Theorist - Barthe

Barthe's theory is about five codes that are "woven into any plot", although I will only be focusing on the 'action' and 'enigma' codes. The 'enigma code' refers to anything that isn't fully explained to the audience and becomes a mystery to them, giving them clues about what is happening but not fully telling them. The 'action code' refers to any action that implies a further narrative action - making the audience want to know what the outcome of the action is.

In my film, the action code applies to the bad things happening to Holly's friends, making it look as though there's a supernatural being behind it all. The plot twist in the film relies on the audience wanting to know what is causing everything and then, when Michael is revealed to be causing everything, they realise that the enigma codes all add up and it's been obvious that it's been Michael all along. This could make them want to re-watch the film now that they have a different perspective and the enigma codes no longer apply.

Film Production - Settings

Lunch hall - This is a social area that people will recognise as from in a school. These places are known for being busy and places where people gossip - there's a contrast with this idea when Holly and Amy are talking in the film trailer, alone at the table. This shows that this scene must take place during a lesson as there's nobody else around and connotes that Holly was desperate to tell her friend what's been happening.

Lockers - This scene connotes that the film is mainly set in a school and also suggests that the characters are of an age to be at school/sixth form. Like lunch halls, they also known for places of gossiping - as it's the only time people are separated from their cliques at school.

Class room - We decided to not use a typical class room as the students are older and would spend more time in computer suites.

Trees - These are typical of the horror genre and could be considered clichéd. We weren't sure if we would include this setting for that reason but decided that the trees added to the eerie vibe that we were trying to achieve. The trees provide a lot of shadows - which fits with the film title and add a sense of mystery - and we decided to film the shots near the trees when it was getting late so that the low sun gave us more shadows.

Bushes - There's a gap in the bushes that we decided could be used to hide something - which is why we used this as where Amy's body is found.

Playground - In our trailer, there's juxtaposition of friends having fun at park and swing by itself in the dark. This suggests there's something supernatural making the swing move but could also be seen as the girls disappearing suddenly from the park, or someone who has been following them.

Holly's house - This setting was used to add realism as teenagers tend to just spend time at home when they're not at school - which is why we made sure that these two settings were the most featured in our film. The familiar setting also adds to the idea of Holly not being safe in her own house and shows that the 'spirit' is following her not just at school.

The outside of the house is shown but the audience only see someone unknown pressing the doorbell in the trailer. The shadow that goes over the doorbell emphasises our focus of being 'in the shadows' but also connotes that whoever is there has bad intentions.

There are also scenes set in Holly's room to add a sense of verisimilitude. It's a typical teenage girl's room and would be where Holly feels comfortable - we contrasted with this by showing Holly having nightmares and waking up suddenly to emphasise to the audience that there's nowhere where she's safe.

Film Production - Actors

When deciding who would play Holly in our film, we chose our friend Shauna to play her as she is who we based the character on when we were planning the film. She also has experience of acting because she was the main character of a teen angst opening last year - and we needed somebody who is able to perform in our film professionally. Even though she isn't in many scenes of our trailer, the main problem with having Shauna as the actress is that it is hard to coordinate times when we are all available to film, as she had another lesson when we were media and we all had other arrangements outside of school.

Barnaby was meant to be Michael but could not meet our production schedule so we recast the role to Lucy's brother, Matthew, as he was available when Lucy was and it was easier to get footage including him - he's only briefly shown so we just needed him to be in the background of a shot in the trailer. Although he is too young to play the character, his face isn't shown in the trailer and he is tall enough to look like he's 17, so he was suitable for the role. He is an experienced actor but is only skilled in playing comedy roles, which is why we only wanted him in the trailer briefly.

Lucy and Eva play Holly's friends, Amy and Natalie. The clips of bad things happening to Holly's friends are only brief so the audience don't know much about these characters, so it doesn't matter that they are inexperienced in acting. An advantage of using these two as our side characters is that they are both in the group, so they knows all the details of the plot and how to film properly.

We didn't need an actress to be Holly's mother as she isn't shown in the trailer - although if we did need one, we would use Lucy's mother, as she would be available to film when we need her.

