OFFICIAL TRAILER

Today we finished our final trailer. Overall, I am very happy with the result as we managed to fulfill each genre conventions and make it look the way we wanted that is both very appealing and attracting as well as engaging and exciting. Although, we faced some difficulties throughout the process we managed to overcome them and achieve the initial ideas that we first had for our trailer.

These are some images of different effects and filters that we added using PicMonkey for our posters.

PRODUCTION COMPANIES RESEARCH

UNIVERSAL

Universal Studios is an American film studio, owned by Comcast which is one of the Hollywood’s “Big Six” film studios. Universal Studios is also a member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Universal was founded in 1912 by the german Carl Laemmle and it is the world’s third oldest major film studio. Three if the Universal Studio’s films - Jaws, E.T. Extra- Terrestrial and Jurassic Park, all of which were directed by Steven Spielberg achieve box office records and each of them became the highest grossing film ever at the time of its initial release.

Most profitable films: 

1. Jurassic World - 6521,926,50
2. E.T. the Extra - Terrestrial - 435,110,554
3. Jurassic Park - 402,453,882
4. Despicable Me 2- 368,061,265
5. Furious 7 - 352,768,830
6. Minions - 335,036,900
7. Meet the Fockers - 279,261,160
8. The Grinch - 260,044,8250
9. Jaws - 260,000,000
10. Despicable Me - 251,513,985

We decided to look at Universal Studios as we thought that it is one of the most popular production company in creating movies that involve special effects or animation such as the films that I have listed above. We thought that this way the genre of our movie would fit very well with the production company. As Universal Studios is a very large and famous production company, part of the Big Six, we thought that the audience would easily reocognise it with the specific type of genres, movies and film techniques and therefore engage them even further into watching our trailer.

We also found a YouTube video with the company logo which I think suits the theme and genre of our trailer perfectly and would help to deliver the feelings and emotions from the beginning.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Paramount Pictures is a film studio, television production company and motion picture distributor, consistently ranked as one of the “Big Six” film studios of Hollywood. Paramount is also a member of the MPAA and has distributed several successful film series such as:

• Transformers ( $319,246,193 )
• Star Trek ( $257,730,019 )
• Jack Ryan ( $50,577,412 )
• Jackass ( $117,229,692 )
• Paranormal Activity ( $107,918,810 )
• Friday the 13th ( $65,002,019 

Paramount Pictures appears to have similar most profitable genre movies but appears to have a larger variety of genres compared to Universal involving both sci - fi, action, comedy and horror. This suggests that this production company would be recognizable to a lot more people as it targets different types of genres thus fitting with every sub genre that our trailer fits into, making it more suitable for both the production company and audience. 

We also found a YouTube video of Paramount Pictures original logo in high quality. However, compared to Universal this logo does not suit our trailer as much as it is designed to represent different types of genre movies. 

SOUND RESEARCH

Whilst doing some research on different soundtracks and music to use for our trailer, we came across a website called Position music *http://positionmusic.com*. We found this website very useful as it had many compositions and different sound effects that were suitable for trailers. We really liked a particular piece called The Haunted which we found to be the perfect match for the ending scene of our trailer where we portray the zombie characters as it contained very powerful and strong sounds with pauses between them that would help to add energy and build up to the scenes. The main sound that was used for the composition appeared to be almost like a gunfire or a gunshot with other supporting background music in order to make the original sound even louder and heavier creating more energy. We then decided to look at different gunfire sound effects and combine them with similar background sounds. As we experimented and tested, we came across several different ones and although we managed to replicate the original piece that we used for inspiration, it didn't manage to create as much power and tension therefore unsuccessfully  matching the scenes and editing. We then re visited the trailer Contagion and we found that it has a similar idea and editing style to what we were doing so we decided to take inspiration from the soundtrack as well. Compared to the initial piece, the sound that was used for this trailer appeared to have a more of an alarm sound effect that changed as a new shot appeared. We decided to use a similar sound effect and also add some other background sounds in order to make the whole soundtrack louder ans heavier matching the fast, energy filled sequence.

