Trailer Titles

For our trailer, we thought that it would be ideal to analyse our inspirational films title. We thought that this particular title was effective, and conforms to the generic horror trailer conventions, regarding titles. The film regards a clown, which is ironic, as the narrative of our trailer regards a clown. The titling here is effective, in sizing, colour and the layout. Firstly. the directors name is displayed at the top half of the image. Stephen King is a very successful director, who has directed "The Shinning", "The Mist" and " Carrie". Having a successful director displayed in the title of the film is an effective way to reach the target audience. Audiences would recognise the director of the film, having known that that the director has produced successful films already, it is a clear indication that the new, upcoming film is likely to be good as well. The font is in capital letters, which helps the text to stand out to the audience on a stronger level. The font is in the colour black, which connotes evil, mystery and power, which are all connotations expected to be in a horror film. In addition to this, the black colour helps to create a strong contrast with the red in the title "IT" below. Below the titling of the director, there is a red line that almost looks like a claw mark. In the trailer for IT, the clown has long, sharp nails, so the mark helps to separate the the director and the title, but also helps to bring in the concept of the clown, as well as creating suspense towards the audience. The title itself for "IT" is effective. Firstly, the sizing of the font is a large scale, which helps to make it bolder for the audience to see. As the word "It" is short to write and pronounce, the bold titling helps to make it seem snappy and abrupt which helps to engage the audience, as there is a limited amount of information provided, helping to persuade the audience to go and see the film. The font style is slightly ridged, with cuts and curves around the perimeter of the letters. This helps to add a supernatural twist to the font, helping to add a horror feel to the font. The colour red is used to connote blood and danger, which are aspects/connotations that the audience are expecting to get out of a horror film. feel that this title is very effective, in grabbing the audiences attention. Furthermore, the positioning of the lettering regarding the line can also be seen as effective. The directors name is placed on the top half of the line, suggesting that the director is seen as more significant and dominating compared to the actual movie title "IT." The bold use of colour, and sizing of the font are attributes that if feel are the most effective, thus, i will take this on board when producing our title for our trailer-( "Jokes on you"). 

The next title that i decided to look at is the "Poltergeist." A poltergeist is a ghost or supernatural being, responsible for physical disturbances including loud noises and moving object thought that this particular title is effective, as it includes the release date of the film- 22nd May. This is an aspect that is expected to be included in a trailer film title, as audience are wanting to know when they can see the film. It is a short and effective way get audiences excited for a new, upcoming film. The background of the title is effective. At first glance, it almost looks like a a random object in a close up shot, but as you look closer towards the image, its actually the top part of a clown mask. The red is created by the hair of the clown, and there is a white bit of face paint on the right hand side, followed by an upwards black line, presumably to be the eyebrow. The fact that only part of the clown is revealed to the audience helps to generate the feel of mystery within the title, which firstly helps to persuade audiences to go and see the film, but is also an emotion that audiences are expected to feel when going to watch a film. The title itself, is also effective. The colour white is used to help it to stand out towards the audience. The font also has a slight glowing effect to it which can be seen on the corners of the letters. This further helps the font to stand out to the audience. Again, the title is in capital letters which makes the font seem dominating towards the audiences, generating the emotions of thrill, shock and suspense.  The main aspect that i have learnt from this particular movie title, is the idea of introducing a release date below the title. From researching magazine covers and titles, it is clear that this is a common convention used in promotions, to give audiences an idea of when the film is being released to help create suspense. 

The last title i thought was interesting to look at, is "Mothers Day." I chose this particular title mainly due to the letter "o" being shaped as a different object, in this case, a heart. In our title, we want to include a balloon in replace of the letter "o". We feel that this will add a supernatural twist onto the style of the title, and also help to incorporate the clown, so the audience have an idea of what the basic plot line of our trailer is going to be revolved around. The shape in this title is a heart, followed by a dagger/sword poking through the heart. There is then blood dripping from the heart, which helps it to appear more realistic. The title of the film regards mothers, and mothers are usually associated with having a strong love and bond for their children and partners. Mother's day is also seen to be a loving and cheerful day, and the fact that a dagger is placed through a heart, makes the audience feel like the day might not be as loving as they would have hoped... The colour scheme is basic and conventional, following the simplistic black background against red writing. This adds a slightly old fashioned and almost cliche approach to a horror film. Having dripping blood from letters we feel is slightly cliche and therefore we will not be using this in our trailer title. The  colour black connotes aspects such as, evil, power and mystery which are all aspects that are expected to be seen in a horror film. The red writing helps to symbolise blood and danger which are too aspects from a horror.  The font style is slightly rough looking, and has jagged marks throughout it. This almost seems like someone has written the font with their finger, linking to the idea of writing in blood. This adds a scary and supernatural twist to the title. 

Lighting Research

 I decided to do some research into lighting. Lighting is a key part of MES to consider when filming. Lighting can change the entire perspective on an image, therefore, i wanted to do some research into it, to help us in our production process.

3 Point lightingThree point lighting consists of three lights which are positioned in the direction of the subject. Each one of these light creates a different lighting, therefore creating a different atmosphere of the shot.

Key Light= Main light on the subject. This light is not always the brightest, as brightness of this light varies, on the directors choice. This is the initial light used when filming.

Fill Light= Softens the hard edges of the key and balances the light.


