Music Research

We were planning on using one track throughout that has a fast tempo but also has a "screechy" sound to it which will create tension and suspense as well as making it more uncomfortable for the audience. This is a convention of the thriller genre as it makes the audience want to watch more and find out what happens to the characters.
However we have now decided to use two tracks to match the two different feelings in the trailer. Many thriller trailers, include ours, start off gently and are easy to watch as it is setting the narrative up and putting the film into context for the audience. The music at this point is gentle and often includes music that is similar to that associated with children's music boxes. This is evident in the "Panic Room" trailer. We want to try and include a music track similar to that at the start of the trailer. As the trailer progresses, the atmosphere gets more tension and serious and so the music would also change more tense and have more of a beat than the slows, classical music at the beginning of the trailer.

Scripts

In our trailer we aren't planning on using any diegetic speech apart from when Owen is talking to his parents and get's aggravated, storming out shouting "Whatever" at them. We have decided to not use much diegetic speech as we think it increases the suspension. There will be non diegetic, tense music that will enable the audience to watch the film and still understand what mood and atmosphere the film will be throughout. Also no speech allows the audience to develop their own feelings towards the characters more. It doesn't set a definite opinion of the characters which adds to the mystery of the film.

Characters, Costumes, Props

The 3 main characters in the film trailer will be;
-Owen, who is an 17 year old male who come from a privileged, upper class background and is constantly under pressure from his parents to do well. He is very controlling in his relationships
-Chloe, who is a 17 year old girl who is dating Owen. She is being controlled by him and doesn't like it, but feels she can't tell anyone, and is quite favourable over the amount of money Owen and his family have. She does eventually tell her best friend Katie about Owen being controlling
-Katie, who is 17 and Chloe's best friend and also used to date Owen so knows about how controlling he can be, although this isn't revealed in the trailer.

The costumes we will be using will be fashionable clothes that teenagers are likely to wear as this keeps the film realistic but we will also make the majority of the clothes dark coloured such as black or red. This is because black symbolises darkness and evil and red connotes danger and violence which will foreshadow what will happen at the end of the trailer and film. We won't use many props in the film as this is a psychological thriller trailer so most of the effect the film has is through the suspense and logic the narrative creates. We will include a phone in the trailer to show messages between the characters.

Settings

For the trailer we decided that it would be most effective to film in the evening as it is getting dark because this is a convention of the thriller genre since the darkness connotes the unknown which is a very common fear. However, filming at night can cause problems due to the low lighting, so we are going to test this out first and see how the footage turns out.
The setting we have decided on are;
-A bedroom/lounge, which is where a conversation happens between the two characters Owen and his girlfriend, Chloe, to show that the boyfriend is controlling
-A dining room, where we include some parental involvement showing that the Owen is under pressure due to his parents want him to get good grades. This is a conversation between him and his parents where he storms off.
- A bedroom/lounge, this is where Chloe and Katie have a conversation and Katie comforts Chloe about Owen being so controlling
- In town/Street, we see Katie walk past and Owen steps forward out of an alley way, this is when Owen starts to threaten Katie
- Front Door, Owen confronts Katie who tried to slam the door on him, but he puts his foot in the door preventing this
-Train Station, this is where the trailer ends as Katie thinks she has escaped Owen, only to see he has managed to get on the train with her

The town centre where we are planning to film 

Panic Room- Trailer Research 2

Panic Room is a 2002 American thriller film, in which a woman (Meg) and her diabetic daughter (Sarah) purchase a new house. They are shown that this house has a secret room that is impossible to get in once closed. The room has supplies in order to survive, cameras to see around the house and a phone in order to contact the police. 3 men break into the house, one an employee of the residence security company and one a grandson of the previous owner and try to steal millions worth of bearer bonds which are locked inside a safe in the panic room floor. Eventually they are all either killed or captured by a SWAT team.
The music at the start is slow and soft, like it should be played from a childrens music box. This is typically used in thriller movies as it creates and effect of innocence, juxtaposing what is going to happen in the rest of the movie. The editing at the beginning is slow, with many long fades to black, as it supports many of the establishing shots seen in setting up the narrative and putting the rest of the trailer/film into context. The mise en scene at the start is typical of the thriller genre as there aren't many colours with blacks and greys most common in the trailer. However the lighting at the beginning is high key showing again that the beginning isn't supposed to be tense.
When the estate agent reveals the safe room, the atmosphere changes with the music stopping and being replaced with more speech from the film and deep rumbling sounds and screechy sounds which increase the tension. There is also pauses in the audio which gives the time for the audience to take in what they have seen so far and builds suspension which is supported by diegetic sounds such as footsteps approaching. As the trailer progresses, there are more close ups and tracking shots which show the panic the characters are in and that they are trying to escape danger. The editing also increases with quicker cuts speeding up the trailer, and when there are fades to black diegetic speech can be heard with no other distraction, focussing on the woman's feelings and the audience empathise with her. The mise en scene is similar all the way through, excluding the lighting which progressively gets more low key throughout, reflecting the dark feelings, situations and atmosphere. The trailer ends with the little girl saying "What is he doing", which represents the audience's feelings and the mother replying with, "They're locking us in". That last sentence creates suspense and panic for the audience as they only hear her say that with no visual clues to what is happening. It will make them want to go and see the film.

