Planning of 'The Possession' Digital Strategy

We took advice from industry professionals on how to plan our film campaign. We sat in class as a group and wrote down different ways we can  bring the characters to life and promote them to our audience as seen below...

Digital Marketing So far

Facebook Page:

Today I created a facebook page to help market our horror film 'The Possession'. 
I will regularly update this page with images, clips and information about the film to develope an interest. Also, in the future I will be posting our finished horror trailer and poster in attempt to raise awarness and get feedback.

Twitter

One of my group members also created a twitter account for our film:@thepossession - this will again help market our film, and also as twitter allows direct contact with other people we can attempt promote our film to real directors and production companies.

The Locket Information

The Locket.

Below is a photograph of our most important prop - the locket!
We purchased it from Claire's accessories,and we chose this particular locket as it was relitivly cheap and thus suitable for our low budget. Also, the appearence of the locket fitted in with what we imagined it would look like - old, victorian, dirty & mysterious.

Adorno : Culture Industry

Adorno states that there is a difference between High Art (shakespeare, Novels ,Plays) vs Low Art(     Media). High  art is stuff that is intellectual and makes you think.  He says that media is bad for the society and distance people from each other and false needs are created.  He says we suffer from Commodity Fetishism( obsession with objects and things to buy) and also that every film is the same they remake movies.

I disagree with him because I think media forms and brings the society closer together and also we deserve to be entertained and distracted.  The media product that our group plans to make will not adhere to Adorno's theory because it will be intellectual ask well as entertaining.

Planning: Make-up Wardrobe/props

Planning our trailer we needed to make this as believable as possible, make-up will help us to ensure that every effect comes across as real as possible.

Today having the chance to speak with a professional make-up artist, we as a group noted and decided on where we would take our characters. we understood that in order to make up a character and to dress this character we not only needed to understand the lifestyle but their interests their dislike their background ect. We had to understand our characters thoughts and feelings inside and out.

Planning: Creating our screenplay

In class we had to come up with a script of some sort. Having dialogue in a film trailer is key as this helps to  keeping your audience engaged and so then we could start piecing together the music and action. To do this we used a special software called Celtx. Celtx is a free media pre-productions software designed for creating and organizing media projects like screenplays, films, videos,stage plays, audio plays, documentaries,comics and much more. Together we decided, but not officially, what would be said in the trailer as well as he different scene types. We agreed on our characters and on what their role in the film was eg. jock, popular girl, main character ect. We also started to round up actors/volunteers that would agree to act for us or be an extra in our trailer. After agreeing on what we had done we fixed the scenes so they were in an order we prefer. This made it easier for us to imagine what our trailer was going to come out like it was important that all three of us in the group agreed and had the same image in our mind. When we decided for now our screenplay was done we went back to look at Awates music. It would now be easier for us to visualise in our minds exactly what track we wanted to place in our trailer. Again we wanted an urban feel as it we are tackling a contemporary issue however it also had to coincide with the horror genre and match what was happening on screen. This was a difficult task and we were not able to come up with just one soundtrack. We decided that we would choose three and when our trailer started to transform we would find this easier for us to apply music to and perhaps remix or loop some of the sounds.

Character Planning for The Possession

Character Planning for The Possession

Main Character/Protagonist – Clarissa Campbell-She is 18 years and is the main character that steals the locket and becomes possessed. The story revolves on her stealing a locket from a corpse that has died in the riots and therefore is cursed and the journey she embarks on trying to find a resolution to the deaths happening.

Jayden - He Loves Clarissa and is secretly obsessed over her and tries to get her attention by helping her and following her.  After secretly following her he sees her as she steals the locket from the corpse of the stores owner and now knows the truth.  He uses this a chance to force her to allow him to be with her. She gradually falls in love with him.

Edna Wallace – The current owner of the shop who is 98 and she took care of the shop all her life. She dies falling over during the riots. And returns as a supernatural ghost in the locket that possesses Clarissa.

Carol Campbell – She is Clarissa’s mother.  She is mental and is schizophrenic and is totally dependant on her daughter Clarissa.

Mya – One of Clarissa’s two best friends. She is 18 years old. She is obsessed about her image, she is always combing her hair, looking in the mirror doing manicures etc.

Rihanna – she is another one of Clarissa’s two best friends and also 18 years old. Around her friends she is a rebel who drinks and smokes etc but hides this from her parents by acting like an angel around them and when speaking to them.

The Possession - Setting plans

We saw a nice place to film our shots because of the destruction of the riots in out film it would be a perfect place

The Possession - Writing The Screenplay

Celtx is a free media pre-productions software designed for creating and organizing media projects like screenplays, films, videos, stageplays, audio plays, documentaries, machinima, comics, games and podcasts.


Celtx uses an industry standard screenwriting editor typical for screenplays, stageplays, AV scripts, comic books or radio plays. Celtx also includes a rich text editor for outlines. Celtx also incorporates LaTeX in its Typeset feature, which allows for more flexible templates and printing options.


