A2 Film initial planning

Contradiction A2 Film: initial Ideas and Planning

USP

•       What makes our film trailer unique compared to other crime thriller trailers is that we have a strong female lead as the detective; we did this in order to challenge thriller conventions as they usually have male lead roles and female roles are usually just secondary characters.

•      We also have a young male as one of the lead roles, we wanted a large age gap of the lead roles because they will have different life experiences and different perspectives in life. By having two different ages in the film, this may attract an older and a younger audience.

•      These are two actors who are the inspirations for our lead characters, FBI agent Dana Scully from X-Files and Cartoonist Robert Graysmith from Zodiac.

 

Target Audience

•      Males and females aged 18-30

•      Thrillers appeal to young adults, due to their complex narratives, violence, gore etc.

•      Crime thrillers are usually rated 15 at the lowest, this is because of the violence, sexual references and many other things. So a crime thriller film would be inappropriate for anyone below the age of 18.

•      Our film trailer will be rated 15, as there will be violence and gore as expected with most crime thriller films.

 

Plot

·         A family murders occurs in Cambridgeshire

·         Only one survivor is left in each murder as the murders continue

·         It’s been 10 years since the last murder and a man was imprisoned all those years ago by detective Maria Jones, but now the homicides are happening again and so someone has been falsely accused and imprisoned for a decade.

·         Detective Jones must start all over again from the beginning to catch the real killer in order to preserve and protect her reputation of her career.

·         Young journalist and photographer Peter Stone arrives at the most recent crime scene to find out information and take pictures to get a story, he meets and attempts to speak to detective Jones.

·         Peter begins ask detective Jones a series of questions and is determined to find out more and they end up working together to find the real killer.

·         Peter manages to figure out the killers next target is and tries to tell detective Jones, however she thinks he’s wrong and dismisses what he has to say so he goes on his own to find him.

·         Peter arrives at the next targets house and tries to help a dying victim, the killer is still there and frames peter for the crime, the trust is lost between Peter and detective Jones.

 

Thriller Target Audience

Generally the target audience of the thriller genre are usually teenagers and young adults, this is because younger people are thrill seekers and enjoy the rush of adrenaline a thriller can provide a lot of due to their naturally intriguing, mysterious and action packed atmospheres. However, this may not be the case due to the existence of other sub genres like drama thrillers, fantasy thrillers, psychological thrillers etc. So depending on the sub-genre, the types of audience the film will attract will vary because people who are fans of the thriller genre as a whole may not like  sci-fi fantasy thrillers such as ‘Alien’, ‘Elysium’ or perhaps one of the latest releases ‘Arrival’ 2016. Although there is a mass audience for the umbrella genre of thriller, there are smaller niche audiences for the sub-genres.

In some cases, thrillers may be based on true events, and therefore usually attract a larger audience purely because a film tends to have a bigger impact on the audience if they know it is based on a true story. Some examples of real life inspired films would be ‘Zodiac’, ‘Monster’ and ‘A Time to kill’. All of these films were received well by the audience and their critics as they all gave fantastic performances form their lead actors, such as Charlize Theron’s performance in monster and her complete transformation of character. People who are already fans of the horror genre tend to also enjoy thrillers whether they are psychological, crime, drama etc. It’s the built up and tense atmosphere and the unpredictability of the narrative they enjoy, they can get that rush of adrenaline that horror thrill seeking audiences can usually experience with scary films.

The thriller target audience will also enjoy thriller TV shows as well as films, so shows such as: Criminal Minds, CSI, Bones, Twin Peaks, The Killing, Wayward Pines, Dexter, Hannibal and Sherlock are perfect representations of crime thriller dramas and their styles and narratives reflect some of those in films. Some of these series and movies would be a great influence for my A2 film project to gain a better comprehension of what a crime thriller would generally entail.

Horror/thriller film title connotations

When looking at a range of horror and thriller film titles, there tends to be a lot of similarities between them all particularly the use of the colours red and black to infer generally the same themes. Horrors and thrillers from decades ago would use similar fonts and colours to what films of the same genre have today, this may seem formulaic and clichéd, however, those colours and fonts work for a reason and can convey what themes would be expected in the rest of the film (red for blood and gore, black for death and white for innocence etc.)

