Thursday 29th June 2017 At the start of the lesson I did independent research into the common codes and conventions of a theatrical trailer. I then continued my research by finding the conventions specific to genres, both genre of thriller / horror as this is the chosen genre of our film. I then went on to find trailer conventions of a romance genre which is not genre specific to my film trailer. This helped me to establish differences between the two and strengthen my overall knowledge of film trailers. I then began my film trailer deconstructions, firstly looking at the trailer of a thriller / horror called ‘The Shallows’. 28th June 2017 Today we have established our genre which will be thriller/horror. We have brainstormed ideas for our film trailer and the possible story lines we may use. We considered the use of a terrorist attack story line or a hostage situation. We then researched recent news stories after seeing a previous A2 trailer that used a news story clip and received top marks inspired us. As well as the idea to use particular shots; such as a time lapse.
Monday 3rd July 2017 Discussed media regulation and the issues some audiences may feel with regulating media. Gained an understanding of some of the different regulation organisations: BBFC, VASA, PEGI, IPSO and Ofcom. Gaining this understanding, I begun considering how our film may be regulated, and possible age restrictions that may be attached to suit the themes of our film such as kidnapping / possible torture to protect younger audiences, but not restrict reaching our target audience. Tuesday 5th July 2017 Researched trailer conventions further by finding codes and conventions of other trailer genres. Applied this knowledge through continuing deconstructions, for example I looked at the romance genre through deconstructing ‘The Choice’, and drama genre through ‘The Selfish Giant’ trailer. Wednesday 6th July 2017 Continued deconstructions. Monday 10th July 2017 Continued deconstructions.
Monday 17th July 2017 Today each member of the group explored their initial ideas. After previously deciding on a genre, myself and Ella independently created a storyboard and film synopsis of a possible narrative and trailer. I applied my knowledge of film trailer conventions, that I had previously learnt through my deconstructions, when creating my film trailer story board; for example starting with an establishing shot as my research of other films highlighted this as a common code of a trailer, and using an isolated location to further reinforce the horror aspect of my genre.
Tuesday 18th July 2017 Researched conventions of storyboards. Our initial ideas were also discussed within our groups today, I shared my independent film narrative and story board and Ella shared hers with me. As a group we then collaborated our ideas; using my idea of abduction, and Ella’s theme of terrorism actions such as the fire, to create a storyboard for a film trailer with the storyline focusing on a female hostage being taken and held by a terrorist group. We then developed this idea, creating a storyboard for the trailer. Thursday 20th July 2017 Continued the trailer and begun creating a film synopsis for the film. Friday 21st July 2017 Continued the film synopsis.
Tuesday 5th September Discussed casting options and planned a method of casting through interviewing suitable individuals for the roles of the hostage, kidnapper, hostage's family (Mother, Father and Brother) and the news reporter.
Wednesday 6th September As a class we discussed the value of industries being regulated and whether the film industry should be regulated or whether it should be the parents choice. This gave me an insight into the rating of films and I formed the opinion that films should be related to a certain extent as it offers parents a guidance who may not have seen the film or know if it may be suitable for their child. I also learnt the challenges in giving a film a 12A due to the material possibly being inappropriate for those under 12, but film makers not wanting to loose box office tickets by putting it as a 15 as 3 years of possible audiences are lost who would find the film suitable. I considered the possibly ratings for our film, our most suitable options were a 12A or 15.
Thursday 7th September Gained an understanding of Stuart Hall's theory of encoding and decoding. He suggested a meaning is encoded from a piece of media, however this meaning is not fixed nor transparent, it is up to the individual audience member to decode this message to their own opinion of the meaning. Also gained an understanding of the Marxism Media Theory and Gramsci's hegemony theory.
Friday 8th September Audition date. Possible cast were screen tested for the various roles.
Monday 11th September First draft of the script was written. Storyboard was finished.
Tuesday 12th September Developed my understanding of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze theory and applied the theory to our narrative.
Wednesday 13th September Filming Date. Today we traveled to all three locations and filmed the shots needed for our trailer.
Thursday 14th September Re-capped Todorov's Narrative Stages, Propp's Character types, Roland Barthes and Claude Levi - Strauss Theories October 2nd Began editing our second cut
October 5th Continued edited our film, adjusting the colours and contrast of shots, as well as sound.
October 9th Arranged a deadline for new filming to be completed by. Created a shot list of all shots needed to be refilled or additional shots needed.
October 11th Went through and discovered the current position of my blog. Made notes of improvements and things that need completing.
October 12th Re-filmed additional footage for our trailer and took photos of actors for our magazine front cover and film posters.
October 16th Today our school technician Joe, taught the class how to use Adobe Photoshop. This will help us create our posters and magazine covers as having a tutorial taught us how to use the software to it's best ability.
October 19th Continued editing our new footage to create another draft of our trailer
October 20th Researched conventions of film psoters and magazine front covers to better understand the key elements to each, and to consider if my film poster and magazine would support or convert to these conventions
October 25th Began creating film poster
October 26th Continued creating film poster
October 30th Began creating film magazine cover
November 1st Continued creating my magazine front cover.
November 17th Deadline for final film trailer draft.