Fonts for Trailer Title

For our film its important to consider what fonts we want to use. We need to consider what colours, sizing and font style we want to have for our trailer. We used cool text as our text generator, it had a wide range of styles which we could choose from, which meant that we were able to find the right font for our trailer. Having such a versatile generator  meant that we could all add our own ideas and expand on them how we wanted. 

For our first initial idea, we decided to stick with the colour red. The colour red can connote aspects such as danger,blood and death which are common conventions that are found in horror films. We decided to use capital letters in the titles as it helps to make the font stand out to the audience more.In addition to this, using capital letters is a common convention that I found out when researching other fonts used in films. The use of the block capital letters is bold and empowering, but almost has a slight childish and immature feel to it. We feel that this almost fades away from the horror genre and looks at more of an action feel. We want our audience to be scared and frightened by our trailer, so we need our font to also correspond with this generalisation. The clown is the antagonist in our trailer, and is the main aspect of the film. The clown means that we are also incorporating clown-like music, meaning that virtually everything in the film revolves around the clown. Therefore,we waned to include the clown into title of our films as well. We thought about having a clowns face on the letter "O" but we felt that this gave too much away of the clown, after all, this is a trailer and we want to give our audience an over all feel to the film,but not give anything away. Therefore, we thought about including the balloon.Balloons have a naturally round shape, meaning that it would fit the letter "O" sufficiently. The colour of the balloon also fits with the colour of the font, helping the composition of the font all link in together. 

For our second chosen font, we decided to experiment with the positioning of the balloon.We placed the balloon in the middle, again in place of the letter "O".  We thought that this would help to balance out the title, having letters on either side of the balloon. However, we feel that this makes the font look odd and weird. The balloon is almost too big to have placed in the middle, making the font look a bit  overbearing.Furthermore, with this font, we decided to make the font style smaller and thinner. This helped to add a more mysterious vibe to the title, as the letters are still in capitals. We also added an apostrophe in the word "Jokes" as we forgot to do so before. This would have been a huge mistake if we forgot to do this in our end product, making the title look unprofessional which would reflect badly on our trailer. 

Our third manipulation is very similar to the one before^. However, we decided to experiment with the placement and composition of the balloon. We all really like the idea of the balloon, we feel that it adds a fun twist to the trailer as it helps to indicate the idea of a clown, without giving too much away.  We prefer this placement than the one before. This is because the second manipulation almost looks to overpowering to the audience,it makes them look directly at the balloon, rather than looking at what the title actually says. With this placement, the balloon is placed earlier on in the title, which helps to structure the font style. 

On our final manipulation, we decided to play around with the colouring of the font. The colour is an essential part to the title, as it helps to set the mood of the trailer and towards the audience. The colour red is bold and dominating, which helps to grab the audiences attention. It also connotes aspects such as, blood and danger which are connotations that the audience would expect to see in a horror film. With this edit, there is a graduation of colour, from bright red to black on the word "YOU". The fact that the word "YOU" is in a different colour, helps to include the idea of direct address towards the audience. It's almost like the title is directly speaking to them, which helps to keep them engaged in the trailer. Furthermore, the colour black also symbolises dark thoughts such as evil,power and mystery which are also aspects that we want to include in our trailer. 

Looking at Horror trailer's in depth

Horror film Institutions

Lionsgate

Lionsgate was formed in Vancouver by a Canadian Entertainment company. As of 2007 their headquarters are located in California and is one of the most commercially successful independent film and television distribution company the North of America. This institution has distributed and produced productions from, television programmes, family entertainment to motion picture; providing us, the audience, with a range of cinematic experiences. Lionsgate has produced a large majority of film which have been hit box office success, such as the films, 'Kickass', 'Rambo' and even the most loved franchise 'The Hunger Games'. From doing some background research on this institution, I have found that a large proportion of their films are for a similar genre, which are thrillers, Action, and dramas. However they have produced and distributed a fair share of horror films, for example, the 'Saw' franchise films, 'My Bloody Valentine' and even 'The Last Exorcism'. Although they have produced and distributed horror films, this institution isn't primarily known for them as only a few have had success. From even further research, I discovered horror isn't their specialty for forte. This is important to know for my research into my film trailer as I need a suitable institution to distribute my production. Due to the research I have found, this institution may not be ideal for me as I believe my film trailer would need to be distributed from their track record, just for horrors, it hasn't been up to scratch.

