Theorists

Narrative
Todorov- Theory of Equilibrium

Propp's character types

Genre
Fowler- Not all characteristics of a genre always appear in a text.


Audience
Stuart Hall- Reception Theory
Encoded Message, Decoded Message, Preferred Reading

Holloran- Active- Researchers should look at what people do to the media not what the media does to people.

Roland Barthes- texts can have multiple interpretations

Judge Dredd Drug Scene Deconstruction

Within the narrative of this 2012 drug fuelled film Judge Dredd a new drug has been created causing everything appear to the consumer to be happening at 1% of its normal speed. Therefore within these drug using scenes an incredibly effective slow motion edit is utilised in order to depict the drug usage.

In addition to this, another post-production effect is used, where the colours are greatly enhanced and saturation of the shots is highly increased. It is interesting to note the contrast between the dull colours used to convey the rest of the film, for example the grey-tinted establishing shots at the start of the official trailer, and the enhanced colours used to portray these drug induced shots. It can be suggested that this drug usage presents the characters a sense of escapism, as they can leave their dull, crime-filled lives, and be lit up in the vivid, colourful and enjoyable life of drugs. The colour usage present a physical contrast between the life they have and the life they desire.

The fade from vivid to dull used in this shot demonstrates as the effects of the drugs wear off and reality of the situation sets in:


via GIPHY

The colours  switch from very saturated and bright, to dark and dull, the most prominent colour changing from yellow to grey.

The use of extreme close ups demonstrate the importance of this drug and the significant effect that it has on its users, in this shot the focus is on the drug, even though it is not the centre of the scene, as everything in the background in blurred ad faded, this really depicts the strong effect the drug has, and how it takes control of the person and the situation.

Editing

Editing is one of the most significant parts of making a teaser trailer. Because they are conventionally short (1 minute 30 seconds and under), a lot of fast paced editing is required, in order to show a range of shots throughout the movie.

Here is a list of editing techniques we have used in our trailer:

Straight cuts

These are used in almost every type of film and are a simple, effective way of changing to another shot.

Fades

This is a fade to black which we have used to separate the trailer into two halves, before and after the drug. The concept of day turning into night is often used in films to create a sense of foreboding- something is going to occur now that it is night as this provides a more sinister, mysterious environment.

Layering Shots

A theme in our Teaser Trailer, is that the protagonist almost transforms into a whole other person when she is under the influence of the drugs, which is why we used layering. More than one image of the protagonist on the screen not only created a visually distorted shot, it also depicted the sense that something sinister was occurring- and that both sides of this character can't co-exist forever.

Montages

A convention of a teaser trailer is fast paced montage editing- to allow a variation of shots to be included. The two main montages are the one at the beginning, representing the protagonist's life before, and the next one is when the bass drops in the non diegetic song and the protagonist's life spirals out of control. There is a juxtaposition between the two and they highlight the effect drugs can have.

Vignette

When  filming in the Theatre, we realised the light was best placed, if it was behind Bethan, creating a red outline around her silhouette. However there were items in the background that we needed to remove so the vignette tool was very useful on Final Cut Pro. We were able to darken the edges around the shot, without making the entire shot darker thus fading the vibrant colour.

Cutting shots and changing the order, to create a jittery effect- causing an effect of distortion was another Post-Production technique we used. Rather than a simple shot of the protagonist putting the drug into her mouth, we experimented with moving frames around and the final result was something that we believed worked well with the theme of addiction.

Typography

Since our plot is focused around drugs, there is an element of distortion. We would like this to be reflected in the title.

These are some ideas we had for our title's typography. In the end we chose a font similar to the bottom one, but added an animation.

The way the letters disintegrate, fits in with the theme of drugs, possibly hinting at cocaine.

Editing Ideas

We watched some teaser trailers to give us editing ideas and inspiration- these were The Omen, Strange Days and Star Wars. We also watched the opening to an episode of The Affair. Watching this wide range of genres, was interesting to look at in terms of editing, because they use a multitude of techniques that we were influenced by.

Using effects post-production to make one side of the protagonist's face dark while the other half is light.

Black screens are used between shots in the Star Wars trailer, to increase the suspense. This was really effective when used with faced-paced straight cut editing.

Contrasting colours were used in The Omen and Strange Days and we have definitely utilised this in filming with the coloured flashing lights at the party, and red spotlight in the drug scene.

In Strange Days, the voiceover overlaps, giving the sense of distortion.

Music and Sound

During the montage at the beginning of our Teaser Trailer, instead of non-diegetic light-hearted music, which might sound a bit unprofessional, we are going to dominate the soundscape with exaggerated sounds of each task the protagonist is doing at that time.

Simon Pegg does this in a lot of his films- a good example is from The World's End when the barman serves the drinks:

Also in his film Hot Fuzz- in this video:

TubeChop - Edgar Wright - How to Do Visual Comedy (00:13)

Filming the Drug-taking Scene

To film these shots, we placed Bethan in front of a black curtain and shone a bright red light at her.

We are using this lighting for the drug-taking scene because of the connotations of the colour red- anger, passion and sin. These emotions foreshadow the events later in the film.

