Our Production

Director's Commentary

This is the director's commentary that our group done linked with the trailer. We found it quite straightforward and simple to do, we sat down in a class room and were watching the trailer on a laptop whilst recording the commentary over the sound of the trailer. It is also effective as you get a little behind the scene of the actors talking about the camera shots, the music and the setting in which we filmed in. We explain as a group what we used in terms of music, lighting and setting to help the audience get to know why we chose the things we did and why. This is effective as we go into depth with why we chose our idea's i.e. dolly shot - we said it was effective as it filmed us walking round the corner in the scene which we filmed in first. We also claim that the setting we chose was effective as its a place that teenagers tend to spend most of their days. This is also effective as its one of the reasons we could the setting that we filmed all of our trailer in.

Post Production - G321

G321

In our opening 2 minutes we used a range of camera shots for different perspectives, characters mood and power and to show the scene. The main ones we used were,

Camera Shots:

Extreme Long Shot -  we used this 11 seconds into the trailer. We found this effective as it shows a lot of the scenery and the setting in which we are based, at the same time you can see the 2 main characters and their body language.

Long Shot - we used this 19 seconds into the trailer. We found this is effective as it was closer than the extreme long shot so you can see the body language more clearly and also at the same time you can see scenery in the background.

Slight High Angle -  we used this 26 seconds in to the trailer. We found this one effective as it shows vulnerability of the characters, it shows that we are powerless and aren't sure what to do in this situation. For the audience this could be the main camera shot that helps them know what part we are playing in the trailer.

Medium Shot -  we used this shot 35 seconds into the trailer. This one was effective as it shows the audience the victims face but at the same time shows this persons body language and facial expressions. For the audience this could be effective as this could help them get the storyline more and it would help it all make sense and come together.

Personal Point of View - we used this camera shot at 54 seconds into the trailer. This was a very effective camera shot as we found it puts the audience in the shoes of one of the characters and they feel like they are a part of it. We wanted the audience to feel more involved so we involved this camera shot.

Fade to Black - we used this at 1:32. we found this effective as we used it to end the scene by cutting off to a black scene. It causes suspense and the audience aren't expecting it to end when it starts fading.




In our g321 production, our group communicated very well and we had all of it planned within a small amount of time. We had it all planned and it was very well layed out but when it came to actually filming it, we didn't think of our finalized location. Whilst we were trying to find our location we didn't realize that as it was in the winter it got dark earlier so by roughly 4 o'clock it was almost pitch black. We found our location at 4 o'clock roughly and that's when we realized that filming at that time was probably not the best idea. Our group thought it was a good idea at first as we thought that the setting being slightly dark was effective for a horror movie. As we began editing we realized that although filming in the dark was a good idea it wasn't as effective as we would have hoped due to the lighting being very limited and poor. There were only roughly 4 street lights and we had to make sure we were near them the whole time, other wise the trailer would have been pitch black the whole way through and the audience wouldn't have been able to see anything that we had filmed. We as a group also had problems with the weather and parts of the setting. I checked the weather forecast multiple times beforehand to make sure it wasn't going to rain etc. but as we left to go and find the final location it started to get really bitter and because of this we had to go back and get coats and gloves but, by the time we left again is was even darker than before so we knew we had to be quick. There were certain parts of the set up/setting that were very hard to go round: there were certain parts of the opening 2 minutes where myself and another character were running, the parts of grass that we were running on were very muddy and there were parts we recorded that we nearly slipped on. It was very hard to try and run quickly on muddy grass so we had to slow down to make sure we didn't slip. Next time we could change and help this by checking out the location beforehand to make sure its suitable for what we had planned and if it wasn't fully suitable, then that would be when we decided if we were using this location or not.

