Shot List

This is our shot list for our initial ideas.

Deconstruction of Bad Trip Teaser Trailer

The first shot is preceded by an 'old television' transition, giving the viewers an opening that immediately suggests everything is not as it appears. For the first 15 seconds, the soundscape is empty, with the exception of a few non-diegetic parallel sounds, which match the quick paced straight cuts. The first shot is an eye level close up of a girl's face, as she awakes from unconsciousness. The audience cannot see the girl's face clearly due to her wayward hair and the low-key lighting.

Shadows occupy most of the screen which gives the shot an ominous feel. With the camera so close to the girl's face, as she wakes up, their is a voyeuristic ambience. Between shots of the girl waking up, the audience are shown quick flashes of footage, all with a red tint. It is hard to determine exactly what these shots are of, but the close up of the eyeball is very effective and again supports the theory of voyeurism.

A clear establishing shot of the city is presented next, and is followed by 3 more city-based shots. In each, the city is increasingly distorted- which may relate to the film's theme of drugs and the effects they have on people. Two of these have blurred bright lights, while the last one is a tracking shot of some dark buildings.

Throughout the trailer- typography is used to give the audience extra information on the plot and production of the film. The white sans serif typography is clear and modern and it is very effective against the dark black background. The white powder floating through the air is an interesting technique and ties in with the theme of drugs.

The trailer uses a collection of close up shots and distortion, to give the effect of being high. The close up shots of the girl's face when she's walking along the road in low key lighting, suggest the distorted shots are from her point of view. The music is very effective and increases in intensity as the trailer goes on. The main colours used are red, blue and black, which are all dark and contrast the occasional use of white.

 There is a continued motif of a hand with white powder in the dark. This is very effective, as the contrasting monochrome colours are aesthetically eye-catching.

Plot

The first section of the trailer will be a fast-paced montage displaying a teenage girl and her normal life.
Then she will take the drug for the first time, and she will be lit in bright white/red light.
Then when she is in the party, we will see a series of POV shots which will be distorted due to her fragile state of mind.
The rest of the trailer will show the consequences of taking the drug and becoming addicted to it.


Party scenes - drugs, dancing etc.
Dolly zoom of him taking drug
speeds up - flashing images of party
shots of him screaming

Repeated shots:

Party scenes
Bright lights

Early filming ideas

At the beginning of our Teaser Trailer, we're going to use time lapses of the sun setting and rising. However after the protagonist takes the drug, the time lapses will look more like this- bleak and monochrome.

Since our main character is going to become addicted to the drug and mentally unstable. We might use a POV shot of him running down a dark street, similar to the one above.

Mood and Tone

These are our mood board photos that cover the topic of the mood and tone of our teaser trailer.

At the beginning of our trailer, we are going to have a fast paced montage of a perfectly normal, and happy life.

At the party she protagonist is offered a drug.

And then the lights go bright red, as she takes it for the first time. 

And then she's in the party, and she's disorientated.

And she looks directly into the camera, breaking the fourth wall.

Everyone around her is distorted and the bright lights add to this effect.

Then after the party, his life goes rapidly downhill and a fast paced montage depicts her mental and physical deterioration. 

Cinematography

As the narrative of our trailer deals with issues such drugs and alcohol, the majority of our cinematography inspiration derives from films that also deal with these issues.These include, Judge Dredd, Limitless and Wolf of Wall Street. I have picked out shots from these films that successfully depict the effect of drugs, similarly to how we wish to convey them.

Judge Dredd presents the drug scenes with very bright an vivid colouring to represent the change in their mental states. As our trailer is a Psychological Thriller, it is key to portray the psychological shift from when the character is sober, to when under the influence of drugs.

This psychological shift can be depicted in various ways, Judge Dredd conveys it through use of vivid colour imagery and slow motion editing, however, it can also be done through editing such as layering, this is seen in Limitless, as the effects of his drug begin to change, negatively.

Emphasis is placed on the drugs in several sequences, through camera framing, such as in Wolf of Wall Street, as an extreme close up displays the drug use of the protagonist, as this becomes a focal point in his life, it also becomes a focal point of the screen.

Lighting is in Under The Skin to depict the protagonist's mental state, although this film does not explore drug use, it greatly demonstrates the ways in which lighting can be used effectively to convey psychological
instability.

Extreme lighting, such as red and black, are used to convey this, these colours connote aspects of the film such as pain, evil and death. This extreme use of colour is something we could bring through in our teaser trailer to depict this aspects about our protagonist.

Deconstruction of Prisoners Teaser trailer

The first shot of the trailer is a tracking shot of the protagonist with his daughter, outside by his house.  This is followed by close-ups and mid shots of his wife, daughter and his two friends and their daughter in the house, with the diegetic sounds of them laughing and talking to each other. This displays a sense of equilibrium to the audience, but also conveying a sense of tension, due to the film trailer being a Psychological Thriller, therefore leaving them wondering to what will happen to these two families, which                                                                                         would likely make them want to continue to                                                                                             watch the trailer.        

As the two young girls leave the house, the music changes to a fast-paced drum sound, followed by quick, straight cuts of the girls, followed by a medium shot of a trailer, this is used to build up the tension, as the audience will be aware that something will happen to the children, but are unsure of what. The ambiguity of what happened to the girls is continued throughout the whole trailer, in order to not give away any of the plot, a convention of the films genre, and of a trailer.        