The font in this title is thin and slightly messy almost as if it was written by a child, the colour white has been used to reflect innocence most likely to represent the lead character who is a child. The silhouette of the child is surrounded by an orange light which could suggest the barrier between life and death; it is described as going into a tunnel of light. The light of "heaven" is all around the child because it infers that he has a connection to the other side.

The title of Silent Hill looks like the text has eroded away almost rusty and old looking. This suggests that Silent Hill is like a derelict and damaged ghost town that has been neglected and barren for decades. Most of the text is white which could represent something innocent within the town (Alessa) that has been broken and ruined by someone or something else. When looking at the title you can already see that it suggests that this is no ordinary town and that something sinister and unworldly inhabits that place.

The titles font and colour choice is very simplistic yet effective, as it connotes exactly what the story entails. The font purposely has a ghostlike appearance with the outer glow around each individual letter, this could infer that the film is about spirits tormenting this woman in particular and anyone else she cares about. The text is extremely tin and tall, again emphasising the ghostly atmosphere and the wording of the text itself most definitely suggests that there is something unwelcome and threatening e.g. "them vs. us". The fact that the female protagonist is holding an old fashioned oil candle and the light is casting on her face, but around the light she is engulfed in darkness where the white ghostlike text is positioned. The positioning of the text and the actress highlights the divide between "the others" and the people or good vs. bad, dead vs. the living.

Straight away you can tell this is a very modern film; the text looks like the kind of font you'd find on a camera/video camera which is done on purpose as the entire film is recorded to look like it was all on a handheld camera and cameras set up around the house like CCTV. The text looks like it's glitching and malfunctioning, this could connote that something has gone wrong, the camera has been damaged by someone or something. The colour red used for the text so it can tell the audience that the characters will be in danger, it could even refer to the battery life on the camera; when the battery is low the symbol changes to the colour red so this could also mean that time is running out.

This is the original adaption of CARRIE from the 1970's, it is very clear that this film title and the other surrounding images are very dated. Back then it was easier to scare people when watching a horror film; the effects in that time would be dreadful in comparison to what todays audiences are accustomed to. The text almost has a Scooby Doo appearance to it and looks very 70's with the wavy text and the colours chosen aren't very conventional to the horror thriller genre as most films would usually go for either red, black or white. However film studios where very limited for access to good technology for effects and editing and you can clearly see the difference between this film and another from the present day.





This title has a slightly similar appearance to the Paranormal Activity title; the text is blurry and glitches across the screen. The font is basic but doesn't distract from what's important because it's what the word is that makes it important (seven murders for seven sins) and this is emphasised even more by placing the number seven where the "V" should be. The colours white and black have been used to suggest that simply there will be a strong theme of good vs. evil, however, the white is used fro the text because of the guaranteed 7 murders of 7 innocent people who are shrouded in darkness and evil.

Split is a modern thriller films of 2017 and strongly contrasts with film titles such as CARRIE. It's modern and simplistic yet encapsulates everything about the story just by having the text the way it is. The style of the font reflects the antagonist in this film; he suffers from split personality disorder but has approximately 23 different personas within him. This is why the title has lines going through the text and parts of it are out of place and mismatched, this is a reflection of the illness this character has and that the plot revolves around it.

The text for the Last house on the left title emphasises the most important and key words to the narrative; the word last highlights the "isolation" of the victims, the word "house" where an important scene will take place as the third act leads up to going back to the house. The fact that the word house is in the colour red with blood specs on it foreshadows the violence and gore in the final scene at the house. The colour white symbolises the innocence and purity of the young female protagonist, this is juxtaposed with the black background around the text to highlight oppression and envelopment in evil intent (the three people who abuse her and keep her and her friend captive).

Trailer structure and conventions

After watching the official trailer of Night crawler (2014) starring Jake Gyllenhaal repeatedly, I gained a better understanding of how a trailer is structured. I wanted to have a professional look for our final edit of our trailer Contradiction, and by watching the Night crawler trailer I now know what to include, where to place and why we need it.












