Potential Filming Locations

1. Around School, Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School

The school was built in 1912 and so has an old fashioned look to it, we are hoping to incorporate this old fashioned feel into our movie trailer as it relates to how old the first dracula was. This location is also very easily accessible to film at due to it being our school, and we would not need permission to film here.


2. Around the Streets, Crawshawbooth, Baxenden, Burnley

We would be able to use surrounding streets both near our homes and in local towns, as these locations are easily accessible for all members, and we would easily be able to film various scenes if necessary. Due to these areas being easily accessible, we would be able to get our friends in to act as extras easily.


3. Fields

We wanted to use a mixture of woods and fields to create a rural setting, to contrast with the school and hall.


4. Townley Hall

Townley Hall is in Burnley, it's quite old fashioned looking, and was built in the later early 1500's. It's age and look mean that this filming location would tie in well with the Vampire genre. and the grounds as well as the building would be suitable for filming on although we'd probably have to get permission.


5. Gawthorpe Hall

Gawthorpe Hall is just outside of Burnley, much like Townley Hall, it is an old fashioned with majestic gardens surrounding it. Gawthorpe, like Towneley would work well with our genre, due to the building looking similar to those used in various vampire films. Again we would have to get filming permission from the owners first.


6. Our Houses

Our houses are obviously easy to film from because we wouldn't need permission. It would also give a sense of reality to the film as our houses are clearly lived in and would look like real bedrooms. As our main character does not live in a stereotypical manor/castle, we feel that just an average home where the vampire lives would add to the comedy of the trailer.

Props List

• Cape

The cape prop is to make it clear to the audience of the vampire character, as capes such as the one pictured are synonymous with Vampire films, such as Dracula. The cape will be worn by our protagonist Steve.

• Plastic Fangs

The plastic fangs will be worn by our vampire protagonist in our film, the fangs, much like the cape, signify the characters vampire status, and also add in comedy to our film trailer due it imparing his speech slightly, adding a lisp.

• Face Paint

We would need face paint to help give the vampire character a pale complexion, which is needed for a vampire character. We will use glittery eyeliner as well to give the vampire a more effeminate look, as he is a "glampire"

• Blonde Wig

We would need the blonde wig for a scene involving the vampire trying to bite someones neck, believing they are a girl, only to find it is actually a man in a wig. The bright wig shown in the picture is similar to those seen in various gothic and vampire films, so it will tie in nicely with our film.

• Fake Blood

We will be using fake blood in our production, due to vampires needing to feed on blood, and is a key staple in vampire films.

•  Hair gel

We will be using hair gel for our main characters slicked back hair, done in a similar style to that of other similar vampire characters such as Dracula and Robert Pattinson.

• Ketchup

We will be using Ketchup in one of our scenes, using it as a prop as it is meant to confuse our Vampire into believing a girl has cut herself and is bleeding. Ketchups dark appearance and thick texture means that it can be easily used for our filming and be clearly visible in our trailer

Initial Ideas

For our group’s initial ideas, we put various ideas together for what our trailer was going to be, such as what genre the film would be. We put together a group of ideas we had come up with, and ended up with three ideas which we thought we could do the best: a Crime Thriller, a Romantic Comedy and a Vampire Parody. We eventually settled upon the idea of a Vampire Parody after voting upon which idea we wanted to do, as we all had particularly strong feeling towards the recent spur of vampire films and television shows coming out in recent times, and it was an area which had plenty of material to be parodied.

We have taken inspiration from various different vampire programmes and films, but one in particular we have taken both inspirations and ideas from the Twilight saga and its films. With the series gaining huge success over recent years, with the story following the romance between a vampire and a human girl, we felt that we could parody many things in the films, such as the romance of a vampire and a human, as well as the character of Edward Cullen in the film, who is played by teenage heart-throb Robert Pattinson (pictured).

We also looked at the music video “Vlad the Impaler” by the British band Kasabian, which is about a vampire character. The video is a comedic parody of vampire movies as well as B-movies, showing the vampire to prey on vulnerable women, whilst also fighting off nuns who are using holy crosses on the vampire, using various ideas taken from both novels and films about vampires. The vampire in the video is played by Noel Fielding, known for roles in comedy shows such as The Mighty Boosh, and so his take on his vampire character was comedic, both in the appearance of the vampire and the actions of the vampire.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM5YDI7ttME – music video for Vlad the Impaler.

