Sound

Music can be very significant in trailers as they get across to the audience what type of genre the trailer is. The sound helps build up tension and add emotion to trailers such as horror, as the sound becomes fast paced and more dramatic the audience immediately know that something bad is going to happen.  Looking at chase scenes in many horror and thriller films we noticed that the music in the background is not necessarily instrumental and has a deep and dramatic drum beat as though it is the heart beating, which makes the pace seem very fast and dramatic.

An example of sound in a horror trailer is ‘Captivity’ which is one of the trailers which inspired us when looking for/ finding sound for our trailer. We quite liked the drum based sounds which got louder and quieter in places  and  the pace of the sounds got faster and slower creating suspense and mystery of what could happen to the victims.

We searched for non-copyrighted sites for soundtrack; we found two very good sites: FindSounds.com and AudioNetwork.com. We were looking for a range of sounds which we could use for different sections of the trailer as each part told a different story. We first looked for a slow drumbeat sound for the beginning of the scene where Rizwana is tied up on a chair is a cupboard. This is so that the sound is quite relaxed and we wanted it to get quite dramatic with more drum based sounds that begin to get louder and quicker building up tension and suspense to show what is going to happen to Rizwana. Also for the title’s in between the trailers we wanted to in-cooperate sounds of slow drum based sound  to add suspense.  The sound we used was Hell on earth‘, from Audionetwork.com

We also wanted to use buzzing sound effects similar to the ones used in the opening of Se7en. We quite liked the buzzing sounds of when the killer sticks the victim’s photos from newspapers which makes it quite nerving and disturbing for the audience as it would make them think / believe that the girls are in danger.  The sound we used was ‘Death blade', from Audionetwork.com. We decided to use cut parts of the sound so that the metal and scraping sound fit in with when the Killer is sticking photo's of the victims, this is so that it makes the scene look realistic as though the scraping sounds are being made by the Killer himself.   

For the cemetery scene of Tovia running, we wanted to add some chase music which would make Tovia running more dramatic and will help the audience understand that she is running away from the killer. The sound will also add mystery and enigma’s as the audience will be left wondering why Tovia is running and who is this mystery person chasing her.  The sound we used was ‘Fear Factor, from Audionetwork.com. We cut the 'Fear factor' sound and used different sections to speed up the tension as Tovia is running through the cemetery, as we wanted to create a climax, making the audince wonder what could possibly happen to Tovia.

The screams I came across before were quite short and didn't create the suspense we wanted.  We wanted a long scream which will act as a soundbridge to the end of the trailer to create mystery and engimas of what could possibly be happening to the female victim. When trying to cut the sounds an bring them to together so that the screaming sound is longer, it made the screaming sound like a seagal which was inappropriate. It was very difficult trying to find a scream effect that would fit into out trailer, I came across a scream sound from findsounds.com and the sound that I thought best fitted our trailer was the female scream. This was much more appropriate and we didint have to do any changes to the sound as it fitted with Tovia screaming when she is being dragged down the stairs.  

Institutional research

Our genre is horror, well known film production companies such as Miramax, Lionsgate and Ghost House these have made renowned films like the Saw films, The Possession, Drag me to hell and The Grudge. We would be looking to release our film at the end from Mid to the end of October as this period is Halloween and when horror films are extremely popular. This Ghost House logo is highly effective as it has the use of black and white for binary oppositions showing the good and evil of the genre. There are obvious connotations of a skull that has been shadowed and made to look scary, frightening. They have used writing for the titles that has the effect like its dripping blood to also connote the genre of the film. The Miramax is an independent film company which was a disney subsidery beforehand but not anymore. They have been known to make some horrors and exciting thrillers. This logo is also black and white showing binary oppositions within the genres. Also the writing is in sans serif which makes it look more modern and sharper. The Miramax writing is big and bold and stands out to the audience. Miramax have been known to make some great horrors such as, Jeepers Creepers, Scream, Don't be afraid of the dark and Halloween H20.

Lionsgate is a well known production company when it comes to horror films. From 2012 it is known as the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company in North America and the sixth most profitable movie studio. They have made very famous horrors such as, the Saw collection, Cabin in the Woods, See no evil and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The logo has a red background that looks like red clouds and adds an eerie horror feel to the logo. The writing is sans serif and is in capitals to make it stand out on the red background. The font colour is grey and the contrast against red fully highlights the horror genre.

For our trailer we will be using the Miramax production company, this is becasue we fellt hat this production company best fits our genre of horror/thriller. it is argued that our trailer is more towards a thriller genre than a horror becasue theres not a lot of violence and gore shown within the trailer, yet the audience are lead to believe their is.   Miramax is also well known  and when people see the logo they automatically associate logo with previous films they have seen and will know is likely to be a box office hit. 