1. At the very beginning we will need a BBFC background establishing the certificate rating for a 15 rated film, we need this because this is a film trailer convention and so this can improve the professional finished look as we are following trailer paradigms.

2. Part way through early on in the trailer, we will need to show our production logo for Siberian Studios for a few seconds. This just clearly states what company made the film like MGM, Pixar and Paramount.

3. After this a little further into the trailer, we will show a short caption of the release date. We have to do this so that we can constantly remind the audience when the film will be released so they know when they can see it in the cinema.













4. Next we will show a short caption saying "From the creators of MUTATION and Too late". Film studios mention information like this to make it more high profile and tell the audience that their film was made by people who have created other great films, and so this will make people watching the trailer want to watch the film if they are familiar with the work of the creators.













5. Caption of actors names is important for a simple reason. Star power. Stating the actors names can be extremely influential for audiences, due to the fact that they may really like a particular actor especially if they are a nominee or a winner of an acting award of some sort. To the audience, for them it guarantee;s that they will witness high standard performances if they watch the film; they will be more trusting an open minded tto watch a new film.













6. Title at the end of the trailer to reinforce and make the name memorable. When the title is placed is actually quite clever; it is placed at the end so that it is one of the last things they see, and will be more likely to remember. Whereas if it was at the beginning or middle the trailer, audience will be less likely to remember. However this won't be the very end of the trailer as I've noticed in almost all the trailers I have been watching they have a short clip straight after the title of the film.

7. After having the end clip, we will have a short caption afterwards saying the following " Release date FB/Contradictionmovie #contradictionmovie Siberian Studios". Again, the release date is repeated for the same reason as I mentioned above, but by promoting the film on social media they are able to reach the masses globally and easily.












8. Our trailer will also contain a couple of captions briefly explaining the narrative to give the audience a general understanding. We prefer caption to voice over because it's a more dated cinematic approach to trailers.

The Girl on the Train: Trailer Analysis 1

The trailer for The Girl on the Train is very modern in comparison to older thriller trailers such as Seven. The Girl on the Train trailer uses no narration, but uses a little bit of the films dialogue to help the audience understand what is going on. Thriller trailers used to have narration; however narration in trailers is perceived as generally quite dated, and now tend to have captions instead in hand with some dialogue from the film characters. But The Girl on the Train does follow thriller trailer conventions such as dim lighting, slow paced editing going into fast paced editing, enigma codes being left out for the audience to make the film more intriguing, the increasing speed of the non-diegetic music and then becoming synchronous sound by being in time with the fast paced editing. Although this modern trailer does include thriller paradigms, it also challenges the expectations, particularly the fact that the lead role is in fact a woman. In thriller films the majority of the lead roles will go to men for example, Zodiac, Shutter Island and Prisoners. However The Girl on the Train has taken the female lead approach like Silence of the Lambs and Gone Girl.

Media Language

There’s a lot going on in terms of mise-en-scene, there’s dimly lit scenes contrasting with bright daylight scenes, dull and sombre colours throughout the films colour scheme with the set and characters clothing. Even pathetic fallacy is used to portray the unwelcoming and cold colours that reflect the mood of the film and the characters emotions. The settings are based in the countryside of New York, so there are lots of woodland, small and quiet neighbourhoods with big houses towns and shops, so the general feel of the settings is very quiet, little bit isolated and empty. At the beginning, the pace of the editing in the first half is quite slow along with the music, but further into the trailer the tension picks up, the action and violence begins to show, the pace of the editing quickens by using short synchronised cuts with trailer sound effects. The use of dip to black transitions with jump cuts is used as a simple effect for the fast scene transitions. Some of the main camera angles used would definitely close ups to emphasise the emotion of the characters, particularly Emily Blunts character that is seen crying in the last part of the trailer with a close up focusing on her face as she cries to highlight her emotions. A POV shot is used in the second half of the trailer from the perspective of a person walking behind a woman and grabbing her hair violently, this makes the shot quite intense and unique by not seeing the violence from the victim’s perspective. A smash cut was also used midway through the trailer as a train goes by as it enters the frame the scene abruptly changes almost as a sudden jump scare in a way. Throughout the trailer the same soundtrack is used the majority of the duration, however at the beginning a simple yet effective piano sound (along with train sound effects part way through) to create a calm atmosphere in order to be juxtaposed with the fast paced and complex soundtrack later on.

