Research and Planning Grade

There is basic research into costumes, props, locations and actors with limited explanation as to why they are appropriate.
There is proficient evidence of storyboarding and shotlists.
There is proficient research into similar products and basic research into a potential target audience.
There is proficient use of ICT and a good level of care in the presentation of the research and planning.

13/20 = C

Targets:
More research on target audience
Develop explanations as to why you have chosen your actors/locations/props and costumes
Analysis of trailers - be specific about which elements you want to use and why they are effective.

Research and Planning - Costume ideas (Guy)

Below I have added costume ideas that we are thinking of using for the guy/killer character;

 

Black coat/jacket, represents the killer look and to cover up as much flesh to not give away who the killer may be. Also we have beared in mind that we don't want the guy to look like too much of a killer as we don't want to give it away, although it will be fairly obvious, as the guy who we see at the start of the trailer will also be the killer.

Checkered shirt, represents the guy having good fashion. My group and I have thought a lot about not having a stereotypical killer by the representation on how the killer dresses.

Black jeans, blends into the rest of the outfit. represents disquise later on in the trailer.

Black boots, represents disquise and matches in with the rest of the outfit.

Black gloves, to show that the killer is hiding their trace marks and to keep the killer dressed up in as much black as possible to not show any flesh and is a stereotypical feature of what a killer would wear.

 

All of the above costume ideas will be used however, they may not be the exact same but we will try and get them to look very similar. 

Research and Planning - Costume ideas (Girl)

Below I have added costume ideas that we are thinking of using for the vulnerable female character;

Jacket/coat, to go with the rest of the outfit and to keep warm as she will be walking through woods/alley ways, showing good fashion and a vulnerable look to the character.

Cardigan, represents vulnerability to the character and wants to dress up warm 

Black leggins, blends in with the rest of the outfit.

Boots, represents comfy walking shoes when walking through woods and alleyways.

Over the shoulder bag, represents the character being able to put her valuables in a bag, instead of putting them in pockets or carrying them.

Research and Planning - Props

• My group and I are starting to plan further into our research and planning, I have added some images of the types of props that we will need to prepare and bring onto different scenes. By including these props it will make our film look believable and realistic.



Flowers, represents that the guy character 'likes' the girl character and is giving them to her as a nice gesture to get her under his spell

Mobile Phone, will be used for when the girl character is on the phone to a friend before she is kidnapped and when the character recieves a text from the killer 'hope you got home ok?!!'. We have chosen to use a mobile phone as it is a stereotypical prop that is used in most horror films, usually it is used to ring for 'help'!

 
Picture frame, will be used for when the male character is stalking over the female character's photos around her house

•  The props that will be used in the house (living room, dining room, outside) will already be found in the house, this is because the setting is set in the house. For example, the types of props that will be used in the house, sofa, tv, cd stereo system, cars parked outside the house, computer etc.
  

 

 

Research and Planning - Location Photos

•  The setting location of the film is going to be based in Oxshott. This is where I live and my group and I feel that this is the best location for the film to be shot.

• The reasons as to why we have chosen to set the film in this location, is because it has allocated alley ways, woods, train station and railway all nearby to one another and also my house is right by which will be easy to get to from the different locations. This is a great location for the genre that we have chosen 'romance horror'. I feel that this location choice will be affective, and it will create a tense, eerie vibe to the audience which we will try to portray.

• The house itself where the scenes will be filmed inside, is set out perefectly as to how we need it however, we will need to move a few things around that we may feel are not needed to be shown in the film.

• The filming will be taken when the day is light as this will be effective for our teaser trailer, as last year we had trouble shooting in the dark because you were unable to see anything on the camera due to there not being a flash light, which made us have to change our location.

Research and Planning - Slide Share Storyboard

I have had difficulty on trying to upload my storyboard onto slide share due to photos not being able to upload. I am going to keep on trying to put my storyboard onto slideshare however, I have uploaded my storyboard below whereby it is set out clearly and easy to understand.

Research and Planning - Story Board

1. The 1st shot is an establishing shot to show the audience the setting of where the first few shots will be taken. The sound will be non-diegetic music that will represent the genre of the film, the type of sounds will be intro music and there will be a voiceover over the top.

2. The 2nd scene is a long shot of the two characters standing at the platform at the train station. There will no non-diegetic music and a voiceover.

3. The 3rd shot will be a medium shot of the two characters walking towards eachother and then sitting down on the seat and there will be diegetic sound. The two characters will start talking to eachother and exchange numbers.