Twisted Pictures 

Twisted Pictures was founded in 2004 by Evolution Entertainment's Mark Burg, Greg Hoffman and Oren Koules. This institution has grossed more than half a billion dollars from one of the most well-known horror series and sequels; 'Saw' films. Twisted Pictures aims and primarily focus on the horror genre, producing such films as 'Saw' and 'Texas Chainsaw 3D'. This American independent film company as many competitors, including 'Hammer Film' productions. Due to this institution being a horror specialist it, it shows me that they have a lot of potential with advertising and producing our film trailer. In comparison with 'Hammer', I would say this institution follows the conventional horror films, of primarily using blood and gore to create a disturbing atmosphere; whereas Hammer does not focus on this element as much, but more of a storyline to their films. 

Warner Bros 

Warner Bros is another of many American film companies, which has dominated the film industry during the 20th and 21st Century, This institution is very successful as they do a range of roles such as licensing productions, marketing all forms of creative productions and distributing and producing media. They have been involved in the 'Harry Potter' franchise, by distributing and producing these films and also been involved trilogy of 'The Hangover'. Warner Bros are dedicated in producing a variety of genre, from comedy and action to thriller and horror. Due to me making a horror trailer I am very interested in the horror element to this institution. They have been distributors for horror films such as 'One Missed Call', 'House of Wax', 'Sweeney Todd' and 'The Orphan'. These have all been successful horror films, which were marketed and distributed at a high standard through the use of multi-platform device; laptops, phones and television. When comparing this to 20th Century Fox, I realised that Warner Bros horror films were more well-known and successful then the ones produced by 20th Century Fox. This is due to 20th Century Fox focussing on specific genre whereas Warner Bros focus on a range of genres from action to horror. Due to this institution success for horror films, this may be a good institution to use for our as it would mean our horror trailer would be marketed correctly as also being distributed by them would lead to more success for our trailer, due to their past track records for this genre of film.  

20th Century Fox 

I have researched 20th Century Fox to see if this institution has the potential to distribute and produce my film trailer. From my research I have found out that a large majority of their films were comedy or family genre films such as 'Night at the Museum' and 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid'. This automatically tells me that they may not like producing or distributing films that are horror based. However, I researched a little further, which led me to discover that they do like to distribute horror films such as 'From Hell', 'Shutter', and 'The Haunting of Molly Hartley'. However, this institution prefers to distribute horror films rather than produce them, which they do very effective through using multi-platinum devices etc. As I am producing a horror genre trailer I need an institution which would distribute and produce my trailer effectively, so it can gain the success it deserves. As 20th Century only does distribution it gives me an opportunity to use them for the distribution aspect, as they could make my film go worldwide. 

Hammer films

Hammer institution is UK Film Company in which it is known best for a series of Gothic Horror Films that were produced during the mid-1950’s until around the 1970. However this institution has faced many obstacles which has lead them to becoming more powerful in the film industry. During the 1980's the company lost funding from America which led to the institution shutting down; however in 2000 the company announced they will be reopening and produced their first film in 2007. From analysing and researching other institutions which distribute and produce horror films, this is the only British one. If I do use this institution it would let the audience know that my film trailer was made by an independent company that are British. Comparing them to the other institutions, Hammer, is a very small company, which suggest they have lot smaller funding ratio. This could mean that my trailer may not get distributed as well as it could due to the lack of funding’s. However, due to this institution’s forte being horrors it would give my film trailer more potential due to this company knowing how to sell and distribute horrors. This may be a potential candidate for our institution as they will know what to do to gain the best popularity and outcome profit for our film. 