Film idea pitch

 We presented our ideas to the rest of the class who gave us feedback:

-We came up with good ideas and a good plot that makes sense and has conventions of a thriller

-We understand the genre and what many films and trailers typically show

-We need to further our ideas to include some more sub-plots that will include different characters, including the involvement of parents
-Ask for permission from the train station which we were planning on film at. 

Film Title Research

As pairs we looked at the above titles which are all from different thrillers. We looked at the common conventions of the titles and also some of the more unusual features. For example, many of the titles contain dark backgrounds and/or red font which is used as the darkness is a common fear, The red is often used in the titles as it connotes danger and violence to the audience. Also most of the fonts are in a sans serif font as this shows that the films are quite harsh to watch as opposed to a genre such as teen angst where the titles are often pink and in a serif font. The names of the films are usually quite short and memorable such as "The Ring", "Se7en" and "Panic Room", however if the title is long then it is structured so that the words are on top of one another making it seem shorter and take up less room on the screen/poster. 

What makes us Scared?

Over the last week we have studied the conventions of thriller trailers and what these connote to the audience. We started by listing the stereotypical aspects of a thriller film such as a dark, quiet and rainy setting. We also agreed that the plot will include some kind of threat to a 'damsel in distress' type character and will include at least one weapon. However the narrative will be based around a sense of confusion and mystery that will eventually be worked out with logic. It also will be realistic so that the audience think it can happen to them which adds to the suspense and tension. The threat character is usually and intimidating male. There is also usually non-diegetic, tense music which builds the suspense of the film. The editing in a thriller film is usually fast paced and includes lots of crossing cutting as the narrative is multi stranded, so the audience will need to see many stories which run parallel with each other.
We also listed as some of the most common fears and these were; The unknown, heights, the dark, getting lost, death, small spaces and isolation. These are often incorporated into thriller movies as it directly affect the audience and will make the film more powerful for them to watch and will keep them hooked on what is going to happen

Se7en- Thriller Film Research

Se7en (1995)  is a psychological thriller directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Characters
The main characters in the film are two detectives. One called Somerset who is retiring  and the other called Mills who is taking his place. The other important characters are Mills' wife called Tracy and the serial killer John Doe.

Setting
The main settings in the film are the Offices of the detectives, the Library in which detective Somerset researches the case, the streets of the city and the empty desert area in the final scene. The offices are used in the film as it offers the audience a safe place in the film that is recognisable and where characters feel safe and also this is where the characters start to make a breakthrough in the case. The streets of the city are only ever seen when it is raining and the sky is dark. This is an example of pathetic fallacy and helps to set the mood for the audience. The final scene is set in an isolated area which plays on people's fears of being lost/isolated as there is nobody to help and have to deal with problems themselves.

Narrative
The narrative in psychological thrillers are very clever and their strength is that the audience can often be confused and so can't predict what will happen next. People often taken comfort in being able to predict what will happen. Todorov's theory can be applied here as the audience prefer a equilibrium, disequilibrium and new equilibrium but seven ends with a few twists that keep the audience guessing.

Thriller Trailer Research

As a class we described the features of the trailer 'Room 1408'. These included sounded, camera, editing and mise en scene. For sound there was non diegetic, slow piano music to set the mood at the beginning and this music picked up tempo towards the end of the trailer. There was also electronic sounds and screams to build tension and show the audience what genre the film is, in addition to  the mise en scene of the rain and thunder at the start. The editing helps to show that the film will be a thriller as there were quick cut suggesting there be a lot of action and it will be exciting and tense. Also there are slow black cuts/fades that build suspense for the audience as it gives them time to think about what will happen. The voiceover is a male American with a deep/ scratchy voice that makes the audience feel uncomfortable and sets the mood for the film.