We would release our trailer on to multiplex cinemas, as horror films can appeal to a variety of ages and the major horror fan. It is likely to do well at multiplex's as we would preferably like to release at Halloween time when the horror genre is at its most popular. I think our trailer would be international as the content and story is similar to others that have been popular.

Cast and Costume

The cast in our trailer is Rizwana, Tovia, Emily. The three girls will be staring as themselves, so it is not confusing and we won’t get mixed up if we made character names for each one of us.  This is also so the trailer looks realistic and so the audience can sympathise with the characters in the film.

Below are the characters we used in our trailer:

Emily Jesson:

Rizwana Bibi:

Tovia Balo:

There will be three characters staring in the trailer of which each character will be shown in different settings and locations.  In the first scene, the three characters; Rizwana, Emily and Tovia will be shown in a canteen/classroom location dressed in a school uniform, consisting of a white shirt, tie and black trousers. This dress code would indicate to the audience that the scene is set at a school involving three school girls. This will be a flashback scene, educating the audience why the killer is targeted the three girls and what motivated him to torture/kill the girls.

Below are images of the costume for the school scene:

The killer will be dressed in black pants, black hoodie, black scarf and black gloves and big walking boots. This will leave the audience wondering of who the killer is and the dress code would not give too much away of whether the killer is a male or female creating enigmas. Also, the audience will immediately will know that this character is a killer due to the connotations of black of being death, misery and gloom.

Below are the images of the costume we used for the killer character:

   

As the characters are three young women, we thought that it will be ideal for them to dress casually of what the girls would wear day to day, which could consist of leggings and a top. This is to suggest that the girls are living/leading normal day to day lives, which turns for the worst when they encounter the killer.

Below are the images of the costume we used for the three girls:

Emily's character:

Tovia's character:

Rizwana's character:

Location ideas

As we were creating a horror trailer, we thought that a cupboard will be a appropriate location for our trailer. This is because the location will immediately indicate to the audience that the film is unpleasant. Also, the dark cupboard will create a creepy tone and mystery as it will make the audience wonder and think about what can be lurking in cupboard.   

Below is an image of the cupboard we used for our trailer:

Another location we thought would be ideal for our trailer is ‘The Plunge’ forest/woods. This further indicates to the audience that our trailer is a horror genre. We felt that this location is appropriate to create an eeriness and suspenseful tone for the running/ chase scene as, it adds to the mystery of who can be lurking in the woods creating more enigmas. Also, setting the scene at dusk further creates a mysterious and scary tone awaiting the character.

We used steep parts of the forest to film Tovia running up the hilly sections of the forest, this is to show the vulnerability of Tovia as she struggle to run up the hill, which makes the scene appear dramatic and create anticipation.

Below are images of the forest where we filmed our production, this forest is called ‘The Plunge’ and is in Edenfield:

We also decided to use my car as one of the locations for our trailer. We quite liked the opening scene of the thriller ‘ils them’, where the teenage girl is sitting in the front seat of the car and is strangled from behind by an unknown killer. We too wanted to in-cooperate this theme into our trailer as we thought that it will more enigmatic making the audience wonder who the killer could be and has Tovia survived ?

 Below are images of my car that we will be using for our trailer:

Another location we thought of using is the classroom as we wanted to show a flashback of the three girls' past suggesting that they used to bully a boy called Kieron, we wanted to give some narrative hints to the audience about what prompted the killer to stalk and hunt down the three girls and why the killings are occurring.

 Below are images of the classroom:

We wanted the beginning of the trailer to contrast the rest of the trailer so we opted to film the beginning of the trailer at a sunny hilly rural location, this is so that the changes the audience's perception of the trailer and it will contradict they first impressions, this will make the audience wonder of what can occur in the trailer intriguing them to watch the film at the cinemas when the film is released.

Below is the image of the location we filmed for the beginning of the trailer:

Genre, themes and audience appeal

The genre of our trailer is horror; we have chosen this genre as we believe we can make it look more realistic than the other genres. For example if we did a comedy trailer it would appear unrealistic and cheesy which would not be as effective and wont grab the audience’s attention as much as the horror genre would.   We will be able to make the horror genre more effective than a comedy genre as it can be easily obtained by the use of props and makeup. Making good use of Mis-en-scene will highlight the genre and this is key in common horror trailers. For example, shots of blood, weapons, violence and terror. We will be including the traditional tension building music and the use of unnerving sound effects, as these are key in building the suspense and tension with the audience. Also we will use another traditional convention of a montage of various shots showing the violence and gore within in the film. It is showing the audience what the film includes, building a story, without showing the viewer’s everything, in effects creating enigma. We will also be using darker lighting effects and colours in the trailer to fit the genre and highlight the dark nature of horror films. Also, creating a horror genre will be most appropriate more us, as it would make the trailer appear more realistic and intriguing as we are teenage girls, this will make the audience empathise with the characters.

