Filming Effects: CCTV Camera

Below is a video we made to produce a CCTV effect which we are planning to use as one of the main features for our film trailer.

Second Pitch Idea

After the feedback we recieved from our first pitch, we decided that our idea was too far fetched and hard to make believable. There were still some positive element to our first pitch that we wanted to include in our second storyline. Such as  maintaining the same action/horror effect and also using the same props such as the air guns. Here is the poster of our groups second pitch:

My own experience and love of horror and action films has given me motivation for how I want my groups trailer to look. Inspiration from films such as Paranormal Activity has made me realise how easy it could be to make a movie that involves the use of CCTV cameras and handheld cameras to produce an effective trailer. Paranormal Activity is a horror movie literally about paranormal activity that has been captured on CCTV cameras and webcams throughout the house. It features ordinary families in ordinary houses and settings which is why our group initially decided that a storyline along them lines would be sufficient and still effective.

Here is a trailer of Paranormal Activity just to show the idea of CCTV cameras and Webcams that are used:

Although this is a horror film, it has ideas in there that will be very useful to us.

Here is the presentation of our group's pitch:

Initial Pitch

Camera Research

There are many aspects involved with producing a trailer. To be able to produce a believable trailer, there is a need for good equipment. In this case, a good camera with good lens's and also amazing editing software.

The camera's we will be using are Canon 600D - 550D and also a Nikon D3100 in total with this. With this we have 6 lenses: 2 standard (18-55mm), 1 medium zoom (28-105mm), 1 higher zoom (70-300mm), 1 fixed zoom (50mm), 1 fish eye. Also with this, we have 2 GoPro cameras which we can use for action shots which work well with our horror film genre as we will be able to display point of view shots which will cause suspense to the audience. 

Our GoPros both have a fixed fish eye lens. I believe that our groups variety of cameras and camera lenses, we have the potential to make a very believable trailer.

Camera Effects:

The above picture was taken with a Canon 550D with a Canon EF 50mm f1.8 Lens. By simply changing the ISO (International Standards Organisations) of the camera, we were able to drastically change the lighting even though the shots themselves stayed exactly the same. ISO basically means the cameras sensitivity to light. The lower the ISO, the darker the lighting. This feature on the camera will be useful to our group when filming a horror trailer because the different lighting we can produce is substantial. The low ISO produces a very dark lighting which will certainly come in handy when trying to portray dark or gloomy scenes in our trailer. The high ISO will also come in handy if the lighting in some areas is not as light as we need it to be. 

We are also at an advantage with our group as we have a range of different lens's. We have a range of zoom lenses as well as two fish eye lenses. Below is a picture we took with a fish eye lens compared to one we took in the exact same place and position however using a normal lens instead:

Our range of cameras will help us massively when filming our trailer because different cameras produce different shots. We are fortunate enough to have two Go Pro HD Hero's which will produce amazing action footage. Below is a video clip of a Go Pro HD Hero 2 being used. This is not a video that we as a group have produced however it is significant in showing the amazing effects we can have from using this type of camera. All shots from this video were filmed with the same camera.

Film Trailer Analysis

The first movie trailer I have chosen to analyze is Insidious: Chapter 2, which is the latest film released within the fairly recent Insidious series which is a horror film about a little boy who lucid dreams in his sleep and demons try to possess his body whilst his spirit is else where.

The first noticible convention to nearly every film trailer is the green screen right at the start annoncing the target audience for the film about to be advertised. In the case of Insidious 2, it says "The following preview has been approved for APPROPRIATE AUDIENCES" which basically means that this film is only suitable for certain ages groups and may contain sexual scenes or violence etc because of this. 

One thing you notice straight away about this trailer in particular is the two advertisements at the top. I believe that this is exclusive to movie trailers that are posted onto YouTube however it is a great source of advertising for the film, especially by encouraging you to write about the trailer on Twitter by using the '#INSIDIOUS' which brings in a free source of advertising to the film. The other source of advertising the the memorable date of "friday the 13th" which is the date the film is released in cinemas. 

