Motion Magazine

Motion Magazine

Above is the final edit of my magazine "Motion" and there front cover featuring my film "Indigenous".

Indigenous Poster

Indigenous Poster

Above is the final edit of my film poster which is one of the ancillary tasks that accompanies my trailer.

Shot List

Shot list

Below is a list of shots I am planning to use and include in my film trailer. The more planning and preparation that goes in to my film the more successful and well received it will be.

Shot list for “Indigenous”:

High angled shot – Shot looking down towards the victims of the film

Low angle shot – Shot looking up toward villain to connote the power he holds over the situation.

Over the shoulder shot – Shot including dialogue flowing between characters.

Extreme close shot – Shot to show the emotions of different characters.

Close shot – Shot again used to show characters when in dialogue scenes

Establishing shot – Shot to set the scene for the film trailer.

Panning shot – Shot used to explore the scenery. Further panning includes sight of something sinister (e.g. Gun, axe, villain).

Cut in – Shot to show something one of my characters are seeing (e.g. getting a text and revealing what it says).

Long shot –Shot to include more of the characters (including characters at beginning of trailer to show them happy and excited about going away).

Medium close shot – Shot showing the character from the waste up. Used to show character of Jason clutching pole as a weapon.

Medium long shot – Shot showing a conversation between two characters towards the start of the trailer.

Worms eye view – Again used to look up at the villain connoting power and making the villain appear more menacing.

Tracking shot – Shot following the characters movement where I plan to cut to an extreme close shot to show the emotions of the character. 

Prop List

Prop List

Below is a list of props that I need in order to construct my film trailer:

• ·      Gun
• ·      Axe
• ·      Car
• ·      Ammunition belt
• ·      Pole

Equipment

Equipment 

This is a list of equipment I require for my film trailer:

• ·      Canon EOS 600D
• ·      Tripod
• ·      Steady cam
• ·      Take board
• ·      Handheld light source

Production Company Research

Production Company Research

In order to get a better idea of what I need to create a successful, professional standard production company logo. I will then gain a better understanding of the common conventions within them.

Miramax – The Miramax logo uses a simplistic design with a plain black background. The main focus of the logo being the text itself. The word "Miramax" is in a bold large font as this is the most important piece of information that the audience need. It also uses this text as the basis for the word "Films" which stretches across to fit the length of "Miramax" connoting Miramax has power regarding this film. The word "film" is then framed with a line above and below the text connoting a screen from which movies are played. 

Lionsgate - The Lionsgate logo is usually shown as it is pictured above right. However, as different production companies often do, they have adapted their logo in order to add to the fear factor of the horror film they appear on. 

This production company uses generic horror conventions such as the smokey red background connoting danger and evil. The silver lettering is also bold with the text edited to give a steel look to it with outlining bits of red almost giving the impression of stained blood. This is connotes a bloody knife which is a popular murder weapon amongst the horror genre.  This also acts to really make the lettering stand out among the background and centre it.

New Line Cinema - This is one of the production companies that is well associated with the horror genre. Again it is another fairly simplistic logo with a plain black background. The main image in this logo being the piece of film, which is centred in the middle so that it is one of the first things, your eye is drawn to. The blue illuminous light placed behind the picture connotes mystery and unease that goes hand in hand with the horror genre. The text "New Line Cinema" is placed under the picture in a large bold font so it is immediately known to the audience that this is the most important piece of information and the company then becomes well known in their mind. 

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.