Casting - Girl

The casting of the girl had to be quite specific. As we will be including busking in our movie we have to have someone that is a singer/guitarist so that they can play in the trailer for certain shots.

As well as this we wanted someone that was also good at acting to portray the character well and to give the emotion we want to create.






Therefore the specification we came up with for our actress was:
- Female
- Singer/ Guitarist
- Good at acting
- British
- Long hair
- Late teens/ early 20's

The actress we have chosen to use is a Singer/Songwriter, who has been acting in musicals all her life called Kyla Stroud.
She is 19 years old, from kent. She has lots of original music, that fits the mood of our film well, that we could possible use in our trailer.

She is a regular busker around brighton and does gigs all over kent and London so is a confident performer which makes her perfect for the role.

Split Screen Recearch

Traditionally split screen is the visible division, in half, of the screen showing two events or of simultaneous events. In more modern media this can been adapted to make an easy way of having a character appear in the same scene or shot more than once at the same time.

Split screen can be used in many ways. The two we are interested in are; the one shown in 500 days of summer, when there are two version of the same scene but with different things happening, e.g. shown here are expectations vs. reality. And having a character appearing twice in one shot, so using a locked off camera and shooting a scene on one side of the screen, and then another on the other side of the screen and editing the two together, and because the  camera never moved the split in the middle should be invisible.
 

Expectations vs. reality:

This is done by shooting two separate scenes, they can use different camera angles and shots and editing them together to show an obvious division to the audience. This can be used to create an alternative scenario, life, or parallel universe.

Double character:
 

This is a fairly simple way of creating the illusion that a character is in a scene twice at the same time. The camera never moves position, and the scene is shot twice, but the character can never cross the line of which the screen will be divided. Then during editing you put the two scenes side by side, cutting out the side on both scenes and replacing it with the other version. If the camera didn’t move the split should be invisible and the characters should give the impression of being in one scene at once.

 

 

Genre Study - Tyrannosaur (2011)

Tyrannosaur (2011) directed by Paddy Considine

This British Social Realism film follows In order to further understand our chosen genre, Social Realism, I felt it would be appropriate to watch films that are within the genre. I choose to look into the film Tyrannosaur, a film that follows a violent prone Joseph (Peter Mullan), and the events that lead him to change his ways. 

In this film, Paddy Considine creates a poignant story that revolves around two, initially, contrasting characters. It highlights a different perspective of how similar two peoples lives can be despite there class or background, and how they can come to support one another. 

(Joseph being threatening, This shows the violent qualities of a character who you eventually come to  sympathise with because of the ordeals he has been through)

(Hannah helps put a tie on Joseph, this is a very intimate moment between two characters who both share a tough life. It is also a very revealing moment for the audience as it shows a different side of Joseph)

(Joseph cries whilst Hannah prays for him, this is another moment that reveals to the audience and what Hannah also believes, that Joseph is a 'nice human being' despite his belief that he is not.)

How could this influence our Trailer?

The compelling story of the two characters, particularly Hannah, is a element we want to achieve in our trailers narrative. Hannah, a female protagonist, is a subject to sexual oppression in this narrative, an element that we are looking to incorporate into our trailer. 

Scene By Scene

This is a early draft of how are trailer will come together, it shows a timeline that demonstrates our desired structure. We want to use a slow motion master/tracking shot of our female protagonist walking through London, this will act as the main frame of the trailer. Then we want to incorporate scenes that cut in this M/T shot that portray the themes of the story, eventually building up towards a climax.

Voice-Over Research

A voice-over is a piece of narration in film which is non-diegetic and not part of the narrative

Voice-overs are very common in film trailers and can be used in a variety of different ways. The voice-over can be the focus of the trailer or just be in it for a small part of the trailer and it can be spoken by a character from the film, or be spoken by a voice actor.

 

Voice-overs help to get the genre and the narrative of the film across to the audience in a film trailer.

 

  Don LaFontaine was a very famous American voice actor and recorded voice-overs for over 5,000 film trailers. Some of his nick names included: Thunder Throat, The Voice of God and The King of Movie Trailers.