 In the opening scene of this trailer, we are introduced by a major key tonal music which appears to be very happy which builds suspence as we are aware that this is in actual fact a horror film. We see images of a happy family; a dad playing with his son and the mother watching from the window with a grin on her face. This is acomponied by diegetic sounds of the little boy laughing to show happiness. There is no voiceover in this trailer, the plot is understood by conversation and comments said by the characters as well as brief titles on screen. The text we first see is "it began two years ago" which indicates that this is a sequal of an earlier film and that the story has not yet finished. 

The same, happy music played on the piano continues to play as the scene changes to their Grandmothers house where they appear to be just like any ordinary family. The more subtitles appear which say "their child inherited a gift" which is quite ironic in the way it makes it sound like it is a good thing when we, as the audience know that its not. With the happy music still playing, the father reassures the mother by saying "nothing is going to bother us, not anymore.. we have our son back" and we are then shown images of the innocent children sleeping in their beds. 

There is then a fade to a blackout and then the mood completely changes. We see the mother sitting on her own displayed in a very close up angle with an eye-line match to present a point of view shot. She is sat in a very dark room and there is silence for a few moments. And then a very dreary music of the child's song "row, row, row your boat" is played acoustically and then moments later, a ladies voice is heard singing it on the baby monitor which means she is in the babies room. The mother notices that the babies toys stated moving and goes to investigate it, accompanied by non-diegetic sounds to cause fear and suspense amongst the audience. 

In the next change in camera angles, we are presented with an establishing shot of a dark room filled with very old fashioned furnature. The shot is quite high up making the mother look extremely vunerable. She walks around the room, and as she walks back past, she is shocked to see a figure sitting on the sofa. With the haunting children's music still playing, the ghostly figure stands up and walks out of the room.  We hear a massive bang coming from the upstairs on the house and the mother runs up the stairs and screams for her baby, with the haunting children's music still being played and sung by a very dreery woman.

 

The next screen we are experienced to is text which says "from the makers of Saw and Paranormal Activity" this is said approximately half way through the trailer and it highlights two very famous movie series, Saw containing 7 movies in its series and Paranormal Activity containing 4. This captivates the audience because they associate good horror films they may have previously seen to this film which may make the audience want to see the it, through the association of the others. When this screen comes up. the colours signify a horror genre, together with the haunting music that accompanies it.

In the next scene, the music changes to a minor key tone with enhanced sounds to bring suspense and fear to the audience. we experience a few shots that have slow zooms to draw attention such as the fear on the grandmother's face. The scene then cuts to a dark room with everyone sitting round a table. The room is lit up by candles and is given a red lighting affect to represent danger. a line of dialogue said by one of the characters is "tell us.. what does she want" and it is clear that the film features a supernatural element.

Close up's of stereotypical horror elements are used such as skulls, lit with candles to produce a spooky effect and also a close up of an Ouija Board which is typically associated with the supernatural. Also, a close up of a strange figure or doll wearing what appears to be a gas mask.

In the next scene, we hear a slight voice-over from the young son which says "i heard voices in the hall way" which is accompanied by a high angle establishing shot where the father is close up and the son in the distance, making the son look vunerable. You can see the fear in the son's face as he is aware that something is not right. We then see a cut to a scene where the mother and son are having a conversation where the boy asks if there is something wrong with his father.  A close up shot is used to emphasise the fear on the little boys face. 












The next scene is really odd and unexpected. It features the father doing what appears to be pulling out his tooth. The scene remains silent however diegetic sounds are used to emphasise what the father is doing. We, as the audience realise the son was correct in believing there is something wrong with his father as we see him doing something very strange and inhumane. We are left wondering why the father is acting so wierd.

Next, we are produced with more text, simply stating when the film comes out. Accompanying this text is a song called "tiptoe through the tulips" which isn't directly related to the film in any way, however it is the music was used in the first Insidious and is used to associate the audience with the events from the first film (the video on the left is from the first Insidious film, demonstrating that the same music is used in both for audience association).




