Location Recce planning

The location recce is an extremely important part of a films production as it can help determine the best suitable location for a film to be shot at. Because of this my group are creating a plan so that we are fully prepared when we do it for real.

Above you can see a table which I have created which displays the times that me and my group are available to go out and take photos of location with the numbers showing what periods we are available one each day. You may notice that segments of the table are highlighted in two separated colours, this is because the red is for days which it at least two of us are not available to meet up for long enough to go and take photos. Now the names highlighted in yellow show when at least two members of the group can meet up to take photos. For example, looking on Wednesday me and Ash can take photos during periods 1 and 2 whereas Will won't be able to join us until periods 3 and 4. In addition, when we got to take the photos we will be using my camera as I use it for photography all of the time and can get very detailed photos with it.

At this moment on each day we are going to be at a different location so that we can get a variety of different photos to use these locations can be seen below.

Keeping it local

This shoot will be taking place on Wednesday as it is by far the largest area so we are going to use the day where we have the most time to take photos overall. We have chose this location because it has a good mixture of both natural and urban areas which will be perfect for setting different atmospheres for our film as we can shoot in the woods to make the audience feel isolated while urban areas like streets will make them feel more relaxed it is closer to civilisation.

The Meadow

This location is a little bit further than the area that we will be covering on Wednesday so we will be taking photos here next Tuesday as while not all of my group but me and Will have a long amount of time to go and take photos. This is a good area because it is more hidden away so it is not often that you see large amounts of people there so it would be a good spot for filming. Also as it is natural area it will give off an isolated atmosphere like the local location.

The Lane

The lane is the smallest location that we will be taking photos in so we will be doing this on Thursday as this is the day where all of us are only have a small amount of time to take photos. It is an extremely forestry area making it look dark and mysterious which can be used to create some very scary scenes.

The Woods

The woods is the furthest potential location which we could be filming. However, we are chosing this location as it is very close by to one of out group members making it easier fo us to meet their. The location itself is a mixture of forest and fields which makes it a great place to get a varierty of different shots without having to go to two seperate locations.

Questionnaire Analysis

After we finished having people fill in our questionnaire we tallied up the scores and put them into a pie chart so that I could then analyse the results. Here you can see a prezi that I have created which goes into detail about all of the questions in my questionnaire.

Action/Horror Questionnaire

As part of my groups audience research we have all come together to create a questionnaire to give out to our potential audience here you can see a copy of the questionnaire:

Action/Horror Questionnaire

1.      How old are you?

12 – 14   15 – 16  17 – 18  19 – 20  21 – 25  26 - 30  31 - 35  36 – 40+

2.      What is your gender

Male   Female

3.      Which one of these descriptions best suits you? (Circle one)

       Tribe Wired: Digital, free-spirited, creative young person

       Fun/atics: Aspirational, fun-seeking, active young person

Renaissance Women: Active, caring, affluent

       Rugged Traditionalist: Traditional male values, love of the outdoors

Dynamic Duo: Part of a Hard-driving, High-involvement couple

Priority Parent: Family values, activities, media strongly dominant

Home Solider: Home-centric, family-oriented, materially ambitious

Struggling Single: High aspirations, low economic status

Settled Elder: Devout, older, sedentary lifestyles

Free Bird: Vital, active, altruistic

4.      What social class do you believe you are in?

A: Upper class

 B: Middle class

     C1: Low middle class

           C2: Skilled working class 

D: Working class

E: Non-working

5.      What 3 things do you expect to see in an action film?

6.      What 3 things do you expect to see in a horror film?

7.      Would you be interested in seeing an Action/Horror film?

Yes     no

8.      In an action/horror film what setting would you expect it to have?

Natural (Forest, woods, cave)    Urban (school, prison, abandoned building)

9.      Out of the given choices what role would you like to see the main character as?

Average person   solider  college student  hero

10.  Which one of these film magazines have you heard of?

           Empire   Total Film   So Film  Sight and Sound  none of them

  

11.  What do you expect the most to see on the front cover of a film magazine?

Film Screen shots  Actors  Advertising upcoming films   Information about articles  Other (please specify in space below)

12.   The colours on a magazine cover should be

              Vibrant    Contrasting    Bold   Bright   Dark

13. By looking at these film posters, which one makes you, want to watch the film more? (Circle chosen poster)

14. Why did you choose this poster?

15. What information should appear on a poster?

16. Should the trailer have a cliff-hanger ending?

        Yes      No

17.Why do you believe this?

