Sophia's Mis en scene Sophia, the main protagonist in the exchange student, has to be made to look like a young 17 year old from Estonia. The actress we have chosen for this is Zindzi Mckinlay. Sophia appears to be a shy, timid, mysterious young woman which seems to have a lot bottled up inside of her however not neccisarily negative; this is what is portrayed at first however her true colours begin to unravell as camera angles and shots reveal this. Sophia's dress is very significant to the role of an exchange student from Estonia. She is always wearing a semi-long black dress which is a crew neck and looks very traditional looking. We have put The rest of the characters, Khloe, Zara and Jenny in different fashionable clothing to highlight the significance of Sophia's abnormal outfit. The dress is important to the characteristics of sophia as its the main aspect which tells the audience she is different from the other teenagers.
Hairstyle and makeup.
Sophia's hairstyle and makeup is also significant; Her hairstyle idea was developed from Esther in the Orphan. Tight traditional curls in a short bob indicates she is a traditional non stylish teen which compares to the other teenagers she becomes friends with within the film. This automatically conveys there is a unknown freaky side to her.
Before we could take our own images and develop a film poster on Photoshop, research had to be put in place. Our ideas are a mixture of exsisting and origional forms of different horror movie campaigns. After the research, we hand drew a few ideas of vaigly what the film poster would look like, where the main image and font would be formationed and why/ what would it convey to our 15+ audience. These ideas have been explored on to a peice of paper to get a real idea of what we were creating.
The title/typography The title on the flat plans is mostly along the top. The 'the' in the title will be smaller than the rest of the title. It will be in a serious classical horror font type which will be white with deep red splatters of blood on to it conveying death and horror. the title will fill up the whole of the top of the poster and will be on a dark background wether just plain black or a dark fade out of the main image.
The main image The main image is probably the most significant part and the most hardest to choose. For us, the main image must convey horror, suspicion, dominance, abnormality and bitchyness all at the same time if Khloe and Jenny are going to be included aswell. The close up of the three girls is probably the most sucessful for conveying this message to the audience. Lighting will be used effectivly to create chairo scuro shadows to signify the whole concept of horror and costumes of sophia will be her usual foreign dress which has a collor (ideas of mis-en-scene- was formed from the movie The Orphan) Camera will be fully focused on Sophia however slightly off focus on Jenny and Khloe. Attitude for Khloe will be very much like Regina George forming the mean girl attitude; high maintainance and arrogant as the 3 Girls are the popular girls of the school.
Slogan The slogan is not yet 100% set in stone and can change at any point but on the flat plans we have written "A stranger comes to college" I have chosen this because that is literally what happens, a Stranger (an abnormal female from a forergn country) comes to an english college and becomes 'friends' with 3 popular girls. Other ideas for the slogan inlcude "Estonia's Finest..." or "Dont let her in..." or "Young girls will kill" or "The kindest go first". Slogans are meant to give a small insight of what the movie is about, something to lure the audience in to want to watch the movie. slogan will also be formationed at either the top of the poster, ironically underneith the title, or at the bottom of the page.
The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) The BBFC is an independent, self-financing and not-for-profit media content regulator. We operate transparent, consistent and trusted co-regulatory and self-regulatory classification and labelling systems in the UK. As a highly expert and experienced regulator, our mission is to:
protect the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks
empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices
recognise and respect adult freedom of choice within the law
respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research
provide a cost-effective, efficient classification service within our statutory remit
work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems
provide an effective service to enforcement agencies
The BBFC are in charge of classifying movies to percific age certificates in order to protect the public.
Our film trailer however would be a certificate 15.
These are the guidelines for a 15 rated movie
Suitable only for 15 years and over
No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.
Discrimination
The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour.
Drugs
Drug taking may be shown but the film as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.
Horror
Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.
Imitable behaviour
Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Easily accessible weapons should not be glamorised.
Language
There may be frequent use of strong language (for example, ‘fuck’). The strongest terms (for example, ‘cunt’) may be acceptable if justified by the context. Aggressive or repeated use of the strongest language is unlikely to be acceptable.
Nudity
Nudity may be allowed in a sexual context but without strong detail. There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context.
Sex
Sexual activity may be portrayed without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.
Theme
No theme is prohibited, provided the treatment is appropriate for 15 year olds.
Violence
Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of sexual violence must be discreet and have a strong contextual justification.
Our film would potentially be Rated a 15 because all areas may be shown however not enhanced, for example when Sophia kidnapps Jenny, grave detail is not included, there is no strong images of gruesomeness or inapproprieteness
We will be filming our horror trailers on Cannon EOS 550D camera/video camera's which provide high definition quality. The camera comes with a range of lenses which do different things, for example, extend the zoom, and focus on the focal ranges.
