Wednesday 31 October 2012

Research - Textual Analysis: The Woman in Black




The first establishing shot sets the scene for the trailer, it shows that it is going to be scary due to the neglect in the room. It is old, dirty and dark and it looks as though it was a child's room as there are toys left on the floor.






An extreme close-up is used of the doll to reinforce the fact that it was a child's room. The doll looks like the room in the way that it has been neglected, is old and dirty.





This establishing shot shows the location of the film. The weather is very dull and there is no sun showing which again reinforces the fact that the film is going to be scary.






A lot of establishing shots are used to show the genre. This is the final one which sets the scene of where the film will be taking place.





The background music is like a music box, and during the trailer every time there is a chime the scene changes. This is used effectively as it starts off slow and then starts to become quicker as we see more of the trailer. By doing this it builds more tension for the audience. The increase in speed also fits with the genre of the film as there is a lot going on showing things which would make the audience want to know what has happened.

The audience will immediately know that this is the main character as this is the first close up of a character. He is looking around to see his surroundings, looking quite worried showing that he is scared making the audience scared. Everyone is watching him go past as well which makes the audience want to know why they are doing this.

At the beginning of the trailer these girls look normal and happy playing with their toys and once the trailer is near the end they look possessed and very scary looking. The narration makes the audience believe that this has something to do with 'The Woman in Black'.




This is the last scene of trailer. It shows 'The Woman in Black' behind the main character which is likely to scare the audience. This sort of scariness is something that I am going to try and build in the trailer that I am going to create. 




Brief

A promotion package for a new film

To include a 2 minute trailer, together with two of the following three options:
  • a website homepage for the film
  • a film magazine front cover, featuring the film
  • a poster for the film

Research - Mood Board


This is a mood board for my film trailer. It shows that it has two young friends that are together and happy and then there is a fatal accident that separates them. It shows that it is a horror by the use of a few location shots which are scary looking and an image of the girl that has died hiding behind a tree. By using an image from 'The Woman in Black' it shows that there is also going to be haunting in this trailer, similar to the film. 

Monday 22 October 2012

Things that need to be completed

RESEARCH

  • Mood borard
  • Detailed textual analysis - at least 3
  • Institutional context
  • Branding

PLANNING

  • Storyboard / flatplans / Animatic
  • Location shots / typography drafts / photo and film editing process  
  • Script for narration of trailer

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Planning - Locations of my footage

My first location for filming was at St. Augustines Church in Southend-on-sea. I decided to do the filming here because churches can be seen as quite scary locations and the genre of my film is going to be horror. 


This is view from Google Maps of where my filming took place. 





These are images of St. Augustines Church where the first setting of my filming took place. These images were taken off Google Maps. 

The second location for my filming was my road, Parkanaur Avenue in Southend-on-sea, as part of my trailer one of the young girls is waiting outside her house for her friend who was killed.  


My third location was at The Garrison, Shoeburyness. I chose this to be one of my locations because it is all open spaced and could be seen as quite spooky especially in the evening. 







Monday 15 October 2012

Things that I need to do to improve my blog


After reading last years examiner's report I have come up with some point in which I can improve my blog and my research: 
  • Complete a post for each lesson.
  • Tag each post with either 'planning, research, production or evaluation'. 
  • Include storyboards, location visits and research into potential target audience.
  • Think about ancillary texts - poster for film and magazine cover.
  • Ask focus group about what they expect in my film.
  • Anamatic - film the storyboard that you have created.
  • Thoroughly analyse research

FOR MY FILM TRAILER
  • Make sure that I get the right pace for my genre
  • Max 2 mins, tease audience and don't give away story line
  • Use my own footage
  • Think of my product as a brand
  • Do some photo shoots with my characters for my ancillary texts

Sunday 14 October 2012

Research - Key Concepts

Audience 

  • Hyperdermic needle theory - outdated, over simplified, passive audience consumption. New technology allows active audience to get involved,. 
  • Short film -  Niche audience. 
Influence model - less direct and subtle, subtly brings in a message (Stuart Hall).
  • Dominant
  • Oppositional
  • Negotiated 
Uses and Gratification model - Blumer and Katz - 5 main reasons why audience consume texts: 
  • informed and educated 
  • to relate to characters 
  • to be entertained 
  • for a talking point 
  • to escape from problems

Genre

Categorising films due to the mood and setting 
  • Drama
  • Romance
  • Action
  • Sci-Fi
  • Family 
  • Comedy    
Studios wanted to standardise audience and genre

Sub - genres

Rick Altman - semantic: see conventions
                       syntactic: relationships
                       pragmatic: institutions produce certain numbers

Grant - sub-genres recognise characteristics and are difficult to define.

Neale - audience gain please
             niche audience

AUDIENCE HAVE SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS

Language

Connotation
Denotation

TV uses verbal and written language

Meanings of form and language:
  • Meanings 
  • Conventions 
  • Codes
  • Genre
  • Choices 
  • Combinations
  • Technologies