18. What would you expect to see in an action-horror trailer?

Audience Research

The audience is a very key factor for any film as without them no one would go to see the film so it would not make any money. Because of this it is important to determine who the target demographic for are film is so that we can cater towards them attracting them to our film. To determine who are audience we have created a mind map showing the audience for the Action/Horror genre.

As you can see by the mind map we have split it into three sections action, horror and action/horror so that we can find out what the audience is for both genres is and if we see any similarities between them.

Psychographics

Before I get into the main audiences for both genres I want to firstly explain what a psychographic is as they can be used to further determine who my main audience is. Psychographic is very similar to the word demographic but where demographics usually focuses on the population as a whole psychographics focuses on single people and what they are like such as their lifestyle and personality. There are many different psychographics that a person can fit into these can be seen below:

Tribe Wired: Digital, free-spirited, creative young person
Fun/atics: Aspirational, fun-seeking, active young person
Renaissance Women: Active, caring, affluent, influential mums  
Rugged Traditionalist: Traditional male values, love of the outdoors

Dynamic Duo: Part of a Hard-driving, High-involvement couple

Priority Parent: Family values, activities, media strongly dominant

Home Solider: Home-centric, family-oriented, materially ambitious

Struggling Single: High aspirations, low economic status

Settled Elder: Devout, seniors, sedentary lifestyles

Free Bird: Vital, active, altruistic

As you can see compared social classes there are a lot more that my audience could be meaning that it is useful to find out the main psychographic that my audience is so I can include things that they would like. For example, if the main audience consists of tribe wired people I would include links to the films social media pages so that they can follow the film.

Audience of the Action genre
as you can see the action genre is one of the most popular modern film genres meaning that its audience is very mainstream with a larger part of their audience coming from the the B - D social class which is a very big part of today's society. In addition to this a large part of action genres audience consists of men as it shown that many of them go to watch action movies for the intense actions and explosions however that does not mean that literally no women see action films its just that there is only a small amount who go to watch them.

The age of the audience who got to see action movies can range from younger audiences all the way to adults. However the primary age of the genres audience is 15 - 18 as it allows studios to put in more intense content into their films that the audience without having to worry about children seeing the film and attempting to recreate scenes from the films. On the other hand, there are many action films made with a larger age range for their audience which can be something like 12 - 30 + this is mainly for family action films such as many superhero films as they are meant to be enjoyed by children who find them fun and for adults who are entertained to the film.

The main psychographic of the action genre varies this is due to a large range of ages who watch these films so there are many different psychographics who will watch my film. So to determine who my main psychographic I'm looking at the action genres audiences primary age which is 15 - 18. Because of this it is very likely that they are part of the tribe wired psychographic. The reason I think this is because a majority of young people nowadays have their mobile phones with them at all times and use them to search the Internet and communicate via social media. So to make sure that my film appeals to them I will include links to the films social media so they can follow the films production. in addition to this I will also have the film trailer uploaded onto youtube so that all of my audience can easily view the trailer.

Audience of the Horror genre
Like the action genre the horror genre is a mainstream genre just not as much as the action this is because while their audience share the same social classes (B - D) the age of the audience is much more limited as younger audiences will not be able to get in and see the film as they would be much more prone to the copycat effect when seeing a horror film instead of an action film because the content is a lot more violent and gory. The primary age group for the horror genre is around 15 - 30. You have probably noticed how large this age range is well this is mainly because of the content that is commonly found in the horror genre is definitely not suitable for younger audiences as you rarely see horror films below the 15 rating. This is actually beneficial my film as it will allow me to put more violent scenes into the film. However, despite being limited to older audiences the horror genre manages to attract large audiences as many people go to see films as part of groups as thrill seekers so they can have fun (Blumler and Katz 1974) by being scared. Also there isn't a specific gender who sees the film more than others with most horror films attracting both genders.

In addition, as the age range is so large this also means that I have a variety of different psychographics. While tribe wired is still very prominent in the the horror genre this does not apply to the older audience who will watch my film as they most likely use their mobile phones as much as the youth of today. Because of this they could be a variety of different psychographics but I believe that they would mainly consist of Priority Parents, Rugged traditionalists and Renaissance women. The reason I think these would be the most likely psychographics because many older people do have children so they would fit the Priority Parent psychographic as when going to see a film they may wish to do so as a family so the film they go to see will may have to include less mature content so that the younger family members will enjoy it more. Many older women would also be part of Renaissance women as like I mentioned with Priority Parents many older women would now be mothers and because of this they would be very active and caring with their children who she will be very influential to. Now Rugged traditionalist will also be part of the older audience as there are many men who have very traditional values.

