'Spotted' Film Poster

This film poster is the start of my idea's when editing footage to create a film poster. Although i am still unsure that this uncompleted poster works, it will be my structure to making the final piece of work that will advertise my horror trailer to the best of its ability.

Clown Costume

                                                                           
This is the clown costume that we are going to use in the filming for our trailer. This costume was made in 1977 for the Queen's jubilee. We think that this would be the ideal costume to use as it is quite eerie and sinister. Our talent has tried the outfit on and we think that it suits our genre and will look perfect in  our psychological horror trailer.

Textual Analysis

One of the film trailers I am going to deconstruct is 'IT'. As my film trailer is going to be based on a clown I believe that this trailer would be the most rewarding trailer to analyse to understand the meaning of the mise en scene and look closely at the camera shots and angles that i can include in my trailer to create the best effect for the viewer.

Stephen King, world accredited writer released his book 'IT' to be made as a film by director Tommy Lee Wallace in 1990.

I think that this film trailer is very controversial as it does not show the conventions of horror that have to be in a film trailer nowadays. If the trailer were to be re made recently, I believe that it would be much more sinister with less focus on the clown to keep Pennywise more mysterious to it's audience. However, I do think that this film trailer shows the simplicity of film and how we do not need cheesy voiceover's as the anticipation is all about what is on the screen.

I have took this aspect on board when filming and editing my film trailer as i want to make the characters as mysterious as possible. I think that film trailers are more successful when they leave thoughts in the viewers mind and keep them thinking about what is happening instead of just telling them.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqqBpAqnGKg

Story Board

I will be filming the trailer with Lucy Dioni and we are aiming our trailer at 16-25 year olds. We have chosen this target audience as we have identified in our research that audiences between this age are most likely to be watching films with in the horror genre. This is because their lifestyle may be more based on social aspects. This means that they are more likely to go to the cinema and watch films with their friends and family.

This is my storyboard template that I am going to use to structure my trailer when filming. The first frame will feature a vertical panning shot of a blue balloon rising in the air, followed by a slow dissolve into the editing room. The soundtrack playing over some of our frames are yet to be decided.

Our trailer is called 'Spotted' and is based on a story where a clown keeps randomly popping up around a town. This breaking news is being shown world wide and there are many journalists on the case to finding out who this clown is. A little boy then mysteriously goes missing and the mother immediately blames the clown, will the mystery ever be solved?..

This story board will be the basis of all my filming for my trailer, however somethings may change in the process of filming.

We have listened to many soundtracks on youtube that we could edit over the start of our film trailer. However we are yet to find the one that exactly suits our genre correctly and creates the right effects for the audience.

Since filming my trailer there has been a lot of changes. The story line has remained the same where as a lot of the shots and frames have been altered and the narrative has been displayed in a different way. I have also decided upon the music 'Mad world' by Gary Jules to be played in my trailer aswell as sinister 'pop goes the weasel' nursery rhyme. I think that these songs will suit my trailer and fit well in creating an eiry atmosphere through out.

CASTING

Clown- Mr Swain
Little Boy- Liam Kycz  (my nephew)
Mum- Sarah Kycz
Police Officer- Voice Recording

I will be directing, producing and editing the film myself.

Here is a second story board that myself and Lucy have drawn up to illustrate the changes we have made during further research and filming.

Whilst starting our filming we had some trouble of where we wanted to film. We headed down to Wicksteed park with all the equipment we needed to find there was some construction work going on with the tunnel and abandoned train carriage we wanted to film with. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do about this so we had to re arrange a location to film that would still be as effective. All filming was done on school premises in the most eerie locations that we could find to make our footage as malleable as possible.
The rest of the footage was filmed at a local park.

Directors of the Horror Genre

My favourite film director is James Wan. He has directed films such as Saw, Dead Silence, Insidious, The Conjuring. Wan explains how different Insidious 2 is to any other horror film.