Position music music piece : https://soundcloud.com/transmission-35529979/the-hunted-twisted-horror-sound-design-trailer-music

Initial Soundtrack : https://soundcloud.com/transmission-35529979/transmission1

Final soundtrack : https://soundcloud.com/transmission-35529979/transmission2

CHANGES IN OUR VOICE OVER

After we researched different types of trailers and found that a lot of them use voice overs,whether they are taken from a dialogue or a monologue, we decided to incorporate our own voice over. After we did multiple scrips.tested different locations and set ups and tried out using different types of microphones ranging from computers and laptops to camera mics and phones, we decided to use ans choose between both female and male voices to incorporate for our trailer. Although the protagonist in our trailer is a male character we still decided to try ans test a female voice. When we eventually edited and placed both voices with the trailer it seemed that surprisingly the female voice sounded and matched the trailer better than the male voice. As our trailer contains a male protagonist and several female zombie antagonist, the incorporation of the female voice in our trailer helped to introduce a new character ad well as to make the trailer appear a lot more mysterious and suspenseful therefore engaging and attracting the audience attention even further making them more interested and curious. The voice over matched perfectly what was presented in our trailer and helped to make the story and plot a lot more clear. However, when we recorded our voice over we only had our script thus making the tone and mood of it very scripted and presentation and did not sound engaging enough in order to fit with the visual presentation of our trailer. This is why we thought that our voice over might not be as appropriate to fit with our trailer thus having to either make changes to it by perhaps watching the trailer itself whilst recording or slightly correcting the script or work on the soundtrack and focus on it a lot more in order to compensate for the missing voice over.

Female voice over: https://soundcloud.com/transmission-35529979/female-voice-over
Male voice over: https://soundcloud.com/transmission-35529979/ian-voice-of-over

Editing and Sound Research

POSTER

This is our completed poster. We decided to incorporate and combine different elements that were presented in the trailer in order to visually represent the narrative and genre of the trailer. We decided to first use a picture of our protagonist and position it at the center as our main character has a lot of screen time in the trailer and we wanted to represent his importance. We then decided to use a picture of our main zombie character's eyes in order to portray the antagonist as well as to create a feeling of invasion and discomfort creating a sense of the eyes watching upon the world and also the protagonist putting him into danger. For the third and final element of the poster we decided to use a picture of the city in order to represent society and the world as well as the dangers that they are put into. Although, I think that the combination of all these elements go very well together, I feel that perhaps the representation of the city is not so relevant to representing and linking with the trailer as we do not see that much of the city. Perhaps incorporating elements of the sea or locations including water would help to better represent our narrative visually as the connection between the representation of the virus and its origin is a lot clearer and stronger thus making the audience create these links between the two products recognize them as being together.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS AND WEBSITE

These are the links to our social media platforms as well as our website. As these websites are among the most popular social network sites, we thought that by sharing our trailer we would be able to attract a larger audience between the ages of 12-20 which is what our trailer audience is targeted at. We plan to include behind the scenes information and images as well as post quizzes and competitions in order to keep our audience engaged, updated and excited for the trailer.

At the moment we are still working on the website, but we plan to create our own backgrounds to use in order to keep with the consistency and branding of our products. We have also re visited our research and other different websites targeted at our specific audience in order to use similar techniques to create a high quality promotional website that would keep the audience engaged, informed and entertained.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TransmissionMovie-854174478036589/?skip_nax_wizard=true

Twitter: TransmissionMovie (@Transmission_16) | Twitter

Website: http://thetransmissionmov.wix.com/thetransmissionmovie

PHOTOGRAPHS FOR OUR POSTER AND GALLERY WEBSITE

These are some photographs that we took in order to include for our poster and the gallery of our website.Most of the photographs were edited by one of our group members in order for them too look a lot more presentable and engaging making them fit both the trailer and our website, so all the products could follow the whole promotional package. In the diffeernet photographs we tried to portray and present the feel and mood that our trailer presented in order for them to look like as if they are telling a short story of our trailer. Thus why most of them include our protagonist and the danger that is presented to him - the virus and the zombies. 

