Mood Board

This mood board was compiled to illustrate the types of horror themes our group will aim to encapsulate in our teaser trailer. For instance, on the right hand corner of the mood board you will see the grim reaper next to a schoolgirl, there characters are included within our narrative and we aim to replicate similar costumers. Secondly, the mood board also includes many aspects of horror they we will also utilise and exploit for our teaser trailer. For instance, the element of darkness and dim lighting is heavily emphasise in most of the pictures on the mood board, this therefore indicates that dark lighting is conventional for horror films and in order for our teaser trailer to look authentic and realistic, we will also have to implement dim lighting. The mood board overall will give our group a source to refer back to in terms of visualising , filming and ensuring our teaser trailer abides by the genre of horror, a range of pictures taken from horror films will provide us first hand information on what our teaser trailer should include. This includes mise en scene and certain camera angles that have been used. For instance, the mood-board includes several closeups of characters which may have been done for dramatic effect but also to convey close detail. 

Teaser Trailer - Audience Feedback

To gain feedback on my teaser trailer, i showed the trailer to my target audience of 15/20 year olds to see what they thought of it. I then asked them two specific questions in order to found out whether my teaser trailer fulfilled its purpose as a horror teaser. These questions include:

What genre was the trailer?

Did it follow codes and conventions of horror and did this scare you?

Here are some pictures of the feedback process that was carried out by me:

Firstly, upon asking the group the first question ( What genre was the trailer?), they all thought the teaser was a trailer for a horror movie. I asked this question to find out whether my teaser trailer is reflective of the correct genre. The response from the teenagers therefore indicated that my groups teaser trailer was effective as it was easily identified as a horror teaser. Furthermore, my target audience thought it was a horror due to the nature of our teaser trailer. For instance, they commented that the continuous dark /dim light shots exemplified that it was part of the horror genre as constant darkness made them feel uncertain and quite anxious. Secondly, they also said the teaser trailer didn't include any aspects of other genres such as action, romance, etc. Therefore they assumed it was a horror as it stood out from other genres. Thirdly, they thought it was a horror due to the storyline of the film, they said they saw a shot within our trailer that illustrated that a local student was murdered, this dark aspect of the narrative therefore conveyed to my target audience that our trailer was horror as this type of story suits the genre the most.

Secondly, i asked my target audience whether my teaser trailer included the codes and conventions of horror. They commented on many aspects of our teaser. Firstly, the teenagers said the re-occurrence of darkness within the trailer followed codes and conventions as darkness is an important theme within horror films as it is used to inject fear into the audience because viewers will be afraid of what they cant see on screen. Secondly, after giving the teenagers examples of codes and conventions, they commented that our teaser trailer included a female victim, therefore it abides by conventions as horror films utilise female victims as they are depicted as weak and vulnerable. The teenagers also commented that the background music within our trailer was tense as it reached several crescendos, they said this was a code that our trailer had abided by as the music reinforced and intensified the visuals on screen, therefore the target audience felt nervous and panicky from the background music. In our teaser trailer, we also included a jump scare, the teenagers said this was also another convention as they said jump scares are common within the horror films that they have watched previously. Overall, my target audience felt that we had abided by many codes and convention of horror which was positive feedback as it informed me that my teaser trailer was reflective of the correct genre but also used the conventions of real life horror films.

Overall, the feedback from my target audience of 15/20 year olds that i asked was very positive as it indicated that my teaser trailer was efficient as the young teenagers easily identified it to be a horror film. Also, my target audience commented that our trailer used many codes and conventions of horror , this was very important for our target market to comment on as our teaser trailer would have to be effective with its use of codes and conventions of real life media products which would contribute significantly to the effectiveness of my overall marketing campaign.