4. In the 4th shot it will be a medium shot to show the female character walking through the woods and a zoom to show the guy character following her through the woods. The sound will be diegetic with a voiceover over the top.

 

5. In the 5th shot it will be an over the shoulder shot showing the vulnerable girl character getting a text from the guy she has just met at the train station. The sound will be a voiceover and non diegetic sound.

 

6. The 6th shot will be a medium shot of the girl character sitting on the sofa and looking out the window seeing that the guy character is outside, the door bell then rings. The sound will be non - diegetic and diegetic sound from the door bell that will ring.

7. The 7th shot is an over the shoulder shot/medium shot from different angles show the girl character open the door and finding the guy at the door, she is very confused as to how he knows where she lives but at the same time she is happy. The sound will be diegetic of the characters talking.

8. The 8th shot will be a medium shot, over the shoulder shot and a high angle shot of the guy character looking at photos of the vulnerable girl character. The sound will be a voiceover and non - diegetic music. I reckon at this scene in the movie we should have tense/dramatic music.

9. The 9th shot will be a medium shot of the girl character walking down an alley way on the phone to a friend. The sound will be digetic sound.

10. The 10th shot will be of a close up and a medium shot of the killer coming up right behind the girl and putting his hand over her mouth and face. The sound will be diegetic because of the screaming and non - diegetic for the background music.

11. The 11th shot will be of a medium shot showing the killer dragging the girl character through the alley way. The sound will be diegetic.

12. The 12th shot will be of a close up showing the girls hand moving throwing the mud, leaves. The sound will be diegetic from the movement of the hand moving/non - digeteic sound.

13. The 13th shot will be a close up shot/zoom of the phone still being connected to the friend on the phone and them shouting down the phone. The sound will be diegetic not non - diegetic.

14. The 14th shot will be a long shot of the killer walking towards his new victim. The sound will be non - diegetic from the talking of the two characters and non - diegetic music in the background.

Above i have posted pictures of our storyboard, we will reflect on this whilst filming.

Research and Planning - Ideas For Our Film

Below I have produced a slide show of our final ideas for our teaser trailer, I have produced this on a software called 'Prezie' because it is a useful and handy new software and helps broaden my skills on using different programmes to produce my work on. My group and I have not included any intertitles as we are yet to decide on what they are going to be.

Ideas For Coursework on Prezi

Research and Planning - Ideas For Our Film

This is an idea of how how we would like our teaser trailer to be in order;

• Approval Screen
• Production Company
• Establishing shot of the train station (voiceover)
• Long shot of the two characters bumping into eachother (voiceover)
• An intertitle (voiceover)
• Zoom/Medium shot of the two characters sitting down next to eachother, some dialogue
• Long shot/Zoom of the girl walking home and the guy following her
• Over the shoulder shot  of the girl recieving a mysterious text (voiceover)
• Medium shot of the girl sitting on a sofa and seeing the guy at the window
• An intertitle
• Over the shoulder shot of the girl opening the front door
• Medium shot/over the shoulder shot/ high angle shot of the guy looking at photos of the girl
• An Intertitle
• Medium shot of the girl walking through the alley way on her phone
• Close up/medium shot of the girl getting kidnapped from behind
• medium shot of the girl being dragged through the alley way
• An Intertitle
• Close up shot/zoom of the girls hand moving through the dirt/mud
• Close up shot of the girls phone still connected to a caller
• Long shot of the guy meeting another vulnerable girl walking through the opposite end of the alley way
• Title of the film 'Love Hurts'
• Credits
• 'Coming Soon'

Research and Planning - Final Idea For Coursework

My group and I have discussed many ideas for our teaser trailer and have come up with our final idea;

• At the beginning of our thoughts on what we were going to do, we decided to do a romance however, we thought that it would be hard to make it realistic throughout the whole trailer so have decided on a 'romance horror'.

• Our final idea includes two characters who both bump into eachother at the station, straight away there is tension between them both however, the guy has something quite mysterious about him. They both get chatting and before you know it the young vulnerable girl has given him her number..

• The guy (stalker) then decides to follow her home without her knowing and so he then knows where she lives. Once shes home she gets a text from the guy saying 'get home ok?'.

• In a few days time after they meet, the guy decides to turn up to the girls house, at this point the audience will be able to sense that something weird is wrong with this guy and as you can assume the girl is a bit confused as to how he knows where she lives. Being the vulnerable girl she is, she invites him inside her house..  she starts to fall for him..!!

• We then see the girl leaving for work and walking through an alley way near her house, she is walking to work and chatting to a friend on the phone about the new guy she has met.  Until she gets a stranger (the guy) kidnapping her from behind dressed in all black. We will next see the girls body being dragged through the alley way and the phone on the floor still being connected to her friend on the phone.

