Thursday 30 January 2014

Music

We decided to have our background music, which is along the lines of 'upbeat' feeling music. This is something similar to 'Dexter'. The music affiliated with Crime Drama can be; suspenseful which can either be slow/fast-paced to go with the editing. There are various websites to find free music and sound effects such as Freeplay Music and Media Music Now.

We later decided to go with the area of a intense/dark style of music for our trailer because it would build up the tension for the audience. This will be similar to again Dexter and Breaking Bad, so it will suit our trailer very well. We chose to find the music after we edited our trailer briefly because we needed to know what music will be appropriate. On Freeplay Music we found a piece of music called 'Hiding in the Trees' which suited our trailer because it was quite slow paced, which contrasted with the medium/fast pacing of our trailer. We searched into Freeplay 'suspensful' and 'slow/medium' paced for our music and we thought that this the best piece of the lot that were on our shortlist.

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Location

For the location, we needed an office because our character needs to look for the memory stick and an office is a likely place to hide a memory stick because it may contain classified/secret information. We needed cabinets and drawers for our character to search through. We have searching through some offices around the school which will be ideal to shoot our film trailer. We asked Ms Bacchaus from the learner support area if it was alright to film in one of their classrooms because it featured a desk with some drawers and a cabinet for our character to search. Ms Bacchaus said we couldn't film in one of their offices because the staff have to be in their offices for the day and they would be too small to film nonetheless.  She said that we can film during lessons 2 and 3 on Wednesday, which should be enough time to film our first draft because there is not much planning in comparison with our AS film trailer because we have less props and most of the filming will be in learning support.

We used the an English teachers' office for the interview scene which was very useful because it was easy enough to change around the office layout to look like an interrogation room.We filmed all of the scenes in 15mins which didn't take long. Also the actor in our scenes works mostly with the English department so they didn't mind us filming there.

We also filmed outside for a scene with our antagonist pointing a gun towards something off-screen. We was being careful with the gun because we did not want to cause an alert or anything like that, so we did it in a quiet area while everyone was in lesson. We had two different shots to film to find which one will be effective in our trailer.  

Tuesday 14 January 2014

The 5 Key Concepts of a Film Trailer

Audience - Our film trailer will be aimed towards males aged 16-24. It is stereotypically males who enjoy the action genre which is usually associated with crime, so we thought it would be best to try and encourage them to go and see our film which can be used through the use of trailers. Our main character is shown to look young because our film is targeted towards a younger audience as they will be more interested with a character that they could relate to.  

Media Language - We plan for our trailer to be fast paced featuring lots of shots of the characters and footage from the film. Crime trailers are usually fast paced so it emphasises with the intensity in the film. The shots will be of the locations (such as the school and the office) so it indicates to the audience where it is set. We are trying to find non-copyrighted music to place in our film trailer which will go well with it. The non-diagetic music needs to add tension to the film to add indication that it is a crime film and some of the shots are synced in with the music. The transitions are going to be both quick cuts and fade to blacks. The release date will be shown at the end of the trailer so the audience know that when they can see it.

Representation - The main character is young and male so it will appeal more to that type of audience. It represents the main character using his knowledge, ingenuity and stealth to solve his crimes. It also represents the stereotypical bad guys that our vigilante has to take down. This will build up suspense as the audience will want to the vigilante to succeed in completing his mission.

Genre - The film trailer will pinpoint what is stereotypically used in a crime film such as weapons, drugs, computers (hacking) and detective work so it will indicate to the audience that it is a crime film. If they are interested in this type of genre then they will more than likely want to go and see the film.

Narrative - Because this is a crime film, and the main character is the vigilante who solves crimes. The narrative of the story will be quite easy for the audience to understand. In our trailer we have a scene of the enemy searching through a room for a memory stick so he can hack the system and the main character must use his skills to solve the crime. There is also going to be quick shots of crime occuring in this film trailer which are going to be sub-plots for the film which will then gradually build up to the main storyline.

Monday 13 January 2014

Film Trailer Draft Feedback

1st Draft:
The first draft, we did not have enough footage to edit thoroughly so some of the scenes featured "placeholders" so it will notify us about what scenes are needed. Our teachers told us that it looked more like a film opening  rather than a trailer because it was very slow-paced and we were in frame of mind from our AS film opening. We had no music for our first draft because we didn't find anything at the time which would suit our trailer. They also said about having more scenes needed in the film trailer to build up the pace, including a few sub-plots which may eventually be led towards the main plot so that it is also linked in with the story.

2nd Draft:
In our second draft we filmed all of the scenes that were needed for our trailer, which after all of the editing made the trailer much more fast paced. Our teachers mentioned about the scene where our character points his gun, about having that at the beginning so it builds up the tension. We haven't made this change because we thought that builds up the film trailer towards the end by having it slow-paced for the beginning. A couple of people said that our trailer had a dark tone, which is what we wanted because that is what the trailer was supposed to connote.We chose to find the music when the trailer was briefly edited so we can find what type of music will be most suitable towards the film trailer in terms of pacing and intensity.  

Pitch and Initial Ideas

Name: Payne

What is it about: Based on a teenage vigilante solving crimes around the school. Sub-plots will help to develop the story as well as the main character.

Possible characters:
  • Payne: The main character who is the detective solving crimes around the school. He is cunning, stealthy and smart.
  • Criminal: There needs to be a criminal for the detective to catch and is essential with the crime genre. Criminals are usually street-smart, ruthless and immoral. They often focus on causing misery towards their victims.
  • Victim: The main character would usually have some sort of emotional link with the main character. It is stereotypically a vulnerable female.
Target Audience:16-24 years old. A 15 certificate so that younger audiences can watch it.

Settings: In the school - Classroom, office, corridors. In St Neots town centre, because we don't have access to big urban environments as it's usually done in crime films.

Production company logo: We decided to use the same one as last year 'Glassbox Productions' because it seemed to fit in well with the crime genre.

USP: It is based on a younger target audience than most crime films and will featured people aged around 18.

Generic conventions: Vigilante/anti-hero, blood, low-key lighting, fast paced, upbeat music and supporting characters helping the vigilante.

Trailer conventions: Release date,upbeat and fast paced music, voiceover, age certificate, title of the film and social media.

Music: Fast paced and upbeat because most modern crime films and TV shows and is often used ironically because it completely contrasts what is happening in the film.

Editing: Quite fast paced, again because it is common in crime film trailers. Mostly cut and fade to black transitions.