Twilight Film Poster

Below, I have embedded the film trailer for twilight. This is because I have annotated the poster after watching the film trailer and researching the background of the film. I have also included some fact about the film including important information such as the target audience and director etc.

Target Audience: Males and Females aged between 12 and 30 (however it would mostly be students at high school as they can relate to the characters more easily due to the similair age range).
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson


If you click on the photo below, you will see how I have annotated the film poster, showing why certain things are shown in certain places.



Above is the annotated poster. This fits in well with the target audience as the publisher has shown ways of understanding when linking the audience with the characters. The direct address from Edward tot he audience allows the audience to feel more involved with the film. For example, female members of the audience will feel more involved as he as looking directly towards them. Male members of the audience may feel intimidated by this address due to the fact a great percent of the female audience will show an attraction towards this character. This film mainly shows themes such as love and conflict between vampires, humans and ware-wolves.
     The way Edward Cullen is stood over Bella shows us how protective he is over her. This is not normal for two lovers, and suggests that she is more vulnerable than regular girls. This allows the audience to become more interested as they want to know why this is happening. The way that Edward is stood between other people in the film and Bella, may suggest that he has to keep her separate from other people. This allows us to feel a sense of danger among the characters.
     The tag line is a very contrasting within itself. For example, talking about living forever may seem as a fantastic thing to have. This would allow any person to enjoy the life they have forever, however, in the second half of the tag line, we see how this could be too unnatural. Because this tag line is linked closely with sci-fi themes, the audience becomes more interested.
    Aspects of film noir could be seen in this due to the fact that there is a femme fetale (Edward falls in love with Bella however he shouldn't due to the fact that she is a human and humans should not be in love with vampires - however this does not stop them).

Timetable of the filming schedule

Steph has carefully put together a table to show what we need to be doing and at what point in the making of our trailer. She has also included who is doing what. This allows the work to be evenly shared out between the two of us, allowing each of us to be involved equally.

Date	What will be done?	Who will we need	Props needed
4th/ 11/13	Narrative for the trailer	Steph or Emily	Video camera in a quiet room
6/11/13	Pictures of the characters in costume	All cast	Outfits for the trailer
7/11/13	Pictures of the 3 gang members victims to be taken	Emily, Katie Stafford and Emily Mckeown	Camera
8/11/13	Picture of the pearl bracelet	The bracelet	Camera
12/11/13	The filming of the dream scene	Emily and Gareth	Video camera, characters in costume, dark lighting
13/11/13	The filming of the café scene	All cast	Video camera, characters in costume, 3 pictures of the victims, pearl bracelet
18/11/13	Susanna tied up on a chair in a dark room	Emily	Video camera, low lighting, duct tape
20/11/13	Kidnap scene	All cast plus Mrs Chapman Jones	Van, characters in costume
21/11/13	Black scene with the writing “Reverie”  (voice over)	Steph	Video camera in a quiet room

Revised Script

From the storyboard and notes we have made, Steph has created the revised script for the actors and actresses featuring in our trailer. 

I have changed the script slightly by adding in shot plans and lighting ideas that we will need to include when filming. For example, Low key lighting will need to be used to show the audience that there is a negative feel to what is going on (for example when Susanna is tied up in the chair). Shot Plans are different to this, as they focus more on how to portray the characters. For example, when the camera is at a high angle shot, looking down on Susanna, it emphasizes how little power she has due to the situation.


Script – Reverie

(Synopsis)

INT: Café

Lighting: Day light, however where the men are sitting should be more low key lighting

Shot Angle: Camera at a slight high angle shot showing the audience what is on the table. Camera pans round each man at a slightly low angle shot. Zoom in on Riff’s face at the end.

Group of 4 men around a circled table. 3 pictures are displayed on the table.

Narrator

When everything seemed so unreal

Main character points to a picture of a young woman. The victim is selected.

Lighting: The lighting should become brighter when the camera scans over the photo of the woman.

Shot Angle: Shot should be looking directly at the woman’s picture. High angle shot. There will be direct address from the woman’s eyes looking straight into the camera lens.

INT: Café

Group of men spot their victim. Before the woman walks out the café she drops her pearl bracelet. Opportunity for the gang members to gain her trust. The main gang member gives the heads up to Terrance that he should make his move.

Shot Angle: Point of view shot from the men looking towards the woman.

Shot Angle: Tracking shot behind the woman as she leaves the restaurant.

Shot Angle: Pan down from tracking shot onto the bracelet which is on the floor.

Shot Angle: Close up on Riff’s face to show him telling Terrance to make his move (nod action).

Terrance

Miss, you dropped your bracelet. Here.