This is followed by a close-up of a man holding an item which may have belonged to one of the girls, suggesting to the audience the importance of the object, as well as giving them clues on who took the girls, which may lead them to watch  the film. There is a series of straight cuts between the two worried families and an extreme close-up of shots of someone drawing on a piece of paper. The shot is such an extreme close-up that the image  seems distorted to the audience. This creates a sense of ambiguity, leading the audience to wonder what it actually is, or what it represents.  The shot of the chalk being drawn on the piece of paper is repeated throughout the trailer, becoming clear to the audience that the person with the chalk is drawing a map, which could potentially represent where the abducted girls are. By giving these small clues to the audience, the trailer is able to draw them in, as they are more likely to watch it.

As the trailer progresses, the protagonist is displayed to lose control of his emotions, as he shown through a variety of close-up shots to lose his temper. Towards the end of the trailer, when confronting a potential suspect, he is displayed a
t a low angle, making him look, powerful and threatening to the audience. This may lead the audience to question if his intentions are actually valid, or if he to is hiding something, adding to the mystery of the trailer.

The last shot of the trailer shows an injured man peering out a wardrobe where he is locked in. The background is black, and conceals most of his face apart from his eye. It is clear to the audience through the blood on his face that he is injured. The diegetic sound of the protagonist screaming at him for his daughter, builds up the tension, and also leaves the audience wondering why and how the protagonist has locked him in a wardrobe. This shot therefore conforms to the conventions of a Psychological Thriller Trailer as it leaves a sense of ambiguity, which may persuade the audience to view the full film.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                            

Title Ideas

For several of our title ideas we decided to play on the double meaning of the homophone 'ecstasy', looking at the contrast between the definitions of the word - one being 'an overwhelming feeling of great happiness' another being 'a trance-like state', and the final definition is that it is a drug.

As our film is revolved around drug addition, we though it would be interesting to create titles which convey the the emotional state of someone who is under the influence of drugs. This includes words such as 'tranquility' and 'harmonious', which depict the serenity felt while experiencing the effects of the drug, a long with words which highlight the negativities of drug use, including 'delirium'. This means that several of our title ideas, particularly 'Harmonious Delirium' are very paradoxical, and portray the emotional distortion caused by drug intake.

Additionally, as we plan for our film trailer to focus primarily on the negative effects of drug addition, such as powerlessness, pain and vulnerability, we believe it would be very effective to have a misleading and contradictory title, therefore, many of our options have positive connotations and allude to happiness and joy, such as 'Euphoric Rhapsody'.

Our title options are:

The Tranquility of Ecstasy
Indulged in Ecstasy
Euphoric Rhapsody
Harmonious Delirium
Exhale
Inhale
Euphoria

Our survey monkey results will determine which title we will use; as this ensures we are catering to our audience.

Deconstruction of Black Swan Trailer

The Trailer starts with the voiceover of the Protagonist, telling the story of the Black Swan, and effectively revealing the entire plot of the film, despite the audience being unaware of this. The voiceover is synchronous to what is happening on screen, as there is a medium shot of the protagonist dancing before the screen goes black, as the voiceover ends.

Non-Diegetic orchestral music is played throughout the trailer and increases in pace and volume, building up tension, making the audience feel apprehensive as to what happens next, thus creating narrative enigma. The music also fits the genre of the film, which is a psychological thriller.

As the music increases in volume, the pace of the editing increases, as well as the diegetic sounds of conversations, which develop into a more intense tone. This all adds to the overall theme of the film, conveying to the audience that it is very dark. This is further complimented by the choice in colours and lighting, mostly being Black and White. The juxtoposition of the two colours portrays the battle between good and evil, or insanity and sanity which the protagonist faces in the film. Low key lighting is used to also convey this theme.

A variety of locations can be seen from the trailer, through the use of fast paced editing. There are a variation of close-ups of the protagonists face, displaying her emotions, as well as various repeated shots of her seeing herself walk past her in the trailer. This adds to the confusion being portrayed to the audience, raising questions which is a convention the psychological thriller genre. This can be also seen of the medium shot of the Protagonist facing away from the mirror as the audience sees her reflection move to face the direction of the camera. The use of fast paced editing, and only showing the different shots for a couple of seconds amplifies the confusion for the audience, as they are not fully able to understand what is happening, adding to the purpose of the trailer, which is to leave the audience wanting more, so they go to watch the film.


The final scene of the trailer shows an extreme close-up of the protagonist, with focus on her eyes, which are red, connoting evil, and therefore displaying a resemblance to the devil, which juxtaposes the scene at the start of the trailer, where the Protagonist is wearing white. The trailer therefore presents the progression of the downfall of the protagonist to the audience,  which could represent the characters change from sanity to insanity, or theoretically, the white swan to the black swan.

Production Companies

20th Century Fox (Black Swan)

This Production Company introduction is quite loud and orchestral which makes it particularly suitable for comedies and kids movies. (Ice Age, Big Momma, Home Alone, Night At the Museum and The Simpsons Movie.) Although it was used for the Psychological Thriller Black Swan, we feel that a different institution would be better, in order to hint at the genre of our Teaser Trailer before it actually starts.

Studio Canal (Before I go to Sleep)

This opening would be a really good choice to precede our teaser trailer. The rather quiet non-diegetic music combined with the flashing distorted lights, fits in well with the themes of our film. Although flashes of the Production Company's name come up, the audience doesn't find out what it is saying until the end. Studio Canal produced Before I go to Sleep which is one of our main inspirations and it is most likely that we will choose this Institution to introduce our Teaser Trailer.

Lionsgate (Requiem for a Dream)

We also liked the Lionsgate Production Company introduction- the almost monochrome colour scheme fits in well with the tone of our trailer. However, like 20th Century Fox, the music is orchestral and grand- which isn't exactly what we are looking for.