Film Planning - Posters and Magazine Covers

I am going to base the film's magazine cover on the 'Total Film' covers I made earlier. I will keep the colour scheme very dark to fit with the genre and use a picture of Holly as the main focus - with the shadows around her enhanced to fit with the title. I will advertise other independent films on the cover - such as the thriller films the other groups in class are making - but mention Hollywood films too as it is common for them to be featured to capture the audience's attention - these films might also all be horrors or thrillers and I could make the magazine have a genre special for thriller films.

Although I'm not sure what exactly will be on the poster, I'm planning for it to be simple but effective. It will follow the AIDA model, which is a theory for how people react to advertisement. The letters stand for: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. This means that advertisement should grab the viewer’s attention, making them interested and desire to see the film. This would then make them want to take action, by going to see the film in the cinema or researching about it. I will get the viewer's attention with a large picture and then make them interested with the vague title, which will also take up a lot of room on the poster. They will desire to see the film when they see it is 'Coming Soon' and they will take action by using a hashtag seen on the poster or by visiting the website shown.

Theorist - Mulvey

Laura Mulvey has the theory that women are in films to appeal to the 'male gaze'. This is shown in many films by the female characters being over-sexualised or being portrayed and perfect and unobtainable.

I personally find this theory very outdated as it assumes that all men would be attracted to women and all women wouldn't be attracted to the same gender. This theory is also extremely sexist and I think that modern films should have more female empowerment in them.

As none of us approve of how female characters are treated in films, we made our main character a girl who is average and relatable. We want our audience to be able to relate to her because of what she does, not because they want to look like her. We have ensured that there will be no sexualisation of our main character, as is what most films in this genre do to gain popularity with the male target audience - but our film isn't typical like them and is aimed mainly at females.

Film Planning - USP

The biggest selling point for our film is the fact the it is British, as most films in the horror/thriller genre are American. This would attract a British audience but would also make Americans want to see the film as they would be curious to see how different the film is.

Also, the fact that our film is a combination of a supernatural, crime, and horror thriller will attract audiences because it is different and doesn't stick to the conventions of just one type of thriller.

Theorist - Strauss

Levi Strauss made the theory that all narratives canter around 'binary opposites'. An example of one is the common battle between good and evil in most films.

In my film, Holly and Michael have been designed to be opposites of each other to emphasise how different they are - with the most basic difference being their genders. Holly is an extrovert, who enjoys being with friends (which is why it's so hard to isolate herself from them), while Michael is an introvert that doesn't like having contact with many people. Holly's personality is friendly and, because of this, she is popular, while Michael is unpopular due to his unfriendly personality. We are also going to show these differences by having Holly wear light clothes and Michael wear dark clothes - and this is also because it's typical for the antagonist to be wearing darker colours.

The plot also is about the difference between people's social lives and their private lives, along with how Holly acts around her friends and her family. When she is with her friends, Holly is louder and more talkative, giving off the impression that she has nothing to hide, but when she is at home, she is quieter and keeps to herself. Michael is the opposite, with him being too shy to talk to people at school and acting a lot bolder when he's at home.

Film Production - Script

Because we are only doing a film trailer, there won't be much for our actors to say - as most of the trailer will have music over the top of it.

[film production logo fading to black]

[cut to Holly]

Holly (crying, looking scared): Bad things have been happening to me.

[fade to black]

[show scenes of Holly looking happy, with friends and family]

[cut to black screen]

Amy (voiceover): So what's the problem?

[fast cuts of bad things happening to Holly and her friends]

[cut to black]

[film title]

[institutional information]

[cut back to Holly]

Holly (same scene as earlier): Help me.

[cut to black]

Film Planning - Communication

For this project, we created a Facebook group chat for the three of us to discuss ideas and organise filming times. This also allowed us to quickly send photos to each other for our blog posts, which we found very convenient.

