Story Board

Here is my story board:

Frame One: Text - "Three Lions Productions"
Frame Two: Text - "Directed by Graham Trotter"
Frame Three: Text - "From the makers of..."
Frame Four: Text - "Starring Graham Trotter"
Frame Five:  Wide Close Up - Dr Jason Foster introduces his online show
Frame Six: Text - "He was an ordinary Historian until..."
Frame Seven: Close Up - Handheld Camera Movement - Dr Jason Foster speaking to the camera
Frame Eight: Text - "...But being the best wasn't enough..."
Frame Nine: Close Up - Handheld Camera Movement - Dr Jason Foster speaking to the camera
Frame Ten: Text - "...But he made enemies..."
Frame Eleven: Enemy number one approaches camera
Frame Twelve: Enemy number two approaches camera
Frame Thirteen: High angle shot - CCTV effect - Dr Foster being attacked
Frame Fourteen: Point of view Shot from the eyes of Dr Jason Foster as he falls
Frame fifteen: High angle shot - Dr Jason Foster getting beaten up
Frame Sixteen: Text -  "He tried to escape"
Frame Seventeen: Wide Shot - Panning - Dr Jason Foster running
Frame Eighteen: Text - "...But he couldn't escape the thought..."
Frame Nineteen: Close Up - Panning and Handheld Camera Movement  - Dr Jason speaking to the camera then scrambling for the camera
Frame Twenty: Rippers Replica

Film subject and Titles

Film Subject

Once I picked which genre I wanted my film to be I needed to think about what the film was actually going to be about, this was an easy choice because I am a history student and I have a great interest in British History and with British History comes the truly captivating story of Jack the Ripper. Even though the story of Jack the Ripper has been done multiple times, I feel that no one has ever done a 21st century version of the killings. I think that this will revolutionise the mystery of Jack the Ripper and allow the audience to have a better connection with the story while still offering the audience a sense of escapism. Also with the modern day twist to such a famous example Victorian Britain social and crime History, the film will offer the feeling of verisimilitude to the audience, because it is a Victorian Britain crime in 21st Century Britain.

Film Title

I chose the title Ripper's Replica because I think that it is the most telling in terms of the films genre and plot, because the film is about someone recreating the murders committed by Jack the Ripper on Ripperologists (Historians on Jack the Ripper).

Here are possible film titles that I have considered with one good point and one bad point;

Ripper's Replica - It tells the audience what the films about and attracts a certain audience; it might give to much away

Legacy - Short, and Memorable; Vauge

History repeats itself - Clear without giving to much away; Boring

Conventions of Film Posters

                                            

Film posters are created to increase awareness for the film that's been produced and to attract an audience while giving them an elusive insight into the plot and story line. The standard conventions of a film poster are:

Film Title

The film title is normally on the part of the poster where it doesn't disturb the main image, but still grabs the attention of the audience. Also their is a specific font for the film posters. For example on the "Snatch" poster the title's font is simple and this could have been done for an ironic sense because, even though it's a comedy the plot is complicated. While with the Sherlock Holmes film poster the font is old fashioned, yet capitalised because the film is an action thriller and needs to jump out at you.

Billing block

The billing block is arguably an unappreciated part of any film poster, but it is an undoubtedly vital part that some posters disregard. The billing block gives credit to the major associated parties in the development of the film documenting things like the production company and the main actor.

Main Image

The main image of the film poster is what sells the film to people that see the poster. This is because it is an image that gives away something about the film from what the main characters look like to a hidden message in the images. A film poster that really exposes this is the Swordfish poster above. This is because, it shows all of the main actors in the film, thus attracting the fans of the actors to the film. The poster also gives subtle hints about the plot of the film because it shows the four main actors and a computer in the image and from the mise-en-scene in the poster we can infer the roles of each of the characters. For example:
John Travolta - The main figure
Halle Berry - the love interest
Hugh Jackman - The computer hacker
We can also infer this due to where the characters are sitting as Hugh Jackman is sitting nearest to the computer and from knowing a little bit of the plot, it is loosely based on operation Swordfish, which was an operation undertaken by the American Government in the twentieth century that set out to hack computers for counter terrorism.
Also the colour of the image tells the audience that the plot of the film isn't going to be straightforward as it's in black and white and disjoints the situation and the audiences perception of it.

The date of release

The date of release on the film poster is important as it lets the audience know when the film is released. However some films are released on significant day. For example, the film Paul starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost was released on Valentines Day in 2011 to make fun out of the bro-mance between Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and their characters.

Genres

There are many different types of genres that are used in films and this was something that I had to consider based alongside my; budget, location, and interests. On this I have decided to make a psychological thriller about Jack the Ripper.

