Shot Explained:Shot of the Villain

For the final shot of my trailer, i decided to have a build up in tension to a eventual reveal of the villain, used to create drama and therefore continued interest from a viewer. When composing this shot i felt that it was important for it to be a low angle camera angle, and this is in order to show the power that the villain has to the audience. The dark fraem sets the scene and the rain enhances the scene, as usually in film the rain represents death and mourning. The rain effect also serves to immerse the audience in the film, as the rain hitting the camera and creating the dots on the frame works well for the purpose of immersion.

Actors and Why i chose them

I have chosen Kyle as a actor as he has had previous experience acting in many of school productions, and i decided to make him the main character. Zhongwei Zhao was my choice of villain as he has the general build of a villain, with broad shoulders to be reflective of iconic slasher villain that my own villain takes inspiration from. Also his personality fits in the sense of he is quiet and does not speak much, perfect for the silent but deadly murderer i need in my trailer.

Trailer Name: Tenebris

I have chosen the name of my trailer to be Tenebris. I decided to choose this name for several reasons. Firstly,  wanted a name that would fit well with the tone of the movie, but is not cliche, sounding something like, "revenge" or "murder". To do this i looked at languages like latin and ancient greek, making sure that they were appropriate to the film's tone and easy to remember so the audience can remember the name clearly from the trailer when the movie is released. Tenebris translates to dark from latin, so i thought it was ideal to represent the very essence of the movie, the dark and gloomy tone.

Shot Explained: Moon in the forest

This is my second shot in the trailer, and i chose this shot as it not only works as a establishing shot, it also serves to create a dark atmosphere. Firstly, the trees in the foreground signify the forest location well, as it shows a dense treetop. Additionally, the colours here work to establish the tone, with the trees being bathed in the darkness of night to symbolise the dark and creepy location of the film. The moon light works really well as a source of natural lighting as it is bright enough to stand out in the background, but not enough that it makes the trees look anything other than black. The sky too helps as it is a very dark and murky grey which is ideal for allowing the branches to stand out, as if the sky was pitch black it would diminish the effect of the treetops in the dark.

I-movie trailer draft

When developing my trailer, i decided to create two storyboards, one physical copy, in order to remind myself of shots i needed to do, and a second draft storyboard on I-movie, and the purpose of this one was to for part of a flexible storyboard that can accurately give me timeframes for shots as well as audio effects such as music, making it easier to prepare and even replace shots accurately.

Trailer Style models: The Blair Witch Project

I have taken some inspiration in my trailer form the Blair witch project, mainly in the form of a setting in a forest. A forest works as a setting as it creates a sense of isolation around the characters, especially in a horror movie. I could also use the signature found footage style that the movie made famous, particularly later on in my trailer. The use of the first person found footage style helps with audience immersion, and if done correctly can be used to create effective tension.

Shot Explained: Establishing shot of City

This is the opening shot of my trailer, and i used this as a establishing shot, as the entire purpose of that type of shot are to set the scene for the trailer, letting the audience know exactly where and even when it is set. I chose to use the liver building in my shot due to the instant recognition from people in and around Merseyside, though i could improve this with some text explaining exactly where this is for people across the world who are likely unfamiliar with the building. i also added sound effects to this shot that are traffic based. This is important as in my original shot, i was shooting from over the river, so i could not get the traffic sound from the city, so i had to use the i-movie sound effects instead, which still work and are appropriate for the shot.

1st Draft Trailer: Things i did well

My first draft of my trailer helped give me an idea of the things i did well and i should expand on in the future of my trailer project. I believe that i did well with my establishing shots, although these could be expanded to be more scenic and in the case of the shot of the building, more stable. I also feel i generally used the sound clips well, adding appropriate music and sounds for particular shots.

Trailer characters

the characters featured in my trailer will be as follows:

• Main Protagonist-Kyle Dos santos
• Vilain-Zhongwei Zhao
• Narrator- as of now undecided

The Main protagonist will feature in many of the shots early in the trailer, and this is for the audience to gather that this is the main character the film will be following.

The villain will be featured more towards the end of the trailer, and will be in the many ominous shots where there is a atmosphere of tension, as well as the major action shots as he is the one wielding the prop weapon.

The narrator will be used to create a bleak mood, with dialogue that is very morbid, following the atmosphere i intend to create.

Trailer Style models: Friday the 13th

The film Friday the 13th has provided a heavy inspiration in elements of my film, but i have also avoided certain weaknesses in that film that i feel would not be appropriate enough in a modern horror movie. Firstly, i have taken perhaps the most inspiration from the villain of the film Jason Vorhees. This can be seen especially in my villains outfit, with the use of a face concealing mask, a worn and old jacket, denim jeans and boots. I have also provided a murder weapon to my killer in order to further continue the inspiration.

However, i have avoided the trope in the Slasher genre of making the characters all either dumb and not realistic jocks, or women who are often used only as one dimensional murder victims and for their screams.