The focus of our trailer is to sell the film to our target audience; we will do this by highlighting the genre, giving a narrative point to the trailer and hooking the audience in to coming viewing the film. The trailers key point is to create enigmas with the target audience consequently making them want to view the film once it is released.  Our marketing points of out film will be the genre; we have taken a typical revenge story and made it terrifying, psychotic and gripping, which would make it intriguing and shocking for the audience. The horror genre is popular and the horror target audience is always looking for new, exciting horror films which have a riveting unique selling point. The genre of a film is very important as it is appealing to a certain group of people, for example violent content would appeal to males preferably over females. So creating a unique selling point will broaden your appeal to the target audience consequently attracting more people.

 Our trailer would be shown at main cinemas throughout the country, it would more than likely be shown before other horror or thriller films as this is the main target audience of our film and it will be the films they are more than likely come to watch. We will be looking at to release the film at October time preferably the 31^st October 2012, this time will be ideal as it will be Halloween which many people will be in the ‘trick or treat’/ horror and gory spirit, which would make them want to watch the film in the evening with a partner or group of friends.

The target audience of our trailer is older teens/young adults, aged between 15-30, as most audiences who like horror fit in this age range as this is the age range we have targeted our trailer to. Also, by having a 15 certificate, we will bring in a younger audience which will boost box office hits. also, our trailer is more of a thriller genre as we have not used lots of blood and gore in our trailer.

Titles and font decisions

We wanted to in co-operate the styles of titles used in the films ‘Captivity (2007)’ and ‘Halloween 2 (2009)’ into our trailer, as it is also a horror genre. We were inspired by the white titles on a black background as they stood out and set the right tone of boldness which is very effective to catch the audience’s attention. Also the titles with the filming gives a narrative story to the audience, educating them of what is going to happen in the film, this would intrigue them to find out what will happen to the three girls and will there be any justice.

The titles will set the tone/ mood for the trailer; we decided to add them throughout the trailer to tell a narrative as we didn’t have much dialogue in the trailer. Also, we didn’t want to overpower the audience with lots of titles thrown at them at once, so we spread them out with a mixture of filming/ shots.

We created the titles in a logical structure, as the trailer progressed from one character to another we created titles to show the audience what is going to happen to each character. This indicates that the killer will treat/kill the charades in different ways, more viscously to some characters because he punished them by how badly they treated him at school.

The block capitals used in ‘Captivity’ and ‘Halloween’  made the trailers stand out so we decided that we wanted to in-cooperate this effect into our trailer, so it grabs the audience’s attention. Also, using block capitals again reinforced the significance and importance of the production. We also wanted the titles to look professional.  The font we used for the titles was ‘Arial’; this is because we wanted to portray the titles as being traditional yet modern. Also, we wanted to choose a font that can be easily read by the audience.

Below are the titles which inspired us from the trailers for ‘Captivity’ and ‘Halloween’:

The titles we created for 'The Return' production are shown below:

We decided to create the titles on a black background, as black has connatations of death, misery and darkness. The titles get across the genre of the trailer as it enhances the horror/ thriller aspects that there could be unpleasant consequences for the characters in the trailer. also, the titles has a tint of red added to white which resembles blood which again suggests that the charaacter could potentially be killed or severly hurt from the tortourous acts the killer performs on them.  

The style of font we decided to used was serif font, we decided to use these style of font as it is seen and portayed as being a funky playful font, this would suggest that the characters used in the trailer are young where they have just esblaighed their identitlies and choice of lifestyle through eduction and jobs.

Storyboard

Storyboard from RizwanaBibi1

We decided to create a storyboard so we have a clear indication of the types of shots that we need to film and how the trailer will progress in terms of narrative as trailers tend to jump from one scene to the next. The storyboard also will help us to see the what our trailer could look like if we followed and filmed the shots we have included in our storyboard. However, when filming for our trailer we might find that some of the shots we have included in the storyboard may not look appropraite or we may think of new shots that will enable us to make our trailer have more impact.