As I mentioned earlier while the genre is mainstream its not as popular as the action genre. This is mainly due to the popularity of the genre decreasing not because of bad films being released but because they are no longer in the peak popularity as when they first came out in the 20th century they were extremely popular and this can be scene through many of the classic horror films from the 1950's as to this day many people still considered these films to be some of the best horror films to ever be released and these were so popular the BBFC had to create their own rating for the genre H.

Audience of the Action/Horror genre
After looking at the two separate genres audiences I believe that I have an idea of what the audience for an Action/Horror film would be. First of all, the main social class that would watch my movie would be from the B - D class which is a majority of the public so I definitely have an audience for my film. Next, as my movie is incorporating  many elements from the action genre my film may be enjoyed by a male audience due to the action scenes I will still try to make the enjoyable for female audiences as well.

Going on to the age of the my audience I can say that the main age group for my film is going to be 15 - 18 + the reason that the age range doesn't go any lower is due to the some of the scenes that will be in the trailer will not be suitable for younger audiences who may be scared of the film and in a worse case scenario try to replicate what they see in the film (copycat effect). This is also beneficial to my film as it means I can add more violent scenes to the film which can be enjoyed by older audiences.

Plot synopsis

We have just had a discussion in our groups were we decided on what the story for our trailer is going to be so I have made a brief and detailed synopsis of the films events.

Plot Synopsis

In a maximum security prison, a psychopathic criminal who caused the murders of countless people has finally been captured. A few hours later, he escapes his holding cell and rampages around the prison, killing anything in his way. Strike force DELTA is dispatched to eliminate the threat once and for all, leaving no evidence of his existence.

Detailed explanation

The film starts with a radio broadcast talking about how an infamous murdered has just broken out of his maximum security cell taking control over the entire compound and killing anyone who didn't evacuate in time. Hours later Strike force DELTA a secret government assault team are tasked with raiding the prison and apprehending the killer before he can escape and wreck more havoc.

Once the force arrive at the building they find it empty as if it was abandoned years ago making them fear that the killer has already fled. The force then desperately split up to cover more ground in hopes that they can find the killer. However, what they don't realise is that they are not only as the killer is still in the prison and he is slowly picking them off one by one leaving there bloody bodies for the rest of the force to find.

But what the killer doesn't anticipate is the DELTA members actually holding their own against him making him become more determined to kill them but less cautious which ultimately leads to his downfall as he is found by DELTA's leader and the two fight each other using anything they can find as a weapon in hopes of killing the other.

However, before the final blow is struck the camera cuts two black and the next scene shows that the police force has finally got into the building and we are shown two bodies hidden underneath two sheets and just before the camera cuts to black one of the bodies moves leaving who survived up to the audience.

Inspirations

When creating this synopsis we were inspired by several of the that we have analysed in the past, First off, the idea that the killer slowly starts to pick of the strike force was inspired by the first Predator (1987) as throughout the film the Predator is slowly killing off Dutch's squad until he is the only one left which leads into a one on one confrontation between the two of them. In addition the strike forces name Delta is a reference to an 80's action film called Delta Force (1986) but only it's only a reference by name. Next off, the killer was inspired by several classic slasher villains but mainly Micheal Myers from Halloween (1978) and Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th (1980).

What will appear in the trailer

When we create the actual trailer we will not be able to include everything that we mentioned in the above synopsis. So instead we will show several scenes that inform the audience of the basic plot without giving away major spoilers, scenes with intense action to keep the audience interested and shots of the killer attacking the strike force to scare the audience. For the basic plot we will use scenes of the strike force being informed on the killer breaking out of the prison, for action scenes we will use some clips from the final fight but nothing showing major injuries otherwise audience members may start to speculate who one the fight before the films initial release and to scare audiences we will show the killer violently attacking minor characters who aren't important to the plot and several strike force members.

Roles and Responsibilities

My group have now started our film trailers planning phase so the first thing that we have decided to do is assign the roles within our group so we all know what we need to get done and so that none of us get confused on what needs to get done later on in our films production. The roles that need to be undertaken are the Producer,  Director,  Screenwriter, Cinematographer, Editor and Mise-en-scene furthermore we also need two people to design a poster for our film and a magazine front cover to go along with our film trailer. The roles we have chose can be seen below:

Producer of trailer: All
Director and Screenwriter of trailer: Ash
Cinematographer of trailer: Will
Editor of trailer: Luke
Mise-en-scene: Ash
Film poster designer: Luke
Film magazine designer: Will

As you can see all of us who chosen to be the producer as it is arguably the most important role for the planning as it involves making the main decisions about where the production will be going this can range from changing the trailers plot, actors, location and most other parts of the trailer. Because of this we have decided that all of us would be a joint producer this is to help prevent any major creative difference which could lead to arguments in production and halt it all together.

