Film Trailer - Preliminary Planning Sheet

1.    What is the Genre (is the film animated, drama, documentary, comedy, sci-fi, adolescent, horror, etc.)

The film trailer will be in the genre of adolescent. It will be about two young students from different backgrounds - one from an overly privaledged rich family and the other from a less privaledged background who finds himself trying to fit in with the others. The two protagonists know eachother from earlier on in life and the main male character, Charlie, desperately wants to get through to Sienna to show her how she can be, not who she has become. It is a struggle against the classes for Charlie, but he is determined to do this.

2.    Who will be your Target Audience? How will you meet their expectations? (e.g.Films targeted at young children will often feature children as protagonists)

It is aimed at teenage people, ranging from about 15-22 as I think this will be the key ages who understand the concept. With inspiration from shows like Gossip Girl and 90210, I will be putting my audience in that category as this appeals to that kind of age. I will be doing further research on the age guide for these sites and also more detail in to the programs so I know the idea for my film.

3.    How big a budget does the film have? (low, medium, high, blockbuster). How will the film be distributed?  How will it be promoted?

Low. It won't be a big blockbuster film as it wouldn't be very suitable for that kind of film. The film would be a tv film which has a premiere on the TV channel, i.e. E! or something quite gossipy. It will be promoted through Twitter, Facebook and more. Also with adverts on the chosen tv channel - i.e. "who is sienna?" - this kind of thing creates suspense and leaves the viewer wondering who is she. I think the adverts would be to play mind games with the viewers so they are intrigued and want to see it.

4.    What is the Narrative of the film?

The narrative is as stated before. Two people who know eachother, but are completely divided by the society they live in. The main male character, Charlie, is a less privaledged person who is forced to try and fit in with a society he doesn't believe in due to circumstances. On the otherhand, his childhood friend, Sienna, lives a life luxury and is constantly being driven around and splurging cash. Her morals have dimished and Charlie makes it his mission to show her how she was - even though it is hard. I will leave the ending unknown in the trailer though.

5.    What is the film’s Unique Selling Point?

The USP is that the film is about something a little different, it isn't a typical story of two people who are in love. The storyline is sort of a twist on Charles Dicken's 'Great Expectations' with the social divide, but Charlie doesn't fall in love nor does he become rich.

6.    What are the main events you are going to mention in your movie trailer?

A mix of the past, why they drifted apart. Then how she has changed - highlighting how she has become nasty as she becomes more popular.

7.    Who are the main Characters and how are they involved?

Sienna and Charlie. They are the two main characters and they are involved because the story revolves around them. They show the story developing and also highlight the divide between societies.

8.    Which actors will play the central characters? What types of personalities do they seem to have?

9.    What is the title of your movie going to be?

"Riches and Rags" - Although the male character isn't poor enough to be in rags, the huge divide highlights that he is treated as if he could and Sienna acts as if he may as well be in rags.

10. What is the Location/setting of your movie? (how does the trailer reveal location?)

11. What may be the central conflict or obstacle for your character(s) to overcome?

Sienna needs to overcome her belief that she is better because she is rich. Charlie helps her with this.

12. What Pacing will your trailer have, and how will this change during the trailer?

Slow start, but then it gradually begins to pick up throughout the film.

Your typical film industry timeline

1)      Idea

The chosen writer, producer or director creates an original idea for a film.

2)      Development Finance

Once the idea is developed, they will need to go to a group of investers who are willing to spend their money on the project. If the investers decided it is a good film and they believe they will make return, then the producers, writers etc will have money to start their film production.

3)      Script Development

This breaks up all the scenes into sections - making it easier to read. Sales treatment is needed for this, which allows the reader a small synopsis that gives the reader brief idea of what the film is about and the general idea.

4)      Packaging Moment

Possible merchandise is available for the film - this has been done by big cinema hits such as Twilight. From here the brand can be established, as well as uncover potential craze and fans for the film.

5)      Financing

Covers costs including investors and the chance for pre-sales as well as completion bonds, which is insurance that covers the film if it doesn’t get finished.

6)      Pre-Production

Storyboarding, casting, equipment, set design and editing.

7)      The Shoot

The filming.

8)      Post Production

Editing and sound effects are added to create the full effect.

9)      Getting a distributor

Once the film is finished, searching for a distributor who will take on the film and distribute it.

Final coursework idea and film pitch.

For my AS coursework I have to complete a film trailer in which I show a short clip of the film just as your typical trailer does. After much deliberation on what type of genre I should go for, I decided on horror. The zombie theme really appealed to me and I felt this would be a really fun trailer to make! I have three things in which I will need to complete for this project, they are: 

• a short film trailer
•  A magazine cover
• A film poster

All of these will need to be completed with the trailer being the centre piece. The poster and magazine cover will be similar, but in no way the same. They will all have a central theme and hopefully colour scheme to help ensure I have branded the film and the production well, I always find I can link a brand with colours. I personally believe the magazine cover creation will be the easier part with experience in this from last years coursework. 

Establishing a general film idea is essential for this project to work. Planning is key. For the project to run smoothly and go completely right, there needs to be an idea and then a lot of planning from this idea. Obviously, the original ideas will be adapted and changed throughout a period of time and there will be things which need changing along the way.

The general idea is for the zombie theme. The setting will hopefully be in an abandoned house with a few friends acting in it as the zombies or survivors. The setting fits perfectly with the theme of the trailer, however in light of this it has been done before.

