Shooting Schedule
• Sunday 10th January- Introduction Scene
• Monday 11th January- Dead Gril Scene
• Tuesday 12th January- Car Scene
• Wednesday 13th January- Running Stairs Scene
• Thursday 14th January- Running Scene
• Firday 15th January- Character Close Up
• Saturday 16th January- Random shots
SB
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Friday, 8 January 2010
Story Bord - Detective Goose - And The really Big Case He Cant Solve, But He Tries Anyway
Below is our Story Board for our trailer.
SB
SB
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Character, Costume and Props.
Before we can create a storyboard, we have made a list of all the props and costumes we will need for our film, along with a character development. This is to give us an idea of which costumes and props will fit and relate to the style and genre of our film.
Detective Goose:- Believes himself to be extremely smart and intelligent.
Detective Goose:- Believes himself to be extremely smart and intelligent.
- Often mistaken and makes matters worse.
- Extremely unobservant.
- Oblivious to all clues.
- Tries to appear mysterious.
Costume: Will wear a long dark trench coat, white shirt, black trousers and trilby. This displaying the stereotypical, cliche appearance of a detective in film noir.
This will display how we have developed his character into the film noir style but portrayed him in away that fits in with film parody.
Male Assistant:-( Although this goes against the film noir convention of a female assistant, we believe this will fit in with the parody genre)
- Extremely smart.
- Often correcting detective.
- Discovers clues.
- The one that solves the cases.
Costume: White shirt, braces, trousers. Colourful socks pulled over trousers. Oversize 'geek' glasses.
This will display the contrast of the detective and assistants costumes with their character.
Minor characters: Murderer, dead body.
the props that will be used will be a giant magnifying glass, this will be used by the detective. A notebook and camera for assistant.
This will display the conventions of film Noir in a stereotypical style, but the use of props and character will be in contrast to costume reflecting the spoof/parody style.
LS
Filmaking
Before we begin to plan our trailer we need to research the different camera shots and editing effects that we could use. This will give us an idea of how we can present each scene to the best effect.
Due to extensive research, we have discovered a website which teaches the process of film making. Giving information on camera shots and the effects used to create a successful trailer.
The link is given below.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html
LS
Due to extensive research, we have discovered a website which teaches the process of film making. Giving information on camera shots and the effects used to create a successful trailer.
The link is given below.
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/gramtv.html
LS
Wednesday, 6 January 2010
Teaser Treatment
This is our final treatment for our trailer.
Detective Goose...and that really big case he can't solve but tries anyway. Detective Goose is the worlds most disasterous detective. Convinced of his own brilliance, he blindly tries to solve cases with the help of his trusty sidekick; Kid. Often resulting in wrong arrests, detroyed crime scenes and missing evidence. In the small town of Baselstoke, their is a murderer on the loose! As local detectives are nowhere to be found, its up to Goose to catch the culprit red handed and save the day!
LS
Detective Goose...and that really big case he can't solve but tries anyway. Detective Goose is the worlds most disasterous detective. Convinced of his own brilliance, he blindly tries to solve cases with the help of his trusty sidekick; Kid. Often resulting in wrong arrests, detroyed crime scenes and missing evidence. In the small town of Baselstoke, their is a murderer on the loose! As local detectives are nowhere to be found, its up to Goose to catch the culprit red handed and save the day!
LS
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Film Noir
In order to create a trailer in the style of film Noir, we looked at the main conventions and techniques that make up this genre. 
Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir: Themes and Styles
The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.
Heroes (or anti-heroes), corrupt characters and villains included down-and-out, conflicted hard-boiled detectives or private eyes, cops, gangsters, government agents, a lone wolf, socio-paths or killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, petty criminals, murderers, or just plain Joes. These protagonists were often morally-ambiguous low-lifes from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. Distinctively, they were cynical, tarnished, obsessive (sexual or otherwise), brooding, menacing, sinister, sardonic, disillusioned, frightened and insecure loners (usually men), struggling to survive - and in the end, ultimately losing.
Story lines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting. Narratives were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted, and typically told with foreboding background music, flashbacks (or a series of flashbacks), witty, razor-sharp and acerbic dialogue, and/or reflective and confessional, first-person voice-over narration. Amnesia suffered by the protagonist was a common plot device, as was the downfall of an innocent Everyman who fell victim to temptation or was framed. Revelations regarding the hero were made to explain/justify the hero's own cynical perspective on life.
