The Three Act Structure

Syd Field, author of Screenplay and The Screen Writer's Workbook, has outlined a paradigm that most screenplays follow. A paradigm is a conceptual scheme. This paradigm is the structure that holds screenplays together. According to Field, screenplays follow a three-act structure, meaning the standard screenplay can be divided into three parts: Setup, Confrontation, and Resolution.
Act I comprises the first quarter of the screenplay. (For a two hour movie, Act I would last approximately 30 minutes.) As mine is a trailer, this is the first 30 seconds.
Act II comprises the next two quarters of the film. (For a two hour movie, Act II would last approximately 60 minutes.) Meaning my trailer it will be between the one minute mark.
Act III comprises the final quarter of the film. (For a two hour movie, Act III would be the final 30 minutes.) The final 30 seconds in relation to my trailer.

The Three-act Paradigm:

- http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/pruter/film/threeact.htm

Animatic Storyboard

I have produced a photomatic instead of drawing the storyboard. This is a series of still photographs presented in a sequence. I took pictures for the frames with an iphone4 to enable a clearer visual. I then recorded the sequence of photos and added a voice-over to explain what is included in that shot (e.g. dialogue and staging).

Script and shooting sequence

SCRIPT
Mother: Don't go in those woods, Matt
Matthew: I won't
Voiceover: From the makers of Inevitable
Car drives
Voiceover: A thrilling tale
Matthew: Honey! (keeps calling the dog)
Noise of spirit
Faster bmp of music- screen goes black, cutting to a range of scenes
Matthew: (voiceover) I laid low when I could've stood hight, I tried to ignore it but I don't know why. It always finds me.
struggling in his sleep, complaining to his girlfriend, isolated from family, creepy pictures overlapping and merging, switches to an isolated house and grandfather clock
Old woman: The spirit is trying to posses you
'Son Of Perdition'
Slows down at mirror scene- washes his face, figure in background
glipse of spirit, and blood
'Coming Soon'



SHOOTING SEQUENCE
http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/skills/production/shooting-sequences/shooting-video-tips.shtml
This website has enabled me to use a variety of shots and resources used in my trailer.

Blackouts in trailers

I have noticed that all teaser trailers use some sort of black screen during clips. I googled this and ironically, it came up with the film 'Blackout'. But this trailer also includes the blackouts I'm looking for! For example, there's one at 00:09 and there is a non-diegetic sound that comes with it. This technique is heavily used in my trailer to portray a sense of anxiety.

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/the-blackout/trailer

Poster experimenting and drafting

I have considered the layout of the title on the poster I will be making. In order to establish this, I have used an app on my iphone, so fonts and colours are limited.

Here I have established a typical bus stop billboard. I have decided the title will not be in the centre or dominating the whole page as this is unconventional.

This shows the changes I will be making. The first two words are in fancy writing which contrasts with the boldness of the word 'Perdition'. I have also changed the colour of the font to see how contrasting the colour white is. I will not be using a white background if the font if white.

Here is an example of the colours presented on a billboard. 'Perdition' stands out because it is in red and is the most important word in the title. The red symbolises blood/danger and the black font is dark and mysterious.

Here I have edited the picture of the house and made it into pop-art. I think this is a good effect. The colours red and black represent darkness, doom, danger and blood.

I have experimented with theme, low tone and mid tone. This one perhaps shows more detail but the colours aren't as significant.

Again, I have experimented with the colours.

I was thinking about the colour green because green orbs are associated with the supernatural.

Here I have edited the house into a mosaic style. The picture is made up of little pictures (these little pictures are ones in my photo album). I think this is very different from usual film posters. The only one I can think of that uses this effect is 'The Truman Show' - http://idratherbeworking.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/the-truman-show/. A down-side of using mosaic style is that if I write on/over it, it will not be noticed and I will need a block of a colour background like what is used in The Truman Show's poster.

This is an extreme close-up of the main character I will be using, concentrating on the scared/shocked facial expression. This is quite an extreme and over the top expression, which is needed if I will heavily edit the picture, as it needs to stand out. Notice I have edited the colour of the picture so it's black and white but left the colour of the eye to stand out. I believe emotion is also portrayed through the eyes and this is why I have done this. The rest of him is black and white to show his motionless state.

Here I have made the picture mosaic. I'm not sure if this works with a close-up picture because I think it looks too busy.

And here I have made the picture into pop-art. I like the colours red and black as these fit into my horror genre. I like how it has concentrated on the detail on the eye.

