Planning-Characters and Actors

Our film involves 4 main characters that act as the victim to the supernatural ghost in our trailer, rather than conforming to the stereotype of having one main character as seen in our research such as Bourne ultimatum and 1408.

Firstly this is India who is one of the 4 victims, India is tall, dark haired which are the characteristics of the female victim in "A Stranger Calls". India is British which was important for us when creating the trailer as we are targeting a British demographic and to engage the audience we wanted to create an element of realism to emphasise the danger in the situations. India also studies a level film studies which means she has experience in understanding the elements involved with conveying a frightened body language which is key for us in some parts to incorporate typical horror mise-en-scene.

India Grauwiler

 Secondly we have Sean and Joe who are playing Sean and George in our trailer. We decided that we should use Sean and Joe firstly because they both look like typical British teenagers which as previously discussed allows us to create this element of realism. Further to this because we are targeting a British audience and Britain has become very cultural diverse we felt that Sean could offer some diverse ethnicity that we do not have from our other actors. This is because we will be able to relate to a wider range of our target demographic because of this, which will contribute to a greater success of our trailer. Sean and Joe were also in a production last year called "Karma" which was a great success so we knew that they had the experience to portray the true potential of the characters in the trailer.

Joe Fraser

Sean Kaitano

The last of our victims is Hayley who is also playing the stereotypical teenage girl role which will appeal to our audience. She has the stereotypical appearance of a British teenager as she is an attractive and has long blonde hair, similar to the victim in Ouji. Due to her innocent appearance we felt she would fit the role perfectly as having this type of character as a victim creates empathy from the audience which means that it will heighten the fear for the audience as they do not want an innocent character to be hurt.

Hayley Brown

Our last character is the antagonist who the audience never fully see. We only show the character dressed in a black silk material costume to create a sense of mystery and also incorporating a fear of the unknown. The character is played by myself which we felt was important because of my height, being 6 foot 3' the costume created a character of greater dominance because I looked taller than the other characters when I was shot in the background for affect.

Planning-Props

We decided to use a minimal amount of props in our film as we wanted to keep a minimalistic and realistic element to our trailer as it would heighten fear. As we are using teenage character we didn't want to give them lots of props as we knew this wouldn't be realistic of the stereotypical teenage. Therefore we decided to use the following:

Car: We incorporated a car scene into our trailer as it conveyed the concept of a chase and the long shot of Sean jumping in front of the car reflected the danger of this chase. We will put the car scene in montage which is important and it was fast paced and matched this convention for our horror/thriller genre. This was also an element I decided would be good to use as I saw it in my research of the Die Hard.

Candles: We have decided to use a set of candles that will be placed in the shape of "18/02" as this is the title of our film. We are using these as it shows the title of our film in a unique and dynamic way and they will also be blown out. Being blown out also forebodes the fact that the characters in our film may also not have the best ending, heightening the fear of our trailer.

Silk Costume: As we are creating a spirit/ghost we had to think of a way of showing this character in our trailer without losing the element of fear that could be lost if the character didn't actually look like a ghost. To overcome this we acquired a silk costume which is very effective as it completely covers the character as looks like the dark figure that is often associated with ghosts. This realism was a feature I saw in my research of Oujia.

 Rope- Lastly we will use a rope which was a key prop essential for our shot of India being hung as we will create a fake noose. The prop will be so effective as it creates a sense of realism and therefore had genuine connotations of danger and death. We also got the idea of using a death from hanging from our research of Oujia where the narrative is based around the suicide from hanging. 

Planning- Group Roles

To ensure that we manage our time and efficiency in our project to our maximum capabilities we decided to assign individual roles to each of our group members. We know that different circumstances will occur where it will mean different members have to use different skills however we have set these out as a basis for our general work. This way there will be no arguments or need for confusion throughout the process and essentially ensure we manage our time correctly.

Adam (me): Director/Cameraman
Georgia: Editor/Storyboard management
Joe: Mise-en-scene co-ordinator/Actor
Sean: Actor/Make-up artist

Research- Film Posters

For my research into film posters I decided to use IMDB as they are considered one of the top review sites for films. This means they are going to have the widest audience that have reviewed different films. Therefore I looked at the top 100 section for thriller films and then looked at how the top films (from the last 10 years) used film posters to advertise their films.

Inception:

Plot summary (Taken from IMDB): Dom Cobb is a skilled thief, the absolute best in the dangerous art of extraction, stealing valuable secrets from deep within the subconscious during the dream state, when the mind is at its most vulnerable. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this treacherous new world of corporate espionage, but it has also made him an international fugitive and cost him everything he has ever loved. Now Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. One last job could give him his life back but only if he can accomplish the impossible - inception. Instead of the perfect heist, Cobb and his team of specialists have to pull off the reverse: their task is not to steal an idea but to plant one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning or expertise can prepare the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy that only Cobb could have seen coming.