Back Light= Light behind the subject, creating separation from the background.

More Lighting

Hard light= Light that creates heavy shadows that strongly contrast with the brighter light. This is usually from a direct source.

Soft Light= This light is used where there is no hard shadows, therefore producing only soft ones. This is usually used to create early morning or late summer afternoon light.

Eyelight= This is the light which is seen in characters eyes. This is the little spark in a character's eye which make them look alive, have a cheeky side to them and gives them character and personality.

Kicker= A light behind a subject but enough to the side so it skims along their face. Creates shadow to the subject's face. Mysterious effect created.  

Three Kinds of Studio Lights: 

Fluorescent= Studios do not use the conventional tri-phosphor fluorescent light. Studio fluorescent, like KinoFlo, are high frequency, colour balanced and take less electricity to run.

HMI= This stands for Hydro Mercuric Iodide lamps. These reproduce daylight, meaning they create light which look as if it was daylight.

Quartz= These lights are also known as Tungsten. This kind oflight uses a Tungsten filament in a quartz container. This light is explosive when touched by bare hands. This light produces large amounts of light (depending on the size), also brightness can be altered.

Props in our production

In our trailer, we need to use props. Props help to add a more realistic approach to the trailer, and help to make the actors fit to their characters well. 


 BALLOON: The first prop that w want to use in our trailer is the balloon.  Clowns usually hold lots of balloons, and were then made to give out to small children. We have all decided that we want our clown to be holding one balloon, as this will help to single the clown out as an individual. We want the balloon to be red. Red connotes danger,blood and injury so it fits the conventions of our chosen genre. In addition, the red will help to balance the composition of the red wig and red buttons down the middle of the costume. Balloons usually have happy and joyful meanings, however, as its used in our horror trailer it gives a spooky and mysterious effect. As the balloon is so significant to the clown, this means that we are able to do shots with just the balloon in the picture. This will create suspense towards our audience, as it tells the audience that they are aware that the clown is there, but not being able to locate it, creating a climax in the trailer. 

IPHONE:

We may also want to incorporate a mobile phone in our production.  Phones a modern day way to make communication between two people in different places. We used a phone in our last production and we feel that this was really successful. It meant that the audience could see that two characters were communicating, without them needing to be in the same place at the same time. 

We will also be using the prop of a mirror in our production. We want to have a scene where one of the protagonists is looking into the mirror, and the clown figure pulls up behind the mirror. This is a classic and conventional scene that is used in horror films, so we feel that this is a good aspect to use to make our trailer seem relatable and successful. In addition to this, it also means that we can experiment with camera angles and shots, as we can move the camera around to fit the girl and the clown all in one shot. This will help to show diversity in our trailer. 

Target Audience Profiling

Who would be the target audience for our media product?

 We decided that our trailer is going to be a horror, therefore, we are aiming to attract teenagers and young adults, from the age of 15 to around 25 years. From researching horror target audiences from films such as IT, Insidious and The Devil Inside, it is clear that horror attract younger audience as they want to seek an adrenaline rush and witness the brash excitement and thrill that a horror film can provide.  Having a minimum age of 15 years old allows a broad audience. As if we had certificate of 18, it would exclude a large proportion of the audience for our film, which would decrease the popularity of it. Thus,this will mean more profit for the film when our trailer is distributed. This particular age group stereo typically are obsessed with phones and electronic gadgets, therefore in media terminology they use hard wares with multi-platform devices. This means that the marketing campaign can target them easier as they can post trailers  and other types of advertisement of our film, on social networks and websites, such as 'Facebook', 'Twitter' and 'Instagram'. This would make our advertisement and distribution for our film through our trailer easily accessible for our target audience, therefore attracting them to watching the film.

The type of audience we will be attracting will be into a range of things. Stereo typically, they would be interested in shopping; shops such as, Topshop, Topman, River Island, Urban Outfitters, and 'Footlocker'. These are all popular shops within this age group that we are aiming for, this shows that they like to try and follow the general trends and the 'fashionable' clothes. This shows that the people that show here could be considered to conform to the majority influences which would mean that if, their friends see our horror trailer they would tell their other friends that they want to go, therefore spreading the popularity of the film. This is creates a 'Echo chamber effect'.
From research we have found out that our target audience has  range of favorite music; rock, pop, R&B. Stereo typically, the 'pop' genre of music is the more favorable within our target audience as this type of music is played non-stop on well known and famous radio stations, such as; 'Capital' and 'Kiss'. Although they do play a range of music, pop, house and occasionally rock music such as kings of Leon, pop is still the favored genre. As our target audience listens to a range of music genres it means we have a vast amount of soundtracks and music to choose from, to make our trailer easy to relate to and to attract a wide audience. 