Film Planning - Characters

Holly, 17 - main character and protagonist - We considered naming her Rose because of the fact that roses have thorns but the name gives the connotation of romance, which isn't what we want, so we named her Holly, another plant that's known for having sharp spikes. She is an 'average girl' who has a good family, good friends and good grades. She also has an interest in the supernatural, which is sown at the beginning of the movie when she tries to summon a spirit using a badly-drawn pentagram. Although it isn't mentioned in much detail in the film, she is asexual, which Michael doesn't realise when he fears she might leave him. She doesn't really like Michael due to that fact that she's been forced to be with him for years and wants him to leave her alone as he is too clingy.

Michael, 17 - antagonist - We wanted Michael to have an average name that goes with the fact that he'll be seen as just a side character until the fact that he's the bad guy is revealed. Throughout the film, the audience won't pay much attention to him as he will be portrayed as just a quiet and meek background character. People don't know what he does outside of school, but he is very smart so they assume he spends his time studying. When his childhood is revealed through flashbacks, the audience sees that Holly has been his only friend for as long as he can remember - like a sister to him - and he doesn't like how she's getting more friends and 'leaving him behind'. When he realises that Holly is starting to piece together what's behind her friends getting injured, he hurts himself and lies in a ditch (where Holly finds him) - but him injuring himself is not shown until later so that the audience and Holly rule him out as a suspect.

Amy, 17 - Holly's best friend - Holly trusts Amy a lot as she is the first person she tells about her problems and also one of the people Holly refuses to talk to when she believes that she is cursed - thinking that the 'curse' causes bad things to happen to those she is close to. She met Holly in their first year of secondary school and was the first 'best friend' she's had since Michael. Although she acts friendly to him, she doesn't like Michael due to the fact that he's always trying to take Holly away from her. She is found dead in a field and the cause of her death is unknown as there is no sign of injury - although it is later revealed that she has ingested poison.

Natalie, 17 - another friend of Holly's and one of Michael's first victims - Natalie is who Holly got her interest in spirits from, as she is fascinated with the subject. She has only recently became friends with Holly but they became close friends very quickly - which annoys Michael a lot. Michael kidnaps Natalie to keep her away from Holly, but takes his methods of keeping her quiet too far and almost kills her. Holly finds Natalie in Michael's house after an urgent message from her, which is how she finds out Michael is behind the bad things happening.

Sarah, 42 - Holly's mum - Sarah is close friends with Michael's mother and wants Holly to be friends with him. Although she has a good relationship with her daughter, Holly doesn't go to her for help when she fears she is cursed, and instead talk to her friends.

Film Planning - Production Company

We were going to use one of the film companies we made last year, but decided to create a new one for this project. We made some draft designs for this while planning the film and decided that we liked this logo's design the best:

I later made the logo in Photoshop and decided to make the design simpler and more professional:

'L E V' stands for Lucy, Eva, Viki, and it adds a personal touch to the film - while also creating a name that's short and easy to remember. The colours are red, green and blue to represent the RGB colour model - which is associated with TVs and computer monitors - and the circles represent spotlights, which further emphasises that our company makes quality films - although I might make the colours more darker and sinister to fit the thriller genre:

The logo catches the viewer's attention with the basic shapes and simple colours - which is vital as it's the first thing shown in the trailer. If I have the time, I would like to attempt to animate the logo, so that the circles move onto the screen from the left, revealing the logo - also to fit in with the spotlight imagery. As we are also considering using a pentagram in our trailer, I've been considering making the middle circle fade into a pentagram just before the trailer starts.

Film Planning - Pitch

Once we had an idea of what we wanted our film to be about, we had to present the ideas to the rest of the class as a 'pitch'. This allowed the others to give us an opinion on what we wanted to do - including what they liked and what we should change. All of the members in our group were given three slides to present:

Eva

- USP

- Target Audience

- Production Company and Logo

Lucy

- Plot Outlines and Narrative

- Characters

- Generic Conventions

Me

- Trailer Conventions

- Music

- Settings/Locations

We presented this in the form of a PowerPoint presentation which can be seen below:

Film Planning - Shot List

From our storyboard, we have compiled a full list of every shot in our trailer:

• Age certificate information
• LEV Productions logo
• Tracking behind friends
• Mid shot of Holly and Amy sitting and talking
• Mid shot of Holly and a friend
• Close-up of phone
• Long shot of Holly, Amy and Natalie
• Long shot of Amy and Natalie on swings
• Tracking behind Holly
• Fade to black screen
• Long shot of power cut on stairs
• Tracking shot of Michael's feet
• Close-up of a phone call coming in from Michael
• Close-up of someone ringing a doorbell
• Close-up of car window
• Mid shot of Amy getting attacked
• Long shot of empty moving swing
• High angle Holly waking up in bed
• Mid shot Holly waking up in bed
• Close-up of turning keys in ignition and starting a car
• Canted angle of Holly running upstairs
• Low angle of rain coming down at night
• High angle of dropping phone
• Close-up of hands banging on door
• Mid shot of Holly sleeping
• Long shot of Holly walking through trees
• Long shot of Natalie walking down alley
• Close-up of Natalie's face
• Close-up of candle going out
• 'In the Shadows' intertitle
• 'Coming Soon' intertitle
• Institutional information
• Close-up of Holly saying "Help Me"

Theorist - Todorov

Todorov's theory was that all films followed the same structure: equilibrium, disruption of the equilibrium, recognition of the disruption, an attempt to repair the damage, and a new equilibrium. The plot of our film follows the structure in this way:

- Equilibrium - Holly is happy and has friends.
- Disruption of the equilibrium - She tries to summon a spirit/Michael gets jealous.
- Recognition of the disruption - Bad things happen to her and her friends.
- An attempt to repair the damage - She tries to isolate herself and then thinks the curse is gone so she talks to her friends again.
-- Another disruption - Amy goes missing/is found dead.
-- Another attempt to repair - She finds out the 'ghost' is Michael.
- New equilibrium - Michael is arrested but Amy is dead and Holly and Natalie are emotionally scarred.

We didn't follow the theory exactly because we have more than one disruption and the ending doesn't exactly end with an equilibrium, although I feel as though this applies to many modern films as it adds more tension and makes the audience wonder if the characters will ever achieve another equilibrium.

Film Planning - Music

Our trailer will have fast-paced music that starts off slow, creepy and suspenseful as the trailer tells the initial information/story. It will then speed up dramatically and reach crescendo while the trailer shows short, fast clips of action from the movie. We will probably only need one music clip that starts off slow and speeds up, and we will edit it so that the pace fits the images being shown.

The only diegetic sound in the trailer will be Holly talking to her friend about her problems - which will be used as the voiceover for our trailer - while the rest of the sound will be muted so that the music will have more of an effect. This is very common in trailers from the horror/thriller genre as it builds suspense and makes the audience want to watch the trailer again by keeping the information given to them very limited. I personally think that the music is the most important aspect of a trailer, so it is vital that we choose a good track.

We are also going to use silence for emphasis at some points. For example, at the beginning of the trailer when Holly says that bad things are happening to her, there will be no music in the background so that her words are more effective.

Film Planning - Typical Trailer Conventions

All action/thriller/horror films have similar trailers, with many conventions that are typically seen in many trailers:

• Low-key lighting is used to make everything seem more dramatic and dark - especially if the film is a horror/psychological thriller because the audience want to be scared/thrilled by the film.
• Fast-paced music and clips are used to emphasise the action happening and make the trailer more intense. They grab the audience's attention and make them interested in the film.
• Intertitles give the audience more information and an idea of the story without wasting trailer time on useless clips. They can also show names of famous actors/directors who worked on the film, usually coupled with a voiceover reading out what they say so that the audience's attention isn't broken by having to read (normally read by an American man with a deep voice). The intertitles can also show reviews from critics.
• The film production logo is the first thing that's shown in a trailer, even if just for a second, which can benefit the film trailer by making the audience want to know what the film is because they've seen films by that company before. They can also give the audience an idea of what the budget of the film is and what to expect (e.g. if they see a Disney logo, they will expect a family film).
• The film title is extremely important because the audience need to know what the film the trailer is advertising. The font and background are important in letting the viewer know what genre the film is - and it needs to tell them this even if they haven't seen the trailer or film before.
• A lot of trailers now include a hashtag that people can use to talk about the film on social media and the company can track to see what the reception to the trailer is like. This also results in free advertisement because the audience are promoting the film to their friends. Trailers also tend to have a website that the audience can visit so that they can find out more - which is important if the trailer doesn't have a definite release date and just says 'coming soon'.
• The film certificate lets the audience know immediately if they can see the film in cinemas and also gives an indication of what the film contains (e.g. if a horror film had a certificate of 12A then people might not see it because they know it wouldn't be that scary, but this could work in attracting a younger audience because the would be unable to see other films of the genre, which are usually rated 15 or 18).
• Most trailers include character introductions that give the audience an idea of who's in the film and what they're like. This could make people want to watch the film for 'personal identity' reasons because they relate and share characteristics with them, and could also make people want to find out what happens to these people and what they will do.

