CREATING THE TRAILER: TRAILER CREDITS AND CLASSIFICATION

After watching a couple of trailers on YouTube, I realised I was missing two critical elements to my film trailer; the classification of the film at the beginning and the credits at the end.

Classification
The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) was created to classify films into age ratings; U (Universal, meaning it is suitable for all ages), PG (Parental Guidance, suitable for general viewing but some scenes may be unsuitable for children), 12A and 12 (This film may not be viewed by anyone under the age of twelve, unless the film is a 12A and the child is accompanied by an adult), 15 (Unsuitable for anyone under the age of 15) and 18 (Unsuitable for anyone under the age of 18).

At the beginning of my trailer, I have featured the rating card which says "THE FOLLOWING PREVIEW HAS BEEN APPROVED FOR APPROPRIATE AUDIENCES". This means, if my film was classified as an 15, it would only be shown before the beginning of a 15 film or a 18 film, nothing below, as they would not be an "appropriate audience", even though my trailer is not graphic, does not feature any blood or bad language. It does however, have scary scenes which some younger viewers may find distressing.

Credits
As I was watching some trailers, I noticed that the trailer credits usually go one of two ways. They are either slap bang in the middle of the screen, with rather small writing which you can barely read OR in the middle of the screen, there will be the text "COMING SOON" or the date that the film will be released, and the credits will be in even smaller print at the very bottom of the screen, so small that you can barely read it. I have decided to go with the "credits in the middle" type credits, because they won't be on the screen for more than two seconds and also, considering as throughout my film trailer, I barely mention any names of people who worked on the trailer, for example actors or directors, for the sole purpose that I want it to be as realistic as possible. But, by putting all of the main information on the people who worked on the trailer at the end, it gives viewers who are interested in seeing who is in the film, the chance to find out!

PLANNING: Finding a Soundtrack

Finding a soundtrack has been more difficult than I anticipated. I cannot put into words how I want my soundtrack to feel and sound and I lack the technology to create a soundtrack myself. So, in order to find the perfect soundtrack, I changed my filter on Youtube to "Creative Commons" meaning that the videos under this filter, I can use without having to ask for permission AS LONG as I credit the composer.

I started to type in random key words into Youtube such as "mysterious", "slow", "minor", "creepy" etc. However, the only tracks that came up had more of a "haunted house" type feel to it, which is definitely not what I was looking for. I was looking for something more "The Hunger Games"-esque... and then I came across the track below. This track is called "Deep Shadows", composed by Tying Tiffany. I first heard this track on "The Hunger Games" trailer and fell in love with everything about it. The tempo, the key, the timbre, the instrumentation.. everything about this piece is what I am looking for in my media trailer.

I have contacted Tying Tiffany to see if I am allowed to use this in my media trailer.. if they do not reply or they say no, I'm not too sure what I'm going to do because this is perfect.


EDIT:

I was unable to get hold of Tying Tiffany so I found a soundtrack composed by Greg Dombrowski called The Martyred. This is under the Standard YouTube Licence, however, in the comments section of the video, there have been many people asking if they can use the track for small projects like my own. They have replied to each one saying yes, providing that it isn't used in monetised projects, which mine isn't so I'm going to go ahead and use it! The atmosphere, pitching, key and timbre in this piece is just what I was looking for. However, I am going to edit it a little bit only by making certain sections repeat itself to extend my trailer a bit more as I currently think it is a bit short. Then, with the extra filming I am planning on doing, the extra filming can be featured in the doubled-up music parts.

CREATING THE TRAILER: BEGINNING THE EDITING PROCESS

Preparing all of my clips for my trailer has been a difficult process. I kept finding things I wanted to add in, things that I didn't want to include and I found many difficulties with shots that I wanted. A lot of my actors dropped out last minute leaving me stressed and pushed for time but I decided to begin the editing process and start piecing together my trailer.

First of all, I had to work out how to import a file from GarageBand, a piece of software featured on Apple products which is essentially a high quality recording device, to iMovie. I had to use a YouTube tutorial video to work out how to do it as I have the new updated version of iMovie compared to what I used last year. By downloading the updated version of iMovie, it meant I had to learn how to use it all again from scratch, learning the basics such as importing clips, cutting clips, editing the colour and sound of clips and how to use transitions.

Once I had imported the voice over, I decided to put all of the clips I definitely wanted to use in my footage onto my iMovie editing timeline and starting sorting out the timing of the clips e.g. how long each shot would last for, possible transitions between shots and which clips matched up to certain points in the voice over.

Eventually, after listening to my voice over quite a lot, I decided I didn't like the way my voice actor was taking breaths and pauses. It wasn't how I imagined it to be, so I edited the voice over, cutting parts out that I didn't like and making the voice over seem more fluid.

Also, during the editing process, I have realised I am missing a lot of shots that I wanted as my computer, turns out, did delete some of my footage when it broke so I am going to have to re-film quite a lot of my stuff unfortunately.

CREATING THE TRAILER: TEST SHOTS

This test shot was to try and make sure my actress, Hannah, was directly in the middle of the shot. I didn't want her to be off to one side a little bit because that would have made my shot look unprofessional and less strong. This shot makes her look strong and that she has purpose. I also made her stand in different positions to make sure I made her look as powerful as possible.

This next test shot was done to see what it would look like as Hannah walked towards me from only waist downwards. As she was walking towards me, I felt like it wouldn't look right if she stopped right in front of me which is why I told her to change direction so close to me. We then retried this shot again, which features in my trailer, with her walking on a very slight diagonal. This then created the effect that she walking straight at the camera but narrowly missing it and walking straight past.

This was one of the hardest shots for me to do as I was trying to make sure Hannah could get the gun off of her back whilst walking and making it look really easy. Hannah isn't exactly the tallest of girls and the gun was nearly the size of her so we took quite a few takes of this. The shot that I decided to use in my trailer does show Hannah struggling a bit but then the whole reason I chose Hannah as the girl to use for her part is because she does look so innocent and child-like. The whole point of my film, if it were made into a feature-length film, would be how normal people change into these "killing machines".