Shot Angle: Shot begins on the bracelet, including a mid-shot with Terrance’s hand included. The camera then pans up her body as he lifts his hand to give her the bracelet.

Shot Angle: Two shot including Terrance and Susanna talking.

Narrator

When everything just seemed like a dream

INT: Forest

The camera changes to a dream Susanna had of running through the forest, passing looks behind her as if she is being chased

Shot Angle: Dream effect on the camera (Black and white).

Shot Angle: Wide shot from the front looking at Susanna running towards the camera.

INT: Café

 Susanna looks at Terrance naively

Terrance

Would you like to go to dinner?

Susanna

Yeah I’d like that

Shot Angle: The scene above is a two shot, including the two people talking

Lighting: Natural, bright.

Narrator

The question is, is everyone always what they seem?

INT: Van (Kidnap)

Dark night and the gang members pull Susanna into their van

Shot Angle: Wide shot, high angle

INT: Dark room

Susanna is tied up on a chair with duct tape around her mouth.

Shot Angle: High angle shot looking down on Susanna

Lighting: Very Low key lighting.

INT:

(Black Screen) Reverie

Audience feedback (video form)

We interview Ryan Bell about our film trailer. From this, we can then see if we are doing something right or wrong when making this - due to the fact he is part of our target audience. The questions asked were simple, however they required more of an explanation rather than a simple yes or no. This allowed us to understand why our target audience may like or dislike anything we have included or used to make our trailer.

The video clips are presented in the form of  a prezi, however, a small camera was used to film the clips. It was simple and easy to put these clips onto prezi to tidy the format and make it simple to understand.

Questions

These are the questions I believe should be asked when making our video interview. The questions are simple, however they require explanation, which will help us to understand how to improve our trailer.

Questions: 1.    Does the genre of the film appeal to you? If yes why?
2.    Does our film seem like a one you would watch?
3.    What makes you want to watch this film?
4.    What do you know about film noir?
5.    What do you like about our storyboard?
6.    Do you think there is enough aspects of film noir featured in our film?
7.    Does it appeal to you that our film is modernised compared too many other film noir films?
8.    What is your favourite film genre and why?

Our Audience

Our stereotypical audience is 15 - 25 with the majority of them being males. This is because our film is an action film and action genres stereotypically attract a male audience more than a female one. However this does not mean that we are excluding a female audience. We have deliberately included a romantic scene in the trailer as not only is it a convention of Film Noir, but it conveys the female falling for the male character even though he is ‘conning’ her in order to appeal to a selection of our target audience who enjoys a bit of romance. Our target audience enjoys violence and action in a film, they like a male to be seen as a ‘hero’ or dominant character. They also like an exciting storyline that’s full of adrenaline, excitement and tension. Excitement, adrenaline and tension is exactly the emotions we are hoping to create for our audience and our trailer includes the male as the’ hero’ and the dominant character.

Robbery Location

Steph decided to take this picture at night as it would convey what the scene would look like if we were filming it with a dark setting. The house is big to convey Susanna's wealth and the lamppost would be good to use as an effect to create a shadow of the robbers. This is a common feature found in Film Noirs to create tension.

The house isn't far from where Steph lives so if we need to photograph it more often, this wouldn't be a problem. We are unsure whether or not to use this for the robbery scene as we now have the idea for the van. However, we are still taking this into consideration in case we cannot use the van or one of our other ideas falls through.

Change of Ideas

We have had a broad change of ideas throughout making this trailer. Whether its from 'mise en scene' props to the character choices, there has always been changes. However, we have now decided to change parts of the story line itself. We have access to a van which has a side door and front doors - we thought this could add more interest to our trailer for a kidnap etc. As this seemed a good idea, we agreed to change the ending, so now instead of the robbers being caught at Susanna's house, we will see them in the van pushing her into the side door to kidnap her. We thought that having the house there would be a good idea at the end because it would how how rich she was, however we don't think this is necessary, and we believe that a kidnap will attract more of an audience due to the fact that it is more exciting.

We have not made any certain decisions, however we thought this would be a better idea to look into, in order to improve our movie trailer. We understand that we will have to work on this in attempt to make it work, however we will always have our first plan to fall back on.

Representation

Representations of Terrance

 

Representations of Susanna

Cafe Location

This is the cafe location which we will use to film our trailer...

 

 

 

Cast Photos

Emily (myself) as Susanna: 

I decided to play the part of Susanna. This i because i will know exactly how I want her to act. The look of having long blonde hair and wearing red lipstick is exactly how Susanna should be represented through the eyes of me and Steph. In this picture, the colour of my top is bright yellow. This connotes that Susanna enjoys and is very noticed when in a crowd of people. She is well identified and stands out from others. This is exactly how me and Steph decided to have her within the film.