Film Planning - Title

The title of a film is extremely important as the audience need to know what film the trailer is advertising. The font and background are also vital in letting the viewer know what genre the film is - and they need to tell them this even if they haven't heard of the film before.

We wanted a title that suggested that the film was a thriller and gave the impression that it could be about something supernatural. The title needed to also incorporate the fact that somebody might be stalking Holly, but without giving away the plot twist. Some of the ideas we had (such as 'It Follows') were already films and we wanted a title that was unique.

After going through a lot of ideas, we decided that 'In The Shadows' would be an ideal title as it connotes the horror genre, while emphasising the fear of the unknown - which is the main plot of our film. The title leads the audience to believe that the antagonist is something supernatural but also makes sense when they realise it is actually Michael.

We haven't yet decided on a font/colour for the title and we are intending to do this when we start post-production. The idea we want for it is to have 'In The' in a bold, white font and 'Shadows' to be elongated and slanted, like a shadow. If our editing software allows us to, we would also like to have the title fade out to emphasise the shadowy aspect.

I have made some concept art of what I would like the title to look like:

Film Planning - Target Audience

Our target audience are British people, although the fact that it is different could draw in an American audience that want to see how it compares to the average thriller.

We intend for our film to appeal to males and females who enjoy the thrill of scary films. this is because males are typically known for enjoying horror films more, but females also enjoy these types of film and would also watch the film for 'personal identity' reasons as they might identify with some factor of Holly.

The film will appeal to and audience between the ages of 15 and 30. It is going to be rated 15 for the psychological horror and violence included, so audiences younger than 15 wouldn't be able to watch the film - and most horror films are rated 15 or 18 anyway. People up to the age of 20 would watch the film because they are around the age of the characters, while people up to 30 would see the film just because they enjoy thrillers - this demographic is also the people that got to the cinema the most and watch the most films.

Film Planning - Storyboard

We are going to use non-chronological editing as it is typical of trailers and gives a feeling of confusion but also keeps the audience interested. The trailer will give the audience an idea that the film is a thriller and a brief introduction to the characters but we are aiming to only give them a vague explanation of the plot. The editing will be quick and the shots will be short to build tension and we will have fast-paced music with it to emphasise this.

Film Planning - Plot

There are two women that are close friends and as a result, their families spent a lot of time together. Both women have children of the same age, so these two kids are forced to be together whenever the families meet up - resulting in them growing up together like brother and sister. They live on the same street too, so they spend a lot of time with each other outside of school too.

As the children get older, the families meet up less and the girl, Holly, decides to push the boy, Michael, away from her because she wants to spend time with her friends, not him. Michael has nobody else so he's angry at Holly for trying to get rid of him and wants her to notice him again - he's extremely clingy. (This backstory won't be revealed until later in the film.)

The film starts with Holly messing around with her friends with a Ouija board or a pentagram, although this doesn't do anything and they're disappointed. Holly is the main protagonist and she has an average life - she goes to school, gets good grades and has lots of friends, which is shown by her being friendly and saying hello to a meek-looking boy from her class (who is later revealed to be Michael).

Once the protagonists have been established, weird things start happening to her friends, which then become bad things, and Holly notices a pattern of the things happening to people she has talked to - leading her to believe that the pentagram/Ouija board worked and she's cursed. Her friend Natalie goes missing and it's assumed that she has run away due to the bad things that have been happening to her.