This was a very random idea I had but I am so glad we tried it. I decided that I thought it would be quite sinister if I had a close up shot of Hannah looking around before having her look directly into the camera lens and smile. However, I had a picture of how I wanted the smile to look like but couldn't get that idea across to Hannah. So this was one of the trial shots that we did. The smile here seemed more like she was going to laugh, not that she was going to do something sadistic and enjoy it.

CREATING THE TRAILER: FINISHING MY FILMING

Over the next few weeks, I began filming the smaller things I needed, such as my cousins running around the garden, shots of people scribbling things on paper as if they were possessed, two boys smoking etc.

I also went up to London for the day to see if I could get any good footage and luckily I managed to get a good shot of a train going past me really quickly which I'm going to somehow edit into my trailer. My boyfriend suggested we go on the London Eye at night so I could get some good footage of London at night with all the lights and cars driving around and from my perspective, it looked incredible but the camera struggled to pick up all of the details I wanted so unfortunately I may not be able to use this footage, but i'm going to try and edit the tone and levels on the clip to see if I can make it look more vibrant and busy.

However, I have realised that I may be lacking footage and may need to work out more shots to film as a lot of the shots that I wanted to take are now not possible due to actors dropping out, not having the facilities to film it or both.

CREATING THE TRAILER: DAY 02 OF FILMING.

Today I took Lily Silvester to the Grand Avenue and had her film as I drove down the road. She was videoing out the window and through the window. I got some really good footage of trees going past really quickly which made it look like someone was rushing to get away from something. This took roughly an hour in terms of health and safety, I kept to the 30mph speed limit and made sure Lily and I both had our seat belts on.

I also came up with a shot idea whilst I was walking down the stairs at school. I decided to turn on my video camera, press record, have the camera placed at my hip and video myself walking down the stairs and out the school entrance doors at the end of the school day. There were people running around, standing waiting for the bus, talking etc so it looked very busy and manic. The shot came out surprisingly well and when it comes to the editing process I am going to speed the shot up so it looks like everything is being fast forward.

CREATING THE TRAILER: DAY 01 OF FILMING

Day 01 of filming included me going to someones house and recording Carli Green as 'The Devil'. I made him sit on a chair with a cardboard box on his head. I decided not to cut eye holes to make him seem more mysterious and I also decided that I wasn't going to reveal his identity at the end. I recorded him for roughly four minutes with him talking but I will mute the footage, so that any talking he did throughout the filming won't be heard behind the voice over. I also recorded the voice over which I continued to edit to make the voice appear lower in pitch and distorted. I felt that if 'The Devil's identity was being protected, why shouldn't his voice?

Here are a screen grab of the filming I did on that day. This will help make it clearer how I wanted 'The Devil' to look.

LAPTOP PROBLEM!

For the past two weeks, I haven't had access to my laptop which contained all of my filming for my media trailer along with my voice over. I also couldn't access blogger on my phone or any other computer as I couldn't remember my password or email. BUT IT'S BACK NOW!

PLANNING: Filming Schedule

DATE	ACTORS	LOCATION	PROPS?
MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER	LILY SILVESTER	GRAND AVENUE	NONE
TUESDAY 28TH OCTOBER	CARLI GREEN	WOOTTEN BASSETT	CARDBOARD BOX
WEDNESDAY 29TH OCTOBER	NONE	BEDWYN TRAIN STATION AND LONDON EYE	NONE
THURSDAY 30TH OCTOBER	NONE	SCHOOL FIELD	NONE
FRIDAY 31ST OCTOBER	BEN WATTS HOLLY WATTS	GARDEN	NONE
SATURDAY 1ST NOVEMBER	MY DOG	GARDEN	NONE
SUNDAY 2ND NOVEMBER	KASIA MILLER CHLOE BROCK	BEDROOM	NONE
MONDAY 3RD NOVEMBER	LIAM HUGHES	GARDEN	CIGARETTES
TUESDAY 4TH NOVEMBER	SOPHIE TREMLIN	SCHOOL DANCE STUDIO	POINTE SHOES

This is my current filming schedule, this is subject to change and I need to add additional dates in to film more things but this is my filming schedule for the time being. This will help me stay on task and up to date with everything I need to do. 

PLANNING: Props

The following list is my prop list, I will need to check this off over the next few days to make sure I have everything before I start my filming. This will help me stay on top of everything and stay organised:

• Camera
• Camera charger
• Tri-pod
• Brown cardboard box
• Replica gun
• Back lighting 
• Microphone 
• Pen
• Paper
• Laptop
• GarageBand (software)
• iMove (software) 

I will continue to edit this list as I think of more things I will need to film my trailer. 

PLANNING: Costume

For my characters costumes, I am going to dress/tell most people in normal, every day clothing. I want them to look as if they're as casual as possible because otherwise it won't be true to life. Here are some popular examples of what is supposedly in fashion for men and women today:









I don't want my characters to look overdressed though, I want to make sure they look comfortable in what they're wearing and make sure they're wearing something they'd normally wear in every day life.


For my Devil, I am going to make him wear a plain coloured t-shirt with a brown paper bag over his head. I wont need to decide what trousers or shoes he'll be wearing because these wont be in the shot at all. The reason I've decided to make him wear the paper bag is to hide his identity and by doing this it means the audience wont be aware throughout the film who the Devil actually is until the end when he is revealed. This costume will be similar to the antagonist in The Human Centipede 2 trailer as seen here:

PLANNING: The Devil's Script

The date today is October 10^th 2016. I can sense that you’re wondering who I am and why I am talking to you. All will be explained. I would tell you not to panic… but there’s no point. You should definitely start panicking. 

(Cut to production company logo) 

In case you haven’t already noticed, many people have gone missing…2.18 billion to be exact. Some of these people may be your family, your friends, your colleagues, your enemies.. But that doesn’t matter anymore. I’m all that matters for the next two weeks. I’m all you’ll think about.

I have been sent here to carry out a very special job, along with several others of my kind. You are all here for a reason and that reason is that you have disobeyed the Lord himself. Whether that be you are an infidel, a sinner or both, you have disobeyed the word of God and for that you shall be punished. 