• The final shot will be of another young vulnerable girl walking through the opposite end of the alley way and the guy walking up to her and starts being 'friendly'. It is obvious to the audience, that this guy is a bit mental and he is not quite right, he seems to be a serial killer.

We came up with this idea through watching many 'romance horror's' and thought 'Valentine' had the best plot line out of them all and gave us inspiration on our own ideas.

Research and Planning - Mood Board Analysis

• Below I have created a horror mood board on a software that I have found very useful and different called 'Prezie'. I created this mood board to see the broad spectrum of images and genres of horror. As well as the recurring images and themes present for example the use of colours, red and black. Red defining blood and danger and black defining secret identity. The certain images that I have included represent the theme and narrative that we are going to portray, a romance horror.

The films that I have included are:

• Vampire Diaries
• Twilight
• Valentine
• Prom Night

Research and Planning - Mood Board

Horror Mood Board on Prezi

Research and Planning - Institution Company

• I have looked into the different film institution Companys, and my group and I have decided on using Warner Bros. Pictures. We think that by using this production company it will work well with what we are wanting to produce and many similar films that we have researched into use Warner Bros. including, 'Valentine'. In researching into the different institution companys, it looks like many successful films include Warner Bros. Pictures, so we feel that this company will work best in our teaser trailer by making it look effective and realistic.

• Warner Bros. Pictures is an American producer of film and television entertainment. Ir was founded in 1918 as Warner Bros. Studios and then founded in 1923 as Warner Bros. Pictures.

 Examples of films produced by Warner Bros. Pictures;

• All of the Harry Potter Films

- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

• Valentine

Research and Planning - Certificate Research

This is the criteria I am allowed to follow.

Discrimination

Discriminatory language or behaviour must not be endorsed by the work as a whole. Aggressive discriminatory language or behaviour is unlikely to be acceptable unless clearly condemned.

Drugs

Any misuse of drugs must be infrequent and should not be glamorised or give instructional detail.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied, or appear pain or harm free. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.

Language

Moderate language is allowed. The use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’) must be infrequent.

Nudity

Nudity is allowed, but in a sexual context must be brief and discreet.

Sex

Sexual activity may be briefly and discreetly portrayed. Sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers. Frequent crude references are unlikely to be acceptable.

Theme

Mature themes are acceptable, but their treatment must be suitable for young teenagers.

Violence

Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail. There should be no emphasis on injuries or blood, but occasional gory moments may be permitted if justified by the context. Sexual violence may only be implied or briefly and discreetly indicated, and must have a strong contextual justification

Research and Planning - Certificate Research

• After doing research into audience profile, the certificates U, PG and 12 would be irrelevant for the type of film my group and I are aiming to produce. Horror films have a higher certificate, that is used to target their target audience of a higher age, this is down to the fear and terror it may produce for certain people.

• Therefore the certificates 15 and 18 are more relevant for the type of film we will be producing, because it will be scary and suspenceful, so therefore it will be less suitable for younger viewers.

• Overall, it is fairly obvious that we will be having the certificate of our teaser trailer as a 15. This is because it is most relevant to the type of trailer we will be producing and we want to widen the target audience as much as possible and if this was an 18 it would be a lot harder to produce, by having to make it twice as scary and having to keep the footage to a minimum, without giving away too much to the audience and I feel that due to the explicitt violence and scenes that are usually taken place in an 18, that age 15 will be too young and could potentially upset younger viewers. Finally because this is a 15, this means a lot more people will be wanting to see the film.

Research and Planning - Audience Profiling - Conclusion

•  Overall from looking at 'Breaking Dawn' and 'Halloween' audience profiles, my group and I have decided on putting the two together and creating a 'romance, horror'. We have come to the conclusion as to which type of audience would be the targeting audience for our teaser trailer, after looking at both film genres (romance and horror) and both films having a different audience to one another. 'Breaking Dawn' having a higher female percentage of 66% and 'Halloween' having a higher male percentage of 59%.
  

Age

• It is clear that the age range my group and I will be targeting is 15-24, as out of all of the films we have researched into, this was always the highest age range for this specific genre.

Gender

• The target audience that my group and I have chosen, bearing in mind gender does not have one in particular, as for each film, the percentages for gender were close to one another however, having a higher percentage from the male audience on the film 'Halloween' and a higher percentage from the female audience on the film 'Breaking Dawn' . However as we have chosen to do 'romance horror', the narrative will be around romance and this is usually targeted towards the more female audience however, this means that anyone will watch this type of film and will therefore be targeted to both the male and female audience.

