Typography

We need to consider the typography for our film title. The trailer/ magazine and poster will feature the film title, although this will only take up a small part of each advertisment it actually plays a very bit part in promoting the film. It is very important that it the typography is appropriate for our genre of film. We also need to ensure that the viewer is able to read the writing clearly.

I have looked at the website called 'Dafont' for ideas.

These are some fonts that appealed to us as a group:

Font one:

This is the first font we looked at, this font appealed to use because of its distorted look. It seems to look like its flickering in a way, which is often connected with our paranormal theme. Parts of the font are faded and look like they have been worn away which I think fits in well with our storyline.

Font two:

This font is very different to the first one, this one appealed to us because it was interesting and different. The drips look like blood which fits in well with our trailer but the only problem with this font is that it could easily give of the impression that our genre is horror due to the dripping blood.

Font three:

This font is much more simple than the other two fonts, it appealed to us because of its boldness making it stand out. The font has lines down it that make it look like it could of been sliced with a knife. This is good as it realtes to our film as one of our main props is a knife.

Font four:

This font follows the same sort of look as the other fonts we have already looked at within our group, again this font is eroded and looks jagged. As our trailer becomes fast towards the end I think the would look good and stand out.

Font five:

This font looks destroyed, it has a creepy look to it showing what sort of genre our trailer is. The writing is thin yet it is bold, it stands out to the eye. Although the writing is distorted, it is easy to read this is particularly important.

I liked all of these fonts because they are able to tell alot about the film and its genre before even looking at anything other that the font. Each font is different but they all have similarity's. They all have an eroded look to them, they are jagged and not particularly neat.

As a group we will need to decide which font will best represent our film.

After a group discussion we decided that font five this font was called Acid Label.

We chose this font as we felt it represented our film well.

We then had to decide what fonts we would be using for our magazine front cover our film poster and the other snippets of writing on our trailer. We met up as a group to make these decisions. After looking at different fronts on dafont and microsoft word we came up with our final fonts.

Here is a list explaining what fonts we will use and what sections these fonts will be used for. When we are creating our magazine front cover/trailer/poster we will refer to this list as a reminder.

Music Choices

Our music choice is really important. We need to ensure that we choose a song that will help create atmosphere within our trailer. The song will help create certain feelings for example suspence, or anticipation, a scary part, a fun part.
We will have lots of clips of the girls waiting in anticipation so its important that we put the correct sort of music along side.

Production label

Charlotte was allocated the job of drawing up potential Production Labels. She designed on Microsoft word five Labels that we then had to choose from. Before Charlotte went of to begin the designing we decided as a group to call our "E,C,B" - this is the first initial of each of our names. We decided to do this as it seemed obvious and it also followed suit, Warner Brothers is called Warner Brothers because they were brothers and there surname was Warner, this seems to obvious to be a good name for a production company, but has gone on to be a worldwide known production label.
After creating the logos charlotte presented us with these five drafts. After a group discussion we narrowed it down to two final ideas.

These are the two designs we narrowed it down to. We chose these two as we felt they were the most realistic. We had to think about our company as professional meaning we needed to ensure that our label design looked professional. Both of these designs have stars in them we feel this is again following suit it is a design you often see in production labels, for example "Star-line films" has a row of stars above the names and "Paramount" the title is enclosed by a circle of stars. The symbol of a star often represents glamour and fame. This is exactly what a production company wants to associated with, this is why we narrowed it down to the two designs that included stars. After another discussion we decided that the Design with the single star wasn't as eye catching as the design that was a circle of stars we also thought that the contrast of the black and white in the second design worked better so we came to the decision that this is the design we choose.

This is an enlarged image of the final design we chose.