Official Teaser Trailer

Official Teaser Trailer - Draft

The first draft of the trailer is available to watch via embed code. You can also follow the link below to watch on YouTube:

Behind The Scenes

Editing Log - Day 4

Day 4 was our last day of editing for our teaser trailer. This day consisted of polishing up our current teaser trailer edit by making any significant final adjustments or changes. In addition, to help with this, our teacher had arranged a professional editor to come into our lesson for one day to look at our classes teaser trailers. Upon looking at our own teaser trailer, the editor had given us constructive feedback that was extremely useful as this information came first hand from a reliable source. Also, due to his experience, we trusted his opinion of our teaser trailer and made the changes he had suggested. For example, he gave us the idea to consider using black and white colour contrasting for the shots of our teaser trailer which would significantly make up for the lack of quality and visual grain. Also, within our teaser trailer, we had a few close up shots near to the end, the editor however thought that these close up shots almost de-heightened the suspense and action we had originally built upon. Therefore, we decided to the replace these close ups with more segments of action to ensure the tension of our teaser trailer reaches its climax. The editor really aided with our ability to create an effective horror trailer. Without our teacher arranging this for us, we would not be able to make accurate corrective alterations to our project. The last day of editing was conducted with the main focus of adding the final touches to our teaser trailer. This included watching it several times as a group to ensure every member is in agreement about how our trailer should look like. Day 4 had definitely been a significantly editing day for our group as we had made many beneficial changes to our trailer edit to make it look more representative of the horror genre which is an essential aspect of our overall marketing campaign.

Down below is a video of our 4th day editing:

Editing Log - Day 3

Editing Log - Day 2

The first day of editing importantly included choosing the shots that we were going to use for our teaser trailer. However, the second day of editing included putting these shots into our editing software which was Sony Vegas Pro. After importing these shots into the software, we put these shots in an specific order that would suit our teaser trailer the most. We cut some of these shots to ensure that each segment of our teaser trailer is shown for a period of 1 - 3 seconds. This therefore will reinforce our trailer to be a teaser trailer as our shots wouldn't reveal to much of the plot but would show viewers enough to attract them to our film. In addition, we had also added sound effects to our trailer, this include eerie intense music that would enhance our shots to make them look and sound more realistic, sound effects were imperative as they would fortify the shots which would emphasise the dramatic sinister undertone included within our teaser trailer. Furthermore, we had also added visual effects to our shots to intensify the supernatural and horrific element of our teaser trailer. Overall, our second day of editing had been very effective as we managed to make a rough edit of our trailer, also we were able to compare and contrast different shots and effects as a group to come with important decisions, this was extremely imperative for our group as we would have to be in an agreement in regards to how our teaser trailer looks and sounds like.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Behind The Scenes

Editing Log - Day 1

The first day of editing consisted mostly of looking through all the different shots we had taken during production and deciding which ones to use. This was important as the shots we would decide to use will be shown in our official teaser trailer, therefore we had to choose the most effective and high quality shots. Furthermore, after choosing the shots we were going to use, as a group, we discussed whether some shots should be retaken to ensure quality is at its maximum. Furthermore, we created a short rough edit with some of our shots to envision our trailer. We then showed our rough edit to our teacher who had given us some feedback on how to improve our teaser trailer as a whole. For instance, she gave us the idea on other shots we could include within our editing which furthermore contributed to shaping our teaser trailer. On the first day of editing, we had all edited for a period of thirty minutes each over a period of 2 hours. Editing as a group was really useful as it enabled constructive arguments and conversations to take place which would overall contribute to group agreements. Editing on the first day had gone smoothly as all group members were starting to get familiar with the editing software which is Sony Vegas Pro but editing as a unit was also enjoyable.

Behind The Scenes

Test Shot / Photo Shoot

Auditions

The video above shows the auditions that we had organised in order for us to find a suitable actor and actress, that will play the part in our teaser trailer. We had luckily come across many willing, and talented individuals who held great passion for acting, thus increasing the professionalism for the final teaser trailer, which will, in turn, allow our work to flow smoothly. Through this video, we have presented just a few of the auditions that were carried out by us, where in which we had told those individuals to follow a set of different dramatic facial expressions and sounds that we would normally find in a horror movie. We had asked them to show us their best: scared face, screaming, and also screaming 'NO' . Since our horror teaser trailer wouldn't have any dialogue being used, our main focus would be the use of facial expression and body langue, mirroring the characters emotions hence, why we had chosen to pick these actions for them to perform.

