Setting Plan's

Hannah, Laura and I went to some woods that we thought would be a good area to film our project. We've decided to film most of our project in the woods as they are known for being eerie and scary at night. We thought about each scene, genre and theme of our project when we took the setting pictures.

This is a picture which shows how large the woodland area is. Also you cannot see anything through the trees which is what we need as our project is a horror genre and the secrecy and suspense from the location to make the audience feel uneasy.

We used this picture because this looks like a 'safe' area that characters from any horror film would use when they run and try to hide from the killer. Also at night this scene would be very eerie and off putting and the trees are crooked. There is also a tree trunk on the floor that would be a brilliant shot for when a character is running and falls over this prop.

I like this picture and would really like this type shot to be in our film as the you can see the pathway that has been created an the tree branch has mad a good arch way, for example a character could be running out of the woods which could create suspense for the audience as from the distance they won't know whether it is the killer or the victim.

This is a picture of a stream (which is rather deep) that is the woods. We took a picture of this because it would keep the audience on edge if they saw a character being chased by the killer through this river and getting caught of the barbwire that was luckily by the stream. I think that if this was in our project it would further emphasis the fact that we are doing a horror genre and would really catch the eye of the audience and make them feel uneasy and tense whilst they are watching our teaser trailer.

These are pictures for the very last scene where a character (Me) is hanging upside down in a tree. We decided to take pictures of a couple trees that 1. we thought would be simple to climb and hang from for safety reasons and 2. that looked creepy and would show how the character is feeling after the events she has just been through. But fortunately many trees are simple to climb. We want this film to be as realistic as possible.

This was something we found already created in the woods which thought we could use in our own project because of the fact that our storyline is based on a cult and religion. If the audience saw this wooden cross somewhere on our teaser trailer they would being to get suspicious of why it is there. Making the audience get more drawn in to the trailer and then want to watch the full film.

Shot List

This is the shot list of my groups teaser trailer. We created this list whilst we were looking at our story board so it may be easier to refer to out story board whilst reading this shot list.

• Shot 1: A long shot where the camera is going to be placed on a tripod to make the shot clearer. Also this shot is going to be a cantered angle to make the killer look disturbed and make the audience feel frightened and uneasy. This shot is of Laura (who is the killer) seem like she is moving around fast but the camera is going to be situated on a single spot and Laura is the person actually moving so then continuity is fairly the same.
• Shot 2: This is going to be a mid-shot of a girl being dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. As the shot will not let the audiece see who is dragging the girl this will create suspense and uneasiness.
• Shot 3: This is going to be a low angle shot to make the 5 girls around a huge bonfire seem that they are superior (which they are as they are the leader of this supersticious cult). This makes the audience feel that they are small in comparison to these 5 cult leaders. Over the top of this shot there is going to be a non-diagetic voice over of the Lord's Prayer.
• Shot 4: Having this shot a high angle, crane shot will show the audience a piece of paper being passed towards the leader of the cult. On the piece of paper 'I want to join' is going to be written on it.
• Shot 5: This is going to be a close up of my face whilst im being dragged through the mud. We will then zoom out from my face to a mid shot to show the audience that my character is being dragged through the woods in her pyjama's. This is also going to be silent and slow mo
• Shot 6: This is a close up of the main leader of the cult and telling the girls who are trying to join hat tasks they are going to have to do to be considered a member.
• Shot 7: A two-shot of the killer (Laura) and showing the audience that she is holding a weapon and that she has got hold of one of the girls by the leg. We are going to make this shot slow mo when Laura brings the knife round.
• Shot 8: Intertitle.
• Shot 9: Repeat of shot 3 but a different section of the Lord's Prayer.
• Shot 10: Intertitle.
• Shot 11: A close up of myself at a cantered angle upside down in a tree. The characters face will have different types of injuries. To begin with her eyes will be closed. Then I will quickly open them and take in a large breath.
• Shot 12: Intertitle.

Mood board of masks

Here is a mood board of a variety of different masks that the killer and the cult leaders could wear.

I think that the cult leaders should wear one of either the plain white masks that show half their face. And for each leader the mas could have a different design to show the audience their status.

However, I don't think that the killer should have a mask like the famous scream mask as that may bring an element of comedy into out film which we do not want. So i think if we use a hockey mask or something similar that would be much better in hiding the killers identity without it seeming funny.

Story board

Animated storyboard

View more presentations from alanashaw.