I have one task and one task only. To extinguish all of mankind who have been left on this earth, to make room for the most pure and holy of Christians. How I do that is my choosing and this is how it's going to go. You will kill yourselves and each other.. or I will kill you. Don't try and run, there's no point in hiding. Every man, woman, child and animal on this earth will die. I will use any means necessary to complete my task. Agares will cause the worst earthquakes known to man, Aka Manah will prevent you from saving others lives, Asag will cause horrific sickness and the Pontianak will brutally murder every last man on this planet. 

The Rapture is here. Occide, et ipsi inter se prius I interficiam te.

PLANNING: Locations

Locations are going to be a key part of my film trailer. I have to get the lighting, the weather and the setting just right to give the film trailer that horror/thriller feel to it. I have chosen certain locations which I think will help give it that feel. 

The Swimming Pool

I have approached Lara Faber Johnson, a girl I go to school with, who has a pool at her house. I have asked her if I will be able to use her pool for the shot where a person is swimming. She has even offered to be the person that is swimming which is really helpful. I think having a person swimming in their own personal swimming pool when they get dragged down will help give the film a creepy effect and make the audience think that even in the comfort of their own home, these characters are not safe. If Lara is unable to let me use her pool, an ex student at my school has offered his pool to let me use and if that falls through, I will have to come up with an alternative plan. This photo has been taken from Google Images and is not the exact pool I will be using. 

The Football Pitch

For the football pitch, I am going to use is the football pitch we have at school. This is good as it is easy for people to get to and I will be able to film during school time, rather than have to wait until after school and make sure everyone is available on a certain day. Another good thing about using a school football pitch is that it makes the football game look unprofessional and that it is just a few boys having a kick around. The picture has again been sourced from Google Images and is not the football pitch I will be using, it just helps me get a better idea of settings. These shots do not have to be in dark lighting or with bad weather as this is just before things start to go wrong. 

The Devil's Broadcast

For the Devil's news broadcast, I will put Melvin, my actor, in front of a white wall. Then, when it comes to the editing process, I will edit the lighting to make it seem more dark and add certain effects over the top, such as glitching of the camera to make it seem more legitimate. I considered using an old shed or something similar as the setting for Melvin to do his speech with the bag over his head but I decided that if he was in front of a plain white wall, it might portray more power than if he was in a old, disused shed. 

The Car 

I know a car isn't exactly a setting, but whilst I am filming Ashlee driving the car, I don't want loads of buildings in the background so I have decided to film her driving down The Grand Avenue which is in my hometown of Marlborough. This means all the viewers will see behind her whilst I film her is trees which will be blurry because of the speed she is driving, making her seem isolated and her own. This is a picture of The Grand Avenue. It's very long, giving me lots of time to film shots and try out new filming techniques. 

PLANNING: Actors

Whilst thinking about shot ideas for my film trailer, I have realised that with the Rapture, the Rapture wouldn't just happen to a few people.. it would happen to millions of people. So I have realised I am going to need a lot of actors to portray different scenarios. I put an appeal out on Facebook, as well as texting some amateur actors I have met and know through my experience as a musical theatre student and asked them to help out. Here are the names I have so far.

The Devil - Melvin Chuaga
The Family (watching news broadcast on sofa) - Sophie Tremlin and family
Swimming Pool - Lara Faber Johnson
Girl on bed - Millie O'Connor
Footballers - Rory Mcquaid and co. (He has told me he will find a few more of his football friends)
"Men" - Tom Marklew Brew
"Women" - Sophie Tremlin
"Children" - Ben and Holly Watts (cousins)
"Animals" - My own dog
Car - Ashlee Noble

Other actors I am using:
Liam Hughes
Cameron Smith
Will Sexton
Oliver Cowen
Kasia Miller
Chloe Brock
Lily Silvester
Georgia Percival
Adyn Pollock
Ophelia Chidgey

This is merely just so I can organise and keep note on who is doing what and it will help me make a time schedule of when to record everything.

PLANNING: Storyboard

The following photos I'm going to post are a ROUGH storyboard of what I have planned for my film trailer. I say rough because I know exactly what shots I want and I am not great at drawing WHICH IS PRETTY OBVIOUS BY THESE PICTURES, however I don't know exact locations yet but in my head I know what I want. The montage scenes are going to be clips of extra footage that I film which I haven't planned out at all or just feel like it'll fit.

This storyboard will help me be more organised and prepared and I'll be able to plan out when to film everything easily and make sure I don't miss out on anything.

PLANNING: Possible Shot Ideas

I've been thinking about what shots to include in my trailer and I have come up with a few ideas:

The Devil 
The Devil's face won't be shown until right at the end, however I am debating as to whether or not reveal the Devil's identity in the trailer or not or wait until the film would be supposedly released.  It will be a mid shot of him saying "Kill each other-" before a close up of him saying "-or I'll kill you" with him giving an evil smile at the camera. If I decide to keep the bag on his head and not reveal his identity, there will be a hole cut through the bag to show his mouth and eyes so the smile will still be clear. Throughout the trailer, he will be talking over the top of it. The bag on the head idea came to me from The Human Centipede 2 teaser trailer, where the new villain was sat in a multi-story car-park with a paper bag over his head, whilst the director was talking about him.

Emergency News Broadcast
There will be two or three shots of people watching the TV after realising that millions of people have gone missing from the earth. They will be watching a video of something with a bag over it's head talking about what has happened, why it has happened and what is going to happen now. The thing with the bag over its head will then reveal itself right at the end, or not depending on what will have the best tense atmosphere.

Football 
I have this idea, which i'm not sure will work but if it did I think it would look amazing. There would be a group of boys playing football, and then there is a shot of the goal-keeper, panning to the left to watch the footballers kicking the ball around, one boy takes a shot, the camera follows the ball back to the goal-keeper who is now missing. It would be one take, and whilst the camera was on the footballers, the goal-keeper would have to run out of shot of the camera to make it look like he had gone missing. This would represent the christian believers being taken by God. It would then cut to a mid-shot of two or three boys looking confused and then a close up of someone looking confused.