Film Distributor

What distributor's do:

- Firstly the film distributor has to choose films they would and wouldn't like to distribute.
- They then need to decide how many prints to are going to make this will depend on its appeal. If they think the film will only have limited appeal they will only make a small number of prints.
- The next step the distributor has to deal with is negotiating and organising when and where the film will be released.
- The distributor has to ensure that the film is advertised so they then have to send round trailers and information about the film to cinemas.
- They also in charge of making sure the film is also publicised though: film posters, film trailers, press/TV advertising, press releases and so on.

Some of the major distributor companies

The British market is dominated by six American distributors which is made up of:

- Columbia
- 20th Century Fox
- Universal
- UIP
- Buena Vista
- Warner Brothers

These film distribution companies were responsible for 85% of British box office takings in 1999. The five majors primarily handle American films and have relationships with the key cinema chains and multiplexes in Britain. Warner Brothers is the only vertically integrated company of the five makin, distributing and exhibiting its own films, which overall means they retain maximum profits.

We have done the research on film distributors in order to give us an idea of how these companies run, also looking at their distributor label to give us ideas for our own.

Film poster

For my film trailer I am going to create a film poster advertising the film.

Firstly I need to decide which type of film poster I am going to create either a teaser poster a main poster or a blurb poster.

I have chosen to do a Teaser Poster and a main poster.

To give myself a good choice I am going to create two potential film posters, the other two members of my group are also creating posters so we have a really wide selection.

Here are my two poster ideas:

We ended up changing the name of our film during the drawings of these posters. I decided to continue and finish these drafts for planning reasons, but then me and my group members all went on to do one more draft of a film poster with our new name on it "Darkness Awakens"

These are three new Potential film posters:

<-My final design for our film poster.

My final design is a teaser poster. This means it only displays the vital and significant information i did this to make the viewers want to find out more about the film. The teaser poster i have done only displays the 'tagline' the 'star-rating' the 'title' and the main image. The main image is of a house, the hosue is quite vague as we were not fully decided on which house we were going to use. I drew a scary looking house with a wood surrouding as this is the idea of the set we are using. This gives a slight idea of the genre and what the film may be about.

Below the main image it has the star rating. This is important as it will attract people to watch the film if it has a good star rating.

The main title is placed below the main image. This is in the same fontthat i have used for the title on the magazine front cover, this gives it a running theme. This font is again distoreted and jagged. Below the main title is the tag line, I used a different type of wirting for this. It quite circular writing but still holds the theme of creepy.

<-Ellas final design for the film poster.

<-Charlottes final design for the film poster.

After a discussion we have decided to go with Ella's final film poster idea. This was because hers contained the most variety and was the clearest. This advertisment is such an important part of promoting the film. So it needs to catch the viewers eye, we felt Ella's poster did this more than the others. We will be using various different programmes to create the actual poster. The next stage is to make the real thing.

Film Magazine front covers

I am also planning to magazine potential magazine front covers. Both of the magazine front covers below are called "68", I drew and designed these before we had decided on our final film name.
I have annotated around each of the designs to show what each part is.
It is important to ensure that each magazine included a:

• Main title- masthead
• Main image
• Bar-code
• Pictures of other films

Film Magazine Idea One:

These were just my two initial ideas, After deciding the name of our film I thought I would do one more design with the new Film Title. The other members of my group also did another design so again we had a selection.

These were our three final designs we were then left to choose from:

<- This is my final design for a magazine front cover. This front cover design is simple. I didn't want to make it to complex as it might look overcrowded and the reader may find it hard to work out.

I began by naming my magazine. I named it playback. I saw this name on the side of an old video case I had at home and though it would be perfect for the name of my magazine. I wrote the title on in bubble writing i did this to make it stand out. The typography is quite large and the letters are lightly shaded. As my main image takes up the majority of the background this was the next thing I did so that the rest of the features would overlap the picture. The image is of a girl screaming, she has her face turned to the left and her head is tilted down. She has her hands up to her face covering half of her cheek. This image isn't in colour but the colours were dark greys blues and blacks. Her face was shaded in a grey/creamy colour as if to make he look slightly ill. I did this to show her fear she looks ragged and worn. The main story of our movie trailer is one girl survives the "supernatural being" my idea was that this image was of that girl.

