Casting Information

Casting Information

Casting is vital to the success of any movie. In order for me to ensure that my product is the best it possibly can be it is important for me to take into account relative narrative and character theories as well as the common conventions. This then enables the audiences to get a greater understanding of the characters. Whilst striving to get the design right for my film I also would want to bring a unique aspect to it. As my film focuses mainly on youth it is also important for me to represent them in the correct way.

Goffman’s (1959) character theory is one of the theories I looked at in order to help me further develop my production. I have outlined the roles in terms of relevance to my film below.

The Protagonist – The leading character of the film. I believe the character of “James” would best suit this role in terms of my script and plan for the film as a whole. He would offer the leading defense of the other characters even if it may not appear so at first.

The Deuteragonist – This is the secondary character in my movie that offers assistance often to the protagonist. I believe that the character of “Jason” would suit this role best. He does not offer assistance directly to the protagonist so to say but does serve as a large part in the film assisting the group.

The Bit Part Player – The minor character that there is not a lot of information about.  In terms of my own production I believe the character of “Sydney” best suits this role as he is the one that is constantly arguing with the rest of the group and placing blame. He adopts the “every man for himself” approach. This character is often killed off in horror films and I plan to follow this convention in my own. The trailer will have a scene depicting “Sydney” being/ about to be attacked by the killer.

Another useful theory I have looked at is Vladimir Propp’s character roles (1969).

Villain – The most importance of these roles in terms of my own production is the villain. This is clearly the antagonist in my film in the form of Travis Smith. As this character he needs a fear factor about him that identifies him as a scary to the audience. In order to do this they must be willing to attempt various costume and make up designs.

The Princess – Acts as a reward for the hero (protagonist) and is often the object of the villain’s plot. I believe the best character that suits this role is “Jessie”. She does act as a reward for the protagonist as it goes down the conventional route of her being taken by the villain and it is up to the protagonist to save her.

Now that I have defined my character roles under character theory my casting will need to take into account the specific characterizations of the individual roles.

Film Synopsis

Film Synopsis

Indigenous follows the story of a group of young people who upon completing College decide to celebrate by journeying together to the tranquil, region of Cornwall. However, while there they do not count on the deranged, psychotic nature of a local within the so-called “peaceful” Cornish countryside.

Indigenous takes the classic old slasher genre and gives it new modern twists which keep audience enticed as to the nature of the film. Inspired by the likes of Wrong Turn, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Candyman Indigenous offers a new nail-biting twist on the typical conventions found within slasher movies and attempts to revive and revamp this forgotten genre into the new age.  

Hidden away from the world and ridiculed by those around him Travis Smith lost all sense of his mentality and belonging. Fuelled by hatred and rage, they slaughter all inhabitants until there is one soul survivor standing, Travis. Alone he takes on multiple personas and is devoted to tormenting any who enter his village.

This group of young people had been close friends throughout their College years. Little did they know this “vacation” would test the very limits of their friendship. When arguments arise amongst the group along the way there are split divides within the group, making them more vulnerable to the savage, brutal nature of one of the locals. When chaos erupts and the trip turns violent these young teenagers find themselves fighting for their lives in a strange, rural surrounding unfamiliar to them. In a battle

Previous slasher flick fans will not be disappointed with this present take on the classic genre that have audiences questioning their very sanity. A strong script, desolate menacing setting, unnerving photography and a felon to rival Lector’s sanity combine to challenging the very boundaries of reality itself. What is truth and what are lies? Audiences cannot afford to miss this spine tingling tale which will leave audiences hanging on a knifes edge.

Jack Elphick-Calle

Deciding my film title

Indigenous

In terms of my film title I have decided to go with Indigenous, as this was the most popular choice amongst my target audience, as I was made aware of from collating my survey monkey results. This title I believe works well within the initial idea I had for my film being set in a remote, deserted area.

The title meets the objective of being short and to the point whilst giving the sort of striking effect that you would expect from a horror film title. It engages the audience right from the off and makes them want to find more information on the film itself further raising the products awareness amongst audiences.