Holly blames herself for Natalie running away, isolates herself and becomes paranoid (and is seen rejecting a call from a person named Michael but the audience doesn't know who he is). After thinking that it was all in her imagination, she talks to her best friend, Amy, about her problems and then finds out the next day that Amy has gone missing. (It will be shown later that Michael saw Holly talking to her friend, went to kidnap Amy, and took it too far - accidentally killing her.)

Later that day, Holly has a fight with her mother and storms out of the house to go for a walk to calm down. As it gets darker, she cuts across a field as a shortcut home and sees Michael near some bushes. She calls out to him and jogs over - seeing how he looks shocked to see her but disregarding it as jumping at the sudden shout. She asks him what he was doing and he says he thought he saw something in the bushes but it turned out to be nothing. They walk back to Holly's house together and Michael says about how weird things have been happening to him too, which leads to her mentioning Amy's disappearance (and it makes her suspicious at how much Michael knows about it).

The next morning, the body of Amy has been found in the bushes, dumped haphazardly as if the person was in a rush and wasn't able to hide it as well. Holly sees the area it was found on the news and realises that was where she saw Michael the night before. She asks him if it was the body he saw last night and why he didn't tell her sooner, which leads to him giving a very vague and suspicious answer about how it might have been. She then asks what he was doing out there so late anyway and when he doesn't have an answer, she realises that he was the one that put the body there. She goes to leave but he tells her that he was doing it for her, which results in her slapping him out of disgust and telling him that she hates him.

There is then flashbacks of the film from Michael's point of view, showing how he made the bad things happen and how he killed Amy. These flashbacks emphasise his infatuation with Holly and how everything he did was justified by his good intentions, even if they were executed in a twisted way. The audience isn't meant to sympathize with him and should instead understand him a little better.

Before she leaves, she asks him if he had anything to do with Natalie disappearing and he glances quickly to his basement door in panic. She goes down to the basement and Natalie tied up and on the verge of unconsciousness, and helps her to escape - more concerned with the health of her friend than Michael.

Natalie regains consciousness at Holly's house (after about an hour) and tells Holly to call the police immediately. Holly says she wants to but she can't bring herself to because Michael is like her brother and she doesn't want him to go to prison. Natalie asks if she's at least told Amy and Holly reveals that Amy is dead - resulting in Natalie going over to the phone to call the police herself but spotting a police car outside of Michael's house. The two girl go to see what has happened and notice that Michael is in the back of the car and the neighbours are gossiping about how they can't believe how such a meek boy would commit murder. This makes the girls realise that he turned himself in and they are shocked as they watch him being driven away. The film ends with Holly and Michael's eyes meeting for one last time as he leaves.

Research - The Exorcism of Emily Rose - Film Trailer

To get an idea of the typical conventions of a trailer in the thriller genre, I watched the trailer for 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose'. It's obvious that the film advertised is a thriller/horror due to the fact that it's fast-paced and dark. The pace suggests that there will be action or suspense in the film a lot as it creates tension.

The narrative is quite simple and very easy for the audience to understand - Emily is possessed and on trial. Although it's a very basic plot, there are many characters included; for example, there's Emily, lawyers, a vicar and boy that tries to help her (who could be her brother or a love interest). There are also a lot of settings shown, with most of them being quite stereotypical - such as the dark forest or the dimly lit jail cell. There are also demons featured in the trailer - which are stereotypical in a horror film. Throughout the trailer, there are close-ups on these demons to put emphasis on the supernatural aspect of the film.

There is non-diegetic choir/gospel music throughout the trailer, which gives religious connotations and emphasises the presence of demons and vicars. The music starts off slow, with the pace of the clips matching it, and then gets faster after about the halfway point of the trailer to fit the quick editing of the footage. The music went silent when one of the characters spoke to put emphasis on what they were saying which I found very effective for getting the audience's attention. A non-diegetic heart beat can be heard in the trailer, that fades to black with each beat. I found this technique very good as it added to the tension created and adds another element of horror to the trailer. Synchronous screaming is also featured in the trailer, which is typical of the genre as it is a woman's scream.