In the top right hand corner I have put the bar code for the magazine, this is quite small as to not take to much attention away from the other features.
Underneath that it says "film awards 2010 highlights" This is in a gold colour. I did it in gold as it was about awards and this colour usually is associated with awards. I also did it because it contrasts with the background and although its only a small feature it gives the reader something else to look at if the main article doesn't interest them.

The title of the film "Darkness Awakens" is placed on the right hand side below the main image. This writing is creepy and distorted. This is to hint at the films genre. If the film was a "chick flick" it would most likely have swirly pretty writing. Instead this writing is jaggedy and and scary looking. Ellie Failes is one of the actors we are considering to be the main actor in our trailer. So on the front cover in a circle i have written EXCLUSIVE INTWERIEW WITH ELLIE FAILES this is to premote the film. Her name "ellie failes" is in bold writing to premote her charecter.

<-Charlottes final design for our magazine front cover

<-Ellas final design for our magazine front cover.

We have decided as a group to use my magazine front cover idea. We liked this idea because it was simple but effective. The back- ground image is eye-catching and will attract the readers attention. The only issue we had with this magazine front cover is that the title of the magazine does not follow the conventions of normal magazines. Most magazines have the title at the top. We decided that when we come to create the actual magazine we will move the title to the top. This wont make much of a difference to the magazine look but it will make the magazine cover more life like.

Cast

My next factor I needed to consider was the actors I was going to cast in my short movie trailer. As i have now decided my genre I need to ensure that the actors I choose fit the criteria. I am thinking of doing auditions for my potential actors, doing this I can compare how good their acting is and ensure that i choose the best cast to include. It is very important when picking my cast that they look like stereo typical actors. This means having a good dress sense. I don't want any of my cast to wear to much make-up and I want them to all look fairly natural for the parts they are going to play in the film trailer. Doing some research I found that Jennifer Aniston and Cameron Diaz really portray the look I am looking for. They are both very natural and where casual clothes the majority of the time. This look is something we are going to mirror for our cast. This is Ellie Failes, She has a very natural look and doesn't seem to wear a-lot of make-up. Ellie is drama student giving her an advantage. The clothes she is wearing in this image are casual although this is the sort of look we were going for in our trailer we would pick out clothes for her to wear. We would have to ensure the girls are wearing similar sort of clothes so that is shows there similarities.

This is Katie. Again she is not seen to be wearing alot of makeup. Her style is again casual which is what we are looking for. Katie has no experience in acting and this would be new to her. This is Imogen Clapp she again fits the criteria very well she has quite a dramatic/dark look. She again is wearing casual clothes in the picture. She has a different look to the other girls which could be a problem as we need to have the same sort style with each of the girls.

This is Annabelle Roberts. Annabelle appears to be wearing more makeup than the other girls but this could be made more natural if we decided to use her. Annabelle is enthusiatic and hard working so has potential for a role in our trailer.

This is Lizzie Hopkins. Lizzie again fits the criteria, she is very natural and has a good dress sense. Lizzie is in our close friendship group with benefits us as we would be able to contact and see her when needed for filming. This is Samantha Caunt. Samantha is an ex- drama student which will benefit us. Samantha is wearing more make-up but it is evenly done. She again has similar dress sense to the other girls which is good. I think Samantha has a very good look for what were looking for. Samanatha is very self motivated which is important for the tasks we would be setting her.

This Is Beth Joyce. Beth has a very glamorous star quality look to her. She is again in our close friendship group this being an advantage to us. In this image she is dressed up but for the film trailer we would pick more casual clothes for her.