Callum Elliot - Wilson as Riff: 

We decided that Callum would be good to play this part due to the fact he is the build we expected to have for Riff. Callum can also be quite serious which is what we intended to show from Riff's point of view (this is because Riff is the decision maker so a lot of pressure is held on his shoulders).

Daniel Sutton as Pepe: 

Daniel will be a god person to play the character of Pepe due to the fact that he has a 'geeky' look about him. We will get Daniel to wear a pair of glasses to emphasize this, however the slight curly hair and the build he is, is exactly hat we need for this part. Also he is friends with the other boys so we think he will feel more comfortable when playing the part.

Gareth Marsden as Terrance: 

We agreed to have Gareth as the 'good looking' due to the fact that he is what we expected to have. He has the same hair style and build that we needed for this part. 

Liam Scott as Zipper: 

Liam is a very tall boy which is perfect for this character. We decided to have someone weedy and small with very little power to play Zipper, however Liam is the complete opposite. He is very tall and you would expect him to have power due to his height. This is the subvert of what would usually be expected. We have included many subverts in our trailer and this is one which fits in well with the character types.

Location Shots

 

 

Above are the location shots we took for the dream scene. This area is near where we live so it is easy for us to access. It will also be a good idea for us to put  black and white edit over the video to connote the fact that it is a dream. This will be easily done on the computers we have.

 

 

 

Me and Steph are wanting the dream scene to be in black and white to convey its a dream however also to use the conventions of a classic Film Noir. This can be linked to the film Memento as it too changes the screening colour to black and white when the main character has flashbacks.

Cast Pictures

Me and Steph decided to pick these people as our characters for various reasons. Firstly, they are all really close friends and will feel comfortable acting in front of each other. Secondly, me and Steph have many free lessons with them so this will help with filming process. Lastly, I am playing Susanna which means that the main character is available when the rest of the characters are, whcih again will make the filming process easier.

I decided to anaylise the reasons why they would be good to play the aprts of our trailer characters.

Susanna Rose - I will be good in taking on the role of pretty, rich and inocent Susanna as I have a confident personality and enjoy taking on such a role. Furthermore, I am obviously Stephs's partner in creating the Reverie trailer so I will know exactly how to act and this will make the filming process less time consuming.

Callum Elliot-Wilson as Riff - Callum will confidently be able to keep a serious face whilest playing the leader of the group.

Gareth Marsden as Terrance - Gareth has a confident personality and he will be able to act seriously when trying to 'charm' Susanna.

Liam Scoot as Zipper - I believe Liam will enjoy taking on a different role and will confidently pull off the 'weedy, younger gangster' look.

Dan Sutton as Pepe - Pepe is a total contrast to Dan himself however, I believe Dan will enjoy taking on a different role and feel confident in acting this part.

Character Costume Planning Photos

Ideas for location shots

We decided that certain places in our area would be good for shooting certain scenes. For example there is a small woodland area which we thought would be ideal to shoot the dream scene in. This is because the female could be running through the trees as if she is attempting to get away from something (the person trying to kill her). This shot could be in black and white along with being a slow motion mid shot to long shot. I think this is a good idea because it emphasises the fact that it is in fact a dream.

Steph had the idea to film a certain house in our area. This house had a street light outside, and when it’s dark, your shadow is placed over the driveway. We thought it was god to have this showing due to the fact that it connotes a string film noir convention. By having the shadows over the house, it also allows the audience to feel like there is someone watching someone else. This creates a sense of the unknown which links closely with film noir. We know this because if the research we did into the themes of film noir in other films such as ‘Drive’ and ‘Double indemnity’.

Costume Ideas

Susanna Rose (Pretty young woman) – For Susanna Rose, I know that we will definitely need to dress her in a lot of jewellery and expensive items. This is because she needs to appear as the rich woman who is the victim in a robbery. I would also like her to be wearing a dress of a mid to long length. This will show the audience that she is a sophisticated young woman with class. This will allow her to appear as a very feminine woman which is also a look I believe should be included (due to the fact she has to be physically attractive).


 

Zipper (Weedy, younger gangster with very little power) – As Zipper is the weedy type character; I think he should be dressed slightly imperfectly. For example, he could have his shirt buttons done incorrectly or just not done at all. This would allow the audience to see how he is slightly careless and does not focus on his appearance as a main aspect of his life.

Pepe (the brains of the group. The geek) – I think Pepe should definitely be wearing some sort of ‘geek’ style glasses. This shown in the mise en scene will allow the audience to understand that he is a geek. I think the glasses will fit well with a black suit or a smart business like outfit. This will make him look more intelligent (the connotation we are trying to show).