Film noir films (mostly shot in gloomy grays, blacks and whites) thematically showed the dark and inhumane side of human nature with cynicism and doomed love, and they emphasized the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience. An oppressive atmosphere of menace, pessimism, anxiety, suspicion that anything can go wrong, dingy realism, futility, fatalism, defeat and entrapment were stylized characteristics of film noir. The protagonists in film noir were normally driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes.
Film noir films were marked visually by expressionistic lighting, deep-focus or depth of field camera work, disorienting visual schemes, jarring editing or juxtaposition of elements, ominous shadows, skewed camera angles (usually vertical or diagonal rather than horizontal), circling cigarette smoke, existential sensibilities, and unbalanced or moody compositions. Settings were often interiors with low-key (or single-source) lighting, venetian-blinded windows and rooms, and dark, claustrophobic, gloomy appearances. Exteriors were often urban night scenes with deep shadows, wet asphalt, dark alleyways, rain-slicked or mean streets, flashing neon lights, and low key lighting. Story locations were often in murky and dark streets, dimly-lit and low-rent apartments and hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses.
LS
Primary Characteristics and Conventions of Film Noir: Themes and Styles
The primary moods of classic film noir were melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia.
Heroes (or anti-heroes), corrupt characters and villains included down-and-out, conflicted hard-boiled detectives or private eyes, cops, gangsters, government agents, a lone wolf, socio-paths or killers, crooks, war veterans, politicians, petty criminals, murderers, or just plain Joes. These protagonists were often morally-ambiguous low-lifes from the dark and gloomy underworld of violent crime and corruption. Distinctively, they were cynical, tarnished, obsessive (sexual or otherwise), brooding, menacing, sinister, sardonic, disillusioned, frightened and insecure loners (usually men), struggling to survive - and in the end, ultimately losing.
Story lines were often elliptical, non-linear and twisting. Narratives were frequently complex, maze-like and convoluted, and typically told with foreboding background music, flashbacks (or a series of flashbacks), witty, razor-sharp and acerbic dialogue, and/or reflective and confessional, first-person voice-over narration. Amnesia suffered by the protagonist was a common plot device, as was the downfall of an innocent Everyman who fell victim to temptation or was framed. Revelations regarding the hero were made to explain/justify the hero's own cynical perspective on life.
Film noir films (mostly shot in gloomy grays, blacks and whites) thematically showed the dark and inhumane side of human nature with cynicism and doomed love, and they emphasized the brutal, unhealthy, seamy, shadowy, dark and sadistic sides of the human experience. An oppressive atmosphere of menace, pessimism, anxiety, suspicion that anything can go wrong, dingy realism, futility, fatalism, defeat and entrapment were stylized characteristics of film noir. The protagonists in film noir were normally driven by their past or by human weakness to repeat former mistakes.
Film noir films were marked visually by expressionistic lighting, deep-focus or depth of field camera work, disorienting visual schemes, jarring editing or juxtaposition of elements, ominous shadows, skewed camera angles (usually vertical or diagonal rather than horizontal), circling cigarette smoke, existential sensibilities, and unbalanced or moody compositions. Settings were often interiors with low-key (or single-source) lighting, venetian-blinded windows and rooms, and dark, claustrophobic, gloomy appearances. Exteriors were often urban night scenes with deep shadows, wet asphalt, dark alleyways, rain-slicked or mean streets, flashing neon lights, and low key lighting. Story locations were often in murky and dark streets, dimly-lit and low-rent apartments and hotel rooms of big cities, or abandoned warehouses.
LS
Genre Change
Initially our group had decided our trailer was going to be in the particular genre of horror. Subsequently we have now decided to change it to a detective parody, with film Noir style elements. What attracted us to this particular genre was the use of shadow, low lighting and setting that captured the essence of mystery and mood in a film. Although at first we were happy with our genre choice, we believed due to location problems, it would be difficult to create a decent trailer in the particular style.
In addition to this we researched the key elements of film noir and parodies.
Parody: A parody film is a comedy that satirizes other genres or films.
The main conventions for this genre are:
In addition to this we researched the key elements of film noir and parodies.
Parody: A parody film is a comedy that satirizes other genres or films.
