- Low key lighting
- Quick cuts
- Tension music
- The unknown
- Range of shots
- Antagonist has hidden identity
- Familiar and unfamiliar locations
- Audience is unclear on what exactly is happening
- Violence is featured
- Good v Evil
- At least one thriller genre (crime/psychological/horror/sci-fi etc.) featured
Saturday, 31 October 2015
Conventions of a Horror/Thriller Film
Conventions of a horror/thriller film are an important thing to know when creating your own horror/thriller film. Therefore, these are what I believe to be conventions of such a film:
Conventions of a Trailer
In order to make a good trailer, the conventions of a film trailer must be established. These are:
- Low-key lighting
- Fast-paced music and clips
- Intertitles/voiceover
- Film production logo
- Film title
- Hashtag/website
- Film certificate
- Character introductions
Wednesday, 21 October 2015
First Thoughts: Editing
We already have some ideas about how we are going to edit our trailer. We want it to be a montage as this is a key convention of trailers that we want to follow. The montage will be in non-chronological order.
One idea we have for our trailer in terms of editing is two split in into two sections. The first section would be slow paced editing, while the second would be fast paced to build tension and excite the audience. We may add fade to blacks when we feel they fit, but our main aim is to edit the shots to the beat of the music, especially in the second section.
We also plan for many of our shots to be dark to fit the horror and thriller genre. However we are also aware that it is difficult to get the right level of darkness when filming. Therefore we plan to film some shots in the light and then change the opacity of the clips to make them appear darker. This was we had control of the lighting and weren't trying to film everything in a short period of time in the evening.
We want to add some sound effects such as screaming and snapping twigs. We want to film the twig snapping sound ourselves and unlink the audio to the video.
One idea we have for our trailer in terms of editing is two split in into two sections. The first section would be slow paced editing, while the second would be fast paced to build tension and excite the audience. We may add fade to blacks when we feel they fit, but our main aim is to edit the shots to the beat of the music, especially in the second section.
We also plan for many of our shots to be dark to fit the horror and thriller genre. However we are also aware that it is difficult to get the right level of darkness when filming. Therefore we plan to film some shots in the light and then change the opacity of the clips to make them appear darker. This was we had control of the lighting and weren't trying to film everything in a short period of time in the evening.
We want to add some sound effects such as screaming and snapping twigs. We want to film the twig snapping sound ourselves and unlink the audio to the video.
Thursday, 8 October 2015
First Thoughts: Music and Sound
In terms of non-diegetic sound, we haven't decided exactly what we want, especially in terms of what music we want. We only have a few basic ideas for what we are looking for. In the pitch we talked about wanting a track that is "fast-paced" and "reaches a crescendo" in time with the action on screen. However, in the pitch we also highlighted the significance of silence and the implications that it brings. The contrast between the fast music and the silence could emphasise a particular moment.
The trailer will have two different parts, a slower paced, happier montage and then a fast-paced dramatic montage. Therefore, we may choose to use two different tracks, so as to really highlight that the mood has changed.
Another element of sound that we know that we want is a voiceover of the main character Holly giving a brief explanation of what the story is about.(i.e. "I think I might be haunted.") We are, however, unsure whether we actually want this to be diegetic or non-diegetic, as we could show Holly's face as she is saying this, which would give us the opportunity to show how scared she is.
Apart from this, we don't plan to have any other diegetic sound in our trailer.
The trailer will have two different parts, a slower paced, happier montage and then a fast-paced dramatic montage. Therefore, we may choose to use two different tracks, so as to really highlight that the mood has changed.
Another element of sound that we know that we want is a voiceover of the main character Holly giving a brief explanation of what the story is about.(i.e. "I think I might be haunted.") We are, however, unsure whether we actually want this to be diegetic or non-diegetic, as we could show Holly's face as she is saying this, which would give us the opportunity to show how scared she is.
Apart from this, we don't plan to have any other diegetic sound in our trailer.
Monday, 5 October 2015
First Thoughts: Plot
After being given the brief to create a Thriller trailer, we had several ideas for a movie plot. Here are some of our first thoughts and ideas:
- A girl is at a large party, perhaps a party of one of her friends. However in the background of many shots there is a man who is likely to have not been invited. It is unclear to the audience whether this man is real, a ghost or a figment of the main character's imagination. The trailer would then include parallels of the party (i.e. screams of excitement) with a girl (possibly the main character) being attacked (i.e. screams of fear or pain).
- The main character, obsessed with the supernatural, takes part in several activities that could lead to summoning a spirit/ghost/the supernatural including a Ouija board and a pentagram. They then get possessed and start attacking innocent people.
- A girl starts to receive photos of her in her bedroom, in public, at school and in other situations, as she is in those situations. This suggests that she is being stalked but she cannot tell who by because there is never the same person around when she receives these photos.
- A couple move in to a new house, and there is a door that doesn't open, but there is no lock on the door and no clear reason why the door won't open. There is no exterior window. However the room is next to their bedroom and at night the couple can hear noises coming from the locked room. They wake up one morning to find polaroids of bodies stuck to the door, suggesting that these photos were taken inside the room.
Many of these ideas were combined and developed to create our final plot, including an obsession with the supernatural, a potential stalker and not knowing whether the problems are being caused by a ghost or by an actual person.
- A girl is at a large party, perhaps a party of one of her friends. However in the background of many shots there is a man who is likely to have not been invited. It is unclear to the audience whether this man is real, a ghost or a figment of the main character's imagination. The trailer would then include parallels of the party (i.e. screams of excitement) with a girl (possibly the main character) being attacked (i.e. screams of fear or pain).
- The main character, obsessed with the supernatural, takes part in several activities that could lead to summoning a spirit/ghost/the supernatural including a Ouija board and a pentagram. They then get possessed and start attacking innocent people.
- A girl starts to receive photos of her in her bedroom, in public, at school and in other situations, as she is in those situations. This suggests that she is being stalked but she cannot tell who by because there is never the same person around when she receives these photos.
- A couple move in to a new house, and there is a door that doesn't open, but there is no lock on the door and no clear reason why the door won't open. There is no exterior window. However the room is next to their bedroom and at night the couple can hear noises coming from the locked room. They wake up one morning to find polaroids of bodies stuck to the door, suggesting that these photos were taken inside the room.
Many of these ideas were combined and developed to create our final plot, including an obsession with the supernatural, a potential stalker and not knowing whether the problems are being caused by a ghost or by an actual person.
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