SE7EN: Trailer Analysis 2

SE7EN follows the conventions of crime thriller trailers; a voice over is used, so are captions, almost all of the cast is male dominated and predictable settings feature such as Police headquarters, offices, crime scenes and miserable crime ridden streets. Upon reflection, SE7EN is at completely opposite ends of the spectrum, when compared to The girl on the train and Gone Girl; due to it's more modern style and how it challenges certain aspects of what is expected in crime thrillers by having a female lead. Although SE7EN may seem formulaic from a modern audiences perspective, and more specifically the thriller demographic, the trailer and film still has the ability to captivate and entertain today's audience no matter how long ago it was released. However, it has been refreshing to see strong matriarchal leads take place in the spotlight for a genre that is so heavily associated with powerful, intelligent and hard-working men. Like in most crime films, the women are very rarely the protagonists, which is the case for SE7EN since their most significant female role is somewhat quite low down in comparison to the men, she is portrayed as kind, vulnerable and emotional. But no matter what the gender of the lead roles, a crime film can still be enjoyable either way. It is clear that this film is quite old due to the trailers dated style with the voice over narrating at small points throughout, which isn't much of a convention as it used to be for the majority of different genres currently, and not just crime thrillers.

SE7EN follows the typical format of having a slow first half and then building up the action and anticipation by speeding it up towards the end. This is done by changing the non-diegetic sound; the soundtrack from the beginning is slow, simplistic and not overwhelming as the beginning has to establish a general understanding of the narrative. Eventually the music and sound effects increase in tempo and becomes synchronous sound as it is in time with the speed of the change of shots and fits with the action and suspense.

SE7EN ticks all the boxes for crime paradigms, as this particular genre is already provided with it's own conventions but some of those expectations must be included: such as their use of having police cars, helicopters, dead bodies, crime scene evidence, chase scenes, press interviews and news reports. After watching the trailer carefully, we have drawn inspiration from it in some aspects as it is conventional and formulaic, but perfectly demonstrates what to include in order to gain those generic conventions.

Media Language

The colour scheme throughout is extremely powerful; some colours contrast vividly and compliment each other by being completely different. This is demonstrated when the trailer commences with a sombre and mundane palette, and then these colours are contrasted with an intense red neon light of the crucifix. For the rest of the trailer, the palette constantly transitions from a dull colour scheme (with elements of pathetic fallacy of the rain, highlighting the colour and tone even more), then showing bright red with the fast paced captions of the seven deadly sins. The colours, weather and lighting all suggest that this film takes place in a city of despair engulfed in crime with people who feel unhappy, hopeless and vulnerable. These particular micro-aspects forebode the inevitable that more ruin and horrendous acts of homicide will ultimately take place, and that feeling is carried through from beginning to end in the trailer.

A wide variety of camera angles are used and create a diverse range of effects: close ups are used to reveal more of the characters emotion such as the one used on Morgan Freeman's character showing the reflection of the work  on his glasses to suggest he takes his job seriously and his character has a lot of determination, focus and devotion to his case and his job. When the red crucifix appears in shot the camera pans as if someone is walking by and looking at it maybe the killer or the detectives. Crab angle of the killers feet so that he remains mysterious and unidentifiable by the audience and the characters, a drone shot of the police helicopter to emphasise the threat and urgency of finding the person responsible for the homicides. One the anticipation builds POV and hand-held is used, the POV could be from the perspective of the murderer or the detectives and is left open to interpretation and the hand-held would be to enhance and highlight the action and suspense. Several times fade to black and fade to white is used, on a couple of occasions the fade to white is used for a camera flash effect which is what me and my group have implemented a fade to white transition too achieve the camera flash effect for our crime scene. Jump cuts are used to create an effect of increasing the speed duration for the climax and to made the transition  to scenes sudden and frantic to convey to the audience that their time is limited.