CHANGE IN OUR SCRIPT AND PLOT OF THE STORY 

After we completed our script and looked over the first draft of our trailer, we decided to see how well both of these mathc together and how we could combine the voice over to match with the clips of our trailer. When we looked over the footage that we had to use for our trailer, we realised that we are lacking a lot of characters. We had enough footage of our protagonist, Sebastian, but we did not have any other footage of our other main characaters such as Samantha and Malcom. This was due to not being able to find enough people to act for our trailer. We also didn't focus and plan much on the scense and shots that would include these characters and instead we focsued more on the virus itself, its effects on people and the protagonist as we thought that these type of scenes are visually more engaging and include a lot more action packed and cinematic visual effects than scenes of different characters. We also decided to remove the foucs on the battle between the govorment and the society and isntead to completly turn our attention to making the trailer fulfill a lot more horror/thriller genre conventions. This is why after we disscussed this issue with our group we deicided to try focus more on the footage we already have and perfect it to the best quality we can rather than film other footage that would include different characters. We then looked over our script and read through what our voice over would say. We realised that the sentencing would be too complicated and we also realised that it was too long for our trailer. This is why we decided to make it a lot shorter and a lot less simple so it would follow with the clips on the traielr. The reason why we wanted to include a voice over for our trailer is becasue we felt that it would be easier to introduce and explain the plot and story of our trailer to the audience to reduce any confusion that could be created when the trailer plays.

Second draft Voice Over

"Ordinary day. Ordinary life. Everything was the way it always has been.

Water. That's from where it all begun. People couldn't see it but it was there. Lurking around every corner. Every street. One touch was enough to spread this disease. 

Starting from your lungs, channeling rapidly to your brain, making you enter a trance like state."

"I never knew I was the one. It all started as a hobby. Working night and day trying to break formulaic equations, cracking perplexed algorithms, and multiple different experiments but nothing ever led to success. "

"Until I found it was all in the blood. Spreading slowly around your body and finally reaching your brain. That's when you go crazy."

"No antidote could help. I tried everything. The virus was spreading too fast. And at the end, it would always come to you."

SCRIPT

This is our initial script. As well as the plot of our trailer we have also included some notes and ideas as well as voice over ideas to include in our trailer. We decided that by using a voice over we would be able to tell the represent the story a lot more easily and clearly to the audience as well as to build this strong emotional connection between the viewer and the trailer.

Voice over ideas:

·       Encapsulate whole idea about leptospirosis
·       Easily spread from one human to another


PART ONE“An outbreak of this disease means that the extinction of these animals has arrived.  Government bodies are trying to discover but its not long until this cure reaches the steps of your homes. “
PART TWO“Suffering from these symptoms?:-vomiting
-high temperatures above 38C- loss of appetite-muscle pains in your calves and back- sudden painful headaches
“Have you recently been feeling: Nausea , faintish, tired and


PART THREE - SEBASTIAN

SEBASTIAN HARBOURSAMANTHA ROSEWOODMALCOM GRAY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


VOICE-OVER
An outbreak of this disease means that the extinction of these animals has arrived.  Government bodies are trying to discover a cure for this unknown contagious virus.its not long until this disease  reaches the steps of your homes.
VOICE-OVER:Suffering from these symptomsVomiting, high temperatures above 38C, loss of appetite, muscle pains in your calves and back,  sudden painful headaches report these symptoms to your local GP
Have you recently been feelingNausea , faintish, tired and

SEBASTIAN HARBOUR(on the phone)No, my work here is done. I’m finished.

SAMANTHA ROSEWOODOh come off it Sebastian, they are only cattle, just take a break and come to soho with me.

VOICE-OVER/character

Physical contact is the core at which the disease develops. Every minute commuters travel, a touch can be enough to spread this disease.
 

