Final Pitch

1.       Title sequence with exterior and interior shots of a Church, with a religious undertone, to create tension and a montage

2.       Film noir conventional first-person narrative creating a biased point of view towards the events and the characters

3.       Aerial shot of the city of Leicester to establish the setting and to also increase the variety, to show off

4.       A discussion between the Boss and the Detective, describing the Vampire’s power and the urgency of this case, to allow the audience to recognise the intense task the antagonist creates. This will emphasise the power and help to create a typical Propp ‘Villain’

5.       Appropriate mise-en-scene, for example: a Detective’s office and the props required for his desk, following the research into Film Noir’s and our use of google to explore the conventional props from images

6.       An interrogation scene between the Detective and the suspect after his wife has been murdered. This will be one of the climatic events within the trailer, used to raise the tension and to create an enigma because the audience will not be completely aware of the background and context

7.       Different close ups of the Detective and the Vampire-the main characters to build audience suspense, to allow them to divert from their everyday problems as they try to discover who the characters are. The closeness within the shots will also create verisimilitude, as the realism from the detail and the shot type will enable the audience to connect to the shots and actually feel like they are really witnessing them

8.       Random shots of dead body parts, for dismemberment, creating the violence and macabre style-linking to the Director’s intentions and style, as well as offering a taste for a wider audience particular males, because they stereotypically prefer violence

9.       A two-shot of Gangsters to again offer variety, and more character types

10.   Pathetic fallacy-non-diegetic sounds and flashing of lightning and thunder to create a darker and intense atmosphere, whilst being conventional to the retro Noir. This will effectively foreshadow the deaths, leading to the binary opposites of life vs death and good vs evil to occur, for a professional plot

11.   We will explore how we can use the weather in the shots, for example a shot of a Mini in mist or a Vampire standing in fog

12.   A crime scene will take place. We are planning to film it in a Forest to create the clichéd and conventional horror, that is recognisable and somewhat iconic for many audiences

13.   The song we are planning to use is: ‘Night of the Vampire.’ This is dramatic and intense, and appropriately connects to the antagonist and his joy he is gaining from achieving his desires

Online tutorial on Film Noir cinematography

This video discussed lighting, focusing upon challenges you may face when filming. For example, reflections, wanted to show the filler lights naturalistically, in this case a lamp and how the light needs to be placed in the right position for a hard-edge on the actors face. Therefore, he placed the main light directly opposite his nose.

This tutorial also explores costume. The typical protagonist in a classic Film Noir would never be denoted with a flowery shirt, because it is essential that he is represented as hard-boiled and a stereotypical working man. This pairs with the hard shadows for a clichéd, connoting mystery and moral ambiguity.

Using reference photos a suitable desk for a Detective would include: typewriter, a magnifying glass, a notepad/diary, folders and maybe photo albums. All of these would signify a busy, hard working and committed Detective.

Our production:
Overall, all of these details create a simple and effective Film Noir look for a conventional mise-en-scene. In regards to our production, I think that it is necessary that we consider the props on the characters desk because we want it to look professional and conventional. Therefore, we will try to borrow or use these props in order to make our trailer more relatable and firm in the genre we have chosen to mainly focus upon. Obviously we are producing a hybrid, but the horror genre will only be an added detail for innovation and a different exploration, hopefully intriguing the audience further.

Cohesive Marketing: Deadpool

Audience feedback about a professional trailer

Will: I like how they keep the music suspenseful even in basic dialogue scenes and that there is only a small glimpse of the werewolf.

Phil: The action never stops. It is also informative about the plot but lacks excitement, which gives the impression that the film might be dull.

Maddy: It was a pretty cool trailer, that definitely shows and captures the time period it's set in and tells you the storyline without ruining too much of the actual film. However, some of the sound effects seemed a little out of place, such as the scream near the end, but I did like the font and the soundtrack that was used, they were rather conventional for that type of film genre.

Caitlin: I like the bold, white letters and the build up of music for a crescendo, reaching a climatic edge.

Tommy: He finds this trailer informative and successful in getting messages across, like a narrator would usually do.

Nick: I liked the music - fitted the scenes well and built tension. I liked the use of silhouettes at the end so you couldn't tell what was happening (but you heard the scream).

