Title & casting decisions

Title & casting decisions

We decided a simple yet effective title for our film in that it would be the teachers name. This took some research into names and words which would suit a teacher’s title. Eventually we settled for Mr. Lynch as it is aggressive but not too over the top.

A common convention of the pupil would be an adolescent girl and so we decided on having a girl within our group as the actress because she would be more willing to spend time making sure it comes together perfectly and would be easy to shoot with. We wanted to use a name which appeared slightly innocent and decided on Evee west.

For the teacher, we originally wanted to use an actual teacher from our school for the role but this proved slightly tricky. When asking certain male teachers we realise it would be inappropriate to ask them to act in certain physical shots we needed. So we decided to choose a boy we thought looked mature from our class and when wearing glasses fulfilled the typical look of a teacher.

We decided to use me as I am confident in front of the camera and used to attend Sylvia Young Theatre School. I also fitted the description of the adolescent female student we needed. Joel Antoine-Wilkinson a mature looking teenager who had a slightly creepy edge which suited the role of the teacher. The faces fit the description and these still images taken could be used in our future film poster.

The Synopsis

Now we had our basic outline of what our film trailer would be based on, we had to go into detail. The summary of our film was crucial for the individual shots in the trailer. We needed the main events to be outlined.

Mr. Lynch is a slasher horror movie, with psychological elements added to give the film a creepy feel. The film begins with the lead character, 17 year old Evee West, starting a new year of sixth form at a North London college. She is introduced to her teacher Mr. Lynch, who instantly takes a seemingly innocent shine to her throughout the lesson, and continues to gaze at her daily. Evee is not aware that her friendly relationship with Mr. Lynch has gone further in his head than in hers, and whilst they continue to give each other harmless smiles and exchange looks, he is planning to take advantage of her innocence and pounce.

A few weeks pass, and one day Evee needs help with her work, she asks Mr. Lynch and he strangely requests that she returns afterschool to come and see him in the library. She innocently agrees and turns up at the end of the day. He asks her if she needs any help, and she says yes, out of the blue he then proceeds to violently grab her leg. Shocked, Evee withdraws from his attempt of sedation, grabs her coat and bag and accuses his of being a pervert.

She then hastily leaves the school to head home. Furious, he scours the student database in search of her home address, and filled with rage, he retraces her steps and eventually stalks her through a dark woodland area. Fearing that something is wrong and she is being stalked, she begins to walk faster than usual through the dark forest area, trying to get home as fast as she can. He sprints up behind her and pounces, proclaiming that he is going to do terrible things to her and her family if the news ever got out, he then proceeds to slash at her body, not aiming to kill yet, but only torture, he then drags her behind him through the woods, heading towards her house to “see” her parents.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming

We were told it was to target an older teenage audience of 15 and above and also creative & aspiring adults. We thought about possible settings in which we could set it and realized our own British school would fit the description. Thinking about the plotline of the story we did not want it to be a typical slasher horror but a creepier, suspenseful film trailer. This would also fit the school atmosphere as it’s not an obvious place for a horror film. We began discussing previous newspaper articles about school teacher and pupil relationships and how this could be manipulated into our film trailer. We though the idea of stalking would be a serious concept easily portrayed through this student, teacher relationship. We looked at some trailers which had similar concepts to our own and a newspaper article.

This article is a very exaggerated version of what our trailer is based on however it is still highly relevant. Our teacher will develop and unhealthy obsession with a new student and veiw his relationship a lot deeper than we could ever have imagined. This article gives a rough insight into how our 'teachers' mind works. This creates a very disturbing atmosphere which links into our suspenseful trailer. We do not need so much killing or blood & gore because this will scare the audience enough without the need for bloodshed.

Trailers that inspired us:

To grasp the concept of how our trailers would eventually look, we wanted to take a look at the professional ones. To inspire us, we watched trailers which had similar concepts to ours to see how they portrayed their plotline, what conventions they used and sound effects.

Obsessed:

Obsessed, is a film about a womans misconception of her relationship with her boss. She seems to take it to extremes and create a different story in her head. This is set in an office environment which would be different to ours as ours will be set in a school, more suited to our target audience. She becomes obsessed with this man and turns up unexpectedly and acts out of the norm which worries her boss immensley till it reaches a climax point.