The main conventions for this genre are:
- Sarcasm
- Huge stereotyping eg the dumb blonde, the hard boiled detective.
- Mocking other films or scenes from serious movies.
- Violence with no consequence for characters actions.
- Obvious meanings to characters actions.
- Joking around with no purpose.
- Random scenes, many layers.
Film Noir: Crime, usually murder is an element of almost all film noirs. A crime investigation, by a private eye, a police detective or a concerned amateur is the most prevalent, but far from dominant, basic plot. In other common plots the protagonists are implicated in heists or con games, or in murderous conspiracies often involving adulterous affairs. False suspicions and accusations of crime are frequent plot elements, as are betrayals and double crosses.
Film Noir tends to use low key lighting schemes producing stark light/dark contract and dramatic shadow patterning. the shadows of venetian blinds, banister rods, cast on actor, a wall or an entire scene are iconic visual in film noir. Characters faces may be partially or wholly obscured by darkness.
An example of film noir parody is: My Favourite Brunette. It is a 1947 spoofing movie in the film noir style.
Below is a link to a My Favourite Brunette clip.
LS
Monday, 4 January 2010
Story Board - Horror
This is our Story Board for our horror Trailer, We still yet are to find a title for it.
Horror Treatment
Our next step was to prepare a treatment for our trailer. Below is one of our ideas.
Blackwood Asylum - Treatment
Charlie a 25 year old school teacher at the peak of this career has no worries in his life, he is very proud of this family his wife Sara and his son John. On the way back from the cinema, Charlie and his family are in a horrific car accident, were both his wife and son are killed as was the other car. Being the sole survivor of the accident Charlie is driven mad by guilt over the death of his family, he starts to lose his grip in life and is soon relieved of work after threatening a child. Charlie can no longer live in his house because the memory of his family is to strong.
He eventually stays with his parents Holly and Tom who live on the out skirts of a major city “Blackwood”. Still ridden with guilt Charlie tries to find ways to get his family back, he knows as much as the next person this is impossible. In this frustration he trashes his parent’s home and by accident sets it on fire killing his parents. Now with this added guilt of wiping out all of his family members he pleased insanity to the court that sentences him to life at Blackwood asylum. Charlie isn’t in the right frame of mind to care were he is going; he has no family members to co-sign his registration papers. He is swiftly taken to Blackwood asylum.
On his way to Blackwood Charlie is blindfolded, he feels the rhythm of the van that he was swiftly pushed into, bump up and down. He hears the squeak of the breaks and the grind of the tires on a gravel path. He is roughly pushed out of the van to the floor, in his struggle he is forced through the gates of Blackwood asylum and violently thrown into a cell were his blindfold is ripped off. A few hours later a man in a long white lab coat comes in and explains to Charlie that the asylum is a cover up and it actually a government facility for human medical experiments.
Charlie is exposed to an experimental chemical that gives him the ability to see and speak to the dead. He is able to speak to his family who tell him to get out of the asylum because the scientist have learnt more about the experimental chemical and are going to use it to kill him to extract the needed data to continue the experiment.
When the daily food supplements are deliver Charlie makes a runner out of the door, but before he could even make it out side he is shot down and dragged into the lab. Were they brutally murder him. The vital parts of this body that are infected by the experimental chemical are taken out and studied.
SB
Blackwood Asylum - Treatment
Charlie a 25 year old school teacher at the peak of this career has no worries in his life, he is very proud of this family his wife Sara and his son John. On the way back from the cinema, Charlie and his family are in a horrific car accident, were both his wife and son are killed as was the other car. Being the sole survivor of the accident Charlie is driven mad by guilt over the death of his family, he starts to lose his grip in life and is soon relieved of work after threatening a child. Charlie can no longer live in his house because the memory of his family is to strong.
He eventually stays with his parents Holly and Tom who live on the out skirts of a major city “Blackwood”. Still ridden with guilt Charlie tries to find ways to get his family back, he knows as much as the next person this is impossible. In this frustration he trashes his parent’s home and by accident sets it on fire killing his parents. Now with this added guilt of wiping out all of his family members he pleased insanity to the court that sentences him to life at Blackwood asylum. Charlie isn’t in the right frame of mind to care were he is going; he has no family members to co-sign his registration papers. He is swiftly taken to Blackwood asylum.
