Our group looked at many different genres, including horror, action, comedy, thrill. As a group we decided to do an 'thriller romance psychological ' teaser trailer.
Editing:
Inspirational camera shotsThe Bourne Legacy - Transitions & Text |
The Bourne Legacy teaser TrailerTagline: There was never just one
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller Plot Keywords: Assassin, Spy The Bourne Legacy is a spy novel genre film, the story is based in a secret agent origin. It was distributed by Universal pictures. There are various techniques used to make this teaser trailer suited to its genre and target audience. Firstly the sound used because the steady/aggressive beat indicates its a dangerous atmosphere and is full of action. For example when the character is fighting the beat becomes louder. Another point is the narrative used, this helps because it tells the consumers a little bit about the story and what is in about to happen. The camera shots used where varied, however it focused mainly on the main male because he shows dominance and aggression, therefore informing the audience of the action yet to come. Establishing shots were also used to show the locations, they were mostly places like forests and isolated areas indicating its not an everyday common appearance. The editing was also crucial because it changed the pace of the trailer, making it much faster and quicker to help the action scenes flow together. Finally mise en scene was used to show the action/thriller element in the trailer because there were guns and bombs as props. Also make up was used to show blood which showed their is plenty of action. The target audience would be teenagers too young adults because of the genre being more fast and aggressive. How we can use this inspirational transitions?The transition shown on the left is from the teaser trailer 'The Bourne Legacy'. Our group personally likes how the transition created through editing is a very unique and innovative feature which fits the conventions of a psychological thriller base trailer. The transition used is very hidden revealing very little of the image behind, this creates a suspicious feel to the trailer as well as the film.
Our group would like to use this idea in our teaser trailer as this transition editing would also work on text as well as footage. |
'Unknown'
The concept of 'flashbacks' from the teaser trailerRelationship flashback - screenshots:When analysing this teaser trailer, there was a constant use of flashbacks, visible through the use of a faded-wash-look in after effects. The flashbacks in this trailer is extremely important in displaying the now lost relationship he had with his wife, exactly what we want to show in our trailer as both story lines are very similar.
These screenshots show the chemistry between the relationship of the characters in flashback form. The camerawork in the flashback includes a lot of close-ups creating a very personal feel to the scene. The idea of incorporating such camerawork in the flashbacks of our film will perhaps help ensure this, as this is the feeling and emotion we want to portray. |
Unknown Teaser TrailerTagline: Take back your life
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller Plot Keywords: Coma, Briefcase, Hotel Unknown is a mystery thriller film released on the 4th March 2011. This film included big well known Hollywood stars such as Liam Neeson, who has acted in the Star Wars franchise and in the upcoming blockbuster - The Dark Knight Rises. This film is primarily based on a French novel published in English called 'Out of my head'. When analysing this teaser trailer, there was a constant use of flashbacks, visible through the use of a faded-wash-look in after effects. The flashbacks in this trailer is extremely important in displaying the now lost relationship he had with his wife, exactly what we want to show in our trailer as both story lines are very similar. Male character: |
From Hell (2001) - Concept of drugs
This scene from the movie 'From Hell' builds upon the idea of drug use and ways of showing it through lighting. The candle light in this scene could represent hope and how there is little 'hope' in his life, as it is the only true light source available. As this hope is so 'small' it can relate to the reasons for the drug use. The rest of the environment in this scene is quite dim and blurred which adds to the typical conventions of thriller films. An idea which is going to be taken from here is how the scene creates a dark atmospheric feel whilst making sure the character and props are well lit.
Screenshot - Eye close-upThe extreme close-up of the eye in this scene from the movie 'From Hell' will be used in my groups trailer as a way to reflect our character's dreams. As the saying goes 'the eyes are the windows to the soul' it will enable us to project our characters bewildered state of mind through his eyes.
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Inspirational flashback scene - Its relevance?
Possibly combining the flashback effect from the 'Unknown' and the extreme close-up shot of the eye from the film trailer of 'From Hell' can be used to create the dream scene for our movie trailer. As the flashback effect is used to emphasis his dream state, the emotion expressed as the eye opens (in an extreme close-up shot) hints to the audience that in fact he was dreaming.