Conclusion of Questionnaire results

These questionnaire's gave us an insight and guidance on how to distribute and produce our theatrical trailer. It was very helpful in gaining ideas, for what our target audience wanted to see and what they are interested in. We studied out of 100 people, and we received a wide range of results. After gaining the results, we were able to conclude and make some adjustments to our trailer, regarding the answers that we found out. The first question we asked our audience was "Who would you prefer to see as an antagonist?" The results were close, with male scoring 47% and female 53%. This tells us that the antagonist is most likley to be female. This subverted our expectations, we assumed that the antagonist would be male, as they are stereo-typically stronger, more powerful and dominating. However, as our trailer is a horror, it may be that a female can bring a slightly more creepy and sinister edge to the trailer. Although in our trailer the antagonist is hidden by the clown mask and dark, mysterious clothing, it was still useful to gain information from our target audience. The next question that we asked was "How many films do you watch weekly?" This was an interesting question for us, it indicated that we want our film to be popular, but we needed to find out if our audience actually enjoy watching films. The results concluded that watching 1-2 films a week was the most popular, scoring  a percentage of 63%. However, only 5% of people watched 5 or more films a week. This was surprising, as our target audience is targeted at the ages between 15-25. This is a particularly young age, suggesting that individuals in this age group are working or in some form of education, suggesting that watching 5 or more films a week is a lot to fit in. The third question that we asked our audience was what they find the most daunting. This is a very personal question, and is very subjective, as it's mainly based on opinion. The results ranged, from 55% choosing clowns, 11% ghosts, 21% supernatural and 13% serial killers. We were very pleased to see that clowns scored the highest total. We all felt that doing a clown horror would be successful, as it plays on the idea of childhood, and how positive things as a child, can now be seen as creepy and sinister.  We were shocked at the results revealed by the ghost selection, only scoring 11%. There are many ghost films out in the film industry, and have been very successful. This could suggest that the horror genre of ghosts may be becoming a slight bit out-dated within the contemporary generation. The location was a key question that we all agreed needed to be asked. As we are filming a trailer, it was imperative that we included a wide range of locations, to help keep the audience engaged and so that they understand that the film is not just set in one, ordinary place. We asked between for options: The woods, scoring just 11%, An alleyway, 25%, A house, 23% and The park 41%. We were pleased to see that our audience thought that the park and the house were the most popular. This is because these are our main locations that we want to use in our trailer, as clowns are commonly associated with children, and children usually play at the park. 

We also wanted to distinguish what type of horror film our audience liked the most. We have six options, each contributing to a different genre of horror ( gore, supernatural etc) The most popular film was Paranormal Activity, scoring a total of 33%. The least scariest film was drag me to hell scoring 1% with Cabin in the woods close behind with just 9%. These totaling's suggest that our audience are attracted to the more realistic side or horror, such as modern, american houses being haunted, rather than fake, bloody zombies eating people alive. This suggests that our audience prefer a more realistic side of horror, as they may feel that they can relate to it more. We wanted to find what kind of genre our audience prefer. After all, we want to make a film that they will enjoy, there would be no point producing a comedy trailer, if that's not what they enjoy watching. Fortunately, our audience preferred horror, scoring a total of 47%, with thriller close behind, 20% and right at the bottom, was comedy. This tells me that we are creating the right trailer for our target audience. . From researching horror target audiences from films such as IT, Insidious and The Devil Inside, it is clear that horror films attract younger audience as they want to seek an adrenaline rush and witness the brash excitement and thrill that a horror film can provide. For the title of our trailer, we wanted to have our audiences opinion. This is because we were all unsure on what we wanted to have as this was one thing that we couldn't agree on. "Jokes on you" scored the highest of 47% and "Joke" concluding the lowest of just 10%. This was an easy way to get our audiences opinions for the title of our trailer. After all, the name of a film is the first thing that the audience see's/hears, so we want our title to have a catching lingo to it, to help keep the audience engaged. We really like the name "Jokes on you". We feel that it is a clever way to incorporate the clown, as they stereo typically tell jokes. We feel that the title was a good way to give the audience a taster of what our film is about, without giving it all away. We also asked our audience whether or not they thought it was important to show the antagonist in the trailer. Sometimes leaving the antagonist out, can create this idea of mystery that can really entice the audience into the trailer. However, our results concluded that 87% of them wanted to see the antagonist, as it would give them a full taster of what the film is all about. The general public stated that they would prefer a film to be more realistic than surreal. This could be due to the genre being a horror as, they need to be relatable to provide the scare factor which they set out to achieve. If the trailer was surreal it would mean that the audience wouldn't believe or feel as if it could happen to them, which is the opposite response of what a horror film wants to do. Making our trailer realistic would, firstly attract our target audience (15-25 year old) due to it being relatable but secondly; due to what we found in our research into horror films as they are all very realistic and could happen to people. From these results we will be ensuring that our trailer is as realistic as possible.

