Title: "The Retrograde"

We have decided on the title "The Retrograde"  as we wanted to pick a title that would reflect an event, and for a our example the event is specifically based around wiping memory or reversing peoples thoughts. As you can see from this screenshot, retrograde suits this well. We wanted to use a word different from "reverse" or "forget" and we found "retrograde" in the thesaurus so we have now rested on that.

The Tense Call

Our main actor, Max Boyden, attends Tunbridge Wells Boys Grammar School and therefore we decided that, in order to suit his availability to our needs, we would aim to shoot at his school using drama students from there as well as those who attend Weald. This way we will be able to visit the school rather than removing Max from his school schedule. The school had the appropriate setting and we will bring any other equipment we need and similarly, we feel that it will be more credited to shoot in unfamiliar surroundings.

Here is the progress update video of Jak calling the school to arrange our shooting times.

Cast

These are the potential actors/actresses we have in mind in order to play the roles we need. As our film trailer is a complex situation, we are in need of a large number of available characters. 
Cast (order of appearance):

•Boy: Max Boyden 

•Host girl: Hannah Rae 

•Girls friend: Bee Williamson 

•Party goers: Ross, Conor, Jak, Joseph, Sam, Katie, Hannah,Bee, Georgia, Tiffany, Lucie, Alice, Georgia, Tamsin, Beth, Grace, Holly, Sam MS

•Girls other friends: Tamsin, Beth, Grace, Holly 

•Boys friend: Lewie? Jack Cutler? 

•Government 1: Jak's dad? Tiffany's dad? 

•Government 2: Jak's dad? Tiffany's dad? Tom from year12? 

•Chat room people; Boy x3, girl x2 

Locations

These are the locations we plan to use within the school. The drama studio can be used for the party scene due to its lighting and black curtains. We did some test shots of the scene where a specific transition will be used, seen by the close up of Jak in front of a white wall.

Locations still to find are:

The Bedroom

The conversation scene

The government scene

Areas to film action shots.

Progress

We made a video where we talk about our recent progress and what we are going to do next.

Script first draft

As our trailer includes a lot of dialogue, we felt it would be sensible to create a script to follow so that we keep on the right lines and are focused. The stage directions also act as a guide to our storyline.

First Storyboard

This is our first storyboard for our film trailer. To suit the genre we decided to throw in moments of action and tension to increase suspense and also to speed up the pace of the trailer to reflect the genre.

Music for the trailer

As we are progressing through our narrative idea, we decided it would be a good idea to look into what music we will have playing through the trailer. 

A YouTube account called 'The Secession' produces music for real films and trailers, so looking at the music they produce was a good starting point. We are allowed to use the music they make for our own personal videos if we don't monetize it, for free. 

I analysed a few trailers which had music suited for our genre in and then found music by the Secession which sounded similar and may use. 

50 Shades of Grey had very tense music which engaged me as a viewer. I liked how they timed some of the important shots according to the beats of the music. - 

LUCY also had epic cinematic music which we may use during the end of our trailer. - 

At the end of the transformers trailer it has an epic sound effect in which the footage flashed on screen, we liked this. - 

Green Screen Testing

For our scene with the wall of monitors we will need to think of an alternative to buying lots of screens. Instead we came up with using sheets of green paper or card and use green screen editing to place footage on the card, creating the illusion of lots of monitors on the wall. We tested it today and it has seemed to work which means we will use it in our trailer. 

Here is the test footage:

The next steps

To keep things running smoothly we need to plan our next 5 steps and make sure we are on track to meeting deadlines. After a discussion with my team we have now decided that this is what we will do next:

1. Complete Storyboard
2. Find Location
3. Find Cast
4. Find a good camera
5. Figure out filming date

Genre Theory - Rick Altman and David Bordwell

Genre Theory - Robert Stam

Logo

I have created a logo for our group. I based it on the name (hence the pig) and I thought I would keep it smart and simple to match up with our blogs professionalism. The black and white colour scheme also matches our blogs.

