Soundtrack Research

For our film I decided to research some soundtracks to help me decide which type of soundtrack would be the best for our genre. I was looking for a soundtrack that starts of calm, gradually building up creating tension for the audience, reaching a climax when there appears to be a dead body in the house. Researching soundtracks also inspires me to what type of instruments would be most suitable for our film for example, in our film we knew a piano would be suitable as it is successful as creating an eerie and tense atmosphere which is what our group wish to succeed.

Due to our trailer being a thriller genre, I decided to research music that would add tension and lead to a climax as I believe this will make our trailer seem more dramatic. I have found some soundtracks that I would like my trailer to incorporate. This is the soundtrack from the trailer 'Taken'. At the beginning of the track it involves the diegetic sound of a piano which is very similar to our opening trailer. It provides a fairly innocent atmosphere which for our trailer would make the young girl seem very vulnerable, however the music begins to become more upbeat which is effective as it helps lead the story that something bad is about to happen. The slow, calming introduction would be complimented by slow paced shots of the flashback in the girls life, which will help make everything seem neutral, however when it becomes more up beat that's when we will begin to see the troubles of the girls life, with the editing of the shots becoming much faster creating suspense for the audience.

http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/music.html

The advantages of last year was that we knew a useful website that contained a variety of non copy right music to help get an insight into what would fit our piece. The first stage of this process is to choose what type of feel we wanted and we chose: Dark, Eerie, Intense, Unnerving, Mysterious. After listening to many results we came across "Controlled Chaos" where the instruments include synths and percussion. This year we are going to use two separate soundtracks and combine them together to create the perfect piece for our trailer. From this soundtrack the bit that is most appealing and suitable for our trailer begins at 1 minute as that is when the music becomes much more unnerving and begins to build up to create suspense. The unnerving quality is important for our group as it is not a horror therefore we aren't looking for a frightening soundtrack to scare the audience, instead we are looking for a mysterious soundtrack to make them feel uncomfortable and uneasy from the tension. However, the negatives of this soundtrack is that it doesn't seem to reach a climax which is what we look for in our trailer however the up paced soundtrack would fit perfectly in our trailer.

The second soundtrack we found of the website was called "Awkward Meeting" and appealed to me due to the instruments including piano and synths. The piano, being essential to our trailer. It begins with a slow rhythm of the piano, creating a calm atmosphere. As the soundtrack progresses we get a low beat added into the rhythm every few seconds which creates more of a dark atmosphere and can connote that everything is not fine. The silence in between each piece is effective where the music becomes quieter until it fades to silence, this will fit well with the flashback where we are fading in and out of black going through the girls life. The soundtrack then becomes louder and a it more paced, this is successful as it would be easier to blend in with "Controlled Chaos" which is a loud, up paced soundtrack overall

Script for first section of Trailer

Script for first part of our trailer:

Dad plays piano, family sits around the table, laughing and talking about there day.

(family laughs)

living room scene, all sitting on sofa. Argument occurs, parents storm out, Serafina, comes to the kitchen door. 

Serafina: Mummy? 

Mother: Not now, you're not helping!

Child runs to the door, leaves door open and runs away. 

During this scene there will be the sound of the piano which will fade out int o blackout. This will be the Que for the Narration to start with Charlotte's scene. 

Questionnaire

We decided to create a questionnaire with a few questions and hand it out to 10 people and so we are able to get an opinion from our intended target audience. This would allow us to create our film based on what the audience would expect to see from this trailer while still making it exciting for them to watch. 

We decided to ask a variety of people various questions such as their gender and age and so we would know who we should be aiming the film trailer at and who would most likely appeal to it. We selected random people and so we could see what general people enjoyed watching and what they would like to see.

