Research & Planning: Sound Test

For my sound test i worked with Abby, the genre we had to make sound for was western. It is the first time i have used garage band and the first chance i have had to have a play around on it apart from when i did my podcast.

We also went out and recorded some sounds which we may use in our dance spoof trailer, we recorded things like traffic, crowd noise, tapping of feet, and a radio in the background.

Here is a short video showing our western music.

Research & Planning: Preferred Audience

Looking at the results from my questionnaire it shows that people who will most likely want to watch the film is teenage boys and girls between 15-18 that like the horror film genre, also boys may want to watch the film because they might get dragged along by there girlfriend. For psycho graphics it will target people who have an interest in horror films. For socio-economic grouping students/unemployed people and unskilled workers are most likely to watch the film.

Here is the user rating report for the film Last Exorcism.




Here is the user rating report for step up 3D which isnt a spoof.

Looking at the results males prefer to watch a dance spoof rather than an ordinary dance film.

Research and Planning: My Pitch

This is my pitch with all my initial ideas on it that I have shared with my group.
Recently after doing the pitch we decided to change our idea and do a horror film trailer instead, we found doing a dance spoof would be too difficult due to various factors such as the soundtrack and getting the cast members that would actually be able to dance. A horror movie in our opinion would also be difficult but we think that changing the idea is necessary and we will end up getting a better grade overall.

Research & Planning: Conventions Research Task

A teaser trailer is a short trailer used to advertise a new film, they are usually about a minute long and contain parts out of the actual film. Its a way of teasing the audience as its shown ages before the film is due to come out.

Here are two examples of a teaser trailer from the horror.

Here is an example of a teaser trailer I would like to strive towards.




Here are some reasons why I consider this to be a good trailer.

• Its scary
• It gives you an idea on the narrative and storyline of the film.
• The editing looks really good and goes with the shots  and sound.
• Even though there is a lot of shots of the main character in there it doesnt get boring, it holds your attention.

Here are some reasons why I consider this teaser trailer to be poor and would not like our trailer to turn out like.

• Its poor quality
• It doesnt really tell the story very well
• It doesnt show the main character much
• I dont think the editing used is that good it doesnt really look that professional.

Conventions Of A Teaser Trailer

• Usually between 30 second to a minute.
• Shows you a bit about what the film is about.
• Good parts out the film.
• Film Titiles
• Diagetic and Non Diagetic sound.
• Voice Overs
• A title showing when the film is due to come out.

Conventions of a Horror

• Deaths
• Blood
• Victims.
• Fast editing
• Scary voice over
• Screams etc

Research & Planning: Analysis of a teaser trailer

 

Convention of a trailer

• What I expect to see in a teaser trailer is a kind of storyline of the film to give you a brief idea what its about but you dont want it to give to much away cos then it will make you want to go and watch it.
• In a teaser trailer there will always be shots from the film, and it also tells you the certificate of the film and when the film will be out in cinema. In some teaser trailers you expect to hear a voice over, and a teaser trailer is usually no longer than 2 minutes long.
• Teaser trailers differ within different genres for example a rom-com trailer is more likely to give the storyline away abit more than what a horror would, this is because in some horror trailers its kind of a mystery to what is happening to people or who i killing people. Also different genres have different convention like in a horror you would expect to see people being killed where as in a dance flick you would expect to see dance.

Media Language

• At the start of the trailer there is a mid shot of her having a conversation with one her patients, there is then a long shot of her walking down the corridor, over both shots is text which suggests she knows a lot about her job and mental patients.There is then a point of view shot of her driving home in the rain when she sees a girl in the distance stood in the road she quickly swerves round her and then there is a shot from over the girls shoulder of the women walking towards her. There is then a close up of her asking the girl if she ok, the girl then attacks the women. Lots of flashes are used in the trailer which make it scary it also shows the panic and goes well with the quick cuts used in the trailer. 
• At the beginning of the trailer they use non diagetic music, the reason they use the music at the beginning is because just from hearing the music you can tell its a dance flick, every time the titles pop up there is a whooosh like sound effect. Throughout the trailer diagetic sound is used, dialogue, cheering and shouting , the dialogue is always on screen where as the cheering is off screen as you cant always see the crowds. Everytime the setting changes the song changes, towards the end of the trailer the song Low by Flo Rida is used, this is used in loads of different dance films so you can kind of tell its mocking films like step up.
• Lots of editing is used in the trailer fast cut and fades, to speed it all up abit, the editing shows its a quite upbeat film and the editing goes really well with the music
• The setting and costume used in the trailer gives away the fact its a dance flick straight away, various settings are used in the trailer and they are all in a dancing enviroment. The lighting used in the film is mainly high key lighting, some part in the trailer contain low key lighting for example where they are having a dance battle.

Audience

• The audience of the film will be people 15 years and older, there are no children in the cast of the film they are all adults this suggests that it wont really interest children. As it is a psychological horror i dont think the younger audience will understand it as much as an adult would. Its a film that you have to think about. Most people that will have seen this film will be people who generally like that type of horror film as i think that they tend to mess with you head a little bit.

Representation

• At the start of the trailer she is represented as being an intelligent person with an interesting job she also seems very hard working, toward the middle of the film she is represented as insane where she says this girl is trying to kill her. Then toward the end of the trailer i think she is represented as a bit of a psycho.

