In order to create a film trailer, it was important that we first established the overall storyline/narrative/plot of our film. Our plot is as follows.
Two young children, Holly and Michael, are family friends, and grow up together being very close. However as the pair get older, Holly becomes popular and fed up of Michael being incredibly clingy around her. The film begins with three girls sitting with a badly drawn pentagram, trying to summon the devil - two of the girls are incredibly into this activity and the other is sceptical, and quite scared. The girls believe that the pentagram has done nothing and give up. However, when possessions of Holly's friends start disappearing, the girls realise that their actions may have done something after all. When more strange happenings begin to happen to all of Holly's friends but not Holly, she starts to think that maybe she is the problem.
The situation escalates when one of Holly's closest friends, Natalie, goes missing. Believing it to be the work of spirits yet still her fault, Holly is too scared to tell the police exactly what has happened as they begin their search for her. The friends of the protagonist all begin to get injured, and Holly pushes everyone away, believing she is the common denominator in everything that is going dangerously wrong. Despite completely isolating herself, the important people in Holly's life are still being targeted by something or someone, but Holly (still believing this is the work of a supernatural being) feels that she cannot tell the police too much information.
She gets several phone calls off of her old friend Michael, which she tries to decline. After a few hours, she finally picks up the call to hear Michael tell her that he is in a ditch after being attacked. She goes and helps him, and then tells him that he shouldn't contact her or talk to her if he wants to stay safe.
Holly begins to lose her mind now that she has completely isolated herself from any support that she may have, including from her mother, Sarah. In addition, she holds herself responsible for the disappearance of her friend and the injuries of her other friends. Furthermore, Holly thinks that she is being stalked and that there is always someone watching her.
Towards the end of the film, the real cause of the crime, hurt and destruction around Holly is revealed to be from her old family friend Michael. Michael didn't like the fact that Holly had other friends and didn't really want to spend any time with him. He became angry and vindictive, and started to commit small crimes like stealing the purse of one of her friends, or breaking something valuable of theirs.
However the paranoia increases and he becomes more psychotic and lashes out at one of Holly's friends, and while another of her friends, Natalie, is on the way to meet her, Michael successfully manages to kidnap her. Not knowing that Holly believed that she was haunted, Michael became worried that Holly would realise it was him that was causing all the danger. Therefore he caused his own injury in the ditch to make him appear a victim, and rule him out as a suspect, both to Holly and to the audience. This is particularly emphasised as Michael is not featured heavily in the film apart from in the ditch scene and the end reveal.
Natalie is found still alive but Holly's closest friend Amy is shown to have been killed by Michael.
Tuesday, 22 December 2015
Thursday, 17 December 2015
Settings and Locations
These are some photos of some of our chosen locations for our film/trailer. The first photo is of some tables in a school, which is a natural setting for a girl of school age to be in. By using this setting we are able to create a verisimilitude. This location is used in the first part of the trailer, when Holly's life is being represented as normal and happy. School settings are seen often in thriller films, such as The Gallows. The next photo is, once again, from a school setting. The lockers also create verisimilitude and like the tables, are featured in the first part of the trailer when Holly is being portrayed as being a perfectly normal school girl.
This photo is of a line of trees, which we decided would be a good place to film. It creates a feeling of isolation due to them being in such an open space but nobody being around. It also creates the feeling and illusion of being trapped, inside the rows of trees, despite the fact that it is outside. This is similar to Last House on the Left where they drag an injured person through the woods.
The below photo is the location that a dead body is found in the film.
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Title
A key part of creating a film is coming up with a good title. Therefore we wrote the plot first and then came up with titles that alluded to events and concepts from within the film. For example:
As Yet Unknown was the first suggestion, referencing the fact that Holly didn't know what was going on and who, if anyone, was hurting her friends.
The Unknown was clearly a very similar suggestion to the previous one, once again referring to the fact that Holly didn't know what was happening. It also simply refers to one of the biggest fears of many people.
Isolation was suggested because throughout the film, Holly pushes everyone close to her away until she has no one - she isolates herself.
All Eyes On You clearly connotes the idea of being watched, and although I believe it is an effective title, we found that as we developed our plot and ideas, it didn't quite fit with the storyline.
Secrets, as a title, would allude to the fact that Michael was responsible for Holly's misfortune, however this wasn't something we wanted to make clear until the end. In addition, there is a film from 1992 called Secrets and a film from 2007 called The Shadows.
In The Shadows was the title we chose to use. It was more obscure than The Unknown but still suggested the concept of unknown and unfamiliarity. It connotes that the supernatural may be involved but still fits, perhaps even better, when the audience discover that Michael is the problem.
We were worried that there would already be a film called In The Shadows but after investigation we could on find the 2014 film What We Do In The Shadows. Although it was released recently, we hope that there will be enough significant differentiation between the two films for them to be easily distinguishable, especially as they have different genres with our film being a horror/thriller and What We Do In The Shadows is described as a "mockumentary horror comedy".