We then discussed ideas of where we could for scenes to put into our trailer. We put forward various ideas, such as at a nearby stately home/hall called “Towneley Hall” and another called “Gawthorpe Hall”, as the houses have been around since Victorian times, and would contribute to the overall theme and feeling of the film trailer, using shots of the exteriors to use as possible settings for the vampires home, inspired by and parodying the settings from films such as “Dracula” and “Nosferatu”.

Trailer Analysis: Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

This movie is well known chick flick and is very popular with a huge female fan base. The movie was taken from a very popular book series by Louise Rennison so there was already a lot of fans before the film came; this was probably why the directors had so much faith in it because they knew it would do well.

The trailer starts off with the song ‘She’s so lovely’ by Scouting for girls, which shows Georgia Nicholson’s personality perfectly. Its very up beat and the use of non-diegetic sound lightens the mood and makes the trailer memorable.

There is then an establishing shot of Eastbourne which sets the scene. Georgia then explains that she is “the new Georgia”, this is something that all teenage girls strive for which shows that teenage girls are the target audience.

The logos for Paramount pictures and Nickelodeon then come up; these are both well known companies which makes the movie reliable and bound to be a success. Nickelodeon is also well known for its children’s programmes and films so it is mostly like going to and out to young people.

On the quotation “When you’re 15 years old” there are then clips of Georgia with her friends and having fun, these are moments that all girls can relate too. She also mentions that she is now a ‘woman’ because she is wearing a bra; this is something that a lot of teenage girls looking forward to as it means that they’ve finally grown up. These are all things that attract a young female audience.

There are many photo snapshots of Georgia and her friends, these have badges or stickers round them such as smiley faces and polka dots. There are a lot of clips in the trailer that young people can relate to such as an annoying sibling, i.e. Lily, and beauty related disasters, such as, shaving her eyebrow off. These events show that not only is it is a chick flick it’s also a Rom-com. This is confirmed when comedic moments are mixed with romantic moments.

Georgia then says “I’m very ugly and need to go into an ugly home”, although this is a comedic line it also shows underlying self consciousness which is what all teenagers feel at some point or another. When she is sat in the dark, its shows that there will be sadness in the movie. As shadows are dark and connotes misery.

The trailer then “from the makers of Bride and Prejudice and Bend-it-like-Beckham”, if you’ve enjoyed the film then you will surely enjoy this one as it’s from the same directors. It also shows reliability because the movie has come from successful directors. The title is a sans-serif, pink font on a white background; this is a classic style for a chick-flick. There is also a pair of pink lips which is an ideal symbol for the film.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fpuZYQqFzg

Trailer Analysis: Quarantine

For the trailer for the film Quarantine, the very start of the trailer starts off with showing the local television reporter who is the primary protagonist of the film, following her as she documents the lives of local fire fighters in California. By showing her in this safe, secure area, the viewers of the trailer are lulled into a false sense of security for what is yet to be revealed in the trailer. This is to scare the viewer when they see the actual reveal of the “infected” characters, after the tension has been ramped up in the trailer after the fire fighters are shown quickly rushing to an apartment building, the television crew following under the pretence that they are going to be shown the fire crew in action, not knowing what is actually going to unfold. The technique has been used in various other horror type films, making the audience feel as though they are witnessing events just as the person apparently making the video witnessed them. The idea that the film is being presented from the point of view that these are secret government files that we are witnessing, heightening the tension as the idea that the government are showing people this video to the public due to them themselves being worried about the “quarantine”. The trailer gives us the information about the premise of the film, still keeping in with the idea that it has come from a government source, with the scrolling type writer style writing, often seen in shows such as “The X-files”, a horror television show. The trailer then changes to its focus to the apparent contains of a camera that is found by various men in hazmat suits searching the building shown in the start of the trailer. The video itself found in the camera often fast forwards throughout the trailer, as though it is only showing key glimpses of the film while fast forwarding through scenes, which will not give away the overall key plot points of the film while focusing more on the horror side of the film, while also connoting the sense of desperation and turmoil with which the characters are in at these chosen moments in the film, sometimes increasing the tension that is given off from the scenes.