Mood Board of Horror Genre

This is a mood board of all the different horror genre films that have inspired us to do a horror genre treaser trailer

Saw 6 Trailer

Saw 6 is another horror genre film that is another psychological thriller that has a lot of gore.The film is about a killer called Jigsaw who kidnaps different types of people who he believes needs to learn a lesson or someone he has a grudge against. Jigsaw holds them captive in an abandoned house and puts six people under many cruel different tasks which they’ll either survive or be killed by.The target audience would be adults who have seen the many other prequels to this film.The music intense and mainly uses percussions and string instruments to create suspense and tension to what the audience is viewing throughout the teaser trailer.The footage that is shown has been editing into a CGI replica of the house that these people are trapped in. It shows them on different televisions, projectors. This shows that audience that the killer, Jigsaw watches them while he puts them under these tests and that maybe the television sets are of some sort of significant.The pace of the trailer is quite fast as it is only 50 seconds long and it tries to show the audience the area that the victims are placed in to create tension and fear for these characters. It also introduces some of the victims but not the killer.Only a little bit of dialogue is used, ‘I’m going to help you’. Showing us as the audience that these characters are going under some very frightening tests that they are willing to help each other. Also you hear the screams of the characters which emphasises the fact that the tasks are difficult and it transfers the fear from the characters to the audience. These making the audience feel uneasy.The only special effects used are the CGI replica of the house that Jigsaw is keeping these characters hidden from the rest of the world.The inter-titles at the beginning tell the audience that there are only ‘6 chances’ for the characters to live and ‘6 lessons’ that the characters have to learn and ‘6 choices’ these characters are going to have to make.
At the end the audience are told the name of the film on large, bold lettering which is quickly removed to show the release date of the film which is Halloween.The USP would be that there have been so many prequels that the director believes his audience would not miss out on the 6^th addition to his collection of films.

The Strangers Teaser Trailer

The Strangers is a psychological horror/thriller film.This film is about a couple who are staying at someone’s house which is in a quiet area that doesn’t have neighbour’s close by. At first they have a man knock on the door who they tell to go away. From then on they are mentally tortured with things like knocking on the door and windows, writing on the walls and standing outside their house. Once the killers have gotten ‘bored’ with the couple they decide to murder them. The film is based on true events.The target audience would be teenagers/young adults who enjoy that are based on true events and/or enjoy psychological horrors.The non-diagetic sound at the beginning is cheerful when the trailer is showing the audience different types of houses which normal people would chose for a home. However, the non-diagetic sound darkens when the audience are shown ‘that people chose houses for a completely different reasons.’
After that the music is stopped until a montage of events happen and the music is fast and loud with a non-diagetic scream in between. This causes uneasiness and tension.There are many close up’s of the killers masks, a knife that one uses, the word ‘killer’ that is written on the wall. This makes the audience feel the fear and torment that the two characters are going through because of the three murdersThe pace to begin with is slow and makes the film as if it isn’t going to be eerie or frightening. However, the pace picks up when the montage occurs and the music becomes louder and faster.There is a lot of dialogue in the middle of the teaser trailer. You are told that the first knock on the door is done at 4 in the morning which would create suspense and tension for the audience because that is an unusual time for a visitor. You then here a woman say ‘You’re going to die’ which then makes the audience realise what events are about to happen making the film more immersive.The inter-titles tell the audience the name of the film and the two main actors of the film. It also tells the audience that the film is based on true events which would create suspense and fear that the film they are about to see actually happened.I think that the USP is that the film is based on true events as this makes the audience have an emotional bond between the characters as the things that happen did to someone real.

The Omen Teaser Trailer

The Omen is another supernatural horror genre that is based on the Devil.

The Omen is about a boy who was born on the 6^th day of the 6^th month of the 6^th year, 666 (the number of the devil). The boy is named Damien and he is able to control objects and people with his mind.I would say that the target audience of this film would be young adults and onwards as the films is rated 18. Also the target audience would be people who regularly watch horror genre films and enjoy he supernatural theme.
There is a faint high pitch sound that is played throughout the teaser trailer which is made to sound like the wind. However, the director emphasises the sound of the swing that Damien is sitting on. When Damien looks at the camera a loud and sudden percussion and string instruments are played. During the inter-titles at the end the percussion instrument is played when the number ‘6’ is repeated to emphasise the number of the devil.
The same angle is used throughout the trailer which gives the audience a view of Damien’s surrounds which are of some woodland area. This would cause the audience to be uneasy as you wouldn’t suspect a young child to be out in that area. A pan is the only main shot type that is used to move to a better view of Damien in his red coat of the swing. This is to show that Damien is the character that is going to be doing the bad things which would make the audience’s frightened and aware that this character is only a child.
The pace of the footage is very slow to create suspense and tension. However, once the inter-titles are on screen the pace becomes quicker like the non-diagetic music.There aren’t any special effects on the teaser trailer. However, we do not know about the feature.Black background and white font which is to make the phrases stand out to the audience and easy to read. It also tells the audience when the film is being released which the director has decided to do on the 6/6/06 to make the audience aware how significant 666 is.
I would say that the only USP of this film is that it is a remake of the original ‘Omen’ which would make the previous films audience want to come and view this feature. Also I would say that the supernatural aspect of this film is another USP.

