Planning

Ideas Generation

Before I got into my production team, I came up with my own idea for a teaser trailer and presented it on a power point slide below.

Idea- Pros:

- The character of Matilda is quite unique and may intruige a young audience
-Abstract filming is an up-and-coming film style therefore by being recognisable but still new, people will be more enticed to view the film

Idea- Cons:

-Many films have the theme of paranormal activity therefore the idea could be considered less original
-It would be hard to find actors to play each of the characters

After creating an initial idea on my own, I worked in a group to combine ideas and come up with the final plan of everything the film will involve.
These elements include the characters, costumes/props, locations, soundtrack, effects and influences.
A mind map of our idea can be seen below.

Plot Synopsis

 

Now that the group has committed to the idea we plan to portray in our piece; the plot synopsis can be found below outlining the basic idea.

After Emma’s parents had an emotional breakup, her dad gains custody and moves her to another county- away from her mother (Jane). This already places her in an emotionally unstable situation, being placed into a new school where she doesn’t know anyone, or so she thought. After settling in to her new home she slowly begins to find a few girls who understand her situation and are there for her anyway. When it seems as though all is just average she returns home to online messages from a keen photographer- Jason who begins to change her life for the better. After a while her friends begin to get dubious around who this guy is that she’s talking to, joking around about being catfished or being a creepy old man. Her dad (Steve) begins to realise that all might not be what it seems, especially after Emma tells him about Jason and how they are going to meet in the local park- this troubles Steve and on his own accord he decides to follow her to the park to ensure her safety. When Emma finally meets ‘Jason’ she realises that he is actually Darren- her controlling ex from her previous town. Before Emma gets a chance to get away Darren grabs her and demands that they get back together; making Steve take action, once Steve gets hold of Emma he questions her, realising that she is not telling him exactly what is going on. But what Emma doesn’t realise is the images of herself taken by Darren in her home are travelling round school- and fast, until Monday when she realises that the topic of conversation is her and her supposed provocative ways. The events spiralling cause Emma to get out of control, depression leading her to alcohol abuse and ultimately an untimely hospitalisation… Thanks to her father finding her. When her friends realise exactly what their actions have caused they put their effort into turning her life around, as well as the school chipping in to give her the fresh start she needs.

Character profiles

To give a better sense of what our characters will be like, I have created a slideshare/powerpoint highlighting features of each of the characters who will feature in our piece.

Character Profiles from Kirst_

Titles



As titles are an important factor to consider when constructing a teaser trailer, will now need to consider the titles that we are going to include in our own teaser trailer. The following titles that are listed have been chosen to feature in our teaser trailer.

• Production Companies
• Statistical Title (relevant to online relationships)
• Title of Film (Identity)

This is the order in which they will appear- the companies at the start, followed by a statistical title at the appropriate time in the middle (which will probably be at the time when Emma starts talking to 'Jason'). Lastly, the films title will appear at the end of the teaser trailer, after the last shot but this will then be followed by a quick clip montage before cutting to black.

The statistic we are going to use is that '36% of victims said the online predator was someone they know' as found on the website
-http://www.internetsafety101.org/Predatorstatistics.htm

 

The decission to not include many titles in the teaser trailer came as a result of the genre my group and I have chosen. The main genre is drama, which mostly relies on narrative which is thouroughly expressed through dialogue.
Thus, we came to a decission to let the dialogue progress the teaser trailer opposed to having titles to explain what is going on.

 

Mood Board

 

A mood board is necessary as it displays a visual representative of what our idea will potentially look like. Elements that are included in a mood board include themes, characters, mise en scene and fonts. 
The mood board I  have created is displayed below and helps my group and I to mould and develop ideas as the production unfolds.

Although my mood board represents visually how I want my teaser trailer to look, I feel that with further explanation my idea can be more clearly interpreted and understood.

Themes

Just some of the main themes that I would like to feature in my teaser trailer include:

·         Friendship

·         Modern/online Lifestyle

·         Obsessive/abusive love

·         (Internet) Stalking

·         Moving (to a new home and town)

·         Protective family members

·         Family help

·         Alcohol abuse

·         Depression

By including a range of themes, I feel as though the trailer would fit more conventionally in the drama genre as the genre is more representative of life and therefore has both good and bad elements.
Furthermore, by including the themes of (internet) stalking and obsessive/abusive love; the more suspenseful and dramatic side of the thriller genre can be seen and can be clearly identified as my group’s chosen sub-genre.