Tom: I like the mystery behind the villain and that they don't show much until the end. Also, I like the slow dramatic zooms and the music building up tension and adding to the 'jump scares'.

From this, what may we apply to our trailer?
1. Suspenseful music throughout.
2. Small glimpses of the antagonist to keep the audience guessing, likely to be achieved through close ups.
3. Continuation of action. So we will probably use fast paced editing to keep the trailer flowing and exciting.
4. Having a plot twist or a technique that provides pleasure for the audience, specifically the target audience will prevent boredom and dullness. For example, having a main hook.
5. We should consider telling the story in as brief but informative detail as possible, likely through the conventional first person narrative and the camera shots denoted.
6. Stick to the conventions (we have planned to already).
7. The music we have planned to use: Roky Erickson - Night of the Vampire does slightly build up for a crescendo, but the song itself is quite upbeat and loud throughout. We can obviously develop the song if necessary.
8. Using silhouettes during a tragic and tense scene would work well in engaging the audience, because they would not be fully aware of what is happening, keeping them on the edge.
9. We are planning to use slow dramatic zooms for an eerie atmosphere and a steadier dynamic contrast.
10. Lastly, the music will be one of the main focus' in our trailer because it will definitely build the tension for audience engagement, and help to create the 'jump scares' for the horror genre.

Online tutorial on the basic lighting of Film Noir

What I have learnt?

• Low key lighting is a commonly used to emphasise shadows and harsh lighting in order to create a sense of depth and deception.

Traditional three point lighting set up (in terms of lighting a face):

•  The most important light on a set is the key light. This is often the brightest and most dominate. Complimenting the key light is the filler. This is often placed opposite to the key light, in order to fill in the shadows. The final light is the back light. The function of this is to add an outline that separates the main focus or subject from the background.
• For an effective Film Noir look, a strong key and back light is essential, whilst the fill lights are not as dominant because an exaggerated contrast is vital for the low key look.
• Film Noir generally uses hard lights for a sharp edged shadow, created by a single point of light.
• However, soft lights are used subtlety. For example, for glamorising female characters.
• Another light that is used often is the eye light. This is used by illuminating the eyes and the brow for a dramatic look. In order to do this, we can use flags which are like solid cookies that do not let any light through apart from the intentional sections. Or we could use barndoors. These are leaf-like and they attach to the light fixtures, acting like mini flags.  

Since shadows are so effective, here is a list of the equipment necessary:

• Cucoloris (cookies). These are cut outs of wood, metal, plastic etc. for casting a pattern shadow, including a venetian blind pattern.
• Gobos: made of metal or glass to cast a crisp shadow, but they require a light with a projection lens.

How has this affected our ideas?
We are obviously using the convention of low-key lighting because this is an essential element for Film Noir as well as the horror genre. Also, we will focus on the key light and were it is placed in order to create emphasis and attention upon a certain character, object or setting, whilst complimenting this with a filler light (perhaps in the form of a lamp or a chandelier.) We are not planning to use glamorous females because of the struggle for actresses, so hard lights for a sharp edged shadow will be used highly within our trailer and ancillary forms. Moreover, Venetian blinds are conventions of Film Noir, but unfortunately we are planning to subvert this because of issues and the inability to source again or find an appropriate location. Although, since we are producing a hybrid, the conventions we could include have dramatically widened. As a result, we are able to subvert more conventions if we believe they are a challenge. Lastly, we would like to use eye lights to highlight the eyes and the brow for dramatic facial expressions, mainly on the Detective. However, we are aware that the equipment may cost and will require organisation, so this will be under consideration when completing the storyboard.

Different Audience Sub-Groups

I sourced this information from http://www.uktribes.com/tribe/mainstream. It has been useful because it has allowed be to understand personalities and desires characterised by these different audience sub-groups. Additionally, this research enabled me to class our formal target audience into a particular mainstream audience.

Permission email to a local church to film.

 

Me and my colleague have visited the local church and we've identified some very eye-catching religious artefacts which would be ideal in helping us deliver a religious vibe in the film trailer. The owners of the church have given us their contact details so we could discuss the contents of the trailer and a time for us to film.