Lust
For this shot, I will have a female actor crawling from the bottom of the bed, up to the top of the bed, as if she were seducing someone. She'll be wearing a red dress with black heels and have a lot of cleavage on show. It will be a POV shot to show that she is trying to seduce someone, before cutting to a shot of the same female tied to a tree with a man stood a few feet away from her, with a gun pointed to her head. It will be dark and there will be a light shining behind them so it will just be silhouettes.

The Family
This shot will feature a mid shot on a diagonal, of a family watching the news broadcast with sheer terror on their face. There will be a dad, daughter and a dog. This will be a shot to one of the mediums that people are watching the news broadcast.

The Over The Shoulder Shot
I will use this shot to show someone watching the news broadcast on their phone.

"Men, Women, Children and Animals"
In part of the Devil's monologue, he will say "all men, women, children and animals will die". As he says "men", it will cut to a shot of a man smoking looking to the side. As he says "women", it'll cut to a woman dancing, specifically doing a split leap. As he says "children", it'll cut to two kids running around chasing each other. As he says animals, it'll cut to a dog running towards the camera.

The Swimming Pool
This shot will consist of a person swimming in a swimming pool and then having a shot of them looking around confused, as if they have heard something. They will then go underwater, look around before being yanked down by a person out of shot.

Car 
For this shot, I am going to film one of my actors whilst she is driving. I will be in the passenger seat and will be filming her as she looks around to see if anyone is following her.

Laptop
Here, I will shoot someone sat using their laptop, before cutting to a shot of what they're watching (the news broadcast) as a POV.

PLANNING: Film Title

I've been thinking of different titles for my film trailer, trying to work out what makes a film title stand out. From my research I have discovered that the short, catchy titles are the highest grossing horror films. As of October 31st 2012, The Business Insider published a list of the top 20 highest-grossing horror films of all time. Here is the list:

20) Saw II (2005)                                         $87 million

19) Scream 3 (2000)                                     $89.1 million

18) The Haunting (1999)                              $91.4 million

17) The Others (2001)                                  $96.5 million

16) Sleepy Hollow (1999)                            $101.1 million

15) Scream 2 (1997)                                     $101.4 million

14) Scream (1996)                                        $103 million

13) Paranormal Activity 3 (2011)                 $104 million

12) Interview With The Vampire (1994)      $105.3 million

11) Paranormal Activity (2007)                    $107.9 million

10) The Grudge (2004)                                 $110.4 million

9) The Village (2004)                                   $114.2 million

8) Van Helsing (2004)                                  $120.2 million

7) Shutter Island (2010)                               $128 million

6) The Ring (2002)                                      $129.1 million

5) The Blair Witch Project (1999)               $140.5 million

4) What Lies Beneath (2000)                       $155.5 million

3) The Exorcist (1973)                                 $232.9 million

2) Jaws (1975)                                              $260 million

1) The Sixth Sense (1999)                            $293.5 million

From this list, I noticed that all of the titles are between 1-4 words long. It isn't a long winded title like "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street", which people even shorten to just "Sweeney Todd" as it is easier to remember. Eight of these film titles begin with the word "The". Considering as the top grossing film title begins with the word "the", it would make sense for me to use a film title beginning with the word "the". If it was a two word film title such as "The Grudge" or "The Ring", it makes it short, snappy, catchy and easy to remember. 

So far, the best idea for a film title I have is The Rapture. However, there are a lot of indie films which have the same name with a very similar idea to mine so this title is VERY subject to change.


http://www.businessinsider.com/the-20-highest-grossing-horror-movies-of-all-time-2012-10?op=1
Here is my source for the above information.

PLANNING: Possible Idea For Film Trailer

I have possibly come up with a rough idea of what I want to do for my film trailer. I have decided that I am going to do a horror film with elements of a thriller in it. I haven't exactly planned out the whole storyline but I have devised a possible idea which I am going to continue to develop and expand upon and eventually come up with a full plot which is exiting, dramatic, scary and thrilling.

The idea I have developed is based on the Rapture. Taken from christianity.about.com, the Rapture is described as an "end-times event where all true believers who are still alive before the end of the world will be taken from the earth by God and into heaven". The world 'Rapture' itself isn't mentioned in the Bible at all and only became commonly used in the 19th century. Roman Catholics do not believe in the Rapture theory as they believe it to be confused with the Second Coming of Christ. For the people who are left on earth after the Rapture, it is believed that they will be left in 'disbelief, finding theories to 'explain away' the bizarre event".

 For my film trailer, I'm going to change this and use the idea that after the Rapture has occurred and the christianity believers have gone to Heaven, earth then becomes the new Hell and all of the sinners and non believers are left to die, getting rid of all of the "bad people" on earth.

I've realised how difficult it would be to try and portray people being taken up to Heaven so I have decided not to include the actual transition from earth to Heaven in my trailer, instead, I have this idea that people will wake up one morning to see friends and family missing and not know what's going on. After this, something similar to a emergency news broadcast will appear on everyone's TV, radio, computer, iPad or whatever device they have on or near their person where a person will appear addressing everyone on earth. This person will be "The Devil" and he'll explain how everyone thinks of the Devil as a red monster but really, it's him and he has the power to kill every single person left on earth. His final line of his monologue will be "Kill each other, or i'll kill you".

Throughout this, there will be lots of shots of people running, screaming and dying. I have this image of a shot in my head which I really want to do where it will be a wide angle shot of two people in the sea, making the most of their last days on earth. One of them will then be "dragged" down and then a few seconds later, so will the other with neither of them resurfacing. If possible, I would like to film a few shots of a fake earthquake (by shaking the camera around a lot, depending on how realistic it would look) to show destruction and devastation. It would be impossible to show the aftermath of this as I can't crash cars or split roads in half etc. so this would be something the audience would have to watch the film to find out what happens but this is only a vague idea.