During our session in class we learned how to use Celtx to write screenplays. We spent our lesson in our groups writing the screenplay for our trailers.
It is a very professional software that makes screen writing much easier.

Applying Todorov's Theory

1) The equilibrium would be the girl moving to the house and walking around the house as everything is normal

2) The disruption would be the paranormal activities and the whispering that is scary the protagonist

3) The Recognition of the Distruption happened when the trailer reveals the creatures that scare the girl

4)An Attempt to repair the disruption is shown in the trailer when it shows the family portect the girl and trying to run and escape the house

5) There is no resolution that restores equilibrium in the trailer

Todorov's Theory

Todorov theory suggest that chronological narratives are structured in five stages:

1)In the beginning there is a state of equilibrium,everything is normal and nothing is wrong at this stage.


2) Disruption ,The equilibrium is disrupted and thing turn out for the worst.


3) There is a recognition that there has been a disruption;someone realises that something has gone wrong.


4) An Attempt to repair the disruption Events Occur to try to restore what has gone wrong.


5) All had been restored and there is a resolution which restores the equilibrium and Normailty

Coursework Idea Synopsis

BloodShed High Presentation

In order to apply the recognisable conventions of trailers, in groups we came up with ideas about how to market and promote a film called BloodShed High.

We planned by making a brief synopsis of the story and characters. We also thought about our Unique Selling Points and the codes and conventions such as the credits, title etc.

We discussed on how our trailer would act as a promoting tool and how we can use the trailer to promote the film, actors, directors etc.

Since our target audience would be the youths of london we used famous directors and actors from a previous successful film. This will be our USP.  In order to make the horror trailer scary we used editing techniques such as thunder and lightning effects to capture the viewers attention.

From this exercise we learned that trailers are not short movies they are a genre of their own. And the audience expectations are key and the production is vital towards a successful trailer.

We learned how to use what we learned in AS and how to apply that knowledge to make our own trailer

Key Concepts in Synopsis

TUCKER & DALE VS EVIL is a hilariously gory, good-spirited horror comedy, doing for killer rednecks what Shaun of the Dead did for zombies. Tucker and Dale are two best friends on vacation at their dilapidated mountain house, who are mistaken for murderous backwoods hillbillies by a group of obnoxious, preppy college kids. When one of the students gets separated from her friends, the boys try to lend a hand, but as the misunderstanding grows, so does the body count. TUCKER AND DALE VS EVIL has been a hit on the festival circuit, debuting at Sundance, and winning the Midnight Audience Award at SXSW, the Jury Prize for First Feature at Fantasia, the Best Director award at Fantaspoa, and the Best Motion Picture Award at Sitges.




Guillermo del Toro presents DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK, a horror film starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison, directed by Troy Nixey. Based on the 1973 telefilm that del Toro believes is the scariest TV production ever made, the story follows Sally (Madison), a young girl who moves to Rhode Island to live with her father (Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Holmes) in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own. Akin to del Toro's PAN'S LABYRINTH, DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK focuses on a young girl's struggle against menacing and terrifying forces. FilmDistrict will release the film on August 26th.


The writer-director team behind SAW and the filmmakers of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY redefine the haunted house genre in INSIDIOUS. This horror film is the terrifying story of a family who shortly after moving discover that dark spirits have possessed their home and that their son has inexplicably fallen into a coma. Trying to escape the haunting and save their son, they move again only to discover that it was not their house that was haunted.






Protagonist
Stock characters
Plot and Stock Situations
Icons
backgrounds and Decor
Themes

BloodShed High Planning

We were told to plan and create a storyboard for a trailer by the name Bloodshed High in pairs:

We referred back to our Trailer Analysis and Research to write up a plan.

Trailer Analysis-(Don't Be Afraid of THe Dark)

• The name of the  film appears towards the end of the film.This may be because they want the name to be shown after the viewers interest and emotion is heightened during the trailer.  They want the name to be memorable after using the Unique Selling Point(USP) before.

• We are told who is directing the film at the end by the use of on screen texts. They normally use the directors to market horror films. This director isn't well known so they show his name at the end of the trailer after they gained the interest of the audience to promote the director as well as the film.

• You see sneak peaks  from the antagonist or the evil supernatural creatures trying to scare and kill the stars of the film 

• The music starts off slow and lagato(smooth) and it makes the views in  sad anticipating state.  Then  it gradually ups the tempo and gets louder, then whenever the antagonist or the evil creatures make their appearance the music gets fast and choppy along with the sequence adds to the sudden scary effect towards the viewers.  This makes the viewers know that this is a scary horror film.Voice clips from the movie are used as a voiceover to somewhat give people a hint of the story line but not to much to tell them the story itself. The supernatural whispering makes the audience scared as well.

• The Speed of the clip from the trailer is way faster than the actual movie no longer than two seconds. This is long enough for the audience to understand the clip but not to tell the story.  It also Keeps the view entertained and not bored.
• The Date and location of release, the film website and rating, studio and technology used was given in the very last frame.