Next there is the Director of the trailer. The director role is also a very important role as they will have complete control over creating the actual trailer whereas the producer has control over the entire project. The director will manage things within the trailer such as how scenes are shot and the actors performances and can choose to change them if they wish however major decisions will still have to be discussed with the rest of the group before being applied as it could change key elements of the trailer.

The screenwriter is the writer of the trailer and will produce the scripts for all of the characters in the trailer while giving a brief outline of what will be going on in each scene. This is an important role in production as without them the actors would be unaware of what was going to happen in each scene and would most likely be unaware of what their lines are as well making production much more difficult.

A cinematographer is the director of photography in a film crew which means that they will have control of all the camerawork in the film such as what shots are being used?, what camera is going to be used?, is it going to have a filter? Furthermore the cinematographer will also be our camera man during production as they will be familiar with camera shots and angles to make the scenes look professional.

The editor of the trailer will be tasked with working on the film after it filming has finished so the editor will be placing them all in order by cutting them all together. Furthermore, the editor will be also be adding important information to the trailer such as its release date and the films title the editor may also edit the footage to give it a certain colour tint. I have chosen to do this role as I was the one who edited my short film last year so I have some experience in the editing software that is going to be used.

The next role that we have is a Mise-en-scene researcher who will be the person who we research the location that we are going to be shooting in so that we can make sure that the location is suitable for filming. They will also be responsible for keeping a list of the props and costumes that we need to get before we start filming

The last two roles a different from the previous ones this is due to them not entirely focusing on the production of the film trailer. This is because these roles involve the production of a film poster and a film magazine cover to go along side our film trailer. I am going to be creating the film poster as I have experience using Photoshop as I also study photography and know about a lot of the tools in the software.

Key decisions

My group are currently beginning the planning phase of our horror action film trailer. During the research phase I have made some very important decisions which are key to the creation of our trailer.

My biggest inspiration
The film series that was my biggest inspiration is the Friday the 13th series. This is because it is arguably the most famous Slasher film series of all time and Jason Voorhees is one of the most iconic horror villains in movie history. The main things that I took inspiration from was they way how the films create tensions to make scenes more scary. For example in my trailer analysis of the 2009 reboot I talk about how the trailer uses the fear of the unknown by rarely showing Jason on screen so that the audience questions what he is going to look like  which makes them imagine the worse possible idea which makes them fear him even more despite not knowing what he looks like because of this the tension increases in the trailer which helps create more of an impact when the scary scenes occur.

Most inspirational era of horror/action
The most inspirational era for me was the 1980's as this was the decade where the horror action genre first started to appear and become mainstream with many revolutionary horror action films being released during this time such as Friday the 13th and The Evil Dead. The main conventions that I took inspiration from this era mainly comes from the Slasher genre because of the diverse variety of horror villains that stem from this genre ranging from large relentless killers to intelligent but deranged sociopaths. This has helped me create a villain for our trailer as I could pick and mix different elements from a variety of different characters for example would our villain wear a mask like Micheal Myers, are they going to be shown as being unnaturally strong like the Predator and are they a supernatural being like Freddy Krueger.

The soundtrack
The soundtrack that we will be having in the clip will correlate with what is happening on screen so that it helps create a better atmosphere in the trailer. For example during a scene where one of the protagonist is being chased by the villain the music would be playing loud and fast making the scene more intense as the villain starts to gain on the protagonist. In my groups trailer we will be using a max of 5 songs as if we were to use anymore songs it would start to distract from the rest of the trailer as you would start to notice the songs frequently changing. The type of music which we are going to use in our film is going to be conventional to both genres. What I mean by this is that in the horror genre string instruments such as a violin are commonly used as they are able to create loud high pitched sounds which can scare the audience as these sounds can be made very suddenly taking the form of a sting that catches the audience off guard. In contrast in action films the music is much louder and more intense sounding with a variety of different instruments being used such as a drum as it can create a beat which replicates the sound of a human heart beat so the audience start to believe that they are listening to their heartbeat so when the drum gets faster the audiences think their hearts are beating faster making them start to feel the adrenaline which hypes up the audience.

Are we having dialogue in our trailer
We will be having dialogue in throughout our trailer mainly during parts of the film where there is no music and only an ambient silence this so that when the characters do speak they can be clearly heard by the entire audience. The dialogue in the trailer will mainly be diegetic however a non diegetic piece of dialogue I would like to add is having a radio broadcast which bridges over to other scenes in the trailer talking about the villain and how many people have been disappearing lately to help build tension within the trailer. Also while the villain won't speak you will hear his diegetic laughter throughout the trailer similar to how Jason only says 'Ki Ki Ki Ma Ma Ma' in his films.

