Representation In My Trailer

 I have written a short essay about representation in my trailer. This is the essay that I wrote:

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Representation in my Trailer

Representation is when you change an item to make it look different; it is the way in which meaning is given to an item depicted. In the terms of representation I will study the basics of representation that we learnt in the AS course as well as the higher terminology from the A2 course. The basics of representation cover the camera (shots, angles, movement, and composition), sound (non-musical and musical), editing (cutting and other transition) and mise-en-scene (production design and lighting and colour design). The A2 course looks in much more in-depth at representation. An image is representation and to re-present something can be done by using different lighting such as low faint light on the evil person to make them look scary or it can be done by using the camera to focus on an aspect. 

  The theorist Stuart Hall has devised what he calls three readings which are the ways that a person may interpret a text. These readings are; preferred reading, negotiated reading and oppositional reading. Preferred reading is when the consumer of the media understands the point fully that you are trying to get across. Negotiated reading is when the consumer understands some of the points however disagree on some aspects. Oppositional reading is when the consumer apposes all the ideas that you have tried to get across. In my film I believe that the horror aspect will be understood pretty well by using the correct lighting and shots. The hand held camera work will help me achieve this understanding of being followed and that the viewer is watching from the eyes of the stalker. However it may not be very obvious from my trailer whose birthday it is as it is not specified, however this would be much more obvious in the film as you will be able to hear the group talking in the car as they travel to the forest. I believe that for the purpose of my trailer the viewer may be a negotiated reader as the whole idea is not obvious; however in the film I would make sure it was much more obvious so the viewer would be a preferred reader.

 Roland Barthes is another theorist who has theories on representation. Roland created two sections; denotation and connotation. The denotation is the literal meaning of an image whereas the connotation is used to refer to the socio-cultural and personal associations of an image. An example of this is if a person is wearing a Manchester United shirt, the denotation is that they are wearing a Manchester United shirt; however the connotation of this is that they support Manchester United. In my trailer there is a denotation that the older male and younger female are walking close together, the connotation is that they  are a couple which is correct and the point that was tried to get across but not really obviously by a kiss just subtly by their body language. Another denotation is that there is an older female in the group, and the connotation of this is that she is the mother and she is in charge by the fact that she is the first person to leave the house and that she is the one that goes to find help. A major denotation is when the car pulls over and they check under the bonnet of the car, the connotation is that they have broken down which is very important that this is understood by the viewer otherwise the complication is not identified and the film won’t be understood.

 My final theorist on representation is Ferdinand de Saussure who came up semiotics which is the study of the social production of meaning from sign systems. A sign could be made up of something which physically resembles the object in some way, or has a direct link between it and its object. I don’t believe there to be any signs in my trailer of film.

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Narrative Structure In My Trailer

I wrote a short essay on the narrative structure in my trailer. This is the essay that I wrote:

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Narrative Structure in my Trailer

Narrative structure is made up of five components; exposition, development, complication, climax and resolution. Exposition is when you introduce the setting and characters to the viewers. Development is when the story is developed and we meet more characters. Complication, is when the complicating event which will affect the lives of the main characters. Climax is when dramatic tension is at its height. Resolution is the sequence in which stability is re-established.

In my trailer the exposition is just after the start of the trailer when the group are getting into the car to go out and you see the characters for the first time. It is established that it is someone’s birthday by the ‘Happy Birthday’ banner outside the front of the house. It can be said that the entrance to the forest is establishing the setting of the trailer.

 The development section of the narrative structure comes as the group travels from the house to the forest and the viewer learns more in-depth knowledge about the characters. The fact that they are in a car could signify to the viewer that there could be car trouble on the way.

 The complication element comes from completing events which affect the characters, in my film this is when the car breaks down in the forest. This is the main complication that sets off the film. However this is not the only complication, the fact that there is no signal so the mother needs to go find help, leaving the teenagers on their own is another vital complication and also shows signs of what may happen. The final complication is when the group decide to leave the car as the mother has not come back and that when the main problem start to accrue.

 The main part of the narrative structure is the climax, the point in which the dramatic tension is at its highest. In my film this is when the group re in the forest and there are shots from the stalkers point of view and shots of the main character running away. These high tense scenes will be accompanied by fast music to help increase the tension of the viewer.

 The resolution comes at the end of the film. This is when the main character gets out of the forest all safe however he is the only one that survived but the viewer doesn’t care as he is the main character. The stalker is then caught by the police as they had been tracking the group after they found the car in the forest and tried to find them to help.

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FILMING

I have started my filming process over the Christmas holidays. On the 3rd of January I went to savernake forest to film the forest scenes, however I had a problem when I got there. I was attempting to film at 5pm however it was too dark for the camera to pick up any movement, I could only see the sky in the distance. I decided to come back the next day on the 4th of January at 3pm and the filming was much more successful. I will next upload the footage to iMovie and edit the footage to try make it appear a bit darker. I am aiming to finish my filming on Friday evening and if I need to I could film a bit more over the weekend.

