Animatic of storyboard

Animatic created on slidely :
griff williams's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow

Actors list

Matthew
Brandon
Rory
Lydia
William

Font choices

Here are the four fonts that I am considering using for my film poster and magazine;

For my main texts I am planning on using one or two of these fonts because I want the poster to stand out to the audience by using a bold, sans serif font because this will make the name of the film be clear and obvious to the audience. I've decided to use a font that has an eroded them attatched to it because this connotes a sense of violence, drama and action which are 3 elements I want to include in my film trailer.
After looking at numerous styles of fonts I have narrowed it down to these four styles because I think they best convey my genre. Research in the build up to this has enabled me to identify which fonts are unsuitable for my genre by looking at the font styles that other genres of films such as comedies use in comparison to the types of font that other films from the same genre as mine such as 'Kidulthood' use;

A similar, bold sans serif font is used by this film, this is because it is suitable for the genre and connotes the general themes of the film. I have looked at the font choices of other similar films and used them to influence my font choice.

Props and costume

I am not planning on using a large amount of props for my film trailer because they are not particularly necessary for my genre.
Below are some notable props/costume

1.Bloodstained t-shirt

However, I am using this blood stained t-shirt to connote the sense of danger and violence which are to themes I want to be able to convey in my film trailer.

2.Distinctive 'parka' coat

This is the type of coat that the key protagonist will be wearing in the majority of the scenes to portray his character and to enable him to be easily recognised, I think its a suitable costume choice for the character's personality and emphasises themes such as 'cold' and 'loneliness'.

Key learning points

-Helped me think about use of props and costume

-Considered how they could be used in my trailer

Plot synopsis

Plot synopsis

An adolescent teen who has had a rough upbringing finds himself in a life of crime & violence after a series of unfortunate events. He has always had it tough from a young age-his dad dying, leaving just him and his distant widowed Mother, he’s been a victim of bullying and being picked on for most of his school days and now his Mother has found a new partner, she no longer has the time for him anymore, with his mother becoming increasingly distant , the bullying and his Father’s death all becoming too much, the boy stumbles across a group of people who claim that they can help him feel a sense of belonging again, little does he know that he is now entering a life of crime and violence, for a short time they make him feel happy, as if he’s made some friends that finally care about him and can make him feel that sense of belonging that he’s never had, but in the long term, his new found lifestyle leads to things only getting worse; he finds himself without  a home after his distant Mother abandons him to leave with her new partner who has no time for kids, leaving him nothing but a note behind. Now left with almost nothing, his destructive lifestyle goes from bad to worse when the people who he thought were his friends begin to threaten him with violence so he will do things that he doesn’t want to do. The violence becomes a reality after he loses a significant amount of money that they had received from one of their criminal activities. His new ‘Friends’ discover from this that he is weak and and not very strong-willed so they begin to exploit this through hostile threats and insults and manipulate him into thinking that he's their friend. One day, the boy comes across a girl who used to go to his school, a quiet girl who he didn’t know very well but they were both mildly acquainted, she sees that he is in a state and offers him some support, comfort and sympathy for him. But he insists that he is fine, though her suspicions grow and he ends up telling her all about his dire situation. The pair become very close and the boy doesn’t see his new ‘friends’ very often anymore, then one day, after weeks of not seeing or communicating with them, him and the girl come across the group, she attempts to reason with them, but they take the boy away to a derelict location and this time it’s serious. The girl follows them from a distance and when it dawns on her what his going to happen she informs the police. When the group can hear the sound of sirens while  the boy is being savagely beaten, they scarper and the boy is not troubled by them again. The girl allows him to stay with her family for a short while and offers a lot of support. But the boy’s past his something he will never forget.

