Risks

We found it necessary to create a risk assessment for when we were filming or taking pictures for our magazine cover or poster. The factors we need to take into consideration were; lighting, equipment and weather.

Lighting: if we are filming all in one day we need to ensure we film during the day so that no scenes we’ve filmed are overly dark. If they are overly dark it could mean items are unidentifiable which wouldn’t be appropriate. To prevent this we will definitely ensure filming is always done during the day.

Equipment: we wish to use rope to tie our model up to make her look like she’s been held hostage, we need to ensure that it’s loose enough so circulation isn’t disrupted. We need to ensure that the camera we’ll be using is fully charged and working otherwise we’d be unable to film.

Weather: we need to ensure we choose a day that is fairly bright and not raining, the happy scene with father and daughter needs to remain happy, the weather would indicate their happiness so if it was raining it would ruin the scene and we’d be unable to film outside.  

Movie production logos

An important feature of a film trailer is the movie production logo, this can act as a big give away for what genre the film would be categorised in as some companies only create children’s or horror films. From Becka and I’s AS project we’ve grew to understand that specific logos only fit certain genres, last year for our thriller film opening we had used Paramount Vantage which only featured on thriller films, however this year we have opted for New Line Cinema, this is another production company that are featured on many thriller films.

With a large variety of movie labels to choose from, we did actually narrow our options down, but as stated previously New Line Cinema seemed best and most appropriate for our film trailer because they feature on a lot of thriller films.

Conventions of thriller films

This mind map includes conventional settings, narrative, features and general characters that are present within the thriller genre, the typical sound elements and editing are also included which generally feature within a thriller film. Whilst we are filming and creating our media trailer we have to remember these conventions so that our thriller trailer sticks to the conventions of a true thriller, if we do so and keep each convention consistent so that our film has the same professionalism of a real film.

Total Film Collage

We had created a collage of all the Total Film magazine covers in order to show some of the research that we have assembled whilst exploring this company. The magazine covers above include covers for a range of di9fferent genres, varying from: Romance to Thriller. It is an important source to see whether the magazine had particular conventions for specific genres or whether the layouts remained the same within every issue. From examining the magazine covers that we’ve selected it became apparent that every magazine cover has the same conventions as one another, there were consistent themes throughout each magazine, however in some the titling font has changed, I believe they are older issues of the magazine and therefore the updates were sharper and uppercased. I believe the magazine is very typical and doesn’t challenge any type of conventions of a magazine cover. However the success of the magazine is evident because the title is rarely ever completely exposed, the image has the tendency to cover it. If it doesn’t need to be exposed to its full potential it suggests that people are already very aware of the magazine. We will use this collage when we are producing our own magazine as it inspires ideas and gives us a specific layout to follow.  It shows what elements we need to include and what features aren’t as important. There are various features that all the magazines present, these are:

• Strap line at the top of the covers
• Bar-code
• Tag lines
• Advertisements of other films as well as the main film which is being advertised
• A model who is composed in the centre of the page, who are presented in front of the 'Total Film' label, providing they don't cover most of the title.
• A background which doesn't have a 'busy' design, which evidently allows the main subject (being the centre photograph) to command full attention from the audience.

I believe the entire magazine covers to be particularly engaging and provide a pre-conceived idea of what genre the film being advertised is, it may also give away the narrative of the film. The magazine cover uses clear and concise texts and fonts, a wide variety of bold fonts and colouring have been used throughout to make the covers more visually appealing. The magazine always uses the main character of the film or the most famous; the most famous are obviously most recognised and therefore entices the audience further into seeing what it is. Most actors presented on the magazines are very visually attractive which engages the audience into buying the magazine as they’re fairly good looking. The person featured on the front could be the target audience’s idol and therefore acts as the influential figure tempting the person into wanting to buy the produce. 

80's music

As some of our trailer features scenes from the 90's it opened our options into the trailer music, for the happy scenes with the father and daughter paired together we could possibly use happier music whilst the abduction scenes could feature the gloomier, dark music. The real and produced music that gave relevance to the film was 80's song Time after Time, this links to the narrative of the film because the lyrics consist of: 
'If you're lost you can look - and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you - I'll be waiting 
Time after time'
This becomes related because it is how the father is feeling,  he was so devoted to his daughter that the search for her continued until she was returned, which resulted into him going insane and abducted a girl with the same pendant. 
The only problem with this is that within our trailer we're unable to use real music, we'd have to try and replicate something happy like this song for the happier parts of the film to reinforce the idea that this was the happiest time for the father. 

Fashion

The clothing is a vital factor that needs to be carefully considered within our trailer as most of our non-linear trailer features in the past, the representation of each character needs to be considered appropriately so that it fits in with the norms and values of the society we’re attempting to express from the past. The audience will view and perceive each character featured in the trailer differently and it’s important for us to present them in the correct way, clothing and fashion will allow viewers to consider what type of individual or character they are playing. An example of this is how the audience would typically view someone wearing provocative clothing; they’d ultimately associate the clothing with someone who acts in a challenging way paired with the provocative clothing.