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
The storyline consists of a group of drug users in the 1970's who help finance their habit through robbing drug stores.
The era in which the film was set adds a retro edge to the mise-en-scene, which is clearly shown in both the props used (cars) and costume worn by the characters. |
Inspirational Trailer screenshots:
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Inspiration Film screenshots
This birds-eye-view shot towers over the character as he lays in his bed. However instead of placing the camera straight above the character like the one in this screenshot, an idea of ours was to make the camera move whilst the character moves creating a disorientated effect; managed by attaching the camera to the waist of the actor/actress called the snorricam.
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Through the use of make-up, damage can physically be seen on this character from 'Drugstore Cowboy'. As the main character in our film trailer is mentally damaged only bad behaviour displayed by our character can be expressed physically. What's interesting about this screenshot is that the character is reflected against a mirror. This can be used in our film trailer to show how the main character is not being himself almost as if there are 'two sides' to him. The make-up on this character simply adds drama to the scene, which we believe is a great technique to add seriousness as well as believability.
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Inception (2010)
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This slow-motion screenshot from 'Inception' will go extremely well with the bathtub scene of ours. As we want to show in our scene, the male character submerging himself in water as a form of escapism and coming back out of the water to reflect how he cannot escape reality. It will be a challenging scene to re-enact as the droplets of water have to be highlighted precisely to create such a dramatic effect. Also, the fact that the male character in this screenshot is wearing a suit is quite unusual, going perfectly with our storyline of how our character had everything (shown through use of costume such as a suit connotating wealth) and now nothing.
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As the concept of amnesia is a key part to the storyline of this film which is going to be created. We researched into the factors which cause amnesia.
'Amnesia refers to an inability to recall information that is stored in memory. Causes may include brain damage through injury, or the use of specific drugs - usually sedative drugs. People with amnesia also find it hard to imagine the future, because our constructions of future scenarios are closely linked to our recollections of past experiences.'
'Amnesia refers to an inability to recall information that is stored in memory. Causes may include brain damage through injury, or the use of specific drugs - usually sedative drugs. People with amnesia also find it hard to imagine the future, because our constructions of future scenarios are closely linked to our recollections of past experiences.'
Storyline:A distressed man is seen taking drugs causing unnecessary harm to himself. All this drug use has caused him to see his girlfriend everywhere he goes. She even appears in his dreams while he sleeps. Although the drug use is affecting him physically, it is affecting him mentally as his mind repeatedly plays tricks on him in and around his everyday life, therefore irritating him further causing him to turn to drugs as his solution.
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Background:He was in a happy, healthy but secretive relationship with his girlfriend, up until the point where this man felt that his girlfriend was the one he wanted to marry. On the day of proposing, his girlfriend told him the news how she had been offered a job abroad, realising how much this job meant to her he was happy to wait to propose to her until she got back. 6th months went by waiting for his girlfriend to arrive. She never came, leading him to drugs as his option. Her job was no ordinary job, her job consisted off the silent but deadly killing of others, clueless to who he was about to marry, she was an assassin.
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Initial Costume design
Male Character:This choice of costume was inspired by the male character from 'Drugstore Cowboy'. We initially thought about using jeans and a jacket, but with the help of the costume used in 'Drugstore Cowboy' it encouraged us to consider textures of clothing such as a leather or denim. Due to the era in which our film is being set, denim would be the most appropriate choice of texture for clothing.
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Female Character: Seeing as our character has her hidden assassin identity, we decided to create a costume to suit this 'profession', a costume very similiar to the character Mrs. Smith from 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'. The only scene where our female character would be wearing this would be the passing train scene to make it look as if she had arrived back from her 'mission' abroad. These items of costume will contrast with the costume we set for our female character when shes seen with the male character in the flashbacks.
Female costume - inspirationBoth the male and female are wearing black. Similarly, darkness is noted as both their aims are to kill each other. Not only is darkness shown, the women is shown in a seductive way through the use of a long slit dress and high heels. Her seductiveness indicates the way she acts throughout 'Mr and Mrs Smith'. As you can clearly see, Angelina Jolie's character owns a silver pistol (strapped to her thigh) this indicates violence and action within the film and links in well with 'Mr and Mrs Smith' genre of an Action/Romance.
