Official Film Trailer



Filming Location

This is the outside location of filming that we used other than the actual film studio for our trailer. We all agreed that it was the perfect location to shoot the trailer as with the woods and number of bridges the location has to offer, in the dark it creates a spooky and scary atmosphere. This location is also a known location within our city for every member of our group to travel to, making the location easily accessible. Below are pictures taken of some of the characters at the film location along with some of the props needed for the role.

Adjusting Green Screen Technique

For the news anchor scene, there is a substantial amount of noise left due to the use of the green screen technique in Adobe Premiere Pro. In order to reduce this, I simply changed the setting of the Ultra Key from 'Default' to 'Aggressive', as you can see the difference in the screenshots below.

Magazine Front Covers

Version 1

Version 2

Film Poster

This is the film poster that I designed using Adobe Photoshop for our film 'The Carson Diaries'.

Synopsis

The Carson Diaries | 15

Release Date: January 2013

Genre: Horror

Cast: Thomas Branch, Daniel Roberts, Chris Bradshaw, Philip Martin and Michael Duffy

Director: Neil Buckley

Studio: Film4 Productions

Distribution: Momentum Pictures

"A family of three are found dead at their home in the local village of West Derby in Liverpool, their cause of death is still unknown after a year of investigations and speculation. Later that year, a small group of friends record a documented film looking to uncover the mystery once and for all; only to encounter something truly horrifying and unexpected in their path."

Contributor's Release Forms

First Draft of Trailer

This is the first draft of our theatrical horror genre film trailer, captured in 1080p video resolution and 25 frames per second, edited using Adobe Premiere Pro CS6.

Things still to do:

• Remove unwanted sound effects from soundtrack
• Add additional sound effects for transitions
• Perfect green screen technique
• Record voice-overs for clearer sound
• Fill in gaps of trailer with still images or possible short footage
• Add last sequence of film footage to finish the overall trailer.

Interrogation Scene Pictures

Green Screen Editing

Script for News Anchors

News Anchor #1: Tonight's breaking news, family of 3 found dead at their home in the West Derby area of Liverpool.

News Anchor #2: Merseyside police have warned locals to stay away from the area as the suspect is still believed to be at large.

News Anchor #1: In other news...

Risk Assessment

News Anchor Scene Pictures

Film Studio Pictures

Shortlists

Magazine front cover mock up

Filming Log

Storyboard

Actor List

These are the actors that will be starred in the upcoming theatrical film trailer that me and my colleagues are producing.

Thomas Branch

Daniel Roberts

Neil Buckley

Philip Martin

Chris Bradshaw

          Michael Duffy

Prop List

These are the props that we will have for our actors for when we are filming, in order to make the characters seem more realistic to the audience of the theatrical film trailer.

• Camera
• Back pack
• Torch
• Casual clothing for filming outside
• Lighting equipment
• Studio camera
• Transcripts for news anchors
• Headphones

Mock Up of Poster

Trailer Soundtrack

Questionnaire Feedback

These are the results from the questionnaire I created in order to receive the perspective of my audience. I will be able to refer to these results when I am planning the production of my theatrical film trailer.

Facebook Screenshot

This is a screenshot of myself posting a link to my questionnaire on the social media website Facebook, allowing friends and family to answer the questionnaire and provide their perspective on film trailers based on the questions included.

Campaign for Paranormal Activity

The Paranormal Activity franchise consists of four films so far, with the latest set to release in theatres this October. In preparation, the official YouTube channel of the franchise concentrated on the fourth film, releasing multiple extremely short teasers, later eventually releasing two official trailers for the film. Upon the release of the first official trailer, the official Facebook page of Paranormal Activity announced that the trailer would be exclusive to iTunes Trailers, providing the audience the exact date of when the trailer would be released.

The film franchise has a particular style that has been applied to all of the four films, consisting of stills of the film with a night vision filter added. This has transformed into a concurrent theme for the franchise, enabling the audience to be able to identify a Paranormal Activity film from other films. 

Both the official Facebook and Twitter accounts of the Paranormal Activity franchise posted links to their followers directing them to clips of the latest film that were exclusive to Yahoo! Movies.

Peer assessment feedback

In order to improve my blog further, I need to include more aspects from 'The Ten Commandments for reflective writing', which consists of a variety of different media terminology. Additional references regarding intertextuality along with more evidence of the film genre I am studying will help me achieve a higher grade overall for my A2 Media Studies blog.

Codes and Conventions of Trailers

The trailer for the 2007 American supernatural horror film known as 'Paranormal Activity' features numerous codes and conventions that successfully advertises the film. Trailers for all films have the similar concept as theatrical posters, they are designed to tease the audience into wanting to eventually attend a screening of the film when it is released in the cinemas. 

Like all trailers, the companies behind the production and distribution of the film are shown at the beginning, in this case; Paramount Pictures. Since this is a horror film, the reaction from the audience is key in showing the extent of fear that this film has to offer. Because of this, the makers of the film have included cameras inside one of the first screenings of the film before its initial release, showing the reactions of the audience. Throughout the rest of the trailer, various scenes that are regarded disturbing and frightening are shown, backing up the multiple comments and quotes from reviews published by popular film sources.

Codes and Conventions of Posters

This theatrical release poster of the 2007 American supernatural horror film known as 'Paranormal Activity' features numerous codes and conventions that successfully advertises the film. Posters for all films are near enough the same, except there are slightly different codes and conventions for each genre of film, Horror for example; the poster should be interesting but not too revealing, showing a particular scary scene, iconic character or reference from the movie, in order to 'tease' the audience.

Displayed at the top of the poster is a quote from a popular third party film website, stating how scary and disturbing the film actually is, intriguing the audience into eventually watching the film when it comes out in the cinemas. Shown in the middle of the poster is a still frame screenshot from one of the scenes in the movie that is shot in the iconic home-video, night vision style; clearly showing the distress caused by the unwanted presence in the couples house, which can be seen as a dark figure in the doorway. Displayed underneath the main image shown in the middle is the title of the film, 'Paranormal Activity', in a bold red font with a subtle glow behind it making it stand out from the rest of the normal text around the poster. Above and underneath the title of the film is the slogan of the film, stating "What happens when you sleep?", and "Don't see it alone". Displayed at the bottom of the poster is a 'Demand It!' button, instead of the traditional release date. This allows a number of people from numerous cities from around the world to vote for the film to be shown in their area. Finally, below the 'Demand It!' button is the details of the production company which distributed the film, Paramount Pictures.