This is the font I might use for my title- found on urbanfonts.com under category 'scary'. I also love this background as it is red which connotes danger and blood, and the texture it is suggesting, almost looking 3D which is the latest, wow-factor technology. To enable it to apply to my media product, I would montage it in with my main image and replace the words with my title, tagline and credits.

Props and Location shots

PROPS, COSTUME AND MAKE-UP



This is the car I will be using. It is quite ordinary, and shows the social class of the characters.



This is what my main character will be wearing in the woods. Props include the dog lead around his neck. He is wearing a Barbour jacket which has connotations of being expensive and old fashioned as Barbour & Sons was founded in 1894, which almost fits in with my old fashioned feel to the modern century. 
http://clothesonfilm.com/how-to-read-costume-on-film/20146/ is a website that highlights the important meaning of costume.





This is the setting of the inside of the old woman's house. As you can see, it is quite old fashioned. Props in this room include:

Ornaments on the wooden table, located behind the old woman. The weighing scale and kettle are of similar make and era. I really like the old effect of the gold and rusty black; it makes them seem ancient. I used the globe because it has connotations and refers to a crystal ball. I was going to use this instead of the old woman reading the boy's palms but I changed this idea because I thought it would be more realistic and believable if I used palm reading.

Also behind the old woman is this antique shelf. As you can see, there is a black&white photograph on it. This contributed with my old-fashioned theme as it is a photo from when colour ink hadn't been invented. This may also be seen as creepy in certain horrors which is a bonus.

I like the idea of the old woman sitting in a rocking chair. Again, it is old fashioned and here I found the idea of the rocking chair moving fast when no one is in it.. like a ghost/spirit is moving it deliberately to scare. A thrilling film that also uses a rocking chair in this way is Psycho (1960).

This is the grandfather clock that is featured in my trailer. It is old fashioned like the rest of my props and fits in perfectly. I also think the shadow works well because it makes it seem bigger and adds to the mystery. I wanted to fit the top detail in because it reminds me of a cathedral, therefore biblical imagery, fitting in with the fact that it may be the devil that is trying to posses him.

This is the candle that sits on the centre table. Like the other props in the room, it is old fashioned, decorative and gold. The candle gives some sort of light into the dull room, and I have the idea that it will get blown out towards the end of the clip (the audience will not see a person blowing it out, but simply when the old woman's line is finished it will be gone, so it is almost like the spirit has entered the room.

I will be using my gran as the old creepy woman. To make her look even older, I have drawn over her lines and wrinkles in a dark brown make-up pencil so they show more. I have also used black eyeshadow for the effect around the eyes, like she hasn't slept for a long time and her eye sockets are getting worn. I have attempted to put talcum powder on her face to make her look pale (hence the red apron that she will not be wearing when filming) but unfortunately it has not worked. These make-up techniques have been applied to the main character Matthew as this scene (as he is now in distress/danger) and the spirit seen in the mirror reflection scene. The spirit will have extra paleness, blackness around the eyes and blood coming from her eye as she is the most dangerous and extreme of characters. She will also be wearing a white night dress for the feeling that she is a little girl. This innocence contrasts with the true nature of her personality which is obviously portrayed throughout my trailer.

LOCATION

This is the house of which the main character lives. Again, it is pretty average and shows the social class. The black door represents doom because of the dark colour and the fact the son of perdition enters and exits through this door. It is ironic that this is the last time he will be exiting out this door.



This is the forest where the main event(s) will take place. "Trees have traditionally been planted in many cultures in honour of an accomplishment or an important rite of passage such as a graduation, wedding, retirement or the birth of a child. This tradition is also appropriate for honouring the life of a loved one at the loved one's passing." - http://livingartsoriginals.com/infoforests.htm#planting. This is a hidden meaning and connotes why I have chosen a forest. It is not because of a graduation or wedding etc; it indicates the life of a loved one's passing. Forests are usually conventional for horrors because they are dark, mysterious and hidden.

This is the house of the old woman that my main character goes to see for help. I chose this house because it is surrounded in trees and in the middle of nowhere; making it creepy and isolated, just like the character of the old woman. It is quite old fashioned to fit in my theme of the Victorian age of the era in which the old woman lives, also fitting in with props found in the dark house.