The Focal lenses make, whether an image or a video, focus on one particular person or object which is usually highlights the significance of the shot or scene. The person or subject will be in full focus in a very clear image and the background or setting will be blurred out to a degree of your choice. The camera has many degrees of which it can be blurred. This is called 'Field of View Crop '
Features
18 MP APS-C CMOS sensor
DIGIC 4
ISO 100-6400, H:12800
Up to 3.7fps shooting
Full HD movies
7.7cm (3.0”) 3:2 Clear View LCD with 1,040k dots
iFCL metering
Quick Control screen
Ext. Mic socket
Movie crop
This is the video we have produced by practicing and testing a more technical camera such as this one.
Theodor Adorno developed a theory which argued that capitalism fed people with the products of a 'culture industry' which is the opposite to true art in his eyes. This was mostly used just to keep the audience passively satisfied and politically apathetic.
Popular culture was identified as the reason for people's passive satisfaction and lack of interest in overthrowing the capitalist system.
Adorno suggested that culture industries churn out a debased mass of unsophisticated, sentimental products which have replaced the more 'difficult' and critical art forms which might lead people to actuallyquestion social life.
Adorno said that these were all peoples false needs which were practically taking over peoples actual lives,False needs are cultivated in people by the culture industries. These are needs which can be both created and satisfied by the capitalist system, and which replace people's 'true' needs - freedom, full expression of human potential and creativity, genuine creative happiness.
Applied. Theodor Adornos theory is basically saying that almost all forms of media such as films TV programs are false needs which humans have in their lives which are created by culture industries. They are the opposite to 'true needs' which are social values and classical values such as shakespeare. The question he would ask us is if our trailer and movie campaign is cultivating the theory of False needs and Commodity Fetishism. Our trailer is cultivating these needs. New movies are obviously trying to make a profit and aims for the audience to purchase our goods and services. They are false needs as we apply our campaign to the uses and gratification theory in which it would most likely fall under the category of diversion as it is an escapism of every day lives, a hobby to go and watch a movie and enjoy being thrilled by the genre of horror.
Theodor Adorno's theory is developed further on http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-ador.htm
All shots must signify a specific convention within trailers, especially horror. For instance, a Low angled long shot would infer that the protagonist is dominating the scene and holds some sort of power on the other hand a high angled mid shot would signify that the protagonist is rather inferior and holds no power or hardly any power as he/she is being looked down on by the camera.
This is a breif outline of the shot types and scenes we have so far
This is a detailed plan of which shots (in order) we will shoot stating the Location Camera movement, Camera angle, Camera shot, and length of actual shot (How long will the shot progress in the trailer for)
We did this so we can know exactly which shots signify what and so we can use it throughout filming to use as a plan.
We have used the following conventions in our story board.
Production/distribution companies in the first 2 shots
Establishing shot of the main setting of the movie in the third shot to establish to the audience what kind of horror film it will be (teen high school horror)
Montage (as used in many trailers such as honey and the Orphan)
Pans, camera movement.
Follows the Todrov theory (except the ending is not revealed and trailer end when equilibrium has peaked and mood is very much unsettled)
The task was to film a sequence of 8 shots which were revolved around the subject of 'doors' however this had to be something that would preferably fit into a horror sequence. Whilst filming we had to also focus of lighting, framing, pace, shot type, camera angle and length We chose to film our sequence of 8 shots in the bottom of the staircase in school. We chose this location especially because the lighting is very low and it seems dark and eerie which is perfect for a horror scene.
We used a Canon Legryder video camera.
The scenes we shot were all in the same place, same person, and same actions. However, we changed the angle, shot type, framing and camera movement.
This video contains the original shots we did, even the faulty ones which went wrong and we had to re-take.
We included a close up of his feet in the shot, to create suspense and build tension as it is a mystery whose feet they are. We also did a shot from a high angle to convey significance of the mystery male with his hood up. We shot a long shot of him walking towards the door; this acts as a form of establishing shot of the setting and where the actor is heading for. All the shots we prepared were significant and convey some kind of horror meaning. We didn't cut the shot until the door had closed because when the door closed it made a loud banging noise which could potentially startle the audience and break the eerie silence
When we had finished shooting our 8 shots, we moved on to the editing process. We edited our sequence in 'Adobe Premier PRO CS3' which allowed us to explore a range of techniques.
Here are some screen Grabs of the actual process and me editing and putting together a proper sequence.