FADE IN
INT. SEBASTIAN HARBOUR’S PERSONAL LAB- DAY
Sebastian holds two glass beakers in each hand, frowning at them.VOICE-OVER/Sebastian

I never thought of my profession like this. Working on various systematic experiments, trying to break formulaic equations.
EXT.LONDON CITY-DAY-MONTAGE
-Sebastian on the phone-Sebastian reading physic books at the bus topINT.SEBASTIAN’S LABORATORY-DAY-Sebastian concentrating on mixing chemicals-Sebastian writing complex equations on a board- Sebastian walks hastily through a set of laboratory doors.

END OF MONTAGE

VOICE-OVER/Sebastian

For a long time I’ve been trying to break free from these structured formulaic equations consisting of scientific philosophy.


SEBASTIAN HARBOUR
I’ve worked on cracking perplexed algorithms you name it and even these codes can’t bypass the equation I’m trying to manipulate.


SAMANTHA ROSEWOOD
What’s that?

MARCOM GRAY
Now you listen to me you impotent woman, I want you to find out everything we need to know about this intelligent little fucked up traitor.
SAMANTHA ROSEWOOD
I have the recorder, it’s on. You can trust me on this Marc. I love you enough to risk my life.








 Completed by Monique

FILMING DAY 2

These are a few images of the day we filmed our chase and zombie scenes. In the beginning we were finding difficulties on finding actors for our trailer. Luckily we finally managed to find some people to act as zombies. I was very happy with the end result of our filming as I think we successfully managed to create a realistic zombie make up effects that would help us to represent the effects and symptoms of the virus as we planned in the beginning. This also helps to fit with the other horror/thriller zombie trailers that I researched. 

FILMING DAY

These are some images that we took whilst we were filming. Following our shooting schedule we managed to film all the different types of scenes that we wanted to include of our protagonist working in a lab. As our trailer mainly focuses on the protagonist and on the virus itself we thought that by filming as much as possible on this location we will be able to have a variety of different shots that we could later use and edit for our trailer. We decided to film a lot of different activities ranging from our protagonist making an experiment using test tubes and microscopes to him working with books and writing on the board in order to achieve the full aesthetic of our character being a scientist.

SHOOTING SCHEDULE 

I have decide to create a shooting schedule list in order to oragnise our times and remind us of when we need to film. That way we allow ourselves more time to prepare and film thus leaving us more time to edit after and therefore being able to do any re shoots after if we need to.

Changes in our trailer: Political to focus on character, genre and zombies.

 PRACTICE SHOTS

These are some initial location tests shots that i took at Barnes Bridge. I think that this is a really good location to film some of our initial establishing shots in the beginning of our trailer in order to create this slow pace effect that would help to further build upon.

As I also did some research on the virus leptospirosis, I also thought that including water and/or locations that have water would perfectly fit with portraying the virus realistically and therefore making it more believable. 

LEPTOSPIROSIS RESEARCH

I decided to do some basic research on the virus/disease in order to gain more knowledge on it and therefore use some of that information and apply it to our trailer. I thought that by applying and using information of the disease will both help us plan out different scenes that we could use for our trailer but it would also appear a lot more realistic. I mostly decided to pick out the most important information about the disease or the information that we could incorporate into our trailer such as what the disease is, where and how you can catch it and its symptoms.

Leptospirosis is spread to humans by animals.

You can catch it by touching soil or water contaminated with the urine of wild animals infected with the leptospira bacteria.

Animals known to be carriers of the leptospira bacteria include cattle, pigs, dogs and rodents, particularly rats.

Although the condition is uncommon in the UK, people who regularly deal with animals, such as farmers and vets, have a higher risk of developing leptospirosis.

You may also be at a higher risk if you frequently come into contact with rivers and lakes. This might be because of your occupation or through taking part in activities such as water sports and fishing.

