The images above show our location decisions that we made as a result of considering accessibility but also safety of unknown areas. We had many ideas of using old abandoned houses and areas in our location known for being quite eerie... however, after thinking about this and the availability of actually getting to use these locations; we made the final decision of just using a relatives house that we would clearly know of and know the location well enough to film there. Also there would be no potential barriers that we would come across when having to film unlike when filming at AS level.. we used a public location which meant we struggled a lot more with having to find a time when there were no passers by - however, we will not have that problem when filming in the house. The house in particular is not actually typical of a 'horror' house and if anything is the complete opposite. However, after doing research into specific things, such as lighting - we made the decision that we can play with the different lighting's and camera effects (to create potential shadows) in order to create the eerie, sinister atmosphere that audiences would typically expect.
At the end of our trailer, we have to conclude with our own title credits which include things such as the editor, director, author, musing, casting, etc. Above is a short clip of our title credits that we aim to incorporate in the final part of our trailer. Title credits are important as they are essentially the punctuation mark to the film. The credits also give attention to everyone who worked on the film; when watching films, audiences often stay to watch the credits and the end of the film... this can often just be to find out who the actors but also just a general way of allowing the audience to fully take in the impact and message of the film/trailer.
The background and font of these credits have immediate connotations of a horror with the dark, dull colors and the faded edges - adding emphasis to the text in the centre. They partially portray an eerie and threatening atmosphere which is an important illusion to have in a horror. The black font on a white background is extremely prominent; the colours completely juxtapose one another... with black having connotations of fear, horror and power - in comparison white portrays the safety, security and purity of the film. We are also able to relate these colour connotations to our characters which is an effective way of creating representations.
The name of the film is written in a different font as it is the most important title. The spaced out letters make it much more prominent on the white background; with the intention that the audience will identify the title and remember it. Also, with relation to the font, the size of the title headings are much larger and clearer than the subtitles... 'Directed by' and 'Edited by'. And this is important again as it is about giving credit to the actors of the film. In the majority of films, the title credits (typically placed at the end of a film/trailer) tend to be a huge Unique Selling Point for them as if there film has a successful, well-known actor in, it is likely that they will be more attracted and engaged by the film. For example, for anyone that has seen Titanic, starring Leonardo DiCaprio; they would know how hugely successful the film was and they would know that DiCaprio is such a successful actor that they would follow him and any films that he features in. And for this reason, displaying the actor names in the credits allow the audiences to know off the actor and as a result want to watch the film.
Despite these specific credits not displaying the actors names, this is something further that we aim to incorporate in our film; however another important USP would be displaying the director of the film. This is another thing that is prevalent in films and trailers as if audiences were to know who directed a film, and alike with the actors; if they had been successful previously... it is likely that they would continue to create successful films and therefore would want to watch there films. Overall, incorporating credits allows audiences to recognise and remember the people involved in the film.
Displaying these kind of titles are also important as typically unless they are the director or are acting in the film... they do not get noticed or praised by audiences. As shown on the left and in our clip above, the credits that are included here are for, the Director of Photography, Production Designer, Costume Designer, Casting and Music. All of which audiences dont really think about when watching a film or trailer - and for this reason it is important that they are included at any stage of the film/trailer, as it is often that the part they play in the creation and build-up to the film/trailer is just more difficult or important as it is for the actors/director.
Despite this software providing us with many features that allowed us to edit and create our trailer - there were barriers that we had to overcome throughout the process - and this was mainly having to render the clips nearly every time we made a slight change.
Rendering processes the layers and effects and saves the preview into a file, which Adobe Premiere Elements can use each time you preview that section of the movie. Once rendered, a section doesn't require re-rendering unless changes are made to it.
This was a barrier during the editing process as it was extremely time consuming and was a set back every time a slight change was made. It was often that this made the software freeze or crash; which understandably is expected with the amount of clips that the software had to deal with... however this was a struggle for us to deal with.