Risk assesment and Permissions

 Before beginning my filming, I need to consider some factors and fill out a risk assesment to ensure that the areas in which I will be filming are appropriate. Below is a table illustrating shot timings and risk assesment

Shot and Location	Potential Hazards and risks		Action to be taken
Shot 1,2,3 Gawsworth church yard	Potentially upsetting mourners Slipping over		Inform bishop to see when the best time to film is Be aware of slippy surfaces
Shot 3,4 Upton alleyway	Members of the public		Inform people in surrounding area of filming
5,6,7 Classroom	Interrupting class		Ask where the best place to film is without disrupting a class
8,9 My house-side of house	Potential interruptions from neighbours/family members		Inform neighbours and family members
10,11 My house-Kitchen	Potential interruptions from family		Inform family
12,13,14 Train underpass	Members of public Will be dark		Ensure that I go with other people Inform people of filming reasons
14,15,16 Sparrow Park	Members of public		Inform people/council of filming reasons.
17 Area near sparrow park	Members of public		Inform people/council of filming reasons.
18,19 Train underpass (ability to make it seem like a different location)	Members of public Will be dark		Ensure that I go with other people Inform people of filming reasons
20,21,22 West park crematorium-garden area	Potential risk of invading space of mourners/members of public		Gain permission from crematorium
23,24 Different area of west park crematorium garden area		Potential risk of invading space of mourners/members of public		Gain permission from crematorium
25,26,27 Train underpass		Members of public Will be dark		Ensure that I go with other people Inform people of filming reasons

Doing a risk assesment ensures that I am aware of any potential hazards and outlines what I can do to avoid these potential hazards becoming a problem.

Scripting my trailer

In todays lesson we looked at how trailers are scripted, we examined the use of voice overs vs the use of dialogue. We looked at a teaser and theatrical trailer for the film 'gone girl' and annotated the teaser script for gone girl;

Theatrical
  
In comparison to the teaser trailer the choice of music is a lot more suited to what we are seeing on screen, whereas the teaser trailer uses music that is contrapuntal to what we are seeing on screen, I think this makes a drastic change to what the audience feels emotionally, there is a much more sinister sense to the film trailer. There is a lot of dialogue in this trailer, the entire narration of the film trailer is conducted through the character's dialogue which is something I need to consider when scripting my trailer because I am planning on doing a theatrical trailer so I should think about how I am going to script my trailer to ensure that the dialogue is able to fill the time and have an effective narrative. As with the teaser there is no use of voice over, the film's narrative is shown completely through the dialogue of the characters and through what we see on screen, I think the music is also influential in the narrative of the film because of the sinister atmosphere it creates

Teaser



 The narrative in this teaser trailer is mainly portrayed through very subtle and limited dialogue through what we see on screen. The only intertitles used are at the end which effectively show the name of the film and fade in and out in time with the music and ending dialogue, though there isn't use of intertitles to actually show a narrative of the film itself. The scripting in this trailer establishes the situation between the characters in the film, the opening line gives details of what we assume to be the main theme of the film, the second piece of dialogue shows that there is clearly some sort of disagreement and the third and final area of dialogue where he claims not be have killed his wife or be a murderer suggests that he may have actually killed his wife. The dialogue in this trailer is very limited but it is able to be used subtly to portray a good storyline so the audience can conjure up ideas of what they think the film is going to be about. It is interesting that this film is able to be effectively engaging without the use of intertitles or voice over and limited dialogue.

Looking at these film trailers and analysing their scripting and how they convey their narrative has given me an insight as to what I should consider before scripting my trailer, below are some details of how my trailer will be scripted;

Intertitles
I am going to mainly use dialogue from the characters to portray my film narrative because I’ve noticed that most of the social realism film trailers that I study don’t use intertitles to portray their narrative because it is a mainly dialogue driven genre when it comes to following a storyline, though there is regular use of quotes from film reviewers that are used to make people aware of the high ratings so they are encouraged to want to see the film, although, I don’t think I will use any intertitles other than the name of the film because I think that intertitles are generally used to over-dramatize something, I want to just keep mine realistic and simple.

Dialogue
The dialogue will be used to convey drama and to tease the audience into thinking of questions about what has been said 

''I'm fine''
''You're going to do what I tell you, or else''
''What did we tell you''
''We've had just quite enough of your lies''
''Just leave me alone''
''I don't want to be a part of this anymore

Voice over

I am going to use a voice over at the beginning of the trailer to help establish some details about the key protagonist’s life experiences so the audience can gain an understanding in to the background of the key protagonist, I feel this is necessary because it is vital that the audience can recognise that the character has not had it easy.