 

Synopsis

'Son Of Perdition' is a thrilling horror, jam-packed with drama and theatrical psychology. We follow an 18-year-old male, Matthew Jones, as his life is intruded by a mysterious spirit when in the forbidden forest. It begins to possess him and his haunting obsession is revealed shockingly towards the end. With the help of an old, creepy medium, will his life ever be the same? And Is this spirit even real or the act of imagination? 

Representation of women

"The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female. Thus she turns herself into an object - and most particularly an object of vision: a sight" - John Berger in 'Ways of Seeing'. I think what he is saying that men objectify women when they look at them, and women watch themselves being looked at. The pleasure of looking is called Scopophilia. In my media product, I have unknowingly decided to use moderately attractive women through a fault of lack of choice. However, this may attract more males as a audience. I may also relate my trailer product with the Oedipus complex because it involves a brief connection between mother and son. Laura Mulvey (1975) states that psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud associates Scopophilia with "taking other people as objects, subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze... at the extreme, it can become fixated into a perversion, producing obsessive voyeurs and Peeping Tom's whose only sexual satisfaction can come from watching, in an active controlling sense, an objectified other".
She argues that the environment of the cinema a "hermetically sealed world which unwinds magically" with its lack of light and inability to interact with other spectators produces the ideal environment for voyeurism where spectators can look in on a "private world". She also argues that the gaze of the male spectator is united with that of the male protagonist. They become one man, looking at women. As I am using a male protagonist, this may happen but hopefully the main content of horror will distract and take-away from this.
'Rear Window' by Alfred Hitchcock has influenced my product of representations. Although I have a male protagonist, he is also the victim which deliberately goes against the traditional representations. Similarly to this film, I previously decided I could of added an extra female to the trailer to represent how the camera will not embody the males 'gaze'. If I add in the main characters partner, there will not only be intertextual romance but similar to Rear Window, the man will be more occupied/disturbed by his observations than that of the girlfriend. I would use this if I was making an extension trailer or the whole film.

How the character changes

'1408' is about a man who specializes in debunking paranormal occurrences checks into the fabled room 1408 in the Dolphin Hotel. Soon after settling in, he confronts genuine terror.

In films like these (another example is Phonebooth) the main male character is introduced as selfish and arrogant. Freytag's pyramid diagrammed every story's plot. However, In my opinion, I think one can similarly do this for a character and how what they've been through has changed them from start to finish. Perhaps the character deserves the incident they are placed in, and this is the purpose of the stories; to change morals. For example, the protagonist's mother told him not to go in the woods, yet he lied and he did enter the woods. Thus, he perhaps caused the 'problem' himself, like walking into a fire or the boy who cried wolf.

Freytag's pyramid consists of:

1. Exposition: introduces the characters and setting, providing description and background. (setting the scene).

2. Inciting Incident: something happens to begin the action. A single event usually signals the beginning of the main conflict. The inciting incident is often referred to as the complication.

3. Rising Action: the story builds and gets more exciting.

4. Climax: the moment of greatest tension in a story. This is often the most exciting event and the rising action builds up to this, and that of which the falling action follows.

5. Falling Action: events happen as a result of the climax and we know that the story will soon end.

6. Resolution: the character solves the main problem/conflict or someone solves it for him or her.

7. Denouement: the ending. At this point, any remaining secrets, questions or mysteries which remain after the resolution are solved by the characters or explained by the author. Sometimes the author leaves us to think about the theme or future possibilities for the characters which could result in another film.

The highlighted points are ones I will use in my trailer. As it is only a teaser trailer, these points will be brief and I will not reveal the ending or how to solve the problem.


Source: http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/freytag.html

Representation in 'This is England' compared to my own media product

I think This Is England is a gritty social realism film, which partially covers racial aspects through their culture. The main themes in the film are racism, violence and the 80’s skinhead society in which they live. These aspects are portrayed through their masculinity stereotype. A character that is strong, racist and violent and follows the masculine stereotypes is Combo. He acts like a father figure towards Shaun, by buying him new clothes and when they get close, Shaun shows his trust in him when they are racist and steal from a man’s shop. The rest of the gang see him as superior (he has been in prison which makes him more menacing). The director Shaun Meadow’s has constructed Propp’s hero and villain theory where each character is shown in a hierarchy status showing the individuals level of masculinity. It is clear that there is no prejudice portrayed through the representation of age as the young boy easily enters their gang and even has an older girlfriend. However, the representation of race is a highly controversial and important content. Although there is a man of different race in the gang, Combo deliberately intimidates ‘Milky’ when talking about England and the economic crisis. Combo is proud of his country and thinks that foreign people are taking white peoples jobs. I think Combo beats up Milky near the end because he is jealous. He realises that Milky has a nice, big family, where as Combo never had this or a dad to look up to. Because of this, he blames Milky’s race and this is the aspect which he takes his anger out on.