<- This is Lucy Smith. Lucy is doing her second year in drama and very enthusiastic. Lucy is very girly but is naturally pretty wearing little make-up. Lucy follows the same sort of dress-sense that we have seen some of the other girls wearing this is useful as it would show there similar interests e.g. fashion. <- This is georgie Lewis. Georgie is extreammly co-operative and a good listener. I no that georgie would be happy to help and get involved. Gerogie has a bob which would be good as it would give variation in the girls hairstyle.

After looking at each girls photo and considering their talents and achievements we decided on five girls. We then did a video of each girl asking them why they thought the were good enough for a role in our production.

These are the videos below.

These are the five girls we will use in our production.

Ouija Board

As the Ouija board is one of our main props we need to consider carefully how we are going to achieve the most life like board. As the house that we are using as our setting is one of our own homes we have decided not to use a real ouija board as we were not comfortable with this. So we are going to create our own. Although we are not going to make an exact replica of a real ouija board we need to ensure that the one we do make is recognizable otherwise the viewers may become confused as to what it is.

This is a typical Ouija Board

We are going to create a similar one but it wont be the same for personal preference.

Final desicions - For setting

We have picked three potential final settings for the house that we are using, it is important that we pick the right setting for our trailer as this will play a huge role in the final finished production. The setting has the ability to create suspense and make the viewers scared and frightened.
These are images of the three houses we might use:

This is potential house number one. This house has a very dark and sincere look to it. Its old Victorian style adds a sense of eeriness to it which would be particularly good for our film. The house is black and white, and you are unable to see through the four sets of windows that are shown. The house almost looks quite intimidating as it seems to tower above the camera lens. On the right hand side of the house is a side gate and little garage which might also be helpful if we do hold our production here. Also although you cant see it the house is situated right next to woods this is another setting idea we were thinking of which would be helpful as it would be easily accessible. This house isn't a detached house, as obviously we need to be considerate I we would need to check with the neighbours that they are happy with us filming as we wouldn't want to disturb them. personally think this house would be a very good setting for our production, it gives of the right sort of vibes to the viewer and it the fact it is situated next to a woods would benefit us.

This is potential house number two:

This is the second house we looked at. This house is very different to the first house, it has a more homely feel to it. This house again is attached to another house so we would need to keep this in mind when filming as we wouldn't want to upset the neighbours. Although this house was smaller I still think it would be an equally good setting for our production. A problem is that it is not situated near a woods meaning we would have to travel to the woods which could make filming more difficult.

This is potential house number three:

The other setting we will be using is a woods. The woods will be used for the final few flashing images towards the end of the trailer. When picking our woods we need to consider these things.

• Will the woods be safe to film in at night.
• Are they to close to houses that the neighbours may complain is we are to loud?
• How local they are to the house we will be using as we need them to be easily accessible.

Again we have looked at three potential settings.

This is potential woods number one:

This is potential woods number one

This is potential woods number two:

This is potential woods number three:

Props

Props are a vital part of anything media productions. The props are often the object that begins the story or unleashes the mystery. Props are also used to create excitement and to tell parts of the story.

We thought that it was particularly important that we chose our props for our film wisely as they as they will have a huge impact on the finished trailer. As the props will be used to help create a narrative for the film it is also essential we choose them sensibly so that the viewer doesn't misinterpret there meaning.

Phones:

This is phone idea number one.

This phone is the a classic old fashioned phone, although they are rarely used these days as the house we are using for our setting is Victorian it fits in quite well. In our trailer we only need the phone to ring, this is good because if we did choose this phone it might not look good if the girls had to dial a number on this phone as it would take a while. The phone is black and white and I think it fits in with our theme very well.

This is phone idea number two:

This phone is a mobile phone, the phone is small and compact, it is a slide up phone meaning when the girl answered the phone she would need to make this action. The phone is black fitting in with the dark theme of our trailer, but I feel that this phone is to modern. I don't think that we should use a mobile phone for the phone prop I think it needs to be a phone with a handset. My reason for this being that I don't think it will have the effect we would like it to, the bigger the handset the easier it will be for the viewers to see what is going on. As the phone ringing is such a main part of our trailer this is very important.