The TV programmes that we would expect our target audience to be interested in would be series like; 'Breaking Bad', 'The Walking Dead', 'Friends'. This is because these programmes have amazing storylines, realistic make up, and unexpected cliffhangers and plot twists. Therefore it is a place for our target audience to escape from their everyday lives and to relax, as they allow them to relieve some stress, which they would have as they will be going through either GCSE's, A-levels or even University. Another programme they might watch is 'Ghost Hunters'. This is because it links and reflects into our genre 'horror' due to the supernatural elements as they are hunting down ghosts and visiting abandoned houses. This programme would therefore increase the audience's adrenaline, which hopefully our trailer will achieve as well.
The films our target audience would be interested in would be 'Insidious', 'Sinister', 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and some may be into the old classics like 'The Shining' and 'The Birds'. This is because, firstly the age rating for these are within our target age; but secondly our target audience would have a love or like the horror genre. Horror genre films are known for the creepy and frightening aspects, which they cause, which would make the audience feel scared and horrifying. Having these features within our trailer, therefore, would appeal to our target audience. Also they would like films such as romance and actions, which have characters which are very relatable to. This tells me that we should make our protagonists relatable as it would make the audience want to watch the film, after seeing our trailer. This would furthermore able them to link into the characters' situation.

Mood Board

I decided to create a mood board for our trailer, as it helps to give a visual representation of our ideas for our trailer. Writing everything can sometimes get a bit confusing, so it was ideal for us to get together and get images together relating to the narrative of our trailer. 

CLOWN IMAGE:

The clown image exemplifies the basic plot and nature to our trailer. It resembles the antagonist that we have chosen, and how the antagonist is going to be presented in the trailer. We all feel that this mask is appropriate for our trailer, as we all feel that it has a very scary and creepy feel to it, due to the sharp and over exaggerated teeth and eyebrows. From researching a clowns appearance on other posts, we feel that this particular clown ask conforms to the horror look of a clown.

MIRROR IMAGE:
In a horror film, it is a generic convention to have a girl looking in the mirror, and have something pop up behind her. We want to use this technique in our trailer, as we feel that it is clever way to incorporate the clown into the three girls, and we feel that our target audience can really feel part of all the action. In addition, this also means that we can manipulate with our camera shots, to help make the trailer more engaging. 

PHONE IMAGE:
I decided to add a phone into the mood board. Phones are a clever way to show communication between characters if they are not located in the same area. I feel that incorporating a mobile phone helps to add individuality to our trailer as well as a modern day twist. 

GIRLS IMAGE:
Adding a photograph of two girls walking home, helps to show the protagonist approach in our trailer. We want to film the girls walking home from school, as their characters are aged 17-18, so this would be a stereotypical thing that they would be doing. It also helps for our target audience to relate to it, as they too will be of a young age between 15-25. 

BEDROOM IMAGE:
In the trailer are all going back to one of their houses to do homework and chill out. This again helps for our audience to relate to the trailer, as this is also a stereotypical thing that females in particular would be doing. This also means that we can change up the locations in our trailer to help show the whole films locations in a short amount of time. In addition, we can also add the clown into the house, which links to the film of Insidious, as the antagonist is also inside of the house too. 

CLOWN AT THE WINDOW:
In our trailer, we have all agreed that we want a scene where the clown is at the window. As it will be slightly dark when filming the trailer, we feel that having a brightly coloured figure at the window will be a shocking and scary image to have as well as creating a strong contrast. 

CLOWN WITH A BALLOON:
Using the prop of the balloon is a stereotypical media representation of a clown. Clowns usually hold balloons to lure in children, so we wanted to stick to this representation so the audience remain alarmed by the figure. In this photograph, the clown is in an alleyway by some garages, which we also want to use in our trailer. It helps to show a variation of locations in our trailer. 

SWINGS IMAGE:
Clowns are associated with entertainment -( an old fashioned approach, as they are now seen to have a stigma of a creepy presence.) Parks hold entertainment for kids, so we wanted to relate these together. We want to have a close up shot of the swing, swinging by itself. We feel that this will add a creepy twist to our trailer, and make the audience question "Why is the swing swinging on its own?"

PARK IMAGE:
Lastly, we want to film part of the trailer in a park. Similarly to the swings, parks attract children, and clowns are seen to entertain children, which would help to give a reason as to why the clown is there in the first place. We want to show long shots of the park, as well as close ups, so the audience get an over all feel of the creepy and ominous location. Filming a park at the evening time will also help to give this approach. 

Soundtracks used in horror films

Although we needed to find sound effects for our trailer, we also needed a soundtrack that will be played throughout our trailer. As our trailer features the use of a clown, we want our soundtrack to have a child-like twist on the music. We obviously intend for our soundtrack to sound creepy and sinister, however we want our soundtrack to have a chimmey feel to it. Through researching particular horror trailers, i was able to find the soundtracks the director used. This will help us during our trailer, as it will direct all of our understanding into how the music should sound. 

IT:

It is a film based around a clown, directed by Stephen King. Te film is your classic clown film, and as played a huge influence on our production. Therefore, it seemed logical to research the soundtrack to it. The soundtrack reiterates what i stated before, we want our trailer to have a chimmey and child play kind of vibe to be playing, to connote the clown. . The soundtrack is obviously a circus like theme tune which is constantly played at circuses and fun fairs which is ideal for the antagonist of the film, a clown. Having such a jolly happy song for a murderous clown, automatically contradicts with each other which creates a fear factor, as it suggests that things aren't as they seem....We definitely want to create something similar to this when editing our trailer. 