Fonts

The fonts that I have used are taken from trailers which I think have a suitable text use for my own production.
This is because they are all fairly simplistic, but not plain or boring. Compared to genres such as horror and action- which conventionally have very genre-specific titles that stand out and are vivid- drama films usually use texts of a plain nature.
Yet, to make sure the thriller element is still present in my teaser trailer, the titles may have a special gradient or effect on them to make them individual as well.

Characters

The pictures I have included are characters from films I have watched who have inspired me to create the fictional characters that will star in my own teaser trailer.
From the top left to the bottom right, I will list the characters and their films and then go on to explain what relevance they have to my own fictional characters.

·         Sam (far right) - Perks of being a Wallflower

·         Kevin Tierney – Safe Haven

·         Gretchen Weiners – Mean Girls

·         Annie – Trust

·         Pete Wagner- Crossraods

Sam = Mia Daniels
Mia is like Sam because both are very bubbly, friendly characters who approach the antagonist in the film to befriend them and make sure they are settled into new school life. However, Sam is more outgoing whereas Mia is more reserved but in general, they have the same loving characteristics.

Kevin Tierney= Darren Bennet
Darren is like Sam as both have previously had a controlling, abusive relationship that ended with the girlfriend leaving without notice. Both are very unstable emotionally but have a charming, fake persona to other people to make them appear ‘normal’.

Gretchen Weiners- Grace Adams
Grace is like Gretchen because both are from a upper middle class group and both are very conscious of their popularity. Grace is similar to Gretchen as both have a very bitchy exterior but underneath the bravado have a very innocent side that just wants to befriend people without getting hurt.

Annie- Emma Williams
Emma is like Annie as they are both you ‘average teenage girl’ in the sense that they are quite diverse in their interests and hobbies. However, both are slightly emotionally unstable yet Emma deals with her problems with alcohol abuse when she sinks into depression whereas Annie doesn’t due to her being a few years younger.

Pete Wagner- Steve Williams
Steve is like Pete and Wagner is quite over protective of his teenage daughter and is constantly reminding her of her young age and setting rules for her so in his eyes she can ‘stay young’. Although Steve isn’t as protective, he still has the quality and is very close to his daughter, keeping her best interests at heart which fits Propp’s charcter type of the ’father’ figure.

Mise en Scene

Lighting = Most scenes will have natural lighting to display a content mood and accurately display how real life lighting would be presented yet for scenes that incorporate more thriller aspects or are quite depressing will have low key lighting to connote the more morbid feelings.

Props = Many props will be evident in the trailer but the most important are the laptop and mobile phone/s as they connote the impact technology has in teenagers lives, as, in this case, technology has managed to reintroduce an abusive relationship as well as ‘catfishing’ Emma.
Alcohol is another important prop as it displays the transition Emma experiences from the trauma of being tricked by her ex, Darren, and how she deals with this trauma, which is clearly negative.

Locations = Some locations will include a home/bedroom, café and school as dramas need familiar backdrops that most people will be able to relate to and as my target audience are teenage girls, all the above locations are very much relevant to them.

Costume and makeup= Costumes will relate to the typical fashion that teenage girls wear e.g. skater dresses and seasonal jumpers and jeans so that my target audience can relate to the main characters involved in the teaser trailer.

Teaser Trailer Script

Before we can consider shooting the teaser trailer, we must consider how characters are portrayed, what they do and what they actually say.

This is all included when scripts are written, which means we can properly develop characters and give a snippet of the narrative we would intend to show in a feature length film.

Teaser Trailer Script

Therefore we will include these details in the second draft of our script to make sure it is as professional as it can be and so the protagonist is clearly recognised.

Feedback

After having our first draft of our script peer-assessed, we have been given clear feedback on what we must to do ensure it will be of a better quality when re-written.
This feedback included

· Adding what titles we would use

· Adding details of transitions

· Developing the character of Emma more to make her easier to understand

Costume and Props

Both costume and props need to planned carefully as both elements will give my group and I better organisational skills before shooting the production and will also have us better prepared.
Moreover, both are important aspects of mise en scene and will allow us to better communicate the ideas and themes to our audience through use of representation, denotation and connotation which adds to meaning of the scene and the characterisation of each character involved in the production.

Location Recce

The next part of production planning involves choosing locations which would be suitable to shoot my film in.
Firstly I will draw pictures of ideal places that I would like to include in production and explain why, and then move onto finding real places which would be used in my actual production.

Now that these sketches have been completed, we can set out and get images for the locations that we will potentially film in.

Character Casting

Referring back to our character profiles; it is important to understand who are characters properly represent before casting actors who are suitable to play them so they can be presented properly to the audience as well as being believable and relatable, as characters help to drive what little narrative there is in a teaser trailer.