Research and Planning - Movie Poster

This is our final movie poster in which we will be using to help promote our movie. We found this poster effective for many different reasons. The first thing we found effective was our use of titles, the reason we used these types of titles is because we found that they fit in perfectly and drew in the audience to come and read it. "Smile" this is the main title, i drew this by hand on paper and coloured/shaded it in, in pen. I found this effective as it gives the title more of a horror feel about it and with the colour of the dark red i in Smile and the black and white, it gives of an eerie feel which connotes the horror movie style. The names at the top of the poster for the main characters were done in a simple upper case font in a white colour. We found this effective as the white was bold and stood out on the dark grey background, it also brings in the target audience as it’s sometihng else that’s bold and stands out. “Don’t be fooled by the smile” this was also a simple font that was just an uppercase, italic and just plain black. On the black and white background the black really stands out. We wanted the slogan to stand out as much as the title as it’s the main thing that will stick in their mind; we want this to happen so people remember about our movie and the slogan. We used this specific picture for our background as it was the main one that stood out to us; there were perfect places for all the titles to go and it perfectly fit with our movie. We had one of the main characters/antagonist stand up against the tree, slightly picking his head round it whilst his hand is slowly moving towards the missing poster, he has his hood up so we can’t see all of his face. This was personally effective as we get to see the main antagonist in the scene in which the movie occurred and with the pose that he is standing in it gives off loads of thoughts to the audience about what happens in the movie, who is this man, what is he doing and why is there a poster? We wanted to put the audience on a cliff hanger so that they would have to come and see the movie to understand what happened. The release date we chose was to be October 25th 2018. We found this was a perfect date as it’s close to Halloween and multiples of different horror movies are bound to be released. Although, we know the consequences about releasing our movie then. There will be loads of competition and our movie could not make as much sale as the rest, we could become bankrupt because we haven’t made any profit and it might not sell as much because of the rating of the other movies. Besides that, we decided to risk the chances and bring it out in October as thats when the Halloween holidays come around and everyone is off work or school so there could be people that would have time and would want to see it.

Brand Identity

One of the ways we used brand identity was with our poster and title. We decided to make the title different from all the others and I drew the title out by hand, all together it took me roughly 1 hour. I made the i red and merged it with a smiley face as it links to our movie and added a twist to our poster. This was a very unique title and adds a twist to our poster and movie. Our slogan "dont be fooled by the smile" is effective as again it all links to our movie and draws attention in from the target audience.

Evaluation - Questionnaire

Do you think that the film trailer feels like a conventional horror trailer?

YES                                                 NO

What part of the trailer do you think is the most effective?

Do you think that the music add any tension to the trailer?

YES                                                     NO

What could be improved for next time?

Does our trailer encourage you to watch the full production of the film?

YES                                                      NO

This is our questionnaire for the target audience about our movie. We asked a range of questions about what would make our movie better and what they thought was effective and helped our movie out in making it a hit. We asked about music, what parts they found most effective and if the trailer had any parts that we could change to improve it. We asked about what part they found effective as it helps us know what parts are more like a horror movie than the other parts and what parts the audience prefer. This is majorly effective as if we knew the parts people liked we would then know about the rest of the movie which would either need adjusting or needs some work done to it. What could be improved for next time? this is an effective question as we find out what the audience want to be better next time they either watch this film or another horror, if we were to improve it, it could cause the audience to be drawn in to it and they would want to come and watch it as they would want to see the differences. Does our trailer encourage you to watch the full production of the film? this is an effective question as if the answer was to be a no then we know that we messed something up whilst doing the trailer and the audience don't like to look of it. Whereas if they were to say yes then its a double win as they like the trailer and would want to watch the movie.

Narrative

In our group we show narrative in multiple different ways. One of the ways we did this was by opening the trailer in a open minded area, we done this because many different people go through this park and its used in everyday life, it just starts off the trailer on whats looking like a normal day and location. The main reason we done it was because it is a main and common convention of a horror movie as it starts off seeming normal and everything is running smoothly but little do the audience know, that there is going to be a plot twist.

After that specific scene the trailer went into an equilibrium where we individually focused on an argument between Katie (Kiera), Lottie (Charlotte) and Annie (Anna). This puts the audience on edge as they aren't sure what the argument was about and it also causes a disturbance as everything was running very smoothly before hand. This was effective as this is the main scene that the audience watch and they find out everything that happened and if its done perfectly they will feel like a part of the movie and it will be a weight off their shoulders as they now know what's going on.

The texts we used in the movie are ancillary, we found this effective as it helps promote our products for them to go on and sell. Everything linked to the trailer are aimed at a specific target audience, they are about the main characters which are starring in the trailer and it also gives off parts of the story line of our trailer and helps the audience know about the movie.