• The first phase ƒ Symptoms are similar to those of the flu, including high fever, severe headache, chills, muscle aches, and vomiting, and may also include a rash. ƒ May last between 3 to 5 days before recovery. ƒ In mild cases the patient will recover after just the first phase but they can suffer fatigue and depression for some time afterwards
• The second phase ƒ Initial symptoms will reoccur. ƒ Further symptoms can vary according to severity and may include jaundice (yellow skin and eyes), red eyes, abdominal pain, and diarrhoea. ƒ Symptoms can be similar to those of meningitis. ƒ Severe cases can also cause the failure of kidneys or liver. ƒ Death can occur due to heart, liver or respiratory failure. 

POSSIBLE SHOTS AND SCENES

After we did our initial research and planing we decided to do write down some ideas of the different locations that we want to use for our trailer as well as the different types of shots. As we wanted to focus a lot on the virus and its symptoms and effects, we decided to also research more about the virus and find out the different side effects that we might represent in our trailer. That way we would be more clear on what exactly we wanted to film and therefore start filming as soon as possible in order to organise our time and have enough to do our editing and soundtrack and possible re-shoots. 

• Locations 

- based in London - shots of Big Ben and London Eye
- Parliament - focus on the political side of the trailer
- Bridges - focus on the beauty of the location and on the virus - water transmission

- substance of the virus
- focus on characters
- shots of equations, graphs, visual research data
- labs - focus on the scientific side of the trailer

• Represent possible symptoms of the virus

- nausea and vomiting

- muscle pain, particularly affecting the muscles in the calves and lower back

- conjunctivitis (irritation and redness of the eyes)

- a short - lived rash

- coughing up blood

- swollen ankles, feet and hands

• Fast pace scenes and shots

- chase

- conflict between characters

- engagement with people affected from the virus
- jaundice (yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eyes) 

VLADIMIR PROPP 31 FUNCTIONS

Vladimir Propp broke up fairy tales into sections. Through these sections he was able to define the tale into a series of sequences that occurred within the Russian fairytale. Usually there is an initial situation, after which the tale usually takes the following 31 functions. Vladimir Propp used this method to decipher Russian folklore and fairy tales.

I. Member of family absents self from home:

II. Interdiction announced:

III. Interdiction violated: 

IV. Villain tries to meet: 

V. Villain receives information: 

VI. Villain attempts trickery: 

VII. Victim deceived: 

VIII. Villain harms family: A

VIIIa. Member of family lacks or desires: a

IX. Hero approached about lack: B

X. Seeker decides on counteraction: C

XI. Hero leaves home: 

XII. Hero tested: prepares for magical agent: D

XIII. Hero responds to test of donor: E

XIV. Hero gets magical agent: F

XV. Hero transferred to object of search: G

XVI. Hero and villain in direct combat: H

XVII. Hero branded: J

XVIII. Villain defeated: I

XIX. Initial lack liquidated: K

XX. Hero returns: 

XXI. Hero pursued: Pr

XXII. Rescue of hero from pursuit: Rs

XXIII. Unrecognized, hero arrives home or other country: o

XXIV. False hero: L

XXV. Difficult task: M

XXVI. Task resolved: N

XXVII. Hero recognized: Q

XXVIII. False hero exposed: Ex

XXIX. Hero given new appearance: T

XXX. villain punished: U

XXXI. Hero marries and ascends throne: W

We decided to use Propp template to create our own 31 Functions story. We thought that this will be very useful as although, we are only making a trailer and we do not need the whole full story it would be very good to use this as this clears and helps us organise our main visual idea. As we are still at a stage of planing ans we are not yet sure what our trailer will specifically consist of, I thought that by creating the whole story of our trailer it would help us to take different parts out that we think would be useful to use and further develop them into more specific scenes that we can then use for our trailer.

31 Functions

0 – Protagonist against government for a cure of leptospirosis

8 – Government refuses to cure the world from the virus

9 – Sebastian, the protagonist, turns against the government decisions

10 – He tries to hack the government to find the substance needed to complete the cure

11 – Sebastian leaves his job as a scientist

12 – Samantha, female antagonist that has worked with Sebastian but appears to be an agent working for the government, break into his house to try and take the information for the cure

13 - Sebastian meets with an old friend, Lucien that worked with him gives him information about where find the missing piece for the cure

14 – Sebastian is given a piece of paper about its location

15 – Sebastian arrives at the location

16 – Sebastian, Samantha, Lucien and Malcolm meet at the location for the missing piece of the cure. Malcolm is infected by the virus by Sebastian.