What information is important to appear in the trailer
The information that will appear in the text will be informative for the audience as it will tell them important things about the trailer such as its release date in theatres and links to the films official social media pages so that the audience can become more involved in the films production. Another important piece of information that will appear in the trailer is the title of the film which is usually followed by a short tag line which helps attract a larger audience for example Texas Chainsaw Massacre's (1974) tag line was 'Who will survive and what will be left of them?' Another important piece of information that should appear in the trailer is what type of format the trailer is going to be. We have chosen to have the trailer be in the IMAX format as it will provide the audience a better experience as it will make the film and sound quality much more better. This is important as it could be used to attract a larger audience to see the film as they would to enjoy the IMAX experience.

Which characters will appear in the trailer
In our trailer all of the characters who are important to the films plot such as the protagonists and the antagonists. These characters usually conform with the character archetypes created by Propp as the protagonist would become the hero who ultimately defeats the villain. Another reason we are going to be basing our characters on Propp's archetypes is because it will make it easier for the audience to point out who is who. For example when watching the trailer if the audience see a character who is brave, fearless and fighting off criminals they will instantly recognise them as the hero of the film and when they see a mysterious, shady character the audience will assume they are the villain. These characters are also important to have in the trailer as it allows the audience to immediately recognise what the genre as you only ever see Propp's archetypes in action films which makes it convenient to the audience. However, we will not be following these archetypes 100% as otherwise the characters will become to predictable as they would have to abide to the archetype they represent so the hero could never be shown in a weak state as it goes against what Propp has stated.

Representations in the trailer
In our trailer the main representation that we are going to have is the representation of gender as unlike many other male characters in the action/horror genre they are not going to be the overly muscled manly warrior who shown with god like strength and no weaknesses. Instead of this our characters are going to subvert from this stereotype and be much more realistic which will allow the audience to relate to them more we will be doing this by having the main characters be normal college students with no special powers which creates a David and Goliath scenario as there should be no way that they can possibly fight against the villain.

Key Iconography (Mise-en-scene)
Costumes
There is going to be variety of different costumes for are characters for example the main characters who are meant to be average college students so there costume would be jeans, T-shirt/hoodie and other clothes that students commonly wear. In contrast, the villain will be dark, mysterious clothing that are meant to hide their face as so that they remain unknown. At this moment we are not planning on having make-up but that could change in time.
Settings
The setting for our film is going to be the new school building as it contains many long corridors and alleyways which will be useful for creating more scary scenes such as having the villain chase the protagonists through it to create tension
Props
The main props for the trailer will belong to the villain as it will many be things such as their costume such as their mask and a murder weapon. Also, we may use fake blood to make scenes more intense.
Lighting
We will be mainly using low key lighting as it will make scenes more sinister as it will help hide the villains face creating a fear of the unknown effect.

Narrative style
The narrative style for our trailer is going to be linear as that is the narrative that is commonly used for film trailers as it will show many scenes from the film with no links to each other this so that the audience can get a clear idea of what the genre the film is going to be which will interest them into going to see the film while not spoiling the film by giving away any key plot points.

Typical camerawork
The camerawork in the trailer will also be very conventional to both the horror and the action genre. This is because in the horror genre camerawork can be used to make scenes more scary for example having a high angle shot looking down on the main character as suggests that something is looking down on them which also shows that it is more powerful than them. Another way that camerawork in the horror genre is used to make scenes more scary is by using P.O.V shots as it places the audience in the shoes of the characters giving them a first person perspective of what is happening this is usually used not long before a jump scare occurs as it will help to scare the audience.

In addition, the camerawork in action films is usually used to make scenes more intense and action packed this especially noticeable in fight sequences in action films as the camera angles constantly change to make the fights look more interesting. For example a low angle in a action can be used in a fight when one of the characters is injured and knocked to the ground and looks up at his combatant who is looking down on him.

Style of editing
The editing in our trailer will start of slow paced as it will help build tension at first which can scare the audience we are also starting the editing slow paced as it is conventional in both the action and horror genre as it starts to get faster when more intense scenes occur so that they excite/scare audiences. The tension will be increased by editing in music stings to catch the characters off guard in the trailer this means that when the stings happen the audience will also be scared as they would not be expecting them while the trailer is slowly moving along. However when the villain first appears the editing will start to be more fast paced as the action slowly starts to build and when the fighting the editing will become much more similar to the action genre using many jump cuts to show different perspectives of the fight to make it look more intense.