I will also have a few people representing a couple of the deadly sins by using flashbacks. For example, to represent lust I will have a girl in a very tiny skirt and crop top crawling towards the camera on a bed and then cutting to a shot of her running in a forest or something similar. For gluttony, I could have a person with a lot of food in front of them and then chucking half of it away as gluttony means the overindulgence and over-consumpution of food and drink, then have them have a gun aimed at their face.

I don't want to have any predominant, main characters in the trailer. It will kind of be like a Final Destination film.



As you can see from this Final Destination trailer, there is no focus on one main character, which is the same in the actual film itself. The story follows a couple of main people who all have their own individual deaths and stories and that is how I want my film to be, except without the ridiculous circumstances that the people in Final Destination die in.

PLANNING: Initial Planning Ideas

https://www.examtime.com/en-GB/p/1335720

These are my initial ideas for my film trailer. In all honesty, right now I have no idea what I want to do so these are very rough. I'm trying to think of an original idea which will include all the components of what I feel to be a good horror film trailer e.g. not giving too much away, no plot spoilers, not including all the jump scares but at the same time, scaring the audience to a point where they want to watch the film because they know it's going to be very scary. I'm swaying towards the idea of doing a religion-based horror film, preferably based around the Rapture or Christian Extremists but this might be quite hard to do. If I manage to pull it off, I feel it would be quite good.

RESEARCH: Actors Famous for Thriller/Horror Films

This post will be focused on iconic thriller actors and horror actors. These people have had famous roles in hit thrillers and horrors and have become known for their roles in these films. 

Mads Mikkelsen is a Danish actor who shot to fame as Tonny, a drug dealer in the crime thriller film Pusher. Since his rise to fame, he has stared in many Danish thrillers as Lucas in The Hunt, Le Chiffre in Casino Royale and Thomas Skepphult in Exit. He has been called "the synonym to the great success the Danish film industry has had since the mid 1990's" by IMDB. He is currently playing Hannibal Lecter in the TV series Hannibal. He is now widely associated with more serious dramas and thrillers and is an outstanding Danish actor. With over 25 awards and 22 other nominations, he is a widely sought over actor who can pull off many acting styles, from a nasty, evil character supporting terrorists bank funds to a kind, friendly and misunderstood teacher who doesn't mean harm to anybody to a low life drug pusher. 

Christopher Lee, born in 1922 has become one of the most iconic horror actors of his time! His first successful films include The Curse Of Frankenstein, Horror of Dracula, The Mummy and The Hound of the Baskervilles. At the time, these films were considered very scary horror films, however if we were to watch them today they wouldn't be considered as horrific as some of the films we are desensitising ourselves to. He appeared in the James Bond film, The Man With The Golden Gun as the lead villain Francisco Scaramanga, Count Dooku in Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones and he also voiced the Jabberwocky in the 2010 version of Alice in Wonderland which was the main evil monster in the film. He has gained a reputation of being the villain in films or being the bad guy. However, I feel this has made him one of the most iconic horror film actors as he has been in the business for so long. He was watched our media change and grow into what it has become and has followed along with it, adapting to change and the ever more violent film culture we are living in. Definitely a recognised horror actor which I admire. 

Robert Englund may be one of the most recognised faces of horror in history. His most successful role to date was the role of Freddy Krueger, a serial killer with very dramatic burns across his face who kills teenagers in their dreams using a glove covered in razors. Killing them in their dreams would cause their deaths in real life. This film earned its $1.8million budget back in a week of the film's release and went on to make eight more of the 'slasher' films, a television series, novels and comic books. Robert has almost become the face of horror films as The Nightmare On Elm Street 1 was considered to be one of the most terrifying horror films at the time it was released. After asking many of my teachers and friend's parents what the scariest film they'd seen was, A Nightmare On Elm Street was consistently bought up. Robert's character even met up with Jason Voorhees, the main antagonist in the popular Friday the 13th franchise for a film where they both terrorised the teenage community as well as going after each other. This film wasn't greatly accepted by the horror community but it was a good idea. Robert Englund has definitely made a name for himself as a horror actor. 

RESEARCH: Codes and Conventions of a Horror Trailer

Horror Trailers


This is the trailer for the 2014 horror film called Deliver Us From Evil. This trailer is made obvious to the audience that it is for a horror film through many ways. First of all, the soundtrack consists of a lot of string instruments playing very high pitched notes. High pitched strings are associated with fear and tension because they sound very eery and creepy. It is also a very quiet trailer. There aren't a lot of loud noises unless it is a part which is intended to make you jump or scared. This is a tell-tale sign that this is a horror film because thrillers are normally very loud and action packed. The use of children's laughter is again another thing associated with horror films as it can come across very sinister. They have constantly used a dark, dingy lighting and a very slow paced trailer.. this helps show that this is a horror film because there are rarely fast paced scenes in horror films unless its towards the end. They're normally quite slow as the person is trying to hide or stay safe or figure out 'what's under the bed'.

The trailer for The Damned is another horror trailer. The reason you can tell this is a horror trailer is through what the characters are saying and doing. They are clearly possessed by some kind of evil and we know through the titles that appear that the little girl "they thought they were saving" isn't actually a good person. The italian man also says how they will all die. Thriller films are rarely based on the Devil and are more based on events that are very likely to happen e.g serial killers or kidnappings. Again the lighting is dark and dingy and the weather isn't good at all during the film which is another thing horror films are associated with. Having foggy, rainy or dull weather is typical of horror films because bright sunlight is associated with happiness.

The Pyramid is the final horror trailer I have looked at. This film trailer is very interesting because as most people know, traditionally horror films have been set in old houses or forests. This one is interesting because it is set in Egypt in a pyramid which most people have no familiarity with. The use of titles which state that the director of this film directed The Hills Have Eyes is a good indicator that this film is a horror film because The Hills Have Eyes is a very popular film in the horror community so people will have heard of it, know that its a horror film and guess that this film is a horror film too. The fact that we see a lot of blood, violence and creepy monsters helps us realise this is a horror as well because monsters are associated with scariness and death. It's a very darkly lit film once they're in the Pyramid and thats when they realise that they are in trouble. The soundtrack is dramatic and has a lot of emphasis musically on the dramatic parts of the film

RESEARCH: Codes and Conventions of a Thriller Trailer

To help me figure out what genre of trailer I am going to film, in the next two posts I will be looking at the codes and conventions of horror film trailers and thriller film trailers, figuring out which genre will be the most effective for me to create.