When we are given a glimpse of the main title of the film, we see the word “Quarantine” surrounded by green colouring. The green colour connotes the idea of sickness and illness, which is often why real life quarantines take place, to try and stop an illness or disease from spreading into the main population. The quarantine in the film is the main reason why all the main characters in the film are together. The shaking of the word Quarantine comes across as though it is from old footage again, much like when a videotape loads up and blurs the footage. This keeps with the idea of the found footage technique which is the main premise of the film, and still putting across that the footage is “real”.

The film is also set in the state of California, putting across that the events that occur during the film are happening in an ordinary area of the world, making it known that this sort of event could happen anywhere including where they possibly live. The night vision camera shots of the trailer put various shots out of proper focus, making the audience more confused as to what is actually on show from the trailer, and by the shots being not completely focus the audience have to imagine on what is being “shown”, which is known to be a convention in horror films, which heightens the tension of the audience from guessing at the events that are occurring and what the characters are being shown. This disorientation not only shows the characters own disorientation, but also the viewers. The quick cuts that occur throughout the trailer also may disorient the view of what is being shown to the viewer, so that they may be left anxious and wanting to see the film to learn what is actually being shown in the whole context.

The film also swaps between shots quickly of different scenes of panic amongst the various characters, shots of the different characters running along characters, as well as close ups of the various characters faces showing their panic in the scene, most notably shown in the final scene where the main character of the TV presenter in the film being dragged away from the camera. From these various close up shots the audience already early on manage to get an understanding and an emotional connection to the characters, instead of the audience just getting a basic understanding of the characters and no connection.

We are also only shown vague shots of the “infected” characters, and are left to imagine what the actual infected characters look what, once again heightening the tension of the film, making it clear what genre this film is actually in and following suit of other trailers in the genre. The infected characters that are glimpsed in the trailer are similar to the zombie characters seen in films such as “Dawn of the Dead”, and other similar zombie films. The infected appear to be like more aggressive, disorientated humans, except with extra strength. The fact that they are so similar to real humans shows the fear that humans have of seeing how easily it could happen and that it could happen to anyone.

The trailer provides basic information for the characters of the film, showing the main character who appears to be the damsel in distress type character, trapped in the quarantined building and needing to be rescued. The woman is recognisable as a TV news reporter, a character type recognisable due to the fact that most people watch the news and will have seen these reporters at some point on television

The genre of the film is easily distinguishable in the trailer, with the trailer moving from an everyday news report to a scenario where the characters are trapped in the housing apartment block with infected characters. The music in the trailer also connotes the genre, with the orchestral string sounds rising in volume as the shots of the characters panicking in scenes plays. The sounds in the trailer also connote the genre of horror, with computer generated sound effects playing in when the scene is cut to a different one quickly, with the computer generated sounds matching the idea of the video footage being affected.

The audience of the film is young adults around the age of 20, who enjoy horror films. The trailer appeals to this group of people due to the trailer showing the specific genre connotations such as showing tense scenes which would get the audience nervous and keep them gripped, as well as showing just enough information to give the audience the basic information of the film, whilst also leaving enough information out so that the viewer will want to come and see the film, to find out all the information in the film.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3133276441/ - Link to trailer for Quarantine

Trailer Analysis: The Incredible Hulk

The trailer of The Incredible Hulk focuses primarily upon the character of Bruce Banner for the majority of the trailer, due to him being the main character. We see glimpses of Banner at the start of the trailer, as a military operation is conducted to find and bring him back. We are then show clips of the operation going into plan, forcing Banner to flee, and shown shots of Banner travelling away, in between different shots of the military chasing Banner. The early parts of the trailer have a prominent bass behind the guitar playing, the style of the notes playing connoting a sort of Spanish-Mexican influence, possibly giving a hint at the location of Banner at the start of the film. The bass playing underneath the guitar gives the trailer a feel of it building up, the sound becoming more prominent as we see military forces advancing towards the house in which Banner is in, clearly connoting that an action scene is soon to come up, also giving us our first glimpse of the actual Hulk.