Whilst playing the whole recording of 'doors' we I would press the key 'I' which symbolized 'in' which allowed me to mark where I wanted it to be cut from and 'O' which symbolized 'Out' which allowed me to mark where i wanted to cut the video out. When this was cut, we would drag it down to the bottom which was a frame to create the actual sequence.
These were the cuts which I Had selected from the original sequence to create the actual sequence of doors which would be in sync.
Postmodernist film upsets the mainstream conventions of narrative structure and characterization and destroys the audiences suspension of belief to create a work in which is less recognizable internal logic forms the films means of expression.
Features of postmodern films.
They don't pretend to be wholly works, and draw attention to the idea that the film is fictitious.
The genres are deliberately mixed and will borrow from music videos, TV, animation, etc.
Other films are often referred - this process is also known as inter-textuality.
Linear narratives are disrupted or re-arranged, and instead use circular narratives as well as open ended closures.
It can sometimes contain stories within stories and films within films.
Some characters involved may feel disconnected and alienated from their environment, and distrust authorities.
Different Types of Postmodernism
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The type I have chosen to focus and expand on is Pastiche A strong example of postmodernism pastiche genre is Scary Movie 4 .
Synopsis Cindy finds out the house she lives in is haunted by a little boy and goes on a quest to find out who killed him and why. Also, Alien "Tr-iPods" are invading the world and she has to uncover the secret in order to stop them.
Scary movie 4 challenges an array of movies within one film. for example, War of the worlds, The grudge Saw and real events such as George Bush in an american school & Opera. It mocks the horror concepts of the films and turns it in to friendly humor
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This trailer follows a strong pastiche pattern as it shows the audience a selection of significant movies it is mocking, this is to lure them into the movie as it is emphasising the humerous side to it. Pastiche films such as this one do not pretend to be 'wholly works' and focus on drawing the audiences attention to the fact that they are fictitious. The trailer explores obvious non fiction scenes, such as when there is a green hand shaving the females armpit this conveys humor. This film challenges the mainstream conventions of a narrative structure throughout all. It almost seems like a documentary of a mockery however is a film.
This is the first draft of the script for the exchange student horror trailer we are going to create. The title of the film however may change but is a simple hybrid slasher horror tile for now.
We begun by creating a synopsis of the film as a synopsis is crucial to every potential film. The synopsis is shot and simple and doesnt reveal too much. Many questions are risen as viewers read the synopsis for example, what mystery? whats so different about SOPHIA? We have then moved on to the opening description and planned out how the trailer will begin in what colours and shots ect...Dialouge is also included; the first person to introduce SOPHIA will be 'MISS LORENZO' which is a teacher. this is a typical school scene of new student introduction.
Dialouge continues as an equilibruim is set in place as SOPHIA meets KHLOE, ZARA AND JENNY. Normal atmosphere is put in place however typical teen behavior such as KHLOE'S bitterness towards SOPHIA. This resembles Regina George from mean girls as the sort of ringleader and bitchy teen.
Scenes progress as equilibrium becomes unsettles and mysteries begin to arise. Pace will fasen up and characters will begin to change and unravel their unknown identities. Text on screen is also set out and colours involved which will be blacks, greys, reds and blues. ending is let to a complete open as mysery is unsolved and leaves it up to the audience to decide what has happend/happening with SOPHIA and JENNY
Vladimir Propp's narrative theory was created in the early twentieth Century. It involved the analysis of Russian folk tales, breaking them down into their simplest and irreducible narrative forms. After analysing 100 folk tales, he discovered that all of the evident characters could be categorised into 8 broad types of different characters:
1. The Villain - Struggles against the hero.
2. The Dispatcher - Character who informs the hero on lack and sends him on his quest.
3. The (magical) Helper - Helps hero during quest.
4. The Princess/Prize - Hero deserves to marry her, but cannot throughout the film because of the villain, often the quest is ended with the Hero and the Princess getting married.
5. Her Father - Gives Hero task and identifies False Hero, Propp noted that the Princess and the Father cannot be clearly distinguished.
6. The Donor - Prepares the Hero
7. The Hero or Victim/ Seeker Hero - Reacts to the donor and gets married to the Princess
8. False Hero - In order to marry the Princess, he takes credit for the Heroes actions to impress her.
Despite clearly stating the different categories of characters found in tales, Propp did not state that these had to apply to every one separate character; the villain could also be the father etc. Using Propp's theory, when a character has been correctly identified within a story, it is always predictable to what that character will do throughout, as each character has a sphere of action. After the initial situation is depicted, any story can be broken down into 31 different functional sections that supposedly incorporated all of the plot components that a story needed. According to Propp, a cohesive story can be created by the use of these 31 functional sections.