A Nightmare On Elm Street:The next horror trailer i looked at was "A nightmare on elm street." This is again a classic horror film, and had a slight unique feel to the soundtrack which i found intriguing. The soundtrack starts off with an eerie violin sound being played, which is conventional as it is a stereotypical instrumental sound that is played in horror films to generate suspense. We then hear thud sounds, that could be linked to the idea of a gun shooting repeatedly. This connotes danger which is an attribute that the audience would feel when watching a horror film. The key thing to be noted in this particular soundtrack, is that they use a woman's voice in a high pitch tone. Using a woman's high toned voice singing, could imply the innocence of the protagonists which would appear in the film. However, in my opinion it create a more supernatural atmosphere, implying that it involves aliens, which would confuse the audience when hearing but also ruin the affect of the shot and continuity of the film.

Insidious 
The last soundtrack that i decided to research was Insidious. Compared to the other two horror trailers that i had looked at, Insidious brings a much more modern day approach. At the beginning of the soundtrack, there is a low tempo whirling typed noise. This connotes the idea of wind whirling around, which is a stereotypical convention used in horror films to create suspense.  Complimenting this is a quiet low tone violin tune, Due to these, it automatically creates an unwelcoming atmosphere, in which is ideal for a horror film. A s the soundtrack progresses, the music gradually becomes louder and more intense. The heightening of the violin sounds helps to emphasises that there is a dramatic climax happening in the film. Due to the frantic noise created it makes the audience feel tense and full of adrenaline. Combining this with a horror scene, it would create an effective and terrifying shot which would most indefinitely would scare the target audience. The violin is a stereotypical instrument used in horror films.  This is because the violin pierces the audience ears, ensuring constant concentration but overwhelming them too due to the sharpness of the sound.

Extra Brainstorming, Equipment, name suggestions etc

Technology:

For our trailer we will be using various film equipment and applications in order to achieve a successful and realistic film. We will be using Adobe Premiere, to edit our film. This is a software that allows you to be very creative with how you want your film to look. I feel this is better than using " Movie Maker" or " IMovie" as it has more complex sound systems, and better use of applications to use as well.  We will also be using photoshop. This will be used for our front cover of our film, as it has effective editing tools to help us edit our film effectively. To film our opening two minutes, we may use  a go-pro. We feel this is the best film camera to film with as the motion is really good on it. They are also easy to function, and have a long battery life which will be important if we are filming all day. Along with this, we will have a tri-pod. This will help us to film precisely, without any movement on still shots. Alternatively, we may just use an ordinary Nikon camera, as they are easy to function.

Film name suggestions:

"Jokes on you."- We feel that as our film features a clown, we can add a pun on the word "Jokes." Clowns are stereo typically known to tell jokes to children in order to make them laugh. The three girls in the trailer are also part of this, we were thinking that maybe one of the girls could betray one of their friends, so that the joke is literally on the other girls. 

" Clown"- We also had an idea of keeping a very simplistic name for our trailer. Having a short and snappy title can help to entice audiences as there is not much to go off just from the title of the film.  We decided not to call our trailer this, simply because it would give our film away too much. We want the clown in our trailer to be as mysterious as possible, by naming our film "Clown" it would simply tell the story without even watching the trailer. 

"Karma"-  Similar to the first name, we wanted to have the idea of getting revenge or your own back on someone else. Karma explains this as explicit as possible. Again, the monosyllabic word is short and snappy which helps to entice the audience. We didn't choose this title, as we felt that it was too ambiguous. We want our audience to have a true understanding of our trailer, and we thought the title "Karma" seems to vague. In addition to this, it didn't suit or fit the genre of our trailer. The title didn't sound enticing or intense to us, and therefore it is likley that this emotion wouldn't be generated with our audience either. 

" Three girls, one clown"- This was the last name idea that we had. We liked how the title almost seemed like a battle between the friends and a clown, which is a convention in horror films. The idea of 3 vs 1 seems an obvious winning, but we would manipulate this in our trailer. We didn't choose this name, as we felt that it was too tacky and almost laughable. Although clowns are an almost laughable figure, we want our audience to be gripped and on edge, not laughing at our trailer. 

Software

From the name of the software, the application is made by "Adobe" which was founded in February 1982. The operating income of "Adobe" is $ 412 million, suggesting that it is a well known and successful company. Adobe Premiere Elements 10 allows you to have a much bigger and clearer timeline, this means that you can see your clips/pictures much more clearly so that you can see what's happening in your footage without having to play the video each time. The software also has much more effects than Movie Maker, such as the stabilizer effect, which allows you to keep shots still if they are moving or shaking when they are not meant to be. This will benefit us when making our trailer as we want to make our trailer look as professional as possible... However, this makes the process a lot more complicated as there is more techniques used resulting in the software being slower and more difficult to use. 

Film Institutions

Film institutions are fundamental in the film industry, as they provide the money for films to be made. If there was no such things as film institutions, films would bot be credible or decent enough with the available budget.

Warner Bros. Entertainment inc.

Warner Bros is an American entertainment company that produces Film, television and music entertainment. It was invented in 1903 by Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack Warner – they were four Warner brothers.  The first ever genuine talking picture was produced in 1927. The four warner brothers started their careers, showing moving pictures in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Additionally,  in 2009, Warner Bros. became the first studio in history to gross more than $2 billion domestically in a single year. One of the most successful films created by Warner Bros, is the Harry Potter series, which was the worlds highest grossing film series of all time without inflation or adjustment.  The films that they produced are made at a very high budget, and the company has a lot of money. (roughly around 1.15 billion dollars). The films are then sold all over the globe.  Figures from 2007 show that Warner Bros, compromise around 19.7% of the U.S market share and is the biggest  player in the film industry due to the secured rights to so many popular films, making them the No. 1 name in the business.

