Filming Day Four

Tonight's filming session we choose to start filming the more bloody scenes. Unfortunately we underestimated the amount of time needed for tonight's filming, so was only able to achieve a few scenes. With our limited amount of time we focused mostly on the close-ups, extreme close-ups of Alex with blood on her face and extreme close-ups of Alex screaming which we could use in the trailer. Due to the shots we were shooting being used in non-consecutive order, it was vital for us to record all blood scenes in the same day, keeping continuity through the make up. We will shoot other scenes with more blood, and others with less, documenting the attacks on Alex through the trailer. We wanted to include close ups and extreme close ups of the main character to express her emotions of panic and terror so the audience can see and relate with her feelings.

We also have discussed a new opening to our trailer, although we have already filmed a couple of different ideas which are usable. Sam came up with an idea to film the opening with the couple in daytime outside the house taking down a 'Sold' sign. This would give the audience the impression of that a couple is newly embarking on living together with an unknown future ahead of them. But it also offers a contrast in the trailer as our main story is taken place in the evening/nightime. Again helping to emphasis what we have scene in previous horror trailers with the perfect, picturesque opening, to then follow with a darker story. This idea is inspired by other horror films, because going somewhere unknown or moving into a new home is unfamiliar and possibly mysterious. When we were discussing the idea of our main characters moving into a new house as the opening, Kathryn was reminded of a film she's once seen, the 2005 Amityville Horror, where a couple move into a new house that has a dark past.

In terms of the music for our trailer we have had a few initial ideas chucked around. One idea is to have the opening piano from Adele's, "Hometown Glory" during the beginning shots of the teaser trailer. A possible backing track for the heart of the trailer would be some music from the film Inception, with the repeated bellow, the only problem is this music becomes too "actiony" we really need to find suitable music so we do not loose the whole effect of the trailer. We also need to start considering how we are going to link the 2 music peices together because you run the risk of ruining the suprise the trailer gives.

Revised Production Schedule

Due to unforseen circumstances, we were prevented from filming this week because of the snow. We have however, spoken as a group and rearranged our schedule to hopefully catch up and fit in the scenes we should have filmed. This may mean that our filming will be prolonged and we may have to add an extra in order to get it all done.

Quality Control

Looking back at our indoor footage, as our collection of shots is starting to grow, we have realised that some of the shots look a bit grainy, as if there isn't a lot of light and the camara can't pick up the picture properly. This problem is that this is in some of the well lit scenes, which has made us come to believe that it is infact a problem we are going to have to accept because of the camaras we are using. Although it works for some of our footage, it does seem to hinder the quality of others and makes the footage look more amatuer, which was something we were hoping to avoid.

Filming Day Three- Outdoor shots!

We filmed again this evening and are really pleased with our progress. After today we will only need one or two more filming sessions which is great because then we'll be able to focus all of our time on editing which is even more important in creating an effective and professional looking trailer. Today we filmed the opening scene to our teaser trailer. We wanted it to begin with an everyday scene because when we were watching and researching other horror trailers, we noticed a pattern that they all began with a perfect and idealistic life then suddenly something disturbing or terrifying happens. We think the juxtaposition is an effective way to scare the audience. We also noticed that many horror teaser trailers started quite slow, then the editing got quicker and quicker, leading up to a dramatic climax. Also the fast editing matches the beating of the heartbeat, making it speed up to make the audience feel anxious. Our trailer opens with a couple preparing dinner, with the knife block in view in the background, with one knife missing. We didn't want to make it really obvious and in your face, but it subtly sets up the story and drama to come.

Another shot we filmed today was a running scene in the garden. We had to experiment with light and camera shots to find the best one. We had many discussions over lighting because our trailer is set at night, we wanted the mise en scene to be very dark and eerie, a classic horror convention, however we needed a dim light so that the camera would pick it up, therefore we used a flood light from a distance to give a natural looking light that could have been coming from the house. Also we experimented with camera shots for the running scene; we tried hand held camera, long shots and point of view shots and during the editing process we will decide on our favourite.

Finally, we began filming the ending scenes of our trailer. We wanted to film Alex with blood on her face, however we had a limited time schedule and wanted to film all the blood scenes in one day because it will be difficult to reapply the blood exactly the same. We did however film one scene with Alex outside with blood on her hands running from the villain and finding a safe place to hide- a shed at the bottom of the garden.

Stills from footage we filmed today.

Filming Day Two

There was a large gap between our filming dates because due to snow, we weren't able to film the 2 days we planned to last week.