This can be applied to a horror movie as the character types are ones which fit into the general stereotypical movie.
This was writing down all ideas which came to our heads about dialouge and textual conventions on screen whilst trailer was progressing. we needed to think up ideas of how we could use dialouge to explain the story line without using voiceovers which horror trailers do not tend to have.
The films we would like to base our film idea around would be The Orphan and Mean Girls.
The idea of the Orphan is that there will be a abnormal outcast female who the film is all about . A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be. Unchained events begin to unravel and the family begin to discover who she really is.
Here is the trailer for the orphan
As you can see it is a sub genre of slasher/mystery horror. The trailer clearly follows the TODOROV theory; the beginning, moods are mellow as the family are about to adopt a 9 year old girl into their family however 'ester' begins acting strange and harms several people around her. A lot of screaming is present by almost all the characters and sharp camera angles/movement. However this trailer leaves an extreme cliffhanger at the end as the words on screen "you'll never guess her secret" automatically lure the audience in and raises a huge suspense.
We would like our trailer to relate to this as our story-line (see story planning blog post) is very similarly based around a girl who is different and hasn't been figured out yet. The conventions used in this trailer can potentially fit into our trailer. Reactions gained by the audience are the reactions we would like the target audience to feel whilst watching the trailer for 'The exchange student' for example, the fast pace edits and the low key lighting.
Mean girls: however it has nothing in relation to horror, the idea of 4 teenage girls in a school is what we would mostly be filming and that is what mean girls is based around.
here is the trailer
Some of the shots and conventions used in this trailer would be suitable for our trailer also as representation of 4 popular females in college is important to convey this to the audience as they would either form a liking towards them or a negative attitude however we are seeking a mixture of this.
Filth to ashes is a recent horror movie which represents the modern sterotypes of horror movies and explores a range of ideas within the media.
Sypnosis
Purge: To put to death, eliminate what is undesirable. The serial killer known as Purge lived and died by this code. But is he dead? Driving home from a road trip, ERIC and SHELLY take a back road to avoid a traffic jam. They encounter the serial killer Purge. Eric survives but Shelly is murdered. A year later, a group of adventure-seeking high school grads venture to purge's lair. Among them is Eric's brother JUAN. Eric sets out to save his brother, and get revenge on Purge. For the six teens, their imperfections will be the deciding factor if Purge shows them mercy. But if everyone is imperfect, will any of them survive? Written by Armont Casalle
Like most trailers, it opens with a production company and begins to fade into a range of images; firstly a knife, then the characters at an equilibruim point where the mood is mellow. Things then become unsettled as the lighting changes and things become dark, text appears on screen informing the audience on the unsettled equilibrium. From then on, lighting becomes extreamly low key and is made up of shadows only (chairo scuro. Sharp camera movement and loud screams and music is then present.
Mis en scene
-Location is mostly set in a rural arid area prehaps a desert. The characters are also surrounded by wooden huts, almost like a warehouse but smaller. This conveys a cliche horror movie location; isolated woods, dark, myserious.
-Costumes are mostly normal; females wearing tight clothing vest tops ect (goreporn) this is to convey that the misery they are about to be out through can happen to anybody normal
-props are mostly setprops for example, the knife, female with the gun ect...
some scenes are also set design (in a studio)
Lighting
Lighting begins brightly lit by High key lighting use of natural light (daylight) however changes to low key lighting as the equilibrium is unsettled. Colour palette (an effect used for dramatic emotional scenes) is used also to create suspense and a feel of fear this suggests danger to the audience and will potentially scare them when the movie is watched. Majority colours used are blues and greys (hense the text) creating a sence of coldness.
Sound
Music plays throughout the whole trailer starting at a slow equal place with a beat resembleing a heart beat. Music fades to a silence when digetic sounds such as dialouge and heavey breathing. This is simply to build tension and set a tense tone for the film. Most dialouge is based around screaming and shouting. This adds an emotional state to the movie. No voice-overs are present as usally horrors do not have voiceovers as it can make them seem fictioanl and not fearful. Dialouge conveys to the audience what the movie is roughly about.
Camera angles/shot types/framing/movement.
shots are mostly close ups. the shots are mostly framed where shadows are present . this is conveying the casts' emotion and what they are going through to the audience. Movement of the camera is often in tracking shots as if the camera is following the disturbed people running around screaming for their lives. This is conveyed personally as horror movies are usually well known for close ups and cinema-verite. Through the shots and framing, the females are portrayed weakly as they are the victims (sterotypically).
