Developing intentions for my main idea (trailer)

Mise en Scene: I want to construct an effective mise en scene by making it clear that my trailer is of the dark fantasy genre by including elements of both the traditional fantasy and horror genres. I intend to do this by:

• Props - many fantasy films indicate their genre by utilising props which are iconographic of fantasy genre such as wands and books - often these indicate aspects of wonder or mystery. 
• Lighting/Weather - obviously the weather is unpredictable, but ideally I would like it to be dry and sunny on filming days. In fantasy films, the sun encourages the appearance of mystical creatures, and offers an element of hope - traditional fairy tales almost always have a happy ending. 
• Location - using both indoor and outdoor locations to reveal the juxtaposition between nature and indoors/industry - this will emphasise the evil queen's dominance in both spheres.
• Colour - I want to have natural colouring outside but at the internal location, I want the shots to appear redder and more artificial.

Editing: I wish to be creative in the editing process and employ a range of techniques to make an enigmatic and suspenseful trailer. 

I intend to do this by:

• Fade to blacks - these are often used in trailers to act as a natural transition from shot to shot. Aside from this, because they inhibit the audience's clarity and vision of what is happening, they build suspense and ambiguity.
• Filters and Video Effects - these make the trailer more engaging and may influence whether the audience decodes the preferred meaning of the media producer. For example, a black and white filter may suggest negativity. Also, people see colours differently.
• Opacity - I want to try and experiment with the opacity of clips,  implying the dominance of certain characters/places.
• Titles - I want to be more ambitious with titles, perhaps animating them. This is because I feel that titles and transitions were areas which I lost marks on last year - I stuck to preloaded ones due to uncertainty regarding other software.

Camera work: I want the camera work to be individualistic and take on many different angles and shot types to showcase various dimensions to the evil queen as a character.

• Close ups - to convey emotions, evoking a range of audience features
• Extreme close ups - to suggest the dominance of a character and emphasise the feelings and characteristics of the character, as well as further explain the narrative. 
• Low angle shots - to give a different perspective - for example they serve to demonstrate the progression of movement a character has towards the camera.
• Long shots - communicate the stature of the evil queen as well as exhibit the surroundings, which hopefully adhere to the conventions of the genre. 

Sound: I would like the sound to take on the role of explaining the narrative as I think it's quite an abstract idea. I understand that the understanding audiences get of a narrative from a trailer is often restricted - it gives them a taster of the film in the hope that they will proceed to watch the film. I hope the sound that I use this year is more suited and relatable to the footage on screen. 

• Voice over - to add depth to the narrative but also put the audience in the position of a character which is otherwise difficult to empathise with.
• Non diegetic sound (singing) - Due to it being quite an unique/abstract concept it may be that the only way to explain my understanding of it is through singing. I will get someone who is confident with singing to  do so. This will also give me the freedom to modify and build on it.
• Non diegetic sound (score) - I feel that having this underneath the singing will give the singing more substance to it.

Main idea presentation: An Overview

This presentation is an overview of my main idea. 

Synopsis

Synopses help the audience to understand the basic narrative and gist of the film. Synopses are important in all three stages of the film process. In the production, the filmmaker needs to have a consolidated idea of what the narrative involves before they start. However, ideas may evolve as filming gets underway, and this may lead to changes in the synopsis of the film. These changes are not usually major.
In terms of promotion, synopses are important but perhaps less so than in the production stages. Trailers are other mediums used to promote films often utilise the synopsis. However, they use it as a foundation to build on the story. Trailers create a more fluid narrative than synopses because they offer a visual aid for the audience. In distribution it is important because DVDs need an explanation of what the film is about so that the audience can preempt what is going to happen. The synopsis may also be important in exhibition and distribution in relation to the classification or rating of films.

Synopsis
My film is based around the concept of a fairy tale world gone wrong. An evil queen is cursing people and getting them to destroy every fairytale but her own. However, this has disastrous consequences for the people of the fairy tale world. Can she be stopped before it is too late?

Conforming to the conventions of dark fantasy
My synopsis conforms to the conventions of the dark fantasy genre because it possesses the theme of curses. The fairy tale element provides the fantasy part of the genre. There is also the idea of a central antagonist who wants power, as well as victims who are succumbed to a miserable fate. Despite this, I want to convey undertones which give the audience hope, for example magic and resilience. 

Planning - Props

What are props?
Props (also known as theatrical property) are anything that the actors use while on stage or camera as part of the story or the character. They act as a support to create verisimilitude. Sometimes they are the possessions of the character. Props are usually seperate to anything involved with costume and could have some significance in the narrative.

