Creating the trailer

Creating the '11:11' film teaser trailer

This presentation goes through creating my trailer.

My idea (16/09/2013)● In AS Film Studies I made a 2 minute film called '11:11'. For the trailer this year I am going to create a

teaser trailer for this film.

● The film is a horror and the main plot is that people go missing at 11:11pm.

● The trailer will include footage that looks like CCTV footage to show a girl being caught. I will also include title shots which say things like 'In October 2012' '4 people went missing' 'At 11:11pm' 'A year later, police are still examining the footage' etc. I got this inspiration from the Blaire Witch Project.

● I will show a girl looking in a mirrored cabinet. Before she opens it there is nothing behind her in the mirror, but when she closes it there is either a figure walking by or directly behind her, staring at her in the reflection. Then the title '11:11' will be shown and a whispered voice over like in my film I made last year. 

● I will use effects such as 'fuzzy' camera, cutting out, 'tracking lines' and fast cuts. Camera footage which includes 'REC' in the corner, the date and the time (11:11pm).

● I will use sounds such as a thudding or a sudden sound effect, possibly music which would be creepy and uncomforting.

● I am going to need 2 actors (1 victim and 1 enemy). I will film in two different locations such as my bathroom, and a bank near my house.

● I could also do a shot of a watch, clock or phone showing the time 11:11.

● I will use a Panasonic HDCHS80 camera.

Inspirations

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark

At the end of the trailer (1:16) there is a girl looking under a sheet and the music is eery and you know something is going to happen which builds tension. When a face jumps out for a second it still makes you jump because of the sound and tension created. So dragging something out and letting the audience wait is a good way of making people jump. At the end of my trailer I might do this by having someone in their bathroom looking in a mirrored cabinet. Before they look in there will be noone behind them, but when they close the door there will be a figure behind them. During this you will be waiting for something to happen because of the eery music and the fact it is a horror convention that freaky things to happen when there is a mirror involved.

A clip of this trailer is in my next post.I was also inspired by The Blair Witch Trailer by how it uses text frames. The way they use language to say ‘In October…’ and events that occurred would fit well with my trailer.

CastFor my villain I wanted

an actor who knows what they're doing

so I can get an effective outcome. I

emailed someone who does

performing arts to see if they would be

interested after seeing their work.

For my bathroom victim I used my little sister

as I think the fact that the victim is age

13 makes it more frightening because

she’s young and vulnerable.

Make-upFor my trailer I will need some make up to make my antagonist look scary.

I asked the student's in my college who study doing hair and beauty but they were yet to learn how to do horror make up. Therefore I've had to do it myself.

The sort of make up I need will be black eye shadow around the eyes. I will also need my actor to grow his facial hair so it is scruffy to give a messy and creepy effect. I might also add some fake blood around the mouth to make them look as if they've been punched or attacked but this will take away the paranormal possibility and spookiness of it. I might use eye contacts to keep the paranormal theme alive as it creates the mystery of the unknown which always adds horror to something.

This is the result.

Filming Locations

The bathroom I will film in.

The location I will film outside.

The trailer's progress so farSo far I have filmed the bathroom scene. This is where a girl looks into a

mirrored cabinet and when she closes it a person is behind her in the reflection. I added changes to this as I filmed it, attempting to make it last longer (30 seconds at most) and increase tension for the horror side.

In my location, I got the lights to flicker to make it freakier. I also realised a few problems when I came to filming which will help me when shooting again for the other sections of my trailer. One problem included the reflections of the mirrored cabinet and whether you could see me, the camera or the actors entering when they weren't meant to be shown. Another was the lighting, in the end I had to shoot with the lights on due to the effect the darkness had on the quality of my footage.

This as a result looks a little less creepy and will mean I have more editing to do to make the lighting more suitable for a horror and effective. Overall, I'm happy with my progress so far. I have the timing sorted and know what to do if I want to film again. If I were to film again, I’d split it into different shots.

View my progress on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB-Z4qR33V8

Font Choice

I wanted to use a typewriter style font as I thought this would give it a good effect as it would look like it appears on a computer with the CCTV.

I chose a font with strikes through it to give it a horror effect and so it adds to the creepiness during the trailer as it looks worn away and old.

Sound Choice

I decided to use music through my trailer so that it gives an effect to it rather than it being silent. Although silence might create tension it can also make it boring. I might keep it silent in the bathroom clip to create tension before the jump scare.

I will get my audio from Youtube which users have uploaded for the use of others in trailers. By searching ‘Horror trailer music’ some selections such as sound effects and some music tracks appeared for me to select from.

After listening to some of the options, I liked the sound of the ones circled.