Editing
Slow whipe cuts are used at the beginging when high key lighting was used. the meaning of this was related with the mood and was also used to build the suspense. Fade shots were used for the majority of the film as pace begins to quicken as the trailer progresses. The meaning of this is that it gives the audience a sence of going into darkness creating suspence and tension for them as they subconciously feel as though something is going to jump out in the next shot.
Insidious
Flesh to ashes and Insidious are two very different hybrid genres of horror movies. Whilst Flesh to ashes is more of a slasher horror movie, insidious is a paranormal horror. They are both released and produced at the exact same year (2011) so technical Due to their differences in genre, they both use simular conventions in the trailers however some significant differences also which will be analysed below.
Insidious (2010)
This trailer is very different in its own way and goes against most conventions and rules of film trailers.
Most film trailers tend to follow TODOROV's theory (begins with a balanced equilibrium then becomes unsettled and leaves a cliffhanger at the end to see if the problem has been resolved or not) however this one does not.
The trailer opens in a way which most trailers dont begin like. This one opens with the production company then transforms straight into text on screen of the actual title of the movie.
This conveys to the audience that it is not a movie like all horror movies, it is something the audience will have never seen before.
Instead of following todorovs theory and starting with a balanced settled mood, this jumps straight into the action of horror and sets the audience in a very eerie atmosphere and tone. As the male (Father in insidious) is set in a trance, conventions are used to make audience feel like they are also in a trance as theyre is a montage of fastpace previous events which have happend in the movie. the audience immediently assumes that something is wrong and that the male is having his life 'flashed before his eyes'. The 'flashbacks' (which are previous scenes from the movie) are telling a story of why the man is being sent into a trance in the first place and begin unravelling the outline of the storyline. This is a very unusual way to do so as usually the beginning of the story is building up to the end however this is doing the opposite.
mis en scene
The mis en scene in insidious is significant for many reasons. Costumes are very very generalised and normal. The family are dressed normally to suit the significant difference between the paranormal activity happening to their family and the 'normal' family which they think they are. This highlights and exaggerates the situation. Location is mostly set indoors, scenes are rarley outdoors as horror movies and houses have a strong correlation. Paranormal events very rarley happen outdoors in the open, but usually in a house or room where victim is trapped. House is presented as eerie. Lighting is extremly dim.
Lighting
Lighting throughout the whole trailer is very very dim and eerie. Lighting is low key which is very common in horror movies as dark dim depressing colours are strongly associated with the genre as horror movies are usually/always about dark/evil things. This lighting is connoting the dark and evil things happening to the family at the time. Colours are very bleak and depressing also, the whole trailer seems as though it has a 'sephia' effect on it. All in all the colours and lighting used is simply connotating the mood of the family.
Editing
As the trailer is so short only the most important parts can be included. The cuts included must hook the viewer in and encourage people to go and see the film; therefore the trailer is edited to only include the most exciting shots, and the most frightening. The shots are edited chronologically to tell a narrative story that the viewer can follow to get an idea of what happens in the film and how it plays out. Transitions of the trailer are mostly straight cuts in sync with the sound of the trailer, scenes of course become more dramatic as the drama in the film progresses and becomes more tense. transitions become of a faster pace.
Sound
At the beginning of the trailer there are sound effects included to work with the introduction – who the film has been made by and the title. When the ‘Film District’ logo appears there is an eerie ‘boom’ noise that we hear as soon as the logo appears.
When the title ‘Insidious’ appears, there is an eerie sound played that goes with the way the text moves- i.e. goes from ‘Insidious’ to ‘Is’.When we are taken to a shot of the old fashioned ticker, the ticking continues as the screen changes to black to introduce the film, running in a steady rhythm throughout, creating an eerie sense. This ticking continues for a further 20 seconds after, playing through different clips that also include speech. There is also the eerie sound of a rocking horse rocking during the clip in which the woman goes to see the rocking horse. The next time the title shot is shown, it is shown with an eerie ‘boom’ sound accompanying it similar to the introduction of ‘Film District’. There is then a creepy sound rising to a crescendo.
There is further eerie music that rises to a crescendo as the action increases.
There is also dialogue from all the characters featured as important clips from the film are included. Some of this dialogue matches with the clip and you can see the actor speaking it, and some of the dialogue does not match the action, i.e. you can’t see the actor speaking it and it may not necessarily be taken from that certain video clip. Further into the clip the ticking of the old fashioned timer continues again, although less prominent than before. This ticking again ends when the woman’s dialogue comes to a head – this is when all the action begins. This is when high paced music begins and once again comes to a crescendo at the end of the clips. There is then a title screen again and the ticking continues. At the very end of the trailer when the scary girl moves towards the camera there is a loud screech, then deadly silence.