Throughout this trailer, dialogue is not used very much and when it is used, it is usually just one sentence lines. Such as in the next scene where we hear a slight voiceover of the grandmother saying "whatever it was that was haunting my family, it is not done with us."  and we then just see short close up clips of the fear expressions and after a loud bang made with non-diegetic sounds, we see horrifying scenes of dead bodys with closeups to produce suspense.

We next see text that simply says "the terrifying secret"which leaves curiosity amongst the audience. It aims to do this by leaving the audience wondering what the secret is, this attracts people into wanting to see the film.

In the next scene, we see a dark room filled with childrens toys that are frantically moving on their own. The whole scene signifies horror through the stereotypical feature of the dark room and also the feature of the childrens toys, often associated with this type of film.

After some more text that says "will be revealed" (referring to the "terrifying secret") which again, keeps the audience in suspense... We see a series of 16, 1 or 2 second clips. These clips are some of the most dramatic and scariest clips throughout the film, the fast paced clips are effective in producing fear.

After the series of short clips, the final scene of the trailer commences. The scene is not accompanied by any music, it is just pure dialogue. The scene opens by a fade in from black, contrasting to the fast paced series of scenes we have just witnessed. It consists of two men in a pitch black room with the only lighting being a hand-held lantern. One man says to the other "there is a man standing in front of you, he's talking to you" (only he can see and hear him because of his power to see the supernatural), the other man (the dad), replies "what is he saying". The other man then replies "he's got your baby" a haunting line that he repeats many times, getting louder and louder as he says it, building suspense. There is then some daunting music that starts to play which gets louder and louder and then there is a loud bang which makes the audience jump. Next, there is a horrifying image of a pale, naked old man, standing right in front of the dads face, also screaming "he's got your baby, he's got your baby, he's got your baby".

The scene ends and then the name of the film finally pops up on the screen, accompanied by the "Tiptoe Through The Tulips song" that i mentioned earlier that appears to be the trademark music of the Insidious series. It is a common convention in most films that the name of the film isn't displayed until the end.


The music then changes to another soundtrack associated with the film and more text is displayed which is in the same style as the title with the same colours, fonts and background except the text displays what date the film is being released to cinemas. The initiates that the trailer has ended. 

History Of Horror Film Trailers

Production Companies In The Film Industry

As with most areas of the media industry, the film industry has many production companies that dominate the Market. However there are a few companies that reach worldwide audiences such as '20th Century Fox', 'Warner Brothers' and many others. These companies dominate the market for film industry making it a very oligopolistic market. Below is a list of British film production companies, many of which can be easily recognized through advertisements on film trailers.

BBC Films

BBC films is the film production company of British Broadcasting Company (BBC). BBC company co-produce approximately 8 films a year and work alongside major international and UK distributors. BBC films produce 'classic' films, such a 'Billy Elliot' and 'The Duchess'. They also often produce films that have started off as classic novels such as 'Great Expectations' and 'Jane Eyre'. BBC films have rarely produced horror films, comedy films or romantic films. BBC films is not a very big film production company as they are more known for television broadcasting and they tend to stick to producing films of a similar genre. 

Warner Bro's Pictures

Warner Bro's pictures is one of the biggest film production companies world-wide. It is a subsidary of Time Warner company and is based in California however it does produce some British films such as the Harry Potter franchise. Warner Bro's have produced a wide range of films, with various different genres from comedy to horror and from romance to adventure.  Warner Bro's are one of the most recognizable names in the media industry due to the large empire it has. Warner Bro's pictures started in the very early 1900's and therefore, they have produced and distributed hundreds and hundreds of films. House Of Wax (horror-1953). The Shining (1980). Friday The 13th (1980).

Forms And Conventions Of Film Trailers

Forms_and_conventions

More PowerPoint presentations from Jessica Simonds

Brief

The brief for our A2 coursework is as follows. We have been given two options to choose from:

1. A promotion package for the release of an album, to include a music promo video, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the band;
• a cover for its release as part of the digipak (CD/DVD package);
• a magazine advertisement for the digipak (CD/DVD package).

2. A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• a website homepage for the film;
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• a poster for the film.