Notes on a scandal:

This trailer is about a relationship between a student and a teacher which ends terribly wrong. We especially found this trailer useful as we wanted to imitate the captions it uses in between each clip to tell the stroyline. They create a very suspenseful atmosphere throughout this trailer.

The beginning

Creating A Concept:

My group of three in which I would be completely all my production tasks with were me, Justine Crossan, Isobel Foster and Darren Souster. Once put into our group of three, we began to brainstorm our ideas. We thought about typical Horror conventions we had previously researched and what kind of sub genre of horror we would be fulfilling in this project.

So far we have learned about typical Slasher Horror film conventions which include:

The Protagonists: Mostly a psychopathic killer with one young (usually female) survivor.

Stock Characters: Mostly a group of teenagers

Plot and stock situations: Usually somewhere lonely, out of contact.

We learn a good trailer aims to fulfil the following:

· Entice the audience

· Highlight the best parts

· Give a basic plotline

· Show main characters

· Unique selling point

· Appropriate use of music/sound effects

Analysis of Horror Trailers

In preparation for my future production it is essential to analyse similar trailers to notice forms and conventions which arise. This will be very helpful in the making of my own trailer as I will realise what attracts certain audiences, what horror conventions are effective and how to use such devices as sound, visual effects and typography. One trailer I will be analysing is a famous horror remake, Nightmare on Elm Street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-tSvrkKx2Y

·

-This is clearly a trailer for a horror film. Straight away the dark lighting and violent crashing sound effects convey this genre.

· Such destructive images as a burning building illustrate instantly to the audience something terrible has happened.

· Quick, sudden cuts are used throughout this trailer moving from each image within seconds. This reflects the slashing or knife movement from the killer in this film.

· Sound effects are used to create suspense and tension. A disturbing child’s singing is played throughout to create a weird contrast, as children are used to represent innocence and vulnerability this makes it seem even scarier.

· Narrative of the film is clearly shown as a chase scene and results in Freddy Krouger being burnt or tortured in some way. Thus leading him to become a psychopath haunting people’s dreams, especially a young boy. Such a narrative and the protagonists are very typical of this Horror genre.

· References are mostly to young children or teenagers which Freddy is haunting, fulfilling the typical stereotypes of victims.

- I think the target audience for this movie are young adults/teens, as most teenagers enjoy the thrills slasher movies offer, whilst enjoying the fact that they are watching people fairly similar to them in a dangerous situation. We can also expect a lot of gore from this movie, although we don’t see much in the trailer

To gather a full analysis of horror trailer conventions I analysed a further trailer, The Last Airbender teaser trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W1dhqc-JBs

· We are told the name of the trailer at the end as to be prominent in the viewers mind and leave us thinking throughout the trailer what it is called.

· Shown one main character that appears to be unknown and only looks at the camera once as to create tension and mystery to the audience. Who is he? What is so special about him?

· The music to this trailer starts off almost oriental as if made by windpipes, creating an eerie atmosphere. This then suddenly a change to heavy drum beats as if the beating of a heart or tribal chant which gets faster and more violent.

· The voiceover is a very deep, manly voice who sounds wise, creating the impression he knows about this character and what he is capable of. His slow speech makes the audience pay careful attention to his words and he emphasises the dangerous atmosphere.

· The speed of the trailer makes it very exciting as it starts slow but quickly increases is pace suggesting a climax at the end.

Examples of Production company logos

This Production logo of LIONSGATE had bold grey lettering surrounded by fluffy clouds and what looks like the sunlight breaking through. Where the sunlight is breaking through the letters LIONSGATE is present, almost suggesting a God like aspect. Around the bottom edges of the logo there is dark grey clouds as if there was rain/bad weather before but now the sunlight has fought its way through, suggesting a high power. Use of the word ‘GATE’ within the logo name connotes the idea of heaven, as if at heavens gates. This logo connotes optimism, hope and success. The logo illustrates that this production is out of this world and intense.

This production logo of ‘UNIVERSAL’ is again in capital letters. The writing is 3D with white inside and orange surrounding it. The orange links in to the land on the globe which is in the centre of the universe. A luminous glow surrounds the Earth with many stars and pitch black in the four corners of the logo. This logo connotes its diversity and versatility as if their films will capture the minds of everybody on the planet. This indicates their products are suitable for any age, race or gender. The glow around the earth connotes a magical aspect to their logo as if their films are creative and inspiring.