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.