Music choices

Music is an essential factor for almost all trailers and is extremely effective in building tension and creating an atmosphere. This is why it is crucial that we choose music which will fit in well with the trailer and will work well with the fast paced shots.

When choosing our music we had a choice of 150 different music pieces. Beth then took them home and shortlisted it down to 50 of the best ones for our trailer.

After this, as a group we then shortlisted the song choices more. We did this by listening to each one carefully and deciding whether it was appropriate for our genre and whether or not it will work well we the speed of the trailer. We also had to chose more than one song choices to use it different parts of the trailer. Eventually we were able to come to a decision and finalise the music choices to four different song choices.

We decided to use the song Danger for the neutral track as we can cut the middle of it to keep it neutral with a mysterious undertone which is useful for the first few establishing scenes to create an eerie atmosphere. We then chose Finding The Body for the scence where Lucy pretends to be posessed, we chose this because it is a track which gradually builds up which is perfect for creating tension. Then we chose Condemmed as our fast tempo action piece for the sequence of action shots towards the end of the trailer, we chose this because it is fast paced which works well with the fast shots and it also builds up to a final climax which works well with the end shot of Ellie screaming. Finally we chose Grim Reaper as our mysterious end track and this was a quiet track which works well for background music and keeps the creepy atmosphere throughout the whole trailer.

Studio Logo

Charlotte has decided to draw up 5 potential logos that as a group we can decide on our favourite one, which we would like to carry further and make into our production label. Above are the five possible logos for our distributor company.
Before Charlotte could continue any further, as a group we decided to decide on what we wanted to call our studio name, and we decided that we wanted it to be called "E.C.B Productions" after each of our initials, Ella, Charlotte and Beth. This is similar to the way Warner Brothers. named there studio logo after the creaters of the production team.

After looking at all five logos we managed to narrow it down to a final two possible logos that we wanted to use for our production logo. These were the two we decided were the best ones:

We decided that the two best logo designs were the plain yellow star with E.C.B Productions beneath it and the logo with white stars encircling the production title:

We decided that these two would be most suitable for the logo because they both look sophisticated and both appear most realistic. Although the other ones were good, it seemed to me that some people may label them as "tacky and unrealistic" but the two we chose as our favourite look a lot more professional than the others. Both of the two logos include stars, which usually indicates fame and success, which is something that a production label wants to be associated with.

The first logo with the single star consists only of two colours, yellow and white. The yellow is a bright colour, which stands out from the rest of the page and contrasts with the black page. In comparison to this the other logo consists only of white and black colours with 13 stars circling the production team name.

After analysing each logo we came to a decision that our final logo we would use will be the white a black one:

We ultimately chose to go with this logo because we felt that out of all five possible logos this one looks the most professional which is crucial for a production team logo. Another reason why we chose this logo was because we felt that the production team name "E.C.B Productions" stood out the most as the stars were encircling the name.

Now that we have chosen our final logo design, we will be able to take it further and make the template appear even professional, which is the ultimate goal for our logo design.

Film distribution

What does a distributor do?

- chooses which fims to distribute
- decides how many prints to make ( if a film has limited appeal only a small number of prints will be made)
- negotiates where and when the film is to be released
- sends trailers and publicity material to cinemas
- publicises the film through; posters, trailers, press/TV advertising, press releases etc.

The major distributor companies

The British market is dominated by six American distributors which consist of:
- UIP
- Buena Vista
- Warner Brothers
- Columbia
- 20th Century Fox
- Universal

These film distribution companies were responsible for 85% of British box office takings in 1999. The five majors primarily handle American films and have relationships with the key cinema chains and multiplexes in Britain. Warner Brothers is the only vertically integrated company of the five makin, distributing and exhibiting its own films, which overall means they retain maximum profits.

Settings

The setting for any film or trailer is definitely one of the most important aspects in creating mood and atmosphere. This is why it is particularly important that when choosing where we want our trailer to be set, we take into consideration certain aspects, such as:
- How the setting contributes to the mood and atmosphere
- Whether the setting acts as an indicator towards the genre
- Whether the setting is easily accessible and will not disturb other people

Initially we were sceptical of where we wanted our trailer to be set and possible places consisted off;
- woods
-house
-graveyard
-church
-hotel
-island
After researching more into our genre and deciding on the plot for our trailer we decided that the two suitable settings we are going to use are woods and a house.