Thriller Trailers

This is the trailer to a film called The Final Girl. I haven't seen this movie myself but I can tell that this movie is a thriller and not a horror film in many ways, however it could be mistaken as a horror film as well. The soundtrack to this trailer plays a key role in determining whether this is a thriller or a horror trailer. It's very fast paced, loud and features a lot of drums which are typical of films with a lot of action and drama. There is a lot of violence, murder and very low key lighting as the main setting seems to be in a forrest of some sort. There are a lot of fast paced cuts in the editing which makes the film itself seem fast paced and tense. However, you can work out a lot about the film by watching this trailer, I could already guess what happens at the end and after looking up the synopsis of the film, turns out I, and many others, guessed it right too. This shouldn't happen when watching a thriller trailer as part of the excitement of watching a thriller film is that you don't know what is going to happen at the end. This film trailer may give a lot away about the plot of the film but in terms of the codes and conventions of thriller trailers, this has got most of it spot on. 

This trailer is for the thriller film Non-Stop. Again, I haven't seen this movie but I can tell that this is a thriller film rather than a horror. First of all, Liam Neeson is known for doing thriller films with his biggest success being Taken. By using a traditional thriller actor, it gives the audience an idea that the film will be a thriller and probably quite good. The soundtrack is very tense and loud again and the use of the call bell to create tension has been done very effectively. Another thing I noticed is that the main setting of the film appears to be on a plane. A plane is a very tense place for some people in our current day and age as planes have been going missing or being taken hostage so a lot of people are nervous to board planes and don't feel safe until they're on the ground again. By using the plane as the basis of the plot and setting, it automatically makes the audience feel tense. There is a constant dull lighting but unlike a horror, there are no "jump scares" which is where I usually find the difference between horrors and thrillers. 

The final trailer I'm looking at the codes and conventions of is The Riot Club. This trailer starts off quite positively, with a positive soundtrack, we're learning that all of these boys are very wealthy, clever and important and it looks to just be a film about the boy's club that they have. But around half way through the trailer, we start to realise there's something more sinister about the film. The music changes to become more dramatic and it changes key. There are scenes of violence, what appears to be a girl because sexually assaulted and it is implied that someone has been murdered. This all implies that this film is a thriller because it becomes very tense, the shots get darker and quicker and the plot itself isn't a positive one. 

RESEARCH: Field Research

I decided to conduct a questionnaire on the popular website surveymonkey.com to find out what the general public think of film trailers, what they like or don't like about them and to hopefully get a better idea of what genre to make my film trailer.

Here is a link to the survey itself: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7R9TCCG

To get people to notice and answer my short questionnaire, I posted the link onto my Facebook page and also onto my town's local noticeboard Facebook page so I could get a wide range of answers. I was aiming for around 20 answers but outstandingly ended up with 50 which has given me a lot of information to work with.

Analysis of questionnaire answers 

From my survey, I have learnt that horror films, action films and comedy films are the top 3 most popular genres. This means that I should consider doing a horror trailer or an action trailer. The reason I wouldn't do a comedy trailer is because they are often hard to pull off as you have to get the jokes and the actors perfectly right so it doesn't come across awfully.

The next question was "Do you prefer trailers that give a lot of information away or little information away and why?". Nearly everyone answered with "little information". Some of the reasons why included "Little information as possible. So when you actually watch the film you actually have surprises. Instead of already seeing all the "best bits" in the trailer", "a little, as i often find, when i watch the film, that ive already seen the best parts in the trailer!" and "Little - if it shows a lot then what's the point in going because you already know most of the film". So the overall consensus was that they want little information so that once they got to see the film, they were able to find out what the plot was there, enjoy all of the film without kind of guessing what is going to happen and having not seen the best parts. 

However, some people did say that they liked a lot of information so that they can gage what the film is about, whether it looks enjoyable etc. One person also commented saying they liked to have a lot of information because then they would be able to tell if they were going to like it.. if there was little information he might go see a film he normally would have hated and wasted an extortionate amount on cinema ticket prices. He has a point here as cinema prices have increased dramatically over the years, putting people off of going to the cinema and causing an increase of piracy and illegal downloads. 

For the next question, "What do you look for in a film trailer", there was a variety of answers ranging from good graphics, drama, good soundtrack, good actors, suspense, summary of the plot and a preview into who the lead actors are in the film. I will take into consideration all of these things whilst planning, filming and editing my film trailer to make it as effective as possible.

The next question was "If you watched a film trailer, what would make you want to go see the film". The top two answers were the storyline and seeing an actor that you like. In terms of how I can use this for my film trailer planning, it has made me realise I need to think of a very good storyline which is new and fresh. However, the thing I'll be lacking is actors that people like. But, as long as I can find good actors around my area, I can edit my trailer to make out that they are very famous and everyone knows them, (unless I decide to make an indie film trailer).

For my following question, "What is one of your favourite film trailers you have seen and why?", two trailers stuck out for me. One of them is called "Jagten" which is also known as "The Hunt". Screened in 2012, Jagten is about a teacher, played by Mads Mikkelsen, who's life is shattered into a million pieces after one of his students makes up a very, very bad lie about him. The trailer, found at the bottom of this blog post, is very good because the soundtrack is effective, you can get a good idea of what the plot is about without it giving too much away (I have seen this film and the trailer doesn't give a single spoiler away) and it shows us that Mads Mikkelsen is in it. This film is Danish and Mads Mikkelsen is a very famous Danish actor so anyone who watches the trailer and sees that Mads Mikkelsen is in the film will want to watch it. The other trailer that stuck out for me is the trailer for '71. This film is due for release in October 2014 and the trailer feature Jack O'Connell (Cook from the hit UK series Skins) playing an abandoned British soldier in Belfast 1971. The trailer seems to give absolutely no spoilers away and you have no idea how the film is going to end. The soundtrack makes the trailer gripping and full of suspense and the storyline is VERY original. In fact, I don't think I have seen a film like this ever. Here is the IMDB link for '71: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2614684/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

The trailer that stuck out for the most disliked trailer was the trailer for Lucy, a film about a girl who is able to reach a high capacity in her brain. From all of the comments I have read on Youtube and on my survey, the trailer is said to make the film seem a lot better than it really is. Some people have said the trailer is boring and that the cinema released trailer actually gives away the whole storyline. Another comment also said that "the trailer is corny and only shows the action parts of the film" which suggests to me that the film is more than just about the action.