By creating a conventional thriller trailer it means we have to strictly stick to viewer expectations and real conventions of a thriller film, thus meaning a mysterious feel needs to be used consistently throughout to build viewer tension and excitement. By sticking to general conventions of a thriller genre we have included an antagonist and what appears to be a protagonist. Becka and I wanted to visually suggest which roles went with which characters and this would be presented in the clothing they are wearing; an example of this would be the dark clothing protagonist Jason (father) is wearing. Usually people would associate dark clothing with someone they need to watch out for, whereas challenging this would be those who are in white clothing who are usually presented as the ‘good’ or ‘innocent’ individuals. To give an indication to the viewers of the narrative and what characters would fit each role we specifically featured our antagonist in dark clothing, however we also had to ensure it fitted in with the 90’s theme as most of the trailer featured in the past.

As our trailer would be non-linear Becka and I ensured that the characters fitted in with the values and fashion sense of the modern present society and in the past scenes, I had reviewed and analysed the fashion sense of the 90’s, the internet became a vital source of secondary information and opened our minds to what we needed to achieve in order to give a give suggestion of how long in the past our main characters daughter was abducted. I heavily relied on images in order to give a visual description of what Becka and I needed to replicate, it gave me a deeper in sight of what was worn within this era of time. I’d soon discovered that the 90’s welcomed the ‘preppy’ fashion sense with open arms, the outfits consisted of groovy shirts, bright-ish colours, baggy t-shirts, denim jeans and of course Converse trainers. A lot of the clothing requirements were easily available and therefore meant we would be able to replicate a 90’s outfit with ease; the only adjustment we’d have to make is the bright colouring because we wanted to visually suggest the antagonist by his dark clothing, creating the overall pre-conceived idea of a kidnapper or stalker. To reinforce the idea of ‘stalker’ dark clothing would be essential; in any thriller film I’ve watched or analysed I’ve noticed that thrillers tend to stick to the conventional look that a viewer would expect a stalker or kidnapper to have.  

The final outfit/costume we’d chosen for main character Jason was denim jeans, converse trainers, a baggy t-shirt and a black coat, the coat needed to be worn because of the weather outside, on a cold day of course we’d expect someone to be wearing a coat, it also meant the risks of the cast being affected by the weather was kept to a minimum. We subverted the conventions of a thriller film that’s set in the past by not using sepia or black and white for the past events means that we have to alternate the fashion so that the viewers are able to see that it was a past event. We didn't want to use black and white or sepia because this could represent a negative tone, in the real scene it was the fathers happiest time of his life as he's cherished the day with his daughter, we want our viewers to know that this was the happiest time of his life therefore colour could represent this. However it means that we need to stick to the 90's theme ensuring that the costumes we use don't challenge the convention in any way, we desperately wanted to reinforce the idea of these scenes being set in the past within the 90’s.

The outfit our actor wore was being simple and reviewing back I don’t feel it gives the 90’s feel, however there isn’t anything we could have done differently due to the lack of materials, however we’d stuck to the general fashion sense of the 90’s era, additional research was supplementary and broadened our knowledge.

The change in Jason’s outfit was critical because it would show the audience that it was a change in time and events, because thriller trailers generally never expose the identity of the ‘killer’ or ‘stalker’ we had to change his appearance so that his identity would not be revealed however give a clue to the audience that two different scenes in the trailer interlink. Becka and I didn’t want to change the outfits of the main character completely because we wanted to give slight clues that the male figure in both scenes is the same person, however with a slightly deteriorated appearance due to his developing mental instability. To create a more masculine and mental look we filmed these scenes first making our actor grow a beard, the effect this would have is making him look more rugged and the typical ‘stalker’ appearance that thriller films support. We obviously don’t have great knowledge on mental people and their appearance so we gave our own impression on how we’d feel a mental male would be, the more rugged look could give the audience impression that the lack of pride in his appearance suggests his character as being disorderly.

I wasn’t completely concerned with the clothing the young actor who played ‘Annabelle’ would be wearing, as she was already the age of the girl she was playing it meant that the clothing style would be suitable for those of a 3/4 year old however little research was done on 90’s fashion for children because we felt it was insignificant as she’d be covered by her coat. The only element which needed to be exposed to identify her and ultimately create the storyline was the heart locket as this would connect the younger actor with the older one that I’d played. The young actor wore a red coat, a Hello Kitty onesie (that wasn’t exposed) and Lellie Kelly shoes; the brand wasn’t identifiable and meant that if the brand wasn’t created in the ‘past-era’ then it wouldn’t matter.

The teenage girl that features in our trailer (who is played by me) was specifically dressed in clothes that wouldn’t be seen as provocative or exposing in the slightest, we’d realised that thriller films involving abductions tend to use females that aren’t overly obvious so we wanted to recreate this by making the female look innocent to make the audience question ‘why her out of everyone?’.