Paranormal Activity 2 Trailer

Paranormal Activity 2 is a supernatural horror film. That focus’ on ghost and demons that are able to posses’ human beings and move objects and people.It is a feature that is all filmed by CCTV camera’s placed round a house because a family believe that they are being haunted by something. The CCTV captures evidence of the supernatural being effecting objects in their house and possessing a young woman who then hurts the other people in the house.
The target audience of this film would be people who enjoy watching films about ghosts and demons. Also this film is rated a 15 which means that their target audience is also teenagers and above. The trailer also shows us the audience of the prequel so the director would suspect them to return to view this film.I think there are two unique selling points. The first being that the film is based on the supernatural so they have been able to draw in the attention of supernatural believers. The second USP would be the fact they every shot of footage are taken from a CCTV camera which shows the audience the time and date these strange occurrences happen to the family which makes the film more realistic.

There is only diagetic sound in this trailer. The sounds are of the camera’s moving, switching to another camera in a different area of the house. This then makes the audience feel that they are in the scene that they are viewing, therefore creating a more immersive experience of the film.Just like the music in this teaser trailer there isn’t much, if any dialogue. This causes the audience to be immersed to what is happening on screen.
The shots and angles are all very similar as the feature is filmed from the CCTV cameras so they are placed at different angles but cannot be moved to create suspense. This further emphasises the realism of the film.
The pace of this trailer differs in many areas. The inter-titles are slow which could be so that the audience can read what they say which could cause mystery and uneasiness. However, the footage from the CCTV cameras are faced paced and quickly cut together so that the audience wonder what is going to happen after each shot and feel the tension building from each short clip.
There isn’t much special effect’s in this trailer apart from the shot where a man is thrown and one of the CCTV cameras. However, you can see from the trailer and the narrative that more special effects will be used to create more realism if this was to ever happen.
The inter-titles lets the audience know that this film will most likely scare them but they won’t know what it will be. Also the inter-titles have a black background and white font so that the phrases that are used stand out. This makes sure that the reader is able to read it and feel the tension and suspense that should be felt.

Rough Plot Line

The plot line at the moment of my main project is that the film is going to be a horror which is based around a clan of girls who created a secret organisation which celebrates evil and the Devil. The girls that wish to join the clan must endure several initiation tasks that they must survive.
The final 3 have to go through the worst task out of the 7 which is placed in the woods where the clan meet to do their riturals.
The girls are 'kidnapped' from their houses and dragged out of bed with a sack over their head to stop them from seeing who has taken them and where they are going.
(This then makes the audience think that the girls are being taken by the killer not the leaders of the clan)
Whilst the task is happening in the woods, the girls are slowly being attacked by the killer one by one. However, they believe they are being followed, at first, by someone from the clan they are wishing to join.
At the end, all of the clan members die apart from one girl who was doing the last iniation task. The killer reveals her identity to this girl who is hanging from a tree as the killer thinks she will die. Revealing that the killer is of course female and someone who was not allowed to become a clan member and has been plotting her revenge for a while

Title Idea's

In our media lesson Hannah, Laura and I came up with some ideas of what our film could be called. We haven't yet fully decided as we need to finalize our plot and story board of events for the trailer that will be created.
Here is the list of title ideas:

• Reincarnation
• The Clan
• The Pact
• The Deal
• Burn in Hell
• Temptation
• Trespassers
• Kingdom of Evil
• Deliever from Evil
• Save us from Evil
• Religion
• Masked
• Stranger in the Woods
• Beaten
• Initiation
• Silent but Deadly
• Awaken
• Disturbed

Analysis of 'The Haunting in Therfield' Preliminary task

Our preliminary task, ‘The Haunting of Therfield’ we tried to achieve a horror genre feature based of ghost and mysterious happenings. We wanted the feature to be eerie and suspense building so then the audience would be on the edge of their seats.
‘The Haunting of Therfield’ isn’t a stereotypical horror genre feature as everything that would scare our audience happens during the day, for example, a girl who has a mysterious feature with her eye and stares creepily straight down the camera breaking the barrier.