We see Banner locked inside a corridor, the diegetic sounds of the locks slamming shut locking Banner inside of the area. We are also given various narrations over the top of the trailer, such as the one by Banner in this scene talking about how he cannot control his anger, connoting that he is soon to turn into the Hulk, the narration taken from a different section of the film, just placed over this scene. As tear gas fills the room, we are shown one last glimpse of Banners arm, shown progressively getting larger before it is enveloped in the smoke filling the room, as the scene fades and cuts to shots of the soldiers faces surrounding the room, all the shots of the faces being close ups, we hear the enhanced diegetic sounds of heartbeats, before the hulk smashes through the wall of the corridor and attacks the soldiers.

The title of the film also carries clear connotations describing the size of Hulk, the term hulk clearly higher bigger than the word “incredible”, showing the size of the Hulk. We are given various shots after our first glimpse of the hulk showing his size, such as the size of the character in comparison to various vehicles he has destroyed, and stood opposite a man who is shown to be the antagonist of the film. The hulks size and strength, shown clearly in the second half of the trailer, is the main draw of the film itself, which is why the trailer focuses heavily on showing the hulk throwing around objects such as cars and tanks. These shots and scenes are normally very short in the trailer itself, keeping the trailer to the point and exciting for the audience to watch. Close to the end of the trailer, the antagonist of the film is shown throwing a car directly towards the camera until it reaches it and causes a black out, a convention which is used often in action films and their trailers.

The Trailer also uses the idea of having various narrative voices, taken from different scenes in the film, to help give the audience an idea of what is going to happen in the film, as well as setting the scene for the film itself. The narratives in the trailer come from the main character of Banner, as well as from his antagonist, and other characters relevant to the main plot of the film.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1726152985/ - Trailer for The Incredible Hulk

Film Trailer Analysis: Batman

It is clear from the film trailer and film poster that this is a very dark film of the action genre. The ‘Bat’ symbol is present throughout the trailer, this is because and fans and even non-fans recognise this symbol as a signifier or the ‘superhero’ Batman. The trailer starts off with Batman stood on top of a building alone, there is a blue tint over the scene, this colour connotes sadness and misery perhaps foreshadowing what is to come.

There is then a shot of Batman looking over Gotham again as if he is “watching over Gotham” reinforcing the expected hero persona. There are then many explosions again with a blue tint, the explosions are obviously a symbol of destruction, they all show the companies that has invested in the film such as Warner Bros and Legendary pictures which are well known companies and have brought out many good films. There is also DC Comics which is well known for creating The Incredible Hulk, Superman and Spiderman. These have all been massive successes and therefore make DC Comics a reliable company.

The Joker then says “Where do we begin?” and shows a birds eye view of Gotham which sets the scene. He then speaks about “Cops and Lawyers” and shows a clip of Gordon, a police officer and Harvey Dent, a lawyer. This shows that these two people are obviously main characters and are probably going to be targeted by the Joker.

The Joker then says “What happened?” and there is a flash of Bruce Wayne, both as Himself and Batman. This gives the impression that it is Batman who is preventing the criminals from committing crime which would be correct, but the Joker wants to change this.

There are then many explosions and a scene of the Joker laughing; this is then broken up by a clip of Harvey Dent saying “Rachel’s told me everything about you” to Bruce Wayne which is followed by “I certainly hope not”. This offers comic relief for the audience which breaks up the seriousness and darkness of the trailer. It’s also dramatic irony because the audience knows that he is Batman but the other characters don’t.

There is then more explosions and destruction, which again is broken up by a scene with medium close up shots of Bruce and Rachel in which Bruce says “When you said we’d be together did you mean it”, this shows the audience that there will be a bit of romance in the film which makes it a little more interesting and more appealing to a female audience.

There is another comedy line in which Harvey asks Albert the butler “Any psychotic boyfriends I should know about?” to which the audience knows that Batman is the answer. This is then confirmed by a shot of Batman jumping on top of a car. The diegetic sound of the glass is very sharp and stands out; this is obviously enhanced by sound effects.