This video shows examples of Don LaFontaine's voice-overs for trailers, and specifically focuses on the phrase, 'In a world...' which is a phrase we was famous for saying in trailers.

 

The social network is an example of where the trailer is made up of dialogue from the film spoken by the main characters.

 

When recording our voice-over we need to make sure that we take the correct steps to ensure we get the best sound. Here is a video exploring different tips to achieve a good quality voice-over.

 

 

Country Locations (Location Scouting)

Country Locations
For our trailer we are looking to film in two distinct environments, urban and country. For the country environments we are looking for places that express 'isolation' and 'escape'

Bidborough Ridge

Slow- Motion

Slow motion is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down.

 

Here is an Example from Wes Andersons 'The Royal Tenebaums' (2001)

...

 

Slow-mo is done by increasing the frame rate from 24fps (Standard) to
48, 96 or 1000 fps (Frames per Second). 

Here is a diagram that visualy explains slow motion...

 

As a group we feel that this filming technique is effective at emphasising emotions of a scene, in the clip above it is perticulary effective as a renioun scene and suggests undisclosed feelings towards the audience. We hope to succesfully achieve this slow motion technique in out trailer.

 

Genre Study - Kes (1969)

Kes (1969) directed by Ken Loach

In order to further understand our chosen genre, Social Realism, I felt it would be appropriate to watch films that are within the genre. I choose to study the film Kes, a film that follows a young working class boy (Billy) who cares and trains a falcon (Kes).

In the film loach creates a emotional story that impacts the audience. Successful direction and performances of the actors further help make the characters more believable in this gritty portrayal of the working class in Yorkshire, 1960's.

(Billy attends his Kestrel, during this scene you sympathise with Billy as the narrative has already portrayed him to be at a misfortune through bullying.)

(Billys mother and brother in a heated argument, here is a contrasting scene that shows the negative atmosphere that surrounds the protagonist, Billy, thus making the audience feel more empathy.)

(Billy reads 'The Dandy' on a hill facing the mines, the film portrays through effective photography, the positioning manages to portray how Billies future is 'polluted', as the mines act as glimpse into Billies potential future; his brother works in the mines. The fact that Billy is sitting in a green environment reading a comic, is effective at delineating his young age to the audience further.)

How could this influence our Trailer?

The elements that I feel could influence our trailer is the gritty photography that creates a deep sense of sympathy towards our main protagonist.

Genre Study: Fish Tank 2009

In order to fully conform to the conventions of social realism, we felt it would be necessary to analyse the common themes found in some renown social realism films of the past.

Fish Tank (2009) directed by Andrea Arnold

This British social realism film follows the life of a 15 year old girl, Mia, stuck within a council estate, trying to escape to a better life through dance. As expected from this genre, the film conforms to the convention of following the characters life and travails. The film looks at how a girl within her unfortunate position struggles to overcome and escape the future imminent. 

To heighten her vulnerability and misfortune, events go from bad to worse and the film displays, as the title suggests, Mia is stuck within a fishbowl, with no where to go.

A tracking shot: This shot follows Mia as she walks down her flat hall. It clearly denotes the characters economic situation.

Mia takes the regular walk out of her estate, through the untidy, grubby corridors of its complex.

Over the shoulder shot: This shot displays the affair, a vulnerable Mia finds herself in. Another factor to her fragile story.

Mia meets Connor for the first time. His unexpected presence gives him a mysterious aura about his. Furthermore, Connors topless state gives an easy reason for Mia to become attracted to this character.

Mid shot: We get the impression throughout the film that Mia aspires to escape her current life through her advertised talent of dance. 

In this shot Mia takes a breather after practising her dance in a an abandoned flat. Wearing hoops and chains denotes the stereotypes of the characters working class background. This theme is a factor that helps materialise her misfortune.

How could this help influence our trailer?
The misfortune the character bears would be a feature I think would be effective. It would help us conform to the general conventions of a social realism film.