Paramount:

Paramount pictures cooperation( also known as paramount pictures) is  a film and television production and distribution studio, and is commonly ranked as one of the most top ranked/g grossing film studios.  It is a subsidiary of U.S media conglomerate Viacom. Paramount is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America. (MPAA) ^1]
In 2014, Paramount Pictures became the first major Hollywood studio to distribute all of its films in digital-form only.^[2] Founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company, it is the fifth oldest surviving film company. Paramount Pictures is famous for its distribution of successful film series, such as Star Trek, Transformers and Paranormal Activity. Paramount has 15.5% percent of the US/Canadian market share and continues to be one of the most successful film production companies in the world.

Walt Disney:

The Walt Disney company started in 1923 in a small office occupied by Holly-Vermont Realty placed in Los Angeles. Walt Disney, and his brother Roy, produced a series of short live-action/animated films collectively these were called the ALICE COMEDIES. . The rent was a  $10 a month. Within four months, the ever-growing staff moved next door to larger facilities, where the sign read "Disney Bros. Studio." Walt Disney specialises in family movies and animation, but in recent years it has been expanding more into live action. They also own an incredible amount of film institutions: Touchstone Pictures, Pixar, Marvel, and most recently Lucasfilm. Walt Disney now holds 15.3% of the US/Canadian market share. They have highly rated and popular movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, National Treasure, Meet the Robinsons and Enchanted. His films will be watched for lots of years to come.  Disney specialises on making films for the art from, rather than the money, and they don't make films as often, making every film special. Their films are enjoyable for both children and their parents, giving them an enormous turnover.

Columbia pictures:

Currently owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures was formed in 1919, and Sony Pictures still distribute their films under the Columbia label. It began as a the underdog in Hollywood, but now they are very successful. It is one of the leading film studios in the world, a member of the so-called Big Six. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. They have released films such as "21 jump street" and "spiderman".It comprises 12.9% of the US/Canadian market share but still remains a big player in the business. Some of this company's recent successes include Casino Royale, The Da Vinci Code, the Spider-Man series and Step Brothers. In 1924, Columbia Pictures used a logo featuring a female Roman soldier holding a shield in her left hand and a stick of wheat in her right hand. The logo changed in 1928 with the figure wearing a draped flag and torch.

Planning Targets

For you to achieve your target grade or higher for your research and planning you need to evidence much more in detail planning. You are showcasing your journey towards production and every stage of the journey should be documented.

Character Interviews

To help our understanding of our characters, we decided to do a character interview on each of the main characters in our trailer, including the antagonists and protagonists. We asked questions that we felt were relevant  and adequate towards that particular character. For example, "How does your characters Mise en scene affect your character?" and "Whats your favorite part of the trailer?". We feel that these questions were relevant and an effective way for our audience to see what all of our characters are like. These interviews also allowed us to add our own opinions, identities and twists to help our audience understand each character on a deeper and more personal level. 

Extra Clown Research and Conventions

  Clowns are one of the most common phobias which the majority of the nation face. This would therefore scare a wider audience. This idea was inspired by the movie 'It', which uses a clown for the antagonist, to entice children and then kill them- maybe this is where the phobias began!
The clown costume conforms to the stereotypical horror movie antagonist. due to the use of the props used , knife and having such an everyday person. The essence of a clown is to be fun and jolly, which makes the antagonist horrifying as he is actually the complete opposite, a murderous blood thirsty clown. The balloon symbolises that the character is out to get young children as this would attract them. The use of the knife follows the conventions of a horror as this would be the iconic murder weapon of the film and trailer.
The colours of the clowns body suit would be black and white, because black connotes darkness and evil but the white connotes to innocence and purity, which could symbolise good versus evil in the trailer and film. Throughout the film and trailer, the white within the costume would get dirtier and more bloody, emphasises the amount of blood which has been split which would build up suspense who has he killed and who is next.

There have been many different types of clowns all throughout history. The first being a white faced clown. Most clowns will fall into the category of a white-face clown, which encompasses two smaller groups: the straight clown and the mismatched clown. A straight clown will often behave seriously and will be the brunt of the jokes. Mismatched clowns will act sillier and be responsible for delivering the punch lines.

Conventions of clowns:

-  Big, red nose: 
Clowns usually feature the presence of a red, bobble-like nose on their own nose. Makeup is used to accentuate certain parts of the clown in a humorous way. The most obvious of these accents is the red nose, a feature shared by most clowns. The red paint is used to make the nose seem larger by making it stand out against the white or flesh-colored base paint used by the clown. Red is also a primary color, making it popular in clothing and wigs as well, and so the red nose will also be used to coordinate a costume and make it flow.

- Costume: 
 Their costumes are also usually over sized, including their shoes.
Character clowns will dress as the characters they represent, such as a police uniform or the ears and tail of an animal. Hobo clowns will dress in tattered and patched clothing to match their homeless situation. The colouring of the costume can vary, but usually features primary colours such as reds and yellows. 