On his way to Blackwood Charlie is blindfolded, he feels the rhythm of the van that he was swiftly pushed into, bump up and down. He hears the squeak of the breaks and the grind of the tires on a gravel path. He is roughly pushed out of the van to the floor, in his struggle he is forced through the gates of Blackwood asylum and violently thrown into a cell were his blindfold is ripped off. A few hours later a man in a long white lab coat comes in and explains to Charlie that the asylum is a cover up and it actually a government facility for human medical experiments.
Charlie is exposed to an experimental chemical that gives him the ability to see and speak to the dead. He is able to speak to his family who tell him to get out of the asylum because the scientist have learnt more about the experimental chemical and are going to use it to kill him to extract the needed data to continue the experiment.
When the daily food supplements are deliver Charlie makes a runner out of the door, but before he could even make it out side he is shot down and dragged into the lab. Were they brutally murder him. The vital parts of this body that are infected by the experimental chemical are taken out and studied.
SB
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Treatment
One of the most important stages of our creation was inevitably the treatment for our trailer, as our film was originally organised to be a horror, we had the idea of filming in Denbigh mental asylum, an abandoned hospital for the clinically insane in Wales.
This would have been perfect for a cliché horror film such as ours was planned to be.
The location prompts a thriller film or trailer as it is terrifying even to look at in a photo, I will go on to write my treatment out.
The scene begins with a panning shot on the door of the asylum; the camera pans out to show a truly fearsome skyscraper of a building, then a cut to three teenagers with copious amounts of alcohol in tow.
The teenagers have a genius idea to break into the asylum and drink copious amounts and start a fire and other such childish joys, but little do they know a rampaging psychopath has been locked in the asylum for around twenty years; the ghoulish figure is armed and dangerous and has been waiting for another opportunity to slaughter.
The trailer's plot though must be reasonably short, so the outline of the plot starts from the panning shots of the huge building with several establishing shots - then cuts to the inside; the teenagers are still drinking, playing music and being generally loud. when 30 seconds into the shot the camera cuts to a tall mangled man with a large bloodstained machete, the murderer strolls towards the morgue of the hospital where the children reside drinking profusely - the camera focuses on the children with a close up reaction shot which shows the terror in the children’s eyes, then it zooms to an extreme close up showing an eye gradually turning red with fear and finally the horribly disfigured murderer is shown.
The camera cuts to black, and a typically masculine American voice depicts the catchphrase of the film.
"They never could have foreseen such a terribly disfigured death" (for instance)
MW
This would have been perfect for a cliché horror film such as ours was planned to be.
The location prompts a thriller film or trailer as it is terrifying even to look at in a photo, I will go on to write my treatment out.
The scene begins with a panning shot on the door of the asylum; the camera pans out to show a truly fearsome skyscraper of a building, then a cut to three teenagers with copious amounts of alcohol in tow.
The teenagers have a genius idea to break into the asylum and drink copious amounts and start a fire and other such childish joys, but little do they know a rampaging psychopath has been locked in the asylum for around twenty years; the ghoulish figure is armed and dangerous and has been waiting for another opportunity to slaughter.
The trailer's plot though must be reasonably short, so the outline of the plot starts from the panning shots of the huge building with several establishing shots - then cuts to the inside; the teenagers are still drinking, playing music and being generally loud. when 30 seconds into the shot the camera cuts to a tall mangled man with a large bloodstained machete, the murderer strolls towards the morgue of the hospital where the children reside drinking profusely - the camera focuses on the children with a close up reaction shot which shows the terror in the children’s eyes, then it zooms to an extreme close up showing an eye gradually turning red with fear and finally the horribly disfigured murderer is shown.
The camera cuts to black, and a typically masculine American voice depicts the catchphrase of the film.
"They never could have foreseen such a terribly disfigured death" (for instance)
MW
Trailer Deconstruction - alice and wonderland
Research on the trailer Alice and Wonder Land deconstruction
Tim Burton’s new up coming film Alice and Wonder Land Starring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Mia Wasikowska comes out in early 2010. This teaser trailer was released on the 23rd of July 2009 so the trailer is giving us a good year to think about this film before it has its final release. Tim Burton is a well known American Film Director, producer and writer. His leap into fame is mostly due to is gift in making dark and unusual films.
