Research

I decided to focus on Gothika, a film about a professional, Miranda Grey, who works in a Phychiatric Hospital and one day wakes up as a patient accused of murder with no recollection. This film follows the genre I want to try and achieve (horror/thriller) and I have used it to try and pick out the codes and conventions used by the director so that I can better understand what I need to use to make my trailer a successful one.

In the beginning when the two female characters are talking, they are surrounded by caging and at one point the camera even looks at them through the caged walls although they are out of focus so you are able to focus on the two people. This portrays a feeling of entrapment which allows us to relate to Chloe (the girl that is hospitalised) as this is what she is feeling. It also allows the audience to get an idea of what the setting is for the film and get a feel of the overall atmosohere.

Throughout Gothika, low key lighting is used to create a spookier atmosphere. Being in the dark creates a bigger fear of the unknown as it is difficult to tell what or who could be there. Strobe lighting is an example of one form of low key lighting used, and the blue lighting creates an uneasy cold atmosphere especially as the lighting is weak anyway. As well as this, heavy rainfall is used as pathetic fallacy to try and drag down the audience's emotional state which sets them up for when she nearly hits the girl with the car. As it is during the darkness, this makes it more unexpected and allows us to relate to it more as often you can't see things in the dark and suddenly she appears in Miranda's headlights which is a very jumpy moment.

Throughout the trailer, Miranda's clothing becomes more scruffy and untidy which highlights her letting go. At the beginning she is a pyschologist and she is dressed up in a suit looking very tidy but from the moment she wakes up in the hospital her clothes stay white, boring and look untidy and her hair becomes messier. Along side this, slow cuts are used at the beginning before she goes into hospital and fading is used to allow the audience to go from scene to scene feeling at ease with little suspense. Once she wakes up in hospital, the music has a faster tempo increasing in power as the trailer continues and cutting betweeen scenes becomes faster. Although fade is still used, it is not done at the slow rate as before.

Lots of close-up and reaction shots are used during the Gothika preview to highlight as much emotion in the characters as possible, especially towards the end, when the cutting becomes faster there is more action. This allows you to feel a connection with the character as if you know them and leads you to feel the emotion that the characters are feeling at that time. By using reaction shots, it is also allowing you to know what the characters response is to that conversation. On top of this, canted angles are used twice duting the trailer. At one point it is used during a close-up on Miranda and allows you to feel her confusion and frustration, and the other time it is focusing on a photograph of the girl she nearly ran over. It is supposed to add to the mystery of what is happening and by using that particular shot in the trailer, it allows the audience to understand that it is a very mysterious plot that builds up suspence and keeps you thinking, which is very popular and a lot of people enjoy that type of storyline.

Overall this was a good trailer to focus on. Whilst our plot isn't very similar, we will be forced to film in darker conditions anyway due to the shortage in time for myself and Nina and using these codes and conventions will help us pull off that spooky atmosphere

Creep is a film that once again follows all the codes and conventions that I can relate to the film trailer i want to produce.

The trailer starts of using a hand held camera and slowly fades in then uses a point of view shot walking through a tube station towards an escalator. The slow [pace of the person whose point of view is being used, as well as a low droning sound in the background and heavy breathing makes you realise that this person is not good and makes you wonder just whose point of view it is as well as setting you up for the rest of the trailer by giving an idea of the fact that there is someone unwanted and potentially harmful in the underground station.

It then cuts to the main character, Kate, standing on the platform and a title appears saying 'missed the last train home?' at which point it cuts back to the scene and shows kate walking along the platform shouting 'hello?' By being the only one on the platform, the audience experiences a feeling of isolation which is intensified by the first scene knowing that there is someone there. When she shouts hello you are worried that they might hear her and come and find her.