At the beginning of our preliminary task is of a whiteboard suddenly being released from its position to reveal the phrase, ‘It’s Time’. Its written as if it was scribbled on the whiteboard and in red bold marker to make the audience feel uneasy to what is about to come and wonder who or what it could be that is going to cause the strange haunting of this school. However, when you watch our preliminary task from our video link you cannot see what is written on the board but we could see it whilst we were editing all of it together. This is something we should think about when we are doing our final project Teaser Trailer.
The next shot is an inter-title of the name of our preliminary task which we decided to use a black background and white font so then it stood out to the audience. We also made the written have an effect of being typed across the screen to emphasise that everything is happening to this particular school. Over the top of this clip we emphasised the heartbeat of the non-diagetic music which we hope would represent the audience’s feelings but also the heartbeat of the characters who are scared of what is happening around them.
After the inter-title we have a zoom in on the girl character in the toilet who to begin with looks like a normal student but then we have a close up of her eye which is completely white. This is to give the audience a chill. The effect that we used also made the shot more eerie as the swaying could be interpreted as the ‘ghost’ that is haunting the school affecting the way the audience would watch the feature.
We added in a ‘White Noise’ feature into our preliminary task which is repeated a couple of times but is only on the screen for a few seconds as many horror genre features are quick and jumpy. We also quickly cut in a close up of the girl’s eye once again, which just flashes upon the screen to make the film and school seem more eerie and mysterious than the audience probably would of first thought.
We then added another inter-title which says ‘The Lessons Begun’. We decided to add a slogan into the feature to make the audience wonder what type lesson the students at this school are going to have to undertake. The phrase is repeated many times to cause uneasiness and it is also in two font colours, white and red. We chose red because this is the colour for blood and hatred.
We ended the feature by running another sequence of the white noise which is to create suspense to what else is going to happen throughout the film.
Throughout the feature we used the same non-diagetic music to furthermore increase the eeriness, suspense and mystery to our film.

'The Haunting of Therfield' Preliminary Teaser Trailer

A Nightmare On Elm Street Trailer Analysis

A Nightmare on Elm Street is another horror genre film. The trailer tells the audience the narrative through the images used. We see how and why breifly of Freddy's past and how he got his features and his hatred to kill, also you are introduced to the different main characters who are slowly tormented and murdered. The audience are also introduced to Freddy's murder weapon; his metal 'claw' hand.
The unique selling point would be the fact that it is a remake of the classic version of 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and the famous Freddy Kruger. This also attracts the target audience of adults who liked the classic version and want to see how the film has improved, also it would attract teenagers who have heard of the film and enjoy horror films.
During the trailer there are creepy littles girls singing a rhyme which says ' 1 2 Freddy's coming for you 3 4 better lock your door 5 6 grab your crucifix 7 8 gonna stay up late 9 10 never sleep again' this causes tension and frightens the audience as any form of nursey rhymes used during films creates an atmosphere that something terrible is happening to the characters. After the rhyme a fast drumming is used which goes with the fact that the pace of the trailer quickens and shows fast flashes of different shots showing important features of the film for a short period of time to draw the audience into wanting to go see the full film.
You also hear dialogue from different areas of the film; 'you have nothing to worry about. This wont hurt. One. Little. Bit' showing the audience how sadistic Freddy is and how he has no sympathy or regret for any of his many murders; 'Don't fall asleep' is also heard which makes the audience feel uncomfortable and will probably also affect them into not being able to sleep after watching the film from being to scared which is the aim of the trailer and the film. 'Don't fall asleep' is used as a intertitle as well to further make this statement sink into the audiences mind to make them more scared.
The other credits used were of the basic information of the director Micheal Bay, the release date and also the title of the film. All the credits and intertitles were writted in a creepy, horror style font and in blood red which represents horror and danger.