Key learning points
This post helped me plan what I wanted the characters to say in the trailer, it meant that I could plan a script that effectively told a narrative and followed a good storyline rather than being overly spontaneous in a way that would make the scripting ineffective and not follow a clear storyline.

Fonts and Colours

In today's lesson we looked at some different styles of fonts and examined whether or not they are acceptable for a film poster and to see if they would fit in to any particular genre, we were given the task of organising our favourite fonts in order of which we thought would be the most effective fonts on a film poster, I thought that the font 'Trajan' was the most effective because it looked like it actually belonged on a film poster whereas many of the fonts just seemed like they should be in a textbook or a leaflet promoting dogging, is is a serif font that has been used on film posters such as 'The Titanic' and 'Thor' so it is clearly a font that is used on film posters to properly market the film

Other fonts such as 'Comic sans' are not suitable for a film poster because they look taccy and are never seen on film posters because of this, the fonts that were'nt chosen are generally considered as boring fonts that would be commonly used commonly on something like microsoft word rather than an eye catching film poster. This enabled me to look at different fonts and recognise which are the most popular fonts and what genre they would fit in to, which will be helpful when deciding on fonts for my film poster.

Below are some brief analysis' of film posters and their use of fonts and colour (over over dots to view points)

Taken;

Steve jobs film;

Key learning points
From this blog post I have learned about the key elements of film posters; fonts and colours which has been useful in influencing  my ideas for film posters because I have looked at what fonts 'belong' on a film poster and what fonts I should potentially avoid to make sure my poster is of a good quality standard and I have also researched and looked at the generic types of text seen on film posters for different genres so I can see what font I should think about using for my own film poster, It has also taught me about the use of colour on film posters which is also vital in the role it plays in conveying a genre and being able to make the poster stand out so it is more eye-catching

Location details and photos

Before filming my trailer, I need to be able to consider some locations for filming to ensure that I am thinking about conveying my genre and keeping consistency and justification in my choice of locations. I am mainly going to use urban and suburban and derelict areas to convey a style working class, northern England, I have a number of locations in my head that can communicate my aims for the film trailer themes and I now need to go out and take some location shots so I can show that I have a clear understanding of my choices of locations and show that I have thought about how they are going to fit my themes and genre effectively.

Interior shots
exterior shots
The majority of my shots will be exterior because I think this is how I will be able to best convey the themes of my chosen genre, this is because there are a number of exterior locations in Macclesfield that are run down, derelict or not in use which I think will be very beneficial for me being able to communicate the themes within my genre

Upton alleyway#1

Upton alleyway#2

These locations are good because they convey the themes and connotations of run down, working class areas which we see in many British social realism films, which is something I want to be able to establish in my film trailer. I am only going to use these locations for shots that link one scene to another, there will be no dialogue or notable action, but I think these kind of shots work well in a film trailer.
These locations are normally quiet so I shouldn't have much of an issue with the members of the public, however I need to be aware of this possibility that members of the public could be concerned as to why I am filming there.

West park cremetorium

West park cremetorium

West park cremetorium

West park cremetorium

West park cremetorium
This location is good because they are quiet meaning that background noise shouldn't be much of an issue and it also helps convey a sense of calm-potentially a calm before the storm kind of atmosphere I can also access a number of different shots in the same location and make it look as if I am in a different location which means it has ample filming conditions.

Although, the area in which it is filmed could potentially mean there are people there reminiscing, who may be upset if I film there. So I would need to go there at a time where it is likely to be quiet and also inform the person that is in charge of cremetorium activities.

Establishing shot from sparrow park

Sparrow park

Near sparrow park

Sparrow park
I like this location because it is the kind of place where you might expect there to be a sense of hostility or tension in a drama or social realism film. It is an ideal place to film because it is quiet in terms of both sound and volume of people that go there, it is also in a location that enables me to get some establishing shots of the urban town area because there are some good views to be seen from here.
Again, the main issue with this location is members of the public because, although it is a quiet area, there is always a good chance that there are going to be people there so I need to ensure that the council and anyone that is in that location is informed of my purpose for being there

Train underpass

Train underpass
 This location is good because it is well lit up at night which is when I want to film there, so I don't have to worry about lighting too much, it also has a very sinister vibe to it, which is something I want to be able to establish in my film trailer because this will be a location where bad things happen. It is the kind of location where you would expect something bad to happen, though in reality it isnt a very dangerous area so there isn't a high risk of running in to trouble when filming there that might be expected.