The film poster shows an unusual situation as you would not expect to see a built up city with skyscrapers filled with water, reflecting the narrative of the film as it shows this new world. However it is also unclear as to why it is like this if you didn't know the plot and was seeing the poster for the first time, this therefore incorporates a fear of the unknown for the audience and has them guessing why it is like that. The film poster is also effective as they have used star power by having Leonardo DiCaprio standing centrally in the poster as it immediately has the audience engaged if they are fans of his work. It is also important that he is holding a pistol in his hand as it reflects the thriller genre of the film and also suggests that the plot will include crime and conflict.
The Departed:

Plot summary (Taken from IMDB):In South Boston, the state police force is waging war on Irish-American organized crime. Young undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate run by gangland chief Frank Costello. While Billy quickly gains Costello's confidence, Colin Sullivan, a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the state police as an informer for the syndicate is rising to a position of power in the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by their double lives, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations they have penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there is a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly in danger of being caught and exposed to the enemy - and each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save themselves. But is either willing to turn on their friends and comrades they've made during their long stints undercover?

The main element used in this film poster is  star power to engage the audience rather than any real visual effects or eye catching shots. It is clear that the 3 main characters starring in the film are Leonardo DiCaprio, John Nickolson and Matt Damon as they have their faces incorporated into the title of the film. I found that this was an effective technique as they are 3 famous actors which means that they are likely to attract an audience due to the calibre of their reputations. However the only downside to this is that there is essentially no plot conveyed in the poster due to the lack of mise-en-scene which could show what is actually happening in the shots. Therefore this style has positives and negatives, although for our film we won't have famous actors which would mean this style would be weaker for a low budget film like ours.

The Dark Knight Rises:

Plot Summary (Taken from IMDB): 8 years after the events of The Dark Knight find Gotham at a time of peace. This is due to Batman taking the fall for Harvey Dent's murder. However, a new evil force named Bane has arrived in Gotham and aims to take over the city and expose the truth behind who Harvey Dent really was. Now that Wayne Manor has been completely rebuilt - Bruce Wayne has become almost reclusive, rarely leaving the estate. And with Bane taking over the city by force, it forces Batman to come out of retirement. But his allies are few and far apart. An elusive jewel thief by the name of Selina Kyle could be the key to stopping Bane - but whose side is she on?

This film poster is very effective due to the eye catching effects that capture the attention the audiences attention immediately. This is due to the code chosen, in particular the colours as the dark background and silhouette of Batman contrasts so greatly with the colours in the explosion. This contrast emphasises the explosion, which is important as an explosion would connote conflict and action which is a key feature in thriller films. This convention is therefore likely to further engage an audience if they were to see a film poster like this. The use of colour in the trailer I feel would be effective to use in our own film poster as easy manipulation of the colour can create such a prominent effect.  

The Bourne Ultimatum:

Plot summary (taken from IMDB):Bourne is once again brought out of hiding, this time inadvertently by London-based reporter Simon Ross who is trying to unveil Operation Blackbriar--an upgrade to Project Treadstone--in a series of newspaper columns. Bourne sets up a meeting with Ross and realizes instantly they're being scanned. Information from the reporter stirs a new set of memories, and Bourne must finally, ultimately, uncover his dark past whilst dodging The Company's best efforts in trying to eradicate him.

This film trailer is similar to the first two poster in respect to it having a very heavy focus on star power. This is because Matt Damon is a very well known actor and having an image of his back and head, complimented by his name in large font is effectively making the audience identify that he is in the film. Once again due to actors like this having large fan bases, lots of people are likely to want to watch the film because he is in it, therefore it is an effective technique for a film poster. The poster also shows a setting without giving much else away. The extreme long shot shows how there will be a city as a location which is typical of a thriller film as they are busy which heightens danger in an action scene. Therefore having this incorporated into the film poster reflects the genre and is likely to grasp the audiences attention and make them interested in the film.

Research- Film Poster Conventions

Before starting to plan my own film poster I decided it would be important to look at the stereotypical conventions of film poster so I can decided what elements I want to conform to.

The key conventions that all the majority of film poster conform to are the following:

-Film Title
-Main image
-Tagline
-Actors names
-Colour scheme
-Mise en scene
-Star ratings
-Release Date
-Film credits

After researching these different elements of what constructs a film poster I decided to look at the "sinister" poster as it has been a modern successful horror film. Below are the elements that I felt were a success on the poster.

Research-Codes And Conventions For Magazines

I decided it would be important to look at the codes and conventions of a magazine to help me when analysing other magazines and also as I would need to follow this for my own. Codes and conventions are essentially the rules and regulations of how a media product is made. The conventions are typical elements you would expect to find in a media product and where.

Conventions of a magazine can include:

• Types of articles and where you would expect them to be
• How many images
• What types of images
• Double page spreads (these could feature big pictures, a title, a standfirst, columns, both pages on the same topic and pull quotes)
• Enticements (such as competitions or free gifts)
• Magazine cover (would feature a masthead, text such as sub-headings and pull quotes, images, barcode, price and date)
• Advertisements

Codes of a magazine can include anything purely visual such as:

• Pictures
• Colours
• Layout
• Font (serif or sans serif)