Research and Planning: The Meeting

• Me and my group, which consists of Chloe, had a meeting where we discussed which roles we would have. We decided that i would edit, Chloe would be in charge of the mis-en-scene, and we would both take control of cinematography and sound.
• Already we have initial ideas of a name for the film - 'Offline', which relates to the nature of the film around Facebook.
• As well as this, we did some research, by going to the cinema separate from the class, to watch the film based around Facebook, 'The Social Network'. We thought we may be able to gather some ideas from this film; however, we found out that it was not at all like we would want our film, as our idea is a horror.

Research and Planning: Cinema Trip

Me and my class went on a cinema trip and watched the horror film 'Buried'. It was a good film and tied in with my teaser trailer idea, as they are both horrors.

Research and Planning: Sound Test

• Here is a sound test where me and my partner did an example for the genre 'Comedy'.

• We browsed the different sounds and music that could appear in a film.

Research and Planning: Treatment

This is my first treatment for my teaser trailer:

• There would be a computer screen looking like the Facebook website, with facts and figures about Facebook, interspersed with images of people having a good time. The facts will become more and more negative about how people are harassed and even bullied on social networking sites.
• Theme made non-digetic music, which is catchy and popular, maybe slow, scary, child-like to start off with, and begins to get faster throughout.
• The computer screen then goes to black, and the words 'offline' shows up (which is an idea for the title of the film). It then cuts to a girl at her computer, wondering what has happened to the screen, which suddenly reappears with one notification from Facebook, it reads 'your worst nightmare has tagged a photo of you'. The picture includes her and her friends, but with her face either scribbled out, or an image of how she going to die.
• It then cuts to a scene in a busy internet cafe, where there is a different girl, who gets the same notification, and this time the picture is of her at present. She is looking around, wondering who could of took this picture. The camera would be boxing her in and making her look issolated, with lots of high angles.

Research and Planning: Target Audience

• My target audience will be a young age group; for example, 16-24
• The gender would probably be mostly males; however, some females who like the horror genre, girl-next-door type, or like the idea of Facebook being involved in my film.
• The psychographics of my audience would be students of all middle or working class, who may have a part-time job; therefore, they will have time and money to actually go to the cinema to watch films with friends. They could shop in vintage shops and ones like 'Urban Outfitters'. They would be positive, open to new things, want to explore and get as many experiences as possible.
• They might be interested in social networking, like to socialise, maybe like to listen to RnB music, and who may like to learn morals from the film. They would like the thrill of the suspense in my film and won't be too affected by the issues raised (e.g. the torture scene).
• The audience will need to be passive for my film.

Research and Planning: The Pitch

• This is my pitch i did on Powerpoint Presentation, where i have done slides where i presented my 'Research', 'Ideas', the 'Cinematography' i thought about, and 'How my Ideas Linked to my Ancillary Task'.

Research and Planning: Audience Feedback

The results of my questionnaire are as follows:


1. What is your gender?



2. What is your age?
3. What type of genre film do you watch?

4. What aspects of a trailer grab you?

- High action
- Funny quotes/scenes x2
- The music and the actors/actresses x3
- The scary bits and difference
- Cinematography
- Editing
- A new idea

5. How long do you think a teaser trailer should be?

6. What do you like featured in a horror film?

- Jumpy/ Fast pace x2
- New/Good idea x2
- Killer x2
- Mystery to work out
- Makes you think its real
- A twist
- A small plot giveaway
- Scary music
- Slow camera movement

7. What do you think about the age certificate on films?
- Sometimes effective
- Helps regualte films x2
- There should be an age certificate as some films are not suitable for children. I dont think teenagers would abide by the certificate though.
- When a horror film is an 18, it shows that it must be more scary.
- The best horrors are an 18.
- A 15/18 certificate should be on horrors x3
- It all depends on what type of film it is.