There is then a long blackout in which the Joker’s voice can be heard. The Joker is the main focus of the trailer, and is used as a narrator throughout to comment on the action and what happens, i.e. “Gotham needs a better class of criminal and I’m going to give it to them”.

The line “The night is darkest before the dawn, but I promise, the dawn is coming” spoken by Harvey Dent is a signature line in the trailer. Not only does it refer to The Dark Knight but it also says that Batman will, perhaps, be at his lowest point in this movie but he will get through it because “the dawn is coming”.

There is a small clip of the police force smashing the Batman projector light giving the impression that they have lost all hope.

The Title is capital which stands out to the audience with a black background and the faint outline of the Batman symbol. This is what is left in the heads of the viewer. There is then the words ‘coming soon’ and the website if the viewer wishes to get further information.


www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UBP2nXtRRo

Research and Conventions we wish to use

As it is a spoof film, we need to take bits from all aspects of the vampire phenomenon such as other popular TV shows or books, etc. The whole point is that the audience recognises when we are taking the mick out of something, thats what makes spoofs funny.

We are also hoping to take inspiration from other Vampire films and TV series such as the CBS series 'Moonlight' which although popular at first, was cancelled after a year. It still however offers some good ideas because the vampires in the story are very open about their desire for blood and where Jason Dohring’s performance was concerned this was almost comical.

A relatively new series that has started recently is the extremely popular Vampire Diaries series on E4. Going into their fourth season, there is a lot to take inspiration from. One of the main characters 'Damon Salvatore' played by Ian Somerhalder brings the comedy in the series much like Jason Dohring from 'Moonlight'.

Our main aim is to make the spoof comical; we need to show this comedy in the trailer by including about 8 scenes from the proposed film. We need to show comical moments in the film without giving too much away resulting in the audience feeling no need to go see the film. We also need to take into account the humour of the audience that were aiming at. Young adults tend to have a pretty crude sense of humour and are easily amused by the weird and wonderful. This is something that we would like to incorporate into out film.

We also want to look at exploring our main characters sexuality in order to create humour. We thought that our main character can be straight but "in touch with his feminine side" i.e. he could have his hair gelled back with black eyeliner. We feel that is it important that the other characters in the film need to be really ordinary and much like the audience members so they have someone to relate too. This is important because it will help the audience feel like they are involved.

Conventions and purposes of Films Trailers

Film trailers have become a huge part of the film industry, with trailers either making or breaking a films initial success, as trailers are the often primary reasoning as to why the mass public choose to view a film. However, films also get publicity from other areas of media, for instance from magazine articles on the films, as well as coverage from the events such as the films premiere, the coverage often coming from major news stations. Film trailers mainly incorporate various story sequences into a small amount of time, giving the viewer a basic view of the plotline, narrative and characters of the film, as well as showing the genre of the film, while also showing the viewer’s various scenes of action taken from the movie itself. A film trailer set the tones for the film, establishes the various main characters and gives a clear oversight of the films tone, genre and even its narrative films.

Film trailers will bring a basic overview of the various main characters in the film, while also giving snippets of information about the plotline of the film, such as in the trailer for “The Incredible Hulk”, where the audience of the trailer is given background information on the character of the Hulk, with a voiceover taken from the film put over the top of various shots of the character of Bruce Banner, the man who becomes the Hulk, showing what made him change and making us sympathetic with the “hero” of the film. Film trailers also contain very quick shots of sequences from the film, edited quickly to incorporate everything into the trailer. Film trailers incorporate conventions such as voiceovers and music overlaid onto the trailer, which helps create the feel of the film, as well as using dialogue from the film put into the trailer so that the dialogue not only establishes the characters but what their motives are in the film.