It was quite a large dilemma choosing what genre that I was going to use as there is such a large choice of film genres and sub film genres. Here are the different film genres:

• Action and adventure
• Animation
• Biopics
• Bollywood
• British
• Comedy
• Crime
• Costume
• Documentary
• Drama
• Family
• Historical
• Horror 
• Music documentary
• Musicals
• Period and historical
• Romance
• Science fiction and fantasy
• Short films
• Sport
• Thriller
• War films 
• Westerns
• World cinema

Despite the large selection of genres available I was able to narrow it down to five main genres and then I compared and analysed the different conventions of each genre. These genres are; Action Adventure, Comedy, Historical, British, and Thriller.

Generic conventions of Action Adventure Films

• There is usually a good blend of Good Vs Evil
• Sequel
• Violence, explosions, etc...
• Fast paced
• Love interest
• Offer the audience a sense of escapism

Generic conventions of Comedy Films

• Funny
• Light
• offers a sense of escapism
• centered around the life of one person or a group of people
• the main character(s) are clumsy, idiotic, or funnily unlucky

Generic conventions of Historical Films

• Based on a true story
• dramatised
• to be historically accurate
• to grip the audience
• to be dark or enlightening depending on the period of History that the film highlights to allow the audience to get a proper sense of what it must have been like to be in that period of History

Generic conventions of British Films

• To contain British slang
• The British stereotypes must be exploited
• Semi-improvised script
• exploit the dark non-publicized aspect of British life

Generic conventions of Thriller Films

• Thriller films share many of it's conventions with Action adventure films
• Psychological 
• Offers the audience a sense of escapism

The trailers of my favourite film of each of the genres that I highlighted.

Action Adventure - Skyfall

Comedy - Monty Python's Life of Brian

Historical - The Kings Speech

British - Snatch

Thriller - Inception

Psychological Thriller - Bronson

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a vital part of producing a film, because it allows you to dictate and experiment with your scenes before you film them.
Storyboarding is used in all forms of life from films to business as it gives you a clear picture of what you set out to do.
Definition: a panel or panels on which a sequence of sketches depict the significant changes of action and scene in a planned film, as for a movie, television show, or advertisement.
Definition from: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Story+Board?s=t

Ranges of institutions that use storyboards:

• Television
• Films
• Animations
• Business
• Comic books
• Websites
• Interactive Media

There are some websites that allow you to create storyboards on the internet and here's one of them
http://www.storyboardthat.com
Storyboardthat is a website that you have to pay to use but allows you to create and change your own storyboards aswell as, learn how to make a storyboard.

The art of storyboarding was first used by Walt Disney in the early 1930s and it soon became popular and was more commonly used. For example when writing about her father in Walt Disney's biography The Story of Walt Disney, Diane Disney Miller explained that the first complete storyboards were created for the 1933 short Disney film "Three Little Pigs".
Below is a picture of one of the scenes from the original storyboard

Three Little Pigs by Disney

Here is a link to a  video on the Purpose of Story boarding made by Disney Story boarders

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSOJiSUI0z8

My Storyboard

For my film I have made a simple storyboard outlining stage directions and camera angles for my film, however the storyboard is just a template at this stage as either the idea for the trailer will change due to reasons out of my control; like shortage of actors, or I will change how I feel about the film and possibly even change the genre of the film.

Introduction

The first thing we did as a class was to be introduced to the course and were told that it would involve each of us producing our own individual film trailer, that would be accompanied by a film poster and a magazine cover, and then an analysis of the; making, production, and final product of all three. We  were then set the task of analysing some trailers on the four key elements when making a film trailer which are; camera movement and positioning; editing; lighting and colour; and mise en scene.This task enabled us to analyse trailers and understand what's needed when we all make our individual trailers. The trailers we watched were; The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug; We're the Millers; and Donnie Darko.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

I think in the trailer for the Hobbit the use of camera angles and movement was the most effective technique used because, it really helped to set the scenes as well as show the what all of the actors are doing in the scene. This is due to the wide range of angles and movement including establishing shots and panning.

The Heist

In my opinion through the duration of the trailer for the Heist, sound is the most effective technique used, because it helps to increase the tension as it tells the story. The use of non-diegetic and a theme song really helps to increase the tension in the advert at the same time that it tells the story. Despite this, the voice-overs tell the story tell the story of the film without revealing the entire story.

Donnie Darko

In the trailer for Donnie Darko I think that the editing was the most effective technique used, because it really set the tone of the advert. This is because, it disjointed the scenes especially, with the use of slow motion and speeding up the scenes. The technique of changing the speed of the scene for the advert also increases the tension and gets the audience wanting to see the film. Editing was also used to introduce the actors as it fades to a blackout.