Research and Planning - Audience Profiling - Breaking Dawn

• This is the audience profile found for the film 'Breaking Dawn'. I have chosen to analyse this films audience profile because I thought it is a similar genre 'romance, drame' and target audience as to what my group and I are wanting to produce. I found the audience profile on the same website 'Pearl and Dean' as I have done for the other audience profiles that  I have analysed such as 'Halloween'.

• From looking at this audience profile, I can see, that the main age group of the highest percent, that viewed this film was 15-24 (the film itself was rated 12A). I can also see that the percentage of men and women who came to see the film, was more popular with a female audience, I can assume this is because the film is a 'romance' inwhich relates to more a female audience as opposed to a male audience. Women like to have an attachment to one strong, male architype of a rescuer, that will wisk the lady away from all the bad in the world and will protect her forever. Many of the Disney classics for example, 'Snow White', 'Cinderella' are based around evil over good and many 'romance horros' these days follow a similar structure.

•  This audience profile shows that the Romance genre (or this film inparticular) was popular with adolescent teens through to young adults. I think this is because romance films give a fantasy sense of love and relationships to a young female audience, this will appeal to a mixed female audience.

• The narrative of the film itself, may also appeal to this female audience as the characters in the film 'Breaking Dawn' are infact young of the older end of this age group. This may give a relatable side to the film and therefore make this female age group more attracted to the film. However, this may appeal more to the younger end of this age group as they will be able to relate to the characters.

• This particular age group would be attracted to the film 'Breaking Dawn', to see for themselves if they found the film to be romantic, as it was said to have been and see if it deserves it's popularity. The fact that the majority of audience members are female, maybe also show a feminine view of this genre. It is fairly obvious that females find the romance/fantasy of this genre more appealing than men do.

• I will need to consider this target audience when creating my teaser trailer. By considering this I will make sure that my trailer will appeal to a similar target audience, also taking into consideration the horror genre, as my group and I have chosen to do a 'romance, horror' and I have now analysed a 'romance' audience profile and a 'horror' audience profile. To make sure that are film is targeted to the right audience, we will make sure we add references throughout to topics or phrases. My group and I are popular within this audience group, and we are especially knowledgeable in this area. 

Below I have attached the Breaking Dawn trailer;

Research and Planning - Audience Profiling - Halloween

• This is the audience profile found for the film 'Halloween' that I have used in my previous coursework research . I found this audience profile on the website 'Pearl and Dean'. This website shows up coming films, their ratings etc and compares them to show these results.

• From looking at this audience profile, I can see, that the main age group that viewed this film was 15-24 (the film itself was rated 15). I can also see that the percentage of men and women who came to see the film also shows that the film was more popular with a male audience.

• This shows that the Horror genre (or this film inparticular) was popular with adolescent teens through through to young adults. I think this is because horror films give a thrill factor to the audience, this will appeal to a younger audience more so than 30-40 year olds. The narrative of the film itself may also appeal to this age group as the characters in the film ''Halloween'' are infact young of the older end of this age group. This may give a relatable side to the film and therefore make this age group more attracted to the film. This may also appeal to the younger end of this age group as they will be able to relate to the characters 'life styles in their future life'.

• This particular age group would be attracted to this as to see for themselves if they found the film to be as scary as it was said to have been and see if it deserved it's popularity. The fact that most of these audience members are male may also show a masculine view of this genre. Maybe men find the horror/fear side of this genre more appealing than women do. This maybe because they are meant to be masculine, they want to appear not to be scared by the images shown.

• I will need to consider this target audience when creating my teaser trailer. By considering this I will make sure that my trailer will appeal to this spercific target audience '15-24'. I can do this by adding references throughout my trailer to topics or phrases, I know myself are popular within this audience group, as I am especially knowledgeable in this area, for the lower end of this age group. There is a larger male percentage that viewed this film. I will take this highly into consideration with my narrative planning and teaser trailer.

Research and Planning - Analysis of Valentine Trailer

I have choosen to analyse this trailer as it is of the same genre of what we have choosen to base our trailer on, it also follows a similar storyline, therefore, gives us ideas for shots and potential music.