- Balloons:
As clowns were traditionally seen to entertain children, the are usually carrying a balloon or more in their hands. Balloons are a fun object that children find fascinating to play with. Nowadays, clowns can be seen as creepy -( why we are incorporating it in our trailer.) and the balloon can be used to lure the children in. 

Soundtrack Research- Screams and effects

In our production, it is important that we have screams and conventional sound effects to make sure our trailer entices the audience as much as possible. Having sound effects in horror trailers helps to bring it all together. It helps to add emphasise to the scene, and make the audience feel like they are actually part of the film. For our trailer we need music, diegetic and non-diegetic music which compliments what we capture within our shots. This suggests that we have to research into the soundtrack in lots of depth and detail as we don't want music which takes the audience away from the trailer, we want them to lose themselves when watching this. I decided to research this by using the software "Youtube." This allowed us to hear soundtracks easily and we can also save the sounds to folders on our computers which also makes it an easier process.

Scream One: 

We thought that this scream was the most simplistic. It is a women screaming, which is helpful considering the actors in our trailer are all females. The scream sounds genuine, but this fades out towards the end of the clip, as the women's screams slightly deteriorates. The clip is short, which is ideal as we can then edit it into our trailer, along with the fast paced editing which would help to reinforce the tension filled atmosphere in our trailer. This scream is powerful and emphasises how frightened or in pain she is due to the strain of her voice. . We want to make our audience feel like our trailer is as realistic as possible, and this scream would bring emotion towards them. 

Scream Two: 

The second scream that we researched demonstrates a man screaming in a graduational way. The scream starts off short and quick, and then becomes louder and harsher. This cements the idea of tension, which is an attribute that we want to have our audience feel in our trailer.  This create many images, such as, him realising the pain he's in or it could come across as if he is going mad.  This scream may be good within the fast pace editing at the end of the trailer as when the shots increase in speed, this scream can be editing over, revealing the last shot of him finally screaming. 

Scream Three: 

In the third scream that i researched, the scream has a group of individuals screaming. The scream witnesses the presence of males and females and also the contribution of children. In our trailer, we will not be featuring any children, our target audience is aimed at 15 year olds, therefore, not suitable for children.  This would not be ideal for our trailer as it comes across tacky and more suitable for a comedy.  However, this type of scream may be ideal for parody horror trailers such as the "Scary Movie" films.  Due to the  plot we have for our trailer this is not suitable for our trailer, therefore we would not use something like this. 

Scream Four:

 For the last scream that i researched, i feel that this was is very effective, but maybe not suitable for our trailer. In the clip, there are squelching sounds, presumably to symbolise the presence of flesh and blood. Therefore, this type of scream would be compatible with a zombie horror, or a gore horror such as the SAW franchise. 

Camera Shots

Close up shots = A shot that focus only on the face or other parts of the body, which is in full frame of the shot. This is one of the most important building blocks in cinematic storytelling.

Extreme close up = A shot magnifying a part of a character's body or subject, which no background is present within this frame. This can be used to build tension or emphasis an importuncy of an object.

Over the shoulder shot = A shot where the camera is positioned behind one of the subject's shoulder. This camerawork is usually used during a conversation between character's as it implies the relationship between the conversing character's.

High angled shot = A shot which shot from a high angle therefore looking down at the character or subject. This is to make the subject look less superior and weak, which is why this shot is linked to the low angled shot.

Low angled shot = A shot which is angled low, therefore looking up at the character or subject. This is used to create an illusion that they are bigger, suggesting they are dominant or heroic over others in in the frame.

Establishing shot  = A shot which sets the scene, therefore the first shot of production as it clearly shows the locale the action is in. Aerial shot is usually before this shot.

POV shot= A shot that depicts the point of view of a character so that the audience can see exactly through the character's eyes. Often used in Horror cinema to see through the killer's eyes.

Long shot=  A shot which shows a whole character or object. This allows the audience to see the whole entire character/ object.

Extreme long shot= A shot which is taken from a very large distance, usually used to show a location.

Medium shot= This a very common camera shot in which only the shows from the waist and up of a character.

Crane shot= A shot where the camera is placed on a crane which moves up or down. This shot is usually to emphasis a character's loneliness within a film.

Zoom= A shot positioning a lens with a variable focal length that allows the cinematographer to change the distance between the object and subject with the absence of moving themselves. This can create many meanings, such as, a quick realisation or to build tension on what the character's has said.

Two shot= This is a shot which involves two people being within the frame, which is generally used to reflect the relationship between character's.

Whip Pan= A shot which is that same as a pan, but due to the speed the camera is moved at, it creates a blurred frame, which could blur beyond recognition. This is usually used to the vast speed of an object, for example, a car. It can even be used if someone is in an drunken or high state due to drugs and alcohol, as it would you how the character's are feeling.

Top shot= A shot in which the camera is position directly down on a scene rather than at an angle. This is also known as a 'Bird's-eye view shot'. This can be used during a car chase so the audience can see the runaway car trying to get away from the police, for example.

Tracking shot=  A shot which follows a character/ subject from either behind, in front or alongside them. This usually involves using a track rails, which is where a camera is attached to rails to increase steadiness and stability within the shot.

Tilt= This shot is where the camera is continuously moving up to down or vice versa. This can be used to end a film where the camera is focusing on a couple walking away and then the camera slowly tilts up to the blue sky.