17 – Sebastian is wounded in the leg

18 - Samantha is killed by Lucien

19 - Sebastian and Lucien gain the missing piece for the cure

20 – Sebastian and Lucien go back to the lab to finish off the cure

21 – Malcolm tries to stop Sebastian and Lucien

22 – Lucien saves Sebastian from Malcolm but gets shot and dies

29 – Sebastian is given a higher position at his job

30 – Malcolm is defeated and dies from the infection. 

31 – Sebastian finds the cure for the disease.

The highlighted areas are the possible scenes that we intend to include into our trailer. By doing the 31 Functions it was a lot easier to pick up the parts that we wanted to include in our trailer as this way by know the whole story the consistency of the plot for our trailer would be a lot more successful. Also by knowing  the whole story we are able to a lot easily pick out the different parts of the movie that we want to include in our trailer instead of thinking what scenes we should film.

TREATMENT

Logline:

London a hub of prosperity has undergone unprecedented changes. Famous landmarks have become dilapidated, with streets cross-roads being heaped with dead corpses and gory scenes of excoriated human tissues.   

The protagonist, a former scientist who previously worked for the government has become cognizant that he has been doing a disservice to the people of the country he swore his loyalty to. He realizes that with the auspice of his intellect, the government contrived a virus that has led to a far-reaching epidemic, with little odds to be thwarted. His feeling of guilt has took hold and he regrets the fate that had befell the populace. Having subconsciously worked on the virus, he committed to memorise the formula he used to create it, and knows how to rectify the predicament that had been foisted on the populace. His efforts are directed to optimizing the cure to the populace but for that, he needs substances that are strictly confined to the premises of that are under government’s control. He gets acquainted with the government’s long desired plan to artificially shrink the size of the populace and begins to be opposed to the government and espouses to take revenge on the small clique that had conspired the epidemic scheme.

He assembles a paramilitary group whose goal is to depose the government, proliferate the cure to those for whom there is still a glimmer of hope. The government in turn, makes concerted effort to not allow the protagonist’s plan to come to fruition, create hurdles for him every step of the way.

Character breakdown:

Sebastian Harbour is a scientist stationed at a military barrack in the UK, where he is co-opted by a government dignitary and delegated to a special department. His intellect secures him an important role, he micromanages most aspects of research and development, unbeknownst to him, the virus he and his colleagues have worked on is being proliferated without his approval, against the populace which he sought to protect.  He undergoes a transformation, he changes from a stoic individual to a staunch anti-establishmentarian, seeking to depose the government through military action.

Samantha Rosewood is a scientist that has worked alongside Sebastian and has exhibited intimate feelings for him, which were in fact reciprocal. Unbeknownst to him, she also leads a double life, in private, she corresponds with government channels and updates the government on the progress made within the research and development circle involving Sebastian. Upon hearing of Sebastian’s plan to sabotage the project, she is initially reluctant to take action, is bogged down by the feelings she has gradually developed, the task she is burdened with. She ultimately becomes the catalyst that causes the proliferation of the virus, becomes the biggest obstacle in Sebastian’s path. The fact that she is an agent does not immediately transpire; Sebastian believes that she is supporting his aim to stop the government and to help the populace. In fact, her personality contrasts with that of Sebastian who appears to take a more humanitarian stance and doesn’t wish to see the populace to be exterminated. Samantha values Sebastian for his intellect, for his help in designing the virus, thereby deeming him expedient. She starts by subtly encouraging him to join the government side, but after realizing that this is not possible, she wishes to eliminate him.