Questionnaire Results

Filming plan for next week

We are planning on filming the second part of our trailer next week. I feel that it is important to make a plan so that we are all aware of what we are doing, where we are filming and what costumes we are going to need. We are going to be filming the house part of the trailer, which suggests that we need to have the correct props and costumes. We don't want to break the continuity rules, so we need to carefully consider what each character is wearing.

COSTUMES:

Protagonist: Black jeans, normal t.shirt, hair down and trainers.
Antagonist: Clown mask, black jeans, black oversized hoodie. (The same outfit as previous filming.)

PROPS:

Clown mask
Mobile Phone
Candles
Camera
Tri-pod
Fake blood
Torches- for effective lighting to generate shadows.

PLAN:

Tuesday 22nd November 2016
-  6:00pm- All meet at Katy's house.
- Set up camera equipment onto the correct settings ( Filming mode)
- 6:10pm- Film the bedroom scene- Check that everyone is in the correct composition on the camera screen.
6:15pm- Check over the footage, do we need to change position? Dialogue? Costume? Or change the hole scene altogether?
6:35pm- Film the scene again but at a different angle, so we can pick which angles we like during the editing process.

Thursday 24th November 2016
-Filming the park scene, meet at Ashtead park at 5:30pm
-  5:40pm-Set camera up onto correct settings ( night mode)
- 5:45pm- Start filming panning shots of the park- use torches to create a shadowing effect.
5:55pm- Start filming close up shots of the swings, capture this at loads of different angles, so we can edit the clips together during editing. 

Storyboard

Strengths of our Storyboard:

I feel that we all worked hard and effectively when creating out storyboard. We wanted to give our audience a clear and concise baseline to our trailer. I feel that the images that we drew are strong, this is important, as the audience need to understand what the photograph is an image of, before they can gather what the narrative is about.  Regarding editing, we decided to keep it simple. We used the "fade" transition to fade each photograph to one another. This effect ensured that we had a smooth and quick transition from each photograph. In addition, the fade effect can give an ominous appearance as the photographs almost fade over  each other, creating a duplication effect. 

This photograph displays a location that will be used in our trailer. The location is important,especially when considering a horror film, after all, a horror trailer wouldn't breed connotations of fear,blood and death being set in a shopping centre. The woods connotes mystery and the unknown, which helps to set a sinister and ominous atmosphere for our film. We drew the trees overlapping each other, as it helped to show the audience this mysterious atmosphere as nothing could be seen. The trees are drawn long and bare which cements the idea of it being winter, which further suggests that it is darker at night time,linking to a negative atmosphere. 

 This photograph displays a candle being blown out. This is a popular convention used in horror films, such as in "OUJI". We took a lot of influences from this production, as it suited a lot of locations and settings that we wanted to use. The candle is effective because once it gets blown out without a person in shot, it makes the audience suggest who has done it. Furthermore, candles purpose is to provide light when it is dark, which adds a slight old fashioned and archaic feel to the film. Being in the dark can connote many negative aspects,which helps to create a climax.

This photograph also displays a location in our film. When creating a trailer, you are essentially giving an overview of an entire film. Thus, we need to show a range of locations and settings to keep our audience engaged. We wouldn't want them thinking it was set in one place throughout the whole film. Our film is based around a clown, clowns are stereo typically used to entertain children at circus's and fun fairs-traditionally. Nowadays, clowns have a far more creepy presence and are looked upon in a negative light. This could be due to the influence of films such as Stephen Kings "IT". The park is a location for children,where they play and hang out. Therefore, it makes sense to include a clown within a linked location. We want to include close up shots of a swing swinging on its own, again,creating this idea of mystery and the unknown.