• The trailer make me want to see the film because it creates a sense of enigma.  It using the speed of compilation of different scenes to make you want to know who is the villian and what will happen.
• I would expect to see this trailer in the cinema before a different scary film or a commercial on a famous TV channel.
• The Dark Lighting and the slow smooth scary soundtrack sets the atmosphere and tells us that this is a trailer of a horror genre. It is important for the distributor to highlight the genre because some people are fans of genre itself. This means it might be the USP.
• I think the story will be about a little girl who moved into a mansion with her family and supernatural beings want her.

Horror Poster Grunge Texture Experiment

One of the codes and conventions of a horror poster is texture/detail.  Today in class we practice adding textures on normal images by using photoshop.I got my images from google image and my textures from www.grungetextures.com.  To do this I placed the texture layer over the image and adjusted the opacity and fill to my liking. I then adding a thumbnail to the texture layer to erase or add the texture wherever I want it.

Before                                               After

Film Poster Analysis

Film Poster Analysis

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USES AND GRATIFICATION

There are different uses and gratifications in different posters.  The media audience make active use of what the media offers. There are four main reasons; Diversion,Personal, Personal Identity and Surveillance.

Trailer Discussion - What are the features of a trailer?

During our last lesson we had an initial discussion learning about trailers and what they do...

Trailers are designed to capture the audience's attention and hold it for a short space of time. They give the viewers just enough information to raise their curiosity but not enough to spoil the story. They tease but don't tell.

A good trailer will aim to do the following:

• Create a sense of enigma 
• Target a specific Audience
• Gain Viewers interest/capture their attention
• Create a mood or atmosphere
• Use sound to manipulate viewers emotion 
• Promotes  the film,actor,studio,producer/director.
• Shows the date of the perfomance

Film Poster Codes and Conventions

Film Distributor 'Research task'

Film Distributor 'Research task'

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Discussion on Film Trailers

Exploration of Film Trailers on Prezi

Evaluation of Different Blogs

Visit these Blogs:

1.  www.nikeblog.com
2. www.thefilmgeek.blogspot.com
3. www.lovemydress.net/blog
4. www.lakersblog.latimes.com
5. www.aclandburghleymedia.blogspot.com
6. www.horrorbloga2.blogspot.com

Film Publicity Lesson 06/09/11

In Lesson we were told to name as much ways as possible a film can be publicised In groups of three.  We wrote our answers on a big sheet of papert

How I have progressed through my first year in Media Studies

During my first year in Media Studies I struggled trying to adapt to the subject. I thought that it was just  a subject(obstacle course) that I needed to overcome to get to UNI. I was performing at an average C level as u can see in my picture. I hope to improve and work harder in A2

Preliminary task-The meeting -Roles and Responsibilities-

In class our preliminary task was to shoot a short sequence and use our in camera editing skills that we learned about  in AS. In a group of four my group decided to shoot a sequence about an employee getting fired.  We planned out the different shots as a group on a piece of paper.  We made a storyline and we used the media editing techniques that we learned to make the sequence to flow.  When the time came to shoot I was the camera man.  In camera editing skills and different camera shots were used throughout the sequence. We showed all skills learned previously and it came out good overall.
 We used skills such as: 
Eyeline Matching
Shot Reverse Shot
Panning
Tilting
Establishing Shots
Matching on Action
Zooming

Preliminary task-The meeting -Planning

During the planning we as a group used planning sheet, drew pictures focusing on the editing, selected shot types, editing techniques, setting, props and sound we will use. We also decided to make our short film slightly comical and a bit of humour to it.  We used in camera editing techniques. Our film is about a drug exchange.We used establishing shots, shot reverse shots,matching on action, zooming, panning and other techniques for the scenes to run smoothly and to connect properly. We first had to ask permission to use a corner shop as a setting before hand and we learnt how to use the cameras also.

Preliminary task-The meeting -The Brief

This year,2011 the preliinary task was to create a short film using the theme 'the meeting'.  I will be useing film technologies such as a flip cameras to make it involving some sort of meeting between to or more people. The purpose of this task is to develop our skills and learn how to use the technologies and our editing techniques. Because it is our first filming exercise we are expected not to do well.  To complete this exercise successfully I will need to plan the process thoroughly, this is a very important practice that will come in handy and give me experience for when I am doing my own horror campaign.

Introduction

Im Kirby Kirwan currently taking the A2 media course. This is my A2 blogger webpage where all my developments, and work with my OCR

Media Studies project will be posted and updated on a regualr basis. 

 My coursework this year will be very practical as we have to create a marketing campaign for a horror movie which includes a movie poster and trailer. We prepared ourselves this lesson by doing our preliminary task which was to plan out a scene consisting the different terminology that we as a  class  learned in AS. We used the skills to plan out and take a video in a group of four. To prepare us for the actual task ahead of us.