Cloverfield Teaser Trailer Analysis

Cloverfield is a Sci-Fi film which was produced in 2008.
The narrative of the film is shown by the teaser trailer where the audience see a the characters having a celebration/good luck party for one of their friends to which is ruined by noticing the destruction of NYC. Throughout the teaser trailer you don't see what animal/creature is destroying NYC which makes this one of the uniques selling points to their trager audience as it will be a mystery to everyone and the special effects the producer uses. The target audience for 'Cloverfield' is wide age range but for people who enjoy sci-fi movies and people who appreciate the work of the director, JJ Abrams.
There isn't much music used during the trailer only at the beginning when you see the characters enjoying themselves, when it fades to the destroying clips you only hear the sound of the creature and the dialogue. The sound of the creature is emphasised to further sell the film. At the beginning the dialogue is cheerful and wishing the leaving character goodluck and saying bye to then quickly flash to the next scene and hear someone say, 'you should of left earlier' which is a little bit of ironic humour to also attract in the audience.
The scenes are all shot by a held hand camera to make the film seem more real and also to place the audience in the characters shoes. The shots are at a very quick pace as the transitions are quite fast however the scenes show are rather long of the destruction to again draw in the audience towards the action.
Special effects where used for the explosions and and destruction of the statue of liberty which many people enjoying seeing different ways of experimenting with special effects to make these particular scenes to fit in with the reality of the film.
For the credits and intertitles, they give the basic information of who produced the film, the title of the film and its release date but also the production companies who finaced the film.

The Blair Witch Project Teaser Trailer Analysis

The Blair Witch Project is a horror film that was made in 1999. The narrative is shown by the first intertitle which tells the audience that the film is a documentary of a group of young adults who went into the woods. Having this intertitle makes the film automatically seem more frightening because of the reality that is created for the audience. This then attracts a certain audience of people who regularly entertain themselves by watching horror films.
The low banging of a bass drum is used throughout the whole teaser trailer but is amplified when the titles are shown to the audience. The music creates suspense during this teaser trailer as it is mostly a blank screen so the trailer relies on the music and titles to attract their audience.
The one shot that they trailer does use is a low angle of the girl and a close up of her eye which is crying heavily. Showing the audience that something bad is happening or has happened. The shot is also filmed by a hand held camera which further shows that the narrative is based of true events.
The pace of the teaser trailer is quite slow which makes the audience fear that something may make them jump and make them afraid because of the fact that its mostly a blank screen for many seconds. Making the audience continue to watch the trailer to see if anything happens that may help them understand what the film will be about.
There is dialouge/voiceover throughout the trailer of the character saying sorry to her friends parents and her own because it was her idea to go to the woods and film her 'project' but once the titles come on screen it is only her heavy breathing that you hear. This creates even more suspense for the audience as this speech certifys that something bad has happened to this group of people without giving anything away of how the project has gone bad.
No special effects where used during this trailer which again makes the film seem more realistic and based on true events for the footage to be real.
The intertitle at the beginning of the trailer just give the audience a breif summary of where the footage was found and how the footage was found. The credits don't tell the audience who directed this movie which normally attracts the target audience the only basic information giving is what the film is called and the release date which was halloween. Having the release date on halloween makes the film seem more eerie and scary for the audience as halloween is when people decide to dress up is horror outfits.

Idea's For Main Project

This year for media I was thinking that the group I am working with (Laura and Hannah) should do a horror genre. Most horror genre films consist a group of teenagers - young adults who are the target of a male killer.
I think that our film should follow this certain convention. I also think that the killers POV should be filmed hand held which would be like 'The Blairwitch Project' and 'Cloverfield'. This would make the audience see what the killer see's and how he masters his killings.
However, obviously we're doing a teaser trailer a lot of the information about our storyline wouldn't be released.

The teaser trailer should have a suspense creating soundtrack to grab our traget audience's attention which works well with the shots we use.

The transitions between the different shots of the 1 minute teaser trailer should be quick flashes and a lot of fading to black as the grows the audiences perspective of how dark the film would be.

Conventions of a Teaser Trailer

Most teaser trailers follow seven main conventions.
These conventions are:

• not much information about the film is given away making the film more intriguing
• the name of the film is given
• the sense of genre
• the release date
• the films target audience
• the trailer isn't sepuential
• and the trailer is no more than a minute long

Mindmap Of Genre Ideas And Examples

This is a mind map of the different genre's we are thinking about doing for our teaser trailer. As we did Chick-Flick last year we have chosen to do something different. I personally think that we should do a horror or a thriller because you can play around when editing the teaser trailer to make the suspense grow and toy with the audiences emotions and thoughts of what is going to happen during the film.
The mind map also helps us see what type films we could watch to get some inspiration for ideas that we could contribute into our final project.

My Year 12 Blog

http://hannahlauraalana.blogspot.com/