Unlike This Is England, my media product will not have any racism in it because my horror genre is all about the future, and I think many things have changed since the 80's. My product focuses more on the genre than its themes. However, similar to This Is England, I will be using violence. The type of violence and how it is used will be different. In This Is England, the violence includes destroying and vandalising houses (even though my character is a teenager he will not be doing this because it is not central to the plot) and fighting eachother, such as when Combo beats up Milky. My trailer will be targeted at niche audiences and therefore apart of arthouse cinema, as is This Is England. One way we can tell this is because there are no (extreme) special effects.


Representations in my media product:
Genre- A horror genre will be conveyed by the build up of tension through the clip. This will be shown by the use of dark lighting, shadows, edgy music, sound effects, vulnerability of the victim and fast cut editing.
Class- The small sized house represents working class. 
Gender- The gender representation is not stereotypical for a horror. By challenging conventions, I will make the male the victim. Also, a male is taking the dog for a walk, not a female which shows how the hierarchy of gender has changed from what it would have been in the 1980's.
Age- The teenager is the one to take the dog for a walk, while typically the mother of the boy tells the boy to be careful (stereotypical caring mother). 
Race- White-British.
Disability- None.

Health & Safety



I have visited http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/production/health-and-safety in order for health and safety advice during filming. I have outlined in red the most important advice I need to follow. Because it will be getting dark in the forest, I will be bringing extra lighting equipment such as a torch. It also says at least one member of the crew needs to have an awareness of health and safety issues- ironically, last year I took part health and safety programme/course lasting for about half a day. It poses that horror films and films involving animals are most risky. As I am taking on both these assets, I will discuss with the actors/actresses the dangerous possibilities to be avoided. For example, the dog I will be using needs to be supervised at all times.

Five steps to risk assessment aims to help assess health and safety risks:

1. Identify the hazards
2. Decide who might be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risks and decide on precaution
4. Record your findings and implement them
5. Review your assessment and update if necessary

Questionnaire response

As you can see, 56% were females and 44% were male. These responses may be biased as most of my friends are female. It may also be because females are stereotypically more likely to help.
The majority of the people are in the 15-20 age range which means I need to target this age group. My questionnaire was clearly targeted at a small demographic of people, therefore my audience targeted will be a small amount of people (niche audiences).
Most people visit the cinema once a month according to these results. This is what I expected because when people go to the cinema, it is for an occasion or it is just to go with friends for something to do.
I got some detailed responses for number 4. Most of the audience like horror films, with some exceptions.
Overall, to determine a good trailer I need it to be an insighting storyline but not giving too much away, fast paced, intense music that gradually builds up and perhaps a voice-over so that it speaks the audience and involves them more.

Storyboard 1st draft

Furthur analysis; Hot Fuzz

http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/features/video/id/161/teaser-trailer-2
The trailer sets the police scene immediately. The intro contains a guy pretty obviously shop lifting. The policeman comes and there is a close up of both characters eyes, as they know what's going to happen. The next clip shows the comical aspect of the film, and here the audience can positively define the genre; Action/Comedy. Once this is established, the universal logo comes up, then a clip, then another editing slide saying 'from the team that brought you Shaun of the Dead'. Shaun of the dead is in bold so the audience suddenly recognises it, and it is also the same colour and logo of the film. I have noticed that most trailers present the name of the film and then a short clip until it finishes. The scene is light, showing the light-hearted comedy the film contains.
I doubt the film gets much criticism, but it does however use stereotypical teenagers, such as the one in the trailer. Also, The Daily Mirror only gave Hot Fuzz 2/5, stating that "many of the jokes miss their target" as the film becomes more action-based. Daily Mail also shared The Mirror's view, saying that "It's the lack of any serious intent that means too much of it is desperately unamusing, and unamusingly desperate".
At the beginning of the trailer there is synchronous sound of an over-voice in a supermarket to set the scene. The trailer then gets exciting when Simon Pegg says "excuse me" and the light, non-diegetic music is played. This sound represents light-hearted comedy and tension. There is also synchronous sound of their clothes rustling as they run away, to give the impression that they are running fast in determination. When the policemen get to the gardens, there is a change in music. This non-diegetic music makes the first policeman seem cool, edgy and rebellious. The music then gets louder, as editing is inserted including the title and the voice-over. There is also a metal sound when the title is underlined, and I think this is very masculine because it adds to the bold title and the manly voice. A key point is when the other policeman copies him and crashes into the fence- the music immediately stops when this happens indicating dumbness. Diegetic sounds of him struggling and out of breathe also shows that he is not used to this, and perhaps not fit enough to be a policeman which is very comical.