We first began by looking at possible houses to film are trailer, we decided that we would only use either mine, beth's or charlotte's house, as it will be easily accessible for us.
House Number One:

This is our first possible house, it has a Victorian style and has a sort of homely feel too it. This could be misleading to the audience and create a falso sense of security, making them believe that nothing could go wrong at this house. This could be percieved in two ways, for example this could be a positive thing because it adds an element of surprise to the trailer, or this could be a bad thing because it is'nt a conventional thriller house.

House number two:

This is our second possible setting for the house in our trailer. This house has sa certain look to it which is often associated with horror/thriller movies therefore making it ideal for our trailer. The house is also detached from other houses which means that we would be able to film our trailer without disturbing the neighbours and also give the house an isolated effect.

Woods number one:

This is our first potential setting for our woods. This particular woods has a very creepy and erie atmosphere too it which is ideal for our trailer. However there is a downside to this particular setting because it is very open and isolated which means that it could be hard to film the scene through the woods, because it is very open plan.

Props

Props are an essential part of any film trailer and are crucial to creating an exciting, believable and vibrant setting for the characters. Props in a film trailer fulfil a wide range of roles, whether it be setting the scene for the characters or providing a subtle hint of things to come.
During our trailer we will be using many different props in order to create a visual impact to the viewers as well as a narrative one. It is important that we spend time thinking about what certain props we want to use and how well they will fit in with the trailer.

Phone
One of the most important props that we will be using includes the phone. The moment the phone rings in the trailer is a crucial part and should hopefully create a tense moment among the audience. Before deciding on a final one, we decided to look at possible phones we can use:





These three possible phones are very similar to one another, they are all black/silvery colours and are all very modern, high tech looking. Although these are what most modern day teenagers and homes may have, we don't feel they are necessarily right for our film trailer. The main reason for this is because the setting for our trailer is an old holiday house and having such modern day phones used in the house may not be right for the trailer. So we decided that our phone we should use will be the one below:




This is a classic old phone, and one we feel will be perfect for the setting and genre of our trailer. It is a phone that will fit in well with the rest of the surroundings and is also one which is different, therefore eye catching and should hopefully stand out in the trailer, and will be a prop that the audience will remember.

Car
Another vital prop in our trailer is the car that the girls will be driving at the beginning of the trailer. It is important that the car will reflect the girls personality and also be a realistic car for their age group.

These were 2 possible cars that we were going to use for that car part in our trailer, but there were a few problems which made us decide against them. For example both of these cars belong to people who are not appearing in our trailer which therefore means they wont be able to drive the car during the car scene.

We came to a conclusion that the car we want to use will be the fiat 500, we chose this car because we felt that it is suitable for our age group, as well as this it is also modern, stylish and spacious.

Knife
Another crucial prop appearing in our trailer is the knife that one of the character grabs during the fast shots. It is important that the knife we chose is realistic, therefore we have decided to look at four possible knifes and then chose what one we would like to use.

These are the four possible knifes that we looked at, the problem we had with some of them was they were either too large, too small or shaped oddly. We decided that the knife we are going to use is the knife 3rd in from the left. This knife looks conventionally suitable for a thriller movie and is the sort of knife you would expect to see in a trailer.

Costumes

The costumes for our characters are extremely important for a trailer, and it is crucial that we take into consideration certain aspects such as:

- Colours- different colours can act as symbolisers, for example red/black can indicate death or evil

- Personalities- the clothing warn can portray a charcters personality, for example a short skirt and low cut top could suggest that this character is is the provocative one, or baggy geans and a shirt could suggest that this character is the sporty one.

- Variety- we need to ensure that we have chosen a variety of different outfits to show diversity in the group of characters.

We have decided to take a look at two possible costume choices for each character, and then decided on a final one which fits the criteria best.

Auditions

We decided to record each possible cast member for our trailer so that we could get a rough idea of why they think they would be good for our trailer and what skills they have when it comes to acting. These are our final five cast members which we have decided to use for our trailer, they consist of; Ellie Failes, Beth Joyce, Samantha Caunt and Lucy Smith.
When decided on our characters we decided that we were going to conform against propps theory.He proposed that is was possible to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined role and functions (8 character roles and 31 narrative functions) The character roles consist of the hero, the villain, the donor (helps the hero, the dispatcher, the false hero, the helper, the villain and her father.