Scenes in my Film Trailer

Like in all film trailers I used a selection of clips of different lengths. Some clips I used in chronological order and some I moved around to avoid telling the full story and giving away the main just to the audience. I used shorter and faster clips when I wanted a more intense reaction.

The Deconstruction of 3 Film Posters

Deconstruction 1 - The Grudge

Description of the main image
Extreme close up of what looks like a demon. She has green skin and black hair symbolising death. Her eyes are widened giving a freaky and chilling effect. 

Is there more than one image? Why?

Only one strong image as two images would be less effective and take away the impact of this image.

Layout

Main image is central slightly to the right. Essential information and film title is to the left. This gives an even composition.

Colour Scheme
Black, red and white colour scheme. This is a generic colour scheme for horror films and posters.

Font
The font is simple and easy to read but has a sketchy effect to add to the sinister and chilling tone.

Tagline
Raises many questions on who is it? and what has it forgiven and what wont it forget? It is simple but very effective to entice the audience with questions. They will go and see the film to find out the answers.

Who is mentioned in the poster? 
One actress's name who is usually in horror style films. She is the main character.

Description of Film Title
Simple yet effective. Raises the question what is the grudge and what has happened in the past? It carries negative connotations.

How is the necessary information placed?
Discretely and hard to read because the audience are not interested in reading this information.

Genre? How do you know?

Horror, due to the dark colours, tagline and the film title.

Connotations/ effect of text

Gives the audience a chilling feel and attracts them into going to see the film if this is the type of genre they like.

Deconstruction 2 - The Woman in Black

Description of the main image
A frightened and serious tone on the main characters face. A ghostly image in the background.

Is there more than one image? Why?

2 Images to show that this is a ghost story.

Layout

2 main images with three separate texts and necessary information at the bottom in a much smaller font.

Framing

Daniel Radcliffe to the left and everything else to the right which balances out the poster nice and evenly.

Colour Scheme

3 scheme of blue white and black. These colours are again generic horror film colours.

Font
The text spreads with a beam of light which gives a supernatural and ghostly effect.

Tagline
This is a question which the target audience rhetorically ask themselves. This is a good way to entice the audience into this film.

Who is mentioned in the poster?

Daniel Radcliffe, who is a very popular actor. This is his first film after the famous harry potter franchise so many people will want to see him playing a role they arent used to watching.

Description of Film Title

Negative and dark connotations. Black symbolising death and mystery. This raises the question who is the woman? and why is she important?

How is the necessary information placed?

Discretely and small.

Genre? How do you know?

Due to the dark colour scheme, the ghostly image, the tagline mentioning ghosts. The genre is very obvious.

Deconstruction 3 - What Lies Beneath

Description of the main image
A hand creeping over the side of the bath.

Is there more than one image? Why?

Only one image to give all the focus to this image.

Layout

Image on the bottom of the screen and text above this.

Framing

text and main image is to the right of the poster, this gives an un even balance to the film poster. This obscurity reflects the genre.

Colour Scheme

White background and bath and black text. This is a unusual colour scheme for a horror as the lighting is bright. This could reflect a happy ending?

Font

A simple text with a type writer style. It is clear and easy to read.

Who is mentioned in the poster?

The two main characters, they are famous so their names get mentioned so any audience who are a fan of them will go and see the film, despite the genre.

Description of Film Title

A scary and chilling thought. This raises the question to the audiences and attracts them in going to see the film.

Genre? How do you know?

Horror/thriller by the main image and the film title. The colour scheme throws you off a bit initially however.

Storyline to my horror/ghost story film

The story starts with three sisters living together, getting along perfectly fine. It is not obvious to the audience but it is hinted that one of the sisters is plotting a sinister plan. Suddenly to the family, the sister named Lucy commits suicide by hanging herself, or so the audience thinks. Years later the sister named Sophie is subtly haunted by what seems to be a ghost and leaves creepy clues around the house regarding her sisters death. The ghost is Lucy and she is trying to unveil the real facts about her death and, shockingly to the audience, Sophie finds she did not commit suicide but she was murdered by the third sister!

Behind the Scenes

This is how I created this frightening and crucial scene in my film trailer...

I wanted to give the illusion of a hanging scene, after trying numerous ways to suspend my actress in the air, I decided this way ^^ was most effective and safe.
I rested an exercise bar in the gap of the loft, had my actress climb up the stairs and hang from the bar.
HEALTH AND SAFETY: I made sure someone was standing in the loft to make sure the bar did not slip. Then I used my second actress to observe from the bottom.
With the lights turned off and with my actress slightly swaying forwards and backwards it gave a successful, chilling, "hanging" scene.

The Deconstruction of 3 Film Magazine Front Covers

Deconstruction 1 - EMPIRE 

Composition: (overall design/ layout) The overall design is both very dramatic and very powerful which reflects the genre of the film. It also appeals to women as they will find the male attractive and appealing and will appeal to male audiences because it is a generic Hegemonic male which many men aspire to be like.

Text - The text is bold and dramatic to fit in with the genre of the film and to also appeal to a male audience. It also stands out and gives the impression it is shouting at the audience but in a positive way.

Colour - The colour scheme is white, navy and red. Stereotypically these are more male oriented colours which suits the target audience well as they will mostly be male. 

Body Language/Staging - The male on this front cover is standing in a masculine pose, with a stern and serious look on his face. He is flexing his muscles which signifies strength and masculinity. This will appeal to the main target audience of men because often characters like this will be an inspiration to boys/men and they will want to look like him.