Today, we met up with a view to film the majority of our indoor scenes and focusing on the story with our two characters; not as before with the attacker. As we said before, it was important for us to be able to work through our scenes in as close to chronological order as possible due to the use of stage make-up and fake blood. We started our filming with our ideas on an audio perspective, focusing on the sounds we wanted to create to build upon a more scary atmosphere. This lead us to improving on our original ideas, and shooting a scene where our female character, Alex, runs into a room away from the attacker, and then realises that he i

s in fact not where she thought. The shots we used for this, developed as we tried to shoot sticking to our storyboard plan, but we changed to use more close up and extreme close up shots to convey characters emotions. Other shots we filmed today include a possible bathroom scene which we chose to do to add more locations and relate to the genre conventions of horror movies where a scene in the bathroom are common. We also filmed a dragging shot of Dean into darkness, to show a glimpse of the villain together with our characters.

A screen grab from the footage we filmed today

Progress & Planning

In today's lesson we attempted to upload the video footage from Wednesday onto the computer, however there were some minor complications and we couldn't view the filming in iMovie (the programme we will use to edit and compose our teaser trailer). After some discussions and advice from our teacher, the second attempt to upload the footage was successful. We then made 3 folders; Footage we won't use, Footage we possibly will use, and Footage we will use, and watched all the clips from Wednesday and decided which clips went in which folders. We did this because it will keep us organised and will be easier to find scenes when we need them.

We began discussing names for our film, however this will be one of the last things we decide on. We want a title that's short and snappy, and that gives away the genre without it being obvious and in your face.

Today we found out that we only have 2 more weeks and 3 more lessons to complete the filming, which at first panicked us, but then we discussed what evenings we were all free to film and also contacted our actor to make sure she could do these dates as well. We will hopefully film 4 more times, depending on how successful they are, then we will be able to fully concentrate on editing and putting together our teaser trailer!

Filming Day One

Today we finally began filming and it was a success! We filmed about 5 different scenes and will review them in our Friday lesson. We feel that our idea of a series of scary scenes, joined together by the characters and location, really worked well for our filming schedule. We each took it in turns to film parts of our trailer, and tried out various camera angles, despite what we wrote in our storyboard, to try and make the most of our location and ideas. In fridays lesson, we will compare our footage to our storyboard to check continuity, and that everything we filmed fitted our original plan. We also need to discuss our next filming session, and the shots we plan to film.

We Can Do It!

Our session today has been a step back from the production of our trailer, to support our idea with more research from horror trailers. We realised that our discussions that took place before during the research stages were not in depth enough to secure a strong narrative and plot line for our trailer. We started from scratch and made a list of all the elements we definitely did and didn't want in our trailer; we also made a list of reoccurring themes and looked at commonly used camera angles, editing, sound and mise-en-scene found in horror teaser trailers. We believe this was very helpful and now have a clearer idea of what kind of horror we want to make, and also have a good idea of what scenes we want to film to create a scary impact on the audience.

When we begin filming, I think that the footage we record will help us get an idea for how it will look and give us ideas and inspiration for what could come next. We will also be able to discuss as a group weaknesses and strengths found in our filming, and use these to make filming our trailer more successful in the future. As we play back our scenes we will be able to review them, and envisage how our trailer could be.

We have thought up some scenes, which are typical of the horror genre and carry certain conventions we want to include in our trailer. Some of our ideas were:
* Attic - Which is Dark, Closed, and could house anything the imagine can think of, it is something 99% of the audience have so it really can be used to play on the viewers mind as that could be led to think that ANYTHING could be there.
* Child - ghost, missing, possessed, Children portrait the thought of innocence and purity, so any kind of backlash that the usual perpective is something that is creepy or scary.
* Hanging out the washing(daily chores) hand grabs through the sheet. Just the usual mondane everyday part of life that is meant to go according to plan. so something to happen can be used to make the audience jump.
* Fridge - magnets, mystery meat substance, heart. some kind of body part / organic material makes the audience feel squeemish, but requires a really good product or runs the risk of looking cheap, tacky and completely ruins the mood.
* Dragging - character screaming and crying being dragged backwards into darkness, gives the thought of weakness and vulnerability as you cannot fight off your attacker, so you are at the will of his/her way.
* Crying - sounds and extreme close up
* Person in the background - scary figure, gives the audience the "chills" an unknown person/entity behind people always puts people on the edge.
* Possession - comepletely at the will of the possessor, people do not like the idea of being controlled.
* Distortion
* Loud noises / sudden bang - very effective at giving the suprised effect, making people "jump" and puts them out of their comfort zone.
* Knife - weapon scene, the villain.
* Point of view shots -victim and attacker
* Shadows
* Fast editing
* Blurred lines
* Faced paced, fade through black