Narrative

• From what I can gather from watching the trailer, the film is about a women who works with insane people she then starts to get insane herself and ends up locked up with the insane people and there is obviously something out to get her. It is a open structure, it follows todorovs narrative like most dance films do, theres an equilibrium then there is always a disruption, peaks and troughs, climax then equilibrium has been restored.
• The trailer contains pychographic variables as attributes relate to interest and lifestyle due to the fact that the film is a horror. There isnt really socio economic grouping as the genre is horro and people of different classes can have interests in horror films although it psychological so maybe someone of a lower class might not understand it as well. The film will make the audience think for themselves what is going on, is she insane or is this really happening to her.
• This narrative is typical for this type of genre just because the majority of horror films contain ghosts, killers or something along them lines.

Genre

• The genre of the film is psychological horror.
• You can tell this just by looking at colour used and the sound used in the trailer.

Conventions Of A Trailer

• What I expect to see in a teaser trailer is a kind of storyline of the film to give you a brief idea what its about but you dont want it to give to much away cos then it will make you want to go and watch it.
• 
  Teaser trailers differ within different genres for example a rom-com trailer is more likely to give the storyline away abit more than what a horror would, this is because in some horror trailers its kind of a mystery to what is happening to people or who i killing people. Also different genres have different convention like in a horror you would expect to see people being killed where as in a dance flick you would expect to see dance
• In a teaser trailer there will always be shots from the film, and it also tells you the certificate of the film and when the film will be out in cinema. In some teaser trailers you expect to hear a voice over, and a teaser trailer is usually no longer than 2 minutes long.

Media Language

• At the start of the trailer its starts with establishing shots of the area of where the house is hes doing the excorcism at, it then cuts to a mid shot of the girls brother talking to the preist while he is sat in the car, it then cuts to a shot of the house and then a shot of him meeting her dad then a shot of the girl upset. It then cuts to a shot of them doing some sort of excorcism. Gradually as the trailer goes on the girl gets more and more possesed, there is a shot where she gets hold of the camera before she murders that cat. As they are doing the excorcism it cuts to a scary face with a red tint to it which i pressume is the demon that is possesing the young girl. At the end of the trailer she jumps toward the camera which really makes you jump. It then cuts to them running toward the fire very quicky. The cuts are very quick which in a way drums the images into your head.
• At the start of the trailer during the establishing shots theres a voice over from the preist explaining where he is going and what he expects to find while he is there. During the shots of the possesed girl in the film there is a mixture of diagetic and non diagetic sound, non diagetic being the soundtrack which is parallel sound as it goes with whats going on, the diagetic sound being the screaming and panicing which is on screen sound and at some parts in the trailer off screen, there is also a voice over on some of the title shots in the trailer which is non diagetic.
• Editing is used in the trailer to show the girl at different stages of her being possesed, the more the demon takes over her the faster the edit transitiong which shows panic and makes it scary and jumpy.
• The setting in the trailer is shown in various establishing shots throughout the trailer, you can tell straight away that it is a horror from the start of the trailer. Also the setting in the trailer suggests its going to be a horror

Audience

• The audience for the film will be teenagers and people that enjoy watching horror films. the film is rated a 15 which sometimes puts adults off watching it because they wont think its very scary, although adults that enjoyed the film the excorcist might feel the need to come and see it as it is along the same storyline.

Representation

• The possesed girl in the trailer is represented as dangerous, scary and very out of control, the priest wanting to help her is seen as helpless in the trailer as everything he does seems to just make the girl even worse. her father who is shown briefly in the trailer is shown as concerned and upset at how unwell his daughter is.

Narrative

• The story is about a young girl who gets possesed by a demon, as the demon takes over her she gets worse and worse, the preist who comes to help her realises this is going to be alot harder than it looks. Eventually she sets out the kill the people trying to help her. This follows todorovs narrative theory with the equilibrium, disruption, peaks and troughs, the climax then the equilibrium restored.
• Looking at the trailer you can tell the film is closed structured, it is also multistrand becuase there is more than one main character in the film.
• It will be a passive audience as they wont really have to think about the film they just sit and watch it. I think for the socio economic grouping students will be most likely to watch it as it targets towards teenagers.
• The genre of the film is Horror.
• You can tell this is the genre of the film because of the setting the lighting and colours that are used in the trailer.The majority of horror film trailers have a really eerie creepy soundtrack which also gives it away.

Resarch & Planning: Audience Theories

Audience Theories  

• The Hypodermic Needle Theory: Its as if the intended message is going straight into your brain, basically it has a strong effect on the audience.
• Cultivation Theory: the theory which examined a long term effect on the audience of interacting with media.
• Desensitization Theory: There is that much violence used in media it doesn't have an emotional impact on us, its kind of like were used to seeing it so it doesn't seem as bad. 
• Copycat Model: Copying something you see in a film.
• Uses And Gratification Theory: Instead of the message going straight into the brain we take bits out of the media that we want to take in, but we block out the things we are not really interested in.

Research & Planning Audience Feed Back

1. Are you male or female?













2. How old are you?














3. What is your favourite film genre?
















4. What do you expect to see in a trailer?
The majority of people who filled in the survey expect to see the best parts out of the film, titles and main characters.


5. From watching the film trailer, what makes you want to go and see the film?
The majority said best bits out the film, and the suspence.


6. Depending on the genre of the film , does the age certificate matter to you?














7. How long do you expect a trailer to be?















8. Do you enjoy watching dance flicks?
YES! everybody who did the questionnaire said they enjoyed watching dance films!




9. What do you like about them?

• Music
• Its different
• The Dancing