By looking at the trailer, I got the impression that the audience was for ages around 15-35 and of both genders - due to men stereotypically enjoying horror films more but also because the main character is a woman females in the audience could relate to. The violence shown makes it obvious that the film is only for people who enjoy being scared people who enjoy being scared.

The trailer is 1 minute and 58 seconds long and has around 90-95 shots in it. Many of the shots were in the fast-paced sections of the trailer and only shown briefly, which is how so many were included. The structure of the trailer is non-chronological and the editing jumps around different very quickly - resulting in quite a lot of the film being shown. Even though I found it effective to build suspense, I also got the feeling that it wouldn't be worth seeing the film after watching the trailer.

There is an intertitle that says "Based on a true story" and this sparks interest in the viewer as they want to know about how something featured in the trailer could have happened in real life. There were 8 intertitles and I found them effective as it seemed as though they were talking to the audience and giving them information. At the end, it says that  the film is "coming soon" and this would make people who are interested in the film want to research it some mare and find out just how soon the film will be out.

Film Planning - Initial Plot Ideas

Initially, we wanted to copy 'A Stranger Calls' by having a party and a shadowy figure waiting outside. The shadow person would follow a person home and kill them, and we would crosscut between this and the party. The person's dying scream would be blended with the sound of a glass at the party falling to the ground and smashing. Although we all liked this idea, we also felt that it would be more suited for a film opening and not a trailer.

We then realised that we needed the person to have a motive and decided that the murderer-guy would be a friend of the girl hosting the party. Our first idea was that he wasn't invited to the party and he's bitter about that - which we then had to expand because that wouldn't be a good enough motive for murder without some backstory.

After some brainstorming, we made up a new idea that still had some elements of our original idea; a boy who's grown attached to a girl makes bad thing happen to her friends so that she pays more attention to him, which escalates into him killing her close friends.

We considered telling the story from the perspective of the boy. This would show him growing up with a girl who's like a sister to him but, as they get older, she starts to push  him away - which results in him trying to get revenge on her. To add a twist to our movie, we then decided to tell the story from the girl's point of view and make the bad things seem like a supernatural being's work - that finally gets revealed to be her childhood friend.

Research - The DaVinci Code - Film Trailer

For research, I also watched the trailer for 'The DaVinci Code', which is an action/thriller film, to see how different it is from a horror/thriller.

The trailer is very vague about what the film is actually about and this connotes that the film will be about a mystery that the audience will have to think about as they watch. Barely anything is shown in the trailer (and I'm pretty sure what is shown isn't actual footage from the film) and no characters or settings are established - which is weird for a film trailer but also emphasises the mysterious effect.

The main part of the trailer, in my opinion, was the intertitles as they made people want to watch through 'star power' - including famous actors such as Tom Hanks.

Only one music track is used in the trailer, which is slow and orchestral to give a sense of adventure or eeriness. A non-diegetic voiceover is also included, which is done by a typical American man with a deep voice.

Although the film is rated 12A, I think that the target audience is actually people aged around 35/50, due to the historical significance and the link to paintings - which wouldn't interest a younger audience. The trailer actually seems quite childish as it is slow and simple, but this could be seen as boring by people outside of the target audience as most films have a fast-paced trailer that builds suspense.

The trailer was 1 minute and 50 seconds long and had only 8 shots due to most of the trailer being one long tracking shot through the cracks of the painting. There's only one setting and a brief, single narrative, with the inertitles and voiceover being the main focus for the audience.

Research - Thriller Brainstorm

To begin with, we were told to create a mind map of everything we knew about the thriller genre - including typical conventions and examples of film we know. I found this activity to be very helpful as I initially thought that 'thriller' film were only horror films but realised that the term 'thriller' can be used across many different genres.

Annotating a film magazine cover

Research - The Gallows - Film Trailer

We researched low budget/independent film trailers because they are similar quality to what we would be able to make. Looking at the settings, music and how many shots are included helped us to realise the amount of footage we would need for our own trailers and how much we would need to edit it. We also thought about what makes a good film trailer, which gave us inspiration for what we want to do ourselves.

The Gallows

The Gallows is a low budget, horror film that is set around a play that resulted in a teenager being killed the last time it was performed, which a school is attempting to bring back. Four teenagers try to prevent the play from happening the night before the performance, but discover that a spirit is haunting the school.