Film Poster Research: Sicario Film Poster Analysis

Sicario (2015) film poster analysis:

Sicario’s colour scheme on this poster reflects the look of the film and trailer. The specific colours encapsulate the atmosphere, and the tone of the film.  The colours used in this poster symbolise different elements and themes of the film for example, the hints of red scattered around the picture may symbolise the blood, danger and death in the film. The dark smoky colours may represent sadness, hopelessness and loss and may also represent the smoke from the explosions as some dust clouds are in the poster. The colour palette is generally quite simplistic but they contrast well and are useful semiotic colours that perfectly reflect the themes in Sicario.

Sicario is a crime thriller/ mystery and has strong elements and expected objects from crime films in the poster, such as the SWAT member standing all covered up, protected and armed. The other FBI agents have bullet proof vests and guns and ear pieces for communication to show that their mission is extreme and serious, and involves tactical skills and planning for a big operation or a raid. Other soldier members are pictured walking in a derelict place fully armed, this tells us that this is more of a military operation and requires more force than just the police who are pictured at the bottom of the poster with all of their cars. This shows that a lot of people who are military, FBI, SWAT and police will be involved and that the violence and action is guaranteed for the audience. Just from looking at the poster you can tell that the settings are based in quite a run-down area that’s filled with crime, due to the dusty and barren shots with the soldiers, the destruction surrounding the police cars at the bottom. It’s clear who the lead protagonist is due to the actress Emily Blunt, being the biggest picture in the montage and the entire catastrophe occurring in and around her. This could suggest that all of the devastation is overwhelming her and the barbed wire could potentially be a representation of torment, imprisonment on a personal or wide spread level.

Film Poster Research: The Jungle Book (2016) Film Poster Analysis

The Jungle Book (2016):

The Jungle Books’ main colour scheme or palette is dark green and some yellows on this poster, the green is present to represent the jungle and all of the wildlife that surround Mowgli and the yellow colours that surround Mowgli are there to emphasise that he is different to all of the creatures in the jungle. The title is large and bold but is placed at the bottom so that it doesn’t take away too much attention from what is going on in the picture; the title is almost like a rustic gold perhaps to relate to the ancient ruins and artefacts left behind in the jungle but also that the wilderness has taken over. This is also reflected in the background with the crumbling arch with the snake and the thick vines intertwined; the font blends in with the habitat to encapsulate the jungle rustic look. The camera angle of the poster is positioned in a certain way in order to not reveal too much of what the characters will look like, making it really obscure and hard to see their faces. This will leave more to the imaginations for the audience.

Film Poster Research: Guardians of the Galaxy Poster Analysis

The Guardians of the Galaxy (2014):

This film poster contains a lot of bold and vivid colours on a wide spectrum, this is to emphasise the other worldliness of the film as it is set in another galaxy, and involves venturing into space and visiting other planets. The layout is quite simplistic as it has a lot going on in the background; the title is the biggest text on the poster, this is to captivate the audience’s attention by making the film title stand out. Above the film title is the name of the film studio but much smaller in size but still promotes the film company without taking away any attention from the film title. The names of the leading actors are listed above in a slightly smaller font but with the same colours as the film title. The gold font stands out from the busy multi-coloured background, hence why the text is all the same colour except the film company logo. The film is promoted in a way to appeal to obviously MARVEL fans but also to people who enjoy action and sci-fi films, this is demonstrated by showing that all the lead characters are from different planets and are different species to one another; they are all wearing unconventional clothing which emphasises how alien they are as well. Most of the characters are armed with other worldly weapons e.g. laser guns, behind the characters are hundreds of space ships surrounding them, hinting to the idea that there will be conflict and space chase scenes throughout, therefore promising the audience space action that may appeal to hard-core Star Wars fans. In the top right corner there is a planet which suggests that this space adventure and action film will be larger than life, as the Guardians of the Galaxy explore their world and the universe around it.

Captain America Civil War magazine cover analysis

VISUAL: The connotation of the main colours is to emphasise to two different sides clashing and going head to head, this highlights the strong divide between the two lead characters. Captain America is wearing mostly blue and Iron Man is wearing mostly red, these two strong colours were used frequently for promotional purposes and to divide the audiences.