Explanation of Questionnaire results

1. Although, the questionnaire would have been much more fair if we had asked and equal amount of people from both genders, we found that overall we had asked slightly more females as we did males which was mainly down to the people that were we surrounded by when we handed out the questionnaire to be filled in.
2. By looking at the questionnaire results we can see that the majority of the people that answered the questions were aged between 15 and 17 which is practical as we would have liked to give our film trailer a 15 certificate.
3. By asking the audience what they would expect to see in a Thriller film, the majority of them answered that they would enjoy the topic of death being involved and so our group are then able to create the story line to incorporate some sort of tragic accident or scenes. This would help us as we would know what the audience would want to see and so we would know that they would enjoy the film trailer. 
4. I thing that the most important question that we could have asked the audience is what they think the best film title is. This is because we think that it important for the title to appeal to the particular target audience. The audience would also be one of the first things that the audience would see on the film poster and so we would have to make sure that the title is eye catching for the viewer to notice it quickly. From looking at the results we can see that the title that most of the audience liked was 'Elle' which is quite popular as many films are named after a characters name.
5. We found that most of the people who had completed the questionnaire state that they would prefer for a thriller film to be set in both a home and an urban setting. This allows us to maybe adapt our film and so we are able to incorporate both settings in the trailer to give it depth but also engage the audience more effectively. 
6. From the questionnaire, we found that the most popular choice of music was the up paced and low pitch music. This would be helpful to us as we are able to pick the right sounds in order to create tension but excitement for the target audience. This would then help us decide whether to do the sounds as diegetic or non-diegetic as we would want it to be the most effective. 
7. In our final question on the questionnaire we found that there was an equal balance of whether we should have an antagonist and a victim in our final product and so we could have either one or even both to make the film trailer as interesting as possible. 

Percentage of Questionnaire results

What is your gender?
Female - 60%
Male - 40%

What is your age?
12-14 1%
15-17 58%
18 + 41%

What do you expect to see in a Thriller/Horror genre?
Possession - 25%
Mystery - 20%
Death - 55%

Which film title is best for our trailer?
Elle - 70%
Back again - 25%
The flashback - 5%

Where would you expect a Thriller/Horror to be set?
A rural setting e.g. forest - 30%
A urban setting e.g town - 35%
In a home - 35%

What type of non dietetic sound do you expect to hear?
Up paced - 55%
Slow - 3%
High pitched - 15%
Low pitched - 25%
No sound - 2%

Would you expect an antagonist and victim in a Thriller/Horror?
Yes - 50%
No - 50%

The Best Of Me - Analysis

Research and Planning Targets

Keep documenting your journey, as you have begun to.  Can you include some more analysis of campaigns within your genre?  Your blog evidences your enthusiasm for film - make sure it evidence expertise and your ability to analyse in a bit more detail.

Documenting Day 2 of Filming

This is just a short film to show the first day that we started to filming the content for our film trailer. We decided to add in short snappy clips that we were unable to use in our editing and so we decided to make video recorded content to show where the filming is going to be taking place. This is just a document of what we were going to do when the actors in our trailer arrived. We had to film earlier as it started to get dark quicker than we expected. We therefore, did any shots that did not involve the characters before the characters arrived and so we did not have to keep them for as long as we were aware that we had to get the little girl, Serafina, home as we didn't want her to stay up too late.
To ensure that we get the most precise shots to then go on to edit, we made sure we repeated each shot a couple of times and so we have a few of each to crop and delete. We also started filming a couple of seconds before and after each shot started and finished so we can crop it down later on. 

Costume Research

Due to our film being set as a family, we decided to have the characters dressed in their everyday clothes. We firstly have the mother who is dressed in what she would wear to work. This is to let the audience know that she is the typical wife who goes out to work and comes home to her family, creating a realistic setting for the target audience. The clothes that she is wearing is a cardigan, a pair of jeans and a jumper which is suitable for someone of her age.

The costume for the main male character is going to be what a usual middle aged man would wear which is just comfortable relaxed clothes. Our group want to keep the Trailer as realistic as possible in order for the film trailer to be successful. Lastly, we have the little girl in her school uniform which we hope will show her innocence from being a young child. The uniform she is wearing is just her typical school clothes as this is what many children wear and would be recognizable to the target audience. 

Location Research

This is the location from the beginning of the film with the family around the house. This is a semi detached house in a suburban town in England. This is a very typical house of a middle class family and therefore would connect with the target audience we intend for our film. There will shots of the young girl running down the path way from the door which will show how shes running away from the problems in the house and she wants to get away. 
The inside of the house is very homely and gives the impression that there is nothing wrong with the family life and all is well. however when the arguments start. there will be shots the the small girls perceptive in the house showing her anger and fear. The grand piano will give the idea that they like music and enjoy listening to the father play which could be seen as ideologic.

Actors interview #2

Our second actors interview that we had done was of Patrick Rowe which is the main male character in our film trailer. The interview told us about this character that he has a serious but an eye for detail character and so would suit for him to be the dominant character in the trailer.

Actors interview

This is the first actors interview that we as group decided to do which is of Caroline Rowe. We have done this as it would help us to give her a more suitable role in the film trailer as we could keep it as close to her personal life and self preferences as we can. This interview tells us that she would make a great mother in the film trailer as she speaks in a warm and gentle manner.