Lucien is a supporting character, helps Sebastian settle his scores with the people that had given the executive order to contaminate substantial part of the country. He like Sebastian were in charge manufacturing the virus, having seen first hand the indelible mark it had left on the once vibrant city, he wishes to rectify the problem that the helped to compound. He works with Sebastian and Samantha but questions Samantha’s real motives. Aside from aiding Sebastian, he tries to keep a track of Samantha’s activity, finding peculiarities in her comportment. His doubts are justified when he learns of her encounters with government agents. He is discreet about his discovery, but does inform Sebastian. Sebastian is very reluctant to come to terms with the revelations. He makes great strides to influence Sebastian’s opinion, but to no avail. Sebastian’s deeply rooted feelings for Samantha are an obstruction, despite his strong resolve, he cannot think rationally, see any reasoning for Samantha’s supposed defection. Once confrontation occurs, all four characters face each other off. Being aware of the fact that Sebastian is viable to succumb to Samantha, Lucien takes things into his own hands, proceeds to kill her.

Malcolm Gray is an important executive dignitary who is at the helm of the clique of that has usurped power in the UK. He is the binary of the movie, the main mastermind behind the proliferation of the virus. Malcolm is aware of Sebastian’s subversive activities and makes a concerted effort to prevent him from providing cure to the depraved people of London. He postures as an honest, virtuous man, with people taking his words at face value. Apart from playing an important role as the head of the government, he is portrayed as exhibiting a quasi-bureaucratic role in that he diligently oversees the progress that is being made within the research and development department. He is revered for his contributions and has firmly established his cult of personality. This is also the case with Sebastian who aspires to match Malcolm’s record or model himself on him. While he maintains his persona, he is ruthless in following his vested interest, behind the silhouette, which he projects, lies a man with dormant evil desires. As the epidemic spreads, plot ensues, the characters find out if Malcolm’s disease-playing on audience’s expectations

Genre-thriller/sci-fi/mystery

We have chosen the genre thriller, as we believe that our storyline corresponds to the thriller conventions-namely disruption in the equilibrium, suspense, evil lurking within close midst- the protagonist being at the mercy of the antagonist’s secretive motives. Also our group immensely admired this genre and we thought that it contemporarily deemed to be successful, this does not only allow other producers and directors to emulate their stories around thrillers but allows the audiences to appear as a mass.

Duration 2-3 minutes

Target Audience: 

People aged between 18-45

Apart from being a thriller, the trailer also has sci-fi components adjunct to it. With scientific content, jargon will subtly transpire, the aim is not to attract merely people that are interested in this theme. The demographic we expect this trailer to attract is mainly males, which is encapsulated by the fact that cinematography is showing mostly males, male centered scenes, such as fights, squabbles, violence and sexual content. Empirically speaking, these themes tend to be tailored to the male audience. In light of that, we decided that we would like to include a female identifiable scenario and character.

(NOTE: WHILE WE EXPLORE GENRE CONVENTIONS, SUCH AS SEXUAL CONTENT AND VIOLENCE AS A WAY TO TARGET AN AUDIENCE IF IT WERE A FULL LENGTH FEATURE. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT THIS IS WHAT OUR TRAILER WILL CONSIST OF.THIS IS BECAUSE GENRE CONVENTIONS ARE NOT MONOLITHIC AND MOVIES DO NOT FEATURE EVERYTHING.)

Initially, we pondered on whether to include a female character or not. We’ve concluded that the trailer should be as inclusive, and conventional as possible. A thought had sprung whether or not to make the protagonist a heroine. This would’ve subverted an inculcated paradigm of the protagonist role being reserved for male. The resident evil franchise inspired us to contemplate such a possibility. Ultimately, we have recognized that in relation to the genre that we are trying to emulate, it is extremely hard to materialize, hard to model on a contemporary movie. However, the thriller does include a female character that assumes an antagonist role and is meant to be an epitome of what one would conceive as decadent and despotic. This may not necessarily generate an appeal, some of the female segments of the audience may find it hard to identify with the female antagonist

Young people aged between 18-27 are likely to be most receptive to the thriller. This supposition derives from the fact that the trailer contains a series of scenes that entail action, fast paced, is set in an urban setting and presents a metanarrative. These cinematic elements tend to have much bearing on young audience, seem to hold ground in light of the fact that these features are continuously perpetuated.