He explains, “Whereas the first movie has a twist on the classic haunted house genre, the second one is a slightly different movie and so it has a twist on a different sub-genre, It’s more in the vein of like a domestic thriller, but with a pervasive supernatural undertone, which is kind of what The Shining is in some ways.When I was designing some of the scares for Insidious and my previous scary movie that I shot, one of the things I would do is literally walk through my house late at night with all the lights out and think up these really trippy, creepy scenarios and if I get really creeped out then I know it’s working,”

He tells us that the film plays with time travel in a way that no other horror film has done. He thinks that this is a great turn in the horror genre and reveals something new to his audience that they have never seen before to give them a new element of surprise. When i went to see Insidious 2 I came out of the cinema saying it was one of the best two films i had ever seen. The second film creates much more suspense for the viewer and plays with a lot more aspects of horror than ever before. The film uses time travel to twist the story for extra viewing pleasure as it surprises the audience as its something they have rarely seen before in the horror genre.
Personally I think Insidious Chapter 2 is the best horror trailer I have ever seen. This is because it features all the elements it should to create a scary and powerful horror trailer.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock is one of the best film directors and producers of all time. "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of the bang" is a quote from Hitchcock himself. In this quote he explains that there is no terror in just placing a frightening noise or a scream to scare the audience but the anticipation up to the loud noise or bang is what really makes it scary for the viewer. I think this is a technique that is not used effectively in modern society and is what is missing from modern day horror.

History of Film Trailers

During my research and planning I looked into some of the first ever film trailers. Although i am unsure to which was the first one I have watched many that date back to the very early 70's, 80's and 90's. However, 'Nosferatu' which was made in 1922 was the earliest film trailer i could find. Although this film trailer may not scare viewers today, when it was made i am sure that viewers were very sceptical about what they were viewing .This is because it creates suspense for the viewer through the images shown and the eiry music throughout the trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-DrKgjit4I

Halloween was the next film trailer i focused on which was made in 1978. This trailer is a lot more advanced than 'Nosferuta'. Firstly this trailer is in colour where as 'Nosferuta' was filmed in black and white. Halloween also features a voice over at the beginning of the trailer which helps to set the mood for the viewer and slightly explains what is going to happen as well as using speech from characters throughout the trailer. The trailer is cleverly filmed through a point of view shot and at the beginning of the trailer where it is clear we are looking through the villains eye's. This is interesting to the viewer as it may be a technique they have never seen before which may intrigue them. This also shows a great shift in film technology and starts to show the future of the film industry and how it is starting to develop rapidly. The trailer is also longer than 'Nosferuta' which shows that film makers are beginning to understand the importance of a film trailer and what it can mean to the viewer to want to watch the film. Halloween also has more of a narrative which intrigues the viewer in to watching the film as they understand a bit more of the storyline. The music is also played over the trailer at the right times during the trailer and not the whole way through. This shows that the director is understanding how effective the music is if it is played at moments in the trailer when something interesting is going to happen to create suspense. The only criticism that i would give the director is that the lighting is very dark. Whether this is intentional or not i do not think that at this stage of film making the mise en scene such as lighting and props is necessarily essential to the making of the trailer. A reason for this is because technology is not fully developed through film making and directors are not fully aware of all the elements that make an excellent film trailer. These trailers are the start of developing tropes that will rapidly develop in to meme in horror trailers and films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SFmmROBUto

Visiting Herald and Post

Inspiration

I am taking my inspiration from the Northampton clown story and basing my phycological horror on the event. I think that this is a great opportunity to arise so i should research in to it as much as i can to get a good back ground feel on my genre. I shall continue reasearching in to the clown story as it goes on and include aspects of the story in my horror trailer.

 

I think that going to Herald and Post and speaking to the team and hearing the story and all the background to it first hand has really helped me to express my ideas and come to a conslusion of a narrative for my trailer. 

The Chronicle and Echo have recently released a video of the Northampton clown in Abington lake while a Madness concert was in play just a few minutes from the park. It shows the clown slowly waving and then exiting the lake before the video cuts off. Has this been edited by the Chronicle and Echo and had footage taken out? Personally we wont know for a while. However i have recently emailed Herald and Post again to find out more information about this and if they know anything more about the clown. These recent events are putting questions in a lot of people's minds about whats going to happen next..

Research- Herald and Post

Whilst researching information about horror trailers and physological horror films i came across some breaking news in Northmpton. Papers like Herald and Post and The Chronicle and Echo had been writing articles about a clown appearing around Northampton town. The clown was fully dressed in a clown suit with white face paint, red hair and often carried around either balloons or a teddy. This was later linked to Stephen Kings book and film 'IT'. Further story's in to the clown revealed that he first appeared on friday the 13th, 27 years after the novel 'IT' was first released.After posting pictures and status' on a Facebook page said to be run by the clown, it was clear that he wasnt intending to cause any harm but actually make people laugh.