This photographs essentially displays the characters in the film.We decided to use girls, as girls are stereo typically seen as more vulnerable and innocent compared to boys. We displayed three girls walking home. In the photograph we included pictures of books and bags, to give the girls a purpose for being there-( Walking home from school.) The girls appear like they are in conversation, which makes them conform to their stereotype of being girly. Their clothing is simplistic,such as jeans, T.shirts and trainers.Sticking to everyday clothing helps to make the girls more relatable to our target audience. This will therefore make the audience put themselves in their shoes when watching the film,resulting in them being more scared. 

This picture simply displays the antagonist in the trailer. Clowns were historically seen as entertainment for young children at circus's and fun fairs. To a more modern day approach, clowns are now seen to be creepy and sinister. Perhaps this is due to the media, such as films being made, such as Stephen King's "IT". We are planning on having a close up shot at the end of the trailer to scare and jump our audience. 

Research and Planning

Well done Nadiye - a very thorough response.  Explore more about the impact your questionairre results will have on your final production and evidence your time-management as a group.  Keep evidencing your journey towards final production!

Questionare

1. Who do you prefer to see as an antagonist?

A) Male     B) Female


2. How often do you watch a film weekly?

A) None  at all    B) 1-2 Films 

C) 3-4 Films      D) 5+

3. What location do you find the most daunting?

A) House         B) Alleyway

C) Woods         D) Park 


4. What was the last horror film you watched? Did you enjoy it? If not, Why?

____________________________________________________________________
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5. Do you think that it is important to see the antagonist in the trailer?

A) Yes        B) No 


6. What is your favorite horror film out of these films?

A) IT           B) Paranormal Activity         C) The Exorcist 

D) Drag me to hell      E) Cabin in the Woods    F) Saw Franchise 


7.  What genre do you prefer?

A) Horror   B) Action 

C) Thriller   D) Romance    E) Comedy 


8. What film title appeals to you the most?

A)  "Jokes on you"    B) "Revenge"

C) "Karma"        D) "Joke" 

9. What do you find scary?

A) Ghosts    B) Supernatural 

C) Clowns   D) Serial Killers 

10. Who do you think will portray the protagonist most effectively? 

A) Young girl  B) Teenage girl   C) Young boy 

D) Teenage boy  E) Old lady    F) Old man 

Trailer Inspirations

When planning what trailer we wanted to create, we needed to do research into the category of horror. We all agreed that we wanted to look at a clown, we feel like clowns are a modern day aspect, that bring terror and suspense to nearly all ages. The main films that had an inspiration was: "Stitches", "IT" and "Hello Bingo". These films all feature clowns in some form or another, and this was helpful when trying to work out how we wanted our clown to look and what we wanted the clown to be wearing. "IT" had the biggest influence on our production, the way in which the clown acts, and the MES of the clown, highly fitted to all of our ideas. IT is also not that gory, however more creepy and mysterious. Stitches however, as you can guess by the title, features a lot of gore and blood. We want our clown to have a more paranormal approach to it, being creepy and possesd, therefore the appearance of the clown in stitches didn't have an influence, but the narrative did. "Stitches"  is a 2012 psychological horror comedy fantasy film directed by Conor McMahon and starring Ross Noble. The film revolves around a birthday clown returning from the dead to get revenge on the boys that caused his death. The basic narrative to this film inspired us more than the MES of the clown. The idea of "getting revenge" on people is what we want to incorporate into our film. We feel that it gives the trailer a good equilibrium, which will help to entice our audiences. In addition to this, the title of our film "Jokes on you" connotes the idea of betrayal, which helps to tie everything in together. 

"HELLO BINGO" is a short movie about an unconventional agency of hired killers who murder in extremely violent ways. In particular, they focus on victims’ fears and weaknesses. Like "Stitches", Hello Bingo, features the presence of a lot of gore and blood. We want to aim for a more paranormal approach to our trailer, so having a lot of blood and gore scenes is not really relevant to our trailer. However, the idea of the clown focusing on their victims weaknesses is a common horror convention that is used to generate the emotions of fear and suspense. We want our target audience to witness these emotions in our trailer, so some of the story line to Hello Bingo was helpful.