Location Permissions

When shooting our production, it’s important to understand the law and that we follow it when completing our piece.
  Permission from public places should be secured before and we will need to have the written permission from all people that will feature in the film.
  This is because, legally, public spaces that are filmed in and actors involved need to give permission otherwise the video is not legally abiding.

 --http://industry.bfi.org.uk/publicspaces

The locations that we are planning to use all fall into a local area meaning that permission will be needed from the said authority.

·         The two houses we will use, we will need permission from the home owners

·         The school will require permission from the head teacher

·         The café, Costa, which we plan to film in will require permission from the manager

We also plan to film in public spaces, like a local park, however the law also states that it is no illegal to have strangers who are passing by appearing in the shot.

Obviously, in an establishment such as Costa, people may not want to be filmed as they are in there to relax and unwind.

But, by gaining permission from Costa, people should be more aware and we will do our best to try and not involve strangers in the shot.

We came to realise when attempting to find permission for the park, that there wasn't actually an authority figure of which we could gain permission from. However, as it is still in a public place we just must take extra precaution when filming, to ensure we are not causing any distress or problems to any of the public. In terms of Costa, we decided that filming outside of the location would be a more appropriate setting, to help with mise-en-scene as well as practicality for filming. Therefore, as found on the above website (http://industry.bfi.org.uk/publicspaces) we do not need to gain permission to show the name or trademark. Thus explaining why we gained written permission from the above locations only, where we will be filming inside both public and private settings.

Audio Permissions

When choosing what soundtrack/s and effects we will include in our teaser trailer, it is important to understand the copyright issues involved.
Unless we are using music we have created ourselves, we must obtain permission from the owner of the soundtrack/sound effect/s in order to use the piece in our work.

We found a soundtrack on the website ‘youtube.com’ , which comes from a royalty free music owner.
Below is a message I sent from my Youtube account asking for the owner’s permission.

After assessing the requirements of the royalty free website, it is clear that we can use the audio track for educational purposes as long as we credit the site that it has come from.

Risk Assessment

As my team and I will be responsible for the safety of the crew and public when filming, a risk assessment is necessary as it ensures that what we're planning to include in our production is safe.
   The potential problems that we may face are listed below with an explanation of how we will control this risk.

Original shot list

Below is the shot list we have constructed. However, improvements will be made to ensure our piece will appear as professional looking as possible.

Shot List

After making improvements to our original script ,we are now able to design a fully detailed shot list. This means we can take it to filming, making the production much easier as the pre-planned document tells us which shots will occur when and at what location meaning filming is more precise and easier in general.

Script Changes

After going over our script, deciding what shots will be used in each scene, it was clear that a few changes needed to be made to ensure that our script appeared more like one for a teaser trailer opposed to just an ordinary trailer.
Below, the new script can be seen been.

Updated Teaser Trailer Script

Story Board

Now that our shot list has been completed, we can construct a storyboard. This allows us a better view of how our production will look when we come to actually film the piece.

Animatic

Now that our stoyboard is completed, an animatic can created in which we will be given a visual idea how our teaser trailer will looking regarding flow and pace. It will be made using the all shots given in the storyboard, with the music that we have considered using in our teaser trailer.

After putting the animatic together we have realised that we have too many shots that are too long to fit the conventional length of a teaser trailer.
The standard length of a teaser trailer is 30 seconds long long with the maxium lenth being 2 minutes, whereas our trailer is 2.53 seconds which is nearly 3 minutes long.
To esnure we reduce the time, when we film each scene we will have to prioritise clips to make sure we still have sufficient and clear narrative, but fit th conventional length of a teaser trailer.

Production Schedule

A production schedule allows my team and I to know exactly what time and what location each shot is being filmed at. This means we will be more organised when it comes to shooting as we will know who and what we need to bring to each different location, whilst also sticking to the shooting deadline and completing all outstanding work by the 18th of November.

Pre- production Schedule

Production Schedule

Post-production

Technical Drawings

For our production, each member of the group has created technical diagrams for each location that we’ll be filming at so that on the day of production, we’ll know exactly where the camera and lighting equipment will be placed.
Lighting and the direction of equipment has been set up accurately for each each shot, yet we don't have to follow everything the technical diagrams show.
For example, we may decide on a better camera angle that is more aesthetically pleasing on the day of production.
However the drawings allow us something to refer to and are clearly laid out and presented meaning we have a better idea of the how the scenes will run because of the clear construction of the diagrams.

Drawn by Kirsty Steward



Drawn by Alex Simpson

Drawn by Shannon Doyle