The title shots of films are given in all film trailers, showing not only the logo of the film but also gives plenty of information about the companies and the people involved in the production of the film, such as the director, or a production company such as Universal Studios. When film makers or studios are referenced by a trailer, the trailer may also state “from the makers of…”, the idea behind this being that if the company has also produced a previously successful film, then viewers of the trailer may become drawn to see the film as they have previously enjoyed the film the company had made before. These titles will also give the age rating of the film (unless that is yet to be confirmed) as well as the details of the release of the film, for instance stating “coming next summer” or in fact giving the real release date if the film is much closer to being released. Often there are two trailers that come out for a film, a teaser trailer and a theatrical trailer. The teaser trailer often comes maybe a year or up to 6 months before the official release of the film, just to gain interest in the film early on. The full length theatrical trailer is released around 3-1 months away from the release of the film, and will feature much more footage of the film, and this will then also garner much more support for the film and create “hype” around the film for when it will be released. The titles of the film will also state the web address for the film as well, so that interested viewers of the trailer can visit the website and see more information about the film.

Each genre of film brings its own trademarks and conventions to its film trailers. For instance, Action films often incorporate various set pieces taken from the film, such as the trailer for the film “The Dark Knight” showing a variety of car chases and explosions, as well as a few action shots of fighting sequences, to show the audience that the production of the film has invested into some spectacular stunts to take place during the film. Thriller films also sometimes incorporate action sequences into their trailers; however thriller trailers also contain more shots of characters, as well as trying to create a more mysterious and darker tone to the film. Darker images and much more editing are used in thriller trailers, such as in the trailer for the film “Sin City”, which was edited to be completely shown in a black and white akin to the style of a comic book (the film is a graphic novel). The film is a Crime Thriller as well as a noir film, so we are shown lots of shots of police men in action, as well as showing dark scenes of the characters of the film standing in various rainy scenarios, and close up shots of the characters eyes and on their weapons. Comedy films also incorporate into their trailers various action sequences or comedic sequences, so that their target audience of the film will see if they find the trailer comedic and can then go and watch it themselves.

Trailers for films give a huge amount of publicity to a film’s release as the production companies can distribute the trailers to cinemas, so that a wider and more varied audience can see the trailers.

Television also plays a huge part in the promotion of a film, often showing the full trailers for films, as well as short teasers. The shorter brief trailers often merely hint at the films storyline or characters in a much briefer way than the actual full length theatrical trailer. These small trailers are often incorporated into websites which promote the film, or shown in small trailers before videos on youtube. Websites are also often created to promote the film, sometimes focusing on information of the film and on the background story of the film. Some films also incorporate alternate reality games upon the internet, which sometimes don’t seem to focus on the actual events of the film, but reveal information about the films storylines, and use the idea of the online community banding together to try and figure out how to complete the alternate reality games to ultimately reveal all the information possible about the film. These online games go over many different types of multimedia, ranging from information taken from newspapers or online through websites or even on social interaction sites such as Facebook. An Example of this is “The Beast”, an online game which promoted the film “A.I: Artificial Intelligence”, and focused on characters in the film and forced members playing the game to unravel a mystery around the characters involved.

Trailers can also garner publicity for a film through showing the viewer’s which stars will be appearing in a film. With the inclusion of a big star into a film (and therefore trailer), fans of the star will wish to see the film due to the film having the star in it, who is possibly their favourite actor. Blockbuster films often have big stars attached to the film so that they can generate a profit still, after using much of the films budget in the production of the film and paying the actors wages.

Films also will receive publicity from various media outlets and websites such as IMDB, a popular website that serves a database for information related to films, television shows, and video games, keeping the trailers for films as well as advertising them. IMDB is not alone in acting in this way for films, but is the most high profile website. Other websites and magazines also run film sections, showing the trailer if it as a website, as well as featuring articles in the run up to the film’s release documenting it’s production and providing information about the film, as well as giving a review of the film upon its release date. Examples of such websites and magazines include IGN (www.ign.com), Total film, Empire and Sight and Sound (which is supported by the British Film Industry).

With the release of a film, some companies use horizontal integration which in turn creates more publicity for a film. Companies release various interlinked products across a variety of media platforms, with the different products creating public interest for the overall product and film. For instance, when releasing the film “Spider Man 3”, Sony pictures released a video game adaption to coincide with the release of the film, due to Sony putting out the Sony Playstation 3 games console. When the game was released, the Playstation 3 version of the game received special bonus content. Sony also released the official soundtrack of the film on Sony’s own record label, and had an official song released for the film. All of these contributed to a much wider scale of publicity and public interest, and therefore more money is received for the film.