Steadicam shot= A shot from a hydraulically balanced camera that provides high continuity for production as it generates a fluent smooth movement.

Handheld shot= A shot in which the camera operator holds the camera during a motion scene. This creates a jerky and unsteady feel to the shot, which could imply someone walking behind a character or reflects how the character is feeling.

Locked- Down shot= A shot where the camera stays stationary in one position while action continues off screen. This creates enigma's for the audience as they do not know what is happening off screen.

Matte Shot= A shot which involves foreground action with a background, therefore providing an insight of the location.

Money shot= A shot which is expensive to achieve but is deemed as being worth it due to the effect and potential the frame will generate.

Pan= A shot which involves moving the camera from left to right or right to left.

Aerial shot=  This shot shows the exterior of a location, which is taken from the air. This can also be classed as a establishing shot, as it is setting the scene.

Arc shot= This is where the camera circulates the subject therefore being circled by the camera.

Bridging shot=  A shot which suggests a change in time or place.

Green Screen...?

For our trailer, we had an idea to incorporate a green screen. We thought that as our film is a horror, we could use a news cast to make our film seem more intense. The green screen would allow us to make the appearance of a newscast being presented. When things come on the news, its usually a significant event, which will make the audience feel that the trailer is more relatable. It will also make our audience think that the clown in our film is real, therefore making the audience feel more on edge. 

We want to turn our green screen into a news cast. We will do this by editing our clips onto a editing software called "Adobe Premiere Elements 10". This type of modern software, will mean that we can manipulate and play around with the formatting of the newscast. We will have to use the crop and rotate tool to move the model of the newscast around so that it fits the green screen exactly. We can also use the en large and shrink tool to adjust the height and width of the model so again, it fits perfectly. 

From looking at how news presenters are dressed, they are usually dressed very formal and sophisticated. This seems obvious, due to the fact that the news is a very significant programme, that shows the most important events that are currently happening in the world. Therefore, we want our presenter to be wearing smart uniform. If a boy presents the show, we want him to be wearing a suit with a tie. This is a very formal appearance and will help that character to appear authoritative. If a female is presenting our news cast, we want her to be wearing a formal dress or a skirt. We want her to look conservative and formal. 

We had also planned a script for our news presenter to say. We thought that it was important to plan out our script before diving straight into the presenting. Below is our script of what we wanted our news presenter to say: . We incorporated the use of mentioning the metropolitan police. When the police are involved, it helps make the situation seems more serious, making our audience feel more alarmed. We have also quoted the sentence " unidentified and suspicious objects". This statement will help to make our audience feel on edge and feel all the suspense. The idea of "unidentified" creates the idea of mystery which is a common convention that the audience are expected to feel in a horror film. The idea of "unidentified" could further link to our protagonist, as the clown has a mask, the audience are unable to see who is under the mask, again creating mystery. 

Costume Ideas- Antagonist

The Antagonist in the trailer is played by myself. We want to make the antagonist appear as innocent and vulnerable as possible, to help make the audience feel sympathy and be able to relate to her. So this means, that the appearance of the antagonist is going to have to be kept simple and ordinary to not marginalise her from other people the same age as her. Our antagonist is aged 17, meaning that she is stereo typically into fashion, reality TV shows, shopping and parties. This means that her appearance will feature bright clothing, but yet fashionable, featuring the presence of makeup and jewelry . 

We want our antagonist to appear as simplistic as possible to make her be relatable towards the audience. Black or denim jeans seems to be a straight forward route to go down, they are easy to match with tops, and are an item of clothing that many girls at 17 years of age would wear. Trainers and boots are also stereotypical footwear that a teenager would wear. They are comfortable, and also seen as trendy which would help suggest a younger audience. 

Girls often wear neutral colours at this age, we feel that it is often important that the colours our antagonist is wearing is not too overwhelming. This is because we want our antagonist to appear as vulnerable as possible, and therefore wouldn't be wearing really excessive clothing.

We found this image really helpful when trying to research what we wanted our antagonist to be wearing. We found this picture on pinterest, which was really helpful in finding out how to dress the antagonist. The main conventions that we found, was jeans, converse and jumpers. The hair tended to be in a simplistic pony tail, and a small hand bag was always there.

Through researching the appearance of typical teenage girls, it has helped to influence what we want the mes of our antagonist in our film. In conclusion, we have learnt that we want to keep our victim as simplistic as possible, to help express the vulnerability of the antagonist. 

Costume Ideas - Protagonist

For our trailer the MES is a very important aspect to get right. What an actor is wearing can demonstrate a lot to the audience about the character they play in the trailer/film. As mentioned, we want to incorporate a clown. We have all agreed that we are going to buy a clown outfit, rather than do the clown makeup ourselves. This is because none of us in the group feel like we are skilled enough to create realistic and yet scary makeup to make our audience be frightened of the clown. From looking on various websites, we found on Amazon a clown suit at the cost of £20. We all agreed to put £5 each into the funding for the outfit. 

 The clowns outfit consist of red hair ( a wig). Clowns commonly have crazy coloured hair, to make them stand out and appeal appetizing to young children. However this weird and abnormal hair colour can also appear slightly scary as its so bright and overbearing. The actual costume of the outfit is black and white checked. We feel that this conforms and subverts to the stereotype of clowns. Clowns are commonly seen in red, which is the generic convention, as years ago, red was seen to be a positive colour. 

