Final Products

Main: Trailer



Ancillary Task 1: Magazine Cover

Ancillary Task 2: Poster

Final Trailer

Below is the final edit of my Subject 12 teaser trailer.


Subject 12 Trailer- Final from Emily Apps on Vimeo.

Audience Feedback 2

I conducted another audience feedback session to ensure my product is a quality production. This is the last audience feedback i am taking before my final draft.

Audience Feedback 2 from Emily Apps on Vimeo.

First Draft Audience Feedback

Subject 12 First Draft from Emily Apps on Vimeo.


I showed the first draft of the trailer to my class to get their feedback and advice, this will help me improve my trailer and ensure that the final production will be of high quality. Below if a video of them watching and then commenting on my trailer.

Subject 12 First Draft Audience Feedback from Emily Apps on Vimeo.

Voice over update

For the reporter voice over in my trailer I have asked people on social networks and my friends to give me voice samples so I can compare them and find which seems more realistic and professional. I am asking both male and females and will try to get some audience feedback to find narrow down the voices and help me find the voice I will use.

I received 11 recordings and have used friends and family to find which sound most realistic and most like a news reporter. I have narrowed it down to 2 recordings. Below is a survey to help find the one i will be using in my trailer. Create your own user feedback survey



After collecting multiple responses and looking at the results i have decided to use recording 2 that is where the majority vote is.

Timeline Update

Date                       Task
29/11/15                Plot Finalised
7/12/15                  Story board of trailer
12/12/15                Location and mise en scene planning started
15/12/15                Script began
17/12/15                Casting complete
20/12/15                Production company idents started
28/12/15                Begin ancillary product planning

10/1/16                  Start constructing ancillary products
16/1/16                  Begin filming
28/1/16                  Start editing

7/2/16                   Ancillary products first draft complete
10/2/16                   Audience feedback on ancillary products and start making improvements
14/2/16                   First edit complete
17/2/16                 Begin production of sound/music
20/2/16                 Audience feedback on trailer and start make improvements
25/2/16                 Ancillary products finished
29/2/16                 Final trailer complete

Location Shots

So far in the filming process i have only filmed my locations as mine and my actors schedules have been hard to co-ordinate.

Swingset Shot

This is the first shot of the swings i filmed. The purpose of this is to give the idea that there is no happiness and the feeling of emptiness. I decided not to use this as i feel it seems too promising due to the sun being in the shot.

This is the second shot i took of the swings, this time from the other side without the sun glare. I have chosen to use this shot of the swings as they seem less hopeful.

But i still feel like it is too bright and happy for my production so to counter this i lowered the contrast and the brightness to further the feeling of emptiness and despair.

Character Backstory

Lily Potter:  A 20 year old girl that for the past year has been forced deal with her parents and little brothers death. Her ways of dealing with their deaths consisted of shutting down everyone else in her life until she heard on the radio about a drug trial for a possible cure and jumped at the opportunity to help those like her.

Character Changes

After considering the age of my lead actor more i have decided to change the age and backstory of the main character.

I have changed the age of my character to 20 as it seems more realistic that, that is the age of my main actor.

I have also changed the backstory of my main character. Originally the main character entered the cure trial because her husband died of the disease and she wants to avenge him. After the age change i had to change the story to adapt to this. Now the back story is that the main characters family were killed by the disease instead of a husband.

I think this change will help my audience enjoy my production more as it has realistically aged characters for my actors.

Finished Script

Teaser Trailer script from emilyapps

Props and Mise-en-scene

A very important part to making a production of high quality is the props and Mise-en-scene. As i am getting closer to filming i will need to list the props and Mise-en-scene i'll be using in my trailer (below).

• Caution and Biohazard Signs
• Lab coat 
• Plain clothes (Like scrubs)
• Fake drug/pill
• Mirror
• Small torch
• Surgical mask

Props

Idents

I have decided to call my production company Screech Studios. I created this ident to fit with the horror genre. I did this through my font choice and the colours. Below is the still image and the animated versions of this ident. I added a 'screech' sound effect to the animated version to clarify that the film is in the horror genre.

Screech Ident from Emily Apps on Vimeo.

I also created an ident for the distributor. From my ident research post i decided that the distribution company ident does not have to be based around the horror genre meaning i can name it something unrelated to horror but i may still customise it to fit with the film. I have named the distribution company Pinwheel Pictures and have added an effect to the animation to show that the film is in the horror genre.  This is the animated version:

Pinwheel Pictures Ident from Emily Apps on Vimeo.

Storyboard

Below is a slide share containing my trailer storyboard. I have included plans for my camera techniques and shots. This has allowed to to get closer to being ready to film.

Trailer Storyboard from emilyapps

Casting Update

As i have yet to receive a response on star now for my actors i have chosen to cast my friends. As their schedules match up with mine and are in the 16-23 age range my target audience prefer.

For the female character (yet to be named) i have chosen to cast Lily Potter.

She is 18 years old so is perfect for the cast age my audience like.

I have chosen to cast Harley Golder as the Doctor.

He is 17 years old so he also fits in the cast age range.

As he is only 17 and doctors are usually 25+ it may be a problem. But to over come this i will keep from showing his face with either keeping it out of the shot or wearing a surgical mask.

Location Planning

Empty streets

To show that everyone has contained themselves inside due to the disease i will film some surveying shots of empty streets. I will most likely use the street where i live but if it becomes busy and is not empty enough i will find a less used location to film. On the right is a picture of my street, as it is usually very busy and doesn't have an abandoned or deserted feel to it i may have to add effects in editing to change this. One effect i could use on the footage/pictures of my street is lowering the brightness and contrast. On the right is an example of this.