VISUAL-Masthead: The colour red is used for the font of the title to symbolise power and perhaps rage which refers back to what underlying themes that would appear in the film, the white is used to juxtapose the red as white is normally associated with things such as purity, innocence and freedom. You could say that the red is the colour that represents Tony Stark and that although he tries to make the world a better place, his technology and innocently motivated ideas and beliefs result in accidental destruction, whereas Steve Rogers (Captain America) has different ideologies and beliefs that contradict and challenge Stark’s; Roger’s believes in freedom for innocent civilians and for heroes and thinks that the heroes shouldn't be controlled by the Government.

Iconography of the super hero film genre would include things such as action; Captain America and Iron Man are fighting each other on the magazine cover. Action in a super hero film is essential to this particular genre of film, but for Captain America Civil War, the action is extremely anticipated by MARVEL’s mass audience because it’s the super hero fight of the year and the first time that the audience can see the avengers fall apart and wage war on one another. Another element of Iconography used on the cover is the costumes; both of the lead characters are wearing quite colourful costumes and seem larger than life, particularly Tony Stark’s suit. Cap’s suit consists of the patriotic colours of the American flag, so he wears red, white and blue. These colours link back to his contributions to the war effort during the Second World War; his shield also has those colours with the symbol of a star like the one on his chest, this emphasises the country he represents and believes in as America is a country of freedom.

The font for the magazines name is all in capital letters in bold and bright red, this colour and font makes it stand out to the dark background. The word “EMPIRE” is placed at the top in the centre to suggest that they are a powerful film magazine and are at the centre of the film magazine industry.

A Two shot is used to frame both of the lead actors on the cover, they are both equally framed to suggest that they may be both equally matched in this Civil War to come, they are both in the same position and neither of them resemble a typical villain look meaning that neither one of them is the Protagonist nor the Antagonist. The sparks refracting from the shield create a line that splits down the middle and equally divides them to convey a strong sense of conflict. The Strapline of the cover is “Captain America: Civil War It’s War!” The film title is smaller than the part saying “It’s War” this is done on purpose to emphasise the extreme conflict brewing within the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) the font consists of the colours red and white to highlight that the audience have the choice between being on either of the two sides, the font is titled on its side to make it stand out to the other text on the cover, this could also reflect that equilibrium has been lost due to internal conflict dividing the Avengers gradually, and particularly the political  differences and general beliefs between Stark and Rogers.

The USP (Unique Selling Point) of this film to an extremely diverse mass audience, MARVEL’s films appeal to a vast range of audience ages from adult comic book fans who read MARVEL comics during their childhoods and young children of the present day, many families enjoy watching MARVEL films as a family day out as they contain action, comedy, violence appropriate for children, sadness, romance and more. This cover promises plenty of action between the Avengers and very personal conflict between the two characters on the cover. The two lead characters that feature on the cover are two very popular film stars, on the left reprising the role of Captain America is Chris Evans, he also played Johnny Storm (The human torch) in The Fantastic Four .On the right is Robert Downey Jr. who has portrayed the character of Iron Man since 2008, he has also played Sherlock Holmes and features in The Zodiac as Paul Avery.

The representation of this cover reveals that for the first time, The Avengers are falling apart from within, political and moral ideologies clash heads and heroes are fighting one another for their rights and the safety of the world itself. This film could be a reflection of the real world itself; political figures and parties have conflict about the future of society and cannot agree on new laws or new ideas for change. However, neither of the characters are the hero or the villain; they are both right and have good reasons for what they truly believe in and both only want the best for humanity and other heroes but their approaches are polar opposites.

In my opinion, I think that this is a very cleverly made cover, it guarantees a film packed with action, tension, drama and leaves the audience hungry for more as their anticipation increases. This cover enables the audience to see two of the most popular and influential MARVEL characters yet, one of them being the first Avenger and the other kick starting the rebirth of the MARVEL universe and bringing Iron Man to life on screen.

Menace Magazine Cover

Recreation of Sherlock Holmes poster