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After undertaking our questionnaire successfully, we gained many ideas which would help us create a teaser trailer suited to our target audience, being 15-30. Our first question was to introduce the type of genre for our teaser trailer, and looking at the results the two most popular genres were psychological gaining the majority of votes, whilst the genre thriller was the second most popular. As a group, before the questionnaire was created we were discussing the possible type of genres for our teaser trailer. We were thinking to create something on the basis of psychological and thriller with a sub genre of romance. We wanted to introduce a sub-genre to widen the audience interest, as doing one genre only it would only appeal to a 'niche' audience. Using our questionnaire feedback and our own interests, we came to a conclusion that we wanted to create a teaser trailer involving the combination of the following genres: thriller, psychological and romance. After the audience answered the first question based on genre, the second question was based on the best suited editing techniques, and why it would be suitable. From the results, the majority of respondents wanted to see a bit of both - slow pace and fast pace. The second most popular answer was fast pace. This suggests that when we look to edit after filming our footage, we will look to include a lot of fast pace scene to suit the genre, however not too many to hint the viewers that it could be an action based film - whilst also including a couple of slow paced scenes to enhance our genre of thriller/psychological/romance. The third question asks the respondents whether 'acting is important, and if so why?'. All the people that answered our questionnaire thought that acting is vital in a teaser trailer or in any film for that matter in order to be believable. A variety of reasons were given to why a good actor is important, from this and our original knowledge of media, we will look to include a alluring actor/actress. This would primarily increase the chances of our teaser trailer being successful, whilst satisfying the audience's demands.
The fifth question was a closed question based on the main characters characteristics. The results were pretty much even which suggests the audience want to see both answers - the main character represented through the use of costume, make-up, soundtrack, camera angles and lighting. The sixth question asks the respondents whether the 'storyline is complicated for a person aged 15 or older?'. The results represent that the majority will not think that audience aged 15+ will find our storyline complicated. However, a handful of people did suggest that our storyline is 'slightly' complicated. The feedback for this question satisfied us, as we wanted to create a sample of mystery within our teaser trailer, nothing to complicate the audience, however something to keep them questioning themselves, thus keeping them intrigued with the film and wanting to watch the whole film. The seventh question was based on the amount of events that should be shown within a teaser trailer. The feedback we received was as expected as the majority suggested to show only certain elements in the teaser trailer, whilst the minority suggested to show all the elements. From the results, we will look to only show certain appealing elements in the teaser trailer, whilst not giving the whole plot away - which is ideal. The last question from the questionnaire was to ask the respondents whether our storyline is suited to a typical British film. The results were slightly varied, however at least 30% said that our storyline was completely unique, whilst another 35% think that is not a typical British film. This suggests that our storyline is innovative and unique but unfortunately differing from other British films.
The fifth question was a closed question based on the main characters characteristics. The results were pretty much even which suggests the audience want to see both answers - the main character represented through the use of costume, make-up, soundtrack, camera angles and lighting. The sixth question asks the respondents whether the 'storyline is complicated for a person aged 15 or older?'. The results represent that the majority will not think that audience aged 15+ will find our storyline complicated. However, a handful of people did suggest that our storyline is 'slightly' complicated. The feedback for this question satisfied us, as we wanted to create a sample of mystery within our teaser trailer, nothing to complicate the audience, however something to keep them questioning themselves, thus keeping them intrigued with the film and wanting to watch the whole film. The seventh question was based on the amount of events that should be shown within a teaser trailer. The feedback we received was as expected as the majority suggested to show only certain elements in the teaser trailer, whilst the minority suggested to show all the elements. From the results, we will look to only show certain appealing elements in the teaser trailer, whilst not giving the whole plot away - which is ideal. The last question from the questionnaire was to ask the respondents whether our storyline is suited to a typical British film. The results were slightly varied, however at least 30% said that our storyline was completely unique, whilst another 35% think that is not a typical British film. This suggests that our storyline is innovative and unique but unfortunately differing from other British films.