Length:  1:59
Narrative of Trailer: Four Friends start to receive morbid valentine day cards. Someone out there is stalking them....someone they all spurned when they were younger. And Valentines Day 2001 is the Day she/he gets their revenge
Dialogue: A lot, also used as voice overs
Cast Info: Not explicity mentioned, however fans of the franchise will know who they are
Release Date: February 2nd 2001
Distriuted By: Warner Bros. Pictures

• The trailer opens with two female characters who look carefree and happy, this is an instant sign that these characters inparticular will not be that way much longer as the audience know they are watching a horror film not a comedy or chick flick. The girls are also young and attractive which is a conventional element in a horror. 

• The contrast of the horror element mixed in with the idea of 'Valentines Day' is extremeley effective as it shows that the day is not going to be filled with love and happiness instead it will be based on fear and horror. This is further showed with the narrator saying, 'Unlike the past this one would not be a dream come true, this one would be a nightmare' . I like this effect of having a narrator and informing the audience on what may happen in the film but not revealing too much of the plot line, this is something my group and I will take into consideration when planning our own teaser trailer.

• The lighting reflects the genre throughout with dark lighting in the horror scenes and bright lighting in the romantic scenes, this is an element we may use in our teaser trailer.

• The songs behind the trailer are effective as they contradict the typical valentines day, the lyrics, 'I love you, I love you' are said in a husky, chilling voice which insinuates negative love rather than romantic happy love. 
• The use of fast paced action is also an element we will be using in our trailer, for example, when the girls are getting attacked the music mirrors their mood and the killers actions .

• The knife is clearly showed throughout the trailer, indicating this will be one of the weapons that will be used. We will include something similar into our own teaser trailer, as this is a typical weapon found in a horror film.

Research And Planning - Mind Map

Today in my media lessons my group and I discussed our final ideas for our teaser trailer and have decided to change the genre of our film to a romance HORROR, as we feel that this will work better for what we would like to produce. So far our ideas for our teaser trailer are as follows;

Research and Planning - Key Points To Get Across In A Trailer

In order to attract your target audience you need to get them to know certain things about the upcoming film.

• Title - Though not all teaser trailers do this
• Release Date - Depending on how close to the films release, the date could be very specific (20.08.11), vague (Summer 2011) or merely say "Coming Soon"
• Genre i.e Horror, Romance
• Cast - more important in romances/commedies than others
• Plot Info - usually not a lot is revealed, especially in teasers
• Unique Selling Point - very important as this will attract audiences to the film.

Research and Planning - Quennan's Guide to Horror Film Cliches

Last year in our media class, we decided to look through an article on horror cliches that we thought may come in use within our own trailer, that we can use to look back on for typical horror cliches, as we gain our audiences attention to the genre and narrative of our trailer. As my group and I are doing a similar genre this year we thought this would be appropriate to put on our blogs so we can relate back to it whilst Planning our teaser trailer. Here below I have highlighted and quoted some of the key points which I feel that we should use.

• They are split into differnt catergories: slasher, zombie, vampire, mainstream horror, Asian horror and revolting Eli Roth films. ' I think that the catergory that we are thinking about doing will be the mainstream horror as we will be looking at some religious elements that have been taken to the extreme, with maybe a slasher element thrown in with the knifes and blood in some of the shots.
• 'All of these subgenres rely on worthy, battle-tested cliches that appear again and again. Indeed, horror is the one genre in which the absence of cliches would ruin everything.'
• 'Small children are often evil in horror movies.' We have decided to go with young teenage girls instead as they posess the same innocence as children but also keeps the target audience young and interested.
• 'Teenage in horror movies are usually spoiled brats who deserve to die.'
• 'Horror films work best in rural settings.' We will be setting our trailer in the rural areas like the isolated solitary house and the woods where there is no one to know what is happening there, creating lonley, isolated and eerie setings.
• 'Horror movies almost always contain a scene in which a woman washes her face in a sink, and when she straightens up and looks in the mirror, a girl missing half her face is staring directly back at her.' I think this would be a good scene for our trailer, however im not to sure as to how we could fit it into the narrative prehaps when we are filming we could try out some shots and see how they look.
• 'Horror movies also contain lots of scenes in which the living dead or the living undead zip past an open door or window, but nobody sees them.' I think again this would be an effective scene to do so if we can pull it off and this could cause alot of tense atmosphere if right.
• 'The more gruesome films in the genre require captives to sacrifice one section of their bodies in order to preserve others.'
• 'It is always a bad idea to go to sleep in horror films, or accept a ride from strangers, or resepond to personal ad. It is an even worse idea to get in an elevator, a popular hideout of the promiscuously dead.'
• 'Never purchase a dirt-cheap house or apartment.'
• 'Never have any kind of medical operation in a horror film.'
• 'Never go into a dark room alone.'
• 'Never answer the phone in a horror movie.