More complex movies require more processing time to display properly. With our trailer having multiple different clips and also adding sound, titles and transitions, etc, it was clear that this was going to become an issue for us however, the software has still allowed to create an effectively edited trailer. We ensured that everything we done was saved after each change in-case the site did go wrong. Also to save time, we rendered the clips more often so each time was shorter, rather than doing it all together at the end where it might be more difficult as there would be more to process.
This is our storyboard that we created using our initial ideas; however this was not our final idea as evident in our actual film. These drawing show a few of the shots that we do actually use in our trailer, for example, the close up shot of the hand and the point of view/reflection shot in the mirror... both of which are effective shots, through the alteration between different views and angles.The drawings were very sketched as shown and these were done in rough until we fully decided on what we were going to do. Following on from this storyboard will be our animatic which is simply our story board edited into an animated film; to create this we will be using the Adobe Premier Elements software, or we are potentially considering using movie maker as the creation of the animatic is quite a simple process of collecting the images/short clips of our storyboard together and adding minimal sound.
What did you find the hardest part of the filming process?
How well do you think the characters fitted in with their surroundings/location?
How have you used elements of sound in your trailer?
DIEGETIC/NON-DIEGETIC
What are your likes and dislikes on the editing software?
ADOBE PREMIERE ELEMENTS
When filming, were there any barriers or problems and how did you work with them?
Why did you choose the location you did?
How did you work well as a filming team?
How do you think is film stands out from others?
Above are questions which we will be asking ourselves. We thought that these might be questions that the audience may want to find out and were the most important to guide them through our trailer. A short clip will be followed after this of our interviews.
Throughout our trailer, we followed the typical representations and stereotypes through following the conventions of a horror film/trailer. Both representation and stereotypes are effective in creating an immediate opinion and judgement against characters and this can either make the audience warm to a a character or be against them and there actions; either way, this slightly more entices the audience.
Firstly, we have incorporated the character of an innocent and vulnerable young girl who is found to be in a daunting situation in a supposedly haunted house. This is stereotypical as the audience would not necessarily expect the young girl to be there alone making the situation more intense; but essentially puts themselves into her shoes of thinking what they would do. Throughout, this would add tension as we, as the audience, would know to expect that something bad will happen and knowing its a horror... its inevitable. In our trailer, the girl is made out to be portrayed as innocent and vulnerable, however this representation is essentially just shown through her child like clothing... making her seem unsure of whats going on and how she does find herself in an unusual situation. This, however could add a twist as she could reflect on this representation later on in the film and this is how it adds tension and engagement with the audience as they would never exactly find out... unless they watch the whole film.
The second character in our trailer is an elderly women which in horror, tend to be represented as evil and quite creepy. The way we have represented this portrayal is through her presence and also the clothing she is wearing. Firstly the netted head scarf round her is partly covering her face and not revealing her whole identity which is quite creepy in the sense that we can't see who she is, also the all black clothing that she is wearing has quite negative connotations such as, evil, power and death. This creates a negative representation of her character which in our horror trailer, we wanted.
The stereotype of elderly people being quite authoritative and wise with there actions is essentially adhered to in this situation.... mainly because of her presence and the way she is appearing in the situation. The idea of the eerie presence of the old women is effective in creating a negative representation against her which we aimed to have and this makes the audience feel more tense as stereo-typically in these situations, something bad happens.
The location/setting of our trailer is in a house and we chose this as we felt like with the characters and story line we had, this was most appropriate and realistic. Also the situation that occurs in our trailer is at night (when the young girl is sleeping) and it would therefore create a more intense atmosphere. However, we have not chosen to create that tense, eerie atmosphere of a haunted/abandoned house... stereotypical of a horror. The reason for not creating this atmosphere as we want it to be more realistic and for the audience to be able to picture the situation. As a typical expectation, people feel safe in their own home; however the representations of the characters we are portraying and the situation that arises subverts to this expectations and as a result adds to the scare of our trailer.