Fairy Tale Book
A fairy tale book is important to my narrative because it is a way of the Evil Queen conveying her hatred of the fairy tale world by it being ripped up. There is also a concept of a story within a story that I can explore with this. Stories can blur the lines between fiction and reality, and this not being clear is stereotypical of the fantasy genre. The genre combines elements of the real world and fantastical ones to make it more engaging for the audience.

Fairy tale books are symbolic of innocence. This is a theme which is closely examined in the fantasy genre as there has to be a sense of belief and faith to make it more enjoyable. Adults are often more cynical whereas children believe the fairy tales, so by destroying the fairy tale book, it is a metaphor for destroying innocence. This idea is paramount because I want to make sure that the darker element of 'dark fantasy' is successfully communicated to the audience through my trailer.

I hope that this will be an effective prop because it is one of the fundamental ways through which I plan to create the fairy tale element.

Example of Fairy Tale Book (from genre mood board)

Apples

The apples in my film are a metaphor for deterioration and is a reference to Snow White. I am going to assume that my audience have this shared frame of reference as it is a renowned story. Also, I am going to have a voice over when the apples are being shown onscreen so that it makes it easier for the audience to infer this.

Using fruit will allow me to play on the idea of something being fruitful.

Planning: Location Recce

I know that I want to use 2 locations (one internal and one external) in my trailer to convey a contrast, but also to offer the audience more variety. This would evoke a range of audience pleasures. 

Stowe Landscape Gardens
This is a National Trust property and gardens. The landscape gardens result in many places or temples that I can use to re create the woodland and landmarks so often seen in fantasy films. There is frequently an other worldly quality to these but this is counteracted by the introduction of things we see in our daily lives which help to create verisimilitude. Also, it is in quite close proximity to both where myself and Lara live (20 minutes maximum), so travelling won't be time consuming. 
Whilst it offers vast parkland, a downfall of using this location is that it is a public place so there may be difficulty with permissions and sectioning off areas/keeping members of the public out of shot. Additionally, the weather conditions may impact filming as it is However, I think this would be the case with any uncovered, external location and I could work around it.

Stowe Landscape Gardens

Drama Studio, Chenderit School
I think that this would be a suitable and convenient location because it is industrial (hall, the flooring has a black and white checkered pattern) and has good lighting, however I plan to use additional rigs too. The availability of the drama studio may be an issue if there are after school rehearsals but I am going to check the availability in advance. It is accessible because I would already be in school and it means that the equipment would not leave the school premises, minimising the risk of breakages and damage. 

The above pictures are of the Drama Studio. Most of the footage I plan to capture are long angled close ups... hence photos of the floor!
Photos taken by me.

Mood board: Location ideas

I have decided to create a mood board to help me consolidate my understanding of location and any potential location ideas. Some scenes are simple enough for me to film at home, I haven't included that on the mood board. I am planning to film outside because I feel like it will not restrict the narrative as much. Also, it will be easier for me to meet the conventions of location for the fantasy genre.

Mood board (location)

Images retrieved from:
Top left (forest) http://www.worldwildlife.org/habitats/forest-habitat
Bottom left (Queen's temple, photo by Nigel Cox)
Bottom central (Grotto)http://faculty.bsc.edu/jtatter/grotto.html
Top right (Gothic House)gothic-temple-1.jpg (image address) website with image on is
http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/search-and-book/properties/gothic-temple-8075
Bottom right http://www.salceyforestcafe.com/album/slides/where%20are%20we%20going%202.html#picttop

The Gothic House, Grotto and Queen's Temple are located nearby at a National Trust property. This place was my first thought when I was considering external locations because I knew there was lots of majestic buildings.

Theory: Barthes' Enigma Code

This code refers to anything enigmatic or mysterious which may be present in the narrative. Use of the code is common because an enigma is often created by the text producer to keep the audience engaged. Better levels of audience engagement will evoke stronger audience pleasures. These range from satisfaction, sadness to satisfaction. 
Trailers are likely to have a layer of enigma because of their nature; they offer an audience cryptic clues as to the narrative, providing them with enough information as so to spark an interest which they pursue and go to see the film.

An example of a real media text which uses Barthes' enigmatic code
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) utilises the enigma code. The narrative explores themes of obsession and mental instability. A detective is forced into early retirement following the deaths of two people, caused by his fear of heights. He sees a double of one of these people, a girl, and connects her image with her deceased body. The enigma is situated in both the detective's (and perhaps the audience's) inability to differentiate between reality and fantasy.

Vertigo theatrical release poster by Saul Bass

Applying the enigma code to my coursework production
I have attempted to use the enigma code in my trailer by including close ups of the antagonist, but not revealing much about the mechanisms she uses to embody and do evil. At the beginning, I have included a voice over which poses questions in the minds of the audience.

Image from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertigo_(film)