The outfit we’d chosen for this character was jeans, a jumper, a leather jacket and of course the heart locket, this outfit would be something I’d generally wear to sixth form, this is effective because I’ve followed the typical fashion sense of those who are of the same age and culture as I am. Reducing the amount of colour in the outfit allowed the thriller film conventions to be reinforced because we wanted to create the dark and mysterious approach that thrillers do. 

Here is a print-screen of the outfit choices for our antagonist and youngest actor, we'd specifically filmed parts to ensure the fashion sense was exposed during the 'past' scenes. 

Film title ideas

Becka and I have various film title ideas that we've considered, we decided to have several initial ideas, this way we could be able to see which one fits best to our film trailer. We have listed the initial ideas that we could use, we feel that all of them could be suited for various reasons however we narrowed the options down to 4 titles. We have listed those most appropriate stating the reasons to why we feel they fit with our movie trailer. The film title is a vital feature of our production, the title usually acts as a give away of what the film features of the genre of the film, we need a suitable title that meets our target audience and narrative, our aim is to fit in with the general conventions of a thriller film.

Becka and I have thought up some film title ideas that we could potentially use for our film trailer. We had developed a Prezi to present our film title ideas, here is the link: http://prezi.com/sitfups7d8x1/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share.

Unfortunately the Prezi app wouldn't connect to the service and will only be shared via link therefore visual evidence will have to be retrieved from the Prezi webpage. 

Becka and I looked at a variety of possible names for our film title; all of the potential titles were influenced by the term 'trapped', the choices were either different versions of the words or words that we'd associate with the feeling of being trapped. These consisted of;

• ·         Confined
• ·         Imprisoned
• ·         Caged
• ·         Captured

There’s an obvious link between all four choices and this means that either could be used, however in the following paragraph is a more in-depth explanation to whether each title fits or not. It’s important that we chose a title that is highly gripping yet mysterious enough so that the viewer’s question what the narrative could be about, we don’t want it to be self-explanatory as this could mean that the viewers have nothing to look forward to if they were to watch the film as they’d have a good idea of what was to come. To ensure that we have chosen the correct name we will have to carry out a questionnaire on everyone who fits into our target group, this will then identify which titling fits the trailer and entices them to want to watch the film. The results will evidently expose what fits best and we will therefore choose it and make a final decision.

Confined: this title would fit as in our film the elder actress could be feeling the emotion of complete hopelessness and trapped within the fathers mind and abode, therefore the link would provide relevance to the film trailer. I retrieved the word confined using the synonyms for the word trapped, this meant that the word was directly linked to the feeling of being trapped and therefore had relevance to the film narrative and content. I didn't particularly like the word though, it didn't feel it was ‘edgy’ enough and wouldn't stick into the viewer’s mind. It didn't provide enough excitement and was quite long worded and could be considered boring, especially to the 15 year old target audience, they may not also know what the term means therefore putting off wanting to see the film.  
Imprisoned: is a strong possibility because it provides the sense of being trapped again, however we felt it to be too cliché and may suggest a different genre of film to our audience. Viewers could link the wording of 'Imprisoned' to do with a film that centres on prisons or individuals within prison, whereas we wanted our viewers to have the preconceived idea of what film genre our trailer would fit into. I felt that the term imprisoned was quite memorable even though it was fairly long, this is what I wanted to achieve but as previously stated the narrative or content of the film could be linked to something that the audience didn't expect. I want the title to meet the expectations of the film content and if the viewers were expecting to see a prison related film they could be disappointed by a thriller, abduction film.

Another alternative name suggestion was Captive: the word captive could refer to our main character being held prisoner so therefore it links and is relevant to the entire storyline of the film and trailer we'd have produced. 
Captured: was another option, Becka and I were dead set on this idea however felt it was very obvious to what the content of the film would be about, I wanted something that created some sort of mystery. I feel this title could be considered quite self-explanatory and completely gives away the entire content of the film; the noun ‘Captured’ is quite conventional for a thriller film. To me this would is effective however I would put off watching the entire film because it acts as a huge give away of the films narrative or storyline. Captured is a film title which is quite dull, dry and bleak.

Caged: this title could reflect our narrative as the film is based on a vulnerable teenager who is trapped and literally caged within the ‘fathers’ abode as he’s convinced it was his abducted daughter. Caged could be considered quite mysterious and I feel the audience wouldn't be able to directly identify the films content, it provides some evidence on the narrative however doesn't completely give it away. I feel the titles quite engaging and memorable as it’s a single syllable and creates mystery.

In conclusion and relation to film title ideas Becka and I have opted for using Caged as our film title, for obvious reasons stated above we feel it allows the most mystery and engagement from the audience. I feel that it allows an open view of what the films content could be as it could relate to their expectations or be completely different to what they expected. However as it links to the films content it means that it should have a higher chance of meeting the viewer’s expectations. Our results from our survey stated that our target audience were more intrigued by the word Caged, and if our target audience are more satisfied and contented by the name we have to follow their specific needs as we wish for the film trailer to meet their requests.