Taking A Step Back

Today well all met up with the aim to begin the filming of our trailer. However due to unforseen circumstances, one of our actors was unable to attend leaving us with minimal scenes avaliable to be filmed. As a group we discussed the best use of our time, and decided to use it in a bid to finalise our views for how the trailer should be filmed, and the best techniques to use. This therefore, resulted in us not collecting any footage this evening. However, we don't feel that this is a major set back as we had a chance to consider the views of all team members whilst in our film setting, and so we could visualise it a lot more. As we discussed the technical details of our plotline, it became more obvious to us that our film might lack the shock/jump factor that would really enhance the viewers experience and make our trailer all the more scary. This has prompted us to do more research into what makes a truly terrifying trailer. In Friday's lesson, we intend to look at existing horror trailers, and note down what exactly we find the most scary points of each one. Once we have done this, I think it will be much easier for us to add the horror aspects to our own trailer.

Production Schedule

This is our production schedule. We have discussed dates that we can all make and that our also suitable for our actress. Wednesday evenings work well for us and so this is when most of our footage will be filmed, as due to the location and lighting we need for our trailer, filming during lesson time is not feasible.

Script

In a group discussion, we decided against writing a script. This is because when we looked back over our teaser trailer research, we noticed that because they are very short and just a taster of the film, not much dialogue is used. Instead many used voice overs or text to add more information. We are not sure yet whether to include either of these elements to our teaser trailer, first we'll edit the trailer, and if we think our story isn't clear or something is needed, we may add in a voice over or text. Also, we agreed that we didn't want scripted dialogue, we'd prefer to let our actors know what we want conveyed in the speech, but for the actors to ad lib because it makes the dialogue more natural and realistic. We believed this was important in our genre of horror film because the more realistic it is, the more the audience will relate and feel the fear of the characters.

Micro elements for our horror trailer/ Storyboard

Today we drew out a rough storyboard. We want to include many shots that are vital to the horror genre. Here are some examples of camera shots and editing techniques we will include:

• We want to use close ups because they are seen a lot in horror films and trailers for many reasons; close ups of characters faces are used to clearly show their emotions, e.g. fear. Also close ups are used to give a sense of enclosed space and entrapment which makes the audience feel closer to the action, therefore scaring them more by feeling like their in the film with the characters experiencing the terror. Also, part of the scariness of a close up is that you are focused on a small part of a bigger scene, the viewer can't see the bigger picture, therefore it causes the fear of the unknown.
• We will use point of view shots because they are also often in horror films for more than one reason. A point of view shot from the victims is commonly used because it lets the audience to really get in the characters shoes and allows them to empathise with them, therefore they feel similar emotions to what the characters would feel, making them scared. Point of view shots from the villains perspective are used to make the viewer feel uneasy because they are usually used to convey that the villain is watching the unsuspecting victims. It also gives the audience more information than the characters because they know that someone bad is lurking, unlike the characters.
• Even though the whole trailer is from inside a house, we will only film in the evening because dark lighting is a crucial element of horror films. It is used because it is mysterious and doesn't allow the whole image to be seen clearly, therefore you don't know what could be there; it makes it easier for people and other things to go unnoticed.
• Our trailer will be fast paced as all teasers trailers, especially horror's are. The speed gets the heart racing and doesn't give too much away, you see a terrifying image, but before you know how or why, it cuts to another dramatic shot.
• For me, I think sound is one of the most important parts of any horror film and trailer because no matter how scary the image is, it doesn't create quite as big an impact if it is not backed up by a sudden, loud or eerie noise. In my experience of watching horror films, even when I'm hiding behind my hands, I still manage to jump out of my seat or scream at a well done horror film and this is because of the sound. We want to use music that builds up anticipation and tension then make the audience jump by using a quick, sudden sound.

We discussed as a group what we wanted out trailer to roughly look like and what camera angles and shots we wanted to use. We drew a storyboard and wrote the shots beside each drawing as a guide to what our trailer will be. Obviously there will probably be some challenges we face and changes we make to it as we are filming. To view the storyboard we have created a page.

http://soullessproductions.blogspot.com/p/storyboard.html

Synopsis

Whilst a happy teenage couple enjoy an evening alone together, they don't realise that their lives are in perilous danger as an unknown figure stalks the outside of the house.

Alex and her boyfriend Dean are a normal, everyday couple on a seemingly regular day when Dean notices somebody lurking outside. They are just cooking dinner together and having a laugh but when Alex reveals that she has been receiving a recurring odd email, things take a turn for the worse. The email only reads the days date. When they hear some bangs and other odd noises they think its just a prank by a friend but as more happens, it becomes more suspicious. When things start moving or go missing they then realise that this person is in the house; they can't decide whether they dare to escape, risking if he'd be out there waiting? Do they hide and just wait hope help will come? They realise that it's the emailer but they don't know what the figure wants with them, are they there to hurt them or just scare them but they soon find out.