Visual elements: Low key lighting, quick cuts, changes in angle of shots, montage of shots

High angles shots-to show weakness and build up the suspense

Setting that has been considered for the filming is exterior areas with a few shots filmed inside.

Actors: Protagonist-Sebastian, Lucien, Amelia, Malcolm, footage of those affected by the virus

Props

Fire arms-the protagonist, agents of the government are armed

Syringe-optimised version of the cure

Scientific equipment-beakers, microscopes, test tube

DNA samples

Flags

Costumes- Navy grey costumes, scientist attire, rugged clothes of those affected

mostly urban clothing as it is set in contemporary times, black clothing worn by agents

Setting

Audio elements

Voice over

Violin music

Diegetic sound of breathing, heart beats

Rationale behind idea

In regards to our film, we have based it around films like resident evil and 28 days later where the disequilibrium prevails but later on the protagonist finds a way to restore order. As the name of our movie suggests, it explores dystopian themes, we were to some extent motivated by Orwell’s 1984.

Primary research-

For our primary research, we have created a storyboard alongside a questionnaire.

The storyboard was useful as it allowed us to experiment with our structure and storyline.

We also produced a questionnaire to ask people what movies they would be most inclined to watch.

Secondary Research-

One source of secondary research that we used is the internet. Apart from our questionnaire, we have also investigated a variety of media affiliated websites to find out which specific film genres receive most receptivity. According to Investopedia, one of the most watched movie genres are adventure, drama documentaries, horrors/thrillers. Upon seeing this, we narrowed our list of options and through long considerations of the practicalities; we came to the understanding that Thriller would the most suitable, feasible genre for us to focus on. In order for our movie to fit the thriller criteria, we need to include tense music, equilibrium/disequilibrium, quick cuts, diegetic sound of breathing and etc.

We have also watched a series of videos pertaining to media coursework, work done by students. One video that has really enticed us was a video titled “Scapegoat: horror opening sequence(as media studies coursework)”.We deem the video to be quite effective, would wish to employ some similar techniques such as eerie music, quick cuts and low key lighting.

Having researched the codes and conventions of thriller movies, we discussed as a group about what our film should feature. A consensus was reached that the film should contain an overtly dystopian component (Thus we even decided to name our film Dystopia). Initially, we drew our inspiration from Orwell’s 1984 and were keen to emulate a monastic and secluded world as was envisaged in the book with the militant secret police consolidating a dictatorship and consigning things like freedom of speech as things of the past.

Aside from the mentioned dystopia, we also wanted our film to possess an apocalyptic predicament, we have formulated our story plot borrowing considerable influence from films like Resident evil and 28 days later.

Constraints and Contingency

Our production time is limited to roughly 3 months (approx. until February 16th ). Both the actual exam and the coursework constitute 50% of our overall grade, it is important that we manage our time appropriately. 

Half term is approaching, so it important for us to start filming as early as possible so that we can have a portfolio of shots we can use when composing our trailer. So as a group we must allocate sometime to meet up for our film production.

The time is pending; we must ensure that by late november we have our portfolio ready so that we can focus on the editing.

Equipment

Tripod for the camera, toy gun, black capes and hoods, black masks, apple juice, alcohol bottle, cigarettes, paracetemol pills, toothbrush and toothpaste, pen and paper, keyboard.

Legal and ethical considerations

We will have to ensure that all of our content is produced solely by us, that we do not take other people’s content.  This means all the music, shots, editing has to be created, done by us.

We need to ensure that the setting/environment where the film production is set, is safe, doesn’t pose any risk to any cast members.

Other people must be borne in mind also. We cannot take shots of strangers without their consent.

We must ensure that none of the equipment is damaged, that everything is left unscathed.

Proposed schedule for filming:  15h November(Saturday)

Proposed schedule for editing:  Mid December, January

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Completed by Aleks