As generations have progressed, red is now seen as a dangerous and alarming colour, which are emotions that we want our audience to witness in the trailer. The outfit almost subverts as well, as the outfit is checked and not in bright colours such as reds and yellows. We still feel that this outfit is scary, and will appeal to our target audience. We also feel that the classic red and yellow clown outfit is a bit cliche, and want to divert away from copying our inspirational trailers.  The black in the costume connotes aspects such as death,evil,power and mystery which are attributes that we want to have present in our trailer, and what we want our audience to feel.  We also want our clown to be holding one, individual balloon. Balloons are a significant prop that is commonly associated with clowns. They help to recognise where a clown is present in a shot.

 Clowns usually hold lots of balloons, and were then made to give out to small children. We have all decided that we want our clown to be holding one balloon, as this will help to single the clown out as an individual. We want the balloon to be red. Red connotes danger,blood and injury so it fits the conventions of our chosen genre. In addition, the red will help to balance the composition of the red wig and red buttons down the middle of the costume. Balloons usually have happy and joyful meanings, however, as its used in our horror trailer it gives a spooky and mysterious effect. As the balloon is so significant to the clown, this means that we are able to do shots with just the balloon in the picture. This will create suspense towards our audience, as it tells the audience that they are aware that the clown is there, but not being able to locate it, creating a climax in the trailer. 

Using a mask in our trailer is an effective way to generate suspense towards the audience. A mask hides an identity, which creates the emotion of mystery in a film. Having this emotion creates suspense, as the audience will question "who's behind the mask?". This creates a common question towards the audience, and will need to watch the film in order to find out who's behind the mask. We feel that using a mask is also a quick and easy way to create a thrilling and scary effect. The masks are also relatively  cheap, which means that we can get hold of on easily. 

Location Ideas

For our trailer, it is important that we have a wide range of locations to help make our film as engaging as possible. Having loads of residential locations means that our audience will be able to feel more engaged into the film and feel more excited about it as well. It helps to bring the trailer to life by having lots of different locations. 

The first area we want to definitely include is a a park and residential area. As our trailer is focusing on the presence of a clown, clowns mainly appeal to young children and kids. Kids and children tend to play park and green areas, where there are fun activities to do and things to play with. Therefore, a park would seem an ideal place to place a clown, to add a creepy and sinister feel to what would seem to be a nice location to be at. We thought about using the pond in Ashtead, displayed in image one. For dramatic effect, we thought we could get the clowns reflection in the water and through the ripples. This would create a tense atmosphere and hopefully leave the audience feeling on edge. This idea can also strongly link to a common convention shown in horror films, whereby the reflection is shown at one shot and then gone in the next. This will create suspense and help to keep our audience engaged.  We were also thinking of filming here at night time. As trailers give an overall clip of the film, we need to make sure that a wide range of places are incorporated into the trailer. So, using different times of day will help to show our audience a realistic setting and film that they can relate to.  We feel that filming the pond/reflection scene  at night time will help to make it appear the most eerie, however this may prove difficult when trying to actually film it, as it may be hard to see. This means that we are going to have to trial this scene, or even edit it during the editing stage, to make the brightness darker to add a more mysterious effect. We were also thinking of involving  an extreme long shot of the pond with  the clown in the corner holding the balloons. It will not stand out hugely making the audience think "Did I see something?", this will hopefully keep audiences captivated in out trailer.

Another location that we want to include is of a train station.  The train station is a common place, where many members of the general public go. Using normal, residential areas helps to make the film seem more realistic. The fact that there is a creepy clown in an ordinary area, will help to make the audience feel the suspense and be more on edge. During the planning stage of our trailer, we all agreed that we wanted the clown to be standing on one side of the platform, and the recording crew to be on the other side. We would then wait for a train to come past while the clown is still standing there. After the clown has passed, we want to then have the clown to disappear. This will add a "Where did it go?" effect towards to audience, helping them to be more engaged. We want to find a level crossing where it will look abandoned and quiet compared to a busy train station where people in the background can affect the realness and continuity in filming. We want to make our trailer to appear as realistic as possible, so we wouldn't want to over-do it too much.  We will also include sound effects of train horns and spinning wheels, this will make it appear more realistic and exciting for viewers We would take this shot during daylight as we want to show how the clown appears at ordinary places and ordinary times in the day. 

Lastly, we had the location of a house. As there are three young girls in the trailer, we need to again, make this as realistic as possible. The girls are aged 17, and therefore would still be living at home. Thus, we need to make sure that a home is involved somewhere in the trailer. We were thinking of involving shot with the clown standing in door ways, and behind walls, where the audience is able to see the clown, but the characters cannot. This will create a tense atmosphere towards the audience. We may also include another reflection scene, whereby the clown is shown in the mirror behind the victim, again creating a climax in the trailer. 

Lastly, we want to include some kind of alleyway in the trailer. Alleyways are effective, as they don't usually withhold loads of people. This will add an isolated effect which will help the audience to be on edge. We were thinking of not always having the clown in shot, but sometimes having the clowns balloon there instead. The balloon would replace the presence of the clown, making the audience know that the clown is there, without it actually being in shot, creating a tense and suspicious looking scene.