Poster Analysis: "The Maze Runner"

As part of our promotional package we are required to create a poster. I analysed the "The Maze Runner" poster to find out what the typical features of a poster are. The genre of "The Maze Runner" also fits with our sci-fi/thriller vision so getting ideas from this poster could be very usefull.

Trailer Analysis: "Interstellar"

We analysed the trailer for "Interstellar" to further observe the typical features of a trailer and the importance of its components. "Interstellar" puts us in USA in a world where Earth is on its last legs and our only option to survive is to leave the planet. This genre of sci-fi will help us get ideas for our own sci-fi/thriller trailer.

Trailer Analysis: "In Time"

'In Time' is a dystopian action/sci-fi film created in October 2011. It portrays a world in which time from the characters lives is the equivalent of money. This film is an inspiration for our own film trailer as we aim to base our film around the idea of a realistic dystopia and we feel that it challenges the usual codes and conventions that you would expect to find in these genre. This film has a 'what if' scenario with its alternative currency which makes the audience think about if they were in that situation. This is exactly what our aim is with our own trailer. 

Genre Theory - Steve Neal

Some Narrative Theory Overviews

Initial Ideas

Initial Trailer Ideas

These are our original ideas for trailers. The writing in blue are films and series that we are using as inspiration. 

Genre: Social Realism.

James and I were given the task to complete a presentation on social realism. This would introduce this genre to us and the rest of the class.


Here is the Prezi:

Narrative Theory - Vladimir Propp

Vladimir suggested that characters take on the role of narrative "spheres of actions". This theory is similar to Todorovs'.

Our group decided to compare this theory to some films to see which characters corresponds to which role.

These characters are:

1. The Hero, usually male, restores equilibrium by embarking on a quest. In our case, Harry Potter is the Hero which is clearly told through his name being the title, and him featuring in the majority of the film.

2. There is a Villain which creates disruptions, ruining the equilibrium. This is what the hero has to fix. In Harry Potter the villain throughout the whole series is Voldemort, but in each separate film there is also another minor villain.

3. There is a Donor who prepares the Hero by giving him/her an object or magical powers. In Spiderman the donor would be the spider that bit Peter Parker to give him the powers.

4. There is a Dispatcher notifies the Hero of the disturbance I equilibrium and sends him on his way. In Harry Potter, Hagrid would be the dispatcher.

5. There is a Helper who aids the hero on his/her quest. In Shrek, Donkey would be the helper.

6. There is a Princess or Prize which the Hero deservers throughout the story but cannot have due to evil, usually from the villain. The hero then obtains this at the end of his journey through defeating the villain. In Shrek the Princess would be Fiona.

7. There is a False Hero who takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the Princess. In Frozen, Prince Hans would be the anti-hero.

Narrative Theory - Todorov

Todorov proposed that every story has 5 stages:

1. Equilibrium - Calm period of the film that is usually at the start. At this point everything is normal and characters are used to the situation.

2. Disruption of order - Something happens which changes the equilibrium, but the main character doesn't yet know the cause of the problem.

3. Recognition of disruption - At this point the main character finds out what caused the unsettlement, giving him/her the inspiration to resolve then issue.

4. Attempt to repair disruption - Main Character attempts to regain equilibrium by repairing the situation.

5. New equilibrium - Disruption has been sorted, and a new equilibrium is made, whether it is good or bad.

Teaser VS Theatrical Trailer.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

My group and I decided to compare a theatrical and a teaser trailer so we could clearly see the differences and similarities between the two, allowing us to see which would be better to make in our final piece.

Teaser Trailer:

- Fast Paced

- Short Cuts

- Not as much content, making people want to see more

- Only introduced to a few characters, not giving to much information away

Theatrical Trailer:

- Slower paced

- Longer cuts

- More content, giving out more information but still not too much
- Introduced to many more characters, making people even more interested especially if a famous actor/actress is in the film

Teaser and Theatrical:
- Some of the same clips are used in both
- Voice overs are used in both
- Both contain the hook (apes)

The Brief.

The Brief

Hello, we are SkinnyPigProductions and this is one of our blogs. As you can see from the picture above we are motivated and happy about the brief. We cannot wait to get started on this project and we are happy with the group we have been put in.