Construction Stills From Filming

In our trailer we have been trying to create a variety of shots and sequences; including match on action, tracking shots and a fast series of close ups. These all make the trailer more interesting and appealing as well as creating the tense atmosphere that is common in horror/thriller trailers. 

There is a series of fast close ups of Tovia in the car; creating a fast paced sequence with very brief white transitions & sound effects inserted to create more feeling of horror and tension.

There is the use of match on action in order to create continuity- contrasting to some of our more jerky jump cuts.

We use match on action of Tovia getting into the car as well as her getting out of the car; which took a while to edit as we had to have the car door in the right place.

 

We also have used some long shots to establish the location and to create a contrast to the close ups and medium shots-

therefore creating a larger variety of shots and meanings.

We have used close up stills of photographs which break up the shots of action as well as creating narrative exposition. We have torn up the photographs, stabbed them with a knife and drawn on them- each defacing them, representing the killers violent intentions and making it clear that they are targets.

We shot a match on action edit on the stairs ending with a close up of Tovia's face- showing her facial expression whilst she screams.

This is part of a fast paced series of shots, creating a tense atmosphere that is a common convention of horror/thrillers.

We have close ups of the knife being dragged across a wall and added sound effects showing elements of violence and hinting at the idea of blood and gore without showing it - which is a common convention of horror trailers as the trailer itself cannot contain unsuitable material for the audience.The killers body is in the shadow therefore making his identity stay hidden, creating an enigma whilst using the darkness to connote evil.

Construction- Technical decisions and any difficulties encountered

We had to film some shots again as we accidentally recorded over them and we are in the process of working out the shots we lost so we can make sure we have everything we are going to need. We decided that we were going to film shots in the different locations with different lighting in order to create the impression of different times of day. We also did this as it is common to have chiaroscuro lighting in horror films- which we have chosen to use in some shots (Rizwana’s close ups)  in our trailer.

Construction- Any Changes to Plans

After our first successful filming session we discussed when and where we would film the next lot of shots. We decided to change our original plans of filming in a wood to filming in a cemetery as it would create the right atmosphere for our trailer. As well as this it would be near a specific road we wanted to film some other shots on so we could get more done. This improved the overall organisation of our group and enabled us to use our time better.

Also we decided to film some of Rizwana’s close ups, again and change the lighting and also her makeup to make it look more affective. When we did this we liked the results and decided we would use the second lot of shots. We also decided that we would film the opening scenes somewhere else- in a less public place( an empty rural path) ; due to the use of a baseball bat as a weapon. This way no-one could see us and get the wrong idea.

Filming Day Four

Today we filmed the shot of Tovia waking up in bed which follows on from the shot filmed previously of Emily being killed. This has a large impact as it creates a fast and strong rhythm to the pace of editing therefore adding to the drama of the trailer. We also filmed the opening establishing shot, the long shots of Rizwana and the point of view shot of the baseball bat. The point of view shot was difficult to film as we tried to film it a different way, with the camera to the side of Tovia swinging the bat, but that didn't work well either. We decided that the POV shot was more effective and if we put a fade to either black or white afterwards it could look more effective.

Filming Day Three

Today we filmed the shots of Tovia in the car which are important shots as they show Tovia with a chance of escape therefore creating enigma as to whether she does actually escape. We use long shots, medium shots and close ups to see Tovia's face. One of these close ups was hard to film as we had to film an extreme close up of a reflection of Tovia's eyes in the rearview mirror, but after a few tries we were successful. Also some of the filming involved putting the camera on the dashboard in order to film a close up of Tovia's face in the front seat. This series of shots create a fast action sequence that is commonly seen in the end of trailers like in ours. We also filmed the shots of Emily in an empty car park which seemed a suitable location as we filmed it so she would look like she was walking towards a car.

Filming Day Two

Today we filmed the shots of Tovia when she is being chased and then dragged down the stairs. This involved filming long shots, medium shots and close ups to see Tovia's reaction and fear. We also filmed the close up of the photographs of us all on a table at Emily's garage where the lighting is chiaroscuro.We had the killers hands drawing on them, tearing them in half and the knife stabbing them. This series of shots as well as creating a tense feel, helps create narrative exposition- explaining the story and establishing that the three girls are targets.

Filming Day One

Today we filmed the shots of Rizwana when she is tied up. We filmed a lot of close ups of her face and hands and extreme close ups as well, in order to create a variety of shots. This will make our trailer more interesting and appealing through creating the tense atmosphere that is a common in horror/thriller trailers. We had problems with the lighting as if we turned the lights off it was too dark and the camera wasn't picking anything up. Then we used a torch with a blue tint to it making the lighting seem dark and cold.

Planning- Music and Sound

Music is very significant in trailers as they get across to the audience what type of genre the trailer is. The sound helps build up tension and add emotion to trailers such as horror, as the sound becomes fast paced and more dramatic the audience immediately know that something bad is going to happen.  Looking at chase scenes in many horror and thriller films we noticed that the music in the background is not necessarily instrumental and has a deep and dramatic drum beat as though it is the heart beating like in 'fear factor' from audio network, which makes the pace seem very fast and dramatic.

We searched for non-copyrighted sites for soundtrack; we found two very good sites: SoundCloud and Audio Network. We were looking for a range of sounds which we could use for different sections of the trailer as each part told a different story. We first found some slow mechanical sounds for the opening establishing shot, although it was slow it still created tension and anticipation for something bad to happen. The sound we used was 'stakeout' from audio network.

We also wanted to use mechanical, scratching sound effects similar to the ones used in the opening of Se7en. We quite liked the buzzing sounds of when the killer sticks the victim’s photos from newspapers which makes it quite nerving and disturbing for the audience as it would make them believe that the girls are in danger. The sound we used was a section taken from 'Death blade' from audio network.
We cut parts of 'death blade' out that we didn't need and just used the repetitive, metalic sounding music to create tension.

For the cemetery scene of Tovia running, we wanted to add some chase music which would make Tovia running more dramatic and will help the audience understand that she is running away from the killer. The sound will also add mystery and enigma’s as the audience will be left wondering why Tovia is running and who is this mystery person chasing her.  The sound we used was 'phobia ',  from audio network combined with 'fear factor'.

We also needed to find some dramatic sound stings. We decided that we would use parts of different music we had found such as the fast, high pitched violin sound which was taken from 'hell on earth' from audio network.

We downloaded sound effects from sound bible as well as using some of the ones on pinnacle. We used them in some cases to add emphasis to dramatic events such as when Tovia is grabbed in the car. However we needed less a dramatic sounds when Tovia stabs him with a pen.

The screams I came across before were quite short and didn't create the suspense we wanted.  We wanted a long scream which will act as a sound bridge to the end of the trailer to create mystery and enigmas of what could possibly be happening to the female victim. When trying to cut the sounds an bring them to together so that the screaming sound is longer, which made it sound wrong. It was very difficult trying to find a scream effect that would fit into out trailer, I came across a scream sound from findsounds.com and the sound that I thought best fitted our trailer was the female scream. This was much more appropriate and we didn’t have to do any changes to the sound as it fitted with Tovia screaming when she is being dragged down the stairs.