Doing this questionnaire has really helped me get an idea of what audiences like and dislike and it will help me plan my trailer better.

This is the evidence that I posted my survey on my own Facebook page and on The Marlborough Notice Board page. 

The trailer for Mads Mikkelsen's movie, "The Hunt"



The trailer for the film, "Lucy"

RESEARCH: Using TV Chat Shows to Promote Films

Chat Shows on TV are becoming increasingly more popular throughout the UK and the US, with British chat show hosts such as Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, Alan Carr and the Loose Women. American chat show hosts include Ellen DeGeneres, Oprah Winfrey, Jimmy Kimmel and Jay Lenno. Chat shows are the perfect way for actors, actresses and directors to talk about their upcoming films and help promote them. It saves companies money because the actors themselves are actually being paid to talk to the show which means free promotion of the film. In this clip, we see Nicholas Hoult on The Jonathan Ross Show discussing his new film "Jack The Giant Slayer" but as well as discussing this, he discusses other films he's about to start filming and some of the past productions he has featured in such as Skins and X-Men. The Jonathan Ross show is a very popular talk show, getting an average of 3 million viewers per show. For a production company, it is an easy way to get their film noticed by a lot of people very quickly and often in actors contracts, the contract requires them to attend these talk shows, interviews and press conferences etc. to help promote the film. This is usually only done with very famous actors who have a wide fan base because TV talk shows wont have actors on the show that aren't very well known because it'll mean their viewing figures will go down.

RESEARCH: Soundtracks on Film Trailers

Soundtracks really help set the atmosphere and the plot of films, without them, trailers can be pretty bland, not exciting and they can sometimes be confusing.

This is the film trailer to Silent Hill: Revelation 3D. It is the sequel to the very successful 2006 Canadian horror film 'Silent Hill'. Without the sound, the trailer has no atmosphere. In terms of the visuals, the film has all the aspects of horror films, dark lighting, people running, screaming or looking scared, blood, scary creatures/monsters and the text that appears also helps show that it is a horror film. For example, it says that the film is released on Halloween. Traditionally, films that are released on Halloween are normally horror films. Yet, even with all of these visual aids to help with the atmosphere, the only thing that really gives the film trailer the scary, dramatic and horrifying atmosphere is the soundtrack. In the beginning, it shows our main female character talking about how she's been to five schools since she was eleven. During this, we are hearing a single piano which has connotations of loneliness and sadness. However, during the rest of the trailer, there are a lot of sounds which are typical of horror films. The sound of knives slashing something are enhanced for extra effect but knives are associated with death, we hear church bells which although they normally have a positive atmosphere in our everyday real life, they have a creepy, strange atmosphere in the scenario our main character is in. She's in a misty, foggy area and the woman she is talking to looks strange as well. Everything is quiet and all you can hear is the church bells which again suggest something bad is about to happen. There's a lot of screaming which again helps back up the idea that this is the trailer for a horror film because screaming is associated with terror and death. The speech used also is a massive help for us to realise that this is a horror film. The main character talks about people being "after her" and how she needs to find her father. She also screams a lot and tells someone to go to Hell who replies "We're already here.". If that speech wasn't there, we wouldn't really have any idea of what's going on or get an idea of what the plot is about, so without the non-diegetic sound and the diegetic sound, we lose all of the scary atmosphere we are looking for in horror films and trailers.

RESEARCH: Film Promotion and Marketing

For the analysis of film promotion and marketing, I will be using the film "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" as an example. For the promotion, they used things such as teaser posters, teaser trailers, websites, a main poster, a main trailer, T.V spots and publicity campaigns.

The teaser poster (the image on the left) is very effective for both people who have read the Harry Potter books and those who haven't. For people who have read the books, they realise what exactly is about to happen and it makes them excited yet sad that it's about to end and they know how dramatic it is going to be. For people who have never read the Harry Potter books, it makes them intrigued to see what is going to happen and makes them excited for the movie to come out. Seeing the teaser poster may make people think "I wonder if the trailer has come out yet...", when they find that it hasn't come out yet, it again makes them more excited for the trailer to arrive.


This is the teaser trailer for both part 1 and part 2 of The Deathly Hallows films. It gives the audience a few iconic scenes which will represent key points in the film. It doesn't give away too much about the film but it gives the audience a rough idea of what might happen without any spoilers. It gives the audience the release dates of both of the films and uses clips from both films and merges them into one massive teaser trailer. Traditionally, teaser trailers aren't that long. For example, here is the latest teaser trailer released for part 1 of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.


This teaser trailer is roughly only a minute long. It gives only very subtle hints as to what might happen in the film which people would only really understand if they have read the books. For example, someone who has read the books and follows The Hunger Games franchise would realise that in the first film, Peeta (who is the man stood next to President Snow) said that he didn't want the Capitol to change him and turn him into something he isn't. Clearly, he has been changed and turned into a person he doesn't feel like he really is. This is a massive teaser for anyone watching the film as you want to find out what's happening to Peeta but not only that, Katniss isn't featured in the trailer. As we know from the latest film, Catching Fire, she has become a symbol of rebellion so the audience might be wondering whether she's still alive, where is she, has she changed etc. This teaser trailer is very different from the Deathly Hallows teaser trailer because it features no scenes from the film itself and is giving the audience barely any information at all.