As Yet Unknown was the first suggestion, referencing the fact that Holly didn't know what was going on and who, if anyone, was hurting her friends.
The Unknown was clearly a very similar suggestion to the previous one, once again referring to the fact that Holly didn't know what was happening. It also simply refers to one of the biggest fears of many people.
Isolation was suggested because throughout the film, Holly pushes everyone close to her away until she has no one - she isolates herself.
All Eyes On You clearly connotes the idea of being watched, and although I believe it is an effective title, we found that as we developed our plot and ideas, it didn't quite fit with the storyline.
Secrets, as a title, would allude to the fact that Michael was responsible for Holly's misfortune, however this wasn't something we wanted to make clear until the end. In addition, there is a film from 1992 called Secrets and a film from 2007 called The Shadows.
In The Shadows was the title we chose to use. It was more obscure than The Unknown but still suggested the concept of unknown and unfamiliarity. It connotes that the supernatural may be involved but still fits, perhaps even better, when the audience discover that Michael is the problem.
We were worried that there would already be a film called In The Shadows but after investigation we could on find the 2014 film What We Do In The Shadows. Although it was released recently, we hope that there will be enough significant differentiation between the two films for them to be easily distinguishable, especially as they have different genres with our film being a horror/thriller and What We Do In The Shadows is described as a "mockumentary horror comedy".
Friday, 11 December 2015
Production Company Logo
Above is the production company logo that we have chosen to use. Instead of using a logo from last year, we decided to create a completely original one. Not only does it add a personal touch (Lucy, Eva, Viki: the names of everyone in my group), it is also short and memorable. The colours are an easily recognisable and the pattern combined with the colours is often associated with technology such as computers. However, we believe that the production logo may not actually fit with the genre of film that we are trying to create. There are a few things that we are considering to make the logo more fitting. Firstly, we may simply darken the colours of the production logo, meaning that we keep the red, blue and green but they have a more sinister appearance to them. Another option is changing the circles to black, white and red; colours that are commonly associated with the horror/thriller genre. Our last idea is to change the middle circle to a pentagram - a significant image from the film itself.
Here is the original design for the production company logo, designed by Viki and Eva. Although the colours and sans serif font remained the same, we decided to change the pattern as there was no real significance to it.
Monday, 7 December 2015
Characters
Holly, 17 - main character and protagonist - 'In the Shadows' focuses on Holly and her journey as she believes that she is haunted. This belief comes from two main events in her life: attempting to summon a demon with a poorly drawn pentagram (due to her increasing interest in the supernatural) at the start of the film, and then throughout the film her friends and people she spends time with begin to either go missing, or get injured, or towards the end of the film, die. Holly has short brown hair and is very pretty, with good grades and a stable home life. Overall she is viewed by most as normal and fairly average.
Holly's sexuality is alluded to in the film, as she is asexual (she doesn't experience sexual attraction). Although we made sure it wasn't the main character train of our main character, we felt like the representation it could give of the sexuality was important. This is also a significant factor of her friendship with the antagonist Michael, as he is obsessed with her, and when he discovers this fact about her he doesn't understand and this causes more problems in their friendship. Holly already quite dislikes Michael due to his obsessiveness towards her and tries to avoid him when she can, despite the fact that they grew up together. We chose the name 'Holly' due to the connotations attached. The Holly plant is well known for being spikey and sharp. This suggests that Holly can hurt those around her. She is played by Shauna Ellis.
Michael, 17 - antagonist - Although Michael is eventually revealed to be the "baddie" in the film, he is only featured in the film a few times, and is actually only a side character until the end, when a series of flashbacks explain the story and Michael's involvement. He hasn't really got any friends but was a close family friend of Holly's as they grew up. He develops an obsession with Holly and begins to get jealous when she attempt to "shake him off" by not spending any time with him and avoiding him as much as possible. The aim of the film is to make Michael seem insignificant in the film until the end so that the audience don't suspect that he is the reason for Holly's friends misfortune, instead of the supernatural. As Holly no longer spends any time with him, or particularly cares about him, Michael grows more obsessive, desperate and paranoid, and so starts victimising Holly's friends to try and make Holly spend more time with him instead of anyone else. We chose the name Michael as it is quite a common, average name and so wouldn't necessarily be a suspect. He is played by Matthew Robson.
Amy, 17 - Holly's best friend Amy is the first victim of Michael, and although this begins with small things such as having her purse stolen but she is killed by Michael near the end of the film, as he becomes more psychotic and paranoid. As Holly and Amy are so close, Holly confides in her friend about the belief that she is haunted, cursed or being stalked. However when Holly notices that the crimes are happening to her closest friends she attempts to cut her out in order to save her. Clearly this does not work as Michael gets angrier and ends up killing Amy. She doesn't like Michael as she notices that he behaves in a strange manner. She is played by me, Lucy Robson.