My Trailer Style models: Psychological Horror

Another genre of horror i looked at for style models was psychological horror. These films usually involve a constant level of tension in the atmosphere, which usually builds to very shocking moment, with notable examples being the Silence of the Lambs and the Shining. I have taken inspiration from these films in terms of my main protagonist, who the trailer will show to be a character who has mental problems as a result of a traumatic event that happened in a timeline before the movie's events.

My trailer style models: Slasher

In terms of my trailer style models, i looked to a variety of different films in the horror genre, in order to create a solid foundation of the type of trailer i want to create. I started with the classic genre, Slasher. These are perhaps the most instantaneously recognisable of the horror genre, with many iconic franchises spawning from it. I plan to take the inspiration from the most iconic part of the slasher movies, the villain. The villains are the staple of a slasher movie and take centre stage in the marketing, whether it be Jason Vorhees, Freddy Krueger or the Xenomorph to name a few. My trailers villain takes elements from Jason in terms of the costume, with a dark and grimy looking jacket, old denim jeans and boots.

1st Draft Trailer: Things to improve

When reviewing my first draft for my trailer, i found a number of elements that i could improve with it.

• Music- The music that i used was appropriate with my genre, however when the trailer approached the end, the music is disjointed with the sound effects. I will improve this by syncing the music better and using the fade out tool more effectively.
• Narrator-I believe that the start of my trailer requires accurate and appropriate narration, as it currently is very quiet at the start and a  narrator would feel appropriate over the establishing shots.
• Dialogue- This coincides with my planned narrator, as the lack of dialogue throughout makes the trailer feel empty. I plan to improve this with having the actors speak in scenes, or have the actors dub over the scene.
• Action- I believe that my trailer suffers from the fact that it has a lot of build up in the trailer, yet there is little in terms of pay off. I can solve this issue by adding more action scenes, specifically with the protagonist and the villain, something which i used briefly in the draft.

Trailer Props/costumes

The costumes are important for the other characters in the trailer, who are serving as protagonists in the story and therefore have to look distinct from the villain. Giving the civilians more casual clothing, with lighter colours and tones, makes the contrast between the darkly dressed villain apparent. the villain's look is the hardest to create, with a dark and intimidating costume required. I will also have to get a mask for the murderer, as a mask is a staple of the villain in a horror movie. It would be cheaper and less time consuming than applying makeup and other prosthetics whenever we shoot, which could be over the course of a number of days depending on the shots needed.

Trailer Locations

For my horror trailer i need locations that are suitable for the genre. The most obvious candidate for this is the graveyard near the school. This is convenient not only for its nearby location, but it is a very standard horror location. The problem with this is that it can be too cliche and uninspired. So to that end, i plan on looking at going to a park with density like Liscard and/or Tower Grounds or a beach. For the forest style park, i have taken inspiration from many slasher films of the past that often see the victims trapped in the woods with no escape. For the beach, i looked at another horror film, Jaws, as well as a number of other mediums. The beach can create great imagery and has the possibility of looking good in the film.

My chosen genre: Horror

I have chosen horror as my genre for my trailer, as i believe it is the most efficient genre for my level. First and foremost, the horror genre is relatively inexpensive to create, as it generally does not require  much CGI, especially in a old fashioned slasher film in the style of halloween and texas chainsaw massacre. Secondly, there are loads of style models for the genre, and there is even a choice about the style of horror movie, whether it is a slasher, a more psychological thriller in the style of the shining or silence of the lambs, or a more paranormal, found footage style like paranormal activity and the Blair witch project. Furthermore, it would be very easy to get the correct costumes, location and actors, especially at this time of year leading up to and around halloween.

My chosen Project: Movie trailer

For my coursework, i have chosen to work on a trailer, firstly because i already know and understand the majority of conventions needed in a trailer, both in theatrical and teaser form, and secondly because i am interested in film, and because of the huge amount of pressure that is on the trailer to market the movie successfully, especially on lower budget films with a little established fan base. I have chosen independently on this as i believe i can work more efficiently on my own, and have complete creative control of the trailer, and do not rely as heavily on others.

Trailer presentation

Music Video Song Choice

For my music video we chose the song,"a sky full of stars" by Coldplay. I did this because of the music video for the song having elements that can be replicated and altered in our own music video, as well as the piano featured in the song being accessible in school through the hall.

Preliminary Music Editing skills used

In the music video we created, we used Imovie to put all of our shots together in the video. We used transitions such as cross fade in between shots to keep the video progressing fluidly and not disjointedly. Lip syncing for the close up of our actor was edited in order to align it correctly with the song and we used filters, specifically the black and white one, and used it with the piano shot in order to reflect the colours on the piano.

Music video strengths

I believe that i generally composed my shots well with the camera angles, including the shots of the piano being played in sync with the music. I believe that our song choice was good as it allowed for the piano and differing shots to be incorporated.

Music video weaknesses

Overall i feel that my shot composition can be improved in my video, most notably with the clapping shot where there are chairs and tables in the background. This is not good as the chairs make it evident where it is being shot, and that the hand are not the centrepiece of the shot. Another improvement that could be made is the locations in general, with the locations being all based in and around the school, as well as the lip syncing in some areas of the video.

Music video Preliminary task