As the trailer continues, it becomes darker and darker increasing the feelings of isolation and vulnerability. Hand held camera's get used frequently towards the end to give the impression of being chased, as well as providing point of view shots. Also, at one point, fading in and out quickly is used during certain shots consecutively to give the appearence of a heart beat. This adds suspense and, as its quiet during that time makes the audience more aware of the surroundings as well as feeling nervous and not knowing what to expect next.

The beginning of this trailer contains lots of bright colours, in the clothes and surroundings. This allows you to feel comfortable, safe and at ease with the trailer before it starts getting dramatic. There is slow music in the background that sounds quite sad yet relaxing which allows you to fall easily and comfortably into the trailer but at the same time makes you realise that something bad is going to happen. There is a sound bridge of the main character's (Bryan Mills played by Liam Neeson) daughter talking about how she wants to go to Paris with her friend over shots of her at the airport and an establishing shot of Paris. By starting off the trailer this way, it lets the audience understand what the film is actually about and where everything begins.

After this, there is a fast paced cut with a flash of white and a loud booming sound and the mood instantly changes. You see the plane take off and can straight away tell that now she's gone, all the problems are going to start. The phone rings and there is a close up of his daughters phone in his bag. The music also becomes very low pitched and once again sounds like its booming. As well as this, the colours become very dark and the audience automatically becomes uneasy. There is a split screen to show both father and daughter on the phone so that you can see the expressions of both, although at different times, one screen is bigger than the other so that the expression of the person talking is highlighted. Once the girl gets dragged from under the bed, her scream gets echoed so that it stays in the audiences minds and it sounds like she is getting farther away.

The final part of the trailer is taken up by Bryan on the phone to the people who have taken his daughter. It is used as a sound bridge with him telling them to give his daughter back or else he will find them. As he is saying all this, scenes from throughout the film are shown such as someone tied in a chair, and Bryan jumping off a bridge to find her. Sad classical music is played at the beginning to make the audience feel saddened, but as the trailer goes on it gets faster and more upbeat. On top of this, the cutting becomes faster and there is more action. This causes the audience to get really drawn into it until right at the very end when the music dies down and then you hear heavy breathing down the end of the phone. A voice then says 'good luck' which leaves the audience desperately wanting to know what happens next after being so drawn into it, which I believe makes it a very successful trailer.

Personal Skills Review

How has your creativity developed through using Digial Technology to complete your coursework productions?

Using Web 2.0 as a means of doing my coursework has been far more enjoyable than just using a word document,such as Microsoft Word, too write up our work.
Before i was introduced to the website, I had heard of Blogging websites but had little understanding of them and was never fully aware of what they were about. By actually using one, i have realised that you can have so much more fun and give more input when it comes to writing up work than you can with just a simple word document. For starters, anyone can access each others work, which has allowed everyone to develop in creativity by learning off others and seeing what they do to make their work so good. Also, I have been using more pictures and embedding videos into my blog to break up what i say, make the page more colourful and allow people a better understanding of what I'm saying. By putting the video of my Preliminary Exercise on my previous blog, people could refer to it when I explained something.

Give 5 examples of paper based/research skills aquired/developed for your As coursework that will direcly be used in your A2 Coursework