Main issues are ambient sound and people-due to the fact that it is under a train station, there is likely to be some loud noise from trains-so I will need to be aware of when the trains are setting off and making noise. Also, it is a well used underpass-as you can see in the photos, there are people walking past because I couldn't really get a shot where there weren't people in the shot-this could be challenging to avoid, but informing people should avoid this.

Key learning points 
This is the first blog post which has meant i've had to go out and look at potential locations and photograph the ones that I think will work best in my film trailer, It has made me think about how I can use each location to convey the themes of my genre in terms of the connotations that the locations give off. This blog post has made it more clear to me what locations should be used in my film trailer because I've been able to go out, look at locations and compare what they connote in comparison to other films similar to my genre.

Film trailer music

In today's lesson, I looked at some different styles of music and how they would suit different genres, how a piece of music fits a genre depends on a number of factors, we were set a task in which we had to guess which music track fitted with which genre. We had to listen for certain key parts of the music that help to convey the genre such as; is it major or minor, instruments, pace, sound effects and the connotations of what we hear, this will be useful when choosing the right music to fit my genre because it will help me to be able to recognise the typical soundtracks that should and shouldn't be used in a trailer to help suit the themes, conventions and genre.



Music is vital for the film being able to convey its genre because if a film trailer has the wrong type of music, it's going to connote the wrong type of genre unless it is being used contrapuntally, so it is important that the film trailer uses music that fits in with the conventions of their film, for example an uplifting film is likely to have major melodies and sound generally happy whereas a sad perhaps mournful film is likely to contain minor chords in the music, because the different styles of music create different kinds of moods for example horror trailers are likely to use 'eeri' and 'creepy' music using screaching violins or synthesized keyboard chords to create a sense of dramatic tension and make the audience feel this tension through the fear provoking soundtracks alongside what is happening on film.

I've looked at An article by the guardian that outlines some details about film trailer music, the article explains how trailer music is there to complement what we see on the the screen and to help emphasise the mood and themes however it is not always composed espec=
Horror films

                  
This horror trailer is interesting because it begins with some contrapuntal music that implies that all is well and there is nothing about to go wrong, it's all fairly happy and upbeat in the style of a home movie, this establishes a juxed opposition atmosphere where there is an equilibrium through the use of a typical pop song, but then at around 40seconds in to the trailer the music changes to the typical horror style of music. So the change in music establishes a disequilibrium and that something bad is about to happen.
The instruments used in this trailer create a very intense and spine-chilling atmosphere; the use of synthesized chords on a keyboard to build up the tension is very eeri and emphasises the level of suspense greatly, there are also two keys on the keyboard being played as the suspense begins to build which evokes tension and hostility. The use of screeching string instruments become louder and louder when there is a piece of enigmatic action, (1minute and 37seconds in) everytime there is a piece of jump-action the echoing string instruments explode in to a half second long burst of eeri music, which adds a large amount of drama to what we see on screen. This film trailer follows the typical musical conventions of a horror film which enables it to effectively portray its genre to its audience. I think the most effective aspect of the choice of music is the way that there is no consistency in the music; there is a lot of stopping and starting and a varied range of sounds, there is a sound of something that sounds like air being sucked through a straw, violins and synthesized keyboards, this creates a large sense of suspense and I find that it puts the audience on edge because it inflicts fear in to the audience in the way it has numerous explosions of eeri sounds and also the way in which instruments are used to build up the suspense that leads to the musical jump scare.