Now in his new Trailer Alice and Wonder Land the camera starts off fixed on the actress Mia Wasikowska feet running in a slow motion close up, the lighting and sound are very hazy and suggest that she is in a daydream. This cuts to a mid shot of Mia Wasikowska still running in a baby blue dress only to suggest that she is Alice still the lighting and sound have not changed and still show that she is in a day dream.
Now we see Alice approach a dirt hole as the camera is placed so that we are looking up at Alice from the hole this may suggest that at this moment in time she is more dement in the situation, now this cuts to a long shot of her back as she is peering down this hole the digetic sound still remains the same as does the lighting. Now this quickly cuts back to the previous shot as we see Alias’s hand slip, this then quickly cuts to a medium close up of her falling down the hole, as this act happens we hear a quick change in the digetic music this then cuts to a black screen with Tim Burton’s name in gold calligraphy. This then Cuts into the name of the Film Alice and wonderland.
Looking at these trailers two and deconstructing the third Alice and wonderland I have a good idea on how the setup of a teaser trailer and I have some inspiration for my own.
Below is a link to the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWsZ2b_pK4
SB
Tim Burton’s new up coming film Alice and Wonder Land Starring Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter and Mia Wasikowska comes out in early 2010. This teaser trailer was released on the 23rd of July 2009 so the trailer is giving us a good year to think about this film before it has its final release. Tim Burton is a well known American Film Director, producer and writer. His leap into fame is mostly due to is gift in making dark and unusual films.
Now in his new Trailer Alice and Wonder Land the camera starts off fixed on the actress Mia Wasikowska feet running in a slow motion close up, the lighting and sound are very hazy and suggest that she is in a daydream. This cuts to a mid shot of Mia Wasikowska still running in a baby blue dress only to suggest that she is Alice still the lighting and sound have not changed and still show that she is in a day dream.
Now we see Alice approach a dirt hole as the camera is placed so that we are looking up at Alice from the hole this may suggest that at this moment in time she is more dement in the situation, now this cuts to a long shot of her back as she is peering down this hole the digetic sound still remains the same as does the lighting. Now this quickly cuts back to the previous shot as we see Alias’s hand slip, this then quickly cuts to a medium close up of her falling down the hole, as this act happens we hear a quick change in the digetic music this then cuts to a black screen with Tim Burton’s name in gold calligraphy. This then Cuts into the name of the Film Alice and wonderland.
Looking at these trailers two and deconstructing the third Alice and wonderland I have a good idea on how the setup of a teaser trailer and I have some inspiration for my own.
Below is a link to the trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeWsZ2b_pK4
SB
Alfred Hitchcocks Film Techniques
Our inspiration for our film trailer is Alfred Hitchcock. As the master of suspense, he is able to use simplistic film conventions and techniques to capture the emotion used on film in order to create suspense, pace and tension. In order to capture the style of Hitchcock, our group researched his general film techniques.
STEP 1: It's the Mind of the Audience
STEP 5: Point of View Editing
STEP 1: It's the Mind of the Audience Change everything in your screenplay so that it is done for the audience. Nothing is more important than how each scene is going to affect the viewer. Make sure the content engages them and reels them in. Use the characters to tease the viewer and pull them along desperately wanting more. Hitchcock knew why people are drawn to a darkened theater to absorb themselves for hours with images on a screen. They do it to have fun. In the same way people go to a roller coaster to get thrown around at high speeds, theater audiences know they are safe. As a film director you can throw things at them, hurl them off a cliff, or pull them into a dangerous love story, and they know that nothing will happen to them. They're confident that they'll be able to walk out the exit when its done and resume their normal lives. And, the more fun they have, the quicker they will come back begging for more.
STEP 2: Frame for Emotion
Emotion (in the form of fear, laughter, surprise, sadness, anger, boredom, etc.) is the ultimate goal of each scene. The first consideration of where to place the camera should involve knowing what emotion you want the audience to
experience at that particular time. Emotion comes directly from the actor's eyes. You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will dissipate that emotion. A sudden cut from wide to close-up will give the audience a sudden surprise. Sometimes a strange angle above an actor will heighten the dramatic meaning. Hitchcock used this theory of proximity to plan out each scene. These variations are a way of controlling when the audience feels intensity, or relaxation. Hitchcock compared this to a composer writing a music score - except instead of playing instruments, he's playing the audience!