The main poster (image on the left) for The Deathly Hallows features our three main characters (Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley) running away from something. It is a dynamic and exciting freeze frame which makes the audience think "what are they running away from?". It has the title of the film which is written in the classic "Harry Potter" font which has featured on every single harry potter film. It has the tag line of "The End Begins" which is slightly different to the teaser poster tagline which was "It All Ends", however the teaser tag line is more of a summary. Considering as this poster is for the first part of the last two films, it makes more sense to say "The End Begins".  These posters would be displayed in cinemas, around towns and cities, in magazines etc and it would help get the word out to the audience that this new film is coming out soon. Another thing to mention is that the dark colour palette used for the poster helps suggest that this film is a lot more edgy, dramatic and maybe violent than the others. It could also suggest that The Dark Lord himself, Voldemort, is on his way.

This is the main trailer for the first part of The Deathly Hallows. It has a lot of action and fast paced editing which helps keep the audience interested. Like most trailers, it's not edited in chronological order either which means it's less easy to guess the plot and piece together which scenes go where in the film. There are scenes of conflict between Harry Potter and Voldemort which is almost traditional of Harry Potter films. The release date is shown so that audiences are again reminded when they can go see the film and the production company is also depicted in the trailer. Even if somebody hadn't heard of Harry Potter but had heard of Warner Bros, they would more likely see a film by a massive, well known production company e.g. Warner Bros rather than a small indie company. The title scene is the same as it is on the film posters and on the website which is an example of synergy.

The Harry Potter saga also have a website (which at the time of posting this, it doesn't seem to be working for my laptop) but it has a series of games on it, a synopsis of each film, character profiles, trailers for each film and it also has one of the many film posters of The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 as the backgrounds for different pages on the website. The website helps promote the films because by making the website fun and interactive, more people are going to talk to their friends about the website and get others to visit it too. A few years ago, a massive craze went round called Pottermore. Pottermore is an interactive online game where you are sorted into one of the four houses at Hogwarts and you make your way through challenges and complete levels. This was a massive success for the Harry Potter creators because it was such a hit. Millions of people signed up and played, which must have helped spread the word of the Harry Potter films even more.

The T.V spot is a trailer which is summarised into around 30 seconds for television. Most adverts on TV are around that length as well and because so many people watch TV, especially between the hours of 5:00pm and 11:00pm, it helps promote the film even more as it is showing the trailer to a wider audience. Even though it is shorter, it is summarised to a level where still, all the key information is featured and it is very fast paced and exciting still.

Merchandise has always played a massive factor in the publicity of the Harry Potter films. You can buy things such as cloaks, wands, wizard hats, chocolate frogs and other Harry Potter themed items. By purchasing these items (mainly aimed at a younger audience but not always) it is making the buyer seem more involved with the film and may make them feel more part of the story.

I personally think that the marketing and promotion of all Harry Potter films, not just The Deathly Hallows was done brilliantly, not only on the success of all of the previous films but on it's extraordinary ability to "tease" the audience with trailers and posters and convince the audiences to go and watch the films. I think another factor to Harry Potter's success was it's directors and production team. There has never been an "average" Harry Potter film, in my opinion. The editing, mise-en-scene, directing, actors and filming has always been of such a quality standard. This might make audiences want to go and watch the upcoming Harry Potter films because traditionally, the first film is always the best when you have a group of films being produced which all follow the same storyline. An example of this is The Hangover. The first Hangover film had a massive success with rave reviews regarding how funny the film was and the plot it was based around. However when The Hangover 2 came out, it wasn't so highly rated because people had already seen a film like it (the previous Hangover). Other than the location, the plot didn't change that much so viewers may have been bored by the lack of change.

RESEARCH: Analysing a Film Trailer

This is the film trailer for the new and upcoming film "As Above, So Below".  It's a horror film which is based around archaeologists in search for lost treasure in the catacombs below Paris, however they end up being at the gates of Hell.

This film trailer matches up almost perfectly to the codes and conventions of typical horror film trailers. The trailer starts off rather positive with a rather attractive woman talking and smiling before then discreetly mocking death. This is just to make everything seem "ok" before the bad stuff really starts to happen. They don't believe in demons, ghosts and ghouls etc. It is also apparent in the beginning of the trailer that it is a "hand-held camera" horror film. These are increasing in popularity because it makes the movie seem more true-to-life and more realistic!

There are many "jump scares" in the trailer. Jump scares are where the scene is intended to make you jump. By including jump scares in the movie trailer, it makes people realise how scary the film is and if it genuinely scares them, they're more likely to go and watch the movie. However, a problem I have noticed in the past is that the scary parts that are put into the trailers are usually the most scariest parts of the movies so if you happen to have seen the trailer quite a few times, you may recognise a scene from a trailer, realise something scary is about to happen and at what point and not be scared by it. This happened to me in the film "The Quiet Ones". During the trailer (which I shall link below this paragraph), all of the jump scares featured honestly did scare me whilst first watching the trailer. However, whilst watching the film, I could pick out every single one of the jump scares and there were NO other scary parts in the film, for me personally. So, this is a problem with horror film trailers for me. It's hard to make the trailer scary but not ruin the whole film.

- Trailer for The Quiet Ones

Also, throughout the trailer there is a written commentary instead of someone speaking. What I mean by this is that there is captioning talking about the history of the catacombs, who produced the film, when it's released and it also makes it personal to the audience by saying "Your past will come back to haunt you". This helps make the audience feel more scared. It's better having a written commentary for a horror film rather than having a voice over because the voice over can easily take away from the atmosphere of the film trailer.

In almost every horror film trailer I have seen, including "As Above, So Below", right before the title of the film is shown, there is always a small scene in the trailer where there is no music and something scary almost always happens. For example, in this trailer, the music cuts out and we watch a car being burned down in the catacombs with somebody inside the car. The scary part is when one of the archeologists is pulled by a strange force into the burning car. Then, straight after the title of the film is shown. This is very atmospheric as throughout the trailer, the eery music, screaming, yelling and timing of the shots is all increased and then it just suddenly cuts to this quiet scene with no screaming (at first) and absolutely no background music. It helps add tension and drama to the trailer.