This is another phone with a handset, these are the phones we as a group prefer as we think they will give of a better effect. This phone is very slick but my problem is that it looks evry modern, although these are the types of phones used today I feel that we could find a phone that fits in better with our setting.

This is the final option for our phone prop.

This is another mobile phone, this is bigger and more complex that the simpler mobile phone. Although this phone is common for teenagers again we were put of by the fact it was a mobile as we felt we should use a bigger device.

We came to the conclusion as a group that phone idea number one is the best phone to use as our prop. This phone matches our setting because its old fashioned and the house is Victorian. We also feel that it will give a better effect as the phone ringing is the climax of our film as it begins the flashing action shots.

Knifes:

Starting from left to right: Knife one- Knife two- Knife three- Knife four

Knife one: This knife is rather large and is not the conventional knife you would see used in a film so we ruled this one out.

Knife two: This knife is a bread knife and I don't think it fulfils the terror we want it to provide as it could be looked on as a joke.

Knife three: This knife is the sort of knife I would expect to see in a film. It is also a kitchen knife so it is not un-realistic.

Knife Four: I think this knife is two small for this prop, it wont be as attention grabbing.

After looking at each knife we have decided on knife Three.

Cars:

This car is a black fiat punto. This car is not the most stylish car but has a typical teenager look to it. Although we like this car we want to look for something a bit more modern.

This car is a Citroen, this car is much more modern but could be mistakable for a family car, we need to ensure that our car fits the age criteria. This car also belongs to one of the girls we are unsure about being in our production so this would be a problem.

This is a fiat 500 after looking at the three cars we thought this one was the best. In most films now containing the teenage age range they are shown in modern snazzy cars we wanted to follow suit and do this as-well. This car is small and a very girly car. It fits perfectly into the criteria of a teenagers car. This is the car we will use in our production.

Next stage's of planning our trailer

The next stage of our planning was writing a synopsis, this is made up of five sections:

• Introduction


• Devlopment


• Complication


• climax


• resolution

Here is our written Synopsis.

We did this so that it gave an outline of what the film would be about if someone read it, it then makes it easier for the viewer to follow our trailer.

We looked at Tristan Todorow's theory to help with our synopsis.
Tristan Todorow's Theory- Stories begin with an equilibruim , meaning charecters excist in some kind of stable state. Then something happens to disturb that equilbrium. The action of the story ultimatly restores a state of equilbruim.
We mirrored this theorys conventions but just using different titles, we used this theory as it seemed logical.

Shot list: We as a group have created two potential shot lists each shot list will be pretty similar just some shots will be different giving us options.
Shot list one:

1. Producer label flashes up
2. Shot of car driving past - pan shot
3. Text -"Starring Eleanor Failes"
4. In car - in the style of found footage, Dialogue between the girls about the holiday
5. Establishing shot of house as car arrives
6. Girls walking into house dialogue between two girls about the house
7. Text "Lets play a game"
8. Shot of them clinking shot glasses (Ouija board visible underneath)
9. start Ouija board - one girl pretends to be possessed
10. girl shows she joking - other girls gets angry and throws board on floor - dialogue
11. phone rings- girls look shocked
12. Text- "if your brave enough"
13. Girl answers phone - white noise coming from phone
14. slams down phone
15. girls all look at each other
16. lights turn of girls scream - 2 second silence
17. Flashing shot of girl running up stairs looking frightened
18. Girl grabbing knife (flustered)
19. Door slams and girl trys to open it (dialogue)
20. Girl running through woods away from us
21. In the style of point of view- girl running through woods
22. Girls trips and falls to the ground
23. In the style of point of view- close up of her face as she screams "somebody help me"
24. Text- Title appears
25. Text- "do you wanna play" - tag line appears
26. Text -Date release

Shot list two:

1. Producer label flashes up
2. Shot of car coming up the road
3. Text -"Starring Eleanor Failes"
4. In car - in the style of found footage, Dialogue between the girls about the holiday as they pull into the driveway
5. Establishing shot of house
6. Girls walking into house dialogue between two girls about the house
7. Text "Lets play a game"
8. Shot of girls pouring drinks(Ouija board visible next to the glasses)
9. start Ouija board - one girl pretends to see something out the window
10. girl shows she joking - other girls gets angry and throws board on floor - dialogue
11. Door slams- girls look shocked
12. Text- "if your brave enough"
13. Girl go to investigate
14. door slams again
15. girls all look at each other
16. lights flicker of girls scream - 2 second silence
17. Flashing shot of girl running down stairs looking frightened
18. Girl grabbing knife (flustered)
19. girl being pulled from under bed
20. Girl running through woods away from us
21. In the style of point of view- girl running through woods
22. Girls enclosed into a corner by the 'spirit'
23. In the style of point of view- close up of her face as she screams "what are you?"
24. Text- Title appears
25. Text- "do you wanna play" - tag line appears
26. Text -Date release

We came to the deicision we would use Shot List one this is purely because this shot list made a better story line than shot list two. We thought it was more convincing and explained our ideas better. The next stage for this section that will be done is the story board.

Name of our film and why we chose it:
We have named our film 'Darkness Awakens' we were originally indecisive of what to call our film and these are some of the names we though of:
-68
-Tupwood Gate
-Norwood Lodge
-Paranormal Forces
-Darkness Awakens

We chose darkness awakens as we felt it stood out the most, we could imagine buying a film with that name. We felt all the other film names were unconvincing.

We created the name "Darkness awakens" as the word Darkness- is often related to evil. As our film is about spirits this fits in well, and Awakens relates to the Ouija board as Ouija board awakens spirits.

Theory's that we have used to help create our film trailer

Hypodermic Syringe model: The model suggests that a media text has an instant effect on someone. For example- Someone watches a chocolate bar advert and wants a chocolate bar. This is like our film because our main prop is a Ouija board - if people enjoy the film they may want to try a Ouija board or they could be scared by the film therefore making them wary of Ouija boards.

Feminist theory: To choose our cast we will be looking at the feminist theory, we will be working partly with and partly against this theory. Budd Boetticher summarises the view: "What counts is what the heroine provokes, or rather what she represents. She is the one, or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance." Here is where our trailer breaks the theory because in fact our trailer has no male role parts in it for our female characters to be second to. However we would like our trailer to run with st least part of the feminist theory. This is Laura Mulveys section.

Laura Mulvey: Laura Mulvey states " In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed with their appearance coded for strong visual impact" - Our trailer mirrors this theory as we have picked conventionally good looking girls to be in our trailer as we feel it will appeal to more.




Actions codes/ enigma codes-
Uses and Gratifications-

Allocating Tasks

For us to work successfully as a team we are allocating tasks for each member to do to ensure we all contribute evenly to the final production. Obviously we will complete some tasks as a group but we all need to complete tasks independently so that it is apparent to onlookers that we have different roles in the production.

Task list and who is completeting each task:

• Setting: Completed as a group - I am taking the images of potential settings.
• Synopsis: Completed as a group.
• Shot List- Two drafts completed as a group, decision on the shot list we use completed as a group.
• Cast: Images-Each potential cast member will have there picture taken by me
• Cast: Final cast used- The cast that is then picked to be in our film will be decided on by us as a group.
• Film magazine front covers: Each member of the group will draw up two drafts of the magazine front cover, then they will each draw up a final draft which we will then decide which one we will actually use as our magazine front cover.
• Film poster: Each member of the group will draw up two drafts of the film poster, then they will each draw up final draft which we will then go on to decide which one we will actually use as our film poster.
• Production label- Charlotte will create a selection of potential production labels, then as a group we will decide on the final one.
• Story board- This will be drawn up by Ella
• Pictures- All Pictures will be taken by Beth