There is still a lot more planning to be done with regards to this movie. 

Film Idea: The idea for my trailer

I have two ideas for the movie trailer I want to film after extensive research into what I feel I could achieve. The two ideas are: 

• A zombie apocalypse film trailer
• A action movie including murder and suspicion 

These two ideas have been favourites of mine for a while due the genre being genres in which I am interested in. I feel both would allow me to use mise en scene, sound, lighting, camera angles and many more aspects to create a thrilling trailer.

Both genres allow you to develop a range of ideas. The zombie idea would not only be great fun to film, but could include a lot of mise en scene, sound and lighting to create a good quality trailer which would be fun to watch. The zombie idea has been done before by students of my level and has been done to a good standard and I feel that I could reciprocate this with my own take on a zombie movie.  

The action idea would also be a great way to develop lots of skills. Although I feel the action themed movie would be a lot harder to pull off and create a decent quality film. However, the challenge would bring many skills and teach important things to myself. The action film would require a lot more props and characters due to it being more large scale. The location would have to be safe, but look dangerous which could potentially bring problems.

I will be needing to make a decision on which genre I am choosing to go for to complete my trailer in the next few weeks. 

'Taken' Case Study.

The idea for my film trailer has rapidly changed a lot. I have chosen to do a thriller movie instead of horror. This decision was made in light of the difficulty to make a horror trailer. I decided to do a case study on the movie trailer of 'Taken' which is a thriller/action film about a man trying to find his daughter after she is abducted to be placed in the sex slave trade.

The director of the movie trailer is ensuring that the trailer is exciting is ensuring that the trailer is kept exciting and shows the intensity of the film. One way the director has ensured the audience is engaged is largely through the music used - both non-diagetic and diagetic. The music begins calming, however here is a slight sinister sound . It is immediately interupted with a phone call. This helps to add to the idea of urgency and excitement; thus adding drama to the trailer promoting the film. The diagetic sound plays a really important part in the trailr, and it becomes the most important and thrilling part. The diagetic sound which has the most impact is when he states "I don't know who you are...but I will find you and I will kill you". The dialog helps to intensify the trailer and ensure that the concept of the film is made clear. When he is reciting this, he other music is non-diagetic and shows screams and cries - illustrating the terror, excitement and intensity of the film. The sounds in the trailer all combined help add excitement thus making the person want to see more.

The angles, shots and the actual scene all help to give the idea of the film and create suspense. The trailer constantly had quick changing shots; adding to the thrill of the film and making it action packed. The changing shots help to keep in line with the film. The trailer shows the outline of the film; showing almost what happens. This is the kind of thing I would be aiming to do - show a little bit, but not the whole story. I feel this leaves the audience in suspense and the trailer of 'Taken' made me actually watch the film because I wanted to know 'What happeneded next'.

'Outpost' trailer review

One of the ideas that I am playing with for my final piece is the zombie horror film because I have always enjoyed watching these kind of films. 

Background:  ((A scientist turns up in this Ukrainian town and hires some mercenaries. The mercenaries go to this bunker and they get in the bunker, after a day or so they get attacked by an unknown  enemy. The killed off one by one. They begin to realise it is a Nazi base, they then find a gas chamber of dead bodies. They find one which is alive. He is brain-dead. They find files and they realise he is the commander of the base. They realise that he is planning a super-Nazi soldiers. They try and defeat them and fail. Then this super-soldiers race win. ))

The trailer for Outpost mainly uses a deadly feel to it using music, lighting and wording to show the horror and devastation which goes on during this trailer. The trailer doesn't give too much away about the movie, it gives a short insight of the beginning but doesn't let on what happens at the end- this kind of trailer would ensure people saw it because they want to know the typical question "what happens next".

Analysis: The Orphanage

The Orphanage is a horror style movie which was created in 2007. I looked at this particular movie because I am intending to do a horror movie for my final place. The trailer shows a range of different features which help to show that it is a horror movie and intends to scare people.

Personally I felt that the trailer was chilling and did actually make it clear that the movie was a scary movie, which obviously had a huge twist. The features combined helped make the genre of the movie clear, it was a horror movie. The trailer has a very atmospheric feel about it, it was clear that it was aimed at people who enjoy ghost movies.

Firstly the music throughout was extremely creepy and within the feel of the trailer. The music was chilling and helped to add to this ghostly, horror atmosphere. There were 3 different types of music. The first was slow and helped introduce the story, however after a while it stops and is interrupted by the screams, whispers and laughs of this hidden evil spirit that becomes clear when this begins. The pause in the music helps bring it to reality and highlights the horror movie feel. The second part of music begins and it begins to get a little faster which helps show that it is more into the story, this is also interupted by more screams and sinister sounds. The third set of music is very fast which helps illiterate the fear and also how the audience will feel. The music ends and the sound remains the screams and other sounds of the people. The sound in the trailer is very important as it shows that it is a horror film and also helps draw the audience in.

The camera angles helps make the trailer more interesting. In this particular film, I counted around 56 camera angles in the film and a lot of different techniques.  The two most used camera techniques would have to be panning and zooming. I noticed a lot of those being used. The range of angles was amazing, they changed angles at least every 3-5 seconds to variate the trailer and to show the different scenes.

Finally another two things combined which helped create the feel was the captions and the voice over. Both of these combined help create a chilling feel. The voice over was very dominant and helped tell the story, talking about the innocence of children combined with horror. The captions also explained what was happening.