The characters included in the trailer are the four main teenagers, three police officers and the spirit. The teenagers are seen breaking into the building and vandalising the set of the play, which is a very stereotypical representation of teenagers. There's two girls and two boys, who are all teenagers, included in the film and they are all dressed in casual, normal clothes. The audience would be able to relate to these characters as they are of a similar age to the target audience of older teenagers and act like actual teenagers would in the situations throughout the film. The spirit is barely seen in the film and most of the "scary" things in the trailer are done by some invisible being - which might make the audience jump. If the trailer makes the audience scared, then they would be more likely to see the film because they believe that the film will be good and scare them further. They would also want to see what the spirit looks like and why it is there, along with wanting to know if the teenagers survive.

There are multiple music tracks used in the trailer, with the main song being a cover of Nirvana's "Teen Spirit" (which fits with the storyline). The music pauses in places to allow that audience to hear diegetic sound - such as screams and banging doors - which puts emphasis on them and tries to scare the viewer.

The trailer is 2 minutes and 18 seconds long, and in this time there's roughly 86 shots. The pace gets a lot faster once the spirit starts making things happen, which interests the audience and makes them want to keep watching. Near the end of the trailer, there is a scene of a girl with a noose around her neck and the pace slows down slightly before multiple images flash quickly across the scene and then she is pulled back by the noose. This might make the audience jump and also makes them want to know what happened to the girl.

The main two settings are in a school and outside what I assume is the same school, and the teenagers are seen in the school's theatre, hallway, hall and backstage. The audience can relate to these places because they will either be in school or they have just left school, which would frighten them into wondering if their own school is haunted too.

The inter titles show reviews of the film and movies related to it - which would attract fans of the horror genre because they might have seen the other films before. They appear very quickly, giving barely any time for the viewer to read them, which fits with the fast pace of the trailer and would perhaps make them need to watch it again if they missed anything.

Creating my own film magazine cover

I made my film magazine cover based on the film I made for my AS Level coursework - 'just turned eighteen'. I used what I made when I copied the 'Jupiter Ascending' cover as a template, but changed the text, colours and images to match the teen angst genre. To overcome the fact that the big film magazines tend to focus on action films rather than teen films, I made sure that the images I included were from other "chick flicks" so that 'just turned eighteen' didn't look out of place. I included action/adventure film titles around the main image so that the target audience of men would still want to purchase the magazine, regardless of if the issue was aimed more at females.

One of the problems that I faced was making this magazine cover look different form the last one that I created. I searched for images of past 'Total Film' covers and decided to copy the tilted bar across the middle of the cover that shows images of upcoming films. I think that it works well with the cover because it is more eye-catching and allowed me to add more underneath - as on my past cover, I had to make the font smaller so that it would all fit in.

Initially, I wanted to put Madison and Ethan on the cover to mimic the main characters on the 'Jupiter Ascending' cover but I felt that it made the cover look too cluttered and took attention away from the main character. Another problem that I faced was the fact that the fact that the picture of Madison wasn't very good quality, and so I had to sharpen and re-colour the image so that it fit with the professional style of the rest of the cover - which took longer than it should have due to my limited Photoshop abilities.

Copying a Total Film cover

My copy of the Total Film cover

I had to recreate the Total Film magazine cover, shown below, using Photoshop and finding/editing the photos myself. This activity helped me to discover more features on Photoshop and improve my skills, which I think will help me in my future coursework, such as the next task which is creating my own film magazine cover. I knew how to do most of the things required on Photoshop (such as, using using the magnetic lasso to cut out the two actors), but other things I had to do on Powerpoint and then put onto the cover - for example, the "33 star-studded sci-fi movies" part because I didn't know how to make the circles properly in Photoshop.

A problem that I faced while making this was finding the fonts used, which resulted in some fonts not being accurate - for example, I couldn't find the font that was used for "Sci-Fi Preview" so I used the next best one I could find. This also taught me the significance of using many different fonts while keeping the style relevant to what is one the cover, which I will try to use when making my own cover.

The original cover