On Friday 19th of September I went to Herald and Post offices to discuss with the editor of the newspaper all about the clown story. The editor first came about the story from social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and from his young sons. He also thinks aswell as i do that this story has been record breaking because of the creepiness of clowns and the edgy gothic feel they have in Northampton town in front of the old victorian houses. "Would this have worked as well in Milton Keynes?".

Herald and Post have had Canadian and German TV stations visit them to get more news on the clown aswell as Irish radio stations ringing the local paper up. This story has also been boradcasted in Australia and America. Messages have also been posted on the clown's Facebook page in portuguese and other languages which has really put Northampton on the map worldwide.

It has now been finalised that the clown does have an obsession with Stephen Kings novel 'IT'. The appearance of the clown on friday the 13th was said to have most likely been planned by the clown. In the novel it is said that the clown reappears every 27 years. This was a very clever move for the clown which makes the situation even more scary and frightening for some people.

Chosen Brief

For my A2 project I have decided to make a film trailer. I have decided this as I am passionate about horror films and the trailers that come before them. I believe that a film trailer should capture its audience and hold there focus through out the trailer. This means that it has to full fill the expectations of the audience that are watching it all the way through the trailer to keep the viewer engaged and interested. When researching and planning the history of film trailers I will be focusing on the psychological aspect of horror and how this sub genre formed through out the years from horror. I have chosen this genre for my film trailer as I enjoy the thrilling anticipation and adrenaline feeling an audience gets from viewing a horror trailer. I think that this is an interesting feeling as its one that most people do not want to experience but will experience it for the rush and adrenaline feeling.

I have learnt from the A level coursework that i need to keep up to date with all my blogs and make sure I blog as much information as I can previous to all deadline dates. I am very driven this year to achieve the best grades I can and to keep all my work up to a good standard.

My 2 Week Short Film Project

I had two weeks to make a short film and present it to my teacher. I worked in a group of four and we all decided that we would base the short film on 'A day in the life of a sixth former'. During the two weeks, we filmed footage and edited the film on Final Cut Pro. This allowed us to explore lots of different effects to add on to the short film or change it in places by cutting some of the shots out or speeding and slowing down the film to enhance viewing performance.

I think that when filming the short film we had excellence controlled use of the camera and used a variety of shots and framing that really worked well to make the short film interesting. The editing skills we used were effective and striking to our target audience which we narrowed down to 13-18. We chose this age group as we came to the conclusion that as our short film was about 'A Day in the Life of a Sixth Former' it would potentially only appeal to a younger teenage age group.

Comparing Music Video's From Different Artists

Madonna and Lady GaGa's video's have many similarities in each of their video's when compared with each others. For example Madonna's 'Vogue' and Lady GaGa's 'Bad Romance' have very similar aspects in both music videos. Lady GaGa actually does the 'Vogue' dance in her video 'Bad Romance' and also many of the camera shots and lighting are the same. Lady GaGa also wears her hair like Madonna's as well as other aspects of mise en scene in her video. Two of their video's that are also the same are Madonna's 'Express Yourself' and Lady GaGa's 'Alejandro' they both include lots of dark lighting at the beginning of the music video with some completely black frames. They also both include a lot of fuzzy close up shots of the stars faces with 'crazy' props and out of the ordinary mise en scene . Very bright lights are also used in both videos to give a look of disorientation for the viewer. In my opinion i think that Madonna is a seminal icon for many other artists that may steal ideas from her video's to make their own video's.

An example of a homage to a particular star would be Chris Brown's 'Fine China' to Michael Jackson's 'Smooth Criminal'. This is almost like dedicating a tribute to the other star by using their dance moves and singing in their style. Chris brown does this in his video as he sets it in the same setting as Michael Jacksons 'Smooth Criminal'. In my opinion I would not say that this is copying Michael's work but paying a tribute to what he has made in the past and respecting that it was
affective to an audience and that it still works now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-ZUuHXgQ8k   Lady GaGa- Alejandro


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVcUzP_O_8   Madonna- Express Yourself