Prop - CandleCandles - inspired by the film 'From Hell' to use for our bathroom scene. As candles create a tranquil environment especially when the candle is the only form of light source.
Prop - Tablets (drug)Tablets - these tablets will be dropped in a scene, not exactly showing the main character taking them but highlighting his constant fascination and desire to have to take the drugs.
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Prop - Vintage clockClock - also to connotate the passing of time and how time is altered (reversed, fast forwarded, slowed down) as the male character longs for his beloved to come back.
Prop - Cigarette & LighterCigarette - the burning end of the tip will be fast forwarded to show the passing of time.
Lighter - a prop to light the cigarette causing a chain reaction of drug use. |
Male Costume:
Costume (1)
Costume (2)
Female Costume
Costume (1)
Costume (2)
Now that our group has decided the storyline and the main concepts of the teaser trailer, we have come up with initial ideas for Locations. We went location scouting, specifically finding a location for each scene of our trailer, making sure it fits our mise-en-scene, costume and character profiles.
HERE are our ideas:
HERE are our ideas:
Possible locations:
Kings Cross station will be the location for the scene where the male character thinks he can see his girlfriend on the opposite side of the train tracks however, as the train passes by she disappears. We chose this location as Kings Cross station has two platforms in order for pedestrains to stand which is handy for a scene like this. The enclosed ceiling of the station add to the entrappment our character feels - connotated through the lined patterns possibly representing the bars in a prison. In comparison when we want to show a more dark side to our story Hounslow Train station is a perfect location to show the distressed mind of the character due to this location in particular looking quite disturbed itself.
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When researching, we found a 'bathroom' scene in the film trailer of 'Inception'. This scene particularly inspired us through the use of lighting and special effects (slow motion). Due to this bath tub being situated so close to the window as well as having an enclosed position within the bathroom made it the perfect location for recreating Inception's bathroom scene.
Green Room:The green room is the perfect place to record unique scenes by altering backgrounds. But for our teaser trailer it is the ideal place for close-up shots of props to be recorded where the variable lighting can be controlled or altered. As displayed in this image, our attempt to control the lighting by concentrating it from an angle at our props ( dropping tablets). Keeping the background constant will allow the audience to be entirely focused on the props on screen. A difficult tip to take on board when considering using props such as lighters and cigarettes as safety is an issue in a confined place like the green room. Alternate methods will be used such as other dark backgrounds or textured walls.
Park scene location:This image of the 'park' location was not ideally our first choice, however, at night, we discovered that the street lights around the park created the perfect lighting for night-time filming as these lights were able to highlight our male character (josh) well, whilst maintaining an atmosphere which felt and looked dark and gloomy. The shops across the 'park' are also lit well at night which will enable a dazzled effect to be created behind our character when we experiment with our snorricam shot.
Coffee Cafe scene location: |
Test shots of bath room scene
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These footages were of our first attempts at filming. As a vast amount of these test shots were experimental, they will come in very handy when we start to film for definite as less time would be taken due to experience gained when filming. A digital camera was used when filming, unfortunately creating a fussy image when played back. Improvements were made by changing the equipment to a Canon SLR camera. An important tip we are going to take on board from these test shots are the unique way in which the candle light shines in the lens, like test shot 3.
Script:
voice-over:
We plan to include a voice-over as a way of explaining what the audience is seeing visually. We believe that a voice-over is an emotive way of explaining the narrative as it connects the audience to the teaser trailer without distracting them like a black slide between scenes with text would. Below is what we plan to say for the voice-over.
We plan to include a voice-over as a way of explaining what the audience is seeing visually. We believe that a voice-over is an emotive way of explaining the narrative as it connects the audience to the teaser trailer without distracting them like a black slide between scenes with text would. Below is what we plan to say for the voice-over.
Voice-over lines in trailer:
'You will never forget the pain she caused'
'All that time you spent with her means nothing any more'
'But you can't stop feeling that one day she will come back'
'All that time you spent with her means nothing any more'
'But you can't stop feeling that one day she will come back'