Lighting is used in the picture to attract certain details, such as the image reflecting from their sunglasses. In this case, the dark shadows isn't used to emphasis the villain, it is perhaps used to show that the characters are 'cool' and to represent the minor dark element to the film. Like my poster, I will also use a close-up of my main character. The colours used are black, white and a hint of blue (like police uniforms). The black and the white colours are juxtaposed to the blue. Black is associated with mysteriousness and darkness, where as, the white's connotation is purity and innocence. Both blue and white represent a calm and earthy feel. Both characters look serious, perhaps hiding the comical side. However, I think they look a bit too serious! The fact that they are both doing exactly the same thing, with cocktail sticks in their mouth is quite humorous.

Ideas for mise-en-scene, props, costume and cast

Ideas for mise-en-scene, props, costume and cast on Prezi

Horror title ideas

Here are some ideas that I have put forward for a title:

- See no evil (cannot use this as it is already a film! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437179/)

- Watch your back

- Who's behind you?

- Your time is up

- The trial

- Unseen

- The watching
- Perdition

I have also taken a look at this article from http://thewritingplace.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/how-to-choose-a-good-title-for-your-story/ on advice on how to choose a good title, as seen below:

By looking at this article, I am going to be conventional and choose a title containing 3 words. I have come up with... 'Son of Perdition'. Perdition means a state of eternal punishment and damnation into which a sinful and unpenitent person passes after death. 'Unpenitent' means having no remorse, so to relate to my trailer, when the boy looses his dog he's not all that bothered (which isn't really realistic?!). Son of perdition is a phrase that appears in the New Testament in the Gospel of John 17:12 and in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians 2:3. In addition to the Christian faith, my main character has a tattoo of a cross on his arm.

Initial Ideas

The Trailer
I have been looking at a few trailers to get inspiration, and I have decided that I would like to make a horror teaser trailer, just like The Woman in Black:

Unfortunately, Daniel Radcliffe won't be starring in my film.












The Website
Similar layouts that could be used:
http://practicalmagic.warnerbros.com/
http://www.saw6movie.co.uk/
http://harrypotter.warnerbros.com/harrypotterandthedeathlyhallows/mainsite/index.html

The Poster
"Today's posters often feature photographs of the main actors. Prior to the 1990s, illustrations instead of photos were far more common. The text on movie posters usually contains the film title in large lettering and often the names of the main actors. It may also include a tag line, the name of the director, names of characters, the release date, etc."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_poster
60 extremely creative movie posters- http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/extremely-creative-movie-posters/
Material and sizes of the poster on a billboard - http://www.dimensionsguide.com/billboard-dimensions/

Target Audience
Like any other mainstream horror films, my target audience are both males and females between ages 15-30. The main character in my film is 18, which fits my target audience range; so many people may be able to relate to the character's personality.   UKtribes.com is a website that shows the stereotypes of teenagers.

How the products will relate/support each other
A trailer, website and poster are all visual; therefore they will include the same dark/dull colours to match the mood, and the same logo of the title of the film. The website will include the trailer and a spread-out version of the poster.

Potential routes for exhibition and distribution
Trailer: shown in cinema and television advertisements
Website: advertised on social networking sites, on the poster, radio, film magazines
Poster: presented on bus stops, buses, billboards, outside cinemas, newspapers, magazines, packaging, flyers

Skill-sets necessary for production including your own strengths and need for training
- Knowledge of location (woods, abandoned warehouse)
- Experience of filming and editing
- Knowledge of camera equipment and camera angles/shots

Time-management

Most mainstream trailers last approximately 2 minutes. The time making the trailer will depend on acting and camera performance. One night will not be enough to capture all shots needed for the trailer. An estimated 2-3 nights will cover all shots needed. Editing will be the most time-consuming and will take up to a week. 

The Brief

From the 13 set briefs to chose from, I have chosen number 2 as I feel I've more experience with this than the others. The brief I have chosen is:
A promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:
- A website homepage for the film;
- A film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
- A poster for the film.


The options I have chosen are highlighted.