STEP 3: Camera is Not a Camera
Emotion (in the form of fear, laughter, surprise, sadness, anger, boredom, etc.) is the ultimate goal of each scene. The first consideration of where to place the camera should involve knowing what emotion you want the audience to
experience at that particular time. Emotion comes directly from the actor's eyes. You can control the intensity of that emotion by placing the camera close or far away from those eyes. A close-up will fill the screen with emotion, and pulling away to a wide angle shot will dissipate that emotion. A sudden cut from wide to close-up will give the audience a sudden surprise. Sometimes a strange angle above an actor will heighten the dramatic meaning. Hitchcock used this theory of proximity to plan out each scene. These variations are a way of controlling when the audience feels intensity, or relaxation. Hitchcock compared this to a composer writing a music score - except instead of playing instruments, he's playing the audience!
STEP 3: Camera is Not a Camera
The camera should take on human qualities and roam around playfully looking for something suspicious in a room. This allows the audience to feel like they are involved in uncovering the story. Scenes can often begin by panning a room showing close-ups of objects that explain plot elements. This goes back to Hitchcock's beginnings in silent film. Without sound, filmmakers had to create ways to tell the story visually in a succession of images and ideas. Hitchcock said this trend changed drastically when sound finally came to film in the 1930's. Suddenly everything went toward dialogue oriented material based on scripts from the stage. Movies began to rely on actors talking, and visual storytelling was almost forgotten. Always use the camera as more than just a camera.
STEP 4: Dialogue Means Nothing
One of your characters must be pre-occupied with something during a dialogue scene. Their eyes can then be distracted while the other person doesn't notice. This is a good way to pull the audience into a character's secretive world. “People don’t always express their inner thoughts to one another," said Hitchcock, "a conversation may be quite trivial, but often the eyes will reveal what a person thinks or needs.” The focus of the scene should never be on what the characters are actually saying. Have something else going on. Resort to dialogue only when it’s impossible to do otherwise. "In other words we don’t have pages to fill, or pages from a typewriter to fill, we have a rectangular screen in a movie house,” said Hitchcock.
STEP 5: Point of View EditingJimmy Stewart looks at dog and then we see him smiling. Jimmy Stewart looks at a woman undressing and then we see him smiling. Those two smiles have completely different meanings, even if they are the exact same smile. Putting an idea into the mind of the character without explaining it in dialogue is done by using a point-of-view shot sequence. This is subjective cinema. You take the eyes of the characters and add something for them to look at. - Start with a close-up of the actor - Cut to a shot of what they're seeing - Cut back to the actor to see his reaction - Repeat as desired You can edit back and forth between the character and the subject as many times as you want to build tension. The audience won't get bored. This is the most powerful form of cinema, even more important than acting. To take it even further have the actor walk toward the subject. Switch to a tracking shot to show his changing perspective as he walks. The audience will believe they are sharing something personal with the character. This is what Hitchcock calls "pure cinema.'' Note: If another person looks at the character in point-of-view they must look directly at the camera.
STEP 6: Montage Gives You Control
Divide action into a series of close-ups shown in succession. Don't avoid this basic technique. This is not the same as throwing together random shots into a fight sequence to create confusion. Instead, carefully chose a close-up of a hand, an arm, a face, a gun falling to the floor - tie them all together to tell a story. In this way you can portray an event by showing various pieces of it and having control over the timing. You can also hide parts of the event so that the mind of the audience is engaged. Hitchcock said this was "transferring the menace from the screen into the mind of the audience." The famous shower scene in Psycho uses montage to hide the violence. You never see the knife hitting Janet Leigh. The impression of violence is done with quick editing, and the killing takes place inside the viewer's head rather than the screen. Also important is knowing when not to cut. Basic rule: anytime something important happens, show it in a close-up. Make sure the audience can see it.
STEP 7: Keep the Story Simple!
If your story is confusing or requires a lot of memorization, you're never going to get suspense out of it. The key to creating that raw Hitchcock energy is by using simplistic, linear stories that the audience can easily follow. Everything in your screenplay must be streamlined to offer maximum dramatic impact. Remove all extraneous material and keep it crisp. Each scene should include only those essential ingredients that make things gripping for the audience. As Hitchcock says, “what is drama, after all, but life with the dull bits cut out…” An abstract story will bore the audience. This is why Hitchcock tended to use crime stories with spies, assassinations, and people running from the police. These sort of plots make it easy to play on fear, but are not mandatory for all movies.