The invader keeps scaring them by leaving messages on mirrors and notes and signs of his intentions with photos and pictures of the couple altered in horrifying ways. They never know where he is or where he'll come from but he always finds where they're hiding and knows what their doing no matter what. So they demand the person to confront them but when the hooded character shows himself they wish they hadn't as the attacker vents their unknown fury upon them. The savage attack is unexpected, unrelenting and unstoppable. The attacker is stopping them from escaping so they must try to keep running and hiding.

As their looking for a way out, Alex realises that Dean is missing, she is all alone and the sole victim of the evil of the attacker. She then finds Deans phone which has a film on, as she watches she sees that its Dean, bound, gagged and tortured. She tries to get out the back door but struggles to work the key with her shaking hands as she hears the attacker approach, she finally escapes to the garden. Now Alex has to do whatever it takes to survive and she must make the ultimate decision when either Dean or her life is about to end.

WRITE ABOUT OUR USP BEING THAT OUR FILM IS BASED AROUND TECHNOLOGY (EMAIL) WHICH IS CURRENT AND MODERN ETC. AND IT TARGETS OUR TARGET AUDIENCE (TEENS- YOUNG ADULT, YOUTUBE GENERATION, WEB 2.0)

The Villain

Creating the perfect scary and believable villain is a difficult, yet imperative part of a horror trailer. As we wanted to keep them realistic, we thought about a hooded youth because there is a moral panic in our society about knife crime, which is led and enhanced by the media. There are so many stories in the news about 'hoodies' and knife crime at the moment. There is also a growing popularity of a new horror sub genre, the 'hoody horror'. F, Cherry Tree Lane and Eden Lake are 'hoody horror' films, all released in 2010/2011.

Finalising ideas

Today, as a group, we decided we wanted to create a suspense/ thriller horror trailer because we like the subtlety of the horror and we are more familiar with these films. (Kathryn: The suspense horror sub genre is my personal favourite because I love how it is more suggestive and subtle, which I personally find a lot more chilling.)

We looked at trailers and watched films that are in this genre, for example The Strangers, Them and When A Stranger Calls. What made these films so frightening to the audience is that they both include normal couples in their home being tormented for no reason at all, the villain is just having some fun. The narrative ideas behind these films are so scary because it makes the audience feel it could happen to them, because the main characters are just normal people in their own homes. We believe that the scariest stories are the ones that are realistic and could happen to anyone because for eg, zombies are so far removed from everyday life, its not always as scary because its so unrealistic. So our idea for our trailer is to create a realistic story, location and especially the villain, we want them to be just a normal person. We came up with the idea of a isolated, suburban home, because it's very relateable and isolated means no escape! Isolation is a huge part of the horror genre, its a convention used in the majority of horror films because it leaves the victims alone and without help, isolated/secluded.
We want to adapt these ideas and put our own unique twist on the suspense horror genre.

We decided not to do the idea of a group of friends at a party because we didn't think it was original enough, there was no USP, so we brainstormed more ideas and finalised an idea for the synopsis which we shall soon upload on our blog. After many alterations we believe we have come up with an exciting, original and thrilling idea for our horror trailer. We also began drawing a storyboard to get an idea of shots and timing.

Ideas for the storyline

Our idea for a possible storyline is:

A group of friends at a party, just normal teens (target audience) having fun, then it gets out of control and there is someone with a weapon at the party, crazy and out for revenge, he is after this group of friends, they are isolated and have to run for their lives, fleeing to a forest, where the game really begins.

This idea came after lots of discussions about genre and making it realistic. It would been part of the sub-genre teen horror and we decided to set it at a party because that is something teenagers do, therefore making it realistic.

Target Audience

It is known that the target audience for horror films is 16-24, both genders, however I wanted to do my own research to find out if this really is the target audience. I did a survey and asked classmates, friends and family to get a wide range of ages and genders to get an accurate result.

Our small scale research solidified the target audience for horror films; both genders and 16-24. Knowing this will make us keep in mind the target audience when creating the narrative and trailer to make it appeal to the younger generation.