• Using youtube has always been something I've enjoyed doing, but using it for research during my As has allowed me to use it for something other than recreation. When I first used it for research I had no idea what to look for and found it hard to find something that related to my work that i could annotate and use to help me. With help from my teacher, I thought of films that could directly link into my work, but this year I am far more confident in my researching skills using the web and can do it independantly.
• Drawing storyboards last year was a massively useful componant of the planning we carried out as it allowed us to see our ideas on paper and alter and change them where we felt necessary. It also provided us with a construction we could use to set up camera shots and meant we didn't forget the shots we had planned to use. Despite my terrible drawing, it allowed us to create better shots, see where there were problems with continuity and made the editing process a lot smoother.
• Doing a SWOT analysis for the preliminary exercise last year was important as it allowed us to understand where problems might occur due to our weaknesses as well as our strengths as a group were and how these could be used effectively in our work to improve it. The SWOT analysis also meant that we could be open with each other and admit where problems might be faced as individuals so there was no pressure to perform well in that area by the other members of the group.
• My organisation was drastically improved during the planning part of the coursework as I had to try and keep all the work I had collected together as well as saving the research documents I had found in a folder on the computer. As there was a lot of paperwork, each piece as important as the one preceding it, it meant we couldn't lose any of it, and by aquiring better organisation, it means I will already be confident in keeping all the work together as well as making sure we have everything ready for when it comes to creating my film trailer this year.
• Part of doing my exam last year, entailed watching a clip from a media text and critially analysing it, but not being able to watch it for my enjoyment. This already gave me the skills I needed for when I researched my Preliminary Exercise, but further continuing it, made it even better to the point where I now can't even watch a film for enjoyment anymore without analysing it. When I start researching this year, I won't have a problem choosing the material to focus on because I will be able to understand how certain films link in with the genre I want to focus on when creating my text.

Give 5 examples of a practical skill aquired/develops for your As coursework that will directly be used in your A2 coursework

• When I first used a camera, I was terrified having never done it before, except perhaps on holiday when it was recreational anyway. I was unaware of where to position it, and at one point didn't use the rule of thirds effectively, but by actually doing it and learning from the mistake I made, I gave myself the experience and grew the confidence I needed so that I can hopefully use it well this year.
• Similar to using a camera, I had rarely used an editing program before, especially one as complicated as Adobe Premiere Pro. Because of this I had to learn from scratch how to use it, and was a bit rocky when it came to editing our text, but by the end of the process, I was confident and happy in my ability.
• I had already learnt a lot about continuity from doing the exam so I knew all about it, but putting it into practice was an entirely different matter. Luckily I was able to use the understanding i had been given during the first half of the year and helped my group put it into action when making our film. We managed to make each shot join with the last so that it pieced together well and we had no problems. This year we will be using this skill to make our film as easy to follow as the one we created the year before.
• Teamwork was incredibly important when it came to the process of creating our media text as we managed to work together with little arguments or difference in opinion and we helped each other when someone was struggling with something. By practising efficient teamwork, it also meant we could focus on the one part of the the process we were more confident in whilst others worked doing things they were more comfortable doing but you might be weaker at and helped you learn and understand better the things you weren't so good at.

Give 3 clear discussions of how theoretical perspectives studied will directly influence your advanced production

• Genre is very important when it comes to creating a media text. In my case, I am creating a film trailer and have decided to focus on horror/thriller which carries specific codes and conventions that for example, a comedy wouldn't use. This means I have to research into that genre and pick out the ways in which it uses the codes and conventions to make it work. In horror films, low key lighting is used far more frequently too create an atmosphere that isnt needed in a fantasy film which is a single example from a range of codes and conventions used.
• The audience is one of the first things that needs deciding on so that you have a clear focal point when creating your media text. Different audiences (age, interests, etc) will be interested in different things which is why it is important to make sure you base the plot as well as using the camera, mise-en-scene-editing and sound effectively to create something that will appeal to that audience. If I wanted to create a trailer for people around my age, I would use actors my own age and include scenarios that would appeal to them, despite they may not necessarily appeal to someone a lot older.
• Representation is important as it uses stereotypes and instantly gives the audience understanding as to the type of person/area etc. they are watching. By creating a certain appearence and giving a character behavioural patterns that stereotypically fit with this appearence then you have stereotyped and instantly someone watching the film or programme will make a judgement of this character that, in most cases, will be similar to everyone else watching. For example, if you were shown a woman in a suit dressed very smart and neat you would assume she was fairly high qualified and a professional. On the other hand if you saw someone overweight sitting in a chair and eating a lot of food ytou would instantly assume he is lazy and greedy which might give you a negative portrayal of him. Stereotypes make it easier to understand each individual character and relate to them easier.