Added Ideas

I have now re-filmed my bathroom scene and split it up into different shots.

A shot of her entering the bathroom. This is a slight high angle to make her look vulnerable.

A close up of her face as she reacts to the light flickering to show her scared reaction.

A shot of the light to show it’s flickering.

A shot of the girl looking in the mirror, looking in the cupboard and closing it to reveal the man behind her.

Other footage

High angle shot for the CCTV footage. High angle shot for the CCTV footage where she gets grabbed.

I’ve shot this from two different angles to build tension rather than showing it in one.

An extreme close up of eyes.The actor is breaking the fourth wall by looking at the camera.This is to make you feel un-easy and uncomfortable.

Trailer progress

I have re-filmed the bathroom scene and also the footage needed for the CCTV piece. Therefore I am ready to edit.

Production

Log and Transfer

Log and TransferTo put all of my footage from my SD card into Final Cut I have to log and transfer. This selects all the clips off the SD card.

The clips will appear in the section above and you drag them into the bottom to be transferred.

Adding text frames

When a text frame is added, by going in controls I can change the font, the font size and the text. I used the font Veteran Typewriter as I wanted a typewriter style. With a video filter over top to make it shake and appear spooky I think this would be a good font to use.

Video Filters

I mainly used video filters on the text frames so that they stood out and weren’t too dull or plain as this would appear as boring. The ‘Bad Film’ effect made the text shake slightly so it adds to the tension of the trailer.

On the footage that I wanted to appear as CCTV footage I used the Bad TV effect as this split the screen into two. I also made it black and white using the 3-way colour corrector tool. Lastly I added text over top of the video to make it realistic with a date and time.

Colour Correction

Before After

Here you have the option of changing the blacks, mids or whites.

The saturation will change the level of colour. This can remove all

colour and make the video black and white.

Within the circles, you can choose a colour you want to adjust to.

Using this bar you can change the colours higher or lower. In my case I main changed them lower as I needed it dark and dull.

Render

When the red bars appear above the timeline, this means that the video/audio needs rendering. This usually happens after adding new audio, a video filter, etc as the video needs to put it all together into one. This would have to be done quite often to be able to play back the video.

Audio

Some of the audio in my trailer had to be louder than other parts. For example the sudden thud when the man appears in the mirror needed to be louder to make it shock you more than necessary. To do this I had to change the levels of the audio using the tool on the left. By experimenting with this I made it louder than all the other audio I used.

The green section is the audio on the timeline.

Transitions

Audio Video

This audio transition makes the sound fade out so that the end of the audio isn’t too sudden. This sounds better and has a better effect. This video transition makes a frame fade out and

the next fade in. This was effective as I wanted it to be quite slow and spooky and by fading it instead of a simple cut this adds to this effect.

These are the only transitions I used throughout the trailer

Tools

The main tools I needed were the razor to cut footage in a certain place and the cursor to move footage along the time line.

Other tools are colour correction, video filters and transitions and all the other stages talked about through this presentation.

Cursor: for moving the video and audio and selecting clips

The razor blade is to cut video and audio at the point you want to trim it. Other tools I used I used

through keyboard shortcuts. Such as:•Command and + or – to zoom in and out of the timeline•Command and Z to undo•Command and R to render

Zoom/Crop

I zoomed into the video at the point where the guys face appears to add to the jump. As a result it cuts from the first image to the second appearing as if it jumps forward. Next to the sound (a sudden noise) this will be effective as it will be sudden and hopefully make you jump. I did this my using the grid around the footage which you can grab the corners and drag to crop it.

Completed, ideas…

My trailer ended up being around 50 seconds so it would be classed as a teaser trailer. It doesn’t go into too much detail which is good for a

teaser.

The short clips of the girl in the pyjamas keep it simple and short. Like the Paranormal Activity trailers, the footage in the trailers would not be

used in the actual film. The scenario that’s happening in the trailer would not be used in the full production as it’s just a hint into the story line.

Also, the zoom into the eye at the end wouldn’t be used in the full production and is just for the trailer. This is because it’s just a long take that gives a certain effect of creepiness to the end of the trailer. It drags

on to make you feel uncomfortable about the person starring at you.

Feedback

I made a post on Facebook to get feedback for my trailer. I asked for people’s opinions and the general response was that it’s good. A few people also told me it made them jump which is the effect I wanted to make.

The post also got 8 likes which indicates people liking it.

The last comment says it makes the person want to go to the cinema and makes them wonder what happened to the girl. This is a good reaction as a trailer should make you want to know more and therefore go to the cinema and watch it. This comment also mentions suspense so I must of created suspense successfully.

I cut out the people’s surnames and faded the pictures for their privacy.