Doctors office or Interview room

I will need a location that looks like a doctors office or an interview room for the doctor to ask the woman questions. Below are pictures of a doctors office and an interview room. I would like my locations to look like this. As i do not have access to a doctors office or a location similar to that, i will have to use an interview room. For this i will most likely use a classroom or an office.

Isolation room/Containment room

I want the isolation room to be styled after a room in a psychiatric hospital, simple and safe. Again as i do not have access to a psychiatric hospital room i will most likely use an empty white walled room.

Starting to story board

I have begun storyboarding my trailer shot by shot to help further refine my planning. I will be drawing my trailer shot for shot. Below is a picture of what i have so far. This storyboard may not be final as thing may change in the filming process e.g changing location.

Story line ideas and exploring narrative theories.

Below i have written some variations of my story using different narrative structures such as linear, episodic, non linear etc.


Original/Linear:
A disease has killed thousands of people so a doctor has began human trials with a drug he thinks will cure it. A women widowed by the disease volunteered for the trials. Everything was going as planned, she was reacting as expected and she wasn't showing any signs of the diseases until things start to change. Paranoia and hallucinations set in. Blackouts became part of her regular schedule and horrific things started happening. Her nightmares seemed to be connected with the horrible incidents that had been happening around her. She realised that during her blackouts she was the one causing the incidents. She tried her hardest to control the blackouts but she had no luck. Eventually the doctors realised that its the cure that is causing these occurrences and try to remove it from her system. (plot spoiler) Awake she is disease free but asleep she is a killer.

Episodic:
If the story was episodic the first 'episode' of the film would be titled "The Outbreak", in this the narrative would focus when and how the epidemic began. The second episode would focus on the fiance's death and would be titled "The Tragedy". The next would be "The Trials" and would focus on the trial part of the story up until things start being abnormal e.g blackout and paranoia (the 'exciting incidents'). The narrative would continue in episodes for the rest of the film separating it similar to chapters. The narrative is different to the others and it has more focus on life before the outbreak and what drives the main character. This is different to a non linear structure as it is still chronological but separated more defined sections.

Non-linear:
If the story was in a non-linear format the narrative would start with the current state, where her fiance has already died (Present), then it would jump to a flash back to the first outbreak and how the world reacted, another flashback would be when her fiance died and maybe another before the disease, when life was normal (Past). The narrative would jump between present and past when the event is pivotal to the story. For example if a doctor were to interview the woman and ask if she has had contact with anyone who had the disease there would be a flash back to her life with her fiance or when she realises that she is the one killing people and causing horrific incidents there are flashbacks to when she commits the acts.

A film that presents this non-linear narrative is Slumdog Millionaire. When the main character is being interrogated about how he knew all the answers on Who wants to be a millionaire. He’s suspected of cheating, but when asked how he knew the answer to each question, he tells the story via flashback to a time of his life where he learned the answer to the question.

Multi-Strand:
A multi strand narrative follows multiple characters/story's. Most of the time the story's connect or the characters near the end of the story. As my story has very few characters it would be difficult to have this narrative format unless i create more characters.

If i were to adapt my story to fit this narrative structure i would add more characters that are in the drug trial. The story would follow 4 participants in the trial and how they react differently to the drug. The woman's (main character in the other narratives) story is still the same. There are 2 more male participants and 1 other female. The extra characters would slowly die off, possibly by the woman, side effects of the cure or from the disease. When a character dies their story would get cut. If the story was multi strand i would end the film with the woman dying and her story getting cut.

Media narrative codes update 2015 from Elaine Humpleby

Plot line Idea

Here is an ideas about how i would construct the trailer:

The trailer starts with a radio news story about a disease and mentions human trails for a cure to set up the story, while the story's audio plays there are shots of empty streets and signs that warn people to stay inside and other indicators of an epidemic. The audio stops and the camera fades out into a static visual and sound until it steadies and shows a doctor setting up a camera to record an interview, this is when the main character is introduced and the doctor asks for her age, name, if she's had any contact with people who have the disease etc. The next few shots are the women taking the pills/cure the shots look almost identical apart from changing clothes/hair to show time passing. The pace of the shots speed up with intensifying music until they abruptly stop and theres a shot of the main character staring in a mirror, the shot continues for a while but is broken up by various short shots of her freaking out and shots that will suggest to the audience that she is going insane. These shots will increase in speed and will abruptly end with a black screen. A flashlight will be seen from the camera as if it was from the main characters POV and a doctor was checking her pupils, this would be accompanied with the sound of a shallow heart beat. It will then suddenly stop and cut to a shot of the doctor being strangled by her with screaming over the top. This will then fade to the title of the film with the films information e.i website, release date, production companies.

Film Certificates

To help me fully understand who my audience will be i researched film certificates and what qualifies a film to be a certain classification. These criteria will influence the decisions i make in my production.

Bbfc from emilyapps

Initial trailer idea

The story will revolve around a girl who is taking part in a drug trial for a disease that has plagued the country, at first the drug has no effect on her then she starts seeing what she fears. Im thinking that it will be set somewhere styled after a medial isolation room. For my actors i'm hoping to find them on StarNow, this is a casting site mostly for actors starting out trying to gain experience. I would like for the trailer to start off slow and to increase in pace as this is conventional is horror trailers also i would like it to last between 1-1:30 seconds so its long enough to give my audience enough information about the film but not so long that its classed as a full trailer as i would like to the audience guessing some aspects of the film.