Research and Planning: The Test

• For our test, me and three others worked together to produce this chase scene which would of been part of a film.
• We each had our own roles, for example; two actors, cameraman and a director. I had the role of the actress, who was the character being chased.
• I liked this role as i felt i had a lot of involvement towards the film. I could also put across my input if i had any ideas what i thought i should do while filming.
• When we got all what we thought we needed, we got into pairs and started editing it. We did this by erasing out any clips we didn't want, and inserted non-digetic music for the background and digetic sounds of footsteps etc.

Research and Planning: Conventions

The coursework this year will give me more of a challenge compared to last year where i produced a front cover, contents page and double-page spread.


A teaser trailer should be around 30 seconds long, no more than 90. It gives an idea of the plot but doesn't give the whole story away. They are usually fast paced and leave the audience wanting to see more.


Here is an example of what i think is a good trailer; however, it would be almost impossible to work towards, because of the such high budget, props and the face that it is too realistic.





Here is another example of a good teaser trailer that i would like to strive towards. I think this would be possible to get ideas from and work towards the high quality and editing:







The conventions of a teaser trailer:

• Production/Distribution Company
• Slogan
• Date
• Music
• Voice over
• Stars/Director/Producer
• Part narrative
• Text

The conventions of my selected genre - horror:

• Fast pace
• Action
• Low Key lighting
• Shadows
• Screaming digetic sounds
• Explosion digetic sounds
• Child like non-digetic sounds
• Closeups
• Flashing images
• Weapons
• Blood

Research and Planning: Audience Theories

The Hypodermic Syringe Model -  Messages are injected straight into the brain.


Cultivation Theory - Assumes we are brought up to think a certain way by the media.


Desensitisation Theory - As we get older we become less affected by issues.


Copycat Model - This theory is assuming that we copy things off the media, but there is no evidence to support this.


Uses and gratifications Theory - This means that we take from the media what we want and seek our own pleasure.

Research and Planning: Analysis of Teaser Trailer 2

Media Language

• This teaser trailer starts with a few images of dark, dull, long shots of worn down buildings. All of a sudden, you hear breathing, and a slight echoey, underground-like sound. A person comes running out from the right side, and the camera cuts sharply to many different shots and angles of the dark outline of the character; mid shots, long shots, eyeline and low angles.
• Then a car comes up behind the man, as he is looking back, and they are getting closer and closer. He runs to one of the buildings that we saw pictured at the beginning, and the men in the cars quickly exit their vehicles and chase after him; however, he must of locked the doors as they can't get into the building.
• We see fast pace camera movent and shots, of all the characters' facial expressions, all with low key lighting, which is almost hard to figure out what is happening on screen.
• In contrast to all the fast pace, we then see a shot of a male character lighting what looks like a big fire ball, maybe even in slightly slow motion. This is the first bit of light we see and it is very bright, which suggests it is getting interesting.
• The sound becomes louder as we hear smashing and shouting.
• As we are about half way through the trailer, there are subtitles for the film, 'From Producer Michael Bay'. This is in red font and a black background, which shows exactly what genre the film is -Horror.
• There is a non diagetic sound after this clip, of a gun shot. The sound then replicates after each scene that follows. I think this adds effect and shows the continuity on the film. Within this, is a woman telling a story of a reoccuriung dream she is having, with images popping up to go with this.
• We then see a wipe, and there is 'Elm St' pictured on what looks like a street sign. There is non diagetic music at this point of child-like music, which we also heard in my first teaser trailer i analysed. As this is playing, we see shots of the street with only light from a street lamp and an image of a distant house. We then see the house closer up, with inludes shadows, making it look scary. We then see a scene with thousands of candles lit on the floor.
• There are many other images fading in and out, of different things, juts hints of what is in the film, to get the tension from the audience built up, for them to want to watch it and be wondering what is going to happen. There are close ups and mid shots to show the expressions. There are tracks,
• One clip is where a male says, 'Don't fall asleep'. We then see a scene of a girl in her bed and someone trying to get her to wake up.

Research and Planning: My September Podcast