First Day of filming, BEHIND THE SCENES

 Wednesday 2nd November 2016: 

Today we filmed for a small section of our trailer.  We decided to film the outdoors parts of our trailer, due to the fact that it was a cloudy day, and the clocks had gone back recently meaning it got darker quicker. This was effective as it meant that we could get an ominous and creepy effect on the camera. We brought a tripod with us. This was extremely useful, as it meant that we could keep our camera still giving the footage a professional feel, as the camera wouldn't be jagged or moving around. The tripod also meant that we could adjust the height of the tri-pod to adjust the angles of our camera. 

 We used a Nikon camera during our filming. We used the same camera as last year when filming, as we found the camera easy to use and was easy to fix onto the tripod. The camera had a megapixel value of 16, meaning it can pick up colour well in the images. The camera also had a wide zoom range on it, meaning that we can zoom the camera into certain directions, that we, ourselves couldn't get into. An example of this would be the pond scene. We filmed a reflection scene near a pond, however, due to the weather, the pond was slightly muddy and hard to get into. Therefore, the zoom on the camera meant that we could still film the footage that we wanted, without getting into a sticky situation- literally. 



As we were filming in November, the leaves had started to fall off of the trees making them bare. This added a slight mysterious and creepy atmosphere to the footage. It also meant that when we were walking on the leaves, they had a slight sound to them. We thought that we could then use this as a way of the audience knowing that someone or something is following the girls home. The use of using a pond in our trailer, creates a darker mood. Many films and TV dramas use ponds and rivers to hide bodies in, as water can destroy all evidence of an assault. Although we do not put anybody into a pond... We wanted to include some footage of a river, so that the audience can feel precautious. 

This is our antagonist below. We decided to dress the antagonist all in black as it conforms to the conventions of a horror film. The colour black connotes mystery, power and death which are aspects that can be perceived in a horror trailer.  The clown mask was big, and dramatic, which we wanted  as it to created fear. We filmed on top of a bridge, as it was narrow and looked slightly daunting. There was graffiti on the walls of the bridge/stairs which connotes the idea of danger, which is an aspect that the clown brings towards the trailer.  Today, we mainly filmed in residential areas, such as, alleyways, parks and ponds. We thought that this was effective, as it helped to make our film appear more relatable towards the audience. Our target audience is aimed at ages 15-25, which is quite young, so they are likely to be located in places like this. 

FILMING SCHEDULE- When? Where? How?

Prior to filming, it is ideal that we plan out when and where we are going to be filming for our trailer. As we are filming a trailer, not an opening two minutes like last year, it's important that we incorporate different locations to give our audience an over all representation of our film in a short two minute clip. I put together this filming schedule, so that we are all aware of when and where we are filming. This will help out organisational skills and make us ready and prepared for when we need to start producing our production.I put together these reminders and sets onto my phone and into my diary. This was a clear and visual way for us to remember when we are filming. Having reminders on my phone meant that it would make a sound or go off, so i am aware that we are filming. 

WHERE?

- On Wednesday the 2nd November, we are planning on filming in Ashtead Village. As the clocks have gone back, it meant that it got darker much quicker meaning the location of the village and the park would have a dark and mysterious atmosphere. We are planning on leaving school at 2:30pm and walk into Ashtead village from Leatherhead town. We want to film on a bridge near Ashtead, we feel that this is going to add a creepy and edgy twist to our trailer. This also means that we can manipultate and experiment with different camera angles, such as, a cantered angle. 

TIMINGS:

2:30pm- Leave school and walk towards Ashtead Village.

2:45pm- Start filming on Ashtead Bridge, and set up tri-pod and camera onto the appropriate settings. 

3:00pm- Start walking towards Ashtead Park,

3:15pm- Arrive at the park and look for potential filming spots.

4:00pm- Make sure footage is good, do we need to re-do anything? Is the dialouge good?