We then went on to analyse the trailer for 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' in detail. The convention we identified were that it was dark and rainy, there was tense music, special effects such as a distorted face and blacked eyes. Also the theme of exorcism and the devil is typical of a thriller as this is a popular fear amongst people. The trailer starts of slowly like the majority of trailers do before the editing gets faster and the tempo overall increases, which increases the tension for the audience. Also one of the only selling points in this trailer is the inter title that says "based on a true story". We also concluded that the audience would be 18+ and more male than female but females would still be interested because the victim is female. The main characters in the film were the main girl victim, the priest, the detective, the roommate, the doctor and the judge. There may be more in the film but the trailer only summarises the plot so will only show the main, important characters. It also only shows two narratives, again there may be more during the film but the trailer is only summarising and if it showed more it would ruin the film. The music has a large effect on setting the mood and building tension for the audience. It was low, string music that was screechy and uncomfortable to listen to, as well as choir music which connotes the exorcism and religion involved in it. There were 5 inter titles that are used to break up the action so the audience can watch the trailer ore comfortably than the film.

Film Poster Research

   

Posters such as the two shown here are very similar as many posters in the same genre will share the same conventions. They both have a large image of the main character in the film which is a big focus on the poster. This will market the film as the audience can start to see what type of film it is and what could happen. The Titles are both in large sans serif font which indicates that it is serious and also will be one of the first things the audience sees so they will remember the name. The colour of the title is often similar throughout the genre, such as red and white above, red is used throughout this genre due to it's connotation of danger, violence and blood. Also the overall colour of the posters is black which connotes that the film will be in some way dark/horror themed. Black is a colour associated with thriller/horror films as it it usually associated with darkness and the unknown which is something that is very scary and daunting. If people see a poster that is dark in colour then they will associate this with the horror/thriller genre and will attract fans of that genre. There aren't many sentences on the posters but those that are are short and either promoting the film or building tension. The layout of the poster is so that the Image is the central focus point as this tells the audience what the film is about much quicker and easier than writing would and also has a shock effect on them.

Black Pond, Film Trailer Research

The music in this trailer is slow and played on a piano at the start but slowly speeds up a little and then a string instrument accompanies the piano. Eventually the music is a full orchestral piece and reaches a crescendo before slowing down again towards the end of the trailer. Starting off slow creates tension for the audience as they aren't sure what will happen and then as it builds up the cuts and the narrative also speed up giving the audience a sense of drama and the main action that will happen in the film. This will attract an audience as they will see what the film is about and the music helps to emphasise and advertise this. All film trailers tend to have at least on musical track with them as sounds has a big influence on the audience

In this trailer there are no voiceovers, but instead clips from the film are used in such a way that the audience can understand what the film is about and does a similar role to a voiceover. It helps to tell the story without giving too much away so that the audience are still intrigued enough to go a see the film. They clips of audio and video are put into chronological order as this, again, helps the audience to understand the plot that is being summarised but also helps to build the tension that the full length film would have been made to do. Therefore chronology is useful as such things as flashbacks could be confusing in a trailer as it is only short,
There are 6 title screens in the trailer, two of which are within the trailer, these say "An Ordinary Family" and "Accused of Murder". These are similar to a voiceover as they explain the narrative and summarise it. The other title screens are at the end, one of which is the title of the film and the others are USPs trying to sell the film to the audience. The font used in the titles in a white, bold sans serif font which connotes that it is a low budget film. This can attract an audience as many people prefer smaller films to hollywood blockbusters.
The content used is the main points in the film without giving the plot completely away. The content has to be interesting and engage the audience in order for them to consider going to see  it. If the content in trailer is too detailed then the audience might see too much of the plot and not go to see it but if it is too broad than they might not understand the plot and so not be that interested. The pace of the trailer starts off slow but gradually increases as the plot gets more detailed and the music also increases in tempo.This increases the suspense and tension for the audience so they are more likely to want to find out what happens in the entire film.
The star power in this film is a USP as one of the titles advertises " Two Time BAFTA Winner Chris Langham" clearly showing that he is a well known actor. This will attract and audience as anyone who liked him in one of his other roles may want to go and see this film as well.

Detailed Annotation of a Film Magazine Cover

Initial Annotations of Film Magazine Covers

Copy of Total Film magazine cover

This is my copy of the Total Film magazine cover (left) which i produced using adobe photoshop. The original image is the one on the right that i used as a template to copy. This task enabled me to develop the skills i had on this software and also try some new techniques that will help me further on. It is quite accurate but my skills on photoshop are not to the same standard as those who produced the original image on a different software.

This task also enabled me to indentify the main features of film magazine covers such as the Masthead, the backgroundthe image, the tagline and pictures from other films promoting them.One of the hardest things to do was to adjust the text style, font and colour to match to that of the original copy.