Noreen and Jade were the two judges, whereby they observed and judged each person based on their acting skill and willingness to film for our media coursework. Regrettably, there were some individuals that didn't meet our expectations and we found that they seemed not to the take the auditions too seriously this, therefore, reflected the possibilities of any potential problems that may arise. On the other hand, we did succeed in finding some certain people who had shown great performances and seemed very confident in taking on the role that we had pre-planned. They managed to grasp the idea of the expectations of a horror movie and performed each given task well, an example would be the second candidate for our auditions, where we feel she showed an exceptional amount of talent for acting in our project. However, we have found many complications when figuring out our filming schedule since we had to take into consideration when, and how long, they are able to film with us. Due to this, we found that many of our candidates weren't able to film after school and weren't able to adjust the time they had. This therefore lead to our group to come down to  conclusion of the ways in which we where able to film our work, and found that it was most effective to use ourselves in our trailer. This had many benefits as we were able to organise and work flexibly around the time that we had, and since we knew exactly what we required in each shot, this made filming run a lot more smooth. However, looking at our second candidate, her performance had struck us most forcibly and because of this, we feel that she might be able to help us for any sound effects that we plan to use, making our work more original and we aren't at any risk of being accused of plagiarism or getting involved in any copyright issues.

Alterations

Alteration 1

Jade (Veronica) - We've decided to remove the skirt and high heels in height from the character and to change them to trousers to "wedges" (heeled shoes inside the shoes but has a flat base). She found it difficult to run with the skirt and the high heels which can be a problem during production as well as a health and safety risk because she can potentially fall and injure herself. If this was to happen, we cannot further progress until she fully recovers,  leading to the production stage and the overall production process being delayed. The trousers and the "wedges" will reduce these risks and will considerably reduce the chances of injury and delays to the process but will also ensure actors are not discomforted by their costumes.

Alteration 2

Michael (Damien) - We've decided that the actor will no longer have a cane to hold, this gives the actor the ability to be more flexible around the set during filming without the cane being a burden towards him. For example, during one of the shots, we required Michael to hold a torch, however, with a cane by his side, this became impossible, therefore to increase overall flexibility of this character, we had taken the cane out from all of the shots he was included in. The actor will also be wearing face paint of the grim reaper rather than a mask. We've felt as a group that face paint will be more realistic especially when face paint can wear off, this makes it seem as if the characters Halloween's costume is lifelike.

Alteration 3

Storyboard - Shots 6, 7 and 8 will no longer involve smashed pieces of glass. We felt as a group that we would not want to smash glass as this is a health and safety risk. Instead of smashing glass, we decided to place cushioning on the floor so that the glass can fall onto this without breaking or causing damage/injury to anyone or anything. Overall, we believe not smashing glass is safer but less risk inducing.

Alteration 4

Another alteration that we made was to change the filming room for shots 2 , 4 , 5 , 6 ,7 ,8 which consist of the main characters of narrative discovering a dark secret of the school they are in. Initially, we were going to use our school's official reception desk, however, lighting within this area was too bright, therefore it wouldn't look like an authentic horror film. Also, during filming, we experienced repeated delays due to people being near and walking by the receptionist desk, this area is one of the main areas of our school, this made it harder to film consistently, quickly and efficiently. After experiencing such difficulty, we changed our filming room to one of the drama department rooms within the school which was in a completely different area. This room had several controllable lights which would help us set a sinistrous atmosphere with dim lighting, however, the room was also secluded which means we would be able to film without any distractions or delays.

Old Filming Location

New Filming Location

Alteration 5

Alteration 5 is importantly another change to the rooms or areas we will use to film. For instance, for shots 11 & 18, instead of using hall-room doors,we decided to change this filming location to a classroom that is centered at the top of our school building. Our group agreed to do this because the hall-room doors were in an area that was too bright for our horror teaser trailer, therefore having open lighting would not make our trailer look authentic and reflective of a horror film. Also, our teaser trailer conventionally uses dim and very dark lighting for dramatic effect, having bright lights would therefore juxtapose this. The room we had switched to had the advantage of pitch black lighting and windows that we could use to show characters being locked in the school, which is apart of our narrative. 