Having such a bright light meant we could play around with it, filming silhouettes of Bethan and in many of the close up shots- half of her face is lit while the other half is much darker. This represents the split personality a drug as powerful as this one, can bring out in someone if they get addicted.

Although we filmed Bethan before and after taking the drug, we feel that the actual digestion of the drug should be the most dramatic shot and should be the focus of the audience's attention. We attempted to film this from many angles, in a few different ways. One of which was filming Bethan's shadow on the curtain.

Bethan was wearing a dark grey jumper which symbolises the normality of our protagonist's life. While all the people around her at the party are dressed up, in masks and makeup, Bethan is natural and wearing casual clothes. The effect drugs have on the brain and the way they alter your memory, is presented by this.

Deconstruction of Before I Go To Sleep Teaser Trailer

Before I Go to Sleep Deconstruction

The opening shot of this teaser tailer is an extreme close up of the protagonist's eye. This is very shocking to an audience and immediately captures their attention, and invades their personal space, forming a sense of discomfort. The character's eye is very wide, dilated and bloodshot, this automatically connotes a sense of panic and fear, and depicts that something is very wrong, to the audience.

The following shot displays the protagonist waking up with her partner. The natural lighting allows for the protagonist the be lit with sunlight, whereas the partner, whose face is hidden, is shadowed. As his face is hidden and he is shadowed this creates negative connotations, and depicts that the male character is hiding something.

Positions of power are established in several ways throughout this trailer, one of which being the framing of characters, particularly in this shot. The audience is presented with a central, front on, medium-long shot of the male character, which focuses the audiences' attention onto him, whereas the female character is displayed through an over the shoulder shot, she is out of focus and heavily shadowed. This gives the power to the male character and grants him with a more superior and pivotal position. Additionally, the low-key lighting resembles the female character's confusion and negative emotions.

This displays very effective use of graphic matching, as the sequence flickers between the protagonist in her home and in hospital wear. This highlights her disorientation, it could suggest that this is a flashback, due to her lack of memory. It hooks the audience as it creates a sense of mystery and tension as it causes the audience to question what has happened in her past.

Several of the shots within this trailer obtain very low-key lighting, which could depict the darkness and deceit found within the film. One example, is this shot, which portrays the protagonist's husband lingering by the door, watching her as she sleeps. This is a very disturbing shot, as it distorts the traditional view on marriage, and creates the impression that the male character's intentions are not as he says, but perhaps are much darker. This is done by creating a sense of mistrust and fear throughout the trailer, this is done through the cinematography, music, typography and the narrative. For example, the use of red in the typography 'What if everything is a lie', connotes pain, blood and evil, which could represent what the protagonist has experienced in her life. 

The music is very tense and dramatic, it builds tension by beginning as very slow and eerie, conveying the disturbed nature of the film to the audience. This conforms with the psychological thriller convention of the use of contrapuntal music, as the sound is high pitched, slow, piano music, which would usually be associated with serenity and tranquility, but in this trailer it is distorted by a low pitched ominous swooshing sound, which causes the music to appear dark and eerie, which mirrors the onscreen action and enforces the sense of fear. A change appears when the phone rings and there is a high pitched sound which evokes tension within the audience, this signifies the thrilling side of the film. As the on screen action unfold, the music mirrors it throughout the trailer, as it grows in intensity and creates fear and tension in the audience. The music constantly builds up to a climatic point at the end of the trailer, this creates anticipation, which is followed with very quiet sounds and a non-diegetic voice over of the protagonist.

The narrative such as 'Sometimes when the truth is painful I don't always have the strength' and 'He says he's protecting you, but don't trust him' reiterates this lack of trust and sense of fear, as it suggests that the protagonist has a very disturbed past and is now left confused and unable to trust anyone in her life.

Evidence of her disturbed and traumatic past is conveyed repeatedly throughout this trailer, such as flashbacks to her attack. These flashbacks are presented in black and white, along with this being done to convey to the audience that these are flashbacks, this effect could be used to depict the darkness and the trauma of the events.

The past paced editing used in these sequences highlight the panic felt by the protagonist as she is being attacked. Additionally, as conveyed in the narrative, she is an amnesiac, therefore, cannot fully remember her past, so the fast paced disjointed editing represents her inability to remember the events properly and chronologically. 

Pitch

At the beginning of the course, we presented our initial ideas to the class. Since then, our ideas have developed and changed:

We have now established our teaser trailer genre is going to be completely Psychological Thriller. The storyline has also been altered slightly and now consists of a montage displaying our protagonist's simple, easy life. Then she will take a drug and the party scene will occur through her eyes. The audience will then see shots of her life as a result of her addiction to the drug, which is now complicated and frustrating. 

 Our initial ideas of shots have stayed the same, apart from the idea of having a shot outside the party. Although our venue looked good with the lighting inside, it looked less impressive from the outside, and also too dark to film properly.