Film realism/Realistic drama


The music in this film trailer follows what we see on screen, the music isn't the most important factor for a film however with this genre because it is mainly about the dialogue so the audience can gain an understanding of the storyline, but it does follow the mood of what is happening on the screen, during the beginning where the mood is a lot more upbeat because he's making friends the music is also a lot more upbeat and then when the mood changes to more angry we hear a punk track which is connotational to the skinhead culture in the time which this film is set, then towards the end there is a more downbeat acoustic track which impacts the mood greatly and makes the audience realise that a problem has occurred, it contrasts the music that was being played over before and emphasises the dark side of skinhead culture by going from this angry punk rock track to a mellow, mournful acoustic track that connotes sadness, so there are three tracks in this trailer which all create a different mood;first upbeat and happy, then angry punk rock, then a downbeat mellow acoustic track, there are no fancy special effect sounds that we would expect to see in a horror, just tracks played over what we see on screen that very simply reflects the mood on screen effectively and powerfully. Since this is my chosen genre I am going to look in to more detail about these film trailers and their choice of music and take inspiration from them.

Choice of music

Narrative structure of trailers

I've looked at the generic  narrative structure of film trailers to help me gain an understanding of the structure of film trailers and what structure they should all follow;
according to the website filmmakermagazine.com 
film trailers should follow a three-act structure; Act one will introduce the films' characters and environment meaning that we gain an understanding of the protagonist and their surroundings, so we gain an insight in to their character's personality and the type of life they live
Act two should have an element of complication or distruption to the protagonist's life which outlines the plot and something that the protagonist has to overcome. Act three intensifies the conflict and emphasise tension/excitement/humour

Tvetan Todorov
 A Franco-Bulgarian philosopher claimed all stories had a basic structure based on an equilibrium, meaning a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced. He came up with the term 'narratology' which means to look at units of meaning in a text.

So a traditional/Hollywood narrative would go as followed;

-Equilibrium (sense of order/calm)

-A disruption of this equilibrium by an event
-A realisation that a disruption has happened
-An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption
-A restoration of the equilibrium which may be a new or changed one.

The narrative is created through attempts to restore the euquilibrium, most films end with an equilibrium if they are following the traditional hollywood film structure, although the ending equilibrium will not be the same as the previous equilibrium because the chain of events in the film have distrupted the original equilibrium.

 Rolan Barthes 
A French critic who identified '5 codes of narrative'

Hermeneutic/Enigma code-a mystery within a text where clues are given but there is no clear answer which Poses questions or enigmas which provide narrative suspense which makes the audience want to know more Unravelling of these codes and thinking about these questions posed by events provide viewing pleasure. So it is important for the narratives of films to be able to follow an engaging storyline that the audience can follow so they are asking themselves questions about the enigmatic mystery, the film essentially should frustrate the audience because they want to know what is going to happen.

Proairetic/action code-this element should add suspense to the text, it should involve the important areas of action.

Semantic code-The areas that provide different or separate meanings, there should be an extra layer of meaning. This is a useful element to have in film trailers because it suggests that there is a hidden meaning to something within the text, which makes the audience want to know more.

Symbolic code-This is about the symbolism within the film, use of stereotypes and different types of characters or groups of people contrasting with each other can create drama and tension or provide the foundations for the storyline of a film.

Referential code-This element refers to anything within the film that refers to anything external to the film itself such as scientific and historical knowledge.

  Claude Levi-Strauss 
 Argued meaning in narratives based on binary opposites, he was less interested in the arrangement (syntagmatic) of the narrative than the deeper meaning (paradigmatic) of themes.
Binary oppositions-opposite values that reveal the structure of media texts, they are based upon tension and conflict between two contrasting types of characters.

 Definitions of narrative
  Narrative:  The story  - what happens or what is depicted, this refers to actions, events and characters.

  Narration: How the story is told, how the information is presented to viewers, for example visual style and point of view the story is told from.
  Restricted narration – when we see an event through the viewpoint of only one person. This can add surprise as we only discover events alongside them 
Omniscient narration – when we see events from multiple viewpoints. This can add suspense as we are privy to information other characters are not

Key learning points
 So it is clear from doing this research in to the narrative structure of films and film trailers that there are multiple generic elements that many films follow in their representation of their storyline, there should be a number of elements that film trailers must include to enable them to be able to incorporate an engaging storyline; the theorists that I have looked at have provided the elements that should be included in a film such as the aspects that create an effective narrative such as conflict, equilibriums/disequilibriums/new equilibriums, establishing mysteries and questions and create tension and drama through binary opposites.