Old Filming Location

New Filming Location

Alteration 6

Alteration 6 consists of many significant changes to our films storyboard and shooting schedule. Firstly, shot 5 of the storyboard will be different. For instance, instead of having a character bump into the school rules frame, we decided to use a string to make the frame fall by itself, we thought this seemed more supernatural which would suit our horror teaser trailer. Consequently , this also influenced the change of shot 8 and 9 on the storyboard also. For instance, shot 8 of the storyboard will consist of all three of the main characters reacting to the frame falling by itself, this creates the impression that their is a ghost amongst the narrative of our trailer, which is an impression we hope to express to the audience. Furthermore, shot 9 will consist of the main three characters looking at the frame that has just fallen, our group felt this was more realistic as the three main characters would be reacting to a supernatural presence, which will create fair and panic within the audience. This was far more authentic than someone accidentally dropping the frame. Shot 5 would still use a medium shot to show the frame falling , shot 8 would also use a medium shot to portray the characters reaction to the frame falling and shot 9 would be an over the shoulder shot of the characters holding the frame. Altogether, we are still using the same initial types of shot, therefore we have not implemented any shots that completely new.

Alteration 7

Alteration 7 is a change to the appearance of our character named Damien who is played by Michael. Although we have mentioned that Michael will be wearing face paint, on our third day of filming, we had decided not to include a face painted character. For instance, as we were filming on different days, face painting a character each time would have different outcomes as face paint is not going to look the same each time it is put on a character, this furthermore will affect the continuity of our teaser trailer as we won't be able to replicate the same face paint each time.

Alteration 8

Alteration 8 consists of changes to the storyboard which came about during the 4th day of filming. The 16th shot of our storyboard is currently a scene where a chair moves by itself next to the three main characters therefore indicating a supernatural presence. However, this shot was meant to be projected in the format of CCTV to make it look more realistic. However, we changed this shot to a close up shot of a ghost that is screaming towards the camera. We decided to do this because replicating a realistic CCTV simulation was too difficult. Also, it would be hard to have a chair moving by itself as a piece of string would be visible in the lighting of our camera. Secondly, we had also decided to change shot number 20 which currently shows three characters being scared of a nearby shadow. We decided to change this to a shot of an object moving behind one of our main characters which furthermore adds the element of surprise whilst indicating the presence of an evil entity. Our group figured replicating a clear and sinister shadow was too difficult, we had tried to do this multiple times but the shots didn't look worthy of being included within our teaser trailer which is why we switched this shot. Thirdly, we had also changed shot 26. For example, this shot was a scene where all characters were running, however, while filming, these shots didn't suit our teaser trailer therefore they were out of place. To replace this shot, we decided to take many different shots of dissimilar but eerie scenarios so that we would be able to choose one during editing. From doing this, we would be able to have different options to replace shot 26, therefore we could see which shots are most suitable for our specific trailer and we would decide this through a group vote. Some of the shots we taken to replace shot 26 includes shadows of our ghost(Villain/Supernatural Entity) and our main three characters walking with flashlights.

Film Log - Day 4

Our 4th day of filming was our last day of official filming. It had gone smoothly as we had efficiently taken all of the remaining shots on our storyboard and shooting script. On this day we had used mostly dark rooms and lighting to portray characters and settings in a sinister way. On our last day, our group members had worked closely together to ensure the last few shots were taken to a sufficient standard. On this day, we had also made some alterations to our storyboard which includes switching some of the shots in our storyboard with other more suitable shots that would be more effective for our teaser trailer. We had also used two actors to be the ghosts of our trailer, this included putting makeup on them to ensure they look terrifying enough to be included in the shots. We had used our own flashlights to create lighting for the shots, this was not only innovative but provided us with cinematic lighting that would help us express horror. For the ghosts of our trailer, we had used two new actors that were friends, they helped us greatly to ensure these shots were good enough as they would follow our directing. Overall, on the last day of filming, every shot from our shooting script and storyboard had been completed which is important as it enabled our group to start focusing on editing for the final. We will review all of the shots we have taken and come to any shots that may come across as a problem. This particular day of filming had been enjoying as our group had also come across several bloopers that we could later use for a blooper compilation.

Behind The Scenes