These were very rough ideas for a title, which we have now improved on. Our title options, as we put in our survey are:

The Tranquility of Ecstasy

Indulge in Ecstasy

Euphoric Rhapsody

Harmonious Delirium 

Our favourite and also the favourite of the people who did the survey is Harmonious Delirium.

Our main inspiration for our film was Limitless- both the film and the TV show. These are some of the shots we liked the best and were very inspired by. 

We like the extreme close ups of the eye as the pupils dilates- representing the sudden effects the drug has on his physical well-being. This is a technique we might attempt in filming, to clearly demonstrate the imminent effects of the drug.

The red lighting of this shot is something we will definitely use in our trailer, for the shots of the protagonist taking the drug. This will contrast both the high -key lighting we use for the opening montage and the low-key lighting used to represent her psychological and physical breakdown.

We liked these shots due to the contrast between the cool and warm tones. The shot of the clenched fists is warm toned, suggesting the power he has gained and how he it utilising this to his benefit. The shot of his palms suggests helplessness and a sudden realisation of the extent to which his powers affect his life. 

The drug

One of the most significant props in our trailer is the drug.  We are opting for a similar drug to the one used in The Matrix.  We decided for the drug to be the colour red because it has connotations of lust which is synonymous with addiction. We also plan to use a translucent drug because we might be able to get some interesting shots with the light reflecting through the drug.

Protagonist Headshots

We chose our protagonist based on the knowledge that she has had acting experience, taking part in A2 Level Drama studies. Therefore we are confident that she will be a professional and effective actor for us. 

We decided to subvert the conventions of casting in a Psychological Thriller by choosing a female to play the lead. 

As these photos display, Bethan is comfortable in front of the camera due to her previous filming experience- she starred in an AS piece of Media Coursework as well. 

Bethan could be described as an English Rose- and this is another reason why we cast her as the lead. The idea that our protagonist is an "attractive girl with a delicate, fair-skinned complexion" is apparently the epitome of Britishness within a female. 

Filming Schedule

Filming Schedule for our Teaser Trailer

Friday 30th October-Party Scenes at the location of the hall.

Thursday 12th November- Scenes in the house using the GoPro

Friday 13th November-Scenes in the house, showing the after effects of the Protagonist taking the drug.

Friday 20th November- Theatre scene when protagonist first takes the drug, using red lighting. 

Wednesday 25th November- Day-to-day life shots for montage

Thursday 26th November-Scenes outside the house showing the after effects of the Protagonist taking the drug.

Location Scouting-House Scenes

The house we are filming at is purposefully modern but basic- we want to create the atmosphere of a completely normal teenage girl's life. This will completely contrast the shots later on in the trailer, in which she has become addicted to the drug and this will be reflected by her surroundings.  The contrast between the pale walls and the black floor show the opposite ends of her character, before and after she becomes addicted to drugs.

 

         

Deconstruction of Requiem For A Dream Trailer

The trailer starts with an establishing shot of an empty living room with the television on.  Low key lighting is used, conveying a sense of uneasiness to the audience. This is followed by a split screen shot of a woman sorting her pills. There is a close-up pan of the different coloured pills on the table, indicating that the pills are a central part to the plot of the film. This further shown through the repetition of the voiceover used at the end of the trailer by the woman sorting the pills, where she says" Purple in the morning, Blue in the afternoon,  and orange is the evening." This suggests the woman may be addicted to these pills, again conveying addiction as one of the central themes of the film.


There are a variety of different camera angles and movement throughout the trailer. A fish eye is used in one of the scenes shown. This may be used to create a sense of disorientation for the audience, as well as a sense of uneasiness felt by the characters.  Close-up shots are used frequently throughout the trailer, also creating the same effect.

There is a close up of one of the characters in a nightclub, and another close-up of the lips of someone smoking, again conveying the theme of drugs to the audience. This is further shown through the close-up of an eye where the pupil grows bigger. This allows the audience to see the effect of a drug on the character. These types of shots allow the audience to see what is happening in a very creative way. This can also be seen in the shot of the orange, where it disappears in the next shot to show passing of time. Another shot showing this, is when one of the characters is walking down the street, whilst other people pass her in fast motion. This adds a sense of confusion for audience, linking to the conventions of a psychological thriller.

Fast paced editing is used in the trailer to show the variety of locations, as well as not giving too much away in what is happening in the trailer, as the genre of Requiem for a Dream is a psychological thriller, therefore not giving enough information to the audience in order for them to completely understand what is happening.
                     

Audience and Certification

Our genre is Psychological Thriller, which typically is aimed at teenagers and adults. Some are rated 15 while others are 18, due to the conventions of this genre- drugs, alcohol, murder etc...

After researching on IMDB, 60% of the top Psychological Thrillers are certified 15 rather than 18. This broadens the audience more, allowing younger viewers to watch.

According to these rules from the British Board of Film Classification, our film would be rated a 15. It is likely that our film will contain strong language, and definitely drug taking. Our film would not 'endorse discriminatory language or behaviour'. As a psychological thriller that focuses on drugs, there would not be a strong focus on sex, but perhaps a few indications of it. Our film will not contain sexual violence and overall will display the negative effects of drugs rather than promoting them.