Script

RIZWANA, TOVIA AND EMILY’S SCRIPT

 [EXT. HILLY FIELD - DAY TIME]

PAN/TRACK shot

360 angle establishing shot of a hilly field (Fade to black)

CUT TO:

TITLE:

On fade to black – title: ‘How far would you go to get revenge…’

CUT TO:

[INT.SCHOOL: CLASSROOM/CANTEEN]

RIZWANA, EMILY AND TOVIA:

FLASHBACK: Long shot of us three laughing and bullying

CUT TO:

TITLE:

On the people who ruined your life…

CUT TO:

KIERON:

FLASHBACK: Medium shot of Kieron cowering in the corner

CUT TO:

[INT.SCHOOL CORRIDOR]

STAFF MEMBER:

Close up of newspaper article about killer being sent to psychiatric unit

CUT TO:

KILLER: 

POV shot of baseball bat swinging toward camera (Fade to black)

CUT TO:

[INT. SMALL ROOM/CUPBOARD – DARK]

RIZWANA:

Extreme close up of Rizwana’s eyes looking scared. (Fade to black)

CUT TO:

RIZWANA:

Close up of Rizwana’s face, gagged (Fade to Black)

RIZWANA:

Tracking shot of mascara running down face.

                                                       CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close-up shot of killers gloved hands, cutting up newspaper clippings of victim (Rizwana).

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up of Killers hands picking up a knife. FADE TO BLACK.

CUT TO:

RIZWANA:

Medium shot, tied to a chair with rope and gagged (mumbling), looking around (moving head side to side to show Rizwana establishing where she is) scared. (Tense, slightly fast paced music in background)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up, Low angle shot of killer’s feet walking towards Rizwana. Fade to black.

CUT TO:

KILLER:

High angle shot of tray of torture weapons and killer picking up knife. FADE TO BLACK.

CUT TO:

Ellipsis flickering shot.

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up of hand with knife touching Rizwana’s face (Fade to black)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close-up and then POV shot of Killer’s gloved hands sewing an old and dingy scrapbook with needle and thread. (buzzing sounds, flickering effect) FADE TO BLACK.   

                                                     CUT TO:

TITLE:

‘Picking them off one by one...’ (Fade to black)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up of killer’s hands and photographs of Emily (dissolve to black)

CUT TO:

[EXT. ROAD- DAY TIME]

EMILY:

Medium shot of Emily walking down the road towards the camera with killer behind her (fade to black)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up of killer’s hands and photographs of Emily (dissolve to black)

CUT TO:

High angle, close up of Emily being grabbed from behind (fade to black)

CUT TO:

EMILY:

Tracking shot of Emily looking extremely scared (fade to black)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Medium shot of knife coming down (filmed from below) - sound sting then fade to black Emily’s scream

CUT TO:

TITLE:

‘Will revenge be served or…’ FADE TO BLACK.

CUT TO:

[INT.BEDROOM – DARK]

TOVIA:

Medium shot, Tovia Wakes up (in bed, gasping and breathing heavily and screaming to continue Emily’s scream, close-up scared look on her face.

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up of killer’s hands and photos of Tovia (flickering effect)

Zoom into extreme close up of photo of Tovia (flickering effect)

CUT TO:

TITLE:

‘Or will any survive?’ (extremely quick fade to black)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close up of killer stabbing photo with a knife (fade to black)

CUT TO:

 [EXT. FOREST- DUSK]

TOVIA:

Long shot of Tovia running. Fade to black.

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

Medium shot of Tovia running through woods (fade to black)

CUT TO:

KILLER:

Close-up of Killers hands holding a black marker pen and drawing a line across Tovia’s eyes (picture)       

  CUT TO:      

 (EXT: CEMETARY- DARK)

TOVIA:

Medium shot of Tovia running through cemetery towards camera (match on action from previous)

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

POV 180 shot of Tovia looking round panicking

CUT TO:

 On fade to black: ‘Remarkable horror, will have you at the edge of your seat’ – Empire

CUT TO:

[INT.HOUSE]

TOVIA:

Long shot of Tovia running up the stairs and being dragged back down

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

Medium close up of Tovia being dragged down the stairs-match on action from previous (from top of stairs) (fade to black)

CUT TO:

[EXT.ROAD]

TOVIA:

Long shot of Tovia running and getting into car

CUT TO:

[INT. CAR]

TOVIA:

Medium shot of Tovia getting in car, opening door/holding handle

TOVIA:

Medium shot of Tovia getting inside car (match on action)

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

Close up of Tovia fumbling with car keys, trying to put in the car.

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

Medium shot of Tovia looking in mirror (Scared) (fade to black)

TOVIA:

Close up of Killer grabbing Tovia from behind in car- from back

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

From front of car, close up of Tovia’s face (scared) in front seat (fade to black)

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

Extreme close-up of Tovia’s eye, (wide open and scared) FADE TO BLACK.

CUT TO:

TOVIA:

Close up of Tovia’s hand sliding down inside car window (covered in blood)- filmed from outside of car.  

END.