Research And Planning - Trailer Conventions

• Gentle/Quiet music to start
• Increased Music Pace
• Establishing Shots
• Close ups of protagonist
• Loud Sounds
• Fast Cuts
• Jump Cuts
• Screaming, loud dialogue
• Establishment of plot (without giving away too much)
• Production Company/Distributer Shown

Research And Planning - The Notebook

 

As part of my research, I decided to watch the romantic film- The Notebook. The story is told by an elderly man, who is looking back on the past through a 'notebook', which he is reading to an elderly woman. The story follows a young couple as they share a summer 'love affair.'  The girl, Allie, has disapproving parents, who stop the couple from being together.  This shows that in order to make a 'good' romance film, there should be something stopping the love from continuing, which therefore makes the audience long for it more. High key lighting is used throughout- the couple visit 'nice' public places such as parks and beaches- these will be easy to obtain as they can be filmed on location. At the end of the film, it comes clear that the story the elderly man is reading is the story of him and his wife (who he is reading to), they then go on to die in each others arms. By adding such a harrowing ending, the film was more hardhitting and left more of an impact, and so this is something I could consider bringing into my trailer somehow.

Research And Planning - Insidious: Chapter 2 Trailer

I just came across a trailer for an upcoming horror film Insidious: Chapter 2. The trailer is relevant to my research as it is something similar to that what I wish to create- being a modern day horror film trailer, which is both professional looking and engaging. The trailer begins with nice, light hearted music which makes everything seem 'okay.' However, as the music cuts, 'scary' things begin to happen. The trailer has several loud noises when you do not expect them to make you jump- everything goes very silent and then you are caught off guard. This trailer then goes on to use creepier music and whispers, and these both create a much more sinister feel. For my trailer I will consider this, and try out using a variety of sounds and different kinds of music in order to create something that is engaging, unique, and scary. 

Research And Planning - The Sixth Sense

 

I decided to watch 'classic' horror film The Sixth Sense. Although the film was released in 1999 it is still well looked up to and enjoyed today, and so I thought this would be a good film to look at for a source of inspiration. The film its self has few 'scary' parts, and I think that this is what makes it so uniquely intriguing. The film follows the life of a psychologist as he seeks to help a troubled young boy. The boy states how he sees dead people, however, instead of having this as a running thing throughout this is revealed far into the film, and this build of suspense is very appealing. As the 'ghosts' show, it is very unexpected- they come as he is talking or playing for example, and he usually says some form of sentence as an introduction to them being there. This, I believe, created a much more eery feel to the film, and so this is something I could input into my trailer. By adding a small piece of dialogue to introduce the characters there is more suspense, and I believe this is needed within the trailer to make the film look more engaging.

Research And Planning - Mama

The other evening I watched the beginning of the horror film Mama. The film was set mostly in a home, and I was surprised to see that most of the lighting was in fact high key and in a home setting. This made the events seem more realistic, and this therefore made it seem like the horror aspects of the film could really happen. However, I do believe too much time was spent in the home setting, and that this became boring and hard to watch. From this I have decided that variation is very important, and so in my trailer I will ensure to use both high and low key lighting as this will make things seem more realistic, but will also make the film seem more engaging and watchable.

Research And Planning - The Conjuring

I recently went to see a new horror film called The Conjuring. The film was set around the 'true story' of a family moving into a farm house, and being haunted by a variety of spirits. The film used mostly low key lighting and most of the 'activity' happened during the night time. However sometimes, high key lighting was used, and the set up of the scene would seem very normal, and this therefore made the audience more shocked when something occurred. This is something I could consider bringing into my trailer, if I choose horror, as if I include a 'settled' feeling and then add something to make the audience jump, such as a loud bang, my trailer will be more appealing and will have more of a professional feel to it due to it having similarities with big budget up to date horrors.

Research And Planning - The Last Song

 

The recent (2010) romance film The Last Song is good to 'look at' in order to get ideas for my trailer. The film follows a young couple, as they fall in love over summer. This seems to be a reoccuring factor within the romance films I have looked at, and so, this is an idea I could consider using. Most of the 'romance' aspects of the film happen on the beach- natural lighting is used as the couple do things such as playing in the water. This makes the film feel more realistic. The music used throughout this film is mostly piano pieces, as this is more slow and fitting to the feel of the film. The girls dad however, is revealed to be ill- this causes the couple to be 'distracted' and shows a bitter destruption to their love. By adding something like this to my trailer, it would be more engaging to the audience, and so, a 'sad' secondry story could be something I could add also.

Research And Planning - Genre

I am currently thinking about what genre I would like to do for my trailer. I am stuck between romance and horror, as I believe that these two are the ones I connect with the most. In order to make a decision I am going to research these two genres in greater depth, and then I will have a clearer understanding on what they are about and what I actually want to do.