LS
Below is a link to the Psycho trailer, presented by Hitchcock.
Trailer Deconstruction
In order to create our teaser, we have deconstructed the following trailer;Blood Diamond, this will give us an idea of what conventions are needed to create a successful trailer.
The film was nominated for academy awards and is a very dramatic action thriller in which the protagonist stumbles across a very valuable artifact in a very poor region of the world.
The trailer starts off with an establishing shot of the sun rising, which depicts the region of Africa with an atmospheric long shot across the mountains. Shortly after, the music kicks in with a slow and rising tone to denote excitement or fear, from this follows a helicopter rising very slowly out of explosions in the jungle. I think this going from very slow to an explosion is there to show everyone what will happen later on down the line, but not so the plot is ruined or the best action scenes are shown, just an epic cut from the film; depicted slowly in a slightly contradictory manner, in fact most of the trailer is set out in this strange manner, so as to cross the emotions felt from people between relaxed and agitated.
The credits roll with the music, every time the beat hits the name of an actor or name of a film fades in, there is several more establishing shots of the actors so they're mentioned with the shot of them acting, this creates a familiar effect with the actors so even if you do not know who the actor is, you can be rest assured you will either recognize them or find out at a later date. This technique also helps to establish a character's position in the film, for instance show the protagonist, antagonist and love interest. These being very stereotypical film roles were shown straight away on this trailer.
the camera again pans to the mountains and rivers of South Africa, and then the trailer gets back to the major storyline in order to keep the audience interested. The teaser remains at one very steady pace that is overly easy to keep up with, it is as if nothing happens, aside from this the trailers slow pace almost makes for a perfect setting of the story as the audience will not tire of it's story. The editing on this trailer makes it very tense, the suspense comes primarily from the very relaxed but tense music in the background, which matches the scenes in view, the actual diagetic sound is lowered from the film and is taken over by the non-diagetic music, this creates even more tension; as the viewer is compelled to follow the beat and in these situations when very blank and solid beat are played in the foreground a very dramatic war like feel is created, perfect for gritty dramas such as Blood Diamond.
MW
Below is a link to the Blood Diamond film trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtPX2kXhu7I
The film was nominated for academy awards and is a very dramatic action thriller in which the protagonist stumbles across a very valuable artifact in a very poor region of the world.
The trailer starts off with an establishing shot of the sun rising, which depicts the region of Africa with an atmospheric long shot across the mountains. Shortly after, the music kicks in with a slow and rising tone to denote excitement or fear, from this follows a helicopter rising very slowly out of explosions in the jungle. I think this going from very slow to an explosion is there to show everyone what will happen later on down the line, but not so the plot is ruined or the best action scenes are shown, just an epic cut from the film; depicted slowly in a slightly contradictory manner, in fact most of the trailer is set out in this strange manner, so as to cross the emotions felt from people between relaxed and agitated.
The credits roll with the music, every time the beat hits the name of an actor or name of a film fades in, there is several more establishing shots of the actors so they're mentioned with the shot of them acting, this creates a familiar effect with the actors so even if you do not know who the actor is, you can be rest assured you will either recognize them or find out at a later date. This technique also helps to establish a character's position in the film, for instance show the protagonist, antagonist and love interest. These being very stereotypical film roles were shown straight away on this trailer.
the camera again pans to the mountains and rivers of South Africa, and then the trailer gets back to the major storyline in order to keep the audience interested. The teaser remains at one very steady pace that is overly easy to keep up with, it is as if nothing happens, aside from this the trailers slow pace almost makes for a perfect setting of the story as the audience will not tire of it's story. The editing on this trailer makes it very tense, the suspense comes primarily from the very relaxed but tense music in the background, which matches the scenes in view, the actual diagetic sound is lowered from the film and is taken over by the non-diagetic music, this creates even more tension; as the viewer is compelled to follow the beat and in these situations when very blank and solid beat are played in the foreground a very dramatic war like feel is created, perfect for gritty dramas such as Blood Diamond.
MW
Below is a link to the Blood Diamond film trailer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtPX2kXhu7I
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