Framing - The main character in the film 'wolverine' is in the central park of the page. People buying this magazine will probably like this film or want to go and see this film because it is the main article inside the magazine. Therefore the target audience will enjoy the main character being the main focus so they know there is going to be a lot of reference about the film inside the magazine.

Lighting - The background is in darkness with a dark blue colour gradient and a bright white light in the background. The main focus is on the main image, the man. He has the brightest light shone upon him so he stands out the most on the page.

Font - All of the font on the front cover is in capitals. This gives a loud and attention grabbing effect, almost like the page is shouting at you, for your attention. This appeals to the target audience as the magazine front cover is stereotypically aimed at males because of the action films featured. Male oriented magazines have a 'manly' effect about them and the capitals represent; strength, boldness and loudness, which are all stereotypically male connotations.

Deconstruction 2 - FILM

Composition: (overall design/ layout) The overall design is very mystery, magical and fantasy like. This is through the use of orange and purple and fairy tale inspired makeup. These conventions also reflect the genre of the film.

Text - The text is minimalistic in order for the main image to raise questions and do all the talking. It includes 'buzz' words like FREE and MASSIVE to attract audiences to this magazine.

Colour - The colours of purple, white, yellow and orange are stereotypically feminine colours. 

Body Language/Staging - The fact that there is a rabbit on the front cover immediately appeals more to a feminine audience. Males, stereotypically would not be attracted to a fluffy rabbit on a magazine front cover.

Framing - The main character is central in a medium shot (usually the case for most front covers)

Lighting - The spotlight is on the main image so he stands out on the dark background and also to show he is the main character of the film.

Font - The text is simple and mostly white which stands out on the dark purple background. It is easy and clear to read which is important for readers who want to find out more about the film due to the interesting main image.

Deconstruction 3 - FILM

Composition: (overall design/ layout) - The overall design is very dramatic and powerful which reflects the genre of the film. It will entice the audience to go and see the film as they will want to see some dramatic and unique action and the film will want to be more successful than the previous films in the franchise.

Text - The text about Harry Potter are in the biggest fonts and the other information is in a much smaller font. This signifies that this magazine is centered around the release of the final Harry Potter film. The target audience will be males and females and people who love the Harry Potter franchise. 

Colour - This magazine front cover follow a three shade colour scheme of red, white and grey. These three colours appeal to both male and female audiences which is essential because the target audience for Harry Potter is both males and females. The red signifies danger and the black behind it signifies death and mystery.

Body Language/Staging - Harry is standing in a heroic posture and since he is the only one on the page it signifies that he is the main character and possibility the hero.

Framing - Harry Potter is in the centre of the cover, infront of any text on the page, this makes him the main focus.

Lighting - The main image stands out due to the background lighting. The lighting behind him is dark and fierce with the red and the black signifying danger. The spotlight on him shows he is the hero.

Font - The font is in lower case apart from the title, Harry Potter. This makes this the main focus on the front cover and will attract the target audience who love the Harry Potter franchise. 

The Deconstruction of 3 Film Trailers

Deconstruction 1 - Willow Creek

Film Festivals and Indie Films - (2013)
Jim and his girlfriend Kelly are in Willow Creek, California, to retrace the steps of Bigfoot researchers Patterson and Gimlin, who, in 1967, recorded the most famous film of the legendary monster. Kelly is a skeptic, along for the ride to spend time with her boyfriend between acting gigs. Jim, a believer, hopes to capture footage of his own, so his camera is constantly rolling.

This trailer is presented in a documentary style and a home video style. This is effective as it adds to the realism therefore pretentiously making it more frightening to the audience. You can tell by the trailer than this film is a independent film and not made by Hollywood. There is not special effects or big studio settings. 

Deconstruction 2 - What Lies Beneath

Dream Works and 20th Century fox - (2000)
The wife of a university research scientist believes that her lakeside Vermont home is haunted by a ghost - or that she's losing her mind.

This film follows the usual rule to horror/ghost story trailers. In the beginning the scenes are shot at day time in natural light and the characters are living their lives in a normal day to day setting. Then as the trailer continues the mood and setting changes to quicker, fast paced shots and scared expressions on the characters faces. This creates the intensity for the audience and makes them want to go and see the film.

Deconstruction 3 - Orphan

Warner Brothers - (2009)

A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be.

This trailer follows a similar style and structure to "what lies beneath" in the fact that at the beginning there are scenes where the genre of horror is not present and the characters are going along with their normal and everyday lives. The music then changes and the trailer gets dark, ghostly, and intense with the fast paced scenes and the creepy music.

This is a similar structure I want to follow in my film trailer. I also want to use more than one instrumental, the second instrumental being the more frightening one to build suspension.

Photos I didn't use and why

Poster Image

This image has very bad lighting and therefore loses detail in her face making the image look less professional. The image quality is not strong enough, therefore if I applied editing to the photograph in photo shop the quality would decrease further and the image would look any professional or frightening impact and would not look successful to the audience.

Magazine Front Cover image
This image has too much red lighting and has been taken too far away. The image looses its impact not being that close to the model. The red lighting is distracting.

This image does not feature the hood which I find to be very effective. I like the shadowing of the face which gives a dramatic effect although I dont feel there is much expression in the face to carry enough impact for the front of a film magazine.

Costumes, Make-up and Props

This is the video camera I will use to film my film trailer. 

This is the black and white top the mime wears in my trailer and on my film poster.

This is a necklace prop that will feature on my magazine front cover and my film trailer. 

This is the camera I used to take images for my film poster.