someone’s house. It isn’t immediately obvious what the film is about from the poster, which is something that could be seen as a negative thing about the poster. On the other hand this could be seen as a positive thing because the film poster isn’t giving much away about the film but due to the dark nature of the poster it still draws you in. 

With taglines like 'Fear is a place' it will immediately make you think it is a scary film, the film knows its genre and it has stuck with this theme throughout. We could relate this fairly easily for our horror trailer and use many of the codes and conventions that are in this poster, for example we could use a similar font, and also use the sort of vague photography to get a scary, creepy feel to the poster/magazine content. 

- Ben Macmillan

Pre Production: Trailers - Research

Watch 3 trailers in your chosen sub genre, analyse them in terms of their style, music, stars, plot, editing, graphics etc. Upload them from Youtube to your blog.

The analysis of the three trailers will follow in the next 3 blog posts.

A2 Transitions Work - Inglourious Basterds Swede

For our 2 week A2 Transitions at the beginning of summer we were tasked with creating a swede of a film. Tom and myself were in the same group so we decided to swede the film Inglourous Basterds.

Tom played Aldo Reign (The Apache) and I played Donny Donnowitz ( The Bear Jew).

We filmed the swede in the woods near college, focusing mainly on the parts of the film that we could film with ease, for example due to time issues and also the lack of location, we couldn't film any of the parts of the film that involved the cinema and the burning down of the cinema. Both Tom and myself did the editing of the film on iMovie together, this is the first time that either of us had used editing software, so we both came away from the 2 week transitions sessions with something new, especially with the use of transitions and the use of music within clips.

- Ben Macmillan

Orphan trailer analysis

     
   ''ORPHAN'' 
      Theres something wrong 
            with Ester 




The film that i have decided to do an analysis on is the orphan. This film relates to the sub genre that we have chosen, psychological horror. 

How can elements of these trailers be used in creating your own? Look at the themes, characters, shots, sound, mise en scene.

From the beginning of the trailer the film looks very subtle but still with a strong build of tension. The first thing that catches your eye from watching the trailer is the characters and the locations. From looking at the orphanage you would expect that Ester is just a helpless girl that is very loving and down to earth. This can be seen from the clothing she wears and what she is doing during these scenes . Her innocence completely hides away her dark character. The family and everyone all around make the movie not even seem the slightest of being a horror. The fact that she is from a catholic orphanage makes it seem almost impossible for her character to be as juxtaposed as it is. The non-diegetic sound, the soundtrack in the background seems very calming at first then slowly builds up the tension as different events start to take place. Using these elements would be good for our trailer as it would cause the audience to be engrossed by whats taking place and the fast movements within the trailer. Giving them something that they would not expect to make them anxious to know what else is going to take place. As for the mise en scene its set perfectly for the mood of the movie, even the snow highlights how cold hearted she is as opposed to a place that would have been sunny with green grass. And we are looking to make sure that the location for our trailer really adds to the suspension of the film. As you can notice as soon as Ester is in the other environment she is noticeable that she is different even by the way she stresses, which kind of shows isolation and how she doesn't fit in with everyone, its something very subtle but shows a lot of whats coming. I think that individualizing the main character, without being obvious in the beginning could be much more interesting than making it predictable. 

How is the narrative portrayed in the trailers? Linear,flashbacks, cross cuts ect. How could you use them in your trailer? 

The narrative is portrayed by the various scenes that happen within the trailer. It seems to be a story being told, first from the owner of the orphanage describing how much of a great girl Ester is. There is a lot of cross cutting, as it all just goes from scene to scene. There are a lot of fast moving shots as the suspense begins to rise more and more. Some parts of the scenes appear then flows something different then it goes back to the scene before. For example she Ester is kicking and screaming in the toilets, theres a scene that flows of the foster parents having a chat with one of the school teachers and it goes back to her having a tantrum in the toilets again. I liked this because it shows different vibes and atmospheres that are taking place, this could be something we could consider doing. As for flashbacks i don't think that its a form of technique that we would be intending to do, but it could be something that could be interesting with in the storyline. 

Who is the target audience and how does the trailer appeal to them? Give examples and then look at how will this affect your trailer and its target audience ? 

Prezi - Target Audience, does it appeal to them ?

Who does the trailer represent? Social groups, age, gender, ethnicity? Who will represent yours? (consider stereotypes)

As for the orphan trailer it looks a lot at age. Teenagers are the ones that seem to mainly have the bad name within society these days but as for this film its the much younger children that are portrayed as being the ones that are mischievous. At the age of 9 that Ester is at society would not see her as being a threat to anyone but nothing but a innocent child but the movie really challenges this and shows a complete dark side of a child of that age. I reckon that it challenges gender as females are always stereotypically seen as caring and vulnerable but Ester shows completely different characteristics. She first of all uses the stereotype to her advantage for manipulation. As for our trailer the representation is almost the same, but i think that is will be more of social groups and slightly to do with gender as well. 

What is the difference between a teaser and a full trailer? What is the idea behind a teaser, what should it do for the audience ? 




Magazine Cover 

_______

Natasha