Riff (The broadly built, boss of the group. The decision maker.)- Riff should definitely be wearing a suit of some sort. I believe he should be smoking a cigarette or a cigar. It would be better to show Riff smoking a cigar because it makes him look as if he has more power compared to other members in the group. The clothes Riff will wear should be dark clothes, preferably black. This is because he needs to show the audience that he is the worst gangster of the group. The darkness will connote a hidden secret side or even a violent and nasty side.

Terrance (The attractive male of the group) – As Terrance is the sweet male who is attractive and flattering towards Susanne, he will have to be wearing an outfit which emphasises how good looking he is. He will ideally be wearing something very neat and smart. This will connote that he is a good, kind male who looks after his appearance. The clothes he wears should also be dark which connotes the opposite side to what Susanne sees. This will help the audience to understand that he is not a very nice person, he is in fact a robber.

The storyboard so far

The storyboard… So far

Steph and I have completed a storyboard which suggests what will be on the screen at each point. We have also included a soundtrack which we made ourselves. This is included on the storyboard and links with the photos on the screen. We have adjusted the timing’s of the photos to fit this. When we made this, we took photos of the drawn out storyboard and uploaded them onto the computer. We had no problem doing this and found it quite easy to transfer the photos across to windows movie maker. I think the soundtrack we have made fits well with our trailer due to the way it creates suspense and interests the audience into seeing what happens next. 

Changed Descisions

We decided to change parts of the soundtrack to create more suspense within our trailer. We also realised that some parts of our soundtrack did not fit the scenes we are going to create. To solve this problem, we have changed different parts of the track. For example we have added in some ambient sound for when the people are in the café. This allows the audiences to have a greater feel of verisimilitude when watching the trailer.

Another example of a change we have made would be within the dream scene of our trailer. We have included some music which indicates that the scene is in fact in a dream. After this, we went back to including the beat we had at the beginning. This reinforces the fact that the dream portrayed is actually a reality scene in the film. It encourages the audience to understand that the moments seen are factual and do happen to the woman.

Preparation For Our Animated Storyboard

Me and Steph took photos of our trailer's storyboards, uploaded them onto the computer and then inputted them into movie maker. We also created a music track for our trailer using the software Audacity. During this process it became clear how planning our trailer was essential as picking out music to complement what was going on in the animated storyboard took a lot of time and editing.

We both thought our audio change complements our storyboard and brings great suspense.

However, since this is only our first attempts of putting our animated storyboard together, it can be said that improvements need to be done. Firstly, our storyboard could do with taking our handwriting off and creating amore visual storyboard rather then using some writing to explain it. Therefore it may be useful if we have a voice over to explain the narrative and make sure that the dialogue is clearly heard whilst the music is playing. Lastly, our storyboard has two different sound tracks which change as Susanna explains her dream. We both came to the agreement that the music in our last scene after explaining the dream, should go back to the music at the beginning as this fits better with the last shots of the trailer.

Updated 10 Point Plan

We decided to make adjustments to our 10 point plan as we believe they will make our trailer more exciting.

• The 4 member of the gang are sat round a table, picking who is going to be their victim
• They then select one of their members to be the 'charmer' and win over this young woman
• They spot the woman in a café
• One of the gang members deliberately bump into her and steals her purse out of her bag
• The 'charmer' then wins her trust by snatching the purse out of the other mans hand as if he didn't know him
• The woman then believes she has to re-pay the man with his kindness and they agree to a meal
• She tell him about this re-occurring dream she has been having
• Suddenly, the audience will see her house being watched by the gang
• It then switches to the woman tied up in a chair in a dark place
• To conclude, the trailer will then switch back to the meal scene and the 'charmer' says "Don't worry, its just a silly dream."

I believe our new 10 point plan bring excitement to the trailer and doesn't give too much away. This is especially shown when the woman is tied up towards the end which could bring curiosity and suspense to how she got their and is the 'charmer' really who he seems?

Audience Feedback

Audience feedback:

Many film Noir films similar to the one I am going to make a trailer for, are rated as either 15 or 18. For example, ‘Drive’ is rated 18 due to the violence shown throughout and the language used. Most other films are rated as 15 because the violence is not as explicit, however, they still include robberies, violence and many other noir themes. On the other hand, Double Indemnity is rated as a PG. This film was a major influence on the trailer I am making, this is why I did not feel it was necessary to rate it as 18.

 

After completing our story board, we showed it to some people who we thought would fall into our target audience. Their thoughts for this was that it “included many features often seen in film noir”. They thought the idea of having a romantic theme involved would catch the younger audience’s attention. They also thought that it would attract the female audience’s attention also (which was also a positive because it now meant that both genders would be interested).