Genre

We looked at a range of horror sub genres in the trailers we analysed which helped us decide what type of horror we wanted to make. We thought about ever kind of horror we could do:

• Psychological horrors play on common fears and vulnerability, they mess with the mind mentally rather than graphically. They rely on a clever use of sound and subtle messages to scare the audience. Examples of psychological horror films: The Shining, Blair Witch Project, Buried.
• Slasher films always include extreme blood and violence. They most often include a serial killer or other psychotic being wielding a horrific weapon contrasted with a weak women/woman victim. Slasher's are very dramatic and rely on lots of graphic violence, screams and drama. maybe write about scream queens classic horror genre Examples of slasher horror films: Halloween, Scream, Friday the 13th.
• Zombie horror films usually set in a post-apocalyptic world with the majority of humanity turned zombie by an awful disease. There are many reasons we chose not to make a zombie film as it would be very ambitious, such as; lots of extras, extreme make up and prosthetics, special effects, and vast empty expanses. Examples of zombie horror films: 28 Days Later, Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead.
• Similarly, monster films would be very difficult because of special effects and elaborate costumes. It would be difficult on our small budget to create a monster outfit without looking cheesy and cheap. Examples of monster horror films: Dracula, Frankenstein, An American Werewolf in London, Alien, Let The Right One In.
• Supernatural (possession, poltergeist, ghost etc.) As supernatural horror films always include lots of unseen entities etc messing with humans, they include lots of effects to make inanimate objects move by themselves etc. Examples of supernatural horror films: Paranormal Activity, The Others, What Lies Beneath.
• Teen horrors are a very common sub genre of horror. It generally includes a group of friends of camping or in a secluded area getting tormented by a villain. It is a possibility as this genre is the right age range for our actors. Examples of teen horror films: Prom Night, Jeepers Creepers, Cabin Fever.
• Suspense/thrillers are a more subtle horror sub genre. They build tension through clever use of sound and are often set in one location. Examples of thriller horror films: Them, Psycho, The Strangers.
• Splatter/Torture Porn horror films are very extreme and for people with strong stomachs. Crucial elements of this sub genre is graphic violence, extreme gore and sexually suggestive. In many of these films the cause of death is unusual and horrofying with a lot of imagination. It would be difficult for us to create a low budget splatter trailer because it would be very difficult to make a deaths look realistic. Examples of splatter horror films: the Saw franchise, Hostel, Wolf Creek.

Many horror films however are hybrids and blend boundaries of their sub genre. For example Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960) was a hybrid of slasher and of course, suspense. Hitchcock was known as the master of suspense because of his brilliant, dramatic use of sound with incredible, unique camera shots such as the 'Hitchcock zoom' (named after the director) in which the foreground remains stationary while the background swells closer, creating a sensation that the world was closing in on the helpless subject. These suspense techniques combined with the classic shower scene in Psycho, that included lots of blood and violence (maybe not as much as were now used to, but for the time it was very gruesome) meant that Psycho was a hybrid horror.

Film trailer pre-production

We have used today's lesson to begin brainstorming ideas for our film trailer. We discussed possible plot idea's, and how they could work as a teaser trailer. We also started thinking of suitable locations that we could use for our trailer, and plan to go location scouting next week to take photos.

We noted down all our thoughts on this piece of paper, and took a photo to record them:

Teaser Trailer vs Full Length Trailer

What is the difference between a teaser trailer and and a full length trailer?

The main purpose for teaser trailers are simply to get a film known and out to a wide audience. They are generally created for big budget Hollywood films, to create buzz well in advance of the actual film release. Also, teaser trailers are very short- between 30 and 60 seconds- because they are simply to make people aware and to 'tease' the audience of an upcoming film. Teaser trailers are released long in advance of the actual film (it can be between 1 year and 18 months), sometimes still during production or editing, therefore sometimes have clips they don't even feature in the finished film.

However, a full length trailer reveals a lot more about the plot of the film and heightens the audiences anticipation of what is to come. A theatrical trailer is much longer than a teaser and is about 2- 3 minutes long, enough time to set up the basic plot to excite and interest the audience, without giving away any spoilers.

Example Case Study
Saw 3D, the final instalment in a series of hugely popular torture-horror films is due to be released 29^th October 2010. The teaser for it was released in July and the full length trailer in September.

Even though the teaser trailer for Saw 3D wasn't released that far in advance of the film, it fulfils many other qualities of a teaser trailer. The teaser is very fast paced and is mainly flashes of clips from the film, in between these clips is text revealing a small amount of information to give the audience a taste of the films story. As the clips are so fast paced, not too much information is given away, just enough horrifying images to portray the genre. Unlike the teaser trailer, the full length trailer has less text and elongated clips, which gives away much more of the story. This draws audiences further in to the story making them want to know what will happen to the characters, therefore visiting the cinema to find out.

Saw 3D teaser trailer:

Saw 3D full length trailer: