Trailer 2 Research and Planning

When we made the first trailer for Claustrophobia, we felt that it was appropriate to have a slow, "artsy" trailer. This was because we wanted to break away from the conventions of standard trailers - The trailer for "Requiem for a Dream" was fast, nauseous and left the audience stunned and wanting to see more. We noticed that there was a lack of equilibrium in the trailer, and we wanted to take this route too. However we noticed from audience feedback that the lack of equilibrium also meant a lack of narrative - People didnt understand what the trailer was promoting. We decided to have another look at our trailer. We agreed that it felt too much like a short film fit for a poem, and less like a promotional piece for a film. Our initial reaction was to add some text pieces in the trailer, but we finally accepted taht we hadd to film some more material.

We went to a park and filmed Anthony in a brighter, prettier environment than the dark, dank and dusty warehouse. We also used Danny in the shots too, to show friendship. This is in contrast to the solitude and feeling of lonlieness present in the rest of the trailer.For the editing, we put the "positive" part of the trailer at the start, and then showed progressive decline using saturation and visual cues. We also changed the end text scenes, changing them to black with white text. We also removed the poem, which we felt was the best decision to bring focus back to the production being a trailer.

We now feel that the production has a better narrative feel, whilst still maintaining the original feel of the trailer that we were looking for.

Claustrophobia trailer 2.

Taking into consideration the audience feedback we had, we decided to add some footage and remove the poem from the trailer, we felt this would make the trailer have more narrative and also be less of an "artsy" short film and more related to the topic.

Evaluation

Sam Charlton A2 Media Evaluation on Prezi

Claustrophobia Trailer

This is the finished trailer for "Claustrophobia" please comment on it! Below is a trailer for which we were inspired by - Requiem for a Dream has many features that we felt were useful for our trailer too. We liked the ambiguity of the trailer and also that it does give us information about the film without giving away what is going to happen.


Thanks!

Claustrophobia Poster

This is the final draft of my poster for "Claustrophobia." I have kept to the style of my original draft, making a few changes, such as the closer up shot of the character and the blur effect which I felt gave the poster a bit more mystery and represented the effect of drugs without telling too much, which would inspire the audience to go and see the film.

Sight and Sound magazine front cover.

This is the final draft of my magazine front cover for sight and sound, promoting my film. I kept quite close to the original mock up concept as I felt it was a really good design, and whilst I modified bits and moved things around, I feel it is quite authentic to the style of the magazine. I took a photo of myself with an auto timer on my camera. I used a blue background with spot lighting on my left and lighting at the back as well. I have used several different colours on the magazine to represent the diversity of the magazine and show that it is quite indy. compared to other copies of sight and sound I think it has maintained that feel, as can be seen below.

Filming Log

Brad recorded the events of our filming day on his notepad. Below shows what happened:


Tuesday 30th March 2010
Props for cocaine shot created at 3:43pm
camera and equipment set up at 3:56pm
Shot taken at 4:06
Extra Takes taken at 4:08pm - 4:14pm
Shot finished at 4:25pm

Thursday 1st April 2010
Group met at Co-op on Deyes Lane at 3pm
Arrived at Location at 3:30pm
We set up props and costume for Anthony at 3:38pm
Starting taking a few Practice shots at 3:44pm
Cleared debris around the shot locations at 3:53pm
Started filming at 4:07pm
Shots in storyboard 1 completed at 4:35pm
Shots in storyboard 2 completed at 4:59pm
Shots in storyboard 3 completed at 5:19pm
Props and Equipment packed away at 5:20pm
Finished filming at 5:21pm
Group disbanded at 5:38pm


We intended to finish at 5:30 but clearing debris, setting up shots and other unpredictable elements meant we  overran.

Costume List

We decided to use normal clothing for everyone bar Anthony, who would be wearing dark, baggy clothing with a beany hat and makeup on his face to make him look like a drug addict. Rather than have specific costumes we felt that a more natural look to the film would be more effective than excessively set up clothing styles.

Venue List and Risk Assessment

The venues we used for our trailer were:

Abandoned Warehouse by Robin Island
My back garden
Northway dual carriage way
Deyes High School.

These locations enabled us to make the shots we wanted. We would have used an interior of a church however we couldn't find one that would let us do the shot.

 For our risk assessment we had to take into consideration the inherent danger of working in an abandoned warehouse. There was debris littered through the warehouse but we took time out of our schedule to ensure that we were all safe and that it wouldnt endanger our work or ourselves. It did help us get the right feel for the shot however. Some of the cut shots of us driving down the dual carraige way had the danger of hanging a camera out of a window - however we encountered no problems as we tied the camera down into the car so it would not fall out. The shots ended up cut in the end anyway.

Props List

The props list was going to be quite small as we didn't need very much.
To make the trailer we needed:

Camcorder
Tripod
Chair
Lighter
Cigarettes
Car for transport.
Paper Straw
Whey Protein Powder (this was to be used for the cocaine shot)

I provided the Camcorder and Tripod paper straw and protein powder, Brad provided the Chair and Car for transport,  Anthony provided the lighter and cigarettes.

Actor List

The actors that are participating in the trailer are:

Anthony Gibbons (The main character)
Brad Johnson (side character)
Danny Lynskey (side character)
Sam Charlton (side character)
Will Charlton (smoker)

This is the storyboard for my groups trailer. The group worked together to think of shots that would be effective for the style of film we are making. It may not be the same end result but more of an inspiration for our next stage of production. We simply used pens and paper for this as it was most effective to get the ideas down quickly - I had them scanned in so i could post it on the blog.

This is the mock up for my film poster. I have used photoshop and a graphics tablet again to improve the quality of the mock up and also to give me an idea of what I will make when I design the poster. I have decided to use a similar shot from the film with the main character being focused on. I have decided to take advantage of the unusual angle by changing the angle of the text. the labels on the image indicate what the text will be like and what some of the sections are.

Magazine Front Cover mock up

This is the mock up of my magazine front cover. I made it in Photoshop CS4 with a graphics tablet. These tools enabled me to draw up a quick design and fill in colour - giving me a more realistic idea of what my magazine might look like once I make it. Using this technique has helped me greatly. I have decided to use the magazine Sight and Sound as my film would be quite an "indy" film and something like Total Film or Empire would rather have a blockbuster film rather than a smaller picture as it's feature image.
I have also decided to focus on the "director" of Claustrophobia aswell, rather than one of the actors as I think that it provides a different angle on presenting the film to the audience. The trailer and poster will advertise the actors as it is so trying to get some interest in the director could in a real life project promote the film in a different way.

Candy (2006) - is a romance film that surrounds heroin addiction. It has several features that I am interested in for my coursework.  The serenity that is present in the trailer reflects the positive traits that drugs have on relationships, and it also shows the downfall of romance when afflicted by drugs. In the trailer it attempts to promote the film by saying it is based on a very successful book by Luke Davies, and that it is from the acclaimed director Niel Armfield - and also that it had been a highlighted film at the berlin film festival. It then plays a series of shots varying from close ups of the characters when they are showing romantic shots, underwater shots, mid range shots, birds eye view shots (of the ride they go on), and other shots that reflect the positive aspects of drugs. at 1.05 the film changes and shows the downfall of drugs on candys family and on the relationship of the two main characters. After the short montage of negative aspects, the trailer then continues and shows a mix of scenes until it ends.
The music in the trailer is used to reflect the peace and tranquility that comes with people who take drugs early on - however the music then feels quite nauseous when you see the downward spiral the characters go down in the film.

The poster of the film only really reflects the postive aspects of the relationship in the film. It shows the two characters embracing and showing commitment - however the "more is never enough" gives a hint towards what might become of the relationship. The characters look obsessed with each other and this itself might be another form of addiction the film will portray.

There are no front covers to magazines that are advertising the film so instead i will look at a film that is similar in genre that has been used on a front cover. I decided to analyse the trainspotting magazine. The film Trainspotting is 11 years old so the magazine isn't that relevant to today's front cover style. The design standards for today have changed dramatically.

In the trailer for Shutter Island, there are a lot of interesting features that are used to promote the film. The director's name; Martin Scorsese, stands out on its own as a promotion, because of his successful background. The basic outline of the story is described through using scenes from the film, in scenes with Leonardo Di Caprio and other supporting characters talking.

The music is non diagetic and is used in conjuction with the editing. The music gets faster and louder and the trailer progresses with the flashes of light and faster cuts.This is used for suspense and horror. There is diagetic sound being used with dialogue, wind, crashing and sea waves during the scenes trailer is setting the film. The editing is mostly montage cuts with lots of fade outs and ins to accompany it.

The camera shots used include close ups, which take up the majority of the shots, as the trailer portrays that the story is character driven, so using close ups shows that there is a lot of dialogue. The wide shots are used to display the environments. They are all used to show the scenery and the characters of the film to familiarise them with the audience, so they will see the film in the cinemas.

The Total Film cover for Shutter Island shares alot of synergy with the poster. There is the use of dark blue to incite fear and danger. Thuse use of red is also prominent again. The magazine has evidently tried to stick to only using red white and blue and also a hint of yellow (the lighthouse and the eye in the avatar image, and the art preview at the top).
This is used to put focus on the idea of danger in the film. The yellow is probably used to portray madness (since the setting is a mental asylum)
The magazine is trying to portray the image of horror and fear that will be prominent in the film .

The Shutter Island poster uses several techniques to draw the audience in to see the film. The colour scheme of a dark blue and the rain gives the impression of fear and darkness. The island being out in the sea gives the impression of solitude and entrapment. The image reminds the audience of Alcatraz prison island, but it is much more sinister. The use of red catches the eye of the audience aswell and implies danger, blood.
The face of leonardo dicaprio takes up the majority of the poster not only as information for the audience but also an enticement using Star Theory.
The flame used above the lighthouse infuses the idea of darkness (as it is coming from a match) and this implies the film will be a thriller along with the other techniques used by the poster.
By saying the film is directed by Martin Scorcese would attract audiences who are aware of him.

Hello!

Welcome to my A2 blog! Look here frequently for updates on the status of my coursework.