Natalie, 17 - Natalie is another close friend of Holly's and another victim of Michael's crimes. She has a strong interest in ghosts and the supernatural and got Holly interested in it too. Although the two girls are close, they only recently became friends. Michael kidnaps Natalie so she can't go and meet Holly when they had arranged to go out together. She is played by Eva Bennett.
Sarah, 42 - Another main character in 'In the Shadows' is Holly's mum Sarah. She is close friends of Michael's mother and wants Holly to be friends with him, but is put in a difficult position when Holly expresses her dislike of him and his obsession. Holly and Sarah are close but Holly doesn't share her fears with her mum. She is played by Helen Robson.
Holly's sexuality is alluded to in the film, as she is asexual (she doesn't experience sexual attraction). Although we made sure it wasn't the main character train of our main character, we felt like the representation it could give of the sexuality was important. This is also a significant factor of her friendship with the antagonist Michael, as he is obsessed with her, and when he discovers this fact about her he doesn't understand and this causes more problems in their friendship. Holly already quite dislikes Michael due to his obsessiveness towards her and tries to avoid him when she can, despite the fact that they grew up together. We chose the name 'Holly' due to the connotations attached. The Holly plant is well known for being spikey and sharp. This suggests that Holly can hurt those around her. She is played by Shauna Ellis.
Michael, 17 - antagonist - Although Michael is eventually revealed to be the "baddie" in the film, he is only featured in the film a few times, and is actually only a side character until the end, when a series of flashbacks explain the story and Michael's involvement. He hasn't really got any friends but was a close family friend of Holly's as they grew up. He develops an obsession with Holly and begins to get jealous when she attempt to "shake him off" by not spending any time with him and avoiding him as much as possible. The aim of the film is to make Michael seem insignificant in the film until the end so that the audience don't suspect that he is the reason for Holly's friends misfortune, instead of the supernatural. As Holly no longer spends any time with him, or particularly cares about him, Michael grows more obsessive, desperate and paranoid, and so starts victimising Holly's friends to try and make Holly spend more time with him instead of anyone else. We chose the name Michael as it is quite a common, average name and so wouldn't necessarily be a suspect. He is played by Matthew Robson.
Amy, 17 - Holly's best friend Amy is the first victim of Michael, and although this begins with small things such as having her purse stolen but she is killed by Michael near the end of the film, as he becomes more psychotic and paranoid. As Holly and Amy are so close, Holly confides in her friend about the belief that she is haunted, cursed or being stalked. However when Holly notices that the crimes are happening to her closest friends she attempts to cut her out in order to save her. Clearly this does not work as Michael gets angrier and ends up killing Amy. She doesn't like Michael as she notices that he behaves in a strange manner. She is played by me, Lucy Robson.
Natalie, 17 - Natalie is another close friend of Holly's and another victim of Michael's crimes. She has a strong interest in ghosts and the supernatural and got Holly interested in it too. Although the two girls are close, they only recently became friends. Michael kidnaps Natalie so she can't go and meet Holly when they had arranged to go out together. She is played by Eva Bennett.
Sarah, 42 - Another main character in 'In the Shadows' is Holly's mum Sarah. She is close friends of Michael's mother and wants Holly to be friends with him, but is put in a difficult position when Holly expresses her dislike of him and his obsession. Holly and Sarah are close but Holly doesn't share her fears with her mum. She is played by Helen Robson.
Tuesday, 1 December 2015
Script
We have decided that the trailer for 'In the Shadows' will include almost no dialogue, and instead be made up of two montages. Therefore the script for the trailer is very simple, with only a few voiceovers. Apart from that, the only sounds during the trailer will be music and perhaps an occasional sound effect. The general layout of our trailer, including the script, is as follows:
[film production logo fading to black]
[cut to Holly]
Holly (crying, looking scared): Weird things keep happening.
[fade to black]
[first montage of scenes of Holly looking happy, with friends and family]
[cut to black screen]
Amy (voiceover): So what's the problem?
[ second montage of several fast cuts of 'bad things' happening to Holly and her friends]
[cut to black]
[film title]
[institutional information]
[cut back to Holly]
Holly (same scene as earlier): Help me.
[cut to black]
[film production logo fading to black]
[cut to Holly]
Holly (crying, looking scared): Weird things keep happening.
[fade to black]
[first montage of scenes of Holly looking happy, with friends and family]
[cut to black screen]
Amy (voiceover): So what's the problem?
[ second montage of several fast cuts of 'bad things' happening to Holly and her friends]
[cut to black]
[film title]
[institutional information]
[cut back to Holly]
Holly (same scene as earlier): Help me.
[cut to black]
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