This also ensures that audiences will like the title of the film as they were surveyed in order to express what they thought the best title for the film would be.

Film Title ideas

Below is my Survey monkey where I asked questions regarding what the film title for my horror trailer should be. This way I could gain instantaneous feedback directly from my target audience to give me a broader idea of film title conventions. This also gave me a wider spectrum of potential film title ideas themselves.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Survey Monkey

Below is the Survey Monkey I created in order to obtain audience feedback which I could then base my product around and edit it in a way that best caters for my target audience's needs.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Lighting Research

Lighting

There are a few simple techniques that can be used to get the lighting correct for any film-based project. Therefore, I will be looking to apply this to my own product in order to ensure its best possible success in fulfilling its aims. The first of these is basic three-point lighting involving Key, Fill and Back light:

Key Light

This is the most focused, directional light used in the three-point setup. It is used to illuminate the strong or dominant side of the subject (determined by which way they are facing, normally from the left by default).

The key light creates the largest amount of light out of the three and will usually be set the furthest away from the subject, being directed in a slightly narrower beam than the others if possible. As a result it also tends to create the most obvious shadows. Therefore I can use this lighting technique if I wanted to create a shadow, perhaps of the antagonist, to invoke fear.

Fill Light

The fill is used to offset the roughness and the sharp shadows that can be caused by the key light. It is a softer, more indirect light that not only fills out the opposing side of the subject, but lights up the surrounding area.

Using a diffuser or filter on the fill light is a good way to make it spread out and give it some added softness. A thin piece of white vinyl or tissue paper can be placed in front of the light to obtain this effect. However, anything but too close can become too hot during filming.

Back Light

The backlight provides a border around your subject to set it off from the background. This is great for shooting portraits and close-ups, and the back light can be placed slightly low and angled upwards to provide a softer effect.

In situations where the subject is near a wall and you don’t want such a feathery effect, you can actually turn the backlight toward the wall and bounce the light off to better lighten the background.

There are various other lighting techniques that I will also be looking at to use when filming my own film trailer so that it is at the best possible quality. Listed below are some of the lighting techniques I have researched in to:

Bouncing Light

You may find that you don’t have very much control over how to light a scene, especially when using cheap shop lights or other inexpensive lighting tools. The direction, spread, temperature, and sharpness of each light might not seem as if they are adding the proper types of lighting to the set. In these cases it is possible to bounce light off of an object to create a softer glow rather than a stark beam.

By simply using a piece of foamcore from your local craft store, a car windshield sun reflector, or any other lightly colored reflective object. Turn the light away from your subject and use the reflector to send the light back in that direction. It may take some tweaking time to angle the reflector so that the light bounces off of it correctly and lands on the subject in a more pleasing way. In terms of my own filming I will have to adopt many of these techniques, as the lighting equipment I will be using will not be of such a high quality. Therefore by using a simple car windshield sun reflector to bounce the lighting off will be a very useful technique to try whilst filming for my product.

Get It Right

In many locations when in an enclosed space there may not be enough room to set each light just as needed. It may also be found that altering the height of your light sources changes the feel of your shot e.g. higher key lighting offers an angelic effect, while lower, up-angled lights cause a more rigid, spooky look. Therefore this will be a technique I will often use in my film trailer as it displays the common conventions found within the horror genre with a rigid, spooky look.

These lighting techniques will help me find the right balance of lighting, contrast and brightness for my own product and apply the correct type for the correct scene. This way my product will look more professional and better meet it’s aims and have a greater appeal to the target audience. Using lower, up-angled lights to create a spooky look to a scene will be key in the parts of my trailer where the disequilibrium is presented and darker lighting in general to connote evil and fear. In the early stages of my trailer, where all appears to be fine, a more angelic effect is required with a general brighter look.

Teaser Trailer - History

Before I could start planning my product I had to research the background area of my chosen product of teaser trailers. Located below is my said research including a record of early appearances of teaser trailers and a link to an example of a present day teaser trailer for the 2012 production of Marvel's "The Avengers".

What are Teaser Trailers? 