 It was too wet on Friday evening so I decided to postpone until Saturday. On Saturday the 8th I filmed the scenes at my house that will be used for the opening few scenes of my trailer. I feel that it went pretty well and I used a few different types of shot and will choose the best one when I do my editing. This will make it a lot easier as I should be able to just use my current filming and wont have to re-shoot it. Unfortunately I have been unable to shoot the train scene which is very disappointing as not many trains will be running on a Sunday so I will have to wait until next week to film these scenes. Hoverer in the meantime I will be able to upload my footage and begin to edit it.

The final day of filming if all goes to plan and no re-shoots are done. It was on Friday the 10th of January. It was fairly dark but still visible to see the area so very good lighting. It was perfectly timed as well because as soon as I got to the other side of the train tracks (filming from my point of view) the train sounded its horn so was perfect for when I turned around. This made the filming really quick and looked believable. So after the days filming I was very happy with how it had turned out after watching it back on the camera. I will be importing the footage onto the computer on Monday morning and then will begin to edit it all together.

 Massive problem accrued. The filming that I shot on Friday night at the train crossing is not being detected by the apple iMovie. I have tried importing using an SD reader, and putting the SD card into a different camera but nothing is working. I decided to take it to the technicians to see if they could heklp but after an hour of many different ideas we had to give up. We decided that the SD card is not working properly and has probably messed up the filing that I had done. So I will have to re-shoot the train scene as soon as possible.

 On Friday the 17th I re-shot the train scene and it wasn't as good as the first time, however  it still looks good. We had to wait 45 minutes for a train to go by but luckily the lighting hadn't changed dramatically. I will try putting this filming onto the computer on monday and hope it works this rime.

 All the filming is now been successfully uploaded onto the computer and most has been edited. I will continue to edit throughout this week to get it finished.

Audince

Most films target audiences are recognised by demographic profiling. Demographic profiling is when you recognise who you target market is depending on their age, class, gender, geographical location or religion. However this is not who must watch the film, it is just who the film company believe to be most likely to watch the film. An example is that a romantic comedy film is aimed at females, however some males like to watch then too or they are pushed into watching them by their female partner. To make it enjoyable for male they will also include some sections that they may enjoy but it will still be predominantly aimed at the female market.

The Audience can be listed in these four categories which are sometimes linked to the four c's:

• Mainstreamers - a person who wants products that are reliable and from a trusted brand
• Aspirers - a person who wants products which improve their image and are fashionable
• Suceeders - a person who wants products that increase their power and control in life
• Reformers -  a person who wants products that will improve the quality of their lives rather than appealing to a sense of fashion or style

A survey that was done in 2008, found out that 41% of the population was in the age range of 16 to 34 and the majority of the public that went to the cinema (68%) were between 16 to 34. This survey has identified a large potential target market for companies to aim their films at.

The target audience for my film is young teens around the age of 12. I have selected this age because I don't think there are enough young horrors and that is why not many people like horrors as they are not introduced slowly. When you are young the scariest film you see is Harry Potter or Lord Of The Rings then you get to 15 and you are freaked out by horrors.

I have done some research into other horror films that managed to get a classification of 12. These are the films that I have found:

·         The Cave  

·         The Others

·         The Other

·         Cry_Wolf

·         Soul Survivors

·         The Mothman Prophecies

I am aiming my film at a 12A certificate as I think that there isn't a large market for horror films in this category. This will be good as there are currently no stereotyped story for this rated horror so I can do whatever I feel would be the best idea. A benefit of my film being a 12A is that any person of any age can watch it as long as accompanied by an adult.

Classification

Classification for my trailer:

Drugs - There are no references to drugs (U)

Horror - There is a moderate psychological threat, however disturbing sequences are not frequent. (12A)

Imitable Behaviour - No detail of potentially dangerous behaviour  which young children are likely to copy. (PG)

Language - No bad language. (U)

Nudity - No nudity (U)

Sex - No sexual refrences or activities (U)

Theme - There are no serious issues shown, however the idea that is ment to come across is that they will be killed by the mother. (12A)

Violance - Moderate violance, without detail (PG)

I would give my trailer a PG classification as it is not graphic on any of the horror scenes it all just left to the mind of the viewer. I would rate the actual film at 12A as it would be in more detail.

Audience Theories

I created a ms powerpoint on audience theories and decided to upload it to File Share and then import it into my blog so here it is:

Audience Theories

View more presentations from RichardWo.

Animatic

After completeing my storyboard, I went out to take some photo's for my animatic. I have taken a photo for each part of the storyboard and uploaded the images into iMovie to create my final animatic. This is my finished production;