Teaser trailers unlike typical theatrical trailers are usually very short in length (usually between 30-60 seconds). They will most likely contain only snippets of footage from the film or can even contain no footage at all. Teaser trailers are most commonly used for big-budget and popular-themed films. Their purpose is not to show any of the movies content but to simply show that the movie is coming up in the future and to add and build hype for its upcoming release.

A good present example of this is the teaser trailer released for the film “The Avengers” which is due for release in 2012 http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Poniverse/news/?a=21086 

History

An early example of the teaser trailer was the one used for the film “Superman” directed by Richard Donner in 1978. The film was already almost a year late and so interest in the film was dropping and awareness levels had significantly decreased. So a teaser trailer was used to attempt to raise awareness for the film once more and try to re-build hype and re-invigorate interest in it’s release.

 The teaser trailer for the “Batman” film starring Michael Keaton in 1989 was used as an emergency market move that successfully convinced angered comic book fans that the film would respect the source material.

Popularity

Since their emergence teaser trailers have been growing increasingly in popularity. A teaser trailer for “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” was attached to the movie “Siege” in 1998, and it was reported that many people had paid for admission to the film just to watch the teaser trailer, and had walked out after the trailer had been screened. It is now at the point where in present day teaser trailers are not only used for movies but for game releases to.

A teaser for the movie “Spider-Man” featured a mini-movie plot with bank robbers escaping in a helicopter but are caught and propelled backward into what first appears to be a net. But when the camera zooms out it reveals a gigantic web spun between the two towers of the World Trade Centre after the 9/11 attacks. This goes against the common conventions of teaser trailers and was the first film to do so.

The trailer itself was pulled from distribution as was the teaser poster of the two towers appearing in the reflection of in Spider-Man’s eyepieces and has never been released on DVD. However, if you conduct a Youtube search for “Spider-Man Banned Trailer” it will show the trailer in its entire entirety. 

Survey Monkey Analysis

In order to gain a broader understanding of what my target audience want I have created a survey using survey monkey. This allows me to gain instantaneous feedback on my production so far and allows me to further plan ideas based on the survey responses. I can also look back over the work previously done for the project and make any adjustments or add other details based on these responses so that it best caters for the target audience and therefore they are ultimately satisfied with the overall product.

From my survey monkey results regarding film trailers I have been able to draw clear conclusions and choices in terms of the production and distribution of my trailer. I have also been able to identify my main audience through this survey as the majority responses indicate a young teenage audience between the ages of 15-24. I have also been able to identify that the social grades the product will most be viewed by are the E-D social grade, mainly self-actualisers. I have also identified that my target audience often view film trailers via the internet and therefore have been able to generate ideas of how the distribution of my product will take place in for it to best be accessible and viewed by my intended target audience. Based on this information I have decided to best use social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to my advantage. Here I can advertise and raise awareness of my product and it will be instantly available to my target audience as it is there in front of them, simply a click away. I have also decided to distribute my product on Youtube as here I can simply create an account and upload my trailer. I could also have my product advertised on other Youtube videos to increase awareness and the amount of people viewing it. This once again is instantly available to my target audience, as they simply have to search Youtube to find it.

Based on my responses the idea of a horror film trailer is well suited amongst my target audience and therefore my production will greatly appeal to them. I have also identified that the majority of these people read “Empire” magazine as is suggested from my responses. Therefore I have decided to take different elements from “Empire” and incorporate them into my own magazine.

In terms of the film trailer itself I was able to gain valuable feedback on what features are most important to have in a film trailer. In this field 100% of my responses went for the films title and its release date thus I was able to identify these two features as the most important to uphold in my own trailer. I have also identified the sort of content I will be using in my trailer. It appears that audiences want to see and identify main characters in trailers whilst also enjoying a good music score along with the trailer developing in chronological order, common conventions when it comes to film trailers. In relation to this I have made sure I will incorporate these ideas into my own product to best satisfy my target audience.

In terms of the length of my teaser trailer it appears 30-60 seconds is the common appeal, which matches almost directly into the common convention of a teaser trailer being 30